Monday

Motivation and Inspiration Week

This is another very busy but what should be a good month.   It's always good to have a little motivation and inspiration to get through the busy times!  Have a wonderful week!

Sunday

It's a rainy, gloomy day here in Raleigh.  I will be spending my evening cooking and relaxing.  The rest of my weekend will consist of cleaning, more relaxing, and hopefully reorganizing my now unorganized master walk-in.  Here are some inspirational pictures to help the process.  Aren't these closets great? Have a wonderful weekend!

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Fab Foods

I've been cooking a lot more the past week or two now that life has slowed down some.  I haven't made a meatloaf in forever but Friday night I cooked one and used a Paula Deen recipe for the sauce on top, along with some cheddar biscuits and my husband made baked potatoes with ranch sour cream.  We've also made turkey enchiladas, chicken and rice, pizza mac and cheese, veggie nachos with homemade cheese sauce, and I can't even remember what else.  I have also been on a sugar kick and made a couple of new desserts. This week, I'm trying some new recipes that I found while browsing Pinterest.  

Jalapeno popper grilled cheese.  I plan to make these with tomato soup.

via Pinterest

Bean salad.  I made this tonight and ate it with soft taco shells and light sour cream.  This was an awesome recipe that I highly recommend!

via Pinterest

Mini pizzas.  I bought all of the toppings that this calls for because I like them all and plan to make it exactly as it is.  I did have to buy a new muffin pan to make these because my old one got too worn!

via Pinterest

Have you cooked anything new or exciting lately? If so, please share! I would love to try some more new recipes.

Goodbye August, Hello September, Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

I think August was one of the busiest months that I have ever had.  We celebrated birthdays, a wedding, had two football draft parties that we hosted, painted our kitchen and staircase, a few other house projects, started a new school year, and attended more get-togethers as well!  September will be a slower month with a couple of NC State football games planned, a tentative yard sale and I'm hoping for maybe a day trip to the beach since we didn't get to go all summer.  There are other things that I want to get done this month and that I'm inspired to do as well, especially with the cooler weather on the way.  What are you inspired to do/get done during this month?

I love soups and chilies.  Thinking of making this one cool night.

 When it was hot as an oven outside I didn't do much exercising or spending time outside.  Now that hopefully it will get cooler this month, I will start again.

 Love this inspiration fall look, so chic!

Inspiration to get working on our dining room chairs some more!

And the hunt is on...

for a new dining chandelier!  So the chandelier in our dining area now is not dreadful and it works just fine, but it is very basic and looks like all of the other chandeliers in new homes nowadays.  I want something unique and unexpected but that also won't be out of place.  Anyhow, I've been looking and looking for what seems like months now, mainly to get ideas but I am wanting to make the purchase soon since we've already been in our home for 2.5 years!  Here are some of the styles I've considered at some point:

White Coral Chandlier

Iron Chandelier but without the shades

This style chandelier but with a gilded finish though, not pink

Drum style with an overlay of designed metal

As you can see, each style is extremely different from the other.  Right now, I'm leaning towards the iron chandelier and it's also budget friendly!  Anyhow, we shall see what ends up above our table!  Which one do you like best?  Below is a picture of our current chandelier in our dining space.  It looks onto our kitchen in the background (which usually has decor on the walls but we took it all down and painted recently).  Hopefully we'll be getting our "new" dining chairs finished soon too!  All that's left is to sand, stain and upholster! whew!

Happy August!

I can't believe August is here already.  Where is this summer and year going?!  This will be a very busy month but it should be a good one.  We have a wedding, parties, starting back the school year, and a few other fun things planned too!  Hope it is a great one for everyone and enjoy the rest of your summer!