Grey and Yellow

Changing my color scheme in our master bedroom to my new favorite color combo: grey and yellow. Slowly, but surely, I'm getting there.

Yellow Rug from World Market

Grey Patterned Duvet from PBTeen.com

Pillow I Sewed with Fabric from Fabric.com 

Lamps from World Market

All Together

Planning on adding another few pillows, incorporating one additional accent color. I'm thinking a reddish hue inspired by this room:

Lately

New Years Eve

New Years Eve

Ice Skating at Crown Center 

Valentine's Day Dinner at Union Station

Sewing Class at Bon Bon Atelier (that place is so stinkin' cute!! I'm obsessed).

Kauffman Center

The Month of Love

Happy (late) Valentine's Day to everyone!! I never usually make a big stink about this holiday, but I love any reason to make a fun craft or try a new recipe to take to the office with me. This year, I opted for these Valentine's Day blondies that I found on Pinterest:

I cut them into little squares and called them my "bite-sized blondies"

They were a hit at work!! Basically, they are just cookie bars with M&Ms, but they are called blondies because they are in the shape of brownies, except...blonde! Don't make the same mistake as Tom did when he took them into his work and call them whities...yikes.

I also wanted to do something original for Tom for Valentines day, but what do you get a guy who you have been dating for 5 years? We never do presents for holidays anymore..but I still wanted to remind him how much I loved him and to make him feel special. My friend, Carly, found this idea and made it for her new beau, so I snagged the idea and made it for Tom. The idea comes from Pinterest as well, and all you need is a deck of cards, Mod Podge, a binder ring, a hole punch, little hand-written (or typed) thoughts, and 52 things you love about your special honey! I think Tom really appreciated the authenticity that this gift offered, more so than your standard greeting card, for sure! I cut out small rectangles from heart-themed scrapbook paper and wrote my thoughts with a Sharpie. Then I used Mod Podge to put a glossy seal over the top. I used the hole punch so I could bind the cards together on the ring for easy flip access. 

52 Things I Love About You

Hope everyone had a fabulous Valentine's Day!! 

Tom actually does have a romantic side :)

Lasagna Soup

So my mom introduced me to this recipe by saying, "Your dad thought it was so good when I made this, I thought he was going to eat the bowl!!". I think when soup has male-approval as a meal, this really means it must be good! So I tried it out this past weekend and it certainly lived up to it's reputation. It was also Tom-approved as a meal since it's so hearty...normally soup would not be enough to satisfy his appetite. Although filling, putting a few twists on it I was able to make it healthy and pretty low-fat. Here's the recipe I followed:

for the soup:
2 tsp. olive oil
1-1/2 lbs. Italian sausage (*I used turkey sausage to make it more heart-healthy and lower fat)
1 chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 T. tomato paste
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
6 c. chicken broth
6-8 broken apart lasagna noodles
1/2 c. finely chopped fresh basil leaves

1 c. chopped spinach

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

for the cheesy yum:
8 oz. ricotta (*I used part-skim version)
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese (*I used the reduced-fat version)
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (*I used the reduced-fat version)

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown for about 5 minutes. Add onion and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

Add diced tomatoes, chicken broth, basil and spinach. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes. While soup is simmering, boil lasagna noodels in a separate pot until al dente. 

Also while the pasta is cooking, prepare the cheesy yum. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

To serve, place some broken apart noodles in the bottom of a bowl, pour soup over them and add a dollop of the cheesy yum in each soup bowl, finishing with a sprinkle some of the mozzarella on top. 

*When I made this recipe, since there are only 2 in our household, I stored the noodles, the soup, and the cheese mixture in three separate containers. Then when I heat it up, I can heat the noodles and soup together without the noodles getting mushy and still add the dollop of cheese after heating.

Why I am Thankful.

The holidays are almost behind us and they have been so much fun!! I have been crazy-busy with holiday parties and family time, among other things...I feel like I haven't even had a second to sit down!

