August Goals

1. Fix dining room table.  We need to add in a bit of wood to finish it off and do a little reinforcing.

2. Paint dining room table.  We discovered that the paint we used on the new TV console matches the hutch, so we are going to use that on the table (and maybe the "bar" as well).

3. Recover dining room chairs. Ideally using the same fabric we used on our last set of chairs.  Here's to hoping it works!

4. Get budget back on track.  Cash has been taken out which is a step ahead of the last few months.  Our trip to Montana might throw this off a bit, but hoping we can get this under control again.

5. Start additional retirement savings.  We are hoping to start an IRA with a few hundred dollars every month.  Hopefully getting our budget under control again will help with this!

July Goal Update

Sorry this is late.  I was fully intending to post last Friday from the road, but T-Mobile would not allow that (no service).  We are back in town and I am hoping to make up for lost time in the next few days.

1. Celebrate Josh's birthday in style- Patio mojitos and dinner, lazy weekend, check!
2. Repaint the dresser in the guest bedroom-Check
3. Finally get toilet paper holders in the bathroom- Check
4. Make and hang towel holders for the bathrooms- Check
5. Hang our chalk board- Check
6. Organize the garage- We meant to do this, and then a friend came into town, we went to our city's annual celebration, and first row to a Twins game... so, another time?
7. Recover our dining room chairs- Decided to wait until we fix and paint the table and chairs first

PB2 and Cookie Dough Greek Yougrt

Have you heard of PB2?  I feel like I have been hearing about it forever.  I finally took the plunge a while back and picked some up at Target, and I don't regret it.  We usually buy a large tub of plain, nonfat Greek yogurt.  It is a great substitute for anything that would need sour cream.  It also makes a killer cucumber salad... So obviously, I went to Pinterest to find inspiration for Greek yogurt and PB2.

A little beach time this weekend

1 cup of Greek yogurt
Splash of vanilla
1 tablespoon PB2
about 1 teaspoon chocolate chips
about 1 teaspoon sweetener (I have tried honey and brown sugar)

Just stir everything up.  I don't personally love the taste of honey, but with brown sugar (you can use less sweetener when you use this, in my opinion) this tastes like a delicious peanut butter, chocolate chip cookie! Yum :)

House Update: Main Level Bathroom

If there is one thing I have learned since moving into our house, it's that you never feel like a room (or the whole house) is done.  I feel like I was waiting until rooms were "done" to post updates on them, but have realized that it may never happen. So here goes nothing and the start of a "series."  First up, main level bathroom.  Forgive the phone pictures and terrible lighting, but I knew if I thought about it too much it may never happen.

Cute jars I found at Marshall's.  One is holding soap and the other is toiletries for guests.

Such a spa: Towels rolled in a basket

New towel hook we made

The other towel hook we made.  This one has three hooks.

Whole bathroom.  Cameo by our new toilet paper holder.

Fun fact, we didn't have any blinds when we first moved in.  Our first "project" was buying and installing them.  Of course, none of our windows were "standard" sizes, so custom blinds it was.  It's always the simple things that are outrageously expensive!  It took about 3 months and 2 MAJOR sales at JC Penney before we had all of them good to go!  We went with a 2" white, faux-wood.  We decided on faux-wood because we heard it lasts longer and we liked the wood-grain look that (surprisingly) the white real wood did not have.  Weird!

Future plans for this room involve a little more decoration and removing the shelving unit behind the toilet and replacing it with something a little classier.

So there you have it, room number one!  I think next up will be our guest bedroom.

Fab Friday
5. Super productive Sundays- I got SO MUCH done last Sunday
4. Recovering from illness just in time for the weekend
3. Getting some in progress projects finally finished
2. Towel hooks in the bathrooms
1. Half day Fridays when Josh and I are both home

July Goals

I'm a goal type of gal.  I have been recording them for myself for a while.  A few years ago, I posted them online for the whole year, but found that was too overwhelming.  I recently read a blog where the author posts goals for the month.  More reasonable?  Let's try it, even though for July it's kind of cheating since the month is almost done.

1. Celebrate Josh's birthday in style
2. Repaint the dresser in the guest bedroom
3. Finally get toilet paper holders in the bathroom
4. Make and hang towel holders for the bathrooms
5. Hang out chalk board
6. Organize the garage
7. Recover our dining room chairs

The good news is that you won't have to wait long to get an update :)

Mmmm, Mmmm, Mojitos

When Josh and I were planning our garden this spring, we decided that we wanted to try mint so we could make our own mojitos.  We didn't have a tried and true recipe, or even a rum to use, but we love mojitos.  Finally our mint was ready for harvest, just in time for Josh's birthday!  Commence research mode!  Ok, so I really just googled "Best rum for mojitos."  First result?  This article.  We also decided to stick with the recipe they listed so we would get great results.

-Mint leaves (approximately 8 depending on size and your taste)
-1/2 oz.simple syrup
-2 oz. white rum
-3/4 oz. lime juice (about one lime, and fresh lime is definitely better)
-Lots of ice
-Club soda

To make the simple syrup boil a one to one ratio of water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.  Let it cool as much as you can stand before using it.  Put the mint in a regular glass.  Add the simple syrup and muddle the mint leaves (I used the handle side of our wisk, because I'm legit like that).  Add the lime juice.  Fill the glass with ice.  Pour the rum over the ice and top off the glass with club soda (we just made our own plain, fizzy water with the soda stream.  Stir and enjoy, preferably on a patio in a lounge chair.

As for rum, our liquor store did not have Brugal (voted "best in show") but they did have the second place Don Q Cristal ("Highly recommended/ great value").  It was about $12 for a liter.  Great value and delicious.  We went through the whole liter that weekend (with a little help from friends) and had to go buy a new one (which we sadly have not opened yet).  Please make these, you will not regret it!

Lazy Fab Friday

5. Only 3 weeks in, but sticking to the Couch to 5k program

4. Homemade mojitos (I will post the SUPER simple recipe soon)

3. A deeply-cleaned house.  Too bad it only lasts about 4 hours!

2. All-Star Fan Fest.  Kind of boring, but it was cool to be a (small) part of the All-Star festivities.

 1. Absolutely one of the best weekends we have had just hanging out at home for Josh's birthday