Sadie Lady

Hosting Thanksgiving

2012-11-27T20:04:00.001-05:00

For this Thanksgiving, Michael and I hosted and I cooked our very first turkey! We had my family and Michael's family (plus Omar) over for dinner and it was a great success! I had lots of fun putting together a festive display on the table and mantle, using many items from our wedding decor and a few new creations. I went for a more traditional but simple yellow, orange, gold, and green. The flowers were a wonderful addition to the display and provided by my mother-in-law.

The chalkboard was added to hide the ugly gray TV behind it :) and it was the best I could come up with at the last minute.

Beautiful fall colors! The vase and wood centerpiece were both used in the centerpieces for our wedding.

The banner and vases were a Pinterest creation, however I think I have some better ways to make the vases work better.

Each place setting had a place card made from tree branch slices, which can now be used as ornaments.

The corn kernel vases were a Pinterest idea and I used extra Eucalyptus left over as a sort of table runner.

This is a shot my sister took with Instagram, so sorry for the quality but I really enjoy it :)

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had some fun entertaining for those who were hosting!

Erin

IKEA Semi-Hack: Nightstands

2012-11-15T17:36:00.000-05:00

Michael and I are slowly working on our bedroom. Our most recent addition is a nightstand for each of us. My parents bought me two of these from IKEA for my birthday. I had seen this post on Pinterest where this woman took these super cheap pine dressers and turned them into really pretty nightstands so I decided to take a stab at it! I took hurricane sandy as an opportunity to get working on these. We are going for a gray/blue color scheme in our room with lots of neutral colors and pops of yellow. Therefore, we opted for Classic Gray from Minwax as our stain of choice.

Since I am still new to this and do not remember to take before or in process pictures yet, you just get to see the (semi) finished product! Take a look at IKEA's site if you want to see how plain they were beforehand.

We LOVE them!

Since Michael's side is a little darker, I could not get any natural light pictures of his side, I did not just intentionally leave him out :)

I think the neutral colors of the lights go really great with the gray.

We really like the weathered look that the stain created.

All the knobs are from Hobby Lobby at 50% off!

There are still more improvements to come, one of which is almost finished. Hint: it has to do with the inside of the drawers! We also plan on adding a finished top and perhaps something to the bottom since it has that weird lip piece. What do you think? Our bedroom is slowly coming together, here are some more items on the list:

Headboard
2nd Dresser
Wall Art
New Curtains

Thanks for stopping by!

Erin

Cold Nights

2012-11-10T20:00:00.000-05:00

Is anyone else still holding out to keep their heat off? Michael and I are both always hot so we don't particularly mind the cold and still have not turned on our heat. I am thinking we (ok I am) are going to cave soon. We figured out how to work the gas fireplace but it gives me a headache and it only heats the one floor. Recently, it has been a race to see how fast we can eat our dinner before it is cold - cold dinner = unhappy Erin! The only really nice thing (besides the money savings) has been the fact that once we are in bed and have warmed up the covers, neither of us has gotten cold at night - thanks to our amazing down duvet/comforter - and it has gotten down to 58 in our house! I guess that really isn't that cold, but it feels colder. Even Sadie has decided that we are worthy enough to cuddle with at night, as long as we are keeping her warm.

One semi-benefit is that coming into a cold house in the afternoon has made me want to work out more because then my body gets warmed up and I am pretty god for an hour or so after. Here is to holding out for a few more nights, before cold feet and food take take over the money saving side of me!

P.S. I have been doing fairly good at the whole working out thing, keeping up with it a few times a week and I feel SO much better the next day after having worked out the night before. Let's hope I can keep it up :)

A little football weekend...

2012-11-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today we are off to Charlottesville to go to the UVA/Miami game with my family. My sister was able to get us free tickets since it is Veterans weekend and she is in AF-ROTC at UVA! So even though I don't particularly like football and UVA has not been doing the greatest, I am excited for tailgate food and hanging out with family on a crisp fall day. Michael has made pulled BBQ from his first deer of the season and I have made some fun little dessert treats, I will have to post about them later :)

Have a great Saturday!

