eBay finds!

From time to time I will check out eBay for J Crew or Lilly finds that I have been looking for or wanting. A few weeks back I bid on and won this skirt from the J Crew 2007 Summer collection. I think it is going to be a great easy piece for summer.

The seller was so absolutely sweet, that she added this in as a special surprise!

I cannot tell you how surprised and excited I was. I love bangles and not only with this look adorable with the skirt, but I have the Favorite Fit capri's with the red embroidered lobsters. I also have this dress,

You would think that I am a huge lobster lover. But, I can't even go near the stuff. Deathly allergic. But they do remind me of summer and fun. I am always on the look out for this sweater from J Crew as well, but I don't see it come up very often under $100. 

If you are looking for a great eBay seller, check her out!

Four Month Check Up

I can't believe we are almost a third of the way through the year already. I was thinking about my 11 in '11 and thought I better check in to see how I am doing.

1. Cooking at home more. . . I think I have been doing a pretty good job. We have been balancing from week to week, but overall I feel like I have been doing a better job of using what I have, sticking to my meal plan and cooking at home. Always room for improvement of course.

2. Trying a new recipe at least once a week. I went back and looked at my past 17 meal plans, and other than the weeks that we have done a lot of eating out, not only have we been trying new recipes, but even new cuts of meats and techniques. So now I just need to keep it up. Some of our favorites so far have been
Bean with Bacon Soup and Bacon wrapped Scallops in a Cream Sauce 
Seared Pork Tenderloin with Cocoa Spice Rub
BBQ Pork Pizza Soup
French Dip with Onion Spread Sandwiches
but, my all time favorite dish so far is Penne Gorganzola with Grilled Chicken 

3. Regular exercise. . .it has not happened. But I did do a 7K in March, and I am hoping to do more. I have actually had a tough time with the weather and getting outside, but I know that the sunshine is right around the corner.

4. A trip. Well, this one I have already achieved. However, it was a terrible vacation for me, I have not been that sick in a long time. I was thinking two trips, and was thinking it would be so much fun to go and see our friends in Chicago, so I am going to keep my fingers crossed that we can make that happen. Drive or fly, we can keep in our options open. Even if it is just a long weekend. Our house projects are going to impede a lot of weekends away and trips for a while I think.

5. Read a book a month. Nope, hasn't happened yet. I have gotten one book read so far this year. This is due to lack of me time I think, but I do need to just make more time to read. I am going to try to focus on this one over the next couple of months.

6. Home projects. Oye. We are working on this one.
January - My office - almost done, we still have two things left and then I need to organize it.
February - Guest Bathroom - done, still need to get a valance made, but I am very pleased with the reveal. We also came back from vacation in February to a flooded basement that needed to be gutted. So that has put us back a couple of months.
March - Guest Bathroom
April - Guest Bathroom, Guest Bedroom, Basement
May - Guest Bedroom - this needs to get done as we have our friend K from CT coming to stay for a long weekend, can't wait. The boy and my dad will continue to work on the basement as well. This is going to take a while to complete.
June - Master Bedroom, Basement
July - Hallway and stairway to upstairs, Garage
August - Dining Room, Garage
September - Media Room, Garage
October - Living Room
November - Finish Basement
December - Kitchen

7. De-cluttering and organizing. I am getting there. I have about three bags to go to Goodwill. Need to keep it up.

8. Entertaining. Still haven't had all of our friends over for a big blow out, but I am planning one. We did have friends L & J over for dinner, hosted two wine events and the murder mystery party as well as had my parents for dinner a couple of times. We have both sets of parents coming for Mother's Day.

9. Planting herbs, veggies and flowers. Well. They are sitting in my kitchen waiting for this weather to decide it is done with Winter. I am all over this one.

10. Arts. Nope, hasn't happened. We did take in a show with the boys parents in January. A show while we in New York, but we need to work on this one.

11. Be happy. This has been a tough one. I have been letting work get to me too much so I need to turn this one around for me. I have had fresh flowers on a consistent basis, and this does make me very happy. I need to focus on this one more though.

I am glad I checked in on this to see how I was doing. It reminded me of the things I want to try to stay focused on this year.

How are your goals/resolutions going this year?

