Chevron

I actually finished this project a few weeks ago, but wanted to get my new pillows done to get in a finished product picture. 

We have TONS of empty wall space behind our couches in the living room and had NO idea what to do with it.  My new obsession has been "chevron" so I knew I wanted to incorporate that.  I took 6 square canvases, some paint and painters tape and got to work - with the help of my partner, Samson.

1.  Tape canvases.  This was the hardest part and being the perfectionist, took me a whole hour.  Or more.  Seriously.

So helpful.

Caution: Things got messy.

Step 2:  Paint.  You can go crazy since there's tape, so no worries about "painting outside the lines."

Final Product:

On the wall with the new pillows :)

Hmm I think we need to sub a floor lamp or side table for that doggie house....

Budget Binge

For the month of June I experimented with a "Budget Binge" to see exactly how much money I could save in one month.  Being out in the "big girl world" and paying all those big kid bills can be quite overwhelming and it's not hard to fall behind.  I pride myself on the fact that my parents raised me to save money - so not only have I had the luxury of buying things that I want, but I also have a savings account that would allow me to buy a house at age 24.

Having said all that, I have had several friends ask for budgeting advice.  I am in now way a finance expert - taking the minimum requirement in college, but I do spend at least a few minutes every day budgeting.  From my experience, I allow myself enough in my budget to save money, have a social life and afford bills and the unnecessary clothing and entertainment expenses of a 24 year old ;).

Budget Binge Strategy:

• DO NOT go out to eat.  I bought everything at the grocery store and cooked every meal.  Which was also fun for trying new recipes!
• No shopping, whatsoever.  Do not even go into any store.  The only unecessary "thing" that I bought this month was my dad's father's day present, and birthday presents for my niece and nephew.

It was as simple as that.  I still had the expenses like dog food, dry cleaning, gas, travel expenses to my cousin's wedding, etc and I still SAVED $492.57.  But....

You know how people say to always have an emergency fund?  Listen to them.  Everything was going great with the budget.  And then wham-bam-thank-you-maam, my car won't start.  Yep, that's right - the emergency funds came in handy because it cost about $200 to get that all fixed.  So ladies and gentleman, prepare for the worst and keep an emergency fund.  I've heard that this should be about 1/3 of your annual salary.  That's in case of worse case scenario: lose your job, illness, etc.

Here's a skeleton budget that you can use for yourself, nothing fancy, just the basics!  (Mine is saved in Excel so it's easy to add, subtract, etc.)

	Health/Beauty			Dining Out			Total
	$$$	Description		$$$	Description		Health/Beauty		0
							Dining Out		0
							Car/Gas		0
							Clothing/Other		0
							Enterainment		0
							Gifts/Donations		0
							Groceries		0
							Travel		0
							Bills		0
							Samson		0
	Car/Gas			Clothing			TOTAL		0
	$$$	Description		$$$	Description
	Entertainment			Gifts/Donations
	$$$	Description		$$$	Description
	Groceries			Travel
	$$$	Description		$$$	Description
	0			0
	Bills			Samson
power	$$$			$$$	Description
Rent
Alagasco
water
cable
Gym
Other

Top Chef Challenge #3

This week the "special" ingredient was BACON.  Who doesn't love bacon, okay besides my wacko sister, everyone loves bacon.  I couldn't decide between using either spinach or bacon as this weeks ingredient, and lucky me, I found a recipe that incorporated both.

Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce















Ingredients:
12 oz bag of cheese and/or spinach tortellini
4 oz bacon (about 4 strips)
2 tbs flour
2 C milk
salt and pepper
1/4 tso red pepper flakes (more if ya like it spicy)
1 medium lemon
2 C loosely packed fresh spinach, roughly chopped (using scissors makes it so easy)
3/4 C grated mozzarella cheese
3/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
(optional: 2-3 chicken breasts)


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.  Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions.  I bought a package of tortellini from Costco and only used about half.

Cook back in a medium sized skillet at medium-high heat. 

The recipe didn't call for chicken, but I had some leftover and thought it'd be a good addition.  (it was!)










Reserve 2 tbsp of bacon grease and add garlic to pan and cook about 1 minute. 

Add flour to pan and stirk with a whisk for about 1 minute.  Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth.  Add salt, pepper, basil, red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.

While sauce is heating, use a cheese grater to zest lemon.  Cut lemon in half and add 1 tbsp lemon juice and 2 tsps zest to sauce.  Continue to stir until thickened, about 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Drain tortellini.

Add spinach, bacon, mozzarella and parmasean cheeses to the sauce.  Add sauce to tortellini and gently stir.

Cover 8x8 or 9x9 pan with foil and bake 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake an additional 5-10 minutes. 