Erin

Halloween Recap...a week late

2012-11-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

This year was the first year since living on my own that I had trick or treaters! We didn't really get them at my parents house either so I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, due to the storm, Michael and I's plans to carve pumpkins and decorate a bit was ruined so Halloween afternoon I picked up some spider web, 3 pumpkins (one for Sadie too!), and decorated the bushes outside the house. I wanted to make sure that kids knew our house was giving out candy since the houses right around us were not. I even had the awesome idea at the last second to play Pandora out the window from my phone (ghetto style) on the "Halloween Theme" station. It was actually pretty spooky sounding from what I could hear :)

Since I was by myself (Michael was off hunting) I did not get any pictures of the actual candy giving, but we were quite successful - all my candy was gone and I had to turn my lights out by 8! I was a bit worried how Sadie would do with the doorbell ringing and the knocking, and as expected she went pretty crazy barking the first few times and I had to lock her in a room while I opened the door. By the end though, she was over the whole barking thing and did not even get off the couch.

Here she is decked out in her homemade bandana from a Halloween dish towel scored for $1 at Hobby Lobby!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween, I can't believe Thanksgiving is two weeks away!!

Most Awesome Refried Beans

2012-11-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

One of my new favorite recipes is actually a crock pot recipe and it is super easy and super delicious. I have made it multiple times since finding it and it has been a smash hit with everyone and lasts forever! The recipe comes from Chef In Training, and Michael and I have added a few extra ingredients to doctor it up for our liking. This is perfect for a get together - thinking tailgates or football viewing parties!

Ingredients:

1 package of pinto beans
1/2 onion
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 stick of butter
Salt, to taste
Cheddar cheese
Salsa

What to do...

Put the pinto beans in a crock pot with water that covers them, add half an onion on top (uncut), and the garlic.
Slow cook on low for 8 hours, you could probably also do this on high for 4 hours or so - just make sure the beans are soft enough to be mashed in the end!
After the beans are ready, drain the beans, saving the liquid.
Mash the beans up and add the butter and salt along with some of the drained liquid. I usually mash them like you would potatoes until they are pretty well mixed and then I use a hand mixer to get them extra smooth and to add some extra mixing.
Make sure you add enough liquid so that when the beans set up they are not too dry - they absorb the liquid fast!
Add cheddar cheese on top and mix in or leave to melt!

Enjoy!

Note: To reheat, we usually add a little water or salsa to add some moisture back when it is heating up.

Rustic Stand on the Frontier of Craftiness

2012-10-18T19:13:00.001-04:00

Who likes my title? I thought it was pretty clever and thought about it during my most genius-idea producing time...the shower of course! You may be wondering why it is so clever and lucky for you I am about to tell you.

A few weeks back I was contacted by Charley Cooke of Cooke's Frontier (ah, there is the key to my awesome title) to do a review and giveaway of our cupcake stand from our Etsy shop. I was super excited because I had always seen bloggers doing giveaways and I always wondered how they teamed up with these people to give away the items, and lo and behold it was happening to me!

Charley did a great review of our cupcake stand and came up with so many cool ideas for alternative ways to use the stand - fairy themed parties anyone?? She also did a really awesome mockup for Halloween, go check it out HERE to see more pictures and some other super cool ideas. And duh, if any of you out there want to win this stand for free don't miss the super easy opportunity over on her blog when you are visiting.

Thanks for stopping by!

Erin

hello 25, goodbye bad habits

2012-10-17T14:12:00.001-04:00

Just dropping in for a quick post while I begin the recovery road back from two weeks of birthday celebrations. It is amazing how easy it is to get in the habit of eating horribly based off 1 or 2 nights of eating fried and chocolatey awesomeness. I wish it was only so easy to keep going with healthy habits. Michael and I were fortunate enough to have multiple celebrations with friends and family for our birthdays including a surprise family dinner, beer tasting, wine tasting, and of course great food.

While I have been known to start these healthy regimes and lose them after awhile, I am trying a new tactic of putting it out here where I can feel accountable to someone (even if there are only a couple people reading) and for all you who have been privy to my phases of getting healthy cough*ErikKara*cough #newlyengaged and are doubtful of my commitment, well to you I only hope that I can come back in a few months and say BOOM.

