My Kitchen Table

So the internet is down at my work so they said don't come in until we call. So I am taking this extra free time to post something close to my heart... My kitchen table.

About a year ago just before Zach and I got married, I went all DIY crazy and did some really cool stuff. And I never even shared it on my blog! So here's one of my favorites.

I took Zach to Goodwill with me one day on the search for a table and chairs. And we found this cutie!! It was so perfect and exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a round table that had fold down ends and as a plus it also had two leaves that could be taken out which is so awesome because I knew our apartment was small and we needed some flexibility. PLUS we found it for $50 went back the next day to get it and realized it was Saturday and everything was 50% off for the day! So we got our kitchen table for $25... Love it.

Then we sanded it, primed and painted it, roughed it up a bit and it turned out like this.

I'm still learning a lot about painting furniture and stuff. Like the top of the table isn't as nice a smooth as a normal one. But I'm just glad that it turned out at all. haha

I love the legs.

I love love love my kitchen table. Redoing furniture is always a pretty big undertaking but it was such a fun project and it's in pretty good shape so I hope we can use it for the next couple of years.

My chairs were my next favorite project. You can see them in this picture. But that story is for another day.

Have a wonderful thursday!

Something To Waste Your Time

If you are looking for something new to waste your time, you should visit this website. But I warn you it is highly addictive!!

Also, look at all these cute chandeliers.

Isn't this wax paper chandelier cute? I don't know how I found it but here's a wonderful tutorial on how to make it yourself! I really want to try this but I don't know where I would put it right now in our little apartment... I might just make it anyway. If any one knows of another good DIY for a chandelier I would love to have it.

Happy Wednesday!!

This Is A Little Late

Last month Zach and I went home for his brother Landons's homecoming talk. We had so much fun! This was the first time that the whole family was together because we got married and Jordan and Casey got married while Landon was in Australia. So he came home to two new sisters.

Here's a few cute pictures of all the boys back together.

Caleb, Dalton, Landon, Zach, and Jordan

These guys are the best brothers-in-law a girl could ask for:)

Here are all the boys in the family who came down for the weekend.

And this is everyone together. As you can see the Brough family is primarily male...

I think there are 4 girl cousins and 15 boy cousins.

I'm thinking we might be having a few boys in our family too.

And here we see that everyone heard jump except for me...

I'm usually so good at jumping pictures:(

We had so much fun spending time with everyone and can't wait to make it back to AZ soon. Love you Broughs!!!

Summer Activities

A few weeks ago I got a cool puzzle for $1.50 at D.I. and last week we finally got around to putting it together. It was pretty hard and it took us a while but we got it done.

We were a little scared that we were going to have a bunch of missing pieces because it was a thrift store puzzle. But it turned out instead of having 1000 pieces it had 1001! I mean seriously when does that ever happen? It was so funny to us I had to blog about it.


Isn't my hubby cute?

Disneyland Here We Come!!

This is just a little project I took on this weekend as I was looking through all of my videos I had. My family has gone to Disneyland together at least 5 or 6 times and we are going to again in a few weeks and thought this might pump us up!! Woo Hoo can't wait:)

Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op

This morning I was able to go pick up my bountiful basket from Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op. I didn't really know what I was getting into but I am very satisfied.

All of this for $15!

The way it works is you go online on Monday and order a basket then go to one of their locations to pick it up on Saturday. They have tons of locations in the Idaho, Arizona, Utah area. So all you friends and family in Mesa should check this out and see if you would like it. It's about 50% fruits and 50 % veggies and sometimes they have extras like bread, cookies, tropical fruit, or mexican food ingredients and stuff. I didn't get any extras this time because I just wanted to see what the normal basket was like.

They have your basket all ready and divided for you to pick up.

A cool thing about it is that it's all volunteer run. So as a participant you have to go volunteer about every 4 times you buy. Which I think would be fun to do anyway.

