What To Read Next?

Well since I am officially less than 1 chapter away from finishing the Twilight books, 'le sigh... I needed to find something new to read.

Book 1 to get:

I receive a daily report from Daily Candy. Super neat stuff if you've never gone on their website, please check it out! http://www.dailycandy.com/ One of my newest of reports was called, We've Got the Tower, & the report was about a book called "Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned" by Wells Tower. It's basically the complete opposite of my usual fiction books which usually always end in Happy Endings (nothing wrong at all with that!). The book centers around real people with whom you can identify with. It's not all happy, lovey stuff (which I fully enjoy) but there are some hilarious moments that will add some light & airy mixes to the real life guts of this book.

Book 2 to get:

The next book I'm going to check out as well is called, "Thanks for the Memories" by Cecelia Ahern. I read her book, "P.S. I Love You" and really fell in love with her. I was able to sympathize with the P.S. I Love You's main character because of my lifes realities with my mom and with her losing her battle with brain cancer. So now I'm going to check out this next one. The book is about a woman whose mourning a miscarriage and divorce. Per the magazine article I got this out of, Marie Claire~ written by Jihan Thompson, the woman in the book, Joyce Conway ends up having a blood transfusion which in turn leaves her with some of her donors memories which then introduces you to the hottie donor... I'm sure you can guess the outcome but it'll be a good "getting there" ending for me. Enter my love for happy, lovey stuff :)

Home is...

Home is where the heart is...

I've been wanting to redecorate my living room for sometime now and I'm trying to find some good ideas as on what to do.

I was thinking that I would want some new drapes rather than the gathered ones that we currently have. I want some free flowing ones. Something that will make the room feel lighter & bigger!

(Cameron Cotton Drape - Pottery Barn)

Next is a coffee table. We currently don't own one because our furniture is too big for the space we live in. Here is a good idea of what I'm thinking about. I really enjoy the look of the Tanner Coffee Table because I feel it would really open the room up.

(Tanner Coffee Table - Pottery Barn)

My next venture is for a new TV stand which means a new TV. I'm still having trouble convincing the hubby to agree with me on this. But here is what I'm looking for.

(Kingston Corner Media Stand - Crate and Barrel)

The next few big pieces of furniture we would need would be a new couch and chair for our space. I really enjoy our couch but it's a sectional and I've never felt that it fit the space. Like I said, we have a small living room (sorry, no dimensions to give you). Our chair, well it's huge! I love our chair but it is just WAY TO BIG FOR OUR SPACE.

I really enjoy the Seabury Sofa. I really like the clean lines & it seems to be a bit more modern than your "average" sofa. The Greenwhich would be my 2nd choice. The name just screams Manhattan! Now for the chairs ~ I've always wanted a leather chair. I'd have to say that with the look that I feel I'm going for I would say my first choice would be the Arlington Chair. It just has this "grown up" look to it.

(Seabury Sofa - P.B.) (Greenwich Sofa - P.B.)

(Arlington Leather Armchair - P.B.) (Addin Leather Armchair - P.B.)

Well I'm off to dream of this fabulous living room I've just created. Would love to go shop & buy, buy, buy but... I have to hold off for a while. Need to save after the big walk-in closet we just had done.

I'm getting a bit creative just a little bit at a time :)

Luck 'O' The Irish

Since it's almost St. Paddy's day I thought I would share a corned beef and cabbage recipe with everyone. I'll be trying this out myself so I hope it's enjoyable! Be safe tom. & have a wonderful St. Patrick's day!!

Crockpot Corned Beef and Cabbage

By Linda Larsen, About.com

Prep Time: 25 minutes Cook Time: 10 hours

Ingredients:

6 carrots. cut into chunks

2 onions, chopped

2-3 lb. corned beef brisket with seasoning packet

12 oz. can beer (non alcoholic is fine)

2 Tbsp. yellow mustard

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup water

8 wedges cabbage

Preparation:

In 4-6 quart crockpot, combine carrots and onions. Rinse corned beef under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Place in crockpot and sprinkle with contents of seasoning mix. Pour beer over brisket and spread mustard on brisket. In small bowl mix brown sugar with water and pour over brisket. Cover crockpot and cook on low setting for 11-12 hours. Remove corned beef from crockpot and cover with foil to keep warm. Add cabbage wedges to vegetables and liquid in crockpot. Cover crockpot and cook on high for additional 30-40 minutes or until cabbage is crisp tender.

To serve, cut beef across grain into thin slices. Remove vegetables from slow cooker with slotted spoon and serve with beef. Serve cooking juices over the food, if desired. Offer additional mustard on the side. 8 servings

Charlie

For an end of the day pleaser. My husband just sent me this link and I just had to post on my blog.

http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22063/68520-boy--world-s-ten-smartest-dogs

My husband & I adopted our special little love bug Charlie back in August 2007 and he's a Golden Retriever and most whole heartedly the love of my life (besides Chris of course). Charlie will be 2 on May 29, 2009 and I'm trying to convince Chris of having a b-day party for our son.

Check out the article above and see where your loved one ranks. If he or she isn't ranked, well then we know where he or she is in your hearts.