Yesterday I started P90X again and I really felt so much better about myself afterwards and this morning so if I can just keep that feeling in mind to reach my end goal (actually finishing!) I should be successful. On the other hand, I can feel a difference between my body now and my body two years ago when I did P90X the first time - hence 25 = getting old. I have also started a new meal plan that includes mostly chicken, rice, veggies, and other fresh foods and so far I have been thoroughly enjoying how easy dinner is to make now and how great I feel after dinner.

So bring it on holidays - I will be searching high and low for ways to distract myself from all your awesome baked good-ness.

Actually saw this on Pinterest this morning and thought it was hilarious:

Happy Birthday to Michael!

2012-10-03T20:28:00.000-04:00

Today is Michael's birthday, my best friend and new husband! I was lucky enough to get the day off but he was not :( This morning I made him breakfast in bed, made his lunch, AND gave him his first birthday present before work - I am such an awesome wife! But seriously, I had a great time today surprising him by cleaning out the storage closet like he has wanted and cooking him an awesome meal of imitation Chick-Fil-A nuggets (and sauce!) and homemade potato chips! The chips were from Paula Dean and were super simple and A-mazing, check out this two step recipe, here. The nuggets were also great but I had a little too much breading to chicken ratio because I forgot to cut down the recipe for just two chicken breasts, whoops! I found this recipe over on Table for Two. The only thing I changed was that I marinated the chicken in pickle juice beforehand, something I had read somewhere else and it really did make them taste more authentic! For the big finale, aka dessert, I made chocolate peanut butter Reeses cupcakes. I actually made these yesterday because Michael wanted to bring them in to work, and they were a big hit! The recipe was adapted from Chef in Training - I just love her recipe index!

The big thing I did differently was that I crushed up some Reeses cups and put them in the cupcake batter before baking - mmm :)

Check out the deliciousness in action!

Only put a little bit of batter in the bottom.

Smash up some Reeses

Add the Reeses to the batter and pour more batter on top.

Now on to my most favorite kitchen gadget!

Homemade PB frosting = awesomeness.

I don't have a frosting piper so I improvised with some advice from my Mom.

Messy but it worked!

Perfect birthday cupcake!

Enjoy!!

IKEA Hack: Storage Bench

2012-10-01T20:51:00.000-04:00

I am pretty excited about this hack that we did with a $2 scrap piece from IKEA. Michael has been using this IKEA shelf/box thing as a nightstand for a few years now. He found it in the damaged/scrap section. We decided to turn it into a storage bench. We really wanted one for the end of our bed, and while this is a bit too small for our king size bed - it will do for now! And in the future we plan on turning it into a toy box :)

Here is what we started with, basically just a box with no top.

Then Michael created some legs using 2x4 and some legs we found at Home Depot. He also created a top for the opening out of plywood. At this point I was pretty impressed already.

Then I did one coat of primer and two coats of paint - Bahama Breeze I believe - but honestly I am too tired to go down and look :) I also picked out a fabric and did my first ever upholstery project, however we have decided that the fabric isn't really what we want so we are now on the hunt for something with more yellow in it. I didn't get any photos at these stages, but I did get some from last night when Michael added the crown molding. This is an in action, right before bed shot.

And finally, we have the finished product!

Here is the bench in the room - I think the color was a bold choice but I really enjoy it!

This picture is a bit darker for some reason but I thought it was cool with the light literally streaming in the window.

Here is a little closer up picture of the fabric. I really like the fabric but I don't like it next to the bedspread.

Let's do a quick before and after:

Pretty awesome if I do say so myself! And now we have a storage bench for a room and a future toy box for any kids that come along. When we get our new fabric I think we will add an extra layer of foam to make it a little thicker on top - I just was not sure how much to buy at first.

And this turned out so great that when I was at IKEA this weekend, I found another but slightly larger piece of wood EXACTLY the same. Coffee table here we come!

