Getting the Mojo Back

Thanks to some prodding from Mara....I realized I had not been scrapping since...ummm.....before Christmas?? The sad thing is I made a December Daily album ala Ali Edwards and took pictures all through the month for it. And then never put it together. Nice. Thankfully she prodded me right back over to two of my favorite scrapbooking message boards and encouraged me to join in on some May fun and motivation. And boy has it worked!!

In case you were unawares (and seriously...how could you possibly not know), May 2nd was National Scrapbooking Day! Did anyone catch Michelle Obama showing off a few of her favorites layouts of Barack and the kids? Okay well she didn't really do that...but it's just one short step from organic gardening to scrapbooking. Back to reality.

Color Me Daisy and Moments 2 Remember are two awesome places to go for some scrappy fun and inspiration. CMD is having a month long "Be Happy" online crop full of challenges and prizes. Leave a comment on their blog, because they are awarding a RAK a day for the entire month to commenters! They have a fun message board and their kits are to DIE for. Always chock full of beautiful paper, lots of embellies, and beautiful add-ons to tempt you!

M2R is also having a month long online crop to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day. They have an around the world theme, with challenges based on different parts of the globe each week. Their design team does incredible work and the crop has been very inspiring....really gotten me off my butt and back scrapping again. Their message board is super friendly and supportive; I know several of the ladies have become friends in "real life." They have monthly challegnes, and the design team also does monthly tutorials on different techniques. Everyone that posts there is really talented, lots and lots of great eye candy in the gallery. And if you want one of their kits, you have to act fast, they always sell out super quick!

So enough talk. The point is that I've been diving back into my pictures and getting a lot done and having fun! If you need some inspiration too, check out these sites, they'll be sure to get your creative juices flowing again. I'll leave you with some of my recent favorite layout and projects. A lot of them are really simple, but I've definitely got my mojo back!




Thanks for looking!!

Uppers & Bottoms & Counters -- Oh My!

Susan is hosting her weekly Metamorphosis Monday blog party over at her blog: Between Naps on the Porch . Check out the changes that have been going on around here, then head over her way and look at all the other amazing transformations!
I know all of you have been waiting to see some pics of our kitchen remodel. Try to hold down the excitement. We debated redoing the kitchen....over and over and over. We are really hoping to sell the house this summer and have been a bit addicted to HGTV lately (okay I have, but Jason watches it too!). After hearing "kitchens sell a house" about a bazillion times, and looking at our crooked cabinets every single day as we walk in the front door, we decided to take the plunge and go for it!

We're still in the middle of things, but I'll update you so far. We've been doing the vast majority of the work ourselves. So for time and budgetary reasons, things have been done piece by piece. Which has actually been a good way to do things, I can't imagine living without a kitchen for weeks on end!

Without further ado, some befores:
Nice empty space in the cabinets. And where's the stove you say? Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay over on the other side of the room:
No, it's not my photography skills, the cabinets really are that crooked. And what about the fridge? Surely we have a fridge? Ah yes, it's tucked around the corner:
Work triangle? Ha! We don't need no stinkin' work triangle! Moving walls and plumbing and gas lines was not an option. We needed to figure out a better flow and a better way to define the kitchen from the living room, while keeping the same general setup. The front door opens right into the "great room" which is currently defined by this lovely sight:

Sweet lino in the kitchen, nasty carpet in the living room! First order of business was putting up a half wall. I was a little unsure about this, afraid it would make a not-too-big space seem even smaller.However, once it was up, the kitchen area felt twice as big!
Now we have room for a little rolling island/cart up against the wall (which I don't have a pic of). Since there is hardly any counter space next to the stove, this is perfect for rolling over there to do veggie prep. Jason and Roger did an awesome job!
Plus, when we have people over, they'll be able to sit in the living room without feeling like they're in the sink.

Next step? New cabinets! I absolutely, completely, without reservation HEART our new cabs! They are the already assembled, straight off the shelf line from the Despot. Verrrry convenient:

And they look great! It's so nice to put dishes on the shelves without being afraid they'll bow and crack. Old crooked shelves and sticky hood:
New straight cabinets with new microwave/hood combo. Love the space-saving!
We ripped off the old white laminate and forest green tiles (matched the carpet) and put down the lower cabs. We also hung a new upper cabinet on the left side of the window, to help define the kitchen space. Between that and a corner base cabinet, we gained a lot more space. Plywood is all ready for new counters!

And so I bring you, our granite counters. They are so beautiful, I love them, so glad we picked this color. This is where we wisely let the professionas take over. After all the work we have done to the house, it was quite an indulgence to watch somebody else! Besides, granite cutting is really better left to those who know what they're doing:
They did a fantastic job! Check it out:

Now the half wall is a sweet little spot for sitting and having breakfast in the morning (and checking my blogroll on my laptop!). It'll be a perfect bar for parties too. We got a new stainless dishwasher and sink and now the stove looks really crappy so that's next on our list. Yea.

We're thrilled with how everything's turned out so far. There's a lot of work still to be done, but seeing this progress is super encouraging. It feels like a different house already! I'll try and be better about posting.....so they aren't as long as this one!

Head on over to Susan's to check out more cool metamorphoses.

And make sure to check back here. Next up........we're tackling this:

Starbucks Knock-Offs!

There are so many stories right now, in the media and in the blogosphere, about people saving money and changing their habits during this recession. Much has been made about the "latte factor," the way that little daily expenditures can add up to big money over time.

