Christmas 2012

O'Henry, our Elf on the Shelf had so much fun last year! It will be so much fun to see what he is up to this year!

Do you have an Elf? I would love to see what they are up to!

Planting Wheat Grass: aTutorial

By raise of hands: Who wants to plat some grass???

Only ME? ha!
I'm going to show you all anyway :)

Okey dokey, so Monday I posted about the grass I grew a few years ago for Mother's Day. Today I'm going to show you how easy it is to plant and grow it! (Even for someone like me that stinks at plant growing.) I did this in seriously 10 minutes when I went home on my lunch break. IT'S FAST! The longest part was deciding on the container.

Quick story tho: Danny and I went to Lowe's on Wed. to pick up a few hooks I needed for a project, I'll show you one day... anyway so we walked out through the garden center, not sure why, we never go that way, but I was happy because I secretly wanted a pretty potted flowery plant. So we are walking and I said to Danny, man, I want some pretty flowers. And he said, and I quote: "your not getting flowers, it's a waste of money, you know they will just die, you can't keep anything alive." And then we both laughed because we knew it was so true and I couldn't even argue that this time would be different and I wouldn't forget to water them and they would be beautiful and live forever because I knew I would probably forget about them after a few days and they would die and be a waste of 8 bucks. One day I'll do better, but we both knew today wasn't the day... hahaha

Okay so back to my easy grass: Here are what the seeds look like. This is the same package I purchased 2 years ago, you don't use very many seeds so it will pretty much last forever. Not bad for a, I think, 5 or 6 dollar investment. 

What you will need: (all of these are kind of obvious)

-Wheat Grass Seeds

-Dirt 

-Rocks

-a Container

-Water

Step 1: Get something to grow your grass in.

I decided to use this glass candle holder because I think it will be pretty.

Step 2: Put a few rocks in the bottom for drainage.

I don't actually know if you need to do this but again, I thought it would be pretty like those succulent terrariums you see all over the internets. Also, I didn't have any rocks so I used these marble rock things that I had. They are just the rocks for my fish bowl, these ones never lived with the fish if you were wondering.

Step 3: Throw some dirt in on top of the rocks.

The directions say to fill the dirt to an inch below the top of your container. I did mine a little less because I'll show you why in a sec.

Step 4: Add seeds!!

You just need an even layer of seeds across the top.

Kapone was super curious about those seeds, he almost spilled the whole thing over. Maybe I shouldn't have done this on a rocking chair??

**I would also like to point out that I liked chevron (and glitter/sequins) long before it was crazy popular on Pinterest. And before I even knew what chevron was besides the gas station on the corner...

The background on all of these pictures is a blanket I bought when I was in junior high. I thought it was the coolest thing and I still totally think it is! The color photographed pretty funny in these pictures its more red in some and more pink in others but the real color is purpleish/pinkish. The picture with me pouring seeds is pretty true to real life I think.

Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know I'm a total trend setter :) bwahahaha!

Step 4: Add some dirt on top of the seeds.

If you read those directions in that last photo, you can repeat steps 3 & 4. That is what I did because I haven't tried it before and I want it to be cute and thick! This is also why I didn't put more dirt in at the beginning.

Here is my 2nd layer of seeds:

Can you see my 2 layers of seeds here? I hope it looks cool when everything starts to grow! I can't wait.

Step 6: Now WATER that bad boy!

This part makes me nervous because I don't want to over water and drowned it but my dirt was super duper dry, basically like saw dust, so I wanted to make sure everything got plenty wet enough.

Step 7: Place in a sunny area and watch it grow!

Can you see the water in there? It was kind of fun watching the dirt soak it all up. 

Now it should grow pretty fast, they say results in 3-5 days, but Don't forget to keep watering it!! This is the part I am really bad at! If the dirt is dry I water it so it is damp. of course that is when I remember :)

If you follow me on Instagram I'm sure I will post pictures as it grows because I really do think it is super cute, so check there for updates along the way. 

I'm hoping this will be a really cute centerpiece for my table. I just hope I can fill that frame and that vase before my grass comes up! Wish me luck. :) Then when this is ready I'll blog about how cute my table looks!

I really didn't bother to clean up before I took these pictures. That is totally a sneak peek of another project hanging from that chair. It kind of looks like a fan. haha Totally isn't a fan, but wouldn't that be cool it I was awesome enough to build a fan?

womp womp

Are you planting anything fun? Do you have a hard time growing things too or do you have a green thumb? I'd love tips!

Teriyaki Chicken & Rice Bowls: a Recipe

Let me just tell you, these were amazing!! I could eat this every night and be perfectly happy about it.

Okay so here is what you will need:

2 green peppers, a yellow onion, a can of pineapple chunks with the juice, a package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, oregano, salt & pepper, olive oil, teriyaki sauce, butter, and rice.

I picked up this Kikkoman teriyaki sauce and it's delicious but you can of course use your favorite.

It is pretty simple to make. I typically prepare the chicken the morning of so it has a few hours to marinate but you could also do it the night before if you've got the time and plan ahead that far. Cut chicken into bite sized cubes. Place cut chicken in a gallon Ziploc bag. Add Oregano, Salt, Pepper and a bit of teriyaki sauce, enough to evenly coat chicken. Leaving some air, close the bag and mix. Once completely combined remove as much air as possible and let marinate in the refrigerator for as long as desired.

In a large saucepan or pot on medium high heat add chopped green peppers and about a 1tbs. olive oil. Cook until almost soft then add the onions and more olive oil if necessary, you could even throw in a tablespoon of brown sugar to help caramelize the onions. Once onions are caramelized move veggies to a serving bowl. There may be bits left on the bottom of the pan, this is perfect we will use this to cook the chicken.

