Found here, original sold here
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Whimsical
This is the kind of stuff I want to hang in my office. You know, once it's painted.
Found here, original sold here
Found here, original sold here
Monday, June 29, 2009
M.I.A.
OH, how I have neglected my blog! This is mostly because we were gone on a service trip to Detroit all last week, but also partially because there just isn't much to blog about. As mentioned in my last post, I spent a serious amount of time attempting to make a dent in the mess that is our office. I sort of succeeded. I have come to terms with the fact that I just have too much stuff for this teeny little room, but I have not managed to talk myself into getting rid of much just yet. I weeded through some old artsy magazines, and moved my ginormous collection of paint swatches and other inspirational home design goodies into one of the blue Ikea boxes... but there is still more that needs to either be tossed or put to use somewhere. Either way, progress was made, so that's good.
I do hope to have some exciting stuff to post later this week seeing as Dan confirmed today that the demo permit for the garage has been issued! Now we're just waiting for them to schedule the actual demo and buh-bye little shack with no electric, graffiti on the door, and barely enough room to get my little engine that could of a Civic in there. In just a couple of weeks I will be saying hellooooo to our beautiful new two-car. I think I might end up so excited about the fact that my car will be parked in a real garage for the first time ever that I will inevitably wear out the battery in my garage door opener within days just from playing with it. Or not. But really, I can't wait to be able to go out to the garage, have a light turn on so I'm not feeling around (and FREAKING OUT) in the dark, and then just hit a handy little button to make the door open and shut. It's the little things that make me happy, really.
I'm still debating about colors in the office but am starting to lean towards painting the entire room with a yellow and just using the gray as an accent color. I've used a lot of "cool" colors in the house and am thinking it'd be a nice change of pace to have a warmer tone fill a room. Plus, with the blind open there's some great sunlight in here during the day, and I think a dull gray would just take away from that. We'll see. I managed to get in on the Glidden free paint giveaway (which is now over so I'm not posting a link) and ordered a free quart of "Refreshing Mimosa", a close match to the Pantone color of the year I'm so crazy about. I'm planning to try it out in a couple of spots on the walls to see how it looks before settling on painting the whole room. Indecisiveness at it's best!
I do hope to have some exciting stuff to post later this week seeing as Dan confirmed today that the demo permit for the garage has been issued! Now we're just waiting for them to schedule the actual demo and buh-bye little shack with no electric, graffiti on the door, and barely enough room to get my little engine that could of a Civic in there. In just a couple of weeks I will be saying hellooooo to our beautiful new two-car. I think I might end up so excited about the fact that my car will be parked in a real garage for the first time ever that I will inevitably wear out the battery in my garage door opener within days just from playing with it. Or not. But really, I can't wait to be able to go out to the garage, have a light turn on so I'm not feeling around (and FREAKING OUT) in the dark, and then just hit a handy little button to make the door open and shut. It's the little things that make me happy, really.
I'm still debating about colors in the office but am starting to lean towards painting the entire room with a yellow and just using the gray as an accent color. I've used a lot of "cool" colors in the house and am thinking it'd be a nice change of pace to have a warmer tone fill a room. Plus, with the blind open there's some great sunlight in here during the day, and I think a dull gray would just take away from that. We'll see. I managed to get in on the Glidden free paint giveaway (which is now over so I'm not posting a link) and ordered a free quart of "Refreshing Mimosa", a close match to the Pantone color of the year I'm so crazy about. I'm planning to try it out in a couple of spots on the walls to see how it looks before settling on painting the whole room. Indecisiveness at it's best!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Free Time
With Dan working full-time on his first service trip of the summer, I'm left with the inevitable free time that comes with his trips each year. Lucky for Dan, I tend to get a bit of a cleaning/organizing bug when I get bored, so I have big plans for tackling my Summer Project List with some of the down time I'm already in the midst of. That's right... it is time to organize the office. And I'll admit it, this is bound to be a daunting task.
