Part 1 of "Holy Crap, I can't believe I did that..."

Shhhhhh don't tell anyone, but here's a little sneak peak of our still in progress master bedroom. It's getting really close. The to do list is down to Kevan installing my stunning headboard (a little bit of horn tooting right there...), me finding and refinishing a nightstand and me decorating the walls...

But just because it's really nice to actually see a finished product once in a while. Here is one of the two Shabby to Chic redo's that were completed yesterday.

We'll start with this gem found on craigslist for $30




And here it is tonight. I ran into an issue with finding knobs for this beauty. The holes were drilled at such an odd length that I went through three sets of pulls before throwing my arms up and just going with other knobs that I had purchased for the buffet from yesterday and didn't like.

You might recognize the chair from the corner as being the $11 Chair Redo from this post.

That Crystal 5x7 (empty) frame on the dresser was an awesome find. Although I had second thoughts about buying it because it was so expensive... 99 cents... For a HANDCUT crystal frame... That was a tough decision right there. 

Tomorrow I'll show you the drastic transformation on this piece!! You're not going to believe how gorgeous it is . (Update: See this finished piece here )

I'm linking this to A Soft Place To Land, DIY Day

and 

Before & After: Dining Room Buffet

I found this dresser at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday and was delighted to find it was one of the half-off colors. For $40 I thought that it would be a great dresser for our bedroom. I don't usually like to spend more than $25 on something there, but hey, rules are made to be broken.



I decided that I didn't like the center cabinet and wanted that to be open for visible storage.



These knobs won't be staying on the piece, I'll be switching them out with some acrylic ones but they aren't here yet. I'm not done tablescaping yet, but it's a start at least. I'll probably play around for months until I'm happy. I'll be moving some of the pieces around the house once other projects are done so it won't be so cluttered. I have a crystal lamp sitting outside right now drying after I spray painted the base black. That will go on one of the corners. I'm excited for that.



Here are some of my crystal wine glasses courtesy of thrift stores. They are sitting on a silver tray that I also picked up at the thrift store.



This is the bottle of champagne that we popped after Kevan got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I think that it looks beautiful in my new champagne bucket cooler from last week. The coasters and champagne glasses are also from last week's thrifting.



How Pottery Barn does this look!! Wait until you see the before on it. Yet another piece that Kevan questioned my sanity for buying.


I'm super thrilled with how this turned out, it took a lot of priming, painting, sealing and time... but the end result is well worth it. It looks like a high end furniture piece in my formal dining room now. Once the kitchen is done and I can move everything off of my formal dining room table, I can show the before and after on that room.

This week I'll be posting another Before and After on a dresser in my bedroom, be sure to come back and check it out!

Thanks for checking out my latest Before and After! I'd love to hear your comments on it!

all because two people fell in love.

Four years ago this afternoon I walked down the aisle towards my future husband and into the rest of my life.

So many things went wrong that day. From my four week old niece going into the hospital with RSV, my sister not being able to make it because her baby was so sick, the dj canceling on us at the last minute, the limo driver pulling me out of the limo and ripping the tulle straps of my dress so I walked into the church to get married with my dress hanging off (who thought tulle was a good thing to make a strap out of anyway)... I could go on.

But I firmly believe those were all amazing things. Because so many things went wrong that the marriage could only go up from there.

We got another DJ, my mom sewed my dress (which lasted until about 1/2 way through the reception and then broke again...), my niece ended up being just fine, everything worked out. And I ended up with an amazing marriage to an amazing man. I couldn't be luckier.



Since that day, our lives have changed so much. We became parents for the first time when Colton was born.





We moved from Virginia back to Colorado to be closer to friends and family.


We learned what it was to love someone more than yourself and to actually be a parent.



We bought our first house... The "Crapsandwich" as Kevan dubbed it... Renovations started the night we closed and continue still... One day it will be the most beautiful home, but until then... The Crapsandwich it is...