So here's my dilemma. I have no clue how to cook vegetable. I haven't ever eaten a ton and Zach and I wanted to get some more good food into our diet so here we are. But I need a lot of advice on how to cook this stuff. Grandma that means you need to comment:)

I was soooo excited to see the corn. I love corn on the cob.

Not the biggest fan of mushrooms but Zach loves them.

Is that Cabbage or lettuce in the top right corner?

And what the heck do you make with Chard?

Aren't these tomatoes beautiful? I think

I'll make some chili or stew with them?

Any yummy tomato suggestions from you readers?

Giant bananas! Good thing I've been making a ton

of smoothies lately. I'll be needing these guys everyday.

A nice bushel of apples.

And I don't know what these things are...

So hopefully this next week I'll be posting all of the new dishes I will be trying with my yummy veggies. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Being Creative

For the past couple of weeks I've been searching and searching for some way of better organizing my jeans. I am just incapable of folding my jeans and putting them back in my dresser. It's a curse. So a couple weeks ago me and my friend Emily were at DI and I found this little beauty just as we were about to give up for the day.

I knew right when I saw it that we were meant for each other. It was perfect. The question was whether to paint it or not. But since I don't have a sander, or brushes or paint I decided it was beautiful just the way it was. So all I needed to do was get some cute knobs!

I love the fun detail on the sides.

And I found my knobs at Hobby Lobby for 2 bucks each.

And now I can finally have a clear floor and unwrinkled jeans:) Thank you D.I.

DIY Wall Art

This is some serious wall art. And I think it looks so cool! I think this would be perfect in a baby nursery or kids room but I would add colorful string to the mix. I wonder if you could do it with some other kind of figure like maybe a rainbow, or a clock, or even make a headboard out of it.

Here's the tutorial.

This is one of those DIYs that are just too cool for me. I don't think I could pull it off, but at the same time I really wanna try! Maybe I should wait till I have my own house though instead of a rented apartment...

What else could we make with this string idea?

Taylor Swift - Mean

We love love love T Swizzle! Have you seen her new music video? So cute. It's weird to think that she's my age. Ya she's only a month older than me! Cray huh? Can you imagine being a superstar at 21? She'll be here in Salt Lake in September but all her tickets are over $100. I couldn't justify that...

But enjoy front row seats to this music video!

New Discovery

Wow I just found the cutest blog!! They have awesome quilting ideas and tons of sewing stuff, plus cute family stuff.

How beautiful is this quilt? And you can get the pattern for free on this blog.

If only fabric wasn't so dang expensive...

Just another thing for me to obsess over this summer.

Something To...

Bake
you know you want it

Make
This is for all you arizonans who are already in the 90s

Read

take a stroll down memory lane with us

Remember
Love it

Passing Along Some Laughs

If you haven't joined the Kid History fan club yet, get with it!! Zach and I are totally obsessed with these videos. There are 3 others after this one so be sure to check those out on Youtube. Sorry if you don't think they are funny but we've been quoting them non stop for the past month now and I'm still not sick of them.

Enjoy!

My First Skirt!

My project this whole week has been this skirt tutorial which I found on Say Yes to Hoboken!

Ok so I had never sewn clothes before so this was quite the adventure. But I think it turned out cute! Perfect for summer days.

And this project was really good to get me really acquainted with my sewing machine. I learned sooo much!

Things I learned

• Read the directions through very thoroughly before cutting. While stitching is mostly reversible, cutting is not!
• Really measure your waist. I was scared to make it too small but now it's a little too big. Just remember to add enough extra for your zipper.
• Youtube is amazing! You can learn anything you want there.
• Even though it might be cute to use a lighter thread so that you can see the stitching, just stick to a thread that matches.
• A heavier fabric might make this pattern cuter.
• Sewing machines are amazing! All the different feet and settings they have. So cool.
• And even though I have youtube and the internet, I still need my Mommy.

Once I started this skirt I realized that this tutorial isn't all that clear so I had to resort to a few helpful youtube clips.

This one helped me with the invisible zipper.

I know it's not totally invisible and it's a little off...

but pretty good for a first timer learning from youtube!!

