Easy Crockpot Chili

With the dip in temperature lately, i've been loving the opportunity to make some of my favorite savory recipes including this easy crockpot chili recipe.  While not the most spicy of recipes, it's sure to become a fan favorite on those lazy Sunday afternoons.

Ingredients: 
Ground Beef, 1 lb (Browned)
Medium Onion, 1/2 onion
Chili Kidney Beans, 1 can
Tomato Sauce, 1 can
Diced Tomatoes, 1 can
Water, 1 cup
Chili Powder, 2 tbsp
Garlic Salt, 1 tsp
Cumin, 1 tsp
Oregano, 1 tsp
Salt & Pepper to taste

Optional:
Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Sour Cream and Crackers.

Take your ground beef, and brown in a skillet. Once completely browned, remove from stove top and drain fat. Combine all ingredients in crockpot with the exception of the optional cheese and sour cream. Set crockpot to high, and let it cook for 3 hours.  Once done, spoon chili into a bowl, top with a dollop of sour cream, sprinkle with cheese, and add crackers.

Homemade Mac 'n Cheese

I've loved mac 'n cheese since as long as I can remember.  Growing up my mom always made it using pasta shells and Velveetta cheese adding a bit of ketchup. After she passed, I got used to the blue box variety but have recently rediscovered my love for the homemade kind, especially after realizing how easy it really is and have literally made it every weekend for the last month.  Here is how I make it, but you can change up the cheeses and make it your own by adding bacon, ham, hot dog.

Ingredients: 

Elbow Pasta, 1/2 lb (cooked) 

Sharp Cheddar Cheese, 1 1/2 cups

Fontina Cheese, 1 1/2 cups

Bread Crumbs, 1 cup

Flour, 1 tbsp

Milk, 1/3 cup

Butter, 2 tbsp

Salt & Pepper to taste

Cook elbow pasta as recommended. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set aside pasta but reusing the same pot, mix together the 1 tbsp butter, milk, and flour. Once combined and butter has melted, add in cheeses stirring them in slowly until all the cheese has melted. Then add back in the pasta. Mix together until all is covered. 

Then place mac 'n cheese in either a 9 x 13' baking dish or individual ramekin dishes. Once set, take the remaining 1 tbsp butter and melt in a microwave safe container, once melted add bread crumbs and stir until combined. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top of mac n' cheese.

Place mac 'n cheese into oven until golden brown (about 20 or so minutes) depending on oven and choice of baking dish. 

To accelerate the browning process, sometimes i'll turn the oven to broil on hi. 

Enjoy! 

Meet Teddy!

Meet Teddy! The newest addition to our household.  He is a Maltese/Yorkie/Poodle mix or as people like to call them Morkie Poo's.

I'd been talking about getting Lincoln a sibling for over a year, and got more serious about it once we moved into our house. I could tell Lincoln was lonely and we had so much space. Andy would go back and forth but came to the conclusion we really didn't need another puppy.

As I was heading up to Northern Michigan we passed the exit for the breeder in which we got Lincoln, I couldn't help be think there might be a chance she had puppies. With a few wine tastings into my system, I sent her a quick text and she called to let me know that she hadn't had puppies for some time but had some that she was going to list for sale the next day, with the same father as our other pup Lincoln. It was fate.

I called Andy in which I was told that I could not bring a puppy home, regardless if I felt the stars had aligned. He should probably have known by now that I tend to be a bit stubborn, and was going to bring a puppy home anyway, but I guess he gave me the benefit of the doubt.

Needless to say less than 48 hours later, I came home with Teddy. Andy instantly fell in love and the rest is history.

Hello!

Whelp! It's been awhile. I admit, I've been M.I.A. in all facts of life. The new job has kept me somewhat busy, but even more so the craziness that becomes of the weekend and then before you know it, it's Monday.  Hopefully I'll be more regular with my writing, after all this is suppose to be a public diary of how i'm turning my house into a home but i'll be honest,  the last two months, we haven't done much of anything. 

Instead of investing into a renovation, we decided to go on a trip to Washington D.C. for our Anniversary. I'd say it was well worth it, I think Andy was in heaven.  But, now that the weather is starting to turn I feel that our to do list is growing by the minute. 

Ideally I'd like to clean out a few flower beds before the snow falls, remove and trim a few trees in the yard, paint the last two rooms that need some fresh paint, replace our existing garage door and upgrade our fireplace to gas. While the list seems small, we really don't have a budget set away to do it all, so the next few months will be a test on how to save.  We'll also share how that works out for us.  

