New Year's Eve Cookies? Ok!

I've never been a huge fan of New Year's Eve.  Sure...we had some fun ones, especially when Frank was gigging it up somewhere.  But, in general, I'd much rather have a night at home with friends or family.  That's what we're doing this year.  My parents, brother, and nephews will be coming over for a steakhouse dinner and game night.  I'm sure Frank would rather be on a stage somewhere, but I'm pretty content just staying home.  We decided to have a fantastic dinner that would normally cost a fortune at a steakhouse and wouldn't taste nearly as good.  We're making Ina Garten's Steakhouse Steaks, Pioneer Woman's mashed potatoes and creamy onion blue cheese steak sauce, homemade Caesar salad, homemade bread, and NYE cookies.  The last part I made up. :)  I bought all the ingredients to make these fabulous Christmas cookies I got last year as a gift.  It turned out that we had so many goodies around the house that I didn't need to make them.  So....I turned them into NYE cookies.  Instead of dying the swirl red or green, I chose yellow.  And instead of red and green sprinkles, I chose multicolored!  Ta-da....that is how you make a NYE cookie!  I will slice and cook them tomorrow then blog about our dinner again soon.

If you want the recipe for these delicious NYE cookies.....click below!

colorful swirl cookie recipe

P.S. - I love that there is subway tile in the background of my food pics now! :)

Merry Christmas!

I've been a horrible blogger lately.  This house "project" has consumed me.  I'm loving it though!  I'm currently working on our master bedroom.  We bought the bed last week, got the bedding yesterday, ordered the curtains from West Elm today, and meeting a guy that is making our nightstands tomorrow!  Merry Christmas to me!  Seriously!!  As soon as it's all put together I will definitely blog about it! 

So....here are a few pictures from our Christmas this year.  It was a great first Christmas in this house.  It has proven to be cozy.  This is a pic of Vivi standing in front of the tree right before we left for mass at Christ the King.  Her Nana got her that dress for her birthday.  So pretty!

Here we are...the Arnolds!  This was after mass and right before we ate dinner.  I got busy in the kitchen as soon as we got home.  I made Giada's fettucini alfredo.  If you're an alfredo fan, like myself, you've got to try this recipe.  You can find it by searching on foodnetwork.com.   I only make it on special occasions because it is filled with heavy whipping cream and butter...but so delicious!

And here is what my kitchen looked like after I cooked.  It was such a mess that I thought it deserved a picture.  It took us two days to clean it all up!  Instead of cleaning Christmas Eve, we decided to have White Russians by the fire instead. ;)

Christmas morning!  Vivi checking out her presents!  Blankie and messy hair in tow!

This picture captures it all.  Check out the onsie from Grandma.  So cute and cozy!  And that hair!  She's had a huge tangle in her hair after every nap and every morning!  It's becoming quite a chore.  Almost all of Vivi's presents this year had to do with food.  She got a shopping cart, a little kitchen, pretend food, pots and pans, dishes....you name it, she got it!  She's one lucky little girl.

This was in the car on the way to Grandma's house.  Is she a happy girl or what?!?

Merry Christmas!!!!

So Glad I Went With My Gut....

The subway tile is in and I LOVE it!!!  I'm so glad I went with my gut, because it was right this time.  Frank even admits it too.  (I told you so!) ;)  I wish I had some pictures of the kitchen when we first moved in.  The previous owner had under-cabinet lighting, but had a white plug coming down in four different spots from the light to the plug.  It looked really tacky.  Not sure why anyone would do that?!?      Anyway, we spent about $250 for an electrician to properly install the lighting and attach it to one switch.  These are the before tile and after electrician pictures.

They purposely didn't repair the walls too much when they cut into them because they knew that we were going to put tile on it.  I stared at a cut sheetrock wall for about two weeks waiting on a tile guy to call me back.  When he didn't call back the second time I called, I called elsewhere.  The guys I found were able to do it the next day!  Now, that's what I'm talking about!

This was after the tile guys tiled.  They had to grout the next day.  I started second guessing my grout decision too.  I liked how you could see the dark between the tile and wasn't sure the white grout I picked would look good.  But...I went with my gut again, and the help my hubs and BFF, and stuck with the white.  

