Buffet Style

One of the perks of getting married is getting all of those wonderful gifts that you registered for. The downside, however, is figuring out where to put them. If you've been to our townhouse you know we have limited storage. We have two bedroom closets and an attic closet on the 4th floor. And that's it. We had to be really creative in figuring out where all of those gifts were going! Hence, the reason all of our china is in our guest bedroom closet. I love my china and it deserves to have a proper home, which is not next to the vacuum and Tyler's shoes (which, are in the guest bedroom closet because, you guessed it, I have too many shoes in the master closet.) So I decided I wanted a buffet. Here are the ones I had narrowed it down to:

Neiman Marcus "Amelie" Mirrored Buffet - on sale (!!!) for $1,599

Crate and Barrel Paloma Large Sideboard - $2,499

West Elm Foxed Mirror Buffet - $999

Z Gallerie Borghese Buffet - $1,199

They are all fabulous, right? Well, Tyler didn't think so. Let me rephrase that - Tyler has an appreciation for my love for pretty, well-designed things, but he doesn't have an appreciation for my lack of hesitation to pay whatever amount of money to get those pretty things. Lame, right? So where did I turn? My old trusty friend Craig - he has this great list of things for sale. Check it out - www.craigslist.com.

Well, after 30 minutes of perusing Craig's List, I was finding that not many people were discounting their buffets. They were all over $1k and they weren't that fabulous. Until I found a listing for "Ming Style Asian Buffet". I clicked the listing and low and behold, the images were great. It had character, it was the perfect size, and it was $250! People - I said two hundred and fifty dollars! THAT'S what you call a DEAL! Yes, it has a few scrapes and scratches, but that's only because its been very well loved. And that's nothing that some stain stripper can't fix. So my wonderful husband went to pick it up for me. It is now sitting in our garage (along with the rest of Tyler's stuff) waiting to be loved. Check him out:

Now - the question is - to paint or to stain? Here are some of my inspiration pieces:

I'm loving the white - maybe update the hardware with gold? via

Two tone? White and stain? via

Doors painted white and the rest stained via

Dark stain via

What do you guys think?

Crock Pot Almonds

My mom and I went to Buffalo during the summer a few years ago and made a trip to the Erie County Corn Festival.  Isn't that SO country sounding?  It was pretty hysterical - they had a corn eating contest, and the guy that won was actually the son of a guy my mom went to high school with (I think that was the connection.)  Anyways, we bought these ridiculously amazing almonds that were sugar coated and I literally could not stop eating them.  We bought a few packets to take home - and I picked up one for Tyler too.  I ended up eating most of Tyler's, but that's besides the point. :)

My mom came up to Dallas last week to visit her BFF and she left me and Tyler a little treat in our fridge while we were at work - a can of sugar coated almonds!!  Well, we finished the can in no time flat, so she gave me the recipe, and I've already made a batch to give as gifts,....but Tyler keeps eating them so if you don't get sugar coated almonds as a gift from me this year its because my husband ate them all. :)  The best part about this recipe is that you make them in the crock pot, and I totally love my crock pot.  It makes life way easier. Here's the recipe:

Crock Pot Cinnamon Almonds

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 tbsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg white
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups almonds
1/4 cup water

In a medium sized bowl, mix together sugars, cinnamon, and salt.  Set aside.  
In another medium sized bowl, whisk the egg white and vanilla until its a little frothy.  
Add almonds to the egg white bowl.  Make sure the almonds are thoroughly coated in the egg white mixture.
Add cinnamon mixture to the almonds and toss until coated.

Thoroughly spray the crockpot with non-stick spray.
Add the almond and sugar mixture to the pot and turn on low.

Cook with the lid on for 3 hours, stirring every 20 minutes.
In the last hour, add 1/4 cup water and stir well.  Continue to stir every 20 minutes until done.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the almonds flat to cool.

Store in an airtight container, and enjoy!

Yummmmmm

Happy Thanksgiving!

