Monday, November 29, 2010

I'm loving...

Our dining room has four chairs of a matching set (but three different colors) that I love. We got them at World Market and now they don't carry them, so we can't get two more. Last year my parents got us some white ones, which do well for seating two more people. 
 I've been thinking for some time about what I'll do long term for the two chairs I need. The white ones are fine but in the future, it would be fun to have two "head of the table" type chairs on either end. 

I found this picture from Southern Living and really like it:
I'm now thinking about finding two chairs like the one on the end, painting them the claret red via spray paint to match the red chair I have, and doing the pillow in chair look like that one. I found this chair from IKEA and am wondering how close I could get it to look...
 This is the Majby chair with armrests for 79.99. Found here.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Go there: Las Delicias

I've been hearing for some time about Las Delicias. I should have known it would be amazing when a friend brought their fresh guacamole and made a guac lover out of me, a decidedly non-guac lover. I've had their chips and cheese dip before too. Again, amazing. Chips are made fresh and unlike any other chips at any other restaurant I've had. 

So, finally, after hearing about this place from half of facebook, twitter, and Memphis bloggers, my brothers suggested to my parents that we go over Thanksgiving weekend. And off we went to Las Delicias (on Park at Getwell). 

All I can say is wow. Authentic, cheap, delicious (maybe that is where they got the name Delicias? who knows). I loved everything I ate and I consider myself very picky with Mexican food. It reminded me a lot of my meal when I visited Mexico briefly on my senior cruise and we strayed from the tourist strip to a real Mexican place. 

I got the steak tacos. They had cilantro in them, which was very good, and I asked for melted cheese on top (that is the brown top to them). The taco shells were soft and fresh. I am already craving them again. 


Jake got the fajitas - I think Alabre was the name of the dish? It was steak with peppers and onions. He says his was good too. 



I will definitely be visiting again, probably often. They've made a believer out of me. 


And maybe next time I won't be the crazy girl taking pictures of her food with an iphone...

Thursday, November 25, 2010

i love amydale photography!

So for our christmas cards, I wanted some pictures of us with the dogs. My cousin (Amy Dale) happens to be a fabulous, ridiculously legit professional photographer and I'd been wanting to get a session with her for a while. Christmas was a great excuse. 

At Thanksgiving today, I got my cards (which are super cute and designed by her) and a disk with 48 of the best images. While I will wait to share all the images via fb and the blog until after the cards are out (gotta keep the pictures a surprise!), I just couldn't wait to share just a peek because I am so excited about them. 

All photos are taken and edited by Amy Dale. Visit her at www.amydalephotography.com

Here's a few to share for now:

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Cat+Dog.

Sebastian has a "house" that he goes into when we're gone (since he is psycho when we aren't there and goes crazy and finds things in bags to chew up). He loves his house and whenever we get ready to go, he goes into it on his own. 

Lately, someone else has been loving his house too:
 For a few weeks now, we'll walk into the office and Ty will be hanging out in the house, just sleeping happily. When it is time to put Sebastian in there, we don't quite know what to do with ourselves because Ty refuses to leave. So our solution?...


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Make this: Roasted Sausage Rigatoni with Broccoli

We finally made our last of our planned meals from a few weeks ago (why is it we can never stick to a plan?): Roasted Sausage Rigatoni with Broccoli.

We followed the recipe from Real Simple, so check it out above. We did make it easier on ourselves because we had bought italian sausage that was already out of the casing and in small chunks to cook. Saved a bit of time. 

I really liked this and especially liked that it wasn't heavy but was filling. And I'm trying to eat vegetables so I liked the broccoli. Here's our version:

Monday, November 22, 2010

Wendy's Natural Cut Fries. For Real.

This past weekend I was at a conference with school and on the way home we stopped and got Wendy's (my go-to fast food). I love a Wendy's jr cheeseburger but their fries have never done it for me. Until now...

Wendy's unveiled their new natural cut fries with sea salt and I had some. Wow. 200% better than before AND they taste like actual potatoes, as opposed to McDonald's which flavors their "fries" with chemicals (did you know that? the intoxicating smell of McD's fries is actually a chemical not flavoring). 

Check out Wendy's fries here.

PS - yes, I eat fast food. Deal with it.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

What's up.