Designer Bookshelf

2012-09-18T07:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I am definitely the first one to admit that I am really not very good with matching, creativeness, or design, but I really enjoy what we did with the bookshelf Michael's mom gave us in exchange for cleaning out things from his childhood room. We have a wall in our living room between the two windows that was just dying for a tall bookshelf and now we have one less wall to hang things on (side note: we have almost nothing on our walls and we have been in our house for 5 months now). This bookshelf worked perfectly and just one year ago I would have stacked it full of every book that could fit and call it a day, but now after a year of some intense design blog reading I have been getting more inspired and Michael and I created some pretty cool displays on the shelves with things we already had! There are still lots of books, but only those that made the cut after much scrutiny. Also, please excuse the picture quality - I need to a) charge the battery on my nice camera and b) take some time to learn all the awesome things I can do with said nice camera.

Full view, still need something on the top.

Top two shelves, with our wedding wine in the back.

The bottom two shelves have some classics aka those books you read for school and hated it but maybe someday you will read them again and appreciate. We also have some LOTR and C.S. Lewis in there.

Harry Potter is of course on top, complete with nerdy 3-D glasses from the movie :) and yes we DO know that we are missing some books - those are to come!

Currently reading section with the engagement present from my sisters and our ring box from our wedding.

Michael's beloved Game of Thrones (I just watch the show).

And finally, the history section since Michael is a history buff, and people might think we are intellectual.

So there you have it, not exactly designer quality but much better than anything I have had before! I think it needs a bit more color but I think that is a project for down the road and it definitely needs something on top, but we can't decide what that is yet - any suggestions??

Feature Craft: Earring Hanger

2012-09-17T16:17:00.001-04:00

A few months ago right around the wedding, I read a post over on I Heart Organizing about a fun and crafty earring hanger. About a month ago I showed it to Michael and of course his response was, "I can make that". And make it he did!

It was pretty simple to make with some decorative radiator grating, some wood, and some dark stain that we had from a previous spice rack project. I think that I might change the color of the frame eventually but for now it works well for what we have in our room. He also used a 5 x 7 frame to make me a smaller one from the leftover grating to put next to my bed.

How genius is that?? Now when I take off my earrings at night, I don't have to worry about them falling off my night stand. After he made me one, we had a few friends and family members show interest so we decided to add it to our Etsy shop. Head over and check it out!

We've Been Published!

2012-09-14T10:42:00.001-04:00

Or at least our wedding photos have :) Our wonderful photographers, who own Living Story Photography, submitted our wedding to a wedding blog, Savvy Deets Bridal, and we were published yesterday! Go here to see the post featuring Michael and I and the awesome handmade decor that Michael (and I) made. As an avid blog reader who got started when I was planning my wedding, I was so excited to see our wedding out there in the blog world! I always wondered how those weddings were chosen to be featured. Yay us! Thank you to SDB for allowing us to have our small moment of fame and for having such an awesome site to help out future brides - if you are planning a wedding or looking to in the future, be sure to check out what they have to offer!

Grilling...Pizza!

2012-09-12T20:00:00.000-04:00

Grilled pizza is a new favorite of Michael and I's. I started making homemade pizza last year when I lived in Richmond and a few friends and I had "family" dinner nights - oh how I miss those dinners! I started experimenting with toppings since I am usually just a pepperoni pizza eater. Michael and I made homemade pizza a couple times this summer and then realized we had a pizza pan that could go on the grill from one of his aunts - score! If you haven't tried grilled pizza before, you must try it as it tastes just delicious and the crust is nice and crispy.

Grilled Pizza:

Roll out your dough (we use our bread machine, but we have also bought dough from a restaurant and used pizza crusts from the grocery store) and place it on the grill pan.

Once the grill heats up (medium heat), place the pan on the grill and let cook until the bottom is a golden brown or to your liking. Usually about 5 mins.
Flip the crust over and spread olive oil on the cooked side.

Then immediately add all your toppings (it is a good idea to have all these prepped and ready to go before you start grilling). Our toppings of choice are sauce, fresh garlic, onion, zucchini, yellow squash, pepperoni, and mushrooms and green peppers for Michael.

Oh and don't forget the cheese - we usually mix some fresh mozzarella in with the shredded kind :)

Close the grill and let cook until the cheese is melted and toppings are to your preferred done-ness - but also check the crust every once in awhile to ensure nothing is burning. Usually about 5-10 mins.

Enjoy!

