Five Friday Faves

Hellooooo, lovelies!

It's Friday and that means we're staring another weekend in the face, and I hope it's a good one. It's going to be almost 50 (!!!) degrees here on Saturday and Sunday so that is super good news. 

To my friends in the South: hoping you and yours stayed safe and warm during the storm this week. This weather is crazy!

Also: it's the last day of January. What the what?! This month felt super long (thanks to the crazy weather, I think), but holla back for getting on with February already!

It's also time for my Five Friday Faves, so let's get down to business.

This was my drive to work on Wednesday. I was a little disgruntled that I had to go to work, but the drive in was beautiful. And it took twice as long as it usually does. And if my dad is reading: don't worry dad, I came to a complete stop and put the car in park before I took this photo.

 Target

Because of Target (errr...or because of my rampant shopping addiction at Target) my bank cancelled my debit card and I've had to go to the bank every other day if I want money since I STILL haven't gotten my replacement. This would be enough for other people to be angry at Target, but Target--I just can't quit you. Especially when you have tables like these.

 Silver Lining Ceramics on Etsy

I want to cover everything I own in gold polka dots, but this mug will do just fine. Plus, it's handmade. Win-win-win.

Pottery Barn

Ahhh, Valentine's Day. I know it's coming. My blog has been woefully devoid of any sort of Valentine's Day mantel/decor because to be honest, we are really not Valentine's Day people. I mean, we exchange cards and gifts, but I've never been one to decorate. I do have a fun gift guide series comin' atcha next week, though.

With that said, I could totally picture this marquee sign in about four different spots in my house, to stay up year round.. Which means I must own it soon.

West Elm

Yes, it's $900, but I need to find a way to get this in my bedroom ASAP. Love it. So much.

A happy and warm weekend to you, friends! Maybe I'll actually paint something this weekend.

2014 Garden Plans -- Old School Style

It's cold.

There has been snow on the ground almost every day this month.

It is cold. Too cold to paint anything, even in the garage with the heater on. Any planned projects are currently at a standstill until I can use my garage without getting frostbite.

We still have to get through February and March. And I don't like it.

I'm trying to get out of this terrible winter slump and fight those doldrums that are taking over, so I figure it's a good time of the year to start planning Springtime activities.

Namely what I'm going to do with my gardens this year.

Actually, the month of January is a pretty good month to start garden planning. Seed catalogs are out, and it's kind of fun to sit down and plan out your outdoor spaces.

I have very fond memories of my parents' gardens growing up. They had a vegetable garden with tomatoes, pepper, cucumbers, and melon. My mother planted a beautiful butterfly bush by my bedroom window, and had some gorgeous rose bushes on the side of the house. I also have not-so-fond memories of weeding all these gardens, but I really don't mind it now.

Last year, I had some pretty good intentions. I started a few seeds inside during the month of March (before we even FOUND our home), and then forgot about them. With the excitement of moving, I left my poor seedlings in their starter cells a bit too long, and I wound up with leggy, sad plants with severely stunted growth.

I transplanted my tomato seedlings as a last-ditch effort, and wound up with plants that started producing woefully small fruit two weeks before the first frost. My cucumber seedlings never even made it into the ground. Cue the sad trombone.

In my front garden, we inherited some terribly invasive shrubs which we kept, but wrestled with all summer. I was able to successfully transplant some calendula seedlings (which did VERY well), planted Astros from seed (which also did VERY well), planted Morning Glory which started off slowly, took off mid-Summer, and then died two weeks after flowering for the first time (RAAAGE). I planted a daylily and the foliage did great, but no blooms. I'm hoping for some flowering out of that plant in the Spring

And those super invasive shrubs? We tore those out in the Fall, and they put up a good fight (broken shovel and all). You can check out that post here.

So what do I have going into the new growing season? A beautifully blank slate, that's what.

This year, I also have time on my side. I was able to spend late Spring and all Summer paying attention to how the sun moves and which parts of my yard gets the best sunlight, which part gets the best shade, and which part gets the best of both worlds.

