Life's Tidbits

Last week I was totally craving homemade mac & cheese.  I am not really sure what triggered the need for this dish given I haven’t had it in ages.  In any event mac & cheese was going to happen in my belly!  This super cheese homemade mac & cheese is a serious comfort food dish.  According to the husband and a friend who joined us for dinner they said this mac & cheese recipe is a winner!  Just looking at the picture makes me want to eat some.  YUMMY!!

Get the recipe here.

It was just a few short weeks after moving into our new condo that I fell in love with efla storage.  If you remember we expanded the pantry by installing some baskets on the back of the door.  We had been toying with the idea of doing something similar on the back of the laundry closet door, but just haven’t gotten around to it.  The dryer sheets, Shout and detergent just sit on the floor in front of the washer/dryer units or the AC unit, which share a closet.  I’m in no way saying bending over to pick up the items needed is beyond my physical capability, but honestly it’s just annoying to have them down there.

On Sunday we made a trip to the Container Store and LUCKY for us there is a sale on elfa products going on!  It was all the justification we needed to purchase storage for the laundry closet.  One of the sales reps was kind enough to walk around with us and make a number of suggestions.  Unfortunately many of the products just wouldn’t work for us … our laundry area isn’t big enough.  We are fortunate to live in the city and have a w/d in the unit!

Check out the full blog post here.

I’ve recently become somewhat obsessed with making truffles. Right before Easter my friend came over to hang out and was interested in learning how to make truffles.  I had been dying to try out this new truffle recipe and decided it was the perfect time.  I told her we had to document the process as this was a recipe I had been planning to blog about.  So …. we collected all the ingredients, got the camera ready and the truffle making began!

Here we go … it’s truffle yummilious time!!

Get the recipe and full blog post here.

Who’s the most excited of them all?!  Oh that would most definitely be me.  As I’ve shared we’ve been doing some decor updating in the living/dining room as well as the hallway.  I’m not sure if I should qualify this area by the front door as the hallway or the living room, but either way we have a new mirror on the wall! When we first move into our condo the electrical box was kind of sticking out like a sore thumb.  The dark gray contrast on the painters grade white paint was like BAM as soon as you walked in.  

The plan was to find a painting or a mirror at some point to cover the box, however in the mean time we needed to make it less noticeable.  So while we were painting the living room and hallway the electrical box was also painted over.

View full post here

Before:

Antique Rose - The husband was kind enough to send me roses for my birthday and boy were they pretty!!  I decided to break out the camera and get a couple of shots of them.  Roses may die, but a photo will capture their beauty forever.  After taking the picture I was playing around in PhotoShop and with a few tweaks I ended up with, what to me, looks kind of like an antique rose.

Geese in Black and White -  A couple weeks ago I shared the geese picture.  After seeing the blog post my friend suggested I turn the picture black and white as well a crop it a little.  So that’s exactly what I did and let me just say I pretty much LOVE  how it looks as a black and white.  It’s funny how make a photo black and white can make such a big difference in the overall composition.

Little Tiny Foot - Babies are just all around adorable … not to mention they some how manage to capture your heart without even trying.   Can you tell I’ve been spending time around an infant??!  My friend recently gave birth to her beautiful baby boy (remember the “Little Man” baby shower?) and needless to say I’ve been visiting her and the little man quite often. :)  Last week we did a little photo shoot and I adore this shot of his itty bitty foot.  It is crazy to me how teeny tiny baby feet are!!!

I was rereading the about page for Life’s Tidbits the other day and started thinking about ways to share more random tidbits.  Specifically I was focused on “life is a compilation of the small things, tidbits…”.  So here goes nothing.  Below is a collection of some very random tidbits from the past week or so …

Check out the 10 tidbits from this week!!!!

I’ve been on a bit of a buying binge.  For the most part they been pretty “small” thing, but they make SUCH a difference around the house.  The new tidbits are great additions to the condo decor and only make me want to buy more details for the house.  The husband has been joking that he might have to take the credit card away if I keep this up LOL.  All joking aside he has completely agreed with all my most recent purchases.

The library table (as the husband calls it) from his bachelor days is definitely on its last leg.  This side table has held up well and successfully made it through three or four moves.  The table has a number of sharpie pen “paint touch ups” and kind of rocks if you even slightly touch it.

Check out the full post here.

Although I love the glass shower in the master bathroom we noticed very quickly after moving in that it leaks … A LOT.  You couldn’t tell while you were showering, but when you picked up the bathmat there was water underneath.  It was a little annoying, but honestly it was more than that … it was frustrating.  We tried pointing the shower head towards the wall however that didn’t really help.  Plus who wants to shower so they are shielding the water from the door with their body!?!?!

Check out the full post here!

It is no surprise our guest bathroom is the first to be completed.  It was the first room we painted, purchased an accessory for and probably the smallest “area” within the house.  Before we moved into the condo my mother took me shopping at Home Goods for the VERY FIRST time ever!  Can I just say I love that store?!  I purchased a little vase and fake flower arrangement I thought would be perfect for the back of the toilet seat.  It was the first accessory for our new place and a first for the bathroom as well.  The bathroom came together slowly, but when we hung the final picture behind the toilet and the guest bathroom project was officially a wrap.

Check out the full post here.

Geese - A couple weeks ago I shared a picture of the Washington Monument.  As I was reviewing the pictures from that day I realized there was one more shot from the day to share.  I love how the wings are fully extended for just one of the geese and the rest are just kind of chillin’. =)

Pillars in DC -  A shot near the Arlington Memorial Bridge

Gravel Road in Kansas City, MO - Some of my favorite pictures are taken when visiting the in-laws in Kansas City.  There is so much wide open space and the sun light is phenomenal.

A Bride and Her Bridesmaids - I’ve spent the past few weeks sharing my photos, but this week I wanted to change things up a bit.  Soooooo this week’s photo Friday was taken by Sara from Photos from the Harty!  Sara is not only a great friend, but she’s an amazing photographer!  Without further-a-do here’s a little note from Sara about her photo …

We’ve been doing quite a bit of decorating to the living room and hallway over the last few months.  I’m really excited about all the new little details.  Originally the husband and I had planned on hanging the picture below from Mexico in our master bedroom.  When we ended up going with the red accent wall instead of the gray one the picture no longer would do in the bedroom.  Since we still loved the memories of the trips we’ve taken to Ixtapa and the picture itself I was confident we would find a place for it eventually.

Check out the full blog post here.

It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time to share another Tasty Tuesday recipe!  Ever since I ate a sugar cookie at Potbelly’s I’ve been on the look out for a killer homemade sugar cookie recipe.  Have you ever had a Potbelly sugar cookie?  They are A-MAZING! You should seriously try one.  It is a little crunchy on the outside and complete heaven in the middle.  Yes, I know, I am completely obsessed.

During my quest to replicate this recipe I found a post on HWTM blog that resulted in a pretty good cookie.  In all honesty though it didn’t rival the Potbelly cookie, so the search continued.  

Check out the sugar cookie recipe here.

After getting the DIY baby shower invites out the next thing to tackle was the menu and the decorations.  The mom-to-be and I have always joked that she is never lacking black and white outfits.  I figured a black and white color scheme would be perfect and wouldn’t you know it my friend wore a black and white outfit to her shower without even knowing the color scheme!!!  I guess I know my friend pretty well. =)

The brunch menu came together quickly.  Although there was definitely too many sweets in the end with a good amount of left over, but who doesn’t like left over Oreo truffles?!?!  I was pretty pleased with the variety of options for the brunch.  Everyone came hungry so there wasn’t a crazy amount of left overs.

Check out the details of the baby shower.

With chocolate mustaches as the baby shower favor completed all I needed was to make the favor tags.  I ordered card stock to print the tags on and started designing them in PhotoShop.  I wanted the design of the tags to be similar to the custom invitations I made so the “paper products” would mesh.

Read the whole blog post here.

Here’s the final product:

A while back I found this blog post about chocolate mustaches.  I had been wanting to make them for a while.  After purchasing the chocolate molds on Amazon along with the lollipop sticks they sat in my cuboid waiting to be used.  I considered making some for a friend’s bachelorette weekend, but ending up making a cake instead.

