Friday Favs 9

It's Friday!  I'm pumped for a half-day at work and looking forward to some fun plans this weekend.  Hope your week has been great, here's some things that rocked my world in the last seven days.

Fav #1

Walmart's Marketside Chipotle Ranch Yogurt dressing. I first discovered Marketside's Chipotle Ranch dressing in the Marketside Southwest Chopped Salad (which is also fabulous). In fact, its so fabulous that I sometimes run into Walmart specifically for just that salad, even though I grocery shop elsewhere.  The chopped salad comes in a bag with all the ingredients needed for a yummy, spicy, crunchy salad--chopped lettuce, cabbage, crunchy jalapenos, and this amazing dressing.  I love the salad, it's SOO good, but I don't love the full-fat dressing.  So I was super excited to learn that they make a yogurt-based version of the dressing!  Once I saw that, I changed our dinner plans and made a big salad that night so I could try it.  It's a bit thinner than the original, but all the flavor is there.  It's awesome, and only 25 calories and one gram of fat per serving.  It's my new go-to salad dressing!

Fav #2

Gold Leaf.  I've been wanting to gold leaf something for a long time, and this week I got my first shot. I bought Mona Lisa Gold Leaf Kit, which included the adhesive and sealer.  That stuff is amazing! And really easy!  I'll be debuting my project in the next few days, but right now I'm trying to figure out what I can gold leaf next!  The cats had better ruuunnn.....

Fav #3

Rugs USA.  I can't believe I haven't told you about Rugs USA yet!! This is where I get all of our area rugs, because I cannot find cooler rugs or better prices anywhere. First and foremost, Rugs USA ships free everyday.  With a giant area rug, this is huge.  But even better, they consistently have HUGE sales.  I'm talking sales in excess of 50%.  In fact, when I find a rug I'm interested in, I don't buy it until they are having a sale that is at least 60% off, which happens several times a year.  I love that there are plenty of modern, graphic rugs to choose from, but if your style has more of a traditional tilt, there are plenty of rugs to suit as well.  Additionally, Rugs USA offers plenty of customer reviews for each rug they carry, so you can really research your purchase prior to ordering.  I could do a whole post on all of the rugs that I'm currently loving (and maybe someday I will), but here are two of my favorites right now.  Seriously, if you are in the market for an area rug, CHECK THEM OUT.

Fav #4

Desert Domicile blog.  I have such a blog-crush on Caitlin's home!  You must check her out.  Her style is so unique, creative, and fun!  Check out her studded front door. Or the floating wooden shelves she built in her bathroom.  Or any of her other awesome projects. She's so fab!  When you have a few minutes (Or hours.  Because if you're like me, you may fall down the rabbit-hole of navigating all of her fantastic posts, and will spend all night there.) show her blog some love.  You'll be so glad you did!

Have an amazing weekend!!

Magazine Junkie (and a giveaway!!)

Magazines are like my crack. Could I read them on my Kindle Fire? Of course, but there is just something about coming home to a new mag in the mailbox and flipping through the pages.  If you follow me on Instagram (and you totally should!), you'll often see that I'm sprawled out enjoying coffee and magazines on Saturday mornings, rainy afternoons...pretty much as often as I can swing it. This love of magazines is nothing new.  When I was a teenager, the days that YM or Seventeen showed up on my doorstep were like Christmas to me.  So to celebrate my addiction, I thought I'd share some of my favorite mags with you....and offer a giveaway subscription to one lucky reader!

First up are my trashy celebrity news magazines.  Call me shallow, but I love me some celebrity gossip, as well as seeing pictures of their families, fashions, purse contents...whatever.  My favorites are Us Weekly and People magazine. I'm too cheap to subscribe to People, but I do buy the occasional issue at the grocery store if the headline catches my eye.  I stumbled upon a Groupon for a $34 Us Weekly subscription last year and having each issue come to my door has been AMAZING.  I was thrilled to find that it was almost always delivered on a Friday, making it a fabulous 'cheers to weekend' present enjoyed with a glass of wine on many a Friday afternoon (don't judge).  Sadly my subscription is coming to an end, and I won't renew unless I can find a similar deal, so I'm enjoying my last few deliveries of happiness on Friday afternoon.

 There's nothing like some Friday afternoon escapism. Or wine.