An impromptu trip to my one of my favorite places in the world - Ikea - left me with some new organizing goodies, specifically two of these plain old magazine boxes, which fit perfectly in my coveted Expedit bookshelves:
They're boring, I know, but they will hold (and hide) some of the random stuff that really doesn't need to be out in plain sight but can't get shoved down in the basement or in the back of a closet somewhere.
I also picked up new fun patterned file folders at Target, which will make going through all of my old bills and papers that have stacked up that much more enjoyable. What is it about a pretty office supply that makes using it so much more fun? Since most of the folders will end up in my bin where I keep every important paper imaginable, I might just have to order a few of these to keep out with more timely bills and whatnot in them:
Since Dan and I are sometimes fans of doing things backwards, the plan right now is to get everything clean and organized, and THEN paint. I know I know, it makes no sense at all, but if you saw our office you would understand. At this point, there is absolutely no way it could be painted anyways since it's such a disaster. It doesn't help that the room was used as our "storage" for everything when we first moved... it's been a mess since the day we got there! So, with any luck I'll get everything in it's place this week and then move everything to the center of the room and paint later on in the summer.
Which leaves me with the most fun task of all... picking a color! Like my turquoise bathroom, I think an office is a good place to have a little fun with color. Case in point:
I love love love this office (and have posted about it before), and today I found the blog where it came from! Ramblings of a Renovating Couple is my new favorite read and I can't wait to draw some inspiration from their other DIY projects!
Although I love the candy apple green in the Renovator's office, I can't help but be drawn to another more subdued color combo of gray and marigold yellow. Originally my thought for the front porch, I'm leaning more towards using this in the office instead, and keeping the porch more neutral to go with the living room just on the other side of the window.
Here's some gray and yellow eye candy I've been drooling over:
Even with all of this visual inspiration, the question of what color to paint the walls still remains. Gray seems... blah, but yellow just... screams. Seeing as there isn't a whole ton of wall space in the room in the first place, I'm tempted to do the wall with the dormered ceiling in a yellow, and the rest of the room gray. Picking the color shades will be tough, but the designer in me loves the idea of using "Mimosa", the Pantone 2009 Color of the Year:
As the Pantone website states: "In a time of economic uncertainty and political change, optimism is paramount and no other color expresses hope and reassurance more than yellow." Perfection in a color - I think so.
An impromptu trip to my one of my favorite places in the world - Ikea - left me with some new organizing goodies, specifically two of these plain old magazine boxes, which fit perfectly in my coveted Expedit bookshelves:
They're boring, I know, but they will hold (and hide) some of the random stuff that really doesn't need to be out in plain sight but can't get shoved down in the basement or in the back of a closet somewhere.
I also picked up new fun patterned file folders at Target, which will make going through all of my old bills and papers that have stacked up that much more enjoyable. What is it about a pretty office supply that makes using it so much more fun? Since most of the folders will end up in my bin where I keep every important paper imaginable, I might just have to order a few of these to keep out with more timely bills and whatnot in them:
Since Dan and I are sometimes fans of doing things backwards, the plan right now is to get everything clean and organized, and THEN paint. I know I know, it makes no sense at all, but if you saw our office you would understand. At this point, there is absolutely no way it could be painted anyways since it's such a disaster. It doesn't help that the room was used as our "storage" for everything when we first moved... it's been a mess since the day we got there! So, with any luck I'll get everything in it's place this week and then move everything to the center of the room and paint later on in the summer.
Which leaves me with the most fun task of all... picking a color! Like my turquoise bathroom, I think an office is a good place to have a little fun with color. Case in point:
I love love love this office (and have posted about it before), and today I found the blog where it came from! Ramblings of a Renovating Couple is my new favorite read and I can't wait to draw some inspiration from their other DIY projects!
