Summer Updates

Good morning, all! It has been a few months since I last posted and man, have I been busy! Life is really good, though, and I am just enjoying the ride. Want to know what I have been up to? Below is my life in photos...

At the first sign of spring we planted new bushes and flowers, spread fresh mulch, and showed some major TLC to our yard. I am loving the end result!

I also planted cilantro, basil, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, chives, jalapenos & strawberries in my backyard garden. There is nothing like stepping off your porch to pick some beautiful, leafy lettuce!

 

We had our housewarming party on Cinco de Mayo with 20 of our closest friends. It was a blast!

 

We set up a stone firepit in our backyard thanks to a very thrifty Craigslist purchase. I imagine many nights laughing with friends around the fire!

 B & I celebrated another anniversary filled with a delicious seafood dinner & ice cream, & a walk around downtown.

 We packed up the pups and road tripped to Wisconsin to visit family & friends, & to see two beautiful people get married.

And most of all, there have been a lot of laughs, love, and fun times had over the past few months, and I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer holds. What have you been up to, and what are you looking forward to enjoying during these summer months?

"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all."

Settling In...

Well, we have officially lived in our house for 12 days, and I am absolutely in love with it. Although we were unpacked and organized in 2 short days, I took last week off from work (my first full 5 days away from work EVER!) and had a staycation. It was such a wonderful week, but now I am craving a vacation to a sunny destination. My week went something like this:

Monday: Searched for the perfect color of turquoise pillows to accent our master bedroom comforter. I ended up finding them at Pier 1. They were marked at 20% off, and I was able to use my 20% off coupon on top of that, making them a great price overall. They were exactly what I was looking for :)

Tuesday: Headed out by myself for a day of shopping. I went to the Christmas Tree Store, Garden Ridge & Old Time Pottery. Words can not express my love for OTP. Everything is so inexpensive, and they have a wide variety of styles to suit any one's tastes. For dinner I decided to make up a recipe in order to get rid of the eggplant I had sitting in my fridge. I coated the eggplant in flour, pan fried it in olive oil, and served it on top of penne rigate with homemade tomato sauce. It was easy, healthy, and very tasty!

Wednesday: Spent the morning at the gym with my mom, then treated her to a light lunch. We spent the rest of the day cleaning around the house, taking the dogs for a run, and talking about anything & everything. I love her.

Thursday: Ran some errands with B's Aunt. Later, she and her partner came over for dinner, and I made a 4 course meal. We had fondue as an appetizer, followed by a Ceasar salad, creamy chicken & mushrooms with angel hair pasta & garlic green beans, and finished with chocolate bread pudding with vanilla bean ice cream & an orange sauce. It was all delicious, if I do say so myself, and they stayed until midnight dancing in our kitchen and playing scrabble. They are a riot!

Friday: I treated my Dad to lunch in exchange for his assistance hanging up hooks and shelves. Two of my girlfriends then came over that evening for a few cocktails, followed by sushi at our favorite restaurant. We were supposed to go out afterwards, but we decided to stay in and relax at my house. Lame, I know ;)

Saturday: B and I headed downtown Indy to explore the Superbowl festivities. It was insane. There were so many people, lots of great food, and even better entertainment. We had a blast!

We followed up our evening by eating at a fabulous restaurant where I experienced the best sweet potatoes of my life. I have a weird obsession with sweet potatoes, and these made me very, very happy!

Sunday: SUPERBOWL! Not that I am a huge sports fan, and I definitely didn't care about either of the teams, but I am always ready to cook/entertain for my family and friends. We had 3 couples over that evening, and the menu was as follows:

• Cream Cheese Wontons


• Stuffed Baked Potatoes


• Hooters Wings w/ Blue Cheese


• Queso & Tortilla Chips


• Baked Macaroni Bites


• Vegetable Platter


• Chocolate Chip Chunks

Now that my vacation is over, I am catching up on things at work, and already looking forward to the weekend. Hope everyone has a happy Thursday!

Closing Time

Well, we are officially homeowners! Our closing went great and even though we were supposed to receive the keys on Monday, we got them on Saturday at 1:30 PM. The first walk into the house was surreal. I couldn't believe that this was OUR house. Ever since then, each time I open the garage door, I remind myself to be grateful, and to enjoy every minute of it!

Our big move with all of our furniture isn't until this Saturday, so we have been moving small boxes, painting, installing new light fixtures, and got our carpets steam cleaned yesterday. My parents surprised us and bought a brand new, energy efficient washer and dryer, so we were SO excited/thankful. Our realtor (B's Aunt), also surprised us and purchased some of the new light fixtures for us. Here is the chandelier we picked out to hang over the kitchen table...

And we chose this light to put at the top of our staircase... Tonight we will be doing some more painting, and then tomorrow I am cooking our first meal at the house, and we are introducing the pups to their first house together!

This is normally how our time with the dogs goes...

Tink is being the perfect gentleman, while Bucky is outta control crazy, haha. You've got to love them, though! P.S. Please ignore me looking like a hot mess. It was Tink's 3rd birthday party, and I was the party planner for our celebration at that park! :)

Hope everyone has a fabulous rest of the week!

Cincinnati

This weekend my mom and I headed to Cincinnati (my place of birth!) for a day of shopping. We spent the entire day laughing at each other, and found some great finds for my house and kitchen. With the closing on my house 3 days away, I have been packing, organizing and on the hunt for some great deals on household items.

Our first stop in Cincy town was Ikea. I hate to admit this, but I have never been, and was excited to experience the spirit of Sweden! Anyways, we arrived in style and spent over 3 hours in the store. I normally resemble a stampeding bull while I shop/peruse, but we took our time and managed to get out of there in under 3 hours!

Here are some of my finds...

Reversible Rug for Living Room:


Floor Lamp for Reading Room:


Cookbook Shelves for Kitchen:


Duvet Cover for Master Bedroom:


Vase for Master Bedroom:


I got a few other miscellaneous items, but I am happy to report that I got 10 items for $98. There is no way I would be able to get that many items for that price at any other place. I was very impressed!

Our next stop of the day was Jungle Jim's International Market. If you haven't figured out by now, I am a huge foodie. I love to cook food, eat food, and dream about food. I had heard about this grocery store in the past, but did not realize until I got there just how amazing it was. First of all, this place is about the size of 3 super targets. It is divided into sections such as sushi, cheese, meat, American groceries and groceries from over 10 countries. My mom is Australian and I have been brought up eating a variety of Australian dishes, so we were really excited to check out their selection. Australia has the BEST candy/chocolate and has so much more flavor than that of their counterparts. I only managed to spend $14 on candy from Australia, Germany and Mexico. I also got some wonderful items from their Asian, Italian and Middle Eastern aisles. After a quick sushi stop, we journeyed through the sections, and spent around 4 hours walking around. It was just AMAZING!

JJ's small selection of hot sauces...


Their webiste is http://junglejims.com/ so go check them out!

We had a wonderful time, and I can't wait to venture there again. We decided that our next weekend road trip would be Louisville, and we **may** consider bringing the boys. Hope everyone has a great week!