I want to start by saying how thankful I am for all the blessings I have in my life. I try to remind myself of this each and every day. Often times, I know I get caught-up in minor mishaps or trivial things and then every once in a while something happens in which to reground me. A few months ago one of my former Southwest students was brutally murdered in a drive-by shooting. I was sick about it. He was a great kid (which one's aren't?) who had a plan for his future. He must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I spent a few days after losing Ricky at Southwest just to be with my kids and let them know I was there if they needed anything. Most of them would tell you this wasn't the first loss they'd endured this year. I was heart-broken for them. They spent the following week raising funds for Ricky's funeral and banding together as a school. We had a candle-lighting in his honor outside on the front steps of the school where several community members were present, including the pastor from then neighboring church who said some words on Ricky's behalf. It was amazingly powerful.

 In happier news, I have been in the party spirit lately!! I've had people to the house and been to several at others' houses. Tom and I went to Kiewit's annual Christmas party (it was actually a two-night event!!) out at the Overland Park Convention Center. He has a really wonderful job, so it's always nice to get to meet more of the people he works with! This was our second year attending and it is always fabulous! We also made sure to go by my parents' annual Christmas party. Their friends are so much fun! My mom played the piano while we sang Christmas carols (after several glasses of wine, of course!) and I got to catch-up with some of my parents friends that I have known almost my whole life. In addition to these, I had my first Kauffman Christmas party, our annual girls white-elephant party, and my sister's annual Christmas party (this year was Mexican and Indian cuisine). We finished it all off by spending the night before Christmas Eve with my immediate family, having dinner and seeing the Descendants (it's SOOOOO good you must see it now!) and then left Christmas Eve morning to head to Omaha to be with Tom's family for a few days. This is the first time we have been able to stay in Omaha during both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so it was very special for us. It was also Tom's nephew, Easton's, first Christmas so that made it even more special!! We were able to all go to the Christmas Eve church service, then went to dinner at a place in Omaha called 7M, which is amazing by the way. Speaking of being thankful, I am most of all thankful for both of our wonderful families. We are very close with both of them and Tom and I always talk about how lucky we are to be surrounded by all these amazing people who support us through everything that goes on in our lives! Oh-and how could I forget? I had a cookie-decorating party with my girlfriends a few nights ago. SO FUN!! We decorated Christmas cookies which I bagged and am handing out to various people who I appreciate (the mail man and the trash guys for starters!!).

At my parents' Christmas party

Tom's sister and nephew

Tom's brother-in-law and nephew

Tom and Easton

How cute is this card idea? On the back, it gives a description of what each number is.

The French family is growing!!

Kate, Jacque, Katie, Natalie, Mandy, and Carly at the Cookie Party

Decorated Cookies!

In DIY news, I haven't had many projects lately that are super-creative. I have made a few things for the various parties I attended, which are posted below. I also painted my kitchen....buuuuut I have to spare you the photos because the color I picked out, that I thought was going to be totally different, ended up looking almost exactly the same as the original color! It was fine because the walls just needed a repaint, but there's no drastic difference to report on...sad. I also made a few sets of coasters for Tom's sister and mom for Christmas. They had photos of Easton on each of them. So now I know you are able to make the coasters not only with scrapbook paper, but photographs as well! I think for my next picture project, I will get a large tile (like 12x12 or something like that?), blow up a picture to that size and make wall art! I'll let you know if that ever ends up happening...


Tom and I had a few friends over to watch the season finale of Sons of Anarchy (best show on TV) and this is part of the menu I prepared:

goat cheese, apple and walnut spinach salad

My specialty pizza bites!! Oh Lord, what you can do with a wonton wrapper!! I put turkey pepperoni, reduced fat mozzarella cheese, pizza sauce, oregano, and red paper flakes in these bad boys and bake on 350 for about 20 minutes. Super delicious and Tom-approved!!

This was our main course. Stuffed chicken rollatini. Recipe here.

Chocolate almond saltine toffee. Recipe here.

Photograph coasters

Goat cheese bruschetta

Caprisi Bites

Before oven cove

After oven cove

And just a few other events I have managed to pack into my vacation time off work...one being my first actual Chiefs game!! I was last-minute able to find a ticket to go with Tom and some of our friends when they played the undefeated Packers last week...and WON!! What an exciting game for my first go!! Plus it was an absolutely beautiful December day. Last night, I also went to see a showing of the Bolshoi Russian Ballet perform Sleeping Beaty with my mom, dad, and sister. It was awesome!!

Tom and I at the Chiefs v Packers game 

Bolshoi Ballet performing Sleeping Beauty