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!

Navy

I love navy. It's a classic color that goes with almost any other color.  I love wearing navy and using it in decor and as an accent color.  The main color in my living room (other than the walls and couch) is navy blue and a few of my essential clothing pieces are navy.  Do you love using navy or have a navy piece that you love?  Here are a few beautiful navy pieces I swoon over.

Navy in a living room.. loving everything about this room! via

JCrew Navy Blazer via

Navy Lilly Pulitzer Dress via

Navy in the dining room via

Clutch by Fossil via

Anthro Navy Stripes Sweater via

Navy Table Setting via

Happy Sunday!

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful weekend!  I always love Sundays because they are usually relaxing.

The husband and I got a lot done this week.  We painted the new guest bedroom, cleaned house, got a new project started (pics soon), spent some time with friends and family, and of course took time to relax.

Happy Sunday!

My kind of relaxing, via

Independence Day

                                            

                                                         via pinterest

via pinterest

via pinterest

via pinterest

Happy July 4th!  I hope that everyone has a safe and fun holiday!  Remembering those who fought and continue to fight for our freedom and safety!

My husband and I have the day off work today and the rest of the week "work" free as well.  After celebrating today, we intend to paint our guest bedroom upstairs (which is actually the master), get a few things set up in there, work on our dining chairs some more, and of course relax!

New Recipe- Stacked Sweet Corn, Bean and Beef Casserole

I picked up the latest Better Homes and Garden Magazine (May 2011) a couple of weeks ago and came across a picture of a recipe that looked sooo good.  The recipe is featured in an article about the Mexican food creations of Joanne Weir.  It was fairly simple to make and made a ton of food.  The recipe is listed below as directed in the magazine along with my thoughts and take on it.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 ears of fresh corn (we used a large can of corn)

8 oz ground beef

7 oz uncooked chorizo sausage (which we left out)

15 oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

tbsp olive oil

small yellow onion

large yellow sweet pepper (our grocery store was out of yellow so we used a red pepper)

2 cloves of garlic

3/4 cup green salsa

tbsp chili powder

2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

4 flour tortillas (8-9")

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese

sour cream

tomatoes and cilantro for garnishing

Cooking directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 375

Step 2: In a large skillet cook the beef and sausage, drain fat if needed.  Add the pinto beans to the beef and heat through.  Cover and set aside to keep warm.

Step 3: Chop the onion, pepper and garlic.  In another large skillet, heat olive oil and add the chopped veggies.  Add the corn, green salsa, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and cumin.  Stir mixture and the recipe says to heat for about 5 mins.  

Step 4: Spray a pan (we used round pizza pans) with cooking spray.  Lay one tortilla flat on each pan.  Top each with the meat and bean mixture.  We used about 1/2 cup of the cheese for topping this layer.  After adding the cheese, top each with another tortilla.  Top this layer with the veggie mixture and then add another 1/2 cup or so of cheese (or however much you like).  Top off this final layer with another tortilla.  

Step 5:  Cover both tortilla stacks with foil and bake for 10 minutes.  Uncover then sprinkle with 1/4 cup of cheese.  Bake for 10 more minutes (ours took less than 10 to melt).  Take out of the oven and let stand 10 minutes.  Top with sour cream, tomatoes, cilantro and anything else your heart desires.  

Here's how ours turned out:

This is just one of them! Makes a ton of food!

Look how thick it is!

Plated with a side of Mexican rice.  

Busy busy!

Sorry I've been a long-lost blogger recently.  Things have been really busy the past couple of weeks with work, mother's day, birthdays, family time, stuff with friends, errands, etc, etc, plus I haven't been feeling that great the past few days.  Anyhow, please excuse my blog for a little while.  I'm going to be updating the look of my blog and playing around with some settings so if it looks a little crazy looking, I apologize ahead of time! I do have a few things I want to share soon that I hope readers will enjoy (more ideas, recipes, etc)! Happy Tuesday!