Road trip to Dallas!

I spent the weekend of my 30th birthday away from the heat & humidity of Arkansas, and in the heat & humidity of Texas.

Graham and I had an absolutely wonderful weekend. We shopped way too much, we ate way too much, and we had so much fun.

If the rest of my 30th year is as wonderful as the weekend was, it's going to be an amazing year!

I was barely out of Little Rock when I saw a billboard for Dunkin' Donuts. Their strawberry frosted is my FAVORITE, so I drove about 15 miles out of my way so I could indulge in one...

29 & 364 Days...

source. 

Today is the last day of my 20's. Tonight, I'll go to bed as a 29 year old. And when I wake up in the morning, I'll be 30. 

I know it's just a number. It's just another birthday. You're only as old as you feel. So on, and so forth... 

I don't feel any different. I don't suddenly feel a decade older. I'm excited to turn 30. My 20's were great. There were definitely ups & downs (broken hearts, college graduations, weddings, babies, cats & dogs, deployments, homecomings, moves, new jobs & friends), but all in all it was a great decade. But I think my 30's will be even better. I'm going to make sure it's my best decade yet. 

source. 

I want to finally figure out what to do with my life. Having a degree and not using it is BS. If I owe the government an exorbitant amount of money in student loans, I want to at least use the degree. 

I want to explore the passions I've developed over the past few years. I've become almost fanatical about animal rights and food. I want to do something to help animals in need, and I want to continue to explore my  talent in the kitchen.

I want to achieve the fitness goals that I've always aspired to. I want to run a marathon. I've been talking about it since I was 18, and I want to accomplish this, this decade. The fact of the matter is, I've spent the majority of my 20's overweight, and I want better for myself for this next chapter of my life. 

I want my existing relationships for continue to flourish, and I'm excited about developing new ones. Moving to Arkansas has been one of the most challenging and beneficial experiences of my life. It's forced me to make an effort to maintain relationships back home. I don't feel as if I've drifted away from friends and family. Every time we're in North Carolina, I feel as if we never left. I pick up right where I left off with the people who matter, and I know it will always be that way. I've never been good at making friends, and being here has helped that. I've opened up a lot more, and a lot quicker than I ever have before. I hope that continues once we get to Virginia. 

I want my marriage to continue to strengthen. Graham and our fur family bring me so much joy. I am so excited about our upcoming move to Virginia and all of the adventures we'll have together. I want us to do more exploring than we've done here. I want us to make the most of every single moment that we have together. 

I know May 17 is just another day for most of the world, but it's so significant to me. I'm spending this day in a car with Hermione, driving to Texas. My birthday isn't going to be a big party... it's going to be a day of shopping & sightseeing in Dallas, a nice dinner out and a birthday cake with the love of my life. Food, shopping, cake & my husband. I can't think of a better way to ring in a new decade!

Peanut Butter Overload!

I don't really like peanut butter.

There, I said it.

I am obsessed with really like the Earth Balance Creamy Coconut & Peanut Spread and Peanut Butter & Co.'s White Chocolate Wonderful, but regular peanut butter? Eh. Yet for some reason a few weekends ago I wanted to bake and I wanted to bake with peanut butter. I made cookies stuffed with so many good peanut buttery things, I knew they would be either really good, or really bad. And I made chocolate cupcakes, stuffed with said cookie dough and topped with a peanut butter buttercream.

The result: total epicness.

Just one of those days...

Wednesday was just one of those days. Not necessarily bad, just kind of annoying. I was super busy at work, which honestly doesn't happen a whole lot, and I've just been tired lately. I wanted to go home, have a margarita and a homemade burrito bowl for dinner.

Once I got home, the day got longer. In the middle of making the homemade salsa, my POS food processor broke. Then, I was letting the dog out and she stepped on my foot, her paw digging into the bone that I broke back in 2006... the bone that still has three screws in it. It. Hurt. Like. Hell. I really needed my dinner and my drink. But, of course I was out of margarita mix. So I settled for a glass of white wine, my delicious dinner & an episode (or two... ;)) of Frasier.

We have these a lot. They are SO good. I've been thinking about them since my friend Heather asked me about the recipe over the weekend and since Amber blogged about her version earlier this week. These are so versatile. This "recipe" is based off of what I always order at Chipotle, but these can be easily customized to whatever your personal preference is.