Hope you're having a good week! Just a quick hello from my sleepy pets to you:
 Love, 
Beamer, Sebastian, and Tyson

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

House Tour: Office Update

In March of this year, I blogged about a project I was doing with Eric when he was in town that involved staining wood. I showed this picture:
 And then, like a good blogger, I didn't talk about that project again for a while. And that is because it has been ongoing and incomplete. I finally have recognized that perfection is not attainable and am going to show part of the project. 

I realized I have never blogged about our office until I actually started the process of fixing it. I referenced this room (which is our 3rd bedroom) when I blogged about buying a chair for it but other than that, have not shown it. Here is what we started with, pictured upon moving in and putting our stuff in the room:
It was actually white when we moved in (like everything else) and we painted it a coffee color, left over from paint from the old place. 

Well so after working with Eric on our staining project in March and then doing a few things here and there, here's what the room looks like now:
The project I mentioned was to build this corner desk for Jake since he is in school and studies at home. We bought one piece of furniture grade wood from Lowes, had them cut it in half and trim one of the pieces so we had an 8 ft and a 6 ft piece, stained and polyed the wood, connected it with some hardware piece (it was flat metal and had holes for screws), put braces in the wall that we screwed it in to, and set it on a filing cabinet I sprayed black and a small shelf I sprayed black as well. 

For the shelves above, I bought brackets from Lowes and took the shelves that were in our front closet (we didn't need them since we are hanging coats in that closet now). I love that we were able to reuse nice wood that is original to the house. 

We got the cork squares at Target - they were originally hot glued to the walls (!) but that didn't work out so well and now they are nailed in with very small nails. The white board is from Target too and Jake uses it a lot when he studies. 

 On the wall by the door, I have the chair I bought from Gary's Antiques with a shelving unit I had in college (but sprayed black), my $15 Walmart lamp, Jake's grandfather's jersey, and my birthday present from Brie, which is an art piece of owls with maps in the background that we got at Cooper Young Fest.

What I love the most is that this room went from a place where extra things we don't use go to a room that we use every day. The orange futon is still in the room, just on the opposite wall. I still want to get something to hang above it and will show that when I do. 

Monday, November 15, 2010

Sweet CeCe's Froyo.

I love YoLo. I mention it in my blog posts often. So today, when I decided after reading on Dining with Monkeys about Sweet CeCes to check it out, I felt a twinge of guilt with a side of excitement (since it was maybe a little espionage). What swayed me was reading that they had Mint FroYo. See, I love mint. 


We got there and surveyed the place. Sweet CeCe's is a chain and part of the "self serve froyo" fad. In fact, it is now one of four in a mile stretch of Poplar (it is next to Chili's if you were wondering). 

Obviously, I decided on the mint.  
 Their toppings were in this cool dispenser thing - one thing I wondered about was whether the entire tube was the dispenser or the top was for show and they added it to the part behind the stripe - because otherwise you'd have some serious staleness issues. I'm sure they've got it covered. It looks cool. They've also got some fresh toppings on the side as well. Oh and their spoon dispenser is wicked cool...
 Our order was about the same as YoLo (a little less because I didn't get a lot of froyo, being full from a delicious lunch at Dixie Cafe). Honestly... I couldn't really tell much of a difference. YoLo has more toppings and more flavors I like (Espresso is my favorite) but they do change theirs often and I don't know if Sweet CeCe's does that. The vibe wasn't as "cool" but that could have been my bias swaying that feeling. Or it could have been the pepto-bismal pink walls stressing me out. I love pink but really, a bit intense. 

All in all, I'll be lobbying for YoLo to get mint because it was DELISH and I'd like to go back to visiting my favorite local establishment, my first love, YoLo. If not, Sweet CeCe's might get added in the rotation when I am craving mint instead of espresso. 

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Fall.

I'm a big fan of spring. I love the excitement it brings - new things, new ideas, new promises. Spring is a time of rebirth. You're coming out of a cold winter into a warm season - finally, warmth. 

With that being said, fall is growing on me. Fall continues to impress me with its beautiful colors (which I realized must have inspired my home decor, as they are very "fall leaf-y". I love the excitement of fall - a different excitement. The hint of holidays, the fun of seasonal festivities. 

Fall is (finally) upon us, although last week seemed to tell us otherwise. Fall in the neighborhood:






 

Friday, November 12, 2010

I'm loving... headbands.