Not going to lie, it was pretty delish - but if you're not expecting the lemon it really gets ya!

Paleo Guacamole

My friend Brittany is going to ATL for 5 weeks for an internship so we threw her a mini "were going to miss you" going away party.  Brittany is doing the 60-day Paleo challenge at our gym - so her party eating is a bit limited.  Since we can't have the guest of honor starved at her own party - I atttempted Paleo Guacamole.  I paired it with chips for us non-paleoers and got baby carrots and cucumbers for Brittany.

Paleo Guacamole

Ingredients
3 medium avocados
1 firm tomato, finely diced
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (i found this very difficult, so I recommend cutting it with scissors instead of attempting to use a knife)
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Open the avocados and scoop out the "flesh" (that sounds gross, I know - just wait until you check out the pits).  An easy way is to cut it length-wise around the pit and then using a spoon to scoop out the pit.
Mash the "flesh" (I hate using that word) with a fork, to your consistency prefrence.  Be mindful that you will probably accidentally overmash it, even if you're going for chunkier.

Stir together the ingredients

Enjoy right away or store in the refirgerator.  A trick is to put plastic wrap touching the guacamole so it doesn't brown because of contact with air.

Top Chef Challenge #2

Any idea what Manchego is?  Yea, me either.  Apparently it's some type of spanish cheese.  This weeks challenge was "citrus" so I threw in a double whammy and found a recipe with manchego cheese and thought i'd give it a try, without even a sample!  I know, I'm so brave.  I found a recipe for Chicken Manchego in Publix's weekly ad and thought I'd give it a try - especially since it said "feed four for under $20.00"....because I have 4 people to feed and everything :).

It was surprisingly simple to cook and was seriously healthy - maybe too healthy for me, so I threw in a few cookies at the end.

Chicken Manchego

Ingredients:
5 oz Manchego Cheese (ask the deli!)
1/2 cup Roasted Red Peppers (check the aisle with the mexican food)
2 tsp lemon zest
3 tbsp slivered almonds (I recommend adding more)
4 Chicken Breasts
2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
4 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

Dice cheese and red peppers into bite-size pieces.

Combine cheese, red peppers, lemon zest, almonds, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper.  Let stand 15-20 mins (while you cook the chicken) for flavors to blend.

Preheat grill pan on med-high heat.  Coat chicken with olive oil and sprinkle with lemon pepper.
Grill chicken, flipping over to cook thoroughly.

Slice chicken, top with cheese mixture and serve.

Pintrested?

Today at lunch my friend introduced me to the new love of my life - Pinterest.  It's a website where you can log all the cool things you find on-line.  This is one of those things that once you see it you think why didn't I think of that?!  I cannot tell you how many times I saw something I LOVED or HAD TO HAVE on-line but was too lazy to write it down or didn't have a pen and paper handy.  No worries, because now you can let pinterest do all the work!

If you're as crazy obsessed as I am, you can add a "pin it" button to your web browser to automatically pin something to your board.  I just found out about this at lunch today and have spent the majority of my afternoon checking out other people's "boards,"  check mine out here!  You can "repin" other people's pins, pin your own things from another blog or website and just waste away the day - seriously.  Also, it automatically connects you with all your facebook friends and twitter followers so you're already following other boards - or can follow new ones.

Here are a few of the things I "pinned" today:

Hello Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip!!!!


Now I need to throw a party so I can do this!


My cousin did something like this at her wedding and I thought it was so pretty.


A table made out of 2x4s how simple and cute is that!?


Who's coming with me to Santorini?

Top Chef Challenge #1

I've always enjoyed pesto, but I have never tried to actually cook with it.  Honeslty, I couldn't even find it at the grocery store (it can be found in the pasta aisle or refrigerated pasta aisle).  So this was my attempt at giving it a shot...

Chicken Florentine Pesto Pasta

Ingredients

12 oz bowtie pasta

4 chicken breasts cutlets

Salt

Pepper

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 yellow or white onion, chopped, about 1 cup

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup white wine or stock

8-16 ounces of fresh spinach

1/4 cup (regular) cream

1/4 cup (or more) pesto

Directions

1 Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the dried pasta and cook until al dente.
2 While preparing the pasta, cook the chicken. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt, heat the olive oil in a sauté pan and brown the chicken breasts on both sides over medium-high heat. They don't need to be cooked all the way through, just browned. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

3 Add the chopped onion to the pan and sauté 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. While the onions cook, slice the chicken into strips.
4 When the onions are just beginning to brown, add the garlic and cook another minute. Add the white wine or stock and boil vigorously until the liquid is reduced by half.

5 Add the spinach and the undercooked pieces of chicken to the pan. Using tongs, turn them over to coat them with the juices in the pan. Continue to cook, turning and stirring often, until the spinach is wilted and the chicken cooked through, about 2 minutes.

