Five on Friday

Well...so much for a quieter week!  My father-in-law had an accident on Wednesday night and crushed his knee.  He's in a ton of pain and has to wait until Monday to figure out his options.  I'm home today to take care of anything he might need since he can't walk.

I think we need a nice boring week and we need it soon!

Without further ado, I'm linking up again with Christina and Karli for Five on Friday!

One

Our exterior stone is almost complete and looking great!

We decided to stucco our covered hot tub area and I am really pleased with how it turned out!

Next steps are just completing the stone in a few places and stoning the fireplaces!  I hope this will happen next week.

Two

Our bathroom's made a lot of progress.  The cabinet and tub bases are installed and I can't wait to take a bath and look out over the pond!

We will start tiling the bathroom on Monday and I know it's going to transform this room completely.

Three

Loft has a great sale right now and I just ordered this dress.  I can't wait for it to get here!

Four

I am addicted to Special K Protein cereal.  I was in a breakfast rut and this cereal is so yummy that I've eaten it for every breakfast for 2 weeks.  It keeps me full until lunch.  And yes, I realize I dedicated one of my five to breakfast cereals--I'm a huge dork right now.

Five

As we all know, I LOVE holidays.  With all of the craziness, I'm really slacking on my Valentine's decorations this year.  Below is a picture of my sweet baby dogs with our 2014 decorations.  

 This year, our only decoration is a VDay dog toy from Target.  I'm a slacker, I know.

I figure I can go all out next year in the new house!


Happy Friday!

Roasted Broccoli Chips

It's a new year and I'm in the market for some new healthy snacks.  I absolutely LOVE Kale Chips and wanted to spice things up and find a different vegetable to enjoy as a salty and crunchy treat.  Broccoli is one of my favorite veggies and Trader Joe's is now selling Broccoli Chips.  After checking out the nutrition info on the Trader Joe's version, I wanted something baked/roasted and not fried.  This recipe produced some seriously delicious Broccoli Chips.  I hope you enjoy!

Roasted Broccoli Chips

Ingredients:

• 1 head of broccoli (washed and completely dry)
• 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°
2. Cut Broccoli into large florets
3. Place broccoli in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil
4. Add salt and pepper and toss to combine
5. Transfer to a cookie sheet (broccoli should be in a single layer.  If you stack the broccoli it will not become crispy)
6. Bake for at least 25 minutes, or until the broccoli is crunchy.  It is normal to slightly char the edges on some of the florets.

Update

Last week was just not my week.  I had a bout of food poisoning AND ended up in the emergency room.  I am definitely glad today is the start of a fresh new week!

Thursday night my sweet husband was coming home from a business trip and I was cooking him dinner.  I was going to use a pyrex dish and went to grab it from the cabinet.  In a freak accident I dropped the dish and it shattered, putting a large gash in my leg right above my knee.  I remember looking down and thinking oh sh*t.  I was home alone and couldn't figure out where I put my phone.  It was time to problem solve.  I used a dish towel to staunch the bleeding and managed to get to my computer to face time Daniel (on the interstate) and my Mom.  They both broke all sorts of laws to get to me and get me to the hospital.  I got some wonderful care and am now all stitched up and have been ordered to take it easy.  I was in bed with my leg elevated most of the weekend--thank goodness for Netflix.

The below picture basically sums up my weekend:

Here's to a new and uneventful week!



Linking with Biana & Meghan for weekending.

Weekending

This weekend was full of activity and fun!  My BFF Morgan and her husband Angus (see their wedding recap here) came to visit and I had the best time giggling with them all weekend!

On Friday, Daniel and I got up bright and early to make the journey to Elberton, Georgia to pick out granite.  When we got to the granite warehouse we were like kids in a candy store.  There were just so many options and I had a ton of fun picking out our slabs.

We ended up picking a granite from Brazil called Santa Cecilia Light.  The below is a picture of it.  It has a lot of grey, golds, and browns in it and I loved how it looked with our cabinet samples.  We didn't want anything too dark or too plain and I think this granite is perfect.