I'd love to tell you that I have a ton of recipe/cooking magazine favorites, but I don't.  For me, it's all about Simple and Delicious. I love it so much that I refuse to throw back issues away.  Instead, I meticulously file them on my cookbook bookshelf like some kind of hoarder.  I can't help, I love Simple and Delicious! And who knows when I might want to flip through a back issue for menu inspiration?! Each issue filled with easy, real-people recipes that use ingredients that I often have on hand.  They feature reader submissions, tons of pictures, and almost every recipe I have ever tried has been great. Plus, a year-long subscription is about $10.  I highly recommend it!

And of course, there are my home and garden magazines.  Which of course are my personal favorites.  I subscribe to Better Homes and Gardens and HGTV magazine.  Both are great, but in different ways.  HGTV delivers home decor and room inspirations that are closer to my style, but Better Homes & Gardens offers amazing recipes, gardening info and reader-submitted DIY projects that I love to read about.  Plus BHG prints twelve times a year to HDTV's ten, so it seems like I'm always getting a happy surprise from them in the mailbox!  The bottom line for me is that I need both of them in my life.

And so do you!  So to help someone get started, I'm giving away a one year subscription to Better Homes & Gardens.  Use the Rafflecopter below (it may take a second to load, but will appear shortly) to earn up to three entries.  The giveaway will run until the end of the day on Wednesday, September 25th, and is open to residents of the US only.  Good luck!!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Shopping Recap: September 2013 (and a guest post!)

Hey guys!

First and foremost, I'm guest posting about our spare bedroom and another aspect of my life over at Where the Bleep* is Our Stork today!  Teresa, the girl behind the blog, writes her story with an authenticity and realism that I really admire. So when she put out a call for guest bloggers, I offered to share a teeny bit of my story on her blog.  If you are interested, please click on over there to check it out!

Now...onto the shopping!  My mom and I hit some stores this weekend, and as usual I found some fun stuff.  I went out primarily on the hunt for fall decor, but instead I came home with a random assortment of stuff and practically no fall decor.  Oh well!

First up we stopped at JC Penny for some non-decor-related purchases, but I DID find these cool chrome pumpkins that I'd love to use on our hearth in the dining room.

However, that dream ended once I realized they were $60.  No worries, I have a DIY solution in mind.  I did find some cheaper silver pumpkins later on in the day, but once I had my little project conceptualized, there was no shaking me from it. So hopefully that will come together into a tutorial in the near future :)

Then it was onto Christmas Tree Shops.  I have a love/hate relationship with that place. There are times that I find some interesting stuff, but just as often I end up feeling like it is a waste of time.  Luckily, this was one of those LOVE days!  First up, this adorable owl K-cup holder...

Now normally, I am a huge protector of the kitchen counter space. Less is more, people. In fact, we don't even keep our K-cups on the counter, we choose to store them in a nice little rack with pull-out shelves inside one of our cabinets.  But I couldn't resist this little cutie. In fact, he's the only 'fall' thing I bought all day.  Are owls fall?!  They seem to be, but I'm not really sure why.  Anyway, you'll find this guy living on our counter until it is time to decorate for Christmas.

I also found some great deals on summer decor that I plan to store away until next year.

Both need some tweaking (not twerking) in the form of spray paint for the coral and possibly some liquid gold leaf for the sand dollars.  I'll find time to do that sometime before next summer.  Let's not kid ourselves, I'll probably do it next weekend and then be dying to put them out in the middle of October.


I was super excited to go to Target, because I was sort of hoping that they would have Nate Berkus' new collection in stores a day early (it was due out Sunday, but I really like to stay at home on Sundays, if possible).  I struck out on getting an early peek at Nate's new items, but they did have some good deals on some of his older stuff. However, the most exciting thing I found there were these tall planters:

Originally $34.99, they were marked down to $10.48.  Awesome.  And they had three of them, so I picked up the stack, ready to pull out the two that I wanted to buy to flank our front door, or our fireplace, or our garage door, or somewhere else I hadn't thought of yet. Bottom line, I wanted two. However.....the stack of three planters was completely stuck together!  None of us (not I, nor my mom, nor the team of Target workers who came to assist) could get those things apart.  So, I suggested that they give all three of them to me for the price of one.