In the meantime be sure to check back for updates. 

End of Summer Bucket List

Planner: Kate Spade | Notebook: Kate Spade | Monogrammed Candle: C.Wonder |  Paper Organizer: Target 

It's crazy to think that it's August let alone some people are already back-to-school. It feels like summer just started yesterday, and i'm a little bummed I have yet to achieve a serious sun tan. 

But while the days of 80+ degree weather is limited, i've created my own little bucket list of things i'd like to do before it starts to get too cold. 

1.) Visit the beach
2.) Go boating .. a few more times ;) 
3.) Run a 5k 
4. ) Wine tasting in Northern Michigan
5.)  Go somewhere new and exciting
6.) Take an extended bike ride around town
7.) See a concert in the park
8.) Try something new from the Farmers Market
9.) Take a nap outside
10.) Visit a U-Pick Strawberry Farm

What do you have on your bucket list of things to do before summer ends?

Outdoor Living - Part 2

So yesterday, I shared how awesome our yard was this spring, fresh from the melting snow. Since then we've removed all the weeds, ivy, leaves  and roots from overgrown trees. We then added new plants, patio furniture, mulch and grass (which is still a work in progress in some areas.) 

And yes that little black statue thing in the far right of the photo above came with the house. We didn't discover him until the snow melted. He's  a creepy/scary gargoyle but we've come to love and affectionately call him Goyle. As we've read they are to scare away demons from our home. So we've kept him for good luck and so far no problems. 

furniture & pillows: lowes 

When it came to patio furniture, the possibilities are endless, but so many options are super expensive. I searched high and low for something affordable and when we stumbled upon this set at Lowes, I couldn't have been happier. For the two couches, two chairs, and table we only spent $400. 

The pillows were $13 each, and the seat cushions ranged from $15-20 a piece costing a  grand total of $148. All said and done - $548 and some change wasn't that bad compared to some of the other similar sets that were almost double the price. What also helped is that we could buy this set in chunks, opting to only get the two chairs and one couch first and then deciding we liked it enough to complete it at a later date, which took away the sting it could have left on our bank account. 

In addition to the patio furniture, my father in-law agreed to create this console table using directions I can no longer find online to replicate a similar Pottery Barn Console.  I still need to stain it, but all said and done this bad boy cost only $50 where the PB version costs $700.  As a side note, this was made just in time for my birthday party, and it made for an awesome bar. 

While we still have a ways to go, our yard is starting to come together and makes for a great spot for entertaining or to sit back and relax. 

Outdoor Living - Part 1

So, hey guys check out our amazing backyard, it's so pretty! Aren't you impressed with it? Haha, just kidding! These photos are from this spring, after the snow finally melted (in May) and showed that yes life did exist in our yard the year prior, and there may be hope at the end of the tunnel. 

This photo was taken after we had already started the removal of some pretty intense half dead rose plants.  As you can see we inherited a descent sized deck with a pergola, some storage (about 7 trash cans)  & a (very) active bird house. 

The previous owners loved ivy, and had it in almost EVERY single flower bed. It was a real gem to take out. In addition, they hadn't removed ANY of the leaves from the fall, so we got to pick those up too. 

 The deck is in descent shape, but some boards are starting to show their age and warp. We think we have about one-two seasons left out of them before we will just go ahead and replace all of them. 

So who's ready to see the transformation? 

Bright White

When we first moved into our house, we knew that we had to do something to this 1970's fireplace, but we couldn't decide what. We were a bit torn, and our friends weren't much help, some people loved it as is, others agreed we needed to paint it. We gave it a good six months, and then I couldn't take it any longer we had to do something. As the picture above shows, we had lots of issues with this whole set up, too many cords, soot stains that wouldn't go away, discolored bricks from the previous owners etc. 

After searching the internet high and low, I convinced Andy to let me white wash it. From what I read it wouldn't take much paint, and was relatively easy. Someone said it took them all of 30 minutes. 

After finishing the whole bottom half, I stepped back and decided I actually hated it, and Andy agreed. It just had this unfinished texture to the brick, that I didn't love. So we decided to paint the entire thing. At this point I slightly regretted the idea of painting the fireplace because it took forever, multiple coats, and lots of elbow grease. 