And here it is!  Have I mentioned that I LOVE it?!!?

Here's an up-close-and-personal pic.  I can't stop staring at it!

We still have a couple of minor things to do left.  We have to repair the wall to the left of the toaster where we pulled out the piece of granite.  Then we'll paint it the wall color.  I also want to take down the white blinds on the kitchen window.  I know that they are just fine and fit perfectly and probably weren't cheap.  However, I want to put a half-window curtain there like I had in my old house.  I like that in a kitchen.  I just need to find a good fabric.  I also think we're going to install some pendant lights above the island instead of canned lights and get a  globe chandelier for the dining room attached to the kitchen.  Still a work in progress, but SOOOOO nice already.  We spent about $150 on tile and grout (from Lowes, believe it or not!) and $350 on labor.  So, for roughly $750 we changed the entire look of our kitchen.  I can't wait to make some Christmas cookies!

Bring on the subway tile...

It's happening.  Subway tile is going up in my kitchen tomorrow afternoon.  I cannot wait!  I hope it looks as good as I imagine it in my head.  My husband's been making me second guess my decision about the tile, because that is what he usually does with decisions, and now I'm a little bit nervous!  But I've got to go with my gut here.  I will post some before and after pics as soon as it's finished!

Happy Birthday Vivi!

It's official...Vivi is 2!!!  We had a great birthday weekend filled with family, presents, and cake!  We didn't have the big party like last year.  I decided that I want Vivi's birthdays to be family celebrations until she's older.  Not to mention that we kind of had a lot going on lately.  Not only did we just move, but we also ended up hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our house since my parents were sick.  I really loved it, but it was a lot of work.  Here's a picture of Vivi with her prized possession....her baby stroller from her cousins Drew and Brady.  She is in heaven pushing this around.  That was always the first toy she headed for at her friend Josie's house.  Now she has her own!

We went to our new Reasor's, (which is amazing, by the way....I LOVE a good grocery store) the morning of her birthday party to pick up some last minute items.  We bought pink plates, striped napkins, and a balloon.  She was so happy that I had to just stop and take a picture of her in the middle of the store!  She held those pink plates the whole way home in the car.

I made the most amazing birthday cake.  My mom always made us homemade birthday cakes every year and I am going to do the same for Vivi.  This was the start of the snickerdoodle cake with brown sugar cinnamon buttercream frosting.  BUTTERcream....lots of butter.....but so, so good.

Delicious!  Want the recipe?  Click here:  Snickerdoodle Cake

I've never made a 4 layer cake before, but it really wasn't that difficult.

Vivi got some good presents this year...right up her alley.  She got a doll house that has a potty in it too....all the rage among the kiddos.  She got a radio flyer bike and stroller from her cousins, a pretty dress and purse, an alphabet puzzle, a new baby doll, counting elephants, cooking toys, bath crayons, and most importantly.....money for college.  ;)  She's one happy little girl!

Silly cousins!

Happy Birthday Vivi Grace Arnold!  We love you SOOOOOO much!

Good Bye Little House

Well....it's official.  We moved this week.  It was a very bittersweet experience.  I loved my little house. I can remember when I bought it thinking I would live there forever....and I really meant it.  I can remember having a conversation with my mom saying that I really could live in that house forever.  Her response was that most people live in their homes an average of 7 years.  Well, seven years later, almost to the month, and I moved.  We moved.  We just outgrew the house.  This is the house Frank and I lived in when we got married.  This was Vivi's first house.  We have so many good memories.  The good news is we still own this house.  It will make someone a great rent house.  I just hope they love it like we did.

I'm now sitting in my new house writing this post.  I feel like we live in a mansion even though it's 2,200 square feet.  Our two year house hunt has made us REALLY appreciate this house.  It is so spacious and roomy and nice and new and clean.....  And the kitchen....oh my gosh.  I love my gas stove, my dishwasher, my awesome faucet.  I love my pantry!  How did I live so long without a pantry?!  Vivi has even gotten lost a time or two.  It's hilarious!  We've already started a few home improvements, although it's all cosmetic.  We had a painter come in and paint Vivi's room and the master bedroom.  Good bye lime green!  We had an electrician install under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen and hopefully the tile guy can do our new subway tile backsplash next week.  I will be posting many pictures in the future, but I just can't do it today.  I have to pay homage to my old love.

