On the Road (Again)

So I am hoping with the new Blogger app I downloaded on my phone my blog posts will be more frequent. Maybe, maybe not....

We've been on the road the past couple weekends watching Rob play hockey. It's been so nice to be able to take the weekend off to travel and get the opportunity to watch him play juniors.

A couple of pictures from the weekend:

Decorating with Polka Dots

For all those that know me well enough, I absolutely love polka dots. I think they are adorable on little kids, make fun accessories, and look classy on almost everything. With the emergence of the polka dots on the fashion scene: they are seen in sweaters, scarfs, and iPhone cases. They join the other fun classics: nautical stripes, chevron prints, and ikat as a fun twist to and otherwise boring traditional outfit (the kind of style that I always find myself leaning to.)

With winter, Christmas, and holiday festivities quickly approaching, I'm looking forward to {as always} fun holiday decorations to spice up the usual and predictable holiday decorations. I love predictable as well as traditional, don't get me wrong. But there is always something fun about mixing things up don't you think??

When I stumbled on this perfect little Illume candle I loved its simplicity and most of all the little gold polka dots. Its the perfect mix of traditional and festive and I am obsessed. Not so obssessed with the $50 pricetag attatched to it though....

So I got to thinking (scary)....I could definitely make this candle this winter or at least something similar to spice up an ordinary hurricane glass/votive candle holder. I mean come on, who doesn't need a little polka dot in their lives? This has my name written all over it!

Not ready to do a little DIY? Sequins and Stripes is giving away this exact candle on her blog today, so pop on over there and check it out!

Happy Monday, and stay safe to all those on the east coast. We're all praying for you!

Meal Inspiration

It happens pretty often that I find myself in a quandary about what to make for dinner. I love and cherish my cookbooks, and always look forward to making new and exciting meals whenever the mood strikes me {disclaimer: I don't try new things very often simply because I am lazy, not because I don't enjoy cooking}. So, the mood hasn't "struck" me very much this fall. I had high hopes of course, planning to make my pumpkin bread, fall themed sugar cookies, and new recipes from my newest cookbook I ordered. None of which have been accomplished.

When every Tuesday and Thursday comes around, the designated "cooking together" nights, I find myself straying back to the same couple of recipes that I grew up with: spaghetti and garlic bread, mushroom chicken with brown rice, beef stroganoff, etc. etc. All deliciously satisfying, don't get me wrong. I don't hear any complaints when were woofing down the entire meal, barely coming up for air. I choose them because they are quick and easy, and require a very small grocery list. Since we live in a small town and have one very tiny grocery store, they are used to seeing me in there all the time. They must think "ugh, this girl again..."

photo cred Tasty Kitchen

When I stumbled across this recipe on who else but my blogger/chef/cookbook mastermind Ree Drummond (are you sick of hearing about her yet!?), I was dying to try it out. First of all, BACON. Enough said. Secondly, I love anything and everything potato. Yes we're barely into the month of October, okay halfway through, but I personally feel its soup season. In fact, I am designating it soup season.   I have been itching for weeks to pull out the crock pot and whip up some delicious soups, stews, roasts but didn't want to jump the gun. Is there such a thing? Doubtful.

So, I have decided that instead of falling into the trap of mushroom chicken and brown rice, we will be making loaded potato soup. Even if it's 70 outside. Yes, it's been unusually warm for this time of the year in northern Indiana and we're dealing with it/loving it. It sure makes the 1/2 marathon training ten times better.

Happy soup/pot roast/chili (I know, a soup)/stew season! Maybe I will get around to that cooking to-do list I always create for myself. It can only improve from here right??

LOVEIT.

Psssst...have you heard?? J Crew is have a huge sale on all their clearance items through this Friday! All you have to do is put in the sale code LOVEIT at checkout and you get 30% off all sale items. Pretty fantastic right?

To make matters worse, we got a phone call from a J Crew associate last night reminding us of the sale plus 25% off all sweaters in the store. Personal phone call from J Crew? Yep, feeling pretty special. Do I need help fueling the ever growing J Crew addition? Nope.

A Few of My Favorites....

Who doesn't need a fun pink polka dot iPhone case?