My house faces slightly northwest, and there are still quite a few trees remaining in our backyard. With that said, we get the best sun at the front and southern side of our house. Everything else is either partial sun or shade.

This year I plan to make a 6x12 ft bed along that southern side of the house for vegetables, including: tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, melons, peas, beans. The beans and peas will be directly sown sometime in mid-March, the cucumbers and melons will be directly sown in late April-early May, and the tomatoes and peppers will be purchased as starters and planted after our frost date (May 10).

To help create some rhyme and reason, I busted out the pencil and paper and drew a totally-not-to-scale drawing of what I was picturing in my head:

Complete with shadows. You're welcome.

As for the front, I was able to harvest seeds from my Calendula, so I am looking forward to planting those again. The Astros did amazingly well being sown from seed, so I'll give those another go. As I mentioned before, I'm hoping the daylily will decide to take off this year.  I picked up some other types of perennial seeds at my local garden center while they were 50% off this month.

As for my evergreen elements, I think we're going to grab a couple dwarf boxwoods. It might look tiny and pitiful this year, but I'm hoping in the next couple of years everything will fill in nicely.

I know you're curious, so here's the again not-to-scale diagram of how I'm thinking the front flower beds will go down:

On the right side of my drawing, I wrote down what I would like to see planted, how tall it is, and then translated that into my layout--taller plants in the back, my shorter plants in the front. Underneath my sketch are the dates I'm thinking I'll be planting (starting seeds, sown directly, or purchased already started).

Based on my research, some of these plants are tricky to start from seed, but I think I'm up for the challenge.

Oh! And my Aunt and Uncle graciously offered us their Knockout Roses, which we'll be digging up and transplanting sometime in the Spring.

Also on the list of things to do: sod. One day. I can only hope.

Anyone else get started on some garden planning? What do you have growing in your gardens? I'd love any tips or suggestions!

Wanna see where I party? Click here for an awesome list of link parties I participate in..

Also linking up to:
Coastal Charm
Savvy Southern Style
Imparting Grace
Jennifer Rizzo

Easy Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup

If you checked out my last edition of Five Friday Faves, you might have read that we had a bout of yucky illness running around these parts. Last week, Peyton had a slight case of bronchitis, and this week we're battling RSV. Happy day, and hooray for kids being walking germ factories! Just kidding. But seriously, Peyton can't even look at me without me shrieking "COVER YOUR MOUTH!" I think she's got it now.

So, what's a mom to do when there's sickly-ness about? Make some homemade chicken noodle soup, of course!

And what's a better option to provide for optimum snuggle time with your little than making it in your crockpot?

There is no better option, in my opinion.

Here's my recipe, which is super easy, requires about five minutes of prep work, and can be customizable based on the veggies you have on hand. After a few hours in your crockpot you've got yourself some delicious, good-for-you, warms-you-to-your-toes soup.

And a warning: food blogger I am not. I wish I could take pretty photos of the food I make, but the light was not on my side.

Here's what you'll need. You can change the amount of broth you need based on the size of your crockpot:

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts (Fresh or frozen. Mine were frozen and I had no problems.)

2 cups peeled and sliced carrots

2 cups sliced celery

1 cup diced onion (I married a man that hates onion, so I threw a whole one in for the flavor so he didn't have to fish the diced pieces of onion out of his soup. Because he would.)

1/2 tbsp. thyme

1 tbsp. parsley

2 bay leaves

1/2 tbsp. pepper

8 cups chicken broth (I skip the canned stuff and use my own. Check out how to roast a whole chicken AND make broth in your crockpot)

4 cups noodles (I used spaghetti, broken into pieces)

3 cloves garlic, minced

**I didn't add any salt to this, but it definitely needed salt when I was done. Better to under-salt than over-salt. Of course, you can tweak any of these measurements to fit your tastes, or even add a few new ones!**

Veggies, herbs, and pasta.

Throw your chicken breasts in the bottom of your crockpot, followed by the veggies, the herbs, and your broth.