Burrito Bowls
Ingredients

• Cilantro lime rice (1 c. of rice, 2 c. of chicken stock. Cook according to package directions. Remove from heat and stir in the zest & juice of one lime and a handful of chopped cilantro.) 
• Any type of rice or grain will work with this. Most of the time I use brown rice. But I have used quinoa & white rice, for those times I don't want to wait an hour...
• Black beans 
• Grilled protein (I go back & forth between chicken & steak...)
• Salsa
• Pico de Gallo (My go-to pico method is 3 vine ripened tomatoes, 1 jalapeno, 1/4 of an onion, a handful of cilantro, juice & zest of one lime & salt to taste. Chop all ingredients, toss together in bowl with the salt & lime. This is best made in advance so the flavors have a chance to come together.)
• Guacamole
• Shredded cheese (whatever you like)

Directions:

1. Layer everything in a bowl. (I like rice, beans, cheese, chicken, salsa, pico & guacamole. Putting the cheese in between two hot items makes the cheese all melty and makes this whole thing even more delicious.)
2. Devour. 

DIY Mosaic Tile Tray

source.

It's that time of year again! The (completely unofficial) Pinterest Challenge thought up by Sherry & Katie to stop dreaming (and pinning) and start doing!

My project this go around is a mosaic tile serving tray. We recently traded in our hideous, beat up, dog chewed coffee table for a cute pale gray & white chevron storage ottoman. The problem? We eat dinner in front of the TV, and the ottoman isn't quite as useful as the coffee table for that. Especially with a cat who likes to knock drinks over and a crazy dog. So, we needed a tray to set our drinks in, hold remotes & hair ties, and all that jazz.

My search for one did not turn out well. All of the ones I found were really cheaply made, and I knew the second Buddy pawed at it, he'd manage to knock it off the ottoman. I wanted something sturdier, without paying a fortune, so I decided to make something myself. Partly because I wanted something sturdy & well made. Partly because I wanted an excuse to buy this gorgeous mosaic tile from Home Depot I had been coveting (the picture does not do justice to this tile, btw).

The Inspiration:

This beauty definitely inspired me. But $265? No thank you. 

A little more budget friendly. $54.75

A crafty, DIY version...

My Project:

I told Graham roughly what size I was wanting my tray to be, and he cut me some pieces from scraps of his wood pile. The free wood definitely helped offset the cost of the tile. I needed a small square to fill in the edges, since the tile I selected was staggered. I didn't want to deal with a tile cutter, so I found a sheet of square tiles that matched the color scheme and used that to fill in at the ends.

Two coats of stain later, and I had a color I was pleased with. The stain was also free. It was leftover from our entertainment center project. 

Cover the wood with a coat of satin polyurethane. This was also free, since it was leftover from the entertainment center. The texture was rough though after one coat, so I gave a quick sand and put down a second coat.  

I also used wood glue as my adhesive to stick the tile to the bottom of the tray. I did not put poly in the side I was sticking the tile to, because apparently glue doesn't stick to poly. I figured it didn't really matter how that piece looked, since it was going to be covered in grout anyways. 

I picked out some fun hardware for the handles at Lowes. I loved that the squareness in these kind of mimicked the shape of the tile. 

Grouting was way, way easier than I thought it would be. I put it off for ages, but it seriously took about 15 minutes. It was slightly messy, but not bad at all. Now I'm ready to tackle a back splash ;)

Once the grout and polyurethane was dry, Graham put it together using his Kreg and drilling pocket holes. This thing is really, REALLY secure, which is a must since it weighs a TON!

A few tips & tricks:

1. Wait till the tile is grouted before attaching the sides. Grout is messy, and I didn't want to mess up the sides during the gluing or grouting process. 
2. Use a soft cloth to apply the polyurethane. I used a foam brush for the first coat and the texture was really rough. The second coat was applied with a piece of an old t-shirt and it was super smooth & polished. 
3. They make a combination adhesive/grout. If I had known about that, I would have bought that instead of using wood glue & grout. 

So, the cost breakdown of this:
Tile: $16.80
Grout: $8.70 (SO. MUCH. GROUT. LEFT.)
Hardware: $6.24
Grout Float: $4.03
Wood glue: Already had
Stain: Already had
Polyurethane: Already had

Grand Total: $35.77
***Home Depot & Lowes offer a 10% military discount, which is why there may be discrepancies between my stated price and the prices online. My total though factors in the discounted price.