6 Turn off the heat and add some black pepper, the pile of cooked chicken pieces and the pesto. Stir to combine. Drain the pasta put it in a large bowl. Add the cream to the saute pan and stir well to combine. Add the contents of the pan to the bowl with the pasta and mix well. Serve at once. Literally, by the time I started to eat mine it was already getting cold!





Garlic Oregano Zucchini

Ingredients
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
2 med zucchini, sliced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Directions

In a large skillet, cook and stir the garlic in oil over medium heat for 1 minute.  Add the zucchini, oregano, salt and pepper.  Cook and stir for 4-6 mins or until the zucchini is crisp-tender.

Voila!






And my favorite part of cooking....

Summer Reading List

Do you remember in high school when they used to assign the dreaded "Summer Reading Lists?" Jane Eyre ruined my summer and I don't even remember who she is.  I hated those summer reading lists that kept me from swimming in the pool and playing jacks or spit* with my friends.  The books were usually horrible and being the conscientious student that I was, I HAD to read them. I'm pretty sure ALL of my peers just read the spark notes or cliff notes...the day before school started. Well now that I'm a big girl I can do my own "fun" summer reading list sans Jane Eyre. 
This will be a work in progress as I get more recommendations and find new books...

1. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
2. Sex and the City - Candace Bushnell
3. Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me - Chelsea's Family, Friends, and Other Victims
4. The Help - Kathryn Stockett
5. What Is Left the Daughter - Howard Norman
6. Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe (recommended by my trainer Kyle @ Crossfit Rebellion)
7. Watership Down - Richard Adams (a book about bunnies, recommended by my friend, Jokes)
8. The Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship - Lisa Verge Higgins
9. Bergdorf Blondes - Plum Sykes (provided by the Ms. Calle Mendenhall!)
10. Marley and Me - John Grogan (recommended by my friend, Crane)
11. The Search - Nora Roberts
12. The Art of Devotion - Samantha Bruce-Benjamin
13. My Name Is Mary Sutter - Robin Oliveira

I usually just go for the really immature and shallow chick lit, but I decided I needed to branch out this summer.  I recently finished Stiegg Larsson's trilogy and finally realized that I can actually enjoy a book that doesn't revolve around mind-numbing plots about shopping, back-stabbing, gossiping and everything else I enjoy in a good chick lit. 

This reading list is a pretty tall order, and I am not 100% sure that I will be able to get through Gone with the Wind or Uncle Tom's Cabin, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

Any other recommendations?!?!

*I kid you not it was cool to play jacks in the 6th grade at Germantown Middle School. I had even become the jacks master just in time for summer.  In case you don't know, spit is a high-intensity game of cards that doesn't actually involve any spit, unless, of course, you are unfortunate enough to play against one of those people that lose control over their saliva and spit when they talk.  In case you're interested, I would have the pleasure of teaching (and dominating) you in a game of spit, just ask my past victims.

Summer To Dos

Since I don't have any crazy fun summer plans I decided to come up with a Summer To Do List (it'll still be fun and maybe slightly crazy).  Hopefully writing them down and telling everyone will hold me accountable.

My Summer To Do List:

1.  Start a blog.  Done!


2.  Go skydiving.


3. Train Samson not to jump up on people and to behave on a leash..this one won't be fun, but probably will be crazy.

4. Float the Cahaba River.  This will be my one allotted redneck goal.

5. Complete my "Summer Reading List" (the one I have yet to start...).

6. Take pictures - This hasn't always been a challenge for me, hence the 83 albums I have on facebook. Most, or all, of these pictures were taken during college, and although I thought I was super cool then, I've changed a lot - for the better, and so has my closet.

Exhibit A: Consider yourself lucky that I had to crop the shoes. Sad thing is, I'm a clothes hoarder and I recently threw these shoes away. That means that I, at one time, thought they were worth moving approximately 14 times over the past 4 years. Also, what's up with the midriff? Am I trying to be Ashley H from the Bachelorette? However, much to my dismay, I heard the midriff is back in style.  I don't even want to talk about those jeans, they couldn't have been comfortable.

7.  Clean out my closet - inspired by #5.

8. Challenge myself in the kitchen.  Lately I've been buying a lot of those semi-satisfying frozen meals by Bertolli, Stouffers etc.  Freezer space has become non-existent and I'm sick of eating the same thing over and over.  Bonus:  this will inspire more blog posts!

9. Go to Atlanta for a Braves Game and Six Flags!  Brittany and I were supposed to do this 3 or 4 spring breaks ago.  We're way overdue.

10. Go to the beach.  So, who has a beach house they want to invite me to?  Hint, hint!