sunday eats

This Sunday, the Husband and I headed out of Suburbia and ventured downtown to check out Dig Indiana, a local food festival-type adventure. I read about it a few weeks prior and bought discounted tickets. The Brother also was able to come, which was nice. There were booths from restaurants and their respective chefs, breweries, wineries, and local food sources. The weather was delightful. I brought my DSLR but found it hard to balance my drink with my plate and eat while standing, let alone take photos at the same time. I did manage to snap some pics when we sat down though - much to the Husband's dismay. The Brother didn't seem to mind.
There's a fancy dancy JW Marriott downtown now. We're all ready for the Superbowl in 2012!

I was even lucky to get a photo with the Husband - he proposed to me not far from where we sat down here 4 and a half years ago! Time flies.

So that was our enjoyable Sunday - do anything good this weekend?

what i've been eating lately

I've not felt inspired lately. Between the ridiculous heat and being busy, I've been reading other people's blogs but neglecting my own. So instead of something terribly creative, I bring you a summary of what I've been eating lately:

• 
  
  GRAPES. Lots of grapes.
  I'm doing Weight Watchers so I keep a bunch of them at my desk to prevent uneeded grazing in the break room.


• 
  
  Fresh Corn
  It's that season in Indiana, and the husband and I hit up our local farmer's market every Saturday to buy My Dad's Sweet Corn.


• 
  
  Baked Almond French Toast
  I don't have a recipe because I just wing it, but I can tell you two things about this awesome dish - 1)baking is so much easier than cooking French toast on a griddle and 2)almonds and french toast are awesome. I use a little almond extract and top my toast with sliced almonds and raspberries.


• 
  
  Grilled Chicken and Corn Salad with Avocado and Parmesan
  I subbed limes for lemons and manchego for parm because that's what we had in the house and it was SO. DARN. GOOD.


• 
  
  Turkey Jerky
  I'm not ashamed, I like jerky. It's tasty and low in calories. I got a two pack at Costco and keep it in my desk for when the grapes just don't cut it.


• 
  
  Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper Quakes
  The combination sounds questionable but trust me, these little rice cakes are delicious.

So that's it for now - hopefully I'll be inspired lately and things will pick up around here.

summer salad

YUM!

trellis transformation

When we bought our house, there were two established clematis plants. The blooms themselves are quite lovely but the trellises? Ugh. Do you see the wood on the left that's busted off? And the post nailed in at the bottom that is holding it up? Not really attractive. A few questions from the husband and some renderings, and we were off! He built two of the trellises out of cedar we picked up at Lowe's. He came up with the design too, he's awesome like that.
This is the clematis in the backyard - I ended up doing a hack job to get it off of the old trellis but it'll grow back.

And this is the side yard - quite the improvement! It looks a little wonky but it will (hopefully) fill in.

pretty pretty pantry

Over the long weekend I finally tackled a project that was on my list for awhile - I organized our pantry. Not sexy or very exciting, but it had to be done! Here's a quick phone photo to show you what it looked like before...

When we bought our house, I bought some contact paper and lined the shelves before throwing all of the food in! You can't necessarily tell here, but the contact paper didn't stick to the bottom of the shelves and looked pretty bad.

A few weeks ago at JoAnn Fabrics, I found a cute fabric and thought it would be cute to line the pantry shelves with. The shelves were a royal pain in the rear because I had to take them out one by one, starting from the top and then put them back starting from the bottom. A few hours (and sweat and tears) later, here is the after...

I cut the fabric to size and used Fabri Tac to adhere the fabric to the shelves, both on the bottom and a thin bead on the top.

I also threw out a lot of stale or expired food - something that I wanted all too long to do! I should calendar myself to clean things out at least once a year. Am I the only slacker out there with stale boxes of Wheat Thins and soup from 2009?!

jumping back on the skinny train

Holy cannoli, have I been a busy lady. One that forgets to blog, obviously. In the past week, I:

• made black bean burgers a la Annie's Eats - DELICIOUS


• fantasized about taking a trip to the Four Seasons Nevis because of their great specials right now


• looked up the location of Nevis on Google Maps becuase I had no idea where it was


• started back up on Weight Watchers to prevent by rear from getting any larger


• commiserated with a coworker who is doing WW as we ate grapes and bemoaned not eating the delicious cake in the break room


• had some red wine and a fire in the chimnea with the husband on Saturday night


• searched 3 DSW locations and all of the internets looking for a pair of Bandolino pumps that a coworker of mine recently got - I'm hell bent on finding them


• worked a lot


• weeded the yard and tended to my garden - I have peppers now!

Okay, so my list isn't that exciting but such is life! Have a great week.

reupholstery magic

This used to be our family room. This photo was taken after the floors were installed but before the windows were replaced. And we got a new rug. And TV. And ugly Craigslisted TV cabinet that was a total mistake. But I digress. We're here to talk about the sofa. The sofa was a hand-me-down I acquired when I was in grad school. I was thankful to have it, because it was a nice print and it meant I didn't have to buy anything! The matching ottomans and coffee table are also hand me downs from the same generous people.

I thought I wanted a sectional in our family room. We got a big TV and it made sense... except that I wasn't sure. The giant sectional I pined over would have to always stay in the family room because of its size, which meant no rearranging or moving furniture. Plus the placement of the fireplace in the room is a bit strange. So I started thinking about two couches.

I figured I could get my old couch reupholstered. I checked out the label of the couch and as it turns out, it was a fancy brand made in North Carolina with down-filled cusions. I can't believe I didn't notice! I wondered how after 6 years it still looked the same as when I got it. After a lot of fabric searching and coming to an agreement with the Husband, I found a great cotton/linen blend and an upholstery guy that does meticulous work. It was delivered Saturday. These photos aren't great, but that's what I get for taking them at night. As you can tell, Miss Patty is SO EXCITED. I'm really happy with it - I plan to find some more fun fabric for pillows and get the little ottomans upholstered too. This is another recent purchase - an ottoman from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams. It's a darker brown color when the camera flash isn't so bright. It's between the two couches now. And you can see the Craigslist TV cabinet of shame. Also in the photo are the love of my life... and the Husband's feet. Just kidding, Husband! But the iPad does have Angry Birds, and I do love me some Angry Birds. So that's the progress in the house- it's ever changing, but sometimes it seems like it's at a snail's pace. Baby steps!