Our family was perfect. But it was missing something...


Ooooh yes... It was missing Miss Lillian Grace.





And now our family is complete.




And we still don't take life too seriously.



(and I still catch more fish than he does)



Life is perfect. I can't wait to see what the next 80 years hold for us and our family. The last 8 years of having Kevan in my life has been amazing, we've had 4 years of wedded bliss. We have two amazing kids and I'm just the luckiest girl in the world.

And it's all because two people fell in love...

$11 Redo - Faux Seal Chair

Some of you may have seen this chair before, but I wanted to give it its own post...

I found this chair for $4.99 at the thrift store one morning and just had to have it. I knew that it was hideous, but still... for $4.99, I felt that I could redo it and it would be perfect in our currently-in-progress master bedroom.

When I brought this thing into the garage, Kevan looked at me as if I were crazy and with a disgusted voice questioned whether I had actually paid money for something so hideous...

Oops... At least it was only $4.99



Then once I started digging it apart I was getting worried that I was in over my head. It was the first that I had reupholstered anything. I started to think that this chair would be destined to sit in my garage and just whine at me when I walked past it.

But I stuck with it...



And after a lot of gray primer, black paint, fabric cutting, staple gunning ... I wound up with this






Cost Breakdown
Chair $4.99 Thrift Store find
Primer and paint $0. Previously owned
Faux Seal Fabric $6 (and it might be the softest, most comfortable fabric ever...)

I'm sharing this post with Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday, Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous and My Romantic Home's Show and Tell Friday

Portobello Mushroom Dijon Chicken

I feel like I haven't cooked all week. I have, but it's just been such a busy week between work and home that I haven't had that night where I get lost in my kitchen. It doesn't help that my kitchen is covered with work materials and getting space on the counter to cook is a feat to accomplish at the moment.

But tonight, I needed to cook. I've been wanting to dice some garlic all week and tonight I finally got my chance.

Kevan has been working really hard on the kitchen and he has the crown molding installed on over half of the cabinets! I walked in the door tonight and just about started crying. We've been working on this kitchen (along with a million other projects at the same time - that's how we roll...) for a year at this point. Just about to the day. But you know the story, two overachievers, two kids, two careers, 1 dog and a million projects... doesn't let projects happen very fast. I can't wait to show it to you! We're hoping to have it done in the next two weeks before Kevan goes back to work. We're down to the final stages so hopefully that happens.

Here's a preview of what we've been slaving over...



So tonight, I pushed aside paint cans, levels, nail guns, crayons, artwork sent home from school and god knows what else and I got to cooking.

I like to buy the split chicken breasts because I have to work a little harder to get the meat off of the bone and that makes me feel like I deserve a good meal just a little bit more. I also like that it's cheaper. A lot cheaper. But I started thinking tonight that maybe it really isn't cheaper considering the weight of the bone and skin that you pay for. Who knows. I'll keep buying my split chicken breasts because it makes me happy. The end.

Once the breasts were ready, I put them in a pan with some Pam on low/medium heat and let them cook.


Then I diced up a yellow onion, a large portobello mushroom and a nice clove of garlic and dropped that into a pan and drizzled some Extra Virgin Olive Oil over it and set it up on just under medium heat.


While I had a minute there, I grabbed a loaf of light rye bread and split it in half. I cook 1/2 at a time, so the other 1/2 went into the freezer for another night. On the side that I was working with, I added another glove of garlic (but I love garlic. 1/2 a clove would have worked just fine), dried oregano, dried parsley, dried basil and then put some Parmesan cheese on top and plopped that into the oven to brown.


Going back to the pan with my onion/mushroom/garlic mixture, I added in about 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream and a couple of squirts of dijon mustard. I've used both generic and Greeeeey Poooouuupooooon and honestly think that it turns out the same regardless of the cost of the mustard. Score 1 for the cheap guys. I love a rich dijon flavor, so I stir about 3 - 4 squirts of mustard to my mixture.


