Five on Friday

Happy Friday friends!  I'm linking up today for Five on Friday with DARCI, CHRISTINA, LIZ, and NATASHA. (Only I'm really doing a Four on Friday because the stomach flu has hit and taken any energy I have away to come up with one more thing.. ) 

One. 
Scarlet and Gold is offering a FREE calligraphy class. Did your heart just skip a beat like mine did? I've always wanted to learn calligraphy but have never taken a class or tried to teach myself. When I heard they would be offering a free online class I immediately signed up and purchased my supplies. I can't wait for the first session! If you are interested you can sign up here. 

Two.
I made fajita stuffed peppers for dinner one night this week and they were amazing. You can find the recipe here. I switched out the chicken for ground beef and the brown rice for quinoa. This is a new favorite in our house! 

Three.
Let it snow (pretty please!) NC had lots of snowy weather earlier this week. I mentioned we were out of school on Tuesday because of freezing rain. That's just not cutting it though! I want the real deal.. SNOW. Everywhere else in NC has gotten snow this winter except where I live. I'm so jealous of all the pictures my friends are sending me of the snow! I remain hopeful we will get some (maybe? just a little!). Justin and I started talking about snow and the conversation somehow led to "we need to do a snow dance" which led to googling "how to do a snow dance". While we were researching this important topic we learned some other fun ways to make it snow. Like, putting ice cubes on your front porch, putting a spoon under your pillow, put a white crayon in the freezer, run around your table 5 times, wear your pj's backwards, do a snow dance and flush an ice cube down the toilet. We may have completed ALL of these. Except the white crayon because I didn't have one. Even with all that, still no snow. I blame it on the crayon. 

Four. 
It looks like the stomach bug has made it way to our house. I was at a hair appointment yesterday when it hit me- worst timing ever right?! I had to leave with my hair still wet to go home. After a miserable evening and night I'm hoping the worst is over. 

Cleaning Stainless Steel

I absolutely love our stainless steel appliances but they have proven to be a pain to keep clean. Every time I clean them they end up streaky with water spots and fingerprints on them. I have been meaning to try out new ways of cleaning them and finally had the time on our snow day. (Which was really a sleet day because we have not gotten any snow..) 

I just used distilled vinegar and a drop of dish detergent. 

Combine a cup of the vinegar and a small squirt of dish detergent into a spray bottle and shake it up. Spray onto a microfiber rag (or any sponge but the microfiber ones don't scratch) and wipe down your appliance's going in the direction of the grain. I didn't realize it mattered which way you wipe but sure enough it does! 

Before 

Look at all of those water streaks! 

After 

Streaks are gone and they are shining like crazy! 

For tougher jobs with stainless steel pots and pans switch out the dish detergent for baking soda. It really does the trick! I went a little crazy cleaning everythingggg in the kitchen.. (refrigerator handles, sink, toaster, dish washer, etc). 

Wedding Wednesday: Save the Dates!

Save the dates have officially been out for about a week so I think I can finally share on the blog! I have had our design and picture picked out since November and could hardly stand not showing them off. It seems like I had to wait forever to get the cards in, addresses received and envelopes stuffed. They were a labor of love for sure... I spent a lot of time looking at designs, envelope options, etc. It was so important to me to make sure the Save the dates turned out perfect (.. to me anyway) because this is the first piece of paper our guest will receive that says "Hey!, We're getting married and we want YOU there!". They turned out exactly how I hoped they would! Simple, classic and conveys all our important wedding info! 

Here are the envelopes. We are going to have the wedding invitation envelopes addressed in calligraphy but this printed address was perfect for Save the Dates. I thought the design was gorgeous and worked well with the colors of the Save the Date. 

So what do you think? Do you love them as much as I do?! (: I went through Minted  for the cards. The quality and customer service there is top notch. We did have a little mishap with the return address part of the envelope but they fixed it quickly. Yay for the first important piece of paper being out! Less than six months to go until the big day! 

Life With Henson

Hello friends! We have a snow day here that really is more of a sleet and freezing rain day. No complaints from me though! We had a teacher workday yesterday which allowed me to catch up on everything school related so today I slept in, plan to clean the house, make stuffed peppers for dinner and maybe even finish watching Steel Magnolias that came on TV last night. It seems like all of North Carolina had snow days last week while we in the coastal part got nothing. I'm definitely going to enjoy every second of this unexpected day off! Moving on... 

I realized I haven't shared much about our newest family member with y'all. Henson, our sweet 7 month old chocolate lab. I did share some pictures when we first got him that you can see here and here. He has done a lot of growing since those pictures so it's only appropriate to document out little guys growth! Henson may be a puppy but to us he is our son. He has seriously brought so much joy into our lives. I may be biased but I think he is the sweetest four legged mini person in the world. 

we like to sing "we're the three best friends that anyone could have.." 

Henson is a professional seagull chaser and LOVES the beach

he even likes to play dress up!

his first snow

even Justin will admit he's a mama's boy (: 

..There was even the time he had an accident that went from the kitchen all the way to the living room door... Not his finest moment but we still love him(: 

he really loves the shower

Okay, I'll stop now. I promise I'm not a crazy dog lover! We just love our little Henson!

Guest Room #1 Reveal

Happy Monday friends! Did the weekend fly by for anyone else? It always seems to for me! I'm back from a 2 week blog break that I did not mean to take. Work got absolutely crazy and took up all of my extra time. Let's hope things have calmed down some! Justin and I moved into our house back in August and have been working ever since to get each room styled just how we want it. A little over 5 months later I can finally say we have one room in the house COMPLETE! Yes.. no other rooms are finished but that's okay! We will get there.. eventually. I really wanted to work hard to get one of our guest rooms finished so that we would have a place for overnight guest to stay. When Justin's cousin decided to stay over Christmas eve it was just the motivation I needed to get the room finished! When we moved in this room was baby blue and needed some paint. I painted it myself and then got busy with the rest of the decorations. Here is the final outcome:

of course Henson had to sneak in a picture or two.. 

I would still like to add some curtains to the windows but other than that it is complete. I love the way it turned out and love even more having a room for our friends and family to stay in! Hint hint, mom.. the room is ready, come visit! (: