New Home: Kitchen Design~Open Shelving

I was really hoping that I would have more house pictures posted by now, but with all the rain we had last week the framing got moved back and won't start until next week. So hopefully NEXT Friday I will be able to post a picture with the framing at least halfway finished.

We ordered the hardwood floors today (yay!) so now I'm focusing on designing the kitchen, my favorite part of any home.

About 2 years ago I fell in love with this kitchen (and it's designer, Sarah Richardson). The open shelving and huge island are my two favorite features (and the color yellow just makes me smile).

I really want to find corbels like this to hold up my open shelving

And I really want open shelving on either side of the vent hood like this...

....or like this

But my kitchen is designed kinda like this with the corner causing an issue because the shelving would be butting up to a cabinet that needs to open....

....so I thought "Why not bring the open shelving around the corner to the sink?"

My fave designer also uses Ikea cabinets in a lot of her kitchen designs and with a kitchen that turns out looking like this, who wouldn't be sold on their cabinets? I also like how they stacked smaller cabinets on top so that they extend all the way to the ceiling and then added the crown molding.

And here is the range hood I ordered yesterday. I can't wait to see it installed!

Well I'm off to bed to dream of kitchen cabinets, faucets and counter tops! I hope everyone has a great weekend and is able to fit in some family time...I will be spending my Saturday morning hosting my first ever kids party with 8-10 toddlers running around my house for 2 hours. Pray for me.

Plant Based Diet: Iced Coffee

We rarely have leftover coffee at our house....my mom makes a 12 cup pot of coffee every morning for the two of us and it's gone by 11am every day. On the weekends, we make at least two pots by 11am. What can I say? We are coffee addicts. Charles makes fun of us and calls my parents and I "Coffee Snobs". This is due to the fact that we have to freshly grind our coffee beans for every pot we make, and we try to buy pure Kona coffee beans as often as possible....and we turn our noses down at Folgers and the coffee bins at Walmart. We judge people by their coffee-making skills....yes, we are coffee snobs.

Memorial Day started out like any other day off work, making a pot of coffee and leisurely sipping it in the living room, while Isabelle played....but then it was such a nice day, and Isabelle started to beg to go outside, so half-way through my first cup of coffee we went outside, got sweaty, and a hot drink was the last thing I wanted...but I still needed my coffee to make it through the day.

Method:

Mix equal parts hot coffee and vanilla (unsweetened) almond milk together

Add maple syrup to taste, as sweetener (1 used 1 T for a batch that made 3 of the pictured cups)

Mix together to dissolve maple syrup, put in fridge and chill

*If you want a stronger coffee taste mix 2 parts coffee to 1 part milk*

Goodbye $5 Starbucks, and hello leftover coffee (i.e. an excuse to make an extra pot at 3 in the afternoon). And, if you aren't feeling too lazy on these hot summer days, throw this recipe with some ice in a blender and enjoy a frozen frappuccino. I heart summer!

Vegetable Paella

I love two things about this recipe: its versatility and its vibrant colors. It just screams "summer!" to me. It's perfect with some grilled tofu, a baked potato or some grilled portabella mushrooms. It's roughly 200 calories per 1 cup serving, which to me is perfect for a side. Since this is a "one-dish" recipe it's best made in a wide, shallow pan.

Ingredients:

adapted from Vegetarian Times

1 T grapeseed oil (or veggie broth)

3 c. broccoli florets

1/2 c diced bell peppers

1/2 c sliced green onions

3 c vegetable broth

1 T minced garlic

1 c saffron rice (available at Whole Foods in bulk section)

1 c frozen peas

1 c frozen edamame

1 c cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 c sliced olives or mushrooms (I used olives but they are too salty so next time I'm using mushrooms)

1 c baby spinach

Garnish: Lime and Cilantro

Method:

• Saute broccoli, bell peppers, garlic and green onions about 5 min in oil/veggie broth
• Stir in broth and bring to boil
• Sprinkle rice over ingredients and reduce heat to medium-low
• Cover and simmer about 10 minutes
• Sprinkle peas, tomatoes, edamame, spinach and mushrooms over rice (do not stir in)
• Cover and cook another 8 minutes, until rice is tender
• Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes
• Stir, and serve garnished with lime and fresh cilantro
• Enjoy!

