Month of Meals and Mini Vacay

We're off to Palo Alto and Sonoma this weekend! My cousin is getting married at Stanford this Saturday and we're then heading up North to Sonoma for some wine tasting and relaxation.

As May is coming to an end I put together my month of meals for June. I added a Sunday meal and a vegetarian meal each week (to my husbands chagrin). My husband can't say that I always make the same thing, because we now will have had a different meal every day for the past 2 months! Here is a glimpse of what's on the menu:

Penne w/spinach sauce- Giada

Tuscan lemon chicken- Barefoot Contessa

Tequila glazed grilled chicken- Cooking Light

Chicken salad with green beans, almonds and dried cherries- Martha Stewart

Grilled chicken sliders with apricot chutney- Cooking Light

Roast pork loin with grilled vegetables - Martha Stewart

Bulgar with roasted peppers and spinach- Martha Stewart

Happy Memorial Day!

DIY Headboard

I have always wanted an upholstered headboard and at $500 it is definitely cheaper than going for a wood frame bed. I also like furniture that isn't all matchy-matchy. I'm not sure I'm ready to make the decision of what bed frame I want for the long haul, but for less than $100 am willing to try and make an upholstered headboard for the time being. I searched the web and the best tutorial I found was from censationalgirl.com. She gives step by step instructions and lists the best supplies to use.

I bought my fabric ($6/yard on deep discount at JoAnns), nailheads (bought online for $20) and batting. I just need to go to Home Depot and buy my ply wood and I'm set to go.

We're off to Northern California for a wedding and some wine tasting this weekend but I'm hoping to have it done next week.

Milestone Onesies

I received this frame as a shower gift from Pottery Barn Kids and wanted to do something cute to commemorate each monthly milestone for Morgan's 1st year.

I looked online and saw a bunch of cute examples of onesies I could buy. I thought it would be pretty easy to do it myself with some iron-on transfer paper and a white onesie. They turned out pretty cute. I messed around with fonts until I found one I liked and changed the background color each month. Here is her 4 month picture.

I can't believe she will be 5 months next week!

Phone Case & Mother's Day

I have been on the hunt for a new phone case and was in love with ones from Dani Notes and Rosie Posie Designs on Etsy. At $50 each I knew there had to be a cheaper option. It was that same week that I saw a post on Honey Were Home with an idea to make your own. So that is what I did. I bought a clear case from ebay ($6.95 including shipping) and designed the rest on Microsoft Publisher. I got the specs for the phone size online and just used a hole punch so the camera would work. It was super easy and I can always change it out to another color/design.

Here are a couple that I did:

And my 1st Mother's Day was amazing! This is what I woke up to:

Yes, those are petals from some old tulips on the top of the placemat. Probably not my husband's most creative moment, but kind of cute. And my champagne glass is empty, but he did have mimosas ready.

Hope you all had an amazing Mother's Day!

Painted Wallpaper

I wanted to do something to one of the walls in my dining area. I thought of painting stripes, but I didn't think the wall was big enough for stripes to make an impact. I searched the internet and found a painted wallpaper tutorial that I absolutely loved. You can find the tutorial and stencil needed to complete the wallpaper here. I only needed a pencil, ruler, paint, paint brush and stencil. It required little patience and time (it took about 10 hours) to complete but it was totally worth it and I would do it again in a heart beat. I think it would look great in a bathroom.

Here are some pictures of the process.

You can kind of see the stencil marks in the background.

Almost done...

Finished product.

The pictures aren't the best (taken with my phone) but I was really happy how it turned out. There were a few things I learned in the process:

1. Start tracing the stencil at the top of your wall (I started in the middle but was lucky enough for it to come to a point at the top of the wall)

2. Get a good paintbrush. I ended up going through a couple before using a make-up brush that worked out great.

3. Trace the stencil in a downward diagonal manner. I did have to erase some and start over because I went across the wall and not down diagonally.

Thankful...

I've been sick in bed with the stomach flu for the past few days and it made me think of a few things I am thankful for.

1. My health. Throwing up and feeling really achy has made me really thankful that I am overall a very healthy person. (side note, this is the 1st year I have gotten the flu shot and have gotten the flu twice. Year's I didn't get the flu shot= no flu, go figure???)

2. My mom. One simple phone call that I'm sick and my mom comes and picks up Morgan and takes her for the day. I don't know what I would do without her!

3. My husband. He takes care of me and takes care of things around the house. I was in bed all day yesterday and woke up to find the dishwasher emptied, a clean house, and Morgan bathed and ready for the day. By the way, he gave me the best Mother's Day I could have ever imagined filled with homemade breakfast, bike rides and sweet gifts.

Hopefully I get better soon because I am not one that does well sitting at home.

Some Day....

I hope to have a little boy. And if money grew on trees I would have his nursery look something like this.