October 12 Things :)

I think every time I write a blog post I get into the mind set that I am going to try to be more consistent with blogging...here we are again. I really do love blogging because it gives me somewhere to be creative (other than home decor). I'm currently staying at my parents house for a couple of nights because I haven't seen them in over two weeks and they are about to go out of town on a trip! While my mom is passed out on the couch and my dad is watching the Cubs game, I've been sitting here on my computer catching up on all of my favorite blogs. Two of my favorite bloggers, Amber Fillerup (http://www.barefootblonde.com/) and Aspyn Ovard (http://aspynovard.com/), have done a post called "12 Things" and you literally just write about 12 random things! I always love reading their posts so I wanted to do one of my own!

1. The weather this week has been PERFECT. Fall weather is easily my favorite; I love being able to wear leggings and a sweater.

2. Austin and I are going to St. Louis next Friday for my birthday/Halloween/to visit Hannah and John...I'm so excited! I feel like we haven't seen them in forever. And for some reason I'm super excited to dress up for Halloween, with my birthday being a couple days before Halloween I usually don't care for it too much but Austin and I have never dressed up (were being Forrest Gump and Jenny), so it should be super fun.

3. Travel fever has been a real thing lately. I am just ready to pack my bags, go to the airport and fly anywhere.

4. I got to see my little brother for the first time in several weeks tonight. He's already becoming so much more mature since starting college.

5. I get to see my sister on Friday which I am super excited about. We always go on super long walks and talk about everything, it's one of my favorite things to do.

6. How am I going to be 22 in 9 days?

7. This last semester my college plans had a little bit of a set back which was disappointing because I always thought I would be one of those people who was in and out of college in 4 years but here I am on year 4 and still have 2 more to go.

8. I was going through pictures on my phone today and realized that I really need to start taking more pictures.

9. I created the fall bucket list photo at the top of this post to put in a frame in my kitchen! If anyone wants a PDF copy to print for yourself just let me know :)

10. I definitely fell out of my fitness routine when I moved out over a year ago and am having SUCH A HARD TIME getting back into it and it sucks.

11. I really want to start creating more videos similar to my travel and wedding videos but I just don't know what to make them about (check out my youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNaGI0XAuJSGdur6YhJrohw?view_as=subscriber)

12. I got to Facetime with Ash today and it made my day :)

Thanks for reading! 

Kitchen Renovation

Well, 10 months after buying our first house....OUR KITCHEN IS FINALLY DONE!! This is the first room in our house that is completely done and we could not be more happy with how it turned out. Not even going to lie, Austin did 99% of the work in the kitchen; my help came more from picking out decor and helping make the decisions. He did an amazing job with everything, I'm so obsessed. Apologizing in advance for the long post!

The first time we looked at the kitchen in this house our brains immediately starting coming up with ideas of everything we wanted to do to it. First things first, we knew we needed to move some things around. The fridge was tucked in the corner by the garage door and covered part of the door, so we decided to move the stove and microwave over to the other wall of the kitchen and move the fridge to the middle of the wall that it was already on (moving the gas line was luckily all we had to hire someone to do, Austin was able to do everything else). With moving the appliances, we had to move/replace a couple of cabinets. Next came painting all of the cabinets white and replacing all of the hardware. 

Since Austin works at a granite shop there was no doubt that we were going to be getting new counter tops. We actually spent a day in Schaumburg at the granite distributors that work with Austin's work to find the perfect slabs for our house. I had in my mind what I wanted, which was more of a standard granite that is in a lot of homes, darker gray and black tones. Austin had white in mind and wanted something unique. I didn't know if I liked the idea of white counters and white cabinets but at the end of the day I let Austin decide and it's absolutely perfect.

There originally was no back splash in the kitchen, so we decided to stick to a simple design and did white subway tile with black grout. We also got rid of the peel and stick tile that was in the kitchen and replaced it with tile that looks like gray hardwood. The last major change we did was the light fixtures. Putting in can lights opened up the room a lot. The last home owners also had a small eating area that had a hanging light fixture and since we knew we just wanted to extend the breakfast bar for seating, we removed that light and added two over the bar instead.

Another small addition that was made was this open shelf, which I think is my favorite part of the kitchen. We placed it over where we keep our Keurig and I'm so excited to have a place to display my flea market coffee and tea jar finds!