New Home: Foundation Finished!

Despite the rainy weather this week, they were able to finish the foundation. I'm so excited because that means next week they start framing!

Monday

Tuesday

Thursday- The hole is where the basement sliding door will go

Thursday- All of this will be covered with dirt and be underground

I am praying for good weather next week so that they can get most of the framing done too, and I will have even better pictures next week!

I Heart Amazon

I. HEART. AMAZON.  I have never been much for Amazon until I started working so much and needing to do some online shopping to save time. Since it's almost an hour drive to get to Whole Foods I also didn't want to run there every time I ran out of flour or some other pantry item. I found that most of the items I'm currently buying in the store are available on Amazon for cheaper, or at least the same price. If you set up a subscription for any item you usually save an addition 15% plus get free shipping. Score!

No more running to the store because I was waiting for Target to run a sale on diapers, and I ended up forgetting to buy them and ran out of them completely...instead they are delivered right to my door each month for the same price as Target's sale price. Another nice perk I've found is that by staying out of the stores I'm saving money by not grabbing misc. things I "need" while I"m at Target (I'm lucky if I get out of that place for under $100).

I also now finally have time to fit in some exercise each night because I'm not constantly running errands to different stores picking up stuff....the downside is that I haven't put makeup on in over a week and live in yoga pants and t-shirts =)

I love how organized it looks....just like at the stores. I'm in OCD heaven!

This is what my subscription page looks like right now (plus some Organic Whole Wheat Bread Flour I just added today).  It tells me what each item is, how much I'm paying, when my next delivery will occur and at what intervals I'm reordering (ex: 1 unit every 2 months for wipes).

My goal is to eventually order everything, (except fresh produce) on here, if I can find it for cheaper, or at least the same price. I also want to try and set it up so that I'm spending the same amount each month, so I need to make sure my different monthly intervals line up so that I'm not getting hit with one huge bill every couple months.

Anyone else have any great online store recommendations that are budget friendly?

New Home: Interior Plans (Boring Basement)

I decided to add the basement floor plan just so you could have the whole picture. It's pretty boring, and it will be unfinished for now but here is what it will look like when we do eventually finish it. My priorities with the basement were 1) A walkout (so the dog doesn't have to get hair all over the main floor) 2) A place for storage to stack all my beautifully matching totes (I might be a little OCD when it comes to all my totes matching) 3) A guest bedroom/bathroom 4) A family room where the TV can go. I didn't really have to compromise much with the basement because I didn't have a lot I wanted down there.

I am so excited to have a basement, since basements in South Carolina were virtually non-existent, and my last house didn't have one!

New Home: Interior Plan (2nd Floor)

For the 2nd floor of our house I had 3 priorities 1) I wanted large bedrooms 2) I wanted a master suite (I love how HUGE our room is, and I'm excited I'll be able to fit a small seating area in there where I can read at night 3) I wanted a bonus room (that I could use for a playroom) The things I had to compromise on the 2nd level were 1) not having an upstairs laundry 2) having an unfinished bonus room (at least all we have to do is sheet rock it next summer though) 3)Not having a huge tile shower in the master bathroom. I am super excited about the awesome claw foot tub my uncle gave me to put in the master bathroom!

The colors upstairs are going to be:
Master bedroom/bathroom: Light Blue
Isabelle's Room (far left room): Medium Grey Walls with pink accents
Guest Room (Future Nursery): Taupe
Isabelle's Bathroom: Taupe

     I went past the lot last night, and they already had a bunch of the block in the foundation up already. Hopefully on Friday they will be completely done with the foundation, and I can post some updated pictures of the progress.

New Home: Interior Plans (Main Floor)

Here is our final floor plan for the main floor. There was obviously some compromising on items, because my perfect "dream home" is probably around a million dollars to build. Curse you HGTV! My top 3 "wants" for our house were: 1) Two Story Home 2) Open Floor Plan 3) Large Kitchen/Pantry. The things I had to compromise on were 1) Upstairs Laundry 2) Formal Dining Room 3) Kitchen Island flipped to face the Great Room 4) Vaulted Ceilings (we went with 9ft as a compromise)

The entire main floor (except the bathroom and laundry area) is going to be maple hardwood floors. I am doing white kitchen cabinets, white trim/woodwork and light gray paint for the walls. The half bath is going to be tile floor, with seafoam green paint and white beeboard.