But then it started to look pretty, and I liked it better once the mantel & the hearth were painted.  For those wondering the bricks and mantel were painted in Alabaster by Sherwin Williams, and the black used on the hearth is just a heat resistant flat black spray paint from Lowes. 

And here it is with the room not yet decorated, but at least somewhat put together.We still have quite a bit to do, curtains, new window treatments (the current blinds are hideous), hide the wires, new rug, new furniture, add artwork, potentially new flooring, etc. So look for more updates soon! 

So what do you think? 

Washington D.C. Bound

Photo Credit

Our anniversary is just a few weeks away, and I am so excited for the trip Andy and I have planned to Washington D.C. Andy is a Political Science Guru/History Buff/Future Lawyer, so D.C. is like a children's playground for him. That and he knows everything when it comes to our nation's capital, so it'll be like having my own personal tour guide. 

Besides the museum's and monuments I'm really excited for the food. There are so many great restaurants to try I'm not sure how we will fit them all in.  

For those that have been to D.C. any favorites? 

Garage Sale Find

A few weeks ago while hosting our own garage sale, I caught another one down the road and saw this desk for sale. The owner was asking $20 and reassured me of the craftsmanship I'd find in the wood and blah, blah blah.  Truthfully I was looking for something I could "white wash" and then put into my "office" that i'll probably never use,  but hey it was $20, and I was excited for a new project.  So without thinking twice I took it home.

Andy was excited to start on it (I could see the excitement in his eyes, but not really), and we quickly did a search on Pinterest to see how other people "white washed" their furniture. Once we came to an educated consensus on how it appears to be done we ended purchased these supplies:

(1) 14 oz of White Paint w/ Primer 
(1) 8 oz can of Miniwax Clear Finishing Wax
(1) Three Sheet of 120 Grade Sanding Paper
(1) Tube of Wood Filler - We used Elmers

We Already Had:
(1) Paint Brush
(1) Cup to put paint in
Water

Before starting any major wood project we like to dab wood filler in to help make any rough spots, a bit more level.  For this desk, while it had exceptional quality it did need a little bit of repair in a few spots.

Once our Wood Filler dried we we're ready to go we sanded down the entire desk, making sure to remove the previous glue gun spills and marker that although hardly there once existed on the desk.

We then created the "white wash" or one part paint, three part water mixture. Depending on the look you are trying to attain you can make this thinner or thicker by adding more of either water or paint, we then let this dry. (Note: If you make your mixture really watery make sure to check the edges for pooling because once it's dry, it's just a blob and doesn't look very pretty)

Next, Andy got to join in and sand the edges, and make it look "weathered."  When I had the chance to examine it after the fact, I wasn't that thrilled NOT because Andy didn't do a great job, he did, but because I didn't like the color underneath that was coming through, so I did a second coat over it.

Once dry, we put a light coat of the Finishing Wax all over the desk, the directions ask that you put the coat on and then wait 10-15 minutes to then come back and polish. We did that, and to be honest couldn't tell a huge difference.

When it came to put the knobs in, I had originally purchased these gorgeous glass knobs with gold detail, however because of how thick the original holes were that would have taken a lot of wood filler, we decided to spray paint the previous ones gold, and use them. I used Rustolem Spray Paint in Gold (which I use for a lot of things.)

So here is the finished product. What do you think?

Wedding Bells

It has almost been a year since Andy and I said "I do." Its crazy to think how fast the year has gone by,  I feel like it was yesterday that we were running around frantically planning and then finally making the 4+ hour trip up to Mackinaw Island with all our friends. 

This weekend I attended a girlfriends bridal shower, and it reminded me how much I miss one part of getting married. The gifts! Each year there are so many fun and exciting new things to put on a registry, and I couldn't help but be envious of some of the goodies she scored. 

Here are some of my favorite Wedding Season Gifts:

His & Hers Drink Glasses: Kate Spade / Monogram Flute: Williams-Sonoma / Mixing Bowls: Crate & Barrel / Painted Tray: Crate & Barrel / Striped Placemats: Burke Decor / Lemon Dinner Plates: Sur La Table / Monogram Mug: Anthropologie / His & Hers Pillows: Etsy / Monogram Pillow: West Elm

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Sailing on Lake Michigan

shirt: Brooks Brothers (old) sunglasses: ray bans neckace: kate spade (old)

Over Memorial Weekend Andy and I took a trip to Saugatuck here in Michigan. It's a gorgeous little town off the water full of shops, restaurants, and great places to discover.  We chartered a sail boat just off the canal and had a fun day on the water soaking up some rays. 