My favorite classic short: the 3'' chino short in bunches of colors

Fun color block socks for under winter boots and galoshes

A pretty pleated crepe skirt for work

The Whitley Dress to wear to an upcoming wedding? Can't beat the price!

A favorite tissue long sleeve tee- goes with everything and anything

Pop on over to jcrew.com and load up that cart on all your spring/summer favorites! Happy shopping!

A Fall To-Do

Well...we certainly got our wish. To say that we've "jumped" into fall here in Indiana would be an understatement. 60's in the day and 40's at night? More like plunged. I'm loving this weather don't get me wrong, but couldn't we have a little more transition mother nature?

I switched out all of my spring and summer clothes last night, which is something that I have been meaning to do for weeks now. It's hard to get motivated to pull out sweaters and jackets when its 80 degrees outside though. So I held out as long as possible. 2 1/2 hours later, my closet was a much more organized version of itself. This may or may not improve my morning routine (slightly resembles a hurricane, I swear.)

So now that I have that task out of the way I can concentrate on my fall to-do list and all the fun things that are happening this time of the year. here are some of my favorites:

• Yellow River Pumpkin Patch 

One of the best things about being back home is getting to relive some of my favorite memories of my childhood...the pumpkin patch being one of them. Hay rides, corn mazes, U-Pick pumpkins, caramel apples, and local produce are a few of my favorite things. The opening day is the last weekend of September, and i am looking forward to getting out there soon after!

• Pumpkin Carving 

Appropriately following the last bullet point, pumpkin carving has long since been one of my favorite fall activities and something that I look forward to every year. Its a messy and fun activity when your a kid, but also just as exciting when your an adult.

Mine usually resembles the one on the right, although I wish I were artistically talented to make one like the one on the left. 

• Crock Pot recipes 

Maybe one of the most exciting things about the fall/winter transition. We start to shy away from the light summer salads and seasonal fruit and gravitate more to the hearty soups, stews, roasts, etc. I love the crock pot and think it is probably one of the most underutilized things in our kitchen at the moment. I have been looking for more simple and easy recipes to try out this fall and winter and cannot wait to chow down! YUM. 

• Fall Decoration (will dedicate another post...coming soon.) 

photos: Honey We're Home

Fall is one of my most favorite times to decorate the house and I also find it to be the easiest. I'm a huge fan of decorating our mantel with leaves, pumpkins and gourds as well as filling lanterns with pumpkins and pine cones. A simple change can make such a large statement, and I love bringing a little bit of the outside "in". Simple sometimes is best! 

With such a long to-do list of all the things I want to get accomplished, I can only hope that the weather will cooperate long enough for me to get it all done (dare I say the word snow yet??) Its way too early for that, but it's definitely looming on the horizon. With fall only a few days away, let's hope that its in the long distance future. 

Happy hump day to all! 

Half Marathon Update

I don't know how many of you know, seeing as I haven't been on this blog in a while, but October 20th i will be running in my first (and maybe only, depends) half marathon. The idea of running the half in the beginning was daunting, only because I had never ran more than an hour in my life. Cross country is in my background yes, but I would never call myself much of a distance runner. It was never my "thing" just something that I enjoyed while in high school.

The fact that I am running with one of my coworkers makes all the difference. If you are ever contemplating doing a large race, get a partner. It makes those long training runs on the weekends worth it and actually enjoyable. Starting out I thought there is NO WAY I will be able to do this...Yes. I am a pessimist at heart. Mostly with things that I have no experience in. Yet with each longer run i gained a little more confidence and my no's slowly turned into maybe's. 6,7,8 miles down...we're getting there!

My life as of lately...

Just looking at this picture makes me nervous. Feeling "stuck" in a bunch of people is not only stressful but irritating. The beginning with be the roughest for me. 

As we get closer to the date of the race I have mixed feelings: anticipation, nervousness, and relief (that it will finally be over.) Will it be something that I will do again? Yet to be determined. Is it something I will be glad that I did? Most certainly. 

Happy running! 

Food From My Frontier

So...I have made a promise that I would write on here a little bit more. I laughed when they told me- what would I write about now that I have left college, stopped travelling to track meets, and am back in my hometown? It seemed like the impossible task to me, but I'm up for the challenge. I'll try to be better, I promise.