Good bye little house...we'll miss you....

Super V

Monte Cassino's Trunk or Treat was tonight.  I didn't take Vivi last year, but I knew she would love it this year.  So, her costume.  Where do I begin?  She is Super V...to the rescue...a cute little superhero.  I made her cape from a t-shirt, puff paint, and zebra duct tape.  It came out pretty cute and she's been wearing it around the house for a couple of weeks now.  I found these cute tights at Target and put a onesie on top of it.  So, tonight when we actually have to wear the costume, she wanted NOTHING to do with it!  I barely got the tights and onesie on.  She wouldn't allow me to put on the zebra belt, she wouldn't wear her sunglasses, she wouldn't wear her black Chuck Taylor's, and I barely got her cape on.  Not to mention it got very cold here, so she had to wear a hoodie and a vest.  We left the house and she's wearing polka dot tights and a purple hoodie....not exactly a Halloween costume.  Instead of Super V as her costume, she chose to be a temperamental two year old for her costume.

Ahhh....and I hear the three's are even worse!!!

These Boots Are Made for Walking....

Vivi got some new books!  She rocked the Uggs last winter from Aunt Anna.  We got more compliments on those boots than you could imagine.  So, this year I investigated some new winter Uggs for the Veeves.  Once I found out they were $120, I quickly looked for an alternative.  Seriously, who would spend $120 on a pair of boots for a two year old?!?!?!

So, thank you Zulily for these $18 Ugg look-a-likes.  Vivi loves them and they're pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself.  They'll keep those tootsies warm this winter for sure!

A new home, maybe?

Source: zillow.com via Caryn on Pinterest

I hope I'm not jinxing anything by this blog post.  We have a contract on a house and if all goes well, we'll close on November 9th!  Frank and I are so nervous about this situation after the last time.  We had a contract on a house about a year and a half ago and told the world, then it fell through after the inspections because of a repair that could not be agreed upon.  So....we had to tell the world that it didn't go through. I feel good about this though.  In fact, Frank and I feel completely at peace with this decision.  Yes, we are kind of "selling out" and moving to the burbs, but it's only 15 minutes away!  And we get a practically new house (built in 2011)with everything we want (for the most part) and WAY less than we were planning to spend in mid-town.  When we looked at our pros and cons list, it couldn't be argued.

Anyway, now I'm getting excited.  I'm really into design and character in homes...well, guess what?  These new subdivisions don't have much.  So, I've been browsing pinterest and can't wait to get my hands on these builder boring choices and make them my own.  It's going to be fun.  I'm sure there will be many future blog posts about my new project!   Just crossing our fingers until November 9th!

Happy Vivi

I'm so proud of my cautious little girl.  She wanted to go in the Juniper Jump at Harper's birthday SO bad, but was scared.  She did it though and loved it!  Tantrum when we left to prove it!

Homemade Thai

This is too good not to share!  I recently made dinner for my mom's birthday....a Thai soup and the "In The Raw" salad (a local sushi restaurant).  It was a nice night and we were actually able to eat outside again.  Frank and I love Thai food.  Well, we love food in general. It's one of the things we have in common.  We have the conversation often about how we lived for years and years without trying a food item....for example, Tom Kha soup, and how it's a favorite now.  How could we have survived so long without knowing this delicacy!  I still can't believe that we never even tried Indian food until we were in our late 20's.  What a shame!  We love Indian food now!  I really do feel sorry for picky eaters.

Anyway, these two recipes were delicious and easy enough to make on a work day after a long day with a room full of 8 year olds then an evening with a toddler.  That's saying a lot....

Try them, you'll like them!

Coconut Curry Soup

ITR Salad

Happy cooking!

Here's to...