Meal Plan Monday - Week 17

We had a really good weekend, but they go by way too fast. I was able to take a good part of Friday off of work. A few conference calls in the morning and then I got a call at about 8:30 pm to hop on another call for a couple of hours. For a good part of the day though, I was able to take part in a fun event with my sister and her family, more on that soon, check out a movie, Rio, with my niece and nephews and made dinner for my mom, dad and the boy.

Saturday the boy and my dad got to work on the basement early. It is really coming along, they have done a great job and put in a full week of work. I got some errands done and then we headed off to a wonderful food and wine event. We had a great time catching up with friends and it was nice to have a night out.

Sunday we were able to get some chores done at home and then head to my sisters for Easter. We had a really nice early dinner, and then we took the kids over to the boys sisters, to pick out our new addition to the family. Stella. She is still getting settled in and adjusting, but she sure is cute.

This week we have a lot of running around we need to do and we pick out some things for the basement. Other than that though, it will be time at home to get the new member of our family settled.

Monday
Plans - Allergist appointment to see how this new member is going to affect me. Sister J over to meet Miss Stella
Dinner - Chicken and Black Bean Green Enchilada Rice Bake (I saw this yesterday on Picky Palate and could not get it out of my mind and just had to make it. It was SO good)

Tuesday
Plans - A trip to Petsmart to get some necessities for Miss Stella
Dinner - Ham, Cheesy Potatoes, Asparagus

Wednesday
Plans - Another trip to a home improvement store or Ikea
Dinner - Steak on the grill, red potatoes, strawberry spinach salad

Thursday
Plans - United Way Emerging Leaders Wine Event
Dinner - Food on a Stick courtesy of the event

Friday
Plans - Home, can't wait to have a veg night at home
Dinner - Ham leftovers

Saturday
Plans - Winery Tour
Dinner - Out with the wine group

Sunday
Plans - Home, work on projects at home
Dinner - Grilled Grouper with Mango Butter (I bought a jar of this at Trader Joe's, now I have to find things to make with it. . .) It was really cold and even flurried here today, so instead I made Devon's Award Winning Chili after watching Ina cook this up with her. I love chili, but I had never made "Texas" chili before with brisket. This was delicious but it made a TON!

Restaurant Review - Gold Nugget Tavern and Grille

The other night we decided to head out for a bite to eat. We have been looking for places closer to home to try and I had read an article in a local magazine about the Gold Nugget Tavern and Grille. It sounded interesting, so we decided to give it a shot.

It is located in a small strip mall with apartment buildings above it in Minnetonka. It had what looked like a nice patio that could be enjoyed during warmer weather during the summer. One of the draws was the fact that they boast a new hamburger every week, 52 new hamburgers a year.

The boy and I decided to check out their onion rings to start with, they were delish.

I decided to go with their burger of the week which was a burger with cream cheese and green olive topping with lettuce and tomato as well as handcut fries and for .75 extra, your choice of dipping sauce. I decide to try the creamy horseradish. I love horseradish.

The burger was cooked perfectly and what I really enjoyed was the toasted, sesame seed bun. Nice extra touch.

The pickle was nice and crisp and fresh and the fries delicious. The boy had a ham and cheese sandwich that he really enjoyed as well. We both really enjoyed our meals. The atmosphere was fun and they had tv's with the Twins game on. For a Tuesday night, and late, for a dinner crowd, all of the tables and booths around us were full and we even had to wait about 5 minutes to be seated. Good signs. We will definitely be back!

No. . . .say it isn't so. . .

it's not April Fool's Day. No, it's not November. . .this is what waking up on April 20th in Minnesota looks like. Yes people, it is April in MN. Please, someone, let me win the lottery so that we can buy a house in Charleston and live there during the winter, oh and spring months. . .

So, how was your Wednesday? Man I miss the green. . .

Mystery Murder Party!

I mentioned a few posts back (a few weeks ago) that for my birthday, we had a few friends over to celebrate my birthday by hosting a murder mystery dinner party. It was a ton of fun, and I am really glad that our friend J was here to help guide us through it. She had participated in a couple before, so she had a good idea of how it flowed.

We sent invitations out a few weeks in advance with everyone's character assignments and pertinent information. I found these great invitations on Traylor Papers.

We decided instead of doing a sit down dinner, this was more of a casual heavy apps and wine group, so I ran to Trader Joe's and picked up a few things, and then I also made pear with TJ's spreadable blue cheese wrapped in prosciutto, assorted cheese and crackers and a salad with strawberries, goat cheese arugula and candied walnuts with a champagne vinaigrette.