The chicken could easily be chopped up and added into the sauce and the whole dish could be served over some brown rice or some pasta depending on whether you have a rockin' side dish to serve with it or not.


Voila.

Portobello Mushroom Dijon Chicken

• Chicken Breasts
• 1 onion
• 1 large portobello mushroom
• 3-4 squirts of dijon mustard (I'm pretty technical)
• 2 gloves garlic (1 sauce and 1 bread)
• rye or french or italian or any bread
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1. In first pan, cook chicken breasts in lightly oiled pan.
2. In second pan, saute portobello mushroom, onion and garlic in Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or butter if you'd prefer that)
3. Add butter, dried oregano/basil/parsley, Parmesan cheese and garlic to bread and stick into oven.
   
4. Once ingredients in second pan are fully sauteed, add in 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (you could probably use 1/2 and 1/2 or milk for a lighter version) and squirts of dijon mustard. Let liquid reduce by 1/2 or to a consistency that works for you.
   
5. Serve over chicken once that's fully cooked and chuck some bread on the side.
   

mmmmmmmmm...... I love cooking.

A Giveaway from Centensational Girl

So one of my favorite blogs, Centsational Girl is having a giveaway that everyone should be entering in!

The Vintage Pearl has donated a $50 gift card for a random winner from a comment posted at Centsational Girl's blog.

I looked through all of the gorgeous jewelry on The Vintage Pearl and man was it hard to choose one! I want the entire collection!!

Click here for details about the giveaway and to enter yourself.

Tequila Shrimp

Today was a day of really hard work at our house. The kids played hard at school and Kevan and I worked nonstop.

Poor Kevan really has it hard. He has a wife who has really lofty ideas for the house which he gets to make a reality.

Two of those ideas are just about complete in the kitchen which I'll be able to show pictures of hopefully next week (depending on how fast Kevan can get the countertops and backsplash laid).

I spent 8 hours today painting. Which means that I'm pretty much crippled right now thanks to my absurdly bad back. But I made a lot of progress and should be able to finish up with just a little work before our Day of Dates begins tomorrow.

So here is a fantastic recipe for Tequila Shrimp that Kevan made for dinner tonight. That guy... he's a keeper.

Tequila Shrimp
- 1 cup Tequila
- 2 cups raw Shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1/2 cup Cilantro
- Lime juice to taste
- 2 cups Brown Rice
- 1 can Black Beans
- Tortillas
- Sour Cream
- Mexican Shredded Cheese
- 1 can Black Olives


1. Throw some deveined and peeled raw shrimp in 1 cup of tequila to marinate for 1/2 hour. Chop up 1 clove of fresh garlic and toss in with the shrimp. I like to add in a couple of squirts of lime juice and the cilantro at this point. Once the shrimp have marinated, throw the entire mixture into a pan on med/high heat. Let the the tequila reduce by about 1/2 to let the alcohol cook off so those kids can eat some also. We don't need to give them any excuses to not eat their dinner. :) Cook the shrimp until they're nice and pink. Add Salt/Pepper to taste.

2. I love using the bags of frozen peppers. I get them for $2.25 at Target and can get two meals out of them. So if you have those frozen peppers toss them into a strainer and defrost them in the sink under some cold water (otherwise use some fresh yellow, red, and/ or green peppers) and then toss them into a pan to cook with the shrimp. I love garlic, so I'd toss another clove into my pan at this point.

3. Cook up some rice. We used brown rice tonight and it was fabulous. I've made the switch from white rice to brown rice for my daily cooking.

4. Throw some black beans into a pan over low-medium heat.

5. Toss into a bowl or tortilla and throw some sour cream, salsa, black olives, mexican cheese (or cheddar if you have that) and serve!

It's delish and I love the tequila flavor of the shrimp and the kids go crazy for it which works for me!

Enjoy! I'm off to put kids to bed and then find a heating pad to lay on.