So definitely not the cheapest project ever, but the cheap, already damaged one I saw at Hobby Lobby was $20 (on sale). The rest of the ones I saw were a heavy plastic. I wanted something made of real wood, sturdy and something I knew would last for a while, and I couldn't be more pleased with how this turned out. Not to mention I have tile left, grout left, and I still have the float, so if I decide to make another one it won't be nearly as pricey.

Coconut Cream Cupcakes

It was just about five years ago that I became interested in cupcakes, and baking in general. A cute, fun cupcake shop opened up near Southpark Mall, and a college friend and I stopped there for a treat all the time. My favorite cupcake from Polka Dot was a Pina Colada cupcake, and five years later I've still yet to taste one that I've loved as much.

The first cupcake I ever made from scratch was the Barefoot Contessa's coconut cupcake. I made it for my BFF's bridal shower. After that, I was hooked on baking from scratch. The difference in flavor between homemade cupcakes and cake from a boxed mix was crazy. Every once in a while I do still use a box. I used a boxed mix for Graham's birthday cake, because it's what he wanted. And I do love doctoring up cake mixes... sometimes you end up with something epic (like the banana pudding cupcakes). But for the most part I bake from scratch.

Srirachia Tuna Cakes

I make salmon cakes all the time, but for some reason it never occurred to me to make tuna cakes. Until I saw this recipe on Pinterest, that is.

This was a fast, cheap, healthy & delicious dinner, and other than the chill time for the burgers, it took no time at all to throw together! 

Tuna Cakes with Spicy Lime Sriracha Mayo
(Recipe adapted from this one.)

Ingredients:
(For the tuna cakes)

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup panko
• 2 T. of chopped chives
• 2 T. of chopped cilantro
• 1 T. of sesame oil
• 2 T. of sriracha 
• 1/4 t. black pepper
• A 12oz. can of solid white albacore tuna in water, drained well and flaked
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

(For the mayo)

• 2 T. of plain greek yogurt
• 2 T. of mayo
• Juice & zest of one lime
• 1-2 T. of sriracha

Directions:

1. Dump everything (except the oil) in a bowl and mix it together. 
2. Divide into 4 cakes, and let chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes, but the longer the better. The original source said hers fell apart easily so a longer chill time might help. I chilled mine for over an hour.
3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the patties. 
4. Cook about 5 minutes on each side. 
5. To make the sauce: mix everything together, add more of less sriracha depending on your taste, and serve a dollop on each burger. 

(There's a lot more sriracha underneath the chopped herbs ;) )

Friday Finds: TJ Maxx in North Little Rock

TJ Maxx is a dangerous store for me. Every time I go in there, I always find several things that I want (and it's even worse when it's a TJ Maxx./Homegoods).

Graham & I traded vehicles while he's in training in Texas. Since he's doing most of the visiting, it made sense for him to drive the fuel efficient vehicle. So I'm stuck driving his massive truck. I used to go home on my lunch break, now I stay in the area and window shop. I found so many cute things at TJ Maxx this week, and here are some of my favorites!

LOVED these baking dishes. LOVED them! If they were blue instead of yellow, I would have bought one in a heartbeat! They were a really good size, and a great price at only $12.99!

How darling are these little bowls. I wanted these too, but they didn't have enough. That's the only problem with shopping at stores like this. If they don't have enough of the item you need, you may have a hard time finding more of them somewhere else. But at $3.99 each, I definitely loved these.

Just yesterday I was telling someone that a great way to add a pop of color to a dull or monochromatic bathroom is a plant. This fake boxwood is so cute. The shape, size & color would be perfect for our master bathroom. However, I did think it was overpriced at $29.99.

Love this cute dog bed! We're contemplating moving Hermione's bed into our bedroom, since she does so good sleeping on the floor by us when we're at Graham's parents. The master bedroom color scheme at our next place will be yellow & gray, so this would be perfect!

Is anyone surprised that I'm completely smitten with this large & in charge $70 mirror? No? I didn't think anyone would be ;)

The quinoa mixes from Pereg intrigued me, and I couldn't resist buying one. The ingredient list wasn't scary at all, and the sodium content was really low, so I figured it was worth a shot.

I also bought these two jars of spices. Do you know how hard it is to find Herbes de Provence in Little Rock? Damned near impossible. The only store I haven't checked is Whole Foods, but everywhere else let me down. And the seasoned sea salt just sounded epic.