I didn't do much for decorations but I always have fresh flowers, which I love. I don't think I can go a week without fresh flowers. I think working from home so much, it gives me something bright and cheery to look at it in passing! Ranunculus are one of my favorite flowers. I just LOVE them, but unfortunately they do not grow well in my zone.

We had a wonderful group of friends, my sister and brother in law, T and sister J, our friend M and then J who was such a huge help. The boy even quit shaving for a few days to get into his character. My favorite though was our friend M who was Otto Van Schnapps and in the description of his character it said that he needed to wear Lederhosen so of course he had to find just the right costume.

We had to have cake of course. We have a wonderful bakery by our new place and they make the most beautiful and delicious cake I think I have ever had. This is their Grasshopper cake, it is an extremely moist chocolate cake with a wonderful minty filling and the most delicious light whipped topping frosting. I thoroughly enjoyed this cake, and then promptly sent the other half home with my sister for my niece and nephews. But I promise you, I am still thinking about it today. . Plus, its pink and green, how much better can you get?

A week later when we went up to our friends L & J's cabin for the weekend, we celebrated not only my birthday, but L & J's as well. Another great reason to get another cake from Wuollet. This one we had decorated though, I won't be doing that again as I don't like that super sweet frosting. But again, it was so cute and so delicious!

I would love to do another Murder Mystery Party, it was a ton of fun, and I cannot imagine spending my birthday any other way, with such wonderful friends.

House Update - Mud Room

So, not as much of a "room update" but an accomplishment is an accomplishment around these parts and this still carries the wow factor for me because it was so ugly dark and gross.

The boy spent a lot of time painting and updating this area. For such a small room it took a lot of work.

Here are the befores (yuck)

 I am hating the dark 70's wood, the dark brown door and the ugly white knobs. With no windows and not a lot of light, it needed to be brightened up a bit. 

Ta-da!

 The rug is from Target, we replaced the vent grate on the floor.

 New knobs, and the paint on the wall is the same color from the Master Bath, Behr Basketweave. We bought a five gallon bucket of the white that we are using for the doors and trim throughout the house. I love the way that the paint on the trim and dark woodwork is really brightening things up and making this a little more modern.

 We put the chalkboard from my old place up. I love this chalkboard, real slate and it is a great place to keep track of our lists.

 This is a Wall Decal that I bought off of Etsy, and the hook is from Lowe's. Sometimes we even have coats on there. To the right is a pocket door and the laundry room, which is also almost ready for a reveal of its own.

 That is a pocket door that goes into the eat in kitchen area and media room. Behind the pantry door on the left is where my laundry chute comes out. Do you have a laundry chute? This is a first for me, but I LOVE it!

 This door goes to the garage, and eventually we will get a new doorknob when we replace the front door.

 Behind these doors,I would love to tell you that my pantry is all organized and beautiful and I have all of the canned good items cataloged so I can just look at the index and get great meal ideas. But realistically, we are doing our best, but we still have room for progress.

Overall I am very pleased with the updated mudroom. It is a much more pleasant experience walking in the door to the bright updated space. We also have a mud tray which we keep our shoes and boots in during the winter. At the moment I have flowers and herbs sitting in it waiting to be planted.

Meal Plan Monday - Week 16

Last week was A LOT of eating out. We had some Groupons that were expiring that we needed to use and just overall a really hectic week with work and getting the basement prepped for the work to begin this week with the boy and my dad. We really are lucky that the boy and my dad will be able to do most of the work themselves, it will really save us a ton of money and I am hoping we will be able to do everything we want this way. It is pretty well gutted at the moment, so I have some before pictures of that, more before and afters to come.

I wanted to share a couple of the restaurants and meals that we had last week with you, there were some fabulous ones and some average ones. Monday evening we were back to the Duplex in Uptown. It literally used to be a duplex, but now it is a restaurant with dining both upstairs and on the main level, as well as al fresco dining.  We have been there a few times, but the only time we had good service was the first time we were there with our friend J and her daughter when they were in town from Chicago. Every other time, the service was not that great. We had pleasant servers, but it was just not speedy. I had something very basic, a burger, but it was good. The boy had chicken and gnocchi which he really enjoyed. We have another groupon thing for Duplex that expires in a month or so, most likely we will probably be back, but overall, it was not one of our favorite places.