Although I love the candy apple green in the Renovator's office, I can't help but be drawn to another more subdued color combo of gray and marigold yellow. Originally my thought for the front porch, I'm leaning more towards using this in the office instead, and keeping the porch more neutral to go with the living room just on the other side of the window.
Here's some gray and yellow eye candy I've been drooling over:
Even with all of this visual inspiration, the question of what color to paint the walls still remains. Gray seems... blah, but yellow just... screams. Seeing as there isn't a whole ton of wall space in the room in the first place, I'm tempted to do the wall with the dormered ceiling in a yellow, and the rest of the room gray. Picking the color shades will be tough, but the designer in me loves the idea of using "Mimosa", the Pantone 2009 Color of the Year:
As the Pantone website states: "In a time of economic uncertainty and political change, optimism is paramount and no other color expresses hope and reassurance more than yellow." Perfection in a color - I think so.Sunday, June 14, 2009
Productive
If you know me at all, you have probably heard me complain about major dizziness and/or nausea over the last two-plus years. You've probably heard me talk about constantly being sick in some way, shape or form. You've more than likely made plans with me only to have me later cancel them because I wasn't feeling well. Well friends, it's over. Read on...
To make a two year long story short I'll just fill you in on a couple details, like the fact that I went to nearly a dozen different doctors and specialists, had 3 complete blood counts done - among countless other specific blood tests, an MRI, and an ultrasound. I had myself so worked up over being ill all the time that I encountered major anxiety that I am now working on kicking to the curb. Seeing as no real doctors could figure out what was wrong, I did some major self-diagnosing and began to believe everything I read... like the time I thought I had an autoimmune disease. Over the two years, I thought I had a gluten allergy, a tumor, and everything else in between. And in the end, the simplicity of it all is unbelievable (and also extremely frustrating that something so simple took so long to diagnose).
Back at the doctor a little over a month ago I told them flat out "I'm not leaving without someone figuring out what's wrong with me. I can't take off any more days of work and this is ruining my quality of life"... and for once, they listened. I was sent back to the neurologist that afternoon, who assured me that he and my regular doctor were anxious to figure out what was going on, and proceeded to look back through all of my charts and talk through more possibilities with me. A few minutes into our appointment he said - "Have we ever checked your standing and resting blood pressure?"... "No". So, he sent a nurse in who checked it sitting (as usual), then again standing, and again lying down. He asked her "anything I should know?"... "Yes"... and that was it. My answer was in the numbers.
Orthostatic hypotension is a condition that involves one's blood pressure rapidly dropping due to normal sudden movements - such as standing up - resulting in dizziness and head rushes. And that, readers, is what I have. (Insert "ARE YOU KIDDING ME???" here).
All of this means two things: 1 - NONE of the blood work or other tests I got were necessary and all I needed was a doctor to check my blood pressure. And 2 - taking a simple medication before bed every night stabilizes everything and keeps me from feeling like I'm going to fall over if I turn my head, bend down, or stand up too fast. YAY!!!! I've been on the medication for a little over a month now and have had just one minor - yes ONE - dizzy spell in that time.
So how does all of this tie in to my "Productive" posting title? Well, because now I can be! I have the energy to go out at night, to exercise, to actually be 20-something. I am officially DONE with the dizziness and ready to enjoy my summer sickness-free. Get excited.
To make a two year long story short I'll just fill you in on a couple details, like the fact that I went to nearly a dozen different doctors and specialists, had 3 complete blood counts done - among countless other specific blood tests, an MRI, and an ultrasound. I had myself so worked up over being ill all the time that I encountered major anxiety that I am now working on kicking to the curb. Seeing as no real doctors could figure out what was wrong, I did some major self-diagnosing and began to believe everything I read... like the time I thought I had an autoimmune disease. Over the two years, I thought I had a gluten allergy, a tumor, and everything else in between. And in the end, the simplicity of it all is unbelievable (and also extremely frustrating that something so simple took so long to diagnose).