But let’s start the rice first. In a 1 quart pot add 1 cup of uncooked rice, 2 cups of water, a tsp. salt and a tbs. butter. Cook on high uncovered until it starts to boil. Once it is boiling cover and turn down to simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes remove from heat leaving the lid on for 5 minutes. Remove lid and fluff before serving.

While the rice is going let’s deglaze our veggie pan by pouring in the juice from the can of pineapple chunks. Keeping the heat at medium high add in your marinated chicken chunks and cook in the pineapple juice. You may want to add more teriyaki sauce at this point, about a tbs. at a time depending on your desired taste. I added about 2 more tbs. Once chicken is cooked through and rice is ready, let’s eat!!

To build your rice bowl start with a couple spoonfuls of rice, then add veggies, pineapple chunks and chicken. Make sure you include a few extra spoonfuls of the juice from the chicken, it is amazing! I also added more teriyaki sauce because I love the flavor but you don’t have to, it will be amazing either way. Eat up and enjoy! This is a new favorite in our house.

For printable recipe click here.

I hope you like it! What is your favorite meal? I'd love to hear!

OUR FIRST HOME: a tour

I recently found this post that I thought I published a long time ago... Here is a tour of our first home right before we moved out.


If you don't know this about me already, I'm a little OCD and I tend to go overboard for absolutely no reason and do things that normal people just would never care to do.... Case and Point: here is the floor plan to our home.

I don't know anyone else that would spend all night sketching this just because I thought it would be fun and I thought I needed it.....

PS: I am in no way an artist or a good drawer at all, so please, don't judge me :)

I forgot to get a photo of the front, so I cheated....

Okay so, let me take you on a tour of our first home!

Welcome! This is our home!

We live on the bottom level of this lovely 4 plex and that open garage door happens to be ours. One great thing about this place is all the parking, there is this driveway and the carport between the house and the garage.

So now that you found a place to park your car.... Let's go through the front door

It took us about 15 months to get this place looking like a home.

It was a lot of fun, we gathered things little by little and eventually we were able to make this feel like our home.

Don't just stand there, take a seat.

We didn't have a couch starting out, we had one piece of furniture,

THE FAT SACK. 

It was awesome! But there came a time when we decided we needed a little bit more :)

We spend a lot of time hanging out here chatting, reading and watching TV.

Take a few steps to the right and visit our kitchen.
Check out all that counter space and all those beautiful cabinets.

Just sit down here, in our dining room, while I make you something:

Don't mind Kokua, she will move for you....

Wait a minute while I whip up some cookies for you in my most favorite spot in the house.

Now that your tummy is satisfied it's time to see the rest of the place....

let's go

you will find this

This door stays shut unless we are hunting for something in there :)

Then

This is our Bedroom!

Nice and cozy and those curtains.... just what I needed to block out that sunlight, lots of peaceful sleeps thanks to those.

As you can see, Kokua loves to follow me around...

 And the bathroom.... many hours spent in here getting beautified. This is also the spot where my girls and I got ready the morning of my wedding. Such special memories!

This place has been so much fun! It was way more space then we needed but it was an answer to our prayers and the perfect place to live our first year together!

Now lets go back out and

Here is our extra Bathroom

It's decorated and there is even soap and shampoo but we have never used that shower :)

And last of all.... the puppies room!

Kapone is my "King of Fuzz" and I just can't keep up with him. I don't know where he get's it all, I swear it appears out of thin air!

And here we are back at the front door.

Thank you for visiting!!! I'm so glad you stopped by!

Come back and see us anytime at our NEW place!

Very Productive

This was such a great weekend! The weather was awesome, I spent a ton of time outside with the puppies, and got a lot of fun stuff done!
It was my Aunt's birthday on Saturday so I made a card for her. I love it!

I went over to Stamping 411 to use their sketch! These are so much fun to do, it makes creating a great card super quick, cute and easy! I love how it turned out! The blue is really pretty together. I really need to get some new stamp sets though, I only have a few I can use for birthdays and I feel like they are getting worn out.
The thing I love most about this card is how it opens. I had 2 pieces of the dark blue and I really didn't want to cut a brand new piece so I decided I would clip them both together and it can slide open. I love it! I've never done one like this and it's super cute!
I purchased some awesome, very 'loud' fabric the other day to redo our kitchen chairs. The chairs are great, and perfect for our place. They were covered with a cream microfiber fabric. It's nice and neutral, matched really well but I wanted something a little more bold.
So after a trip to Home Depot to get a staple gun and a drill (so excited for the endless possibilities with both these purchases) we came home and I got to work. This took me about 45 minutes to complete. Ironing was the most time consuming part of this whole makeover. I am happy to introduce you to this wonderful new set of chairs! So what do you think?

I am totally in love with these now! Before when I would walk into the kitchen I didn't really notice the chairs unless they weren't pushed in property. Now I walk around the corner and I am a little surprised every time! It makes me so happy! And it was so much fun and easy! This makes me excited to tackle my big reupholstering project but that still wont be for a while.

Ahhhhhh so beautiful!!
I also snuck in a little baking this weekend! I just love to make yummy treats!
Danny bought me a mini muffin/cupcake pan a couple weeks ago and I've just been dying to try it out! We had a Funfetti cake mix in the pantry so I pulled it out and threw them together. Made some basic frosting and added a little blue food coloring. I think I liked them a little better without the frosting but either way these little cake poppers are so yummy! You could throw down quite a few very easily! And we sure did, they go really fast!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend yourself!

Stop by soon for more fun!