And this one helped me with the hem stitch.

So much easier than by hand.

Another REALLY AWESOME thing that I did to save some money, was to buy my fabric from D.I.. I always look through the bed sheets when I go there because they are so cheap and supply a lot of fabric! I know it sounds kind of gross to be using someone's old bed sheets but hey wash it good and it works. And you never would have known if I didn't tell you right?

Now onto my next DIY!

Healthy Start

If you're looking for a healthy start to your summer, try this yummy smoothie! It may not look to yummy but don't judge a smoothie by it's color.

My Popeye Smoothie

Original Recipe

Ingredients

Handful of fresh spinach
1 cup vanilla lowfat yogurt
1/2 cup cranberry juice
3 strawberries (fresh or frozen)
10 blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 banana (fresh or frozen)
A few cubes of ice

Directions
Pour the cranberry juice and yogurt into the blender. Add the spinach and pulse until it has blended into small pieces. Add the strawberries, blueberries, and bananas to the mix. When everything is whipped into a smoothie texture, add a few chunks of ice and blend on high.

* Add flax to the mix for added nutritional value

Spinach in a fruit smoothie?! I know it may sound gross but you can't taste the spinach at all! This really is so great. And it makes me feel better about my vegetable diet, which I don't really have. Give it a try!

And let me know if you have any other favorite healthy recipes. I'm always looking for more.

You Have to See This Lil Peanut

Yes? No?

Either way I love this kid. He just makes me happy.

Nutella Lovers This Is For You!

If you are a Nutella addict like me, pay attention. I found this wonderful Nutella cookie recipe today and had to share it with you so that you can stop eating spoonfuls of nutella straight from the container.

Here it is

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup Nutella or other hazelnut chocolate spread
1 egg
½ tsp. Frangelico (if you have it, if not vanilla will work just fine)
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream butter with an electric mixer about 1 minute until smooth. Add in both sugars. Beat on high speed about 3 minutes until light & fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

With the mixer on low, add the egg and Frangelico (or vanilla). Then add the Nutella and mix well.

In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, and mix on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and mix just until the dough is smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.

Using a small ice cream scoop (or a teaspoon) form the dough into balls and place on greased cookie sheet. To prevent my cookies from spreading too much, I stuck the cookie sheets in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking.

Bake 6-7 minutes (or 7-8 if baking from freezer). Let cookies cool about 5 minutes and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

And I am a not so good cookie maker (especially in high elevations) and these turned out so perfect! I ate all of them. Enjoy!

Question

Do you like my new header or the old one?

Love This Girl

So me and Zach are totally in love with each other. But since Sara Bareilles came into our lives we've been in love with her too. Her last album is one of those that I can listen to over and over and never get sick of. This video isn't from her King of Anything Album. But it is just beautiful. Check it out!!

I Dare You

This afternoon I took the time to go outside, no wires attached, and laid down on the grass with a blanket and a good book. It was wonderful, all 30 minutes of it...

I could barely spend 30 minutes out there without getting bored. But it is one of my summer goals to spend more time outside so I am going to try hard to read or nap or talk on the phone outside a lot more. Utah is so beautiful in the spring!

So I dare you! Get out there and spend 30 minutes with out any music or cell phone or computer, just you, the grass, the sky and the sun. Soak it in before winter creeps up on us again.

Let me know if you always spend time outside anyway and don't need to be dared into it:) Or if you tried this out and discovered something new about yourself...

E3 Video Blog

You have to check out all the cool things my family is doing. Watch this video then go to their youtube page to see the rest of their fun travel videos!!

I love my family so much!

My New Way of Setting Goals

With summer pretty much here it's time to revisit our...

And maybe add 2011 summer goals!

A very wise lady (Joan Glenn) in my home ward spoke to us like 3 years ago about setting goals. I am totally a goal setter. Not that I ever really achieve them but I don't get anything done if I don't at least set them first. I can't remember all of her good advice but I do remember this.