If you're looking for a water town to spend a few days, I highly suggest Saugatuck. We had a great time, and will definitely be back.  If you're looking for places to eat, we enjoyed The Mermaid Grill (fish & chips to die for), Singapore Yacht Club (amazing rum runners), and Wally's Bar for some cocktails. 

Farmers Market

shirt: jcrew factory, shorts: jcrew (other colors here), watch: kate spade

A few weeks ago Andy and I went to visit our local farmers market.  It was a little early in the season, but we enjoyed checking out the various produce that our local growers had available.  I'm excited to check it out again in a few weeks as more produce becomes more readily available. 

What are your favorite farmers market finds? Do you go every week? 

To-Do List

I'm a huge advocate of to-do lists and I utilize my planner each and every day. If I didn't create one, I'd have a hard time remembering but also keeping focus on what I really need to do. This is more so beneficial for me in the work place then at home, but regardless there are so many things we "want" to do to this house, I can't keep track. I thought I'd start a public record - and then perhaps i'll hold to it.  Here are some of the projects we want to tackle in the upcoming future in no particular order:

1.) Paint & stain 1/2 bath downstairs
2.) White Wash Fireplace
3.) Paint last bedroom
4.) Remove berry tree out front
5.) Build dining room table
6.) Order new furniture for living room & family room
7.) Create better shoe storage in a closet
8.) Wallpaper statement wall in my office
9.) Replace all light fixtures throughout house (all so dated)
10.) Upgrade electrical panel
11.) Upgrade fireplace to gas
12.) Stain mantel & wood framing in living room
13.) New hardwood flooring throughout downstairs
14.) Paint doors and trim downstairs white
15.) Paint last bit of cabinet doors in basement
16.) Wallpaper the "coffee nook" in Kitchen
17.) Replace electrical outlets that are not white
18.) Update blinds in family room
19.) Stain banister railing and paint spindles
20.) Remove tile in basement

What are some things on your to-do list?

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Statement Walls

I've been scouring the internet to find the best "statement" wall to recreate for my office here at home. I'm having such a hard time trying to pick a favorite. Which one do you like? 

PHOTO CREDITS: 1/2/3/4/5

Vegetable Garden

The thermometer over the weekend hit over 75 and I couldn't have been more excited. Once the snow melted, we got right into cleaning up the yard, it's honestly the worst one in the neighborhood. It also didn't help that the previous owners neglected to pick up the leaves in the fall (it's been a pain.) But, it's starting to "get there" and we imagine after a lot of seeding and fertilizing, our yard will look fabulous (if we're lucky.) 

One thing I wanted to tackle a little bit this year, is a small vegetable garden. Since we're still in clean up mode, it's not as big as i'd like it, but I did get a chance to put in a few tomato and pepper plants.   I plan to add some herbs like cilantro and basil, but needed a few more of the tin planters from Ikea to continue on.  What are some things you are planting this year in your backyard? 

Bedroom Updates

In a series of update posts this week on our house, I thought i'd finally share our master bedroom. While for the most part is completed, there are still a few things we'd like to update like changing out the awful ceiling fan, but we are happy with the results. What do you think? 

Incase you forgot what the original owners had it look like here's the before:

And this is what it looks like now: 

For the paint color, we choose a medium gray called Nightingale by Benjamin Moore.  Our headboard is from here, bedding here, dresser & side tables are Ikea, and the damask throw pillows were a Homegoods score.  

Living Room Updates

It's hard to believe we've been in this house for almost four months now. It seems like yesterday we were just moving in, up to our knees in snow. While our living room is the room with the least amount of updates so far, I thought I'd show you what it looks like today. 

Incase you forgot what we moved into - it looked like this: 

It now looks like this: 

All the furniture is from our previous apartments. The couches are actually from college which I'm so looking forward to update shortly.  The 50' tv is new. The rug is from our last apartment that we got from here. The fireplace is in need of some love, and I can't wait to paint the brick (if Andy let's me) it's one of the many things we are on the fence about changing.  Also, Lincoln felt the need to photo bomb this entire update. I think he thinks this blog is about him (not the house.) So that's all thats new and exciting in our living room. Be sure to check back for more updates.