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!