Back at the doctor a little over a month ago I told them flat out "I'm not leaving without someone figuring out what's wrong with me. I can't take off any more days of work and this is ruining my quality of life"... and for once, they listened. I was sent back to the neurologist that afternoon, who assured me that he and my regular doctor were anxious to figure out what was going on, and proceeded to look back through all of my charts and talk through more possibilities with me. A few minutes into our appointment he said - "Have we ever checked your standing and resting blood pressure?"... "No". So, he sent a nurse in who checked it sitting (as usual), then again standing, and again lying down. He asked her "anything I should know?"... "Yes"... and that was it. My answer was in the numbers.
Orthostatic hypotension is a condition that involves one's blood pressure rapidly dropping due to normal sudden movements - such as standing up - resulting in dizziness and head rushes. And that, readers, is what I have. (Insert "ARE YOU KIDDING ME???" here).
All of this means two things: 1 - NONE of the blood work or other tests I got were necessary and all I needed was a doctor to check my blood pressure. And 2 - taking a simple medication before bed every night stabilizes everything and keeps me from feeling like I'm going to fall over if I turn my head, bend down, or stand up too fast. YAY!!!! I've been on the medication for a little over a month now and have had just one minor - yes ONE - dizzy spell in that time.
So how does all of this tie in to my "Productive" posting title? Well, because now I can be! I have the energy to go out at night, to exercise, to actually be 20-something. I am officially DONE with the dizziness and ready to enjoy my summer sickness-free. Get excited.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Cinnamon Chips Cheesecake
Oh my. Have I ever mentioned on here just how much I love cheesecake? No? Well, I do. A lot. And I love cinnamon. So when Jennifer gave me a bag of cinnamon chips and I went searching for a recipe to use them in... I knew as soon as I saw this cheesecake on the Hershey's website that I had to make it. Plus, it required the purchase of a springform pan, and I will take any excuse to add a new dish or gadget to my kitchen collection. :)
Overall, the making of my very first cheesecake took a good chunk of my Sunday afternoon last week because I was absolutely insistent about making it as perfect as possible. I was terrified at the possibility of wasting the cinnamon chips, seeing as I have been looking around in the grocery stores I go to and have yet to find them in existence anywhere else. Considering I am deathly allergic to chocolate, it may be true self-inflicted torture if I set foot in the Chicago Hershey's store... but I'm thinking I just might have to trek over there during lunch someday and see if I can't find them there.
Either way, Jennifer just happened to give me EXACTLY the right amount of chips for this cheesecake (ok, I lied - she gave me a little bit more but I ate them all during the week and a half I mulled over what recipe to make with them). Armed with a ridiculous amount of cream cheese and sour cream, and my super-power $10 hand mixer (that I have yet to replace with one that doesn't leave sprays of whatever I'm mixing across the wall of my kitchen), I tackled this cheesecake like it was the last dessert on earth. I'm going to post the recipe even though I have no idea where the heck to find the crucial cinnamon chips... because I'm honestly quite proud of the fact that I made it and it turned out so well. And, because I'm confident this could be made as a regular old cheesecake minus the chips without much difference in the final product.
Look, I'm even posting my own picture of my completed cheesecake, so you know I'm serious about this one -
One of these days I'll get a decent camera, and some better light in my dining room so these shots look more appealing. But check out my favorite blue plate holding that gorgeous cheesecake. And puh-lease ooh and aah over my farmer's market peonies... those babies bloomed for nearly 2 weeks!
Creamy Cinnamon Chips Cheesecake
Recipe from Hershey's Kitchens
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons plus 1 cup sugar, divided
5 tablespoons butter, melted
2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 containers (8 oz. each) dairy sour cream
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1-2/3 cup (10-oz. pkg.) Cinnamon Chips, divided
1 teaspoon shortening (do not use butter, margarine, spread or oil)
1. For the crust: Heat oven to 325°F. Combine graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and melted butter in medium bowl. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and about 1-1/2 inches up side of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 8 minutes. Remove from oven.
