Favorite Video

Hi ya'll. I was just watching a YouTube video, and thought I'd share it with you. It's one of my all time favorites, and it may or may not involve a Justin Bieber song. It start up a little slow, but keep watching! My favorite parts are at 4:15 and at 5:15

Fall Decor Bucket List

I love seasonal touches around the house, especially natural ones. Fall is fabulous for this: pumpkins, leaves, acorns, and pine cones abound. And, they're mostly free. Especially if you're a freak like me and lug hand fulls of tree branches home from morning walks with Leo. My current dilemma is if I want to BUY acorns for my decor use (along the same lines as buying rocks- super lame), or if I want to surrender my dignity, make like a squirrel, and scavenge them off the sidewalks next to a busy street. They're the only acorns I've found

*Note to self: Plant an oak tree so that in 40 years, I won't be having this dilemma. 

Along the same lines as my fall cooking bucket list, I'm trying to celebrate bigger and enjoy fall more. For me, that includes craftiness and decor around the house. Here are the projects I'd like to take a crack, at least in some shape or form, this fall.

 Mason Jars with Candles and Acorns

Hurricane Vase with Acorns

Pumpkin Painting

Twig Candle Holder

Rustic Wood Box

Pumpkin Cloche

Pressed Leaf Display

Fall Porch Decor

Fall Branches

Pumpkin and Candle Centerpiece

Incorporate Lights into Decor

Fall Cooking Bucket List

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One thing I'm trying to do this year is to celebrate bigger, seasons included. I always anticipate fall: changing leaves, cozy sweaters, pumpkin recipes, corn mazes, skinny jeans and riding boots... I love it!

However, it's one thing to anticipate seasonal things, and it's another thing entirely to do something about it. I sometimes feel let down at the end of a season because I was too lazy or busy to act on any of my idyllic ideas. I'm hoping that with some planning, this year will be different. I want to be intentional about enjoying another beautiful Minnesota fall. So, I've created a "Fall Cooking Bucket List."

I love trying new recipes, but never seem to actually make any of the fall-themed ones that I've found. My game plan is to make one bucket list recipe per week. There are 14 weeks between September 1st and Thanksgiving, and I have 14 recipes to try. If I'm feeling particularly daring, I'll throw recipe #15 into the mix: Apple Cider Caramels. I'm a little wary of this one- me and candy thermometers don't play well together.

Without further ado, here are the recipes:

Baked Pumpkin French Toast

Apple Pancakes

Spiced Pumpkin Scones

Apple Cider Floats

Crockpot Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Pumpkin Fluff Dip

Pumpkin Bread with Streusel Topping

Pumpkin Poppers

Crock Pot Baked Apples

Baked Apple Pie Egg Rolls

Ultimate Caramel Apples

Apple Cider Caramel Cookies

Butternut Squash Risotto

Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash and Quinoa

Apple Cider Caramels

Gift Wrap Organization

I finished my gift wrap organization station this week, and thought I'd share the idea with you.

I originally found the idea while searching on Pinterest, and came up with my own version. These two photos were my inspiration:

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The Container Store has a hanging over the door system, but it was almost $90 and I didn't want to spend that much. I used this four tiered closet organizer from Home Depot ($20) and paired it with these $3 hooks.

This style of hook should henceforth be referred to as drunk octopus hooks. See?

 

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Anyway. Bam. An easy, inexpensive alternative to stuffing all of my gift wrap into one of those long, under-the-bed storage bins. I (still) don't know how to use the drill, so Charlie hung them all on the back of the office door for me.

I used curtain ring clips in order to hang my wrapping paper. I suppose you could hang flattened paper boxes this way, too. I also used glass mason jars to hold ribbon.

Wrapping gifts is now much less of a pain. I can see exactly what we have, and I don't have to dig through a bin of tissue paper, ribbons, gift wrap, tape, and gift bags.

I love how slim the profile is. We always have the office door open, and you'd never even know anything was behind it.

Chocolate Macaroons

I have recently discovered a little corner of heaven on earth called macaroons. I don't know why I'm so late in the game, but I have now arrived.

For Christmas last year, my brother got me the Bon Appetit: Fast, Easy, Fresh cookbook. I was leafing through it this afternoon, and kept coming back to the chocolate macaroons recipe. Oh a whim, I decided to make them (I've never made macaroons before) and OH. MY. GOSH. they are SO GOOD. 

I signed and oohed and ahhed my way through two of them (What About Bob style) and then helped myself to a third. And maybe ate another while writing this post. Maybe. Here's the recipe:

• 1 1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

Melt one cup of chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring frequently. Cool to room temperature.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. 

Gradually add in the sugar and vanilla, beating until the whites are thick and glossy.

With a spatula, fold in the melted chocolate, coconut, and remaining chocolate chips.

Drop batter by heaping teaspoons onto two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets.

Bake at 325 for 18 - 20 minutes, rotating the pans half way through.

