4th of July

There's nothing like a great 4th of July Celebration with friends. We got together with our Sunday School for a great BBQ before the fireworks. Great food, fellowship, and fireworks!Who could ask for a better 4th? Thanks Adam and Kerry for being such great hosts!

Birthday Blessings

I was thoroughly spoiled by my family and friends this birthday. We started the festivities with a get together with a few of our friends on Sunday night. Wish we had a larger place so we could have had more, as it was we had 13 people in our little apartment. No celebration is complete without a birthday cake. This years was "affectionately" named the Volcano. By the time we sang a almost perfect section of the top layer had completely slid off!

Monday, my birthday, I got to sleep in! Then Roderick and I enjoyed a yummy lunch at Sonoma Wine Bar and Bistro. (We had purchased a $50 gift certificate for $25 through Groupon awhile earlier.) Then we enjoyed watching Toy Story 3 at MacArthur Center. Thankfully Roderick thought to look at the Entertainment book before we walked in and we found a coupon for a free movie on your birthday and a another for $7 ticket. I can't believe I didn't think of looking for a coupon, but I'm really glad Roderick did. That was probably the least expensive visit to a theater we've ever made. (Other than the Cinema Cafe'.)

That evening we got to enjoy the wonderful surprise my husband had gotten me, a Wii! Definitely was not expecting that, but we had a blast already with it. I LOVE it! As I was looking through my other gifts I noticed a couple of themes....lime, polka dots, and kitchen gadgets. It's so funny to me how birthdays seem to have themes!

Friday Favorite

Roderick and I am in love with this new salad. ( That's saying a lot for my non-veggie loving husband. He'll eat it but usually say "it's not my favorite.") It's a recipe we improvised and tweaked from an Apples of Gold recipe. The first time we made it to take to a friends house a couple of weeks ago. Let's just say the bowl was completely clean when we were done, almost to the point of being licked clean. That time we used a combination of red leaf, butternut, romaine, and spinach straight from a friend's garden that morning. We also used a freshly picked red onion from the garden that was the most potent I've ever cut. AND strawberries we hand picked! Can I say heavenly!!! Well, even without those the salad is WONDERFUL!

Salad:

approx. 1lb of favorite mixture of lettuce

1 pint fresh strawberries sliced

sliced almond or toasted pecan halves

Canned Mandarin oranges

Red onion

Salad Dressing:

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1 cup vegetable oil ( I used olive oil -makes me feel healthier)

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

(This makes a LOT of dressing. I'm sure you could cut it down a little or maybe even in half.)

Black & White: Lime Green Polka Dots: Plum:

Transformation complete!

My project is now complete. It was definitely harder than I thought it would be, but I REALLY like how it turned out. Gives the room a whole different feel. (Mostly because it blocks out a lot of the light.)

Since the project is done... here's a look at the whole kitchen.

Before *when we first moved into the apartment*

After

Before

After

Before

After

I still have a few little projects I'd like to do, but I'm sure there will always be something else to do!

Milking the Birthday Blessings

I have a birthday approaching at the end of the month. I know getting older is a fact of life. (And as some say "better than the alternative" although heaven is better in my oppinion!) However, for some reason this one is making me feel really old. Maybe it's because it will be my last year in the 20's or maybe its the age my mom's been for a long time! (She's turned 29 for as many birthdays as I can remember. = ) ) So instead of feeling old I've decided to milk my birthday for all its worth. AND how else would I milk it, but with birthday Freebies. Boy are there a lot of them!! Here's some of the things I hope to enjoy this month:

* Free Starbucks!

* Free burger from Red Robin

* Free ice cream at Baskin Robins and Cold Stone

* Free Krispy Cream Doughnut

* Plus a whole bunch more!!

If you have a birthday coming up, check out this list over at the Frugal Girls. Seriously there are over 40 different birthday freebies her list!

Speakin' of Birthday's, I wanted to wish my mother-in-law a Happy Birthday today. Too bad we can't be there to celebrate! I wonder if you can still get in on some of these deals since it is during your "birth month."

And we have some veggies...

Our little container garden has started to produce. The pepper plant looks great. We definitely have one pepper growing and we have 20-30 buds! However, I think we are doomed to only produce one tomato. (Although, we both wonder if that is actually two tomatoes growing together.) There was another bud, but it just appears to be dieing on the vine. Oh, well. We're still having fun tending to it. The basil is looking nice and lush it's just not really growing. Can't wait to start using it in recipes!

Pretty Projects

I've been busy painting lately. There are all these projects that have been waiting to be done and with the long weekend I decided it was high time I do them. After almost 3 years of marriage my husband has finally started to let me know what he likes and doesn't like as far as decor in our house. (Which I LOVE!) Last fall as I was cooking he informed me he'd like to see less "deep green" (forest green) and more of "this green" (which happened to be lime green.) I loved the idea since I was really loving lime green at the time as well. Add in a few polka dots and I'm in love with the new look! A lime green and plum kitchen with a few grapes and polka dots thrown in. Over the past few months a few of our items have found their way into the garage sale pile and have been replaced with some lovely lime green and polka dots. I love how its turning out. Thanks Rod for the great inspiration!

I wasn't originally planning on painting a new picture for here. However, when I painted this lovely chalk board,which a friend let me have out of her yard sale pile, we both decided the styles just didn't match. (Sorry, Jenni.)Actually my husbands words were, "The chalk board is Sara Mincy style and just doesn't go with the other picture. I like the Sara Mincy style more!" I'm really glad he likes her style because he is seeing more and more of that style popping up around the house.

I'll post the whole kitchen after I finish one more project. That happens to include these beauties I got last weekend for a $1 at a yard sale (for 6 of them actually, one is missing from the picture), some glue, and some fabric I've had around since November. I'm really hoping they turn out like I imagine them and I'm not taking on too big of a project.

Too many projects are calling me name. I'm off to finish a painting for the bathroom now. . . Wish the house would clean itself and the laundry would wash and fold itself so I could have fun with these projects non-stop!!