I used to worry about buying edible stuff from stores like TJ Maxx. I figured it was out of date, or close to it. All three of the edible things I bought are good until late 2014.

Last but not least, we're moving very close to the beach in less than three months. I think this blue, quatrefoil beach towel is a necessity =) (Especially when it's priced at $14.99!)

Two wonderful years...

Yesterday Graham and I celebrated two wonderful years of marriage. Unfortunately we couldn't be together, since the Air Force has him in training in Texas.

He came home this weekend so we could celebrate, and we had an absolutely wonderful weekend.

Two years down, a lifetime to go =)

We started the weekend with a looooooong walk with Hermione at Emerald Park. The skyline will never be like the Charlotte, Chicago or Boston skylines, but this area has one of the best views.

The last time we were here was in February when everything was brown & dead. The city is so much prettier in the spring!

We went to one of our favorite Little Rock restaurants, So!, for dinner. The food was superb, as usual. Our service was excellent this time too. We actually got a seat in the main dining room, and not in the dark, freezing area we usually end up in.

We started with the blackened seafood fondue which is incredible. The bread was warm & fresh, and the chunks of seafood in the cheese were huge and delicious.

Knowing this would more than likely be our last dinner here, I figured I should try something besides the scallops. When our waiter was describing the specials, he had me at Brussels sprouts. I ordered the grilled grouper in an herbed lemon cream sauce over a bed of pan seared Brussels sprouts. I'm so glad I ordered this, because it was absolutely epic. The fish was HUGE and perfectly cooked. The sauce was light and had a ton of flavor. And you can't tell from the picture, but they gave me a TON of Brussels sprouts and they were delicious- tender, with perfect flavor.

Since I chose not to order scallops, Graham jumped on them. The portion size was much better than last time, and they were just as perfect as ever. I know the linguine is a little intimidating, but if you get the opportunity, you must try it. It's salty, garlicky, and absolutely delicious.

We got home and continued our photo tradition & drank cheap champagne out of or ridiculously expensive glasses.

We had a perfect night together, and I can't wait to see what new adventures the next year brings.

On our actual anniversary, we couldn't be together, but we tried to make the best of it. Graham sent me these GORGEOUS flowers. Lilies are pretty much my favorite flower, and the roses are gorgeous.

I wish we could have been together, but so far we've been really lucky, and this is the only important occasion we've missed. I guess the benefit of having two anniversaries is we're pretty much guaranteed to be together for one of them.

Our house is finished.

Welcome to our home. No matter where we go, this little house in Arkansas will always be special to me. This was our first home as a married couple, and we transformed every inch of this place from a dark & dated 1976 house, to a bright & modern home.

Stick a (4 ft.) fork in it, this kitchen renovation is DONE!

When I left you last time (a week & a half ago...) the kitchen was still pretty much a disaster. It took a while for it to get any better. We exceeded our time frame by exactly a week, and exceeded our budget, but it is so, so, so, so, SO worth it!

Do you know how exciting it is to make dinner on a brand new range?

It also took 400 MORE dollars and a drywall man (who worked till 1:30am on a Saturday night that we found on Craigslist) for it to get any better.

We learned a few VERY valuable lessons.

1. Dry-walling a kitchen by yourself for the first time ever when you're in a hardcore time crunch is not the best idea.
2. Know when to ask for help when you need it (help from a professional & help in the sense of your boss giving you time off from work).
3. DO NOT put HUGE projects like renovating an entire kitchen off until the very last minute. 

Graham is leaving tomorrow for Texas and this has not been our usual pre-goodbye weekend. Instead of happy, fun, quality time together, we've been working till all hours of the night getting this house ready to go on the market. And I dare say, it's finally ready. There are still a few things we need to do, but the kitchen was the last big thing and it is finally, finally finished. 

So, I'm going to stop rambling and flood you with pictures of my beautiful kitchen and start wishing we had done this two years and three months ago when I moved out here. 

So it's finally time to talk about Sodastream...

I took advantage of a cyber Monday (November 26th) deal and ordered a sodastream. I was so excited, seeing as how I had wanted one forever. I got the confirmation email and then I waited. 

And waited. 

And waited. 

I never received a shipping notification, so a few days after my order, I called them. They told me that it was ready to ship, and they were just waiting on UPS to come and pick it up, but that I would have it within 10 business days. 

Okay, so I wait. Finally, I get an email. It says that due to the overwhelming amount of orders they received on Cyber Monday, they were a little behind. But they say that all machines will be shipped on or before December 8th. This email would be all well & good if I hadn't received it at 5:26pm on December 7th.