I have loved to cook for as long as I remember. When I was younger, I would always help my mom out in the kitchen with her recipes and family meals. When I went away to college, I brought those recipes with me down to Mississippi to make when the mood struck me. Sad to say, I didn't cook very much mostly due to exhaustion, insufficient cooking utensils, and simply lack of motivation. Our apartment would cook for friends on the big holidays and when parents came into town...and that was it. Now that I am back home and have the time to cook, it was finally something that I was looking forward to doing.

This lead me on the search to find some recipes I could try that were out of my comfort zone. I had my usual repertoire of go-to recipes I have learned over the years, but even the cook wants to try something out of the box every once in a while.

And in steps Ree Drummond. When I stumbled upon the Pioneer Woman a few years ago, I knew I had found my cooking "idol". Shes has a wicked sense of humor, takes colorful and vivid pictures of food, and has easy step by step instructions on her website that even the most rookie of a cook couldn't mess up.

I just ordered her newest cookbook online and to say that I couldn't be more excited would be an understatement. Once I receive it and try out a few recipes I'll probably write a review with a few pictures of some of the food I make. If you haven't tried any of her recipes, try them. The first recipe I tried was the chicken and rice soup last winter (recipe found here) and it was a breeze! We ate it for days, so you might think about splitting up some of her recipes because the quantities are so large. Regardless, you can't go wrong.

Happy Monday, enjoy!

White, Navy, and Ikat All Over

It's no mystery to anyone that I have an obsession with ikat prints. A skirt and bag later...I am still looking to add the the collection with this fun and spunky print. When I logged onto Joss and Main this morning (one of my favorite home/decor websites) I died when I saw this beautiful chair:

Ikat Chair from Joss and Main 

Then I thought to myself...I have seen this chair before somewhere else. 

Upholstered Armless Chair at Target

Seeing double? YES. I have always professed my love for Target. Well the love just got a little deeper and a little stronger. Target, you always come through in the clutch and I love you for it. The best part about this set of twins? The ikat chair from Joss and Main is $300, which in big world terms is a steal for the quality and type of chair. But this looks over the top compared to the $100 Target ikat chair! No contest.

5 Year Reunion Weekend (what!?)

One of these days maybe I will get into a schedule of posting on my blog on a daily basis. Maybe not. The past week and weekend has been a whirlwind to say the least, and the past week I have spent catching up on sleep (that I did not get) and "de-carbing" (which I did not do) from this past weekend. As many know from the zillion tagged facebook pictures and all the reminiscing going on all over my facebook news feed...it was my 5 YEAR REUNION this past weekend!

 Disclaimer: This was not my entire class, just those who could wake up before 2pm. The rest showed up three hours later for parade. 

 We actually broke a record for the five year class attendance, which was pretty awesome seeing as I know lots of people that weren't able to attend. Regardless of the fact that our class was abnormally large, it was awesome to see such an amazing turn out.

 Rob doing his thing. And me cont=inuting to take creepy pictures even though I have about 30 of the same picture from different days. And...there's more to come. Graduation weekend is one week away. Yikes.

 I was so so happy that all of my closest friends were able to make the trip. Some were right down the street and some were across the country, so it was nice that we could all join back together in the place that we all essentially "grew up" in.

It's crazy even now to say that I have been to a five year reunion. Any type of reunion at all is pretty ridiculous sounding seeing as there is no way that much time has flown by. They say time flies and gosh it really does!! It was an all around fun weekend, and it went by way to fast. I got to talk to lots of great people and catch up on the comings and goings of everyone in my class.

Still exhausted but so happy to see everyone! 2007...the class that EVERYONE was waiting for. :-)

Fun Florals

I'm sure we all lost our breathe a little bit when we saw Beth from the Lucky One in this absolutely stunning vintage floral dress:

Picture taken from Instyle.com

It was so simple and modest cut yet made such a statement. I think at that moment I thought to myself "Gosh, every girl needs to own a dress like that.."I have been obsessed currently over the floral trend and feel like everywhere I look its floral pants, floral maxi skirts and dresses, floral button up shirts. I love it! I feel like its the perfect transition piece into summer in a relaxed and easy fashion.

Some of my favorites at the moment...

 Modcloth & Anthropologie

 Anthropologie & Forever 21

Modcloth & Forever 21