I think there is a Minnesota joke about our garages here being larger than our homes, and our house is not an exception to that rule. We would have been fine with just a 2 car garage, but had to add the extra stall on due to the Development Ordinance for garage sizes.

The process is moving along surprisingly quickly, and I am hoping that next week they will have started framing!

Sandbox for under $20

We have a had a few nice days this week, followed by a lot of rainy days...but I'm still thankful that summer is finally here and that means kids want to spend their days outside as much as possible....and so do I. I've been looking for a sandbox for Isabelle, but everything in stores were around $40-$70 and even Craigs List didn't have any amazing deals, so I decided to "make" one myself. I found this little pink pool at Wal-Mart for $11 and filled it with 2 bags of play sand I bought at Home depot for $2.50 each. I was thinking about buying a tarp to cover it up when it's supposed to rain but it's light enough that Charles can just drag it into the garage when it rains, which is an added bonus. I will probably buy/build a more permanent one at our new house next year but this is perfect for small yards, small budgets and small children.

Hopefully next week will be warm enough to setup a pool too. Oh Summer, please warm up quickly!

New Home: Breaking Ground

Yesterday we broke ground on our new home! June 1st marks our 1 year anniversary of moving to Minnesota...and moving in with my parents so I am so excited to get started on this house and move into our own place. My parents are out of town for a couple days, and it has been so nice just to have our own space for awhile, although both Charles and I have been surprised how fast the year has gone by, and it really hasn't been that bad living with my parents, and of course, we are very thankful for an opportunity to have someplace to live rent free while we waited for our house in South Carolina to sell, and now, while we wait for our house to be finished.

I took a quick break from work yesterday morning to drive past and watch them get started. By the time Charles drove by at 6, they were done digging the hole and were measuring to start the foundation. Yay!

We took a ride as a family to the lot to see the progress last night and then went to the park that is by our new home. (Notice Miss Independent running so far ahead of us?)

Isabelle is a little daredevil and loves to climb.

Picnic at the park

Our builder told us it only takes a little over a week for the foundation to be finished so I hope that the weather is nice all week and that it's done by the end of next week.

Exploring: Charelston, South Carolina

I already miss being on vacation and am wishing for another one. I'm so thankful for an awesome husband who let me ditch reality for 5 days and treat myself to a much-needed vacation, while he stayed home and took care of Isabelle. My plan for my vacation was simple: Do whatever I felt like doing in the moment. No plans (other than being in the wedding). That is probably the only thing I really miss about not having a kid. Even when you want to go somewhere you have to have a plan of who is going to babysit, and you feel guilty if you stay out all day, ect... I did end up making dinner/lunch plans with family and friends, but other than that I just did whatever I felt like...like treat myself to Starbucks every morning =)

I was in a wedding in Charleston on Sunday so Saturday morning my brother and I drove down to Charleston (a 4 hour drive from Greenville) and spent the weekend there. The wedding was gorgeous, and I had so much fun helping my bestie plan stuff and enjoying a dream wedding through her.

Restaurant with a View: Boathouse

This is where my BFF had her rehearsal luncheon at in Charleston.

This was our view from the outdoor deck, and we even saw dolphins swimming in the bay

Wedding Venue: Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

This is the venue for the wedding I was in. The wrap around veranda is where the reception took place. It was an evening wedding, and the veranda was gorgeous all lit up.

We took some bridal party pictures on this bridge. I can't wait to see how they turned out.

Beach:

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to the beach this trip due to lack of time and poor weather, but the drive around Charleston was made more beautiful by all the beaches.

Favorite Activity: Walking Downtown

I wasn't able to make it downtown this trip either, but I love all the antique shops they have downtown.

Another great activity downtown is the walking through the old Slave Market. 

You can buy all sorts of trinkets there on the weekends

I already told Charles that I can't wait to have another vacation like this next year. I'm not sure where yet (probably wherever Southwest has cheap deals too) but  even a night away from everyone and everything for just some alone time is enough.