And they did!  Three super-nice planter for under 11 bucks.  Now if I can just get them separated....don't worry, I have my husband on the case.  He has big plans for some WD-40.

Then, it was off to Burlington Coat Factory, where I found some fab jewelry....

...that I didn't buy.  I mean, I have to draw the line somewhere,right? It's the responsible thing to do, and I feel good about it. Oh, who am I kidding?! I still wish I had bough both of those necklaces.

Have you ever checked out the jewelry section at Burlington Coat Factory?!  It's amazing!  The jewelry isn't quality (obviously) but it's on-trend and cheap!  I think both necklaces were $7...you should totally go and update your jewelry wardrobe. And when you're sick of what you bought next year, you don't have to feel bad because you'll only have spent 7 bucks on it.

Finally, and as usual, the best finds of the day came from Marshalls.  Don't laugh at what I'm about to say, but I spotted a shoe box labeled Dr. Scholl's and squealed with excitement, especially when I saw that they looked like this:

Most comfortable shoes ever. And I walk around a lot at work (can you hear me justifying getting excited about Dr. Scholl's shoes?), so of course I bought them. Bringing my current total of the exact same pair of shoes to three. Making it almost possible to wear them to work every. single. day.  

But the best thing I bought all day (hell, maybe all year), was Giselle...

...my chromed-out faux taxidermy gazelle.  I love her.  I can't wait to find her a home on the gallery wall.  Mr. M. had a 'No Faux Taxidermy' policy, but I think even he likes her.  Or at least, he agreed to help me hang her up.  Which is basically the same thing.

88 Cent Furniture Fix

Obviously, a lot of un-glamorous work goes into keeping a home looking gorgeous.  Mopping the floor, scrubbing the bathroom, dusting = not-quite-blogworthy activities.  But this weekend, I got sucked into one of those un-glamorous jobs that made such a huge difference in our living room...

As I mentioned in my post about how our living room has evolved, I mentioned that much of our furniture in there was handed down to us.  And while it is in overall great shape, the coffee table has quite a few white nicks on the brown wood-like section of the table.  And while the chips were small, the sheer number of them added up to a bit of a shabby appearance.

So this weekend I picked up a brown fine-point Sharpie for a whopping total of 88 cents, and used it to camouflage the glaring white areas exposed by the chips. I found that dotting the marker onto the white spots covered better than rubbing back and forth, and a few coats were needed to get the necessary coverage. 

While the camouflage is not invisible up close.....

...it's certainly less noticeable than the chips were.  Let's do a before and after, shall we? Looks so much better!

What cheap and easy fixes have you used at your house?!

Linking Up At

The DIY'ers

Friday Favs 8

TGIF!  I'm so glad it's Friday!  I'm looking forward to a weekend filled with a little shopping, a little sleeping in, and a lot of blog projects!  Sounds perfect.  Here are some of my favorites from this week!

Fav #1

Leinenkugel's Orange Shandy.  I'm a big fan of their Summer Shandy, so I was thrilled when a fall sampler pack brought home by Mr. M. included this new brew.  I'm not sure what about orange beer says 'fall', but it sure was good.  Yum!  I think I may need to have one to celebrate the arrival of the weekend later on tonight.

Fav #2

Emily Giffin's announcement that her new book, The One and Only, will be released in May!  I'm a huge fan of Emily, not only because she is a super-gifted writer, but also because she is so kind, down-to-earth, and generous to her Facebook followers.  She's also hilarious!  Can't wait to read it!

I love Emily's books so much that I prefer to have physical copies of them.  But I caved and bought Where We Belong on my Kindle, because I couldn't wait to read it.  

Fav #3

These cool chairs that I found by the side of the road for FREE while I was out for a walk last night.  You better believe I hightailed it home, and went back with the car to pick those babies up! The rush seats have some minor damage, so I'll have to look into the repair or re-caning process, but aren't they cool?!  I envision the wood painted a bright color and distressed.  I'm not yet sure what I'll do with them, but they should be a fun little project. Look for a detail post coming soon.

Fav #4

Marshmallow Fireside 3 Wick Candles from Bath & Body Works.  Truth is I love almost all of their candle scents, but Marshmallow Fireside is a fabulous new discovery for me.  It smells a little bit like vanilla, but has a spiciness to it, making it the perfect fall scent.

