White Laces

Well, between my two surgeries (one for wisdom teeth and one laproscopic), we’ve not had much time to post on here.  Not to mention, we are trying to prepare for Christmas for both of our families and maybe sneak in a moment or two for each other.

 

We did attend a couple of work holiday parties and Jay played a show.  His band is White Laces and here is a video from their last performance at Belmont House of Smoke in Norfolk, VA. It was taken by me on our new Flip Video cam!

 

 

 

DIY Advent Calendar

I really wanted to make an advent calendar this year and I saw so many cute ones on Pinterest and other sites.  Since I didn’t get the hankering to start on said project until the evening of November 30th, I went simple and created a snip and clip advent calendar with kitchen twine, hanging romantic or family related “to-do’s” and other holiday-themed surprises from an enormous gold picture frame that we have set above our shelves that hold the record collection.

Here it is:

Do you have an advent calendar?  Do you have an heirloom, one you’ve purchased, or do you make your own?

 

Note: Thanksgiving and Birthday post to come, but Jay is charge of that one… but it has videos, so be excited!

We Know Each Other So Well

Jay got me a red tea kettle from Le Creuset for my birthday! I’ve wanted a red tea kettle for ages, but I don’t know how he knew that I love everything Le Creuset! Smart man! He purchased this lovely kettle online, but because my birthday is on Thanksgiving Day, UPS got caught up and didn’t deliver it until yesterday.

But guess what I did on Black Friday? I went shopping. I bought one stinkin’ thing for myself because it was such a great deal. I had to.

I bought a red Le Creuset tea kettle. For $19.99. (Who could resist that?!)

Whoops. Guess we know each other pretty well.

Outcome of this mix up TBD…

Dueling Tea Kettles

DIY: Switch Plate Covers

We are preparing for Thanksgiving next week and have been busy, busy, busy.  I have been trying to clean and craft and plan and organize while Jay has just been working non-stop.   Maybe it’s silly, but I notice the little things.  If you want proof that I’m insane, I even cleaned our plunger yesterday when I was cleaning the bathroom.  It had dust.  And I washed our shower curtain.  I want things to be nice because our parents are meeting each other for the first time.  That’s right, in our 735 square foot condo, we’re hosting Jay’s mother and father, my mother and stepfather, my brother, ourselves and the dog for a Thanksgiving feast.

So, one of the things I wanted to do was to update our switch plate covers.  Did she say switch plate covers?  Yes, I did.  We have some pretty good switch plate covers already.  Our bedroom has a great metal bird switch plate cover from Consider Boutique in Louisville, and when I surprised Jay with an office remodel while he was on tour with his band, I made this switch plate cover from a postcard he saved at brunch at Diner in Brooklyn, NY earlier this year.  Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was doing when I made this one, but I still like it and it means something to us.

DIY "Diner" Switch Plate Cover

This time, I redid the kitchen switch plates with a little bit more info under my belt.  I had four of various shapes and sizes and wanted to just reuse a bunch of stuff we had here, so I figured I would use Modge Podge and my Vegetarian Times subscription to make some unique new covers.  I love the photography in that magazine and this latest issue was fantastic.  After using my exacto knife and cutting mat to cut out some pictures by tracing the plate covers, I podged them on there, gave them another podge coat and let them sit for a while.  After they had dried, I painted the edges with black acrylic to cover the edges and then used a separate brush that was moist to blend over the entire cover.  It made for a weathered, dark, antique finish that really pops against our white walls.  Here’s the finished product!

I added a clear sealant coat after the paint had dried to seal it all in. Here they are drying!

The main kitchen switch - I love the spoon!

I love this one, hidden under the cabinets.

Our new knife racks and the new switch plate cover

and up close!

Olives and oils!

 

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?  Are you hosting?  How are you preparing?

Happy Sunday!

We love watching football on Sundays.  We both play in a Fantasy Football league (Jay actually plays in two.)  Every Sunday, we’ll have people over to watch the games, root for the Redskins (or whomever) and I’ll make food for the gathering.

Today, we had a bunch of apples from a local orchard and some leftover butternut squash that needed to be roasted soon, so I decided to make an apple pie.  I found a good looking and adaptable recipe over at Smitten Kitchen, but wanted to do a little more.  I asked Jay if he had ever heard of an apple and butternut squash pie or what he thought of it, so being the modern couple we are, he googled it to see if anyone else had also ever had this idea.  Turns out there were many combinations, including soup, crumble, casserole and even macaroni and cheese!  But there wasn’t a pie.  We figured, though, that if all these other combos made sense to others then we oughtta go ahead and try to make a pie.  So we did!

Earlier, I made a yummy breakfast from some leftovers.  (Can you tell today is leftovers day yet?)  We had a vegetarian sausage gravy and pimento cheese omelets topped with sauteed spinach and grilled onions, peppers and brussels sprouts.  Yum!  Jay gave it an 8/10.***  I suppose that’s okay, but I prefer 9s and 10s.  I’ll have to work on that.

***He says it’s based on a comparison to other breakfasts I have made him, so to not be discouraged.  Good man.

Lunch was more pimento cheese since I made a million billion gallons of it the other day.  I made them for our guests and individually wrapped them in wax paper with name tags.  I love wrapping sandwiches in wax paper.  Everyone who sees them thinks they look really fancy and often I’m asked where I bought it.  When I respond that I made it myself, I always get a look of polite surprise.  Try it out!

Paris is being lazy as always and faithfully adorable.

Happy Sunday and Go Redskins!

What are your Sundays like?