Then one of my besties got pregnant AND she found out she was having a BOY!!! Finally, I offered to through her a baby shower and after a bit of research decided to do a “little man” themed shower.  Check out the DIY invitationsfor the baby shower.  FINALLY these mustache molds were going to come in handy!

I considered making the mustache chocolates as cupcake toppers, but decided they would be perfection as a thank you gift for the guests.  I bought the chocolate molds and lollipop sticks on Amazon.com, however I also found molds at Michael’s made by Wilton.

Here are the directions on how to create these adorable lollipops.

Great Falls, VA - Each time we go to New York to visit my husband’s sister and her husband or when they come to visit us we do a little day trip someplace.  It’s really fun and this summer when they came for a visit I had a specific day trip already planned before they even arrived!  We packed a picnic lunch and headed to Great Falls Virginia for the day.

Washington Monument - Despite living in the District of Columbia I often forget to take advantage of all the touristy things there are to do.  One afternoon the husband and I went to see the Korean War Memorial.  As we were walking towards our final destination I snapped the photo below.  I didn’t even realize how the white puffy clouds seemed to pop in the beautifully blue the sky!  It’s funny how sometimes a picture can highlight details that I didn’t notice/appreciate in person.

The Arts of War sculptures - This was taken on a warm summer day when the husband and I walked across the Arlington Memorial Bridge.  I had no idea what these statues were called, however Wiki tells me they are The Arts of War sculptures.  Did you know what they were called?  If not, then it is not only Photo Friday, but Fun Fact Friday too!

View full post here.

My friend Kia threw her son a first birthday party a few weeks back.  The party was decked out with all sorts of details and DIY projects.  As co-owner of Baker’s Bliss she also made all her own cupcakes for the party!  Party details as told by Kia…

For my son’s 1st Birthday I wanted to do something different and something fun.  Hopefully, along the lines of cost effective as well.  I looked through a variety of themes of things to do and most of them felt too kiddy.  As every parent knows the first birthday party is more for the adults than the kids and so I wanted a fun theme that all ages could enjoy.   I searched the internet high and low and ultimately fell in love with the posts I had seen from different moms who had decided on the “one year in a flash” theme.

I have a little bit of an obsession with Food Network.  If there isn’t a show recorded on DVR that I want to watch, Food Network is my next go-to channel, followed by HGTV.  Food and home improvement … you can clearly see where my passions lie.  One day while blogging and watching Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten was cooking her “Perfect Roast Chicken”.  I quickly made a mental note that I must make this dish.  An opportunity quickly presented itself and I adapted the recipe just a little.  This dish is well … absolutely DELISH!!!

View the full blog post here.

Right around the time of Super Storm Sandy the husband and I hung three photos in our hallway.  The other weekend my friend and I took a trip to Michael’s to purchase stuff for my friend’s baby shower I am throwing in February (more on that in the next couple of weeks).  When we were there we did a little extra curricular shopping as well!  It’s hard to go to Michael’s and only buy things that were on the list.  That place has so much fun stuff it’s crazy.

I love the look of “floating” photo frames and with the 40% holiday sale in full swing at Michael’s the justifications of purchasing them was complete!!  I picked out two 5 x 7 and one 11 x 15 frame.  I guessed on what sizes would look nice as add on(s) to the hallways photo gallery.  The husband and I hadn’t even really talked about what other pictures we might add to the wall.  Either way I figured three was a good a number.

Check out the full post here.

Happy New Year!  Can you believe it’s 2013?!?!  Last night we hosted a New Years Eve pot luck dinner with some friends.  It was a great way to welcome 2013.

I’ve never been one for making new years resolutions mainly because I can’t seem to keep them.  Instead I used to keep a list of things to do or places to go, never really managing to stick to that list either.  Every once in a while I succeed a keeping a new years resolution, like passing the PMP exam last year, but 9 times out of 10 I’m an utter failure.  Despite my affinity for skipping the new year list of resolutions  I decided to give it one last try this year.  Maybe with the list out there in the world wide web I will feel more accountable and actually follow through.

I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew so hopefully this list isn’t too lofty a list.  Check out my new years resolutions here.

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