With all of the house craziness going on, Tyler and I decided to spend our first Thanksgiving as a married couple in Dallas.  We were still in the hotel, so it didn't really lend itself to me roasting a turkey - although they did serve a traditional turkey downstairs at the buffet. :)

We slept in that morning, got a quick workout in at the gym at the hotel, and then decided it was time to get out of the hotel so we went to catch a movie.  We saw Lincoln which was pretty good - Tyler loves history so he especially liked it.  It was pretty long, so by time we got done, we had just enough time to catch a little football on TV (I played on Pinterest) and then go downstairs for some pre-dinner drinks.  Here's a few pics of us at our hotel Thanksgiving happy hour - woot woot:

Oh, and I've realized I haven't been good about getting pictures of me and Tyler together....I'll be better at that. :)

Since I wasn't cooking, and couldn't pick up Thanksgiving dinner from Central Market, we decided to make reservations at Smoke.  Smoke is a newer restaurant in Oak Cliff, right next to the Belmont Hotel.  We had been there before for dinner and loved it, so we figured it would be a good bet for Thanksgiving.  And boy oh boy, it didn't disappoint.  Here's some pics of the spread:

Duck and pumpkin salad

Pimento Cheese Balls

Dr. Pepper ham, mashed potatoes, cheese grits, and andouille sausage stuffing

Apple Cobbler

Pumpkin Pie

All in all, a pretty nice, low-key Thanksgiving with Tyler and Max. :)

Coupon Thieves

For all of you (I'm speaking to my husband) that have accused me of being sassy or rude, I'd like to present to you a note left by my crazy neighbor that lives a few units down. She's apparently REAL pissed that her Sunday newspaper is disappearing, so she posted a sign expressing those feelings on the fence by her front door.

WARNING: her note has profanity.  Sorry Mom and Dad.

I mean, she's from New York City, so maybe that's her excuse for the attitude.  I would like to remind her that she's in Texas now so if she's going to post her sassy sign, the thieves will probably be more receptive if she at least says "PLEASE"!  But for now, I'll just laugh at the craziness. :)

Man's Best Friend

So we all know my fear of big dogs.  Tyler used to have Blue - but when we moved in together, bringing Blue into the townhome was just not realistic, or fair to Blue.  He was a BIG dog. When he stood on his hind legs, him and I were shoulder to shoulder.  And there were only 5-10 lbs seperating us.  Eeek.  I still don't really love dogs. But I know that its really important to Tyler that we get a dog one day, so I've been trying to come to terms with the fact then when we do have a home with a yard, that getting a dog will be the first thing on our to-do list.

A friend of mine on Facebook had been posting some pictures of her new puppy, Brody.  Well, this puppy is STUNNING.  I found myself going to her page just to check out how her dog was growing.  I don't really know much about dogs or dogs breeds, so I messaged her to inquire about her beautiful dog.  Here's a screenshot of this pretty pup:

Gorgeous, right?  She told me he was an Australian Shepherd and that he was the best. dog. ever.  So I was intrigued and started researching them, and this is what I've found out:

1. They are one of the smartest breeds out there. They are easily trainable and are often the top performers in obedience school. I read an article that one lady had taught her Aussie his ABC's.  What does that mean, you ask? She would put out wooden block letters, and for example, she would say "B", and the dog would put his paw on the "B" block.  Ridiculous, right?
2. They are super loyal and aim to please their owners.  They LOVE their owners.  All pets do, right?  Well Aussies REALLY loves their owners.  That is one of the reasons they are super trainable, and they don't really have any behavior issues as long as you interact with it the way you're supposed to.
3. They are bred for herding - which means they have a TON of energy and endurance, and NEED a "job".  They require a few hours of exercise a day, whether its running, playing frisbee, or playing catch at the park. If they don't get regular activity, they may try to "herd" other pets (aka Max) or children (watch out kiddos!!!) by nipping at heels.  This also means they are a lot of work to get all that energy out. If you don't give them "jobs" they can be destructive.
4. They are medium dogs - females are 40-50 lbs and males are 50-60 lbs.  Half the size of Blue, and perfect size for Nikki. :)
5. They need to be socialized.  They love their owners but tend to be a little shy around strangers, so its best to socialize them while they are young and get them used to different sights and sounds - think dog park, restaurants (that allow dogs, of course) running trails, etc., anywhere they can go to meet other people and animals
6. They come in a few colors - tri colored, blue merle (Brody above is blue merle), red merle, and red.
7. The Australian Shepherd Club of America (ASCA) will not recognize the dog as an Aussie if his tail has not been docked, so they don't have tails!
8. When people have their first Aussie, they never get any other breed of dog because they love Aussies so much.