Here's to a great girl's weekend!  It can be done.  I can leave for the weekend and I survived, Vivi survived, and Frank survived.  I can't even tell you the agony I put myself through preparing for this.  Torture.  But....I made myself do it and I'm so thankful that I did.  We had a blast celebrating Miranda and her bachelorette party.  I laughed so hard that I cried multiple times.  I can't remember the last time I did that.  So now that I know I can do this, now I'm planning an overnight with Frank for our upcoming third anniversary.  We've gotten the short end of the stick on our last two anniversaries.  At our one year I was 9 months pregnant.  We were going to do dinner and a movie.  Which turned into brunch and a movie. Which turned into just brunch.  I was too fat and lazy.  :)  For our second anniversary, we just did dinner but made sure we were finished early enough to put Vivi to bed.  Now, for our third I feel like we can maybe actually do something nice.  At least now I know that I will survive without Vivi for one night. ;)

The Final Product...

Okay, ladies and gents, here is the finished table!  It's been finished for awhile now, but I just can't seem to blog as much since I've gone back to work.  There are some imperfections that will probably drive me a little bit crazy every time I look at it, but overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I did it the right way this time....sanded, primed, painted (two coats), and polyurethaned it.  It's amazing how nothing sticks to it when you do it the right way.

The No.1 and No.2 came to me when I realized that I didn't want to put Vivi's name on the table.  I found this cool way of doing painted lettering.  I found it on Pinterest, of course.  Click below if you're interested....it worked great, to my surprise.

Painting Lettering on Furniture

Pinterest also helped me tremendously with the chevron.  If you want to make a chevron stencil, check out this website below:

Make a Chevron Stencil

How did I survive before Pinterest?  I say that at least once a week.  Below is the website I found that helped me redo this table the right way.  I followed the directions they gave pretty closely.

How to Paint Furniture the Right Way

Vivi loves her little table.  She likes to color, read books, and have snacks on it.  Mission accomplished!

The Time Has Come

Source: angelaparmer.blogspot.co.uk via Caryn on Pinterest

Summer is officially over for me tomorrow.  I had a few moments this week.  I got teary eyed at Pottery Barn Kid's story time when I was telling the leader how much we enjoyed it this summer.  I cried three or four times in one day when I got an Evite for a fun girl's weekend away in September just thinking about working and leaving Vivi for the weekend.  What is wrong with me?  I don't think this is normal.  I just don't do well with change I guess.  I'm FINE when I'm at work and in a routine.  Just fine.  I enjoy my job and the people I work with.  Why do I continue to freak out every time I have to go back to work????  Okay.  Enough about that.

We had the best summer.  It really was the best.  Our trip to New York was awesome.  Vivi got to spend some quality time with her extended family.  Santa Fe was awesome!  We found a new favorite place to visit.  Who knew?  Vivi and I spent A LOT of quality time together.....story time, library, zoo, parks, Reasors, Target, play dates, the backyard.  You name it, we did it.  I did almost everything on my summer list.  What I didn't get to was power washing the deck.  I'd rather just pay someone to do that anyway.  And...I never got to my wedding album.  Imagine that.  There's always Christmas break. ;)

Almost Finished!

By George....I just might finish this project before I go back to work!  I'm kind of famous for not finishing projects.  I hate to admit that, but it's true.  I have this really cool glass mosaic I made in an art class I took years ago.  It was 80% finished when the class ended and I haven't touched it since. :(  Isn't that horrible?  It will be very cool if I ever get to it.  Remember that blanket I started knitting when I found out I was pregnant?  I blogged about it.  Haven't touched it since Vivi was born.  Horrible...just horrible.  Well, I think Frank is on to me because he's been gently encouraging me to work on this table. :)  I can see through it, but that's okay.  I really need to finish this.  

Please ignore the messy garage!  The painting is just about finished.  The color in the picture looks more orange than it is in real life.  It's more of a coral/pinkish/orange.  I just need to put one more coat of white on top and then I'm ready to chevron.  How in the world do you make a chevon pattern?  I was really at a loss...felt like an idiot.  I even texted my engineer brother for help before I realized I could Google it.

This is what I found on Google...makes perfect sense!  You just make a grid then connect the lines diagonally to make the chevron pattern.  Pretty easy actually.  Hopefully you'll see some finished pictures soon!