I am definitely a coffee addict, and since their is (or was) a Starbucks on every corner, I'm a bit of a Starbucks addict too. I've never gone there for a daily coffee fix, we brew our own at home. But I love their lattes, mochas, frappuccinos, you name it! I'm not neccessarily particular to their brand. I love Peet's espresso, and there are several good local coffee shops around we enjoy going to (I especially like Coffee Works). But most of the time we end up at good ole Starbucks.

I realized that while we weren't spending exorbitant amounts of money there (it's a pretty cheap way to pass a weekend morning), we could stand to save some money. And so I learned......to make Starbucks knockoffs! I'm totally Hooked on this, and I'll share some easy tips with you.

First off, if you don't already have an espresso machine, don't buy one. That will not save you money! Most coffee drinks are perfectly fine made with strongly brewed coffee, especially from a French press. Target has several perfectly good presses for under $20. Just make sure your beans are coarsely ground and you press SLOWLY. Trust me on this. You can also get a milk frother like this one, for around $15. You'll have to heat the milk first, but you'll get a nice foam with one of these hand-held tools.

If you are lucky enough to have an espresso maker, USE IT! We have an incredibly awesome machine, a wedding gift from Jason's friend Roger. It is of a quality that we never would have purchased for ourselves!






Once you get comfortable making a basic espresso/coffee and milk drink, this is when you get to have fun! All the tasty flavors Starbucks puts in your lattes? They sell everything in their stores, but you can find similar products much cheaper. You can get Torani syrup for a good price at most grocery/discount stores (I got mine at Food Source, which is no gourmet market!). Target also has their own brand of syrups, including sugar-free. Cruise the bakery/spice section, looking for tasty add-ins like cocoa powder, vanilla sugar, whatever you like! I especially enjoy pumpkin pie spice sprinkled in my drinks during the winter:

It helps to have a super cute set of cups and saucers (thanks Annie & Steve!!):

Caramel ice cream topping + spiced apple cider = super yummy on a cold night! I have also found some really yummy recipes online for different drink combinations and add-ins. You can whip up this recipe for Chocolate Caramel Latte Syrup and keep it in your fridge for a super sweet morning add-in! Allrecipes.com has a great tutorial for making hot and cold coffee drinks.

Speaking of cold drinks, now that it's getting warm, haul out your blender! The trick to tasty iced coffee that's not watered down? Coffee ice cubes! Next time you make a pot and have a bunch leftover, freeze it in a couple of ice cube trays and then put the cubes in a freezer bag. Substitute for ice cubes in any iced coffee recipe. I like this one and this one, but your imagination is the only limit. And of course, you can use lowfat/nonfat versions of the essential ingredients to make a drink with waaaaaaay less calories than a Frappuccino! For those of you who like green tea, check out this awesome lowfat Green Tea Frapp recipe my sister posted on her blog. I think it's even better than the Starbucks version!
Last time she came to visit she brought me a little recipe kit with all the ingredients for making these! Isn't she sweet?

So there you have it. We rarely go out for coffee or lattes anymore. I get a lot of satisfaction out of making them at home. We're saving a little money, and it's fun to experiment with different recipes. If any of you have a great one -- feel free to send it my way! And if you have never tried it before, go for it (and let me know how it turns out!). I'm totally Hooked!

Now head on over to Julia's blog for Hooked on Fridays and see what everyone else is Hooked on!

Reno 911!

I know it's been way too long since my last blog (sorry Mara!), and we have been up to quite a lot lately! Back in April Jason and I headed up to Reno with Mom for a big big big bowling tournament. It's the United States Bowling Congress Women's National Tournament. Which is probably not the correct official name, but it is BIG. It runs for about 3 months in Reno at the national Bowling Stadium and features people from all over the country. Mom was bowling Team with some other wacky ladies from Brentwood. Us three decided to go up early by ourselves, for a little pre-tournament fun & gambling!

Of course we had to stop along the way for a little geocaching. We had a little trouble finding a few, since a lot of spots were still under snow. Jason prevailed here:
I found the geocache at this site, which makes me disproportionately happy:

The vista of Donner lake in the clear spring air was absolutely beautiful. Anyone hungry??(In Mom's defense here, although she is pretty short, I think I was standing uphill of her.)

Geocaching is always a great way to break up a road trip! We made it to Reno and checked out the National Bowling Stadium, all ready for the big tournament.

Mom was pretty excited...........
............as was Jason.
Together they scoped out the competition:

Let me tell you, it is really hard to get good pictures in a bowling alley. Especially when you're not allowed to use a flash. It might distract the bowlers!

We had a few days before Mom was scheduled to bowl, so we spent the time checking out the local sights (Jason had never been to Reno before), eating at buffets, drinking watered-down drinks, gambling, and just soaking up the overall classiness of Reno.


Mom played some Omaha Hold-Em (keeping her sunglasses on of course), Jason ruled the 25 cent roulette table, and I found $3 blackjack at the Cal-Neva. I learned some great tips from the dealers there and came out $5 ahead after playing for two nights!

The tournament day came, and Mom and her team were ready to roll. Literally!

Check out Mom's form!

Unfortunately Jason and I had to leave before they were finished bowling. Mom claims she didn't bowl as well as she would have liked, but she's pretty competitive and hard on herself (gee....that didn't get passed to any of us kids right?). We'll have to wait till the end of the summer to see how her team stacked up.

All in all, we had an absolute blast! Reno was cheesey and skeezy, just like it should be. It was so much fun to spend a couple of days with Mom, especially to see her in her element! Thanks so much for taking us -- we will definitely do this again!!!!!!