Tyler had been wanting a lab (everyone has a lab!) so I told him about Aussies.  He started doing a little research too, and was pretty intrigued.  Luckily there are several breeders in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, so we decided to call a few to see if we could come interact with some dogs.  So on Saturday (ready to get out of our furniture-less house) we drove over 200 miles to go see two breeders.  And we were sold.  Oh my goodness, these dogs are so great.  The way they look at their owners, you can just tell they love them SO MUCH.  Not to mention they are all gorgeous animals.  Some have blue eyes, some, even have an eye that is half blue and half brown - so unique!  Tyler really wants a dog that is going to be his best bud that he can run with and play with and wrestle with. We definitely liked one breeder over the other, and we're meeting with a third one next Sunday.  Here are some pics of some Aussies I found around the Internet so you can see how pretty they are!:

But don't worry about all this puppy talk. This furry fellow is still my main man:

Farm to Market

Last weekend Tyler and I were out and about quite a bit.  In addition to our impulse purchase of Happy Cow, we took a little trip down to the Dallas Farmer's Market.  I had actually only been down there briefly before, and it was pretty neat.  We went to eat at Pecan Lodge barbecue, which is inside this warehouse of sorts where several different food vendors are permanentely housed.  We walked in, and Pecan Lodge was stationed right at the front, and the line was wrapped around the corner of the counter, all the way down the hall.  Tyler was not thrilled with waiting, but I told him if the line is that long it must be worth the wait!  We waited about 30 minutes for our turn.  I ordered pork ribs and macaroni and cheese, and Tyler ordered a meat plate with ribs and sausage with pinto beans and then ordered banana pudding as dessert.  Yummmm......

My ribs were REAL good.  The rub on them was super peppery, I was a fan.  While we were there, we also found out that Pecan Lodge had been on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives!  When we got home, we definitely You Tubed the episode and the guy working the counter while we were there was the one that Guy interviewed.  Cool, huh?

After we ate, we decided to walk around since the weather, while super windy, was actually pretty nice.  There were so many vendors selling super colorful produce - it was really pretty!  Here are a few pics:

Of course they sell cactus leaves in Texas

Just a little skyline view from the market

All in all, a pretty fun weekend with my hubby.  Its amazing the fun things we can find to do when we are desperate to get out of our in-limbo townhome. :)  Speaking of, we just moved back into the hotel for the second (and last!) time, so we will be here until this Friday or Saturday.  Then things should be (relatively) back to normal for us!  We are totally looking forward to being back in our home!

Happy Cow

I have a white couch.  Why do I have a white couch? ... I have no idea....  I'm always terrified its going to get dirty. I'm scared someone is going to spill wine on it.  Or have dirty hands.  Or put their shoes on it.  Or drip red popsicle on it.  All of these things have happened to my white couch. And I've silently freaked out inside.  All I wanted was a clean, neutral colored couch in my life.  But it has become a huge source of anxiety (therefore giving Tyler anxiety as well.)  Well - its time for a new couch.  Not just any couch.  A sectional.  A GREY sectional.  So what did I do to remedy this?  I dragged Tyler sectional shopping this past weekend. He loved every second of it. :)

We have requirements for a sectional:

1. Must be able to accomodate two people laying down in different parts of the couch, not squished side by side
2. Must be comfy.  Some people like hard furniture because it gives them support.  We like furniture that feels like we're laying or sitting in a cloud.
3. Must has a longevity of 10-15 years. We're ready to lay some serious cash down on this couch, so we have to get a good cost per day rate out of it.
4. Must not show dirt and needs to be easy to clean.

And we found one we LOVE.  I introduce you to the Axis sectional by Crate & Barrel:

Picture this in grey microsuede

It meets all the requirements, plus some!  But of course it might be the most expensive one available at C&B.  So we'll just save our little pennies until we're ready, and I'll continue to be a white couch crazy person. :)

Discouraged that we couldn't purchase the couch right then and there, we walked across the street to Z Gallerie.  Z Gallerie might be one of my favorite stores.  It is totally my style, and the prices are pretty affordable.  And it just so happened they were having a 20% off sale!  There had been a piece of art there that I had been eyeing, and I've pinned twice in Pinterest, so I had to see it in person.  And we BOTH loved it.  I introduce you to Happy Cow:

Happy Cow

He's so cute and innocent looking, and he's got some good colors to pull from.  And its very Texas, and I kind of like making fun of Texas because Texas is just so......Texas.  So we made an impulse purchase, and now we have 4 foot x 4 foot Happy Cow sitting in our office area.  Not sure where his final home will be, but we'll decide that once the wood floors are finished next weekend. :)  We love our Happy Cow.  He makes us so happy!!