Creamy Coconut Chicken Comfort Food

Most of my cooking happens in one of two pots. My LeCreuset crock pot or my LeCreuset stew pot. And since it continues to be cold and snow I am still in the need of comfort food. But this is quite a conundrum since I am not eating a ton of that bad goodness you add to comfort food. I crave mac and cheese but lets not even talk about that.

Chalk Paint Table

This past summer I heard about chalk paint. I have been fascinated with the concept for many months. I I'd been watching youtube and studying up but in the end I am a trial by fire kind of learner. So I decided to go for it. A friend of mine was looking to re-do her office space into a comfortable reading nook. (It was a stor-all room). Around the same time a friend gave hub a free table! We have no need for it so I decided to paint it up for my friend and it was a win for all.

Many uses for cheap hooks

I most recently purchased a box of plastic cup hooks. I planned on using them to hang mugs (we have an abundance and clearly needed to make room), but I soon discovered they could be used for many more purposed. We went hook crazy and used every last one.

Roasted Indian Spice Chicken Dinner

Dinner is ready and chicken is on the table. Nothing is more domestic than roasting a whole chicken. I am extremely proud to announce "Husband! Wash up, the roast will be done soon!" Ok I don't ever say that but I do feel quite accomplished to successfully roast a bird.

Breakfast Pizza for Cave People

It seems everywhere I go people are getting on the  clean, green, paleo, natural, sugar free, grain free, gluten free, pasture raised food train. David and I just call it the health train and the mantra is moderation. It is so strange how even healthy can get boring...so we spiced it up one night and made breakfast for dinner and pizza for breakfast. I made paleo friendly breakfast pizza and it was delicious-i-o-so. It was paleo-tastic with a side of awesome-sauce. To make this amazing breakfast pizza I first gathered up the ingredients. (You may notice a slight obsession to Sprouts Grocer) 

Painting the bathroom

Low on the priority list is our master bath. It is our only full bath in the house. We have big dreams for that bathroom but since the bathroom is vital our our daily survival we have to plan the upgrades around a busy lifestyle. We plan to replace the floor, add a box around the tub (to hide its plasticness), change out the glass shower doors, replace the vanity, change the tile surround in the shower... oh man I am getting tired just thinking about it. I have to admit to my impatient tendencies and so for the past few weeks I have been ruminating on the state of the bathroom. It was irritating to look at the spot where I had put a paint sample on the wall (in August), and the holes we put in the wall when we were installing a cabinet (I had David move it twice). On the way home from work one Tuesday, I decided I had had enough! I declared to the car that the bathroom was to painted at once! I stopped at our friendly Joseph's Hardware store and bought a gallon of Tiffany Blue paint for the walls and a blue for the cabinet.

It is always scary buying paint. You pick a color and then while they are mixing you have all these doubts and second thoughts..."ohh maybe I should go with something darker, or maybe something more green, oh no what if I hate it, what if it comes out too dark, did I choose the same color as our other bathroom they look so similar but I can't remember...." Someone please tell me I am not the only one who has this type of internal freak out as they mix the paint. I kept the mantra going in my head..."trust your instincts, trust your instincts, its just paint, trust your
instincts..." I calmly purchased the paint, headed home, and got straight to work.

 I turned on SCANDAL (my new obsession) and got cutting. I know there are proper ways to make perfectly straight lines and not get paint on the ceiling but I just free hand it. It is not always perfect but I am ok with that. Whenever perfection plagues me I remember lines from my favorite book A Severe Mercy, where the couple takes a hammer to their new car so that they are never owned by material posessions. The couple never wants to live in such a way where their things determine their actions.

Three hours later (depite imperfections) I was in love. The bathroom got a whole new look. And those holes are no longer as noticeable, and the vanity doesn't look so 90's with the paint color. I decided to put off painting it blue for now. I believe I bought us some time until we complete the renovation with hopefully a whole new vanity. David was out of town during the transformation. When he returned he loved the color. He also complemented me on my freehand cutting job. #imawesome

A Memorable Chandelier

When we got engaged David planned an elaborate scheme of lies that included a horseback ride to a place that brought us together. During the horseback ride we came to a spot in the woods we call Narnia. There he had set up a chandelier and a bistro table. It was at that spot that he asked me to marry him. My first response was "are you serious?" and when I finally realized what was happening I of course said "yes!" In preparation David had hunted for a chandelier that would fit my style. He of course is very good at picking out things I like. He told me then that one day we could hang the chandelier in a house of our own.

Well now we are in it...a house of our own. At first we decided we decided to hang the chandelier over the dining table. It needed to be converted into a usable light fixture but, given all of our other projects, this did not happen. When David and I received the Indian lamp from my sister, see post DIY Light Fixture, we decided to change the plan. 

First we determined that the chandy would me moved to our bedroom and we would use flameless candles on a timer to bring a little romantic mood lighting.  

This was very simple process....first we measured and found the perfect centered location. Then we installed a hook. Last we shortened the chain and hung the lantern. We turned on the candles for that final touch then laid down, and enjoyed the fruits of our labor.

 

I finally understand why people crave a bedroom oasis. We can now escape to our bedroom and relax. Everything in our bedroom is soft and comfortable. We love to lounge in bed and enjoy looking at the flat ceiling and the glowing chandelier. If only it could happen more often...

Our bedroom setup is far from designer, nor overly costly. With some hunting, creativity and generous wedding gifts we created a luxurious space worth relaxing into.

Duvet Cover - Macys
Mirror - TJ Maxx (thanks Mom!)
Chevron Pillows - Crate and Barrel (thanks Caitlin)
Chandelier - Thrift store find
Matching mercury glass lamps - Macys
Shortened Blankout Curtains - Tailored Hand me downs
Crocheted Blanket - Hand made (thanks Carolyn!)
Night stands - Thrift store find
Ottoman Storage - Hand me down
Lantern - TJ Maxx (thanks Amanda!)
Rug - Macys

DIY Light Fixture

 My sister is living her dream and living abroad in Bangalore, India. She has been working for a NGO called Interenational Justice Mission working with clients in hard situations. You can check out her work on her blog at http://chellycalandra.blogspot.com. In May she will have been there for 2 years. I am so impressed by her work and the impact she is making on the people around her. For Christmas she was able to come home for a month. She packed her suitcases with gifts and treasures for us. One of those treasures was a metal lantern. The lantern is stunning, it is made of copper. As she handed it over she said... I am sure you can figure out something creative to do with this. Oh I am sure you can imagine the glee and giddyness over the crafting that would ensue. David and I decided we would like it to be a light fixture in our kitchen. We said that eventually we would make this happen. I figured it would be one of those summer projects. I was very wrong...

One evening when I was out with girlfriends my hub secretly made it happen. He bought a $10 hanging sconce and a $1 hook and went to work. He cut a hole in the top of the lantern and threaded the wiring though the top then swung the lantern over so that it was centered over the table. (hub knows me so well and my affinty for symmetry and centeredness). He hooked up the lantern to our dimmer switch so we can have mood lighting. The following  morning I discovered the installed lantern the following morning when I went upstairs for breakfast. Hub timed the amount of time it took for me to put it on instagram. He was very accurate. There was alot of screaming and yelling and jumping up and down.

When we turn on the lantern the light glows white and green. If you look closely you will see that the lantern has a turquoise green glow. The inside of the lantern is a very beautiful green. At first I thought this was painted but David later discovered the lantern is made of copper and the green is a result of aging copper patina. This made me love our lantern even more. We estimate this type of lantern would cost $$$$ in the states. We are so grateful to Chel for lovingly shlepping it across the world for us.