NumberNineteen

Caught My Fancy -- March

Hi all!  It's Spring Break!  I'm having the best time hanging out with Hope, doing house projects and catching up on lots of things that I can't quite fit in during my normal weeks.  One of the things that I'm working on is the blog -- I've got lots of ideas rolling around in my head, I just need to get them down & published! 

This month I've spent a lot of time getting back on track and it shows in what has caught my fancy...

Light Cooking Sites -- After a pretty awful February that showed in my diet, I've really been working on eating right.  To make it easy on myself, I try to plan all of my meals around the recipes that I find on my favorite healthy cooking websites.  My very favorites are:

Skinny Taste

- I've been using Gina's recipes for years & they are the best!  When I tell Glenn that a meal is from her site, he knows that it will be good.Just a few of our favorites include:

Bangin Good Shrimp

Shepards Pie

Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas

Southwestern Black Bean Salad - I make this & roll it in a tortilla with shredded cheese -- soooo good.

Skinny Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Emily Bites

I love Emily's recipes, especially her comfort food.  I don't know how she figures it out, but she comes up with the most filling, delicious casseroles -- full of cheese & other goodies -- that are actually healthy!  Some of my favorites are:

Bubble Up Pizza Casserole - SOOOO good.  If you try one recipe,

make it this one.

Bubble Up Enchilada Casserole

Cheesy Taco Pasta

Laaloosh 

I haven't tried as many of her recipes as I have of the first two sites, but I have a lot pinned!  This one was my favorite so far:

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

Dashing Dish

This is a new one to me and is the only one that charges a fee for access.  For $5 a month, you get access to all of the recipes on the site (there are a few that are free to everyone) and are able save favorites under your account.  I'm still exploring the site, but this one recipe has made the $5 worth it:

  Thai Crunch Chicken Salad - I ate this twice a week, every week for over a month!

Super Easy Yoga Stretches - I have finally found a very easy yoga routine that focuses on stretching, relaxation & sun salutations.  If you are a super beginner (like me), are looking for stretching and flexibility rather than a hard workout, this is a great video by Forever Fit.

 

Bonus: The instructor has an adorable Australian accent that I love listening to.

Cinderella - The new live action Cinderella movie is just wonderful.  Really, you need to see it.  You know how when you are in Disney World and you feel like you are living out a fairy tale?  That every detail is just how you imagined it would be?  That is this movie. 

 

The costumes!  The sets!  The scenery!  Every bit of it is just stunning.  I daresay that it may even be more enjoyable for grown ups and older children than the little ones.  Go see it.  Really.

It is finally turning into spring around here -- it's warmer, the sun is brighter and the buds are on the trees.  I hope that spring is coming to your corner of the world as well.

Traditional Design on a Dime

In my years of blogging, we have been in varying financial situations (I was working, I wasn't, I was in grad school, We are paying off grad school debts), but I've always found a way to make our home pretty.  It's one of my main hobbies, so that helps (the motivation is there!) but really, it has come down to lots of creativity.  There is a lot out there in the blogosphere about decorating on a dime, but I thought that I'd add my own perspective and hints on how create the home of your dreams when on a budget. My style is traditional/cottage with a healthy dose of vintage goodness, so that is what I seek when decorating our house. 

Post in the Series Will Be:

Wall Art -- Free Art!

Wall Art -- Plates, Trays and Other Non-Traditional Traditional Decor

Wall Art -- Personal Art

Wall Art -- Thinking Outside of the Box

Thrift Store Finds -- Finding the Treasures

Craigslist, Yard Sales & Online Yardsales

The Look for Less

DIY -- Furniture

DIY -- Decorative Accents

Curtains/Window Coverings

Bedrooms

Knowing When to Invest

Antiques -- Truly a Bargain

There may be other posts but those are what comes to mind at the moment.  I've never done a series of posts, but I truly hope that you enjoy it and come away with a few ideas for your own homes. I'm going to start off by sharing some of my favorite inspirational photos....

 

James Farmer Mudroom - Atlanta Homes

Beachfront Family Room -- BHG

Mary Carol Garrity Lake House - Between Naps on the Porch

Cote de Texas Family Room

 Savvy Southern Style Sun Room

Little Black Door Kitchen

Rennovated VT Kitchen -- Hooked on Houses

The Polo House Kitchen

BHG Bathroom

Up next: Wall Art: Free Art!

Thrift Store Finds -- March

Let's have another round of thrift store finds, shall we?  I've had some very good luck with thrift shopping recently.  My finds haven't been great in quantity, but have more than made up for it in quality.  Let's see what I found...

2 perfect white pitchers for the kitchen and (my big find!!!) a painting of the Tuscan countryside for the family room.

You may remember that I fell in love with this mood board by Holly Mathis.
Since then, I've been keeping an eye out for white pitchers.  I've accumulated enough to start a grouping in the kitchen.

I'm really loving the look of the pitchers.  They fill up that awkward space above the cabinets without getting all kitschy.  You know what I mean?  And, I feel like I'm getting close the feel of the mood board.

The Tuscan painting!  Be still my heart!  I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I walked into the thrift store.  It is absolutely perfect for our house.  We've been wanting something larger for over the fireplace since we moved in and have specifically talked about how nice it would be to have a painting that reminded us of our trip to Italy in 2007 (remember that?? Ciao Bella, Italia Pt 2 ---sigh, how I miss Europe! Has it really been almost 8 years????).  This painting is almost exactly what we envisioned.  My favorite part is that little red-roofed house in the upper right part of the painting.  We saw similar houses all over the countryside when we traveled to Siena & Rome.  

We put it up over the fireplace and it is just perfect. 

OK, I'll stop at 6 pictures of the painting, but you see how perfect it is, don't you?  That is why I keep going to thrift shops, even when I've had no luck for months on end.  There are those magical times when you find treasure for such a good price -- well, who can resist???

 

Keeping Accountable -- Month Two

Second month of accountability -- I'll tell the truth, February wasn't a banner month for me in general.  Moving on...spring is around the corner, right?

Volunteering -- No change here.  I really need to look into finding a volunteer opportunity.  Grade: Incomplete.

Involvement in Hope's School -- There wasn't a PTO meeting, but I volunteered for the big end of the year event at Hope's school!    Grade: B+

My Health -- I have been a complete and utter disaster in this area.  I was very stressed at the beginning of the month and  it all went straight to heck. I did continue exercising, though! I'm making a real effort now that we are into March.  Grade: D-

Reading -- I'm doing pretty well with this, though not quite at my goal of 8ish books a month.  I think that I've read 15 since Jan. 1st and am forging ahead.  Current read: Wicked. Grade: A- 

Getting Mom in the Picture -- Still no change here.  Unless....Glenn may have taken some photos on his phone...I'll need to check on that.  Grade: D (maybe???)

It's all part of it, isn't it, the ups & downs?  Some months I'm going to do great & some not as much, but I hope that I'm a little further ahead at the end of the year than where I started.