Tuesday night we tried out a place we had never been to in NE Minneapolis called The Butcher Block. This was by far our favorite meal and one of our favorite places that we had been to in a few weeks. It is very unassuming from the outside, and I was pleasantly surprised by the ambiance and decor. Since neither of us had ever been there before, and we weren't familiar with the menu, we asked our waiter for recommendations and I am SO glad we did. We also found out that the executive chef and part owner is a master butcher, has his own butcher shop in the building and his does his own meat daily. We each started with a salad and then we shared our entrees so that we could each have a taste. I had the braised short ribs that were melt in your mouth delicious, by far one of the best meals I have had in a long time. The boy had the most wonderful flavorful pork Marsala. We both really enjoyed our meals.

Thursday night was a special night. The boy and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary at a Minneapolis landmark, Jax Cafe. It is actually where my mom and dad had their first date. We had a wonderful dinner, I had the filet and the boy the prime rib. It is an old school steak house, complete with the dark wood paneling, professional servers and even matchbooks with our names engraved on them at our place setting upon our arrival. We had a wonderful dinner, I gave the boy a surprise and got us tickets to the Cirque du Soleil show Ovo that is coming here in late May early June. The boy surprised me with flowers and a bottle from one of my favorite wine makers Orin Swift. Can't wait to share it with him.

Friday we joined friends at a wine event, that was not all that exciting. The wines were eh and the crowd was a little much, so we decided to head out to Bar Lurcat. I love the bar and ambiance and they have wonderful food. It was also wine week, where you purchase one glass and your next glass is .10. Can't beat that.

Saturday was Summit duty, a trip to the local home improvement store for more supplies. I started out having a tough day. Just exhausted from the week, and slowly went down hill from there. I am not sure if I have a bug or what, but the past two days I have just been exhausted and all I want to do is sleep. I am hoping after a good night of sleep tonight, I will be good to go tomorrow, but I today has not been easy either. Another trip to the local home improvement store, some errands and just staying close to home getting work done as well as house work.

This week is kind of up in the air. I am going to try to make dinners that will work if my dad wants to stay and eat with us he can and will like what I am making. We have a couple of things going on, but nothing too much.

Monday
Plans - Not too much, I am sure the boy and my dad will be working late
Dinner - Trader Joe's Orange Chicken and rice

Tuesday
Plans - Home, work on the house
Dinner - Tri-Tip Steak on the grill, roasted red potatoes with dill sauce, asparagus Out to dinner Gold Nugget Tavern

Wednesday
Plans - Guess what, more work on the house
Dinner -Tri-Tip Steak on the grill, roasted red potatoes with dill sauce, asparagus

Thursday
Plans - BYOB Wine event and kitchen swap (I am so excited for this!) Moved this to May 14th
Dinner - I need to bring an appetizer to share so I am bringing Asparagus, Brie and Parma Ham Crostini
Creamy Chicken Marsala Pasta
Friday
Plans - I am sure with a night off from working on the house, the boy will want to be back working on the basement. With only a week off, and a ton of work to do, the boy and my dad have a ton of work to do. Taking the day off of work and going to the movies and dinner with my niece and nephews.
Dinner - I may just pick up a pizza. . . not sure

Saturday
Plans - We have a really fun wine event to go to, and we have not seen friends S & J in a while and they are hosting so it should be fun.
Dinner - I need to bring another appetizer, the last time S & J were at an event at my house they brought chocolate soup, the theme was wine and chocolate. I just need to bring something to share this time. I am thinking about an asparagus brie soup?

Sunday
Plans - Easter Sunday and a surprise. . .
Dinner - We are gathering at my sisters. I am not sure what I am bringing yet. My mom is doing ham and my sister is doing potatoes. I need to fill in the gaps! Still doing some researching and hoping to get some inspiration from Orgjunkies meal planners!

Hope everyone has a great week! Excited to check out some meal plans this week over at the Orgjunkie!

House Update - Guest Bathroom

Another room down! Whew! We are definitely behind schedule, but due to the basement and our trip out East, it makes sense right now. We still have some finishing touches to put on my office before I can post that as being completed, but that should be next. The next room is the Guest Room, and luckily we have the furniture and most everything for the guest room, we are still trying to decide on colors, but I am looking forward to getting that room done as well. I want to get the guest room done so that when we do the Master Bedroom, we will have somewhere to sleep. The Master Bedroom will definitely take more work, so we will want some time for that.