December 8th comes and goes... I call Sodastream and the customer service rep was less than helpful and pretty much tells me to go away and that it will be here by Christmas... 

Okay. So, I wait.

And wait...

And wait...

I finally leave a message on their facebook page. I'm asked to give them my order number and they tell me they'll look into it and get back to me ASAP. I never hear back from them. I repeatedly leave messages and I get NOTHING in response. 

I call multiple times, and I'm always given a BS answer (i.e. "the machine is ready to ship, they just haven't assigned it a tracking number yet", "the machine has shipped, they just have to input the tracking numbers manually, and they haven't done that").

So finally I'm told that it hasn't shipped yet, but it will be here by Christmas. I'm not holding my breath, and I'm fed up, so I decide to cancel my order, since they had yet to charge my credit card. However, I'm told that the person I'm talking to can't cancel it (this is before 5:00pm on a Friday...) and I'll need to call in tomorrow and speak to a manager to cancel it. So I call back the next morning, and of course there are no supervisors there, but the customer service person I'm talking to cancels the order for me (so why did the the guy the day before tell me only a manager could...). I even get a confirmation email for the cancellation. So, I figure I'm done with these lying, deceitful, dumb-asses. 

The next day Graham and I are out doing some last minute Christmas shopping and I check the Amex and see that sodastream FINALLY charged my card. I really love having a charge on my card for the same day I get a cancellation email, btw.

Monday morning I get to work, and there is a package waiting for me. I open it up, and it is the freaking sample kit of flavors. I know I should be happy that I finally received something from them, but honestly it made me more furious. I call them and they say they are shipping the items as they become available. BUT WHY SEND A PACK OF FLAVORINGS WHEN I HAVE NOTHING TO FLAVOR?!?!

FINALLY, two days later, the sodastream arrives. Honestly, at this point I was so aggravated, I wasn't sure I was going to keep it. These things are not cheap to maintain, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to give them anymore of my money. So I sat the box on the kitchen table and glared at it for days. 

Two days later I get to work, and I have another package from sodastream. Are you freaking kidding me? It took me 19 days to get one, and then two days later I get a second one? I post about it on Facebook, and a guy I knew from high school responds that a friend of his ended up with three of them. No wonder this company has supply issues. What's even more frustrating was when I called to let them know they sent me an extra one, the woman I spoke to told me I was responsible for paying to send it back. Are. You. Freaking. Kidding. Me?  

Eventually I gave in to my curiosity and I opened it. I wasn't wanting to like it, but I did. The first flavor I made was the diet cola. It didn't taste exactly like Coke or Pepsi, but it was really good. We sampled nearly every flavor they sent us, and enjoyed most of them. We didn't try the root beer and one of the energy drink flavors. Graham's favorite is the Dr. Pete (Dr. Pepper) and mine is the diet pink grapefruit. It tastes like the grapefruit Izze and is so, so good. 

It's very simple to use, and isn't nearly as expensive to maintain as I thought it would be. I used it for the first time a few days before Christmas, and I've only replaced the CO2 container once since then. Bed, Bath & Beyond lets you trade your used CO2 tank for a new one, and charges $14.99 for the new one (and they let you use a coupon!). 

The bottles of syrup range from $5-$10. I bought the Dr. Pete for Graham, and the diet grapefruit for myself. Once I ran out though, I wanted to see I could use things I already had on hand on make soda. It worked PERFECTLY. The orange-tangerine Mio makes a delicious orange soda, and the strawberry-lemonade Crystal Light is just plain delicious. 

All in all, I'm really happy with my soda stream. I would recommend one to anyone... just buy them from a retailer, not from the company directly...

I do have to clarify something though. I wasn't angry that it was taking a while to get the machine. I understand that they sold a hell of a lot more machines than they planned on. It was for me, not a gift for anyone so I didn't need it by a specific date. I was angry that I was lied to over and over and over again. I worked retail for 7 years, and have been in customer service in other jobs the entire time I've been employed since I was 16. And I believe that a paying customer deserves more than that. Be honest. That way people who needed it by a certain date could have made other arrangements (on Facebook a lot of people were upset that their machine wasn't here by a certain date when they were gifting it). No one likes being lied to. If I had been told that first time I had called "look, we sold more machines than we planned. We're not sure when it'll ship", I would have understood completely.