Fav #5

The completely random discovery of this set of four elephant banks on an unnamed flash sale site for $58. Why does this qualify as one of my favorite things?  Because I bought three of these banks at TJ Maxx at least 2 years ago and paid $4.99 each. They're hiding in my accessory closet, waiting for the day I can bust them out.  TJ Maxx for the win!

Enjoy your weekend!!!

What We Ate {Garlic Parmesan Roasted Broccoli}

I have a confession to make:  I'm really lazy when it comes to making vegetables for dinner.  Not that we don't have veggies at dinner, we totally do.  But probably 85% of the time, that veggie comes in the form of one of those steam-able bags that you can put right in the microwave.  I can't help it, I love those!  They're so good, and they are easy, AND they don't even dirty a single dish.  Mr. M. sometimes jokes that I haven't 'cooked' a vegetable in years.

I mean, it's not like we NEVER make fresh veggies. We had our fair share of corn on the cob this summer, and we love put skewers of vegetables on the grill (another no-clean-up trick!).  But frozen steam-able veggies are a staple in our house.  And truth be told, I'm getting a bit sick of them.

So last week, I was excited to make Garlic Parmesan Roasted Broccoli.  It's just about as easy as those steam bags, but has a ton more flavor! Remember how I said that I'm not huge on measuring?  This is one of those recipes that I don't feel that measuring is necessary at all.  Just use as much of the following as you wish to suit your taste.

Ingredients (serves 2)
2 bunches of fresh broccoli
olive oil
2 or 3 cloves minced garlic
Parmesan cheese

Wash and thoroughly dry broccoli.  Add broccoli, a few tablespoons of olive oil and minced garlic to a plastic freezer bag. Shake to coat.  Empty bag onto a greased cookie sheet, roast 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until broccoli has started to brown.  Transfer broccoli to serving dish, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Delish!  What's your favorite way to prepare your veggies?

Poppin' Tags

I've done a fair bit of tag poppin' at thrift stores, flea markets, and yard sales over the past few months, and the result has been some fun new projects and items around our house.  Dare I say, it was _________ awesome?!

First up is this cool tray that I found at Goodwill for $5. It looks a little rough now, but I really like the shape, and will definitely be sanding it down and painting it.  I'm thinking black with gold on the inside (although I'm open to suggestions).  I plan to use it to house coasters and a candle on our coffee table in the dining room.

Next up is this cute ceramic owl that I bought at a yardsale up the street for $1.  I actually bought two, but I'm not sure what to do with the second one.  Maybe gold spray paint?  Because, let's face it, what CAN'T be made better with a little gold spray paint?!

I also bought this lamp at the same sale for $1.  I'm not sure what the plan is for this, but it definitely includes a new lamp shade.  Maybe I'll wrap it in jute twine and use it in my office?  I could use some softer lighting in there.....

Each year, we go camping with my Mr. M.'s family and visit a big outdoor flea market. That's where I stumbled upon this thing for a buck.  I'm not sure what it is...a pillar candle holder?  An ashtray?  I just thought it was fun and that it would shine up nicely.....

...which it did.  It fills out a little vignette on one of our end tables nicely.

And finally is this pair of lamps that I purchased at the same flea market for $15.  I liked the square details, and knew they would be a fun project as soon as I saw them But I made a fatal flaw in the purchasing of the shades  They are big lamps, and came with really tall, really ugly lampshades.  I hated the shades, and figured that I would be able to replace them easily, so I insisted that the seller keep the shades.  I figured it was one less thing for me to throw away, and it helped the lamps fit into our trunk.  So I took them home and refinished them before I began the hunt for new lampshades....

Before

After

.....only to discover that the large, tall lampshades I need for these lamps are not cheap or easy to find! Grr...why didn't I take the original lampshades?! Yes, they were ugly.  But maybe I could have covered them, or used the lampshade frame to craft a new shade....I'll never know.  

I'd love to use these lamps on the end tables in our bedroom, so the search for shades continues.  I actually saw a set in someone's yard last week, but it was labled 'Indoor Yard Sale' and the idea of having to ring the doorbell freaked me out, so I kept driving.  I know, I'm weird.  

Have you popped any tags lately?  What did you score?