Next week the boy has taken the week off from work, and he and my dad are going to re-do and fix the damage in the basement that we had in February when we were on vacation. We had a quote, but unfortunately it was a lot more than what we wanted to spend (or what we had gotten back from insurance) on the basement. I will definitely be taking before and after pictures there as well. Unfortunately I never got any really good pictures of the basement after we had gotten it set up.

Onto the Master Bath, here is the before,

We were lucky that we were able to start with kind of a clean slate. White floors, white tiled walls, and a white bathroom. I hated the dark wood, ugly lights, old yucky faucets and silly ugly knobs. The other good part was the shower/tub were in perfect condition. Mirror, gross. So, the boy started by priming the dark wood.

My dad had changed the light fixture out a while back and we were able to use it as is for the time being. 

We had our work cut out for us, but we both had an idea of what we wanted in mind. As we would see things that we thought would work in the room we would pick them up. The first of which was a couple of pictures that gave us the inspiration for the color which is Ocean by Waverly Classics Valspar.

It is hard to tell here, but it is a blue green, and I just love it. This is the same type of paint we bought for the laundry room and I just love the way it looks on the wall. The boy said it went on nice and thick too, which I think adds to the appearance.
The pictures we wound up returning, because they just didn't look right on the walls. But we did find some that we love. We had gone to Valspars website and ordered paint samples, and with that, we received a $5 off a gallon of paint at Lowes. The cost for a gallon of this paint I believe is $32. We still have a lot left over as well. I love the color, so I am not worried about that.

New blind from Lowe's. Mirror $59.99 Home Goods (we had bought a much bigger mirror for here when we did the Master Bath, it was too big, so we returned that and bought this one). Light fixture Lowe's last fall when we bought the ones for the Master Bath and Eat in Kitchen. I need to go back and look at the price on that one. 

The Tommy Bahama "Relax Map" Shower curtain was from Rue La La back in March for $19.90 and the shower curtain hooks from Target for $9.99. I am still looking for some cute little pineapple ones, but these will do for now.

 I asked the boy to paint the back of the built in the same color as the wall to break up the white of the shelf. I really like the way that it turned out and the brown/bronze accents.

 The candles and candle holders were also Home Goods finds, $5.99 for the shorter one, and $7.99 for the taller one. The candles were $3.99 each. You can't really see from the picture, but the brown candle holders actually have a little of the greenish color like the walls on them.

 When we did the master bathroom we changed out all of the door knobs on the second floor. We went with a lighter brown for towels. These are from Bed, Bath and Beyond. I save up some 20% off coupons. They had a darker brown, but I like the lighter brown better.

The pineapple accents are also Tommy Bahama from Rue La La and the whole set, toothbrush holder, drinking cup, soap dish and soap dispenser were $29.90. I saw the same set on eBay for $45.00 so I was pretty pleased with the purchase. 

 The faucet we bought last fall as well when we purchased some other items. The boy installed it, I like the way it turned out. This was the most expensive of the three that we purchased from Overstock.com at $91.99.

 I wasn't sure about the built in when it was so dark, but I really like the way that it turned out painted. Perfect for storage too.

 The light on the top shelf, the boy found at Home Goods for $16.99 and I love the way it looks there. I picked the baskets up at Michael's for half price. $1.99 for the small one and $6.99. The Aveda is courtesy of my brother in law who works for Aveda. Candle, Home Goods, and the vintage hair dryer was a Christmas present from my sister, I just love how it goes. Still looking for a couple other things to put in here, but I think we have those around the house. The boy has some neat lighthouses that I think will look great in here.

The pictures are also from Home Goods, $12.99 each. They are not the original pictures we had picked out which inspired the color for the walls, but I actually like these better. The other pictures were more wrapped canvas and didn't have the frame, so the colors seemed to blend into the walls where the frames on these pictures make the colors pop more. 

I still need to have a valance made from this fabric which I purchased for $4.99 on closeout from Hancock Fabrics. I just need to find someone who sews. 

 We also upgraded the knobs a tad. Knobs are expensive. These were $3.79 each, kind of a splurge when you think about it, but I just loved them.

We also changed out the toilet lever. This was a $7.99 upgrade and well worth it since the boy changed it out himself. I think these little fixture upgrades make a big difference and really pull things together. He also added some trim around the built-in, really just makes it look finished.

Over all I am very pleased with the end result, and I think our guests will enjoy it as well, I wonder who will be first?