Making progress

One more week of summer vacation.  :(  How in the world did it go so fast?  I've got a busy week too. Tomorrow I'd like to work in my classroom some.  I'm behind the learning curve there.  Everyone's classrooms are almost ready and mine is a wreck.  I just hate giving up my summer time with Vivi to go up there.  I tried working while she was there.  That didn't work. She's just a busy little girl.  Teachers report back on the 13th, but our rooms are expected to be ready, so I've got to make some time for that.  We're going to our last story time at Pottery Barn kids on Tuesday.  Our last library story time on Wednesday.  Vivi's going for a half day at Ms. Shelly's on Thursday so I can work in my classroom and ease her into that.  Friday we're having our last play date with my little group of MC teacher friends at the splash park.  Meanwhile I need to clean my house, wash and iron work clothes (YUCK!), start some meal planning and possible freezer meals, and finish Vivi's little table and chair set.  I made some progress this weekend.  The annoying parts are finished.  I sanded the furniture, in 110 degree temps by the way.  That's my least favorite part of any project!  Here's Frank helping me tighten all the screws and make some minor repairs to the chairs.  What a good husband and daddy he is! :)  

First coat of primer.  I used an oil based primer that was recommended by a few different blogs.  I hope it works.  It looks kind of streaky, but people swear by it.

Here are the chairs and table all primed and ready to be painted!  They already look so much better.  Bye-bye Winnie the Pooh....hello chevron!  I have black, white, and coral paint ready to go...stay tuned for more pics!

Splish Splash

I am SOOOOO mad that the summer is almost over and today was the first day I've taken Vivi to the splash park at the river.  It is a toddler's paradise.  I love that this park is perfect for her age right now.  So many parks are just too big for Vivi.  The water features here were perfect..just perfect.  She had a ball!

Being the cautious little girl that she is, it took some time to warm up.  She had to check out the place...test the waters, so-to-speak. :)

A nice little girl gave Vivi a cup to play with....fun times!

I'm hoping this fun day in the water will help with some of her recent bath time fears that just developed.  That's a whole 'nother story.

There's Josie!  She's a fearless little girl....quite the opposite of Vivi.  She came and was ready to play immediately! :)

Josie, Ian, and Vivi.  It's pretty cool that such good college friends now have kids that will be friends.  Love that!

Snack time at the park.  Vivi's got quite the life, let me tell ya!

Josie and Vivi playing at the playground.  I've got one more week of summer vacation and we'll be going to this splash park again next week for sure!

I Heart Hardwoods!

Today was the day to test out our Bona hardwood floor cleaner.  I have to say, I liked it!  I think it did a good job.  It was only about $32 with my Bed Bath & Beyond coupon.  It came with the upright cleaner (that was easily put together even by me), the cleaning pad (that's washable), and the liquid cleaner, as well as a concentrated cleaner for later.  First we swiffered...and by "we" I do mean Vivi and me.  She's at this age where she LOVES to help me do everything.  And by "help" you probably can tell just how much she really "helps" me. :)  I saved the Bona for nap time.  Now, my house is small, but it only took me about 20 minutes to do my entire house.  Not bad.  It was sticky when it was wet, but it dried nicely.  The cleaning pad is disgusting, so I know it worked!  Yeah!  Now I'll just throw that thing in the wash and save it for next time.  Two thumbs up!

Project Time

Summer is almost over and I STILL haven't gotten to Vivi's table yet!  I started today by getting some new table legs at Lowe's.  They were only $5 a piece and I needed to get some bigger legs so my chairs would fit.  These chairs were a find at my school.  A teacher was going to take these to the dump, can you believe it?!?  One person's junk.....I wouldn't be surprised if they were from 1926 when the school opened.  They are old, but solid wood.  They're a tiny bit big for Vivi now, but I think she will still manage to get her toosh on them.

Isn't that table a beaut?  As much as I love the Winnie the Pooh (sarcasm, if you can't tell), it's time for it to go.  This was a friend of mine's table.  It survived three boys and now it's time to move on.

I've got to say I love it when I look through my bins in the garage and find exactly what I need!  I have so much sandpaper from projects over the years, no need to buy more.  I've got two weeks to finish this project.  Stay tuned!  I will be scanning pinterest for inspiration.  I know I want to use chalkboard paint somewhere.  We shall see!