I remember the key was to start with these four (I think there was a fifth) aspects of your life.

Financial

Physical

Spiritual

Familial

?

(This list is totally not comprehensive)

Then think a one or two goals for each area. This was good for me because I tend to focus on only one aspect of my life at a time and thats just boring and overwhelming. For financial I wrote down our new grocery limit and eating out limit and our summer savings goal. For Spiritual I wrote reading scriptures before noon. And it goes on... The cool thing was that after I wrote all these down I realized that most of my goals were very achievable and I'm pumped!!

Then I wrote down these same goals but organized them into groups of daily, weekly, and monthly goals. That helped me see the short term and more focused goals and then see what I hope to achieve by doing these daily goals by the end of the month or summer.

Any way that's a little about me, and how I work. If you have any goal advice or any really good goals you have set for this season let me know! Oh and I also need good book advice. Give me your two most favorite books. C'mon people I know you're reading my blog so comment for once!!!

Luvs

The Royal Wedding and My Royal Wedding

I think she is so beautiful!! And I love watching all of clips from the Royal Wedding. I really hope that they are happy and really appreciate being married. Being married is the best!!

They're so cute

And today marks eleven months since me and my man tied the knot:) Love him

Have any of you ever heard of or participated in Bountiful Baskets Food co-op? It seems so cool! You pay $15 and get a huge basket full of yummy and local fruits and veggies. I'm going to sign up for this Saturday's pick up and see how it goes. As of right now I don't really know how to use vegetables that effectively in my cookies but I figure if I just jump into it the worst thing that could happen is that I eat a bunch of healthy food... Check it out!

Happy Monday!!

A Summer Lull

So BYU gets out a bit earlier than most colleges. We've been out for almost two weeks now, and already I'm feeling the boredom of summer set in. I've really enjoyed this past week though because Zach and I got to spend a ton of time together and we watched a few of movies as well. Here's the list and the ratings.

I really liked Alice in Wonderland. I was excited for it when it came out last year but no one really had anything good to say about it so I put off seeing it, but I really liked this new version of it. It's really not as weird as you might expect it to be not anything like Charlie and the Chocolate factory or Edward Scissorhands... I might even watch this one again sometime.

As for How Do You Know... Really really bad! Really bad. Which was a shame because I really like all of the actors in it. But seriously me and Zach were both just waiting and waiting for the whole two hours of this movie for something to happen. Ya there were a few laughs but nothing else. Don't waste your time with this one.

So, of course after watching such a disappointing movie, we had to turn something on that we hoped would satisfy our cinema needs. I know Easy A looks a little sketchy, but it was really funny, and was a cute take on high school life and how stupid it really can be. Plus the main character Emma Stone is a fun actress to watch.

One of my favorite movies of the whole week was Young Victoria. I guess I was just in the mood for this one, plus I love period movies. But it was cute and a true story and romantic and dramatic. I loved the whole thing. And again the leading lady Emily Blunt just one me over with her role as the Queen. Oh! And half of the movie is in Kensington Palace where Victoria grew up. And when I was in London I got to visit the palace myself. It's beautiful.

I just had to watch 2012 because I'm really fascinated with natural disasters and special effects depicting them and everyone kept saying how bad this movie was so I wanted to see for sure. It was pretty bad I guess, but I'm easily entertained. It was too long.

Last night we had a dollar theater DOUBLE FEATURE night where we saw The Adjustment Bureau AND Justin Bieber NEVER SAY NEVER ($6.50 total)!!! We really liked both of them. And if you're hating on Justin Bieber you should really watch this movie it was so cool and so interesting to see this kid sell out Madison Square Garden within a year of getting big and within 22 minutes once the tickets went online. He's a talented and lucky kid.

So ya, the point is, this week I'm going to get more productive and do some more crafty stuff, plus work some more hours, and maybe even exercise...

Maybe you can check out some of these movies and tell me what you think. :)

AAAAAAAAnd check out my families E3 video blog to check out the fun things they're doing in Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Jamaica (without me).