Here are some before and afters :) the before photos are the ones from the original house listing, so the quality is a little rough but I forgot to get good ones before we started destroying the place!

Four Days of City Living in Boston, Ma

Hello everyone! I cannot believe it's already July. I remember when I booked this trip we had like a month to wait, now we have already been home for over two weeks and I have no idea where the time went! Austin and I wanted to do a few fun things this summer before I start nursing school full time in the fall, and a short getaway to Boston seemed like a good idea!

We flew to Boston early Wednesday morning and checked into our Air BnB! We stayed at two different apartments while in the city. The first one was in East Boston and was a short 10 minute walk to the subway station then about another 10 minute ride into the city. We had the whole apartment in an older house that was converted into three apartments. The owner of the Air BnB actually lived in the upstairs apartment which was super cool and she stopped by one night to introduce herself and say hello. The apartment was super clean and the perfect size for us to be there for a few days. This was our first time staying in an Air BnB and it was so nice! I feel like staying in an apartment rather than a hotel gave us a better feeling of what it would be like to actually live somewhere different. The second apartment we stayed at was one subway stop closer to actual downtown Boston. We only stayed in this one for a night because we decided to stay longer and I couldn't book our other apartment for another night. At this apartment we only had a bedroom and had to share the kitchen and bathroom with the other guests and the owner. I don't think we would stay in this kind again, it was a little weird but fine for just a night. At the end of this blog post I'm going to link both of the apartments that we stayed in along with a coupon code to get some money off of your stay at any Air BnB!

During the 4 days we spent in Boston, we walked around....A LOT. We basically wanted to see as much of the city as we could with our time there. It blew my mind how Boston feels like a big city but literally you can walk from one side to another in under an hour walk. We would take the subway into the city to Government Center and then end up walking to Beacon Hill in no time.

Our first day we ended up walking more of the city than we thought we would but we kind of got a feel for where everything was which was nice. Austin is super good at remembering where things are and figuring out his way around cities, so after the first day he pretty much got us around everywhere.

On the second day we started the day with a Duck Tour. This was my 3rd time doing a duck tour (I've done one in Wisconsin Dells and Seattle) and as cheesy looking as they are, they are one of my favorite tours. The Ducks are a great way to see a city that has water because you get to do some of the tour on land and then some in the water. Our tour guide was awesome and made the tour super interesting. Since the tour ended down by the Boston Common, we walked around there and went to Beacon Hill. Beacon Hill is the cutest area! It is picture perfect red brick buildings, I'm obsessed. If we ever go to Boston again we would definitely get an Air BnB in this area. There were a bunch of shops and restaurants in the area as well. 

 Boston Common

 Beacon Hill

Acorn Street, Beacon Hill

Day three was spent walking the Freedom Trail. Super touresty but it's a good way to see a lot of the city, especially the parts with historical importance. I think it was about 2.5 miles and it started in the Boston Common and ended at Bunker Hill. You can pay to follow a tour guide on the trail, which I feel like would be super interesting if you're big into history but Austin and I are not (it was still super cool to see everything though). Along the trail there are museums and houses that I'm pretty sure you get to go into if you're on  a guided tour. After walking the trail we went to the Navy Shipyard which is where the USS Constitution ship is. Then we took a short ferry ride back over to the main land of the city.

Our last day was spent kind of just going back to places we wanted to see again (or where I wanted to take more pictures/video clips). One thing that we did everyday that we went was got ice cream from the Cookie Monstah food truck. It's a truck that does custom ice cream sandwiches or you can just get a cookie with ice cream (which is what we did) and it's literally the best! We also went to the Quincy Market area everyday. Aside from the actual market itself, there is always something going on outside. One night we saw a workout class going on outside and we sat and watched the Boston Piano Kid (check him out on YouTube he's such a talented 14 year old https://www.youtube.com/user/jazzpianokid).