They knocked a corner off one of our slabs so we could take a sample home.

 When we got home Friday afternoon, the stone masons were hard at work.  They've almost completed all of the exterior stone and should finish up early this week.

Friday night, Morgan and Angus got here and we had a delicious dinner and a great game of Cards Against Humanity with my family.  

 On Saturday, Muffin, Morgan, Angus and I all headed to Highlands, NC for a wine tasting.  We decided to first have lunch at Cyprus.  It was a beautiful day for some outdoor dining and amazing wine!

One of my favorite things about the Mountaintop Wine Shop in highlands is the cheese plate that comes with your wine tasting.  We literally tried every cheese they had to offer and it was magical!

Morgan and Angus left early on Sunday to head out to visit some more of their East Coast friends.  I had so much fun and was so sad to see them go!  

My sister is actually moving to Paris on Tuesday (tomorrow) for 3 months.  I studied abroad in Rome while I was in college and am so excited for her to have this experience.  I know she is going to love it!  To send her off, our family went to my grandmother's house for Sunday Dinner.  My sweet Gamama pulled out all of the stops and even made Banana Pudding from scratch (no pudding mix here folks!)

My sister Georgia and her boyfriend Spencer.

My sister Anne and her boyfriend Christian.

Daniel is out of town all week for work so I've decided to stay with my parents.  I'm excited to spend some quality time with them this week and  to see our house and its progress every day since I'm just next door.




Linking with Biana & Meghan for weekending.

Five on Friday

I'm linking up again with Christina and Karli for Five on Friday!

One

They started exterior rock this week!

All of the stone was delivered on Wednesday and they started putting the stone on the house.  It's looking great and I can't wait to see the finished product.

Two

For the new year I wanted some sparkly white teeth.  I did a little research into at home whitening systems and found the Luster Premium White Pro Light.  It got here this week and I'm in love!  If you are looking for an easy way to whiten your teeth this is for you!

Three

In other house news, they've started putting up the porch railings.  I love the balusters (posts) we picked!

Four

Last weekend I bought Philosophy's Miracle Worker.  It is amazing!  I suffer from dark circles under my eyes and this stuff has made all the difference.  I have no puffiness and have had used less concealer this week--you can't beat that!

Five

Today Daniel and I are driving the Elberton, GA which is the "world's granite capital."  They apparently have over 45 different quarries and the high school football stadium in the town is made from granite!  I am sure we will be like kids in an expensive candy store.  I am hoping we find something we love without breaking the bank!

Here are some of my granite inspiration photos:

I will let you all know what we find!

Weekend Update

It's Monday again!  It is so cold and yucky out today that it was almost impossible to get out of the bed!  It doesn't help that I'm a touch jet lagged from traveling.  I spent most of the weekend on a plane, but am so happy to be home (I think the puppies were happy too...they showered me in kisses when I walked in the door).  Our weekend was pretty low key and just what I needed.

On Friday, I was still in California.  I spent the evening reading a book and having a glass of wine in the hotel courtyard.  Daniel sent me this seriously cute photo of the dogs and it made me antsy to get on my plane the next morning!

As mentioned, Saturday was spent flying home.  I love traveling, but hate feeling cooped up in airports when I have a long layover.  I walked several laps around my terminal while listening to an audiobook just to keep from going stir crazy.

Little boxes on the hillside...

As soon as Daniel picked me up, we headed to the Melting Pot on a date.  A delicious meal with my sweet Muffin was just what I needed!

On Sunday, we headed to a friend's barn to look for a beam to use as a mantel.  The house/barn were built circa 1907 and the wood they are giving us is absolutely gorgeous!  (THANK YOU TERI AND BILLY!!!)

It looks like it's going to rain all week and I'm not excited for the delay that will put on the house--we were supposed to start exterior rock!  There are tons of projects inside the house, however, so here's to hoping we get a lot done!



Linking with Biana & Meghan for weekending.