Then try to only eat one. 

Couch to 5K

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A few weeks ago, I finished a couch to 5K program. This may not sounds like much of a life event, but I'm pretty excited about it. 

I've been a "walker" my whole life and have a relatively healthy and active lifestyle. I've always wanted to run, but have never been able to. I'd start running, last 3 blocks, and be painfully winded. I could walk for hours on end and be fine, but two minutes of running was out of the question.

Enter the Couch to 5K Running Plan. I figured this plan could give me a leg up- heck, I'm not even starting from couch potato position.

There were weeks that were easy, and weeks that were very hard. I had to repeat the fourth week 3 times- for whatever reason, I couldn't push through and finish the last running chunk. But I did eventually!

I'm proud of myself for sticking with something that was hard, and often not fun. But it feels SO good to have accomplished a goal I've always wanted, but never thought I could. Now I can easily run for a half and hour- CRAZY!

I'm not one of those nuts who thinks that running is incredibly fun and addicting. There are moments of a run that feel fun (like when it's windy and I'm running downhill listening to Baba Yetu and I feel like a fully competent Ethiopian marathon runner, gallivanting across the African dessert.). Don't make fun.

I learned a few things that have helped me run:

• Tell people. They'll hold you accountable to keep going.
• Circular breathing (in through your nose, out through your mouth). This was game changing.
• It's okay to slow your pace. My goal was for time, not distance. I'm still working my way up to the distance of a 5K (the program works both ways, you can use it for time or for distance- I chose time). I know I'll get there soon!
• Upbeat music. I needed it the first few weeks to keep me going and to keep my pace. Here's my (embarrassing) list of songs that I found helpful while running:
• "That Girl" (Frankie J) Frank Frank Frank Frank Frank Fresssshhhh. Not super edifying, but the perfect running beat.
• "I Need Love" (NSYNC). Yes.... a boy band. :)
• Fireflies (Owl City)
• Your Great Name (Natalie Grant) 
• Breathe (Michelle Branch)
• Baba Yetu (Christopher Tin)
• Marry You (Bruno Mars)
• Testify to Love (Avalon) This one I'm a little embarrassed about. Avalon was very candy pop and 8th grade, but it ended up being a great running song and the lyrics are good. And true. :)
• Curbside Prophet (Jason Mraz)

So there it is. I finished the program, and am still going strong. It took me longer than 9 weeks due to multiple April blizzards (like, snow day April blizzards) and not always doing the 3 workouts per week. 

And I did. And so can you!

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Entertainment System (& Basement Updates)

I've been holding out on you. For Christmas (I know I know, Christmas?!) Charlie and I decided to go smaller on the gifts for each other, and focus on doing something "bigger" for the house. Enter the basement entertainment center.

It's the Ikea Besta system, and we love it. I drove myself half insane over Christmas break scouring the web for a system we liked that was stylish and fit within out budget. I considered everything from converting kitchen cabinetry and bathroom vanities, having one custom built, and even sawing apart Ikea components to make one along the lines of this:

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Obviously, ours is different. But you get the gist. I'd basically decided I didn't like the Ikea one, but it fit our budget and size requirements, so we took a trip there anyway just to make sure it wasn't the right one for us. Turns out they had it set up in the store, it looked a billion times better in person, and we immediately collected our components and drove home.

On a side note, we bought the wrong drawer fronts the first time around. This ultimately lead to the untimely death of our beloved Saturn Vue, a new car for us (Saturn Outlook), and for me a total, utter aversion to driving in any sort of snow.

On the trip to exchange the fronts, my car spun out on ice/snow in five lanes of traffic, skidded over two of them, and smashed head on into a concrete median going 60 mph. It was terrifying, but miraculously I, and another driver involved in the accident, were totally okay. Jesus so clearly was there and kept me safe, even though I thought I might be going to see Him a lot sooner than anticipated just seconds before I hit the median. It's been a comfort to know that He knows and has planned all my days and has good works for me to walk in still. I'm glad He's not done with me yet :)

Very rationally, after I hit the median and realized that not only was I alive with all limbs in tact and no blood to be spoken for, maybe I could just keep going on my merry way to Ikea. Such devotion and dedication you never did see. (This obliviously didn't happen- I didn't realize my car looked like THAT!).

ANYWAYS. I just had to insert that little side story that went into the coming together of the entertainment center. Those new drawer fronts better be darn grateful.

I'm loving the slim profile. So Besta now lives in our basement, and we love it. There's a lot more storage and room for display stuff. 

One of my favorite parts is the drawers. Maybe because we only have three of them in our kitchen and I feel drawer deprived?

I guess I like decorating with books. Can you tell? A lot of them are from Goodwill.

Also, a few minor basement updates. I went in to Joann Fabric for interfacing, and came out with this fabric instead. I love the colors and pattern.

I also decided to take down the two floating shelves by the mirror wall. It seemed too cluttery with the entertainment center.

That's all, folks.