September Beginnings

2012-09-12T14:03:00.002-04:00

September is upon us and I feel like it was just yesterday that August was here! I have been out of school for two years now and this is the first year where I actually felt like I shouldn't be heading back to school at the end of August/early September. I helped move my sister in to her dorm at UVA and that was very nostalgic for me as well as very exciting! All the fun memories of first year came flooding back as we walked around grounds and the old dorm areas.

Just after arriving at UVA!

About to enter her new home - all 16 x 12 feet of it :)

Pretending I was staying forever.

I decided to stay on as a nanny for the year after much deliberation. I can still substitute teach and do my student teaching on my days off, so for now it should be good :) It is definitely weird only have to watch one kid now, Chase goes to pre-school two afternoons a week but his brothers are gone all day!

I am looking forward to the coming weekends, wedding events, birthdays (!), craft fairs, fall, pumpkins, cooler weather, oh and that 5K I am supposed to be running on Saturday...should be interesting. I have started working out more but I usually avoid running at all costs, especially once I realized that a) running sucks and b) there are way more fun ways to workout that don't involve running. Michael and I are getting along pretty well, we will be married for FIVE months on Friday, which seems weird to me - but time flies when you're having fun (or when you are too busy to notice). We are looking forward to some more low key weekends so that we can work on some of the many craft projects we have planned for our house :)

Speaking of Michael, he and Sadie wanted to say hi so they posed in a special picture just for the blog.

Brownie Batter Cookies

2012-09-03T10:31:00.000-04:00

Hello! It has been awhile. It has been a hectic last few weeks, but I am back with a great recipe for any chocolate lovers out there.

One of my favorite food blogs that I currently follow is chef in training. I just LOVE all the different recipes she has - the presentation, the easy to follow recipes, and the variety! I wanted to bake something with the boys a couple Fridays ago and so I perused her recipe list for some awesomeness and came across brownie batter cookies. The recipe is originally from Picky Palate. My favorite Ben and Jerry's flavor is Half Baked, which for those who have not experienced this flavor is brownie batter mixed with cookie dough, so I figured this recipe would be a good cookie equivalent. Overall, the cookies were good - my dad LOVED them, but for me I think they were missing something. I think it was either needing more salt or more brownie batter. The recipe calls for prepared brownie mix. I don't even know where to find this so I just made a batch of brownie batter from a box and added that. It worked well enough but I think it needed a little more brownie. My only other tip is to not cook them as long. I cooked mine for 10 minutes and the recipe calls for 13-15 minutes but I think mine would have been too hard.

After adding the brownie batter.

The boys had a great time making them AND eating them, I think I will try these again and search for some prepared brownie mix :)

Enjoy!

A little early for Christmas, but it was the biggest plate we could find :)

Bridal Showers and Birthday Parties

2012-08-20T21:16:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was a whirlwind weekend, but a great one at that. Friday started out awesome because I was able to bake some cookies with the kids (recipe to come) and baking always makes me happy. Friday night Michael and I decided to head downtown to be a more social married couple, but we still ended up hanging out just the two of us at the bar and being home by 10 :) He probably won't like me admitting to that, but it was still fun and we had to get up early the next morning! Saturday I had the privilege of heading down to South Boston VA for another bridal shower for my friend Jackie - lucky duck! I got to meet some of Kyle's family, which was great, and meet the wonderful cops of Prince Edward county, not so great...

Anyhoo, after that I drove back up to Richmond to meet Michael and my friend Eddie for the night and we met up with Michael's sister, Sarah, and her husband, Jason at Peter Chang's - which was AWEsome! Later that night we had a nice time catching up with some old friends and chatting with Eddie, who was kind enough to tell me that he felt he was being yelled at in my blog from the over use of exclamation marks - so in his honor I will be trying to cut down on that - but if you know me at all, you know I like to talk in a loud, excited tone anyway, so what's the difference? But honest feedback is always appreciated :)

Yesterday, Michael and I drove back from Richmond and drove out to King George to make it to a circus themed 4th birthday party! It was really cute to see all the kids so excited, and the cake was amazing:

After the party, we made a quick pitstop downtown to jump start Michael's mom's car :) and then to his parents' house to pick up some last minute items for my sister (she's leaving for college in 2 days!) and then we were finally off to our last event of the weekend - Theresa's going away family dinner! To quote Michael, dinner at the Stoecker household is always "entertaining" and we did not disappoint on this occasion either. There was lots of yelling, laughing, arguing, and crazy picture taking - and it was a great time. Theresa is going to UVA (mostly because she I made her) and I am so excited to help move her in on Wednesday.