Pilates, Yoga & All That Jazz

It has been a goal of mine and I'm sure many, many, MANY others out there to start working out ... again. Well I have found a place that I feel may actually suit my needs. I just need to get off of my rump and actually start going on a weekly basis. I've been 3 times & I've skipped 3 times. But all of my excuses are valid! I "cross my fingers" promise.

I found this studio off of a friend of mine's facebook account. The studio is called Fusion Fitness and it's located at 80th & Metcalf (of course above a Mexican restaurant ~ oh margaritas!).

I went ahead and purchased one private session to begin my journey because I honestly didn't want to walk into a room full of women and/or men (equal opportunity) and be completely humiliated by my less then expert workout mojo. My session was at 6a, gasp! And it went smoothly except for the bit where I almost passed out because of course I didn't eat anything before I went. Shandi (my workout expert who was able to do everything & more being many months pregnant) told me after my session that I did pretty well (yeah for a girl who about passed out on you & complained I'm sure for most of the hour she was there) & that I should just think about joining the beginners class, Fusion Lite. So I did & so can you!

Please check out their website and let me know if you're ever interested in joining me on a Monday night for the Fusion Lite class. I feel that maybe the more I recruit to join me the more excuses I can't get out of like leaving a friend stranded because I couldn't move my tush over into Kansas ;) http://www.fusionfitnesskc.com/

Our New Boudoir Furniture

The attic has finally been completed (pictures to come) so now it was our task to find our new bedroom furniture. Chris & I went to Crate & Barrel over the weekend & found a bed we really liked called the Tate Bed but with the limited amount of space we had to work with upstairs we were unable to purchase. So I set my sites on the Archer headboard. I called our lovely helper that worked with us over the weekend to place my order. I had it all planned out: the Archer headboard, the Sloane Leaning Bookcase, and the Clairemont Pedestals for our side bed stands as well as the Hedera Rug for our downstairs bedroom that we had repainted. Then the bad news strikes, the Archer headboard is only available in the full bed size & we have a queen - bummer! The nice lady at Crate & Barrel then preceded to tell me that if I wanted to special order the Archer headboard it would cost like over $1500 & I could buy the entire bed (frame & all) for $1300. Doesn't make sense to me either. So after that let down I went ahead & ordered everything besides the headboard.

After getting off the phone with Crate & Barrel I got onto Pottery Barn's website and found our headboard. It's called the Georgetown headboard & I really like it! I just hope this bedroom comes together the way I'm picturing it.

Now comes our bedroom rug. Surprisingly enough we found it at Home Depot. It's very fun, shaggy & groovy. It's called the Balta Lane Change in the chocolate.

Hope you like our selections! (The top 3 are the Georgetown headboard, Clairemont pedestal & Sloane bookcase & the bottom 4 are the Tate Bed, Archer headboard, the Hedera rug & the Balta rug)

R-Pattz

For a nice Friday ahhhh moment here is a picture of Robert Pattinson, a.k.a. Edward Cullen. I found this picture on one of my many gossip sites (Perez Hilton) today & I just had to share. Does this make me a bad person since I'm married?

If you're interested in checking out any of my daily gossip sites/style sites take a gander: http://www.perezhilton.com/, http://www.bricksandstonesgossip.com/, http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/, http://www.people.com/, http://www.instyle.com/, www.luckymag.com. Love them all!!!

Yummy Coffee

My husband (the smart man that he is) got me this great new coffee pot for Christmas and I just had to share with you what I get to exerpience every morning before heading off to the office. My lovely & 'oh so stylish' coffee maker, Mr. Keurig. We purchase our little coffee's at Bed, Bath & Beyond but you can also get them online through the Keurig site as well as other retailers. So... next time your visiting please have me make you a nice cup of coffee. Hot tea is also a must!!! Enjoy & be jealous :)

Jewelry

Here is another great occasion for myself. The drawer organizer. I can now see all of the earrings I own so I can actually start wearing some of them again or for the first time. Gotta love Bed, Bath & Beyond!

One of my new favorite things... my jewelry tree. For years I just had what jewelry I had strown around pictures, door knobs, an old coffee cup holder... I think you get the picture. Well now I have my gorgeous tree. It may look cluttered to you but now I can see it all & I have a clearer picture of what I have, need, use & don't use. So my story here is that if you ever need an idea as to how you should display your jewels well ease your mind because the jewelry tree is a great way to show you what you have. I purchased the tree at Revival Home Furnishings in Overland Park, KS.




Much more organization to come. I'm working on our closets next. Stay tuned for the finished walk-in closet pictures as well. It's about time I get my butt in gear! I've only lived in our house now for 2.5 years.

Blogging

I've been recently inspired to begin an "online diary" by a friend of mine. I see this as a form of therapy and a form of inspiration for me. Maybe I'll get more creative as time goes by or maybe I'll just forget this whole blogging process all together. I've never been much for writing nor have I ever been very creative at it. But... here goes nothin'. Wish me luck & enjoy the ride!

Blogging by definition: A blog (a contraction of the term weblog) is a website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.