ombre perfection

If these weren't $45 dollars I would've already bought them. oh my gosh. I may just have to attempt it myself one day, though I am not sure my dyeing skills are quite this advanced.

I heart fresh basil and goat cheese

 The recipe that began my love affair with goat cheese and fresh basil..... (still my all time favorite appetizer).
And here are some new favorites for breakfast and dinner!

  I am not actually a huge egg fan, but I have been trying to cut down on my carbs and up my protein for the same reason everyone else does it...... to lose weight. One day I was trying to make those eggs seem appealing and so I tried throwing in some of my favorite ingredients... and suprised myself with something I really loved!

Goat cheese omlette:
virgin coconut oil (for coating the pan)
eggs
tomatoes
goat cheese
onions
fresh basil leaves
s&p to taste

Coat the pan, throw in the eggs, and everything else (wait a few minutes before you put in the goat cheese). flip it when its ready. YUMMMMMMMMY.

Sorry I am posting a photo of raw chicken on here but I forgot to take the "after" photo!!!
Goat cheese stuffed chicken with red peppers:
goat cheese
red bell pepper sliced (1/2-1 whole one per person)
fresh basil
chicken breasts
balsamic vinegar
1. pound out the chicken breasts until they are thin.
2. spread a GOOD amount of goat cheese inside and top with fresh basil leaves (you can't have too much of either. its impossible.
3. fold them over, stick them in your baking dish and pour balsamic all over them.
4. cut up the red peppers and put them all over and around the chicken.
5. bake for 1 hour (or less depending on the thickness of your chicken---you need to check it) at 350.

now go buy some goat cheese and a basil plant and make these! enjoy.

Cheap Furniture make-over (with some painting tips)!!

Sometimes I wonder if when my husband is finished with medical school and we are FOR THE FIRST TIME making a decent amount of money, will I still be repainting thrifted furniture? Or will I just buy some new stuff? I tend to think it will be a mixture of both. I really love making the decor in my home. It's a way to create and express myself artistically even if I am not currently working on my fine art (paintings, etc). Anyway, long intro but here are my 2 latest re-dos!

BEFORE: $20 sideboard with hutch on top (wood covered in veneer).

1.Lots of taping (making SURE I got perfect little diamond points)
2. seal tape with clear polyurethane to prevent leaks under the tape!  (a little tip I learned from some furniture blog a few months ago!!!-best tip ever)
3. primed
4. painted and peeled tape while still wet. (Though since there were other dried coats underneath I still ripped paint off in a few spots. If you can take the tape off before the 4th layer then you have more luck and this usually doesn't happen:) )

AFTER!!!! I LOVE this thing. I still haven't unpacked all my books or display-type things, so it remains empty, but I love it even just like that!

BEFORE (well we are going to pretend since I really didn't take a shot of it before...) $5:

1. taped around the top circular veneer part
2. FORGOT to seal the edges of the tape, and painted 2 layers of Behr paint and prime in white.
3. taped off a bunch of stripes
4. SEALED THE TAPE WITH THE SAME WHITE PAINT.
5. painted the aqua color and immediately took off the tape
6. painted a layer of polyurethane b/c the original paint was flat.

ewwww! I  LOVE it!!!!

AFTER! yay! To do these two projects all I bought were the sample sizes of white and aqua ( and I actually painted a third piece as well with the same paint). The samples only cost $2.50 each, but since they only come in "flat" I had to polyurethane over top (I already had some). So for 3 pieces of furniture I only spent $5 on paint, and $27 (including the 3rd piece not shown) on furniture! That works VERY well into our student budget!!

Hanging things on walls

 I've been doing a lot of unpacking, painting, and hanging lately and since I have learned a few tricks over the years for doing these kinds of things (mostly from working at an art gallery and then doing display for Anthro), I thought I would pass my knowledge on to you! This isn't a super fancy fun post, just a tip or two.

Hanging something with TWO holes in it:

I recently bought this uber-popular frame from IKEA (which I painted yellow). It had TWO holes in it. So fun trying to get two nails or screw to be lined up and in the exact spots right?? RIGHT! Its really easy with this trick!

1. put a piece of masking tape (I couldn't find mine--still packed away so I used packing tape) across the two holes.

2. Mark or punch a hole using a pen or marker

3. Put the entire piece of tape on the wall and draw a line from one hole to the next using a ruler.

4. use a level (or in my case-- a very sharp eye:) to make sure the line is level.

5. put your nails or screws right through the dots where you punched/marked them!

How to hang a piece of wood without wire, alligator hooks, etc:

 I started with 7 of these fajita plate holders (scored them all for $1 total!)

 I took a piece of painters tape (I found it!) and marked a hole. I also tore off the sides so that this same piece of tape/template could be used for EVERY PLATE. READ: I didn't have to measure anything for any of the other plates---I USED THIS SAME PIECE OF TAPE WITH THE HOLE IN IT FOR ALL OF THEM.

 First I drilled a hole straight in (a shallow hole, NOT all the way to the other side!!)

Then I went in at approx. a 45 degree angle and drilled a little bit.

 (sorry no photo for this part). THEN 1. I took a LONG piece of masking tape and put it on the span of the wall where I wanted to hang all of these plates. 2. made sure it was level (eyeballed it) and then marked a dot every 10 inches (I pre-measured the wall to make sure they would all fit). I marked the dots ALL at the very top of the tape as my guide. 3. I put a nail through each of these holes at the exact-ish same angle ( I just tried to go in pretty straight).