After a long but fun weekend, I am relaxing today after a painful but necessary run (Hillary - I hope you read this!) and welcoming our 2nd sale on Etsy! Stay tuned for tomorrow, I will be posting about the delicious cookies I made last Friday.

Are those your kids?

2012-08-15T19:55:00.003-04:00

For those who do not know, I am employed as a nanny for the summer. It has been a really fun experience, and also very interesting at times! The three boys are 12, 7, and (just about to turn!) 4. When I am at the pool or out on one of our many awesome outings, people will sometimes ask if they are all mine. For those who have not seen me recently, I get mistaken for a high schooler often - so for people to think I am old enough (or perhaps not old enough...) to have a 12 year old is just strange to me! No one has ever asked if they are my brothers, which I would think would be more relevant - especially since I have an 11 year old brother.

Matthew is the one on the left, having a great time with BOY cousins!

Anyways, today was another one of those days. I took them to a free movie - Jack and Jill - which was actually pretty funny, then to the park, and then back to my house for pancakes! At Giant when we were picking up sugar, they were messing around and getting into mischief - per usual - and the cashier asked if they were mine. It really just gets me thinking - I could not imagine already having three kids! This summer has definitely allowed me to experience the responsibility of having multiple kids (although still doesn't deter me!). Going to the movies, the mall, a restaurant, bowling, and any activity really is a whole new experience! The youngest does not particularly enjoy sitting in a theater, so as soon as his snack and drink were gone today, I had the wonderful pleasure of being one of those people who other moviegoers glare at when their kids are being loud as I hear "Miss Erin, I am ready to go home!" is his outdoor voice, 10 minutes into the movie... :)

Overall it was a great day and I am really going to miss those kids when the summer is over. Michael and I were special enough to be invited to the youngest's 4th birthday party this weekend, although Michael is not technically invited as he is "not a kid or Miss Erin" - haha, I am cooler than Michael!

Pub-themed shower, anyone?

2012-08-14T20:19:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I held my first ever bridal shower! It was also the first real party I have ever thrown AND the first big get together in our new townhouse. So I was pretty excited all around. Jackie is not super girly and she loves beer (I, however, detest it) so after some thought I realized that a pub theme centered around a beer tasting would be perfect! Unfortunately, I never took a picture of the actual tasting! However, I did use the cutest tasting glasses from IKEA - seriously, they were awesome! Overall, I think everyone had a blast, I was super exhausted that night and my husband was kind enough to clean up everything (!) for me. Take a look at some other pictures from the event below. Thanks to all who helped out with this event and took the time to attend!

All the food!

I was so excited to get to use the chalkboard signs I bought for my wedding again.

I was also really excited to use all my new serving dishes and platters :)

Super cute favors provided by Elizabeth!

Gift table, complete with my homemade banner - I was quite proud!

A tribute to the bride and groom's younger days :)

Desserts - there are still way too many leftover in my house!

Supposed to be like a chalkboard menus you find in bars, perhaps a bit cheesy but I enjoyed it all the same.

The non-alcoholic drinks, I really wish I had a picture of the beer tasting.

The bride-to-be and I! Can't wait to celebrate in September!

Dreams Come True, One Day at a Time

2012-08-13T13:40:00.002-04:00

Here is to trying something new! Many things have changed in my life in the last couple months. I got married. I moved back (almost) home. I quit my job. I became a nanny. I started school again. So why not add something else? :)

Here is to exlporing the world of marriage together with my new husband, Michael, and making our dreams come true one day at a time. I hope to share with friends and family far and near, old and hopefully new, and anyone else who may care to stop by.

There will be a bit of cooking, lots of baking, some DIY-ing, hopefully some traveling, and definitely some puppies :) Join me while I travel on this road called marriage and real life.