Last weekend I went out and got two new headbands, the kind with the fun details. I had been wanting one and didn't know why I couldn't find one I liked - then I realized I had been trying on lots with things that stuck out far and that bothered me, it seemed too young kid-ish. So I found two that had things that laid flat. And now, I'm in love:

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Muddy's T contest!

You guys know I love Muddy's Bake Shop.... I've blogged about it here and again, here. Well, when they announced they were going to have a t-shirt design contest based on Memphis love, I drew up a quick design, thinking nothing of it (because I have no design talent, don't own any software, etc - I use Word and a scanner, for real). Well, imagine my surprise when my design was one of four chosen for the contest! Mine is the hand-drawn "Memphis is.." one, but since then I changed the font to a better font. 



There are three other super cute (and legit) designs, so if those are chosen, I understand but I am still very excited. Here's the page to view the designs and vote:

Muddy's Bake Shop T-Design

And, if nothing else, when you find yourself in East Memphis and craving sweets, stop at Muddy's and check out their cupcakes. My favorites are the Red Velvet (Frankly Scarlet) and the Mint (Grasshopper).

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Make this: Spiced Chicken with Lime and Green Beans

Our next meal to make on the meal plan was Real Simple's Spiced Chicken with Lime and Green Beans (well, they had shrimp but I don't do shrimp).

Here's our version:
 Estimated costs for this meal:
Chicken - $3 (1/2 of the $6 pack)
Green Beans - $2
Jalapenos - $.50
Limes - $1
Cilantro - $.50
We already had the rice, garlic, and spices so this ended up being a cheap meal at $7. 

We couldn't find red jalapenos so we used regular green ones. The chicken worked well with it but I'm sure if you like shrimp it would be good. I really liked this and the taste was very different than most of the meals we make - the lime and cilantro were a really good flavor.

Happy (Almost!) Thanksgiving

November 1st came and it was time to take down my Halloween decor and put up my Thanksgiving decor. I am pretty excited about Thanksgiving this year - seeing family, going to Josh's last season game at LSU (on the road at Ark. actually), seeing ELISE(!!), and getting some time off from school makes me very happy. 

I wanted to share my decor with you:
 

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Weekend fun.

Test week two of med school has come and gone. Last week, Jake had his four tests for this period and studied so much. He did well and over the weekend we packed in as much fun as possible to celebrate the week being over. 

Friday night we met up with friends at Memphis Pizza Cafe (a favorite - we get the ultimate cheese and add pepperoni and jalapeno) before hitting up Hi Tone for a show. We heard Griffin House and he was AWESOME. Here is a song he played at his show:

Griffin House - The Guy That Says Goodbye to You on You Tube

There were some hilarious characters at the show but the music was really great. I hadn't seen a live show in a while and it was a lot of fun.


Saturday we went for a long walk around the neighborhood and then hit up YoLo for our froyo fix:
I have now perfected my YoLo mix. I get Espresso, Strawberry, and Birthday Cake in three separate piles with oreo and sprinkles on the top, with a little pile of cookie dough on the side. Jake goes the fruit and birthday cake route. Either way, you win. 

That night we got $10 tickets to the Grizz game - they were up against the Timberwolves the whole time, which was a new experience for me as a Grizz fan:
As you can see, there weren't too many people at the game but we still had a good time. 

Sunday was church and then a trip to the grocery store. I then made my rice krispies for the Halloween party and we went over to Jake's fam for their Halloween party. No dressing up for me this year... I just wasn't into it. 

It was a great weekend and one of the most busy I've had in a while!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Make this: Linguine with Asparagus and Pine Nuts

Tonight was the night to try our first of four meal-planned recipes: Linguine with Asparagus and Pine Nuts. 

Here's our take on it:


This meal cost about $20 -
Chicken (2 breasts): about $3 (package was $6 for 4)
Linguine (1 package): about $2 (but there are two meals worth)
Asparagus: $3
Pine Nuts: $8 (but we'll use the rest later)
Parmesan Cheese: $8 for a block (but we will use several times)
Olive Oil, Garlic, Salt, and Pepper we had on hand. 

Seeing it all listed out, I'd say the pine nuts weren't worth $8 since neither one of us noticed them. If pine nuts are your thing, great, if not, don't splurge on them. Without the pine nuts, this would be a cheap and fast meal.

It had a great simple, light taste, which was what I wanted. We did add chicken to it since we wanted some protein. I especially liked the asparagus in there. Trying to eat more veggies, you know.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
 
Site Design By Designer Blogs