 And then I hung them!!! (and took off the tape). I was going to paint the insides in a gradient of some color, but I am liking them just how they are for now.  Don't pay attention to the shelves on the left. That is a before-and-after I meant to show later. Pretend you never saw it:)

I hope these tricks help you out! I also have some painting tricks I'll share with you next time...

oh and I am 37 wks pregnant tomorrow. eek. It gets harder and harder to work on this house. The poor baby's room is kinda getting the shaft.  I figure she won't really care.... I'll make it cuter later.

Made this (and you can see my pregnant belly)

(In these photos I was 18 weeks and now I am 19 weeks, so I am probably a tad bigger.)

Anyway, I adorned this cardigan using this tutorial on Grosgrain Fabulous and I am in love with it! I used to hate this cardigan, so definitely worth my time and effort. Just wanted to tell you all about it so you could make one too! And I have some new tutorials coming your way soon, so look out for them! Enjoy your Wednesday... I am potty training, so not sure how enjoyable mine will be:)

The Zen of Clean Toddler Painting...

When my husband Francisco asked me what I wanted for Christmas I couldn't think of anything. I just told him to figure out something I would love. Easy right?? Ha, its cruel I know. But this man really knows me and he got me things I definitely wanted but never thought to ask for! Among those things was a....

Buddha Board! Its a board that you paint on with just a brushed dipped in water. Franc was a little bummed when I exclaimed it would be great for Olivia. I wasn't bummed at all! I have been wanting to paint with Olivia more, but its just so messy. This board dries a few minutes after you paint on it, so it creates no waste and no mess! I also enjoyed it, especially taking photos of the images it created as the water evaporated from the board (pictured above).  (we bought it on amazon.)

Homemade Cleaners!!

 So, if you follow me on facebook, then you know I was making my own cleaning solutions a couple weeks ago. I am finally posting about them! I have loved how well they've worked so far, and I have one more I plan on making as soon as I get another spray bottle ( I just recycled the spray bottle above, it used to hold window cleaner).

The reason I decided to make my own stuff was less about money (because with coupons I can get most of my cleaners for close to free), and more about being non-toxic (since I have olivia around) and less harmful to the environment. And of course, because I just love making my own stuff!

So I will give you a few links to the recipes I used and then some tips.
 All Purpose cleaner 
Nasty Germ Killer
Homemade "clorox" wipes
Whole bunch of earth-friendly and non-toxic recipes


My Tips:
The cheapest place to buy castille soap (that I found) is Trader Joe's (8.99 for 32 oz), otherwise try amazon...
You can get tea tree oil at walmart if you can't find it anywhere else.
The cheapest place to get Borax is Target (cheaper than walmart even!)
DON'T waste your time with cheap spray bottles (like the ones at walmart). They don't work with these homemade solutions! I just reused an old spray bottle. You can also buy them on Amazon:)



 Swiffer trick:
I bought some microfiber cleaning cloths at the dollar store which I have been putting on my swiffer instead of buying their cloths. I just spray the floor with my all-purpose cleaner and then use my microfiber swiffer to clean the linoleum. so easy, so fast!


So the funniest thing about making all this stuff is that I really don't like cleaning in the first place. Everyone said I was crazy for giving myself extra work by making them, but I've been much more excited about cleaning ever since!

Good Things: phoney macaroni

This is my adorable (albeit messy) daughter Olivia. She is EXTREMELY picky about texture in food. This usually means she won't eat fruit (like RARELY eats fruit) and barely eats veggies unless they are in something (like a soup, a pasta, a sandwich, etc). Well, normally I just make her a daily smoothie of spinach, flax, carrots, and various fruits (she WILL drink her fruits and veggies, she just doesn't like their slimy textures when whole).

but..... I was recently inspired by the sneak chef.  And decided to try something out. And now I am passing it on to you!

Ingredients:
one box of mac and cheese (annies, whole grain, or regular)
one steamed sweet potato (you can also use carrots) OR you can just use a couple jars of baby food

1. make the mac and cheese like normal.
2. steam your sweet potato and/or carrots
3. mash up the veggies, or stick them in a blender
4. mix them up with the mac and cheese, and then add some extra milk!

DONE! olivia ate this stuff up. okay so mac and cheese isn't the healthiest thing on the planet, but on a desperate day when you want your child to eat some veggies and you know they'll eat m&c, then try this!!! yum.

"Good Things" appetizer edition.

About 4 years ago, while I was living in Utah (my husband and I were in school--he in the 5th year of his undergrad and I in a masters in teaching) I went to a classmate's party at her apartment. Someone brought this appetizer that I seriously could NOT stop eating! I think I ate half the tray. Embarrassing? nah.

I asked her for the recipe and it was so easy that I have made them more times than I can possibly remember! And they are SO good that even my 11 year old brother begs me to make them (and he is extremely picky). So now I want to pass it on to you!! Enjoy. You may just want to eat these for dinner all by themselves:)

Ingredients: 
Loaf of French or Italian bread
goat cheese (costco and trader joes have the cheapest)
garlic (minced or powdered depending on how much time you have!)
fresh basil (dried will not cut it)
1-2 red bell peppers depending on size of the pepper and size of the loaf!

1. preheat oven to broil
2. slice entire loaf
3. place each slice on a cookie sheet (you may need 2 sheets or 2 batches) (butter them if you like- I never do b/c I know I am eating about 10 of them))
4. bake until the tops are toasted (about 1. 5 min in my oven!!)
5.take them out and apply the minced garlic ( a little per slice) or sprinkle each piece with powdered garlic if you are short for time.
6. slice and and saute the red peppers in a pan of oil or pam (I use pam since its fat free).
7. spread the goat cheese on each slice, the more the better!
8. wash and tear off basil leaves, then put a few pieces on each slice of bread.
9. put a couple slices of red peppers on each slice and you are done!!

now eat one and tell me if you can stop. I am salivating just thinking about these things.