I set my crockpot on high for 4-5 hours. You could also set it on low for 7-8 hours.

Engage in serious snuggle and nap time.

via Instagram. Those eyelashes are unfair.

About a half an hour before your set time is up, throw your pasta in and shred your chicken into bite size pieces and throw it back into the crockpot. You can prepare your pasta separately, but I had no problem with mushy pasta here.

I was going to throw in a bag a frozen peas at this point too, but I forgot. Ooops.

101 reason why I am not a food blogger.

And serve!

The best part is it is Peyton approved. She hasn't had much of an appetite these last few days, but gladly ate some carrots and celery and drank some of the broth. And of course, I had to add cheese (I guess everything is better with cheese?)

Best bed head ever.
Also, that mess you see in the background is some serious craft show prep work.

Easy peasy.

Feel free to pin and share! Happy Monday!

Wanna see where I party? Click here for an awesome list of link parties I participate in..

Also linking up to:
Coastal Charm
Savvy Southern Style
Imparting Grace
Home Stories A to Z
Jennifer Rizzo

Five Friday Faves

It's Friday, friends!

Hope everyone had a great week and stayed warm! Jersey is currently experiencing its second round of the POOOOOLAR VOOOORTEX, and it is damn cold. It is also making me exceptionally lazy. I won't lie.

The tiny child came down with some yuckyness this week, so we've been battling that. Add in a "snowstorm" that was supposed to dump 12 inches of snow on us that really only dumped two inches and well...it's been a longggg week.

But fear not, friends! It's Friday and that means we have the weekend to look forward to!

And here are a few of my favorite things to kick off the weekend shenanigans:

source

Hello, you sassy bar cart. My head is telling me there is not a spot for this in my house, but my heart is telling me it belongs in my bedroom makeover. Bar carts in bedrooms, why not? Oh Threshold, you make me want to buy all the things (so I guess good job, Target).

source

Twizzlers. I actually forgot that Twizzlers were a thing. And then I realized that my office keeps them stocked in the kitchen. And now I have rekindled my love with Twizzlers.

This was the snowstorm that was supposed to give us OMG A FOOT and instead we got OMG TWO INCHES. Needless to say, I was not impressed but the roads were icy, and so I took a vacation day. Good thing, because the peanut woke up with a fever so we got to snuggle all day long. And it was glorious.

This child amazes me. Even sick, she has such a sense of humor. This is before she got sick, but she makes me laugh every day and I am just so in awe of her.

Also, our little girl is starting pre-school next week! Sure, it's one day a week and only a half day, but still--pre-school! I cannot.

This iPhone case. My birthday is in April. That is all.

Have a great weekend, friends! Home Depot and I are about to get reacquainted. I haven't been there since before Christmas--that's insane.

Project Paralysis...I Have It

You guys.

What do you do when you have so many project ideas in your head that you can't decide which one to start first?

This is what is currently ailing me.

There are five projects I'm wrapping my brain around, but I can't decide in which order I want to tackle them:

• Finish the mudroom. It's painted, I just need to upholster a bench, add a coat rack, and DIY some some decor. I'm thinking rustic wood accents and antique brass touches.
• The closet under the stairs. I've got plans to turn it into a play area for Peyton. This one would require the most planning and I'd be starting with a completely blank slate.
• The pantry. I want to gut it, paint it, and reorganize it.
• The craft room. It never stood a chance since it turned into the catch-all room for our crap. It needs a chance to start over. Badly.
• Plank a wall. I keep saying it, but we still haven't done it.

The question...which one do I start? I'm equally excited about all of them and they'll be pretty straightforward projects, but I am suffering a case of paralysis on getting moving on any one of them.

I've been surfing Pinterest and Google trying to get some inspiration on which direction to take, but I keep getting myself excited about everything and then I'm right back where I started. Lame-o.

How do you handle making decisions about where to go next in your home? Anyone have an opinion on which direction I should go first?

My husband and I are itching for a project and are torn. HEEEELP!