2. Increase oven temperature to 350°F. Beat cream cheese, remaining 1 cup sugar and vanilla on medium speed of mixer until well blended. Add sour cream; beat on low speed until blended. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until blended. Do not overbeat.
3. Pour half of filling into prepared crust. Reserve 1/3 cup cinnamon chips for drizzle. Sprinkle remaining 1-1/3 cups chips evenly over filling in pan. Carefully spoon remaining filling over chips. Place on shallow baking pan.
4. Bake about 1 hour or until center is almost set. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes on wire rack. Using knife or narrow metal spatula, loosen cheesecake from side of pan. Cool on wire rack additional 30 minutes. Remove side of pan; cool 1 hour.
5. Combine shortening and reserved 1/3 cup chips in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 30 seconds; stir until chips are melted. Drizzle over cheesecake; cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
A few things I learned while making this recipe:
1. If you shove half a stick of butter in a tiny little coffee cup and stick it in the microwave to melt, it WILL boil over. Lesson learned - use a bigger bowl.
2. Cross your fingers if you're going to guess. Since half of my melted butter ended up on my microwave tray, I just melted a couple more tablespoons to get the graham cracker crumbs moist enough to form the crust. My mom loved it, but I thought it ended up being a little too buttery.
3. Shortening will light on fire in the microwave. Thankfully, I did NOT learn this the hard way, but I definitely did not listen to the warning in CAPITAL LETTERS in the recipe to use MEDIUM heat on the shortening with the cinnamon chips. So, while my bowl o'grease melted away on full power, I stood there reading the recipe card from the package, which has a nice little "this is flammable - do not use full microwave power" warning on it. Wide-eyed, I stopped the microwave and started it back up at medium power as instructed. What a story that could have been, huh?
4. Cinnamon chips don't melt like chocolate chips. Even after baking for an hour, the chips layer of the cheesecake was not completely melted, and the "drizzle" topping (which did not drizzle at all and just looked like a big mess) took 3 times the amount of microwaving the above recipe calls for. (Due to #3, I would still suggest stopping the microwave every 30 seconds or so to be safe).
5. A full cheesecake is a LOT of cheesecake for our little 2-person household. Even after my dad, Manda, and Jeff played taste-tester and had some for dessert, I ended up passing on about 1/3 of the cheesecake to my mom and STILL had a ton left for Dan and I.
Another big thanks to Jennifer for the cinnamon chips!!
Overall, the making of my very first cheesecake took a good chunk of my Sunday afternoon last week because I was absolutely insistent about making it as perfect as possible. I was terrified at the possibility of wasting the cinnamon chips, seeing as I have been looking around in the grocery stores I go to and have yet to find them in existence anywhere else. Considering I am deathly allergic to chocolate, it may be true self-inflicted torture if I set foot in the Chicago Hershey's store... but I'm thinking I just might have to trek over there during lunch someday and see if I can't find them there.
Either way, Jennifer just happened to give me EXACTLY the right amount of chips for this cheesecake (ok, I lied - she gave me a little bit more but I ate them all during the week and a half I mulled over what recipe to make with them). Armed with a ridiculous amount of cream cheese and sour cream, and my super-power $10 hand mixer (that I have yet to replace with one that doesn't leave sprays of whatever I'm mixing across the wall of my kitchen), I tackled this cheesecake like it was the last dessert on earth. I'm going to post the recipe even though I have no idea where the heck to find the crucial cinnamon chips... because I'm honestly quite proud of the fact that I made it and it turned out so well. And, because I'm confident this could be made as a regular old cheesecake minus the chips without much difference in the final product.
