Fabric Friday: Islimi Pillows

During my morning Pinterest browsing I stumbled upon this little Etsy shop.  Love all the colors!  Check out Islimi if you're in need of some new pillows.  

I can't choose!

Collecting a Mantel

Since we moved into our home 2 years ago I have never finished collecting pieces for out mantel.  It's quite a sad little mantel anyways.  There is not much too it, not much depth to it.  I finally hung my mirror after a year and a half.  It's just one of those things in the house that I can't decide on how I want it to look.

I love the mirror above it, and typically never hang a mirror horizontal.  A few weeks ago I arranged the flowers for a friends wedding shower.   side note: I think I missed my calling in life.  I had way too much fun doing it!  And not to brag, but I think they turned our beautiful!  They were a combination of tulips, roses, dahlias and eucalyptus. Most of the flowers were from our local grocery store too, cheap and pretty!    And lucky for me I brought most of them home from the party and used them on the mantel.  For about a week my mantel was complete . . . and then they died.  I guess my solution will be to always have beautiful fresh arrangements up there! HA!

Meatless Monday Challenge: Accepted

I eat meat.  I like meat.  I eat meat at most every meal.

I commend all my veggie and vegan friends but have absolutely no desire to choose that lifestyle.  No apologies and no judgement, just being truthful.  Basically I have no self control : )  Sunday night Chase proposed we start "meatless Mondays."  I was completely shocked!  This coming from my man who insists on having meat at every meal!  I had actually brought this up years ago and I'm pretty sure I was laughed at.

He started by asking me the rules to our Meatless Mondays.  I laughed and I told him that the rules are whatever we make them to be!    Maybe let's start with dinner? Let's also be realistic.  My favorite word! REALISTIC.  I don't want to start something and not accomplish it because it doesn't fit our lifestyle.  So basically, we didn't make up any rules yet.

May 20 marks my first Meatless Monday!

Breakfast      (I didn't have to change my normal breakfast)
Coffee.  Yogurt.  Granola.  Blueberries.  Rasberries.  Strawberries

Lunch     (Definitely a change from my usual turkey sandwich)
Open faced sunny side up sandwich.

Dinner    (A typical dinner for us, but no ground beef)
Spaghetti.  Salad

Not too bad for my first day!  Lunch will probably be the most challenging meal.  I am completely addicted to turkey sandwiches!!!!!  Wish us luck : )

Open Faced Sunny Sandwich

1/2 piece of naan (or any bread)
1  piece of swiss cheese
1/4  avocado
1/2  tomato
1 1/2 egg (1 whole egg and just the white of the second)
pinch of sea salt

There are so many variations to this!  I happen to have all these delish things at home today.

Veggie Spaghetti

1 eggplant, cubed
1 zucchini, cubed
8 oz  mushrooms
1 lb. whole wheat spaghetti
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
salt and pepper
olive oil

I roasted all the veggies together with olive oil, salt and pepper (you could also do this step in a skillet). In a large pot I added the roasted veggies to my spaghetti sauce and kept them on low while I cooked my pasta.

So many possibilities to this one too!  The mushrooms added some hearty "meat-like" texture.  Can't wait to eat this again!

Veggie Garden Start

For a couple of months now we've been talking about wanting to start a "veggie/herb/fruit/anything that is edible and will grow" garden.  I searched around for planter boxes to buy, since the hubby isn't the most handy of men.  I came up empty handed, there is not much out there to buy.  Lot's of how-to's on building them though!  Chase agreed to take on this challenge and was actually pretty excited about it.

After a trip to Home Depot, he and Elle got to it in the garage a few Sundays ago.  I was quite impressed with the final product!!  They may not last for 20 years, but hey we will out of this house by then.  Somebody else's problem! haha : )  We used cedar wood planks (I wish they were a little thicker but that's all we had to choose from)

I had our landscaper bring us dirt, some of the good stuff that you can't buy at Home Depot.  And then we got to planting!  So far we have . . .

Tomatoes (2 different varieties)

Zucchini

Cucumber

Green Beans

Cilantro

Parsley

Thyme

Rosemary

Dill

Basil (heat tolerant variety)

Strawberries

Lemons

(l to r) zucchini. tomoatoes. zucchini. cucumbers down in front are green beans who haven't sprouted

(l to r) cilantro. basil. rosemary. dill. thyme. parsley. green beans along back who haven't sprouted