If you're actually still reading this, thanks so much for reading this long post! Boston was such a cool city to visit and somewhere I've always wanted to go! Below are some of my favorite pictures from the trip! Also here is my Air BnB code if you want to save some money on your next trip! (and help me save some money on my next trip ;) www.airbnb.com/c/baileyl244 

Also, check out my short video that I made with a bunch of clips from Boston https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve9l6zqY4mQ

 Boston Public Library

Boston marathon finish line

  

CrockPot Chicken Tacos

Happy Taco Tuesday everyone! Today I decided to share one of mine and Austin's favorite recipes. We have this almost once a week, it's so good and easy! If you're a college student, someone who doesn't like to cook or someone with a busy schedule and you don't use a crock pot....what are you doing?! Since I've lived on my own my Crock Pot has been one of my favorite kitchen essentials. I love being able to pot everything in there in the morning and dinner already being done by the time I get home in the afternoon. My Crock Pot is nothing fancy, I think we got it for about $35 at Mejier (best $35 we've spent) and it's perfect. I want to say it's a 6-quart but I could be wrong. However it is the perfect size for two people but when you pick one out you obviously want to get whatever size fits your situation best!

I originally got this recipe from one of my favorite YouTubers, Becca Bristow, then tweaked it just a little. Hope you try it out and enjoy! 

First, I always start out with making a batch of homemade taco seasoning. I like to make mine simply because store bought seasoning usually contains a lot of unnecessary salt.

 For the taco seasoning you will need: 2 teaspoons of chili powder

                                                             1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

                                                             1/4 teaspoon of onion powder

                                                             1 teaspoon of cumin 

                                                             1/4 teaspoon of salt (couple of grinds)

For the Crock Pot, I always give mine a quick spray with olive oil (nonstick spray) to prevent anything from sticking. Then I add the chicken. I usually use about 1 1/2 pounds of chicken. Then you will also need a can of corn and a can of rotel...that's it! 

 First, put the chicken in. Then add the can of corn on top. I use about half of the liquid that is in the can to make sure the chicken doesn't dry out.

 Next, add the rotel. I always keep the lid on a little and drain as much as the liquid out as I can before I dump it in because you will see when they are finished that there is PLENTY of liquid to keep the chicken from drying out.

Finally, I pour my taco seasoning all over the top of everything. To cook the tacos set the Crock Pot on high for 6 hours. A feature of this Crock Pot that I love is the warming feature. After the 6 hours is up it automatically turns to warm, so that the meat doesn't get over cooked. 

Once were ready for dinner I use some tongs or a fork to break up the chicken and mix everything up. As you can kind of tell in the photo there is a lot of liquid left over. I'm trying to figure out how to eliminate that without drying out the chicken but Austin and I have just gotten used to it. 

I love tacos because they are so customizable. Austin loves to put sour cream, salsa and cheese on his, while I load mine with cilantro, cheese and lime juice! Sometimes we like to make some kind of rice to put on them as well which is super tasty!

    Hope you all enjoy this recipe! :)                                                      

Freezer Friendly Baked Penne For Two

Hi everyone! I feel like every time I get on here to post it's been forever since the last post. Austin and I have just been insanely busy working on the house! Our kitchen is about done but now that the weather is warming up outside we have started to tackle the yard. Since we moved, I've been really getting into having meals ready in the freezer that we can just thaw out the night before, throw in the oven and be ready to go. This is probably one of my favorites to have! I can get all of the ingredients for about $10 and it makes three pans of pasta that are the perfect portion size for two people!

All you need is:

 a box of pasta (any shape/type you want)

marinara sauce

 Italian sausage

mozzarella cheese

these disposable loaf pans (standard size)

First, cook the pasta according to the directions.

While the pasta is cooking brown your meat in a separate saucepan. I prefer Italian sausage for this recipe but you could use regular ground beef and ground turkey! It would probably just require more seasoning on your part. 

Once the pasta and meat are both finished cooking, strain both to get any excess liquid out. Then mix your pasta and meat into the same pan.

To that pan you're going to add your marinara. 

The marinara that I used in this recipe is actually from Aldi and it is the cleanest, lowest in sugar that I can find at my grocery stores. Although it is high in sodium, once I find a better option I'll be switching to that! 

Once all of your ingredients are mixed together, divide it into 3 pans and top with some cheese. I bought the wrong pans of course this time, I usually like to get the ones that come with lids but these work I just had to top them with tin foil. On the lid I just like to write the cooking temp (350 degrees F) and cook time (20-30 minutes). I imagine these would stay in the freezer pretty well for a few weeks/months but we usually eat all three of ours within a month! :)

I hope all of you cooking for two or even one give this recipe a shot and enjoy!