Look, I'm even posting my own picture of my completed cheesecake, so you know I'm serious about this one -
One of these days I'll get a decent camera, and some better light in my dining room so these shots look more appealing. But check out my favorite blue plate holding that gorgeous cheesecake. And puh-lease ooh and aah over my farmer's market peonies... those babies bloomed for nearly 2 weeks!Creamy Cinnamon Chips Cheesecake
Recipe from Hershey's Kitchens
1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons plus 1 cup sugar, divided
5 tablespoons butter, melted
2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 containers (8 oz. each) dairy sour cream
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1-2/3 cup (10-oz. pkg.) Cinnamon Chips, divided
1 teaspoon shortening (do not use butter, margarine, spread or oil)
1. For the crust: Heat oven to 325°F. Combine graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar and melted butter in medium bowl. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and about 1-1/2 inches up side of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 8 minutes. Remove from oven.
2. Increase oven temperature to 350°F. Beat cream cheese, remaining 1 cup sugar and vanilla on medium speed of mixer until well blended. Add sour cream; beat on low speed until blended. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until blended. Do not overbeat.
3. Pour half of filling into prepared crust. Reserve 1/3 cup cinnamon chips for drizzle. Sprinkle remaining 1-1/3 cups chips evenly over filling in pan. Carefully spoon remaining filling over chips. Place on shallow baking pan.
4. Bake about 1 hour or until center is almost set. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes on wire rack. Using knife or narrow metal spatula, loosen cheesecake from side of pan. Cool on wire rack additional 30 minutes. Remove side of pan; cool 1 hour.
5. Combine shortening and reserved 1/3 cup chips in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 30 seconds; stir until chips are melted. Drizzle over cheesecake; cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
A few things I learned while making this recipe:
1. If you shove half a stick of butter in a tiny little coffee cup and stick it in the microwave to melt, it WILL boil over. Lesson learned - use a bigger bowl.
2. Cross your fingers if you're going to guess. Since half of my melted butter ended up on my microwave tray, I just melted a couple more tablespoons to get the graham cracker crumbs moist enough to form the crust. My mom loved it, but I thought it ended up being a little too buttery.
3. Shortening will light on fire in the microwave. Thankfully, I did NOT learn this the hard way, but I definitely did not listen to the warning in CAPITAL LETTERS in the recipe to use MEDIUM heat on the shortening with the cinnamon chips. So, while my bowl o'grease melted away on full power, I stood there reading the recipe card from the package, which has a nice little "this is flammable - do not use full microwave power" warning on it. Wide-eyed, I stopped the microwave and started it back up at medium power as instructed. What a story that could have been, huh?
4. Cinnamon chips don't melt like chocolate chips. Even after baking for an hour, the chips layer of the cheesecake was not completely melted, and the "drizzle" topping (which did not drizzle at all and just looked like a big mess) took 3 times the amount of microwaving the above recipe calls for. (Due to #3, I would still suggest stopping the microwave every 30 seconds or so to be safe).
5. A full cheesecake is a LOT of cheesecake for our little 2-person household. Even after my dad, Manda, and Jeff played taste-tester and had some for dessert, I ended up passing on about 1/3 of the cheesecake to my mom and STILL had a ton left for Dan and I.
Another big thanks to Jennifer for the cinnamon chips!!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
If the weather ever cooperates...
Check this out!
I wonder what it would take for me to convince Dan to let me do something like this on our little back porch? At the very least, I think I could get him to go for it on the 2nd floor deck, since he would never have to see it if he ended up hating it. :) Hmm... an addition to the summer projects list? This could be ridiculously fun to do with Manda, who in my eyes has been a budding artist since she first picked up a crayon...
Images from Making it Lovely
I wonder what it would take for me to convince Dan to let me do something like this on our little back porch? At the very least, I think I could get him to go for it on the 2nd floor deck, since he would never have to see it if he ended up hating it. :) Hmm... an addition to the summer projects list? This could be ridiculously fun to do with Manda, who in my eyes has been a budding artist since she first picked up a crayon...
Images from Making it Lovely
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