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new orleans travel guide
we had the best best time in new orleans last week for our anniversary, so i wanted to share a recap of our trip with you guys!
first off, we stayed at the old no. 77 in the CBD (the central business district) when we first got there, i was worried that we were too far from all the stuff – but i really liked the location and we were randomly walking distance from all of the restaurants we were going to for dinner.
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cooking better dinners
even though i sometimes share recipes on here, i have to admit i’m not the cook of the house. gideon was always the one who was responsible for dinner, and now that he’s gone and gotten himself a full time job with a long commute — i’m the one in charge. so my weekly meal plan usually goes avocado toast, spinach tortellini, avocado toast, a big old caprese salad, avocado toast. no really, like those are the three things i make. sometimes i’ll mix things up and make a caprese salad AND avocado toast for one dinner. we keep joking about the fact that our kids are gonna hate moms avocado toast, so i’ve been trying to get myself to cook some things i’m less comfortable with lately. i made steaks a few weeks ago and even did a good job! (i dropped one steak on the floor but that was the only hiccup!)
blue apron reached out to me about trying out their meals, and i jumped at the chance because that meant i’d actually try out some new recipes and not even have to go to the store (which for me is one of the worst parts). they deliver you a refrigerated box full of all the proportioned out ingredients along with simple instructions and photos. and now i kinda wish all cookbooks had step-by-step photos.
we made their summer eggplant and pepper tostadas, because we apparently always eat like vegetarians for some reason. they have packages that come for two people plans as well as family plans. next time i’d mix it up and try out the tandoori spiced chicken and the pork ramen.
see how much fun i have when we cook together?! teamwork you guys. teamwork is cool. luckily i could have probably swung this recipe solo, because all their meals take less than 40 minutes to make and i can usually swing less than 40 minutes so long as i have a TV nearby.
if you wanna try it out for yourself — blue apron is offering the first 50 readers two free meals on your first order!
PHOTOS BY LILY GLASS
THIS POST WAS SPONSORED BY BLUE APRON. ALL OPINIONS ARE 100% MY OWN.
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dream house : the entryway
another thing you home owners or big apartment renters might take for granted is the space for an entryway — we kind of have one in our current apartment, well we have a massive AC unit that we keep our keys on, as you can imagine it’s super cute.
i’ve noticed myself majorly swooning over some of my recent entryway pins, which made me realize how excited i will be to have a proper entryway, and even just a little styled [and tidy] bench will do — because that’s all we’ll be able to have in the new house!
[ image above via ]
simple benches and hats on the wall and sometimes a plant — can you see a very cute trend here? yeah i wanna jump on that bandwagon. [ image one / two / three ]
sometimes a bench with a little clutter is cute too. [ image ]
a simple chair or bench with a sheepskin is kind of all you need (this is in dream land people, stacks of junk mail don’t exist) [ image one / image two ]
built-ins are rad. i love built-ins. [ image one / image two ]
but small spaces can still be super cute too, especially someday when i randomly just wake up with the ability to style my house like a pro. [ image one / image two ]
you got yourself an entryway? is it cute and styled or is it totally cluttered like ours will be?
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happy early weekend
i’m taking off early this week because we’re heading to new orleans today for our anniversary celebration! so excited. i’ll be back monday but you can follow with our trip on instagram!
and speaking of instagram — i wanted to share the news with you that you i shared there, we bought a house! we did the inspection this week, and as long as everything from this point on goes smoothly, we’ll be getting our keys in less than a month. we are ecstatic! there are so many things i want to do to it, so lets all get mentally prepared for some major makeovers coming this way.
⋅ obsessed with these garlands, i wanna put them everywhere
⋅ this is pretty damn cute
⋅ if you’ve got a cat and flower, do this right now
⋅ cute way to pretty up old picture frames
⋅ this is my husband, but with a lot less swearing
⋅ cute little DIY bumpkin leggings
⋅ i’m kinda scared to check mine…
⋅ our new backyard is all dirt, been scouring the internet for inspiration -
diy marble & wood serving platter
so i think we’re all in agreement that the best DIYs are ones that look like something fancy that we can’t afford and it’s cheaper to just make right? ok perfect, that’s totally what todays DIY is. i’ve been wanting a wood and marble serving tray for a while — and i’ve had this large marble tile laying around waiting to be used, so i was stoked when i finally found a piece of wood that was the right size!
materials
- marble tile (mine is 8×12″)
- wood in the same size
- clear rubber bumper pads
- food safe mineral oil
- clamps or heavy books
- painters tape
- industrial strength adhesive
- sandpaper
01. if necessary, trim down your wood. we were lucky enough to find the perfect size piece at michaels, we just had to saw 1/8″ off one end — just bring your marble tile to the craft or wood store and you can eye out the best piece of wood.
02. sand down your wood to get the smoothest texture you can, then tape off the end you want to glue to the marble. this prevents any damage from glue spillage.
03. for the strongest bond, add a light coat of glue to both ends of the marble and of the wood. let dry before gluing to one other. once those are dry, glue again and attach. make sure you clean any excess glue immediately.
04. use clamps to keep it tight while drying — if your clamps don’t keep the boards tight enough, you can also push the board towards a wall with heavy books or weights pushing it on the other side. let dry overnight.
05. apply mineral oil to get the wood food safe, attach the bumpers to the bottom so it’s easier to move around on your counter.
how pretty is the board?! i love the way the grain of the wood kind of echoes the grain of the marble. i’m using this for serving everything from now on, and are you wondering about the dope looking appetizer? well i’ll tell you it’s like, my favorite crostini i’ve ever made — hop over to the kendall-jackson blog for my recipe for the bacon, fig and brie crostini.
THIS POST WAS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH KENDALL-JACKSON. ALL OPINIONS ARE 100% MY OWN.
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free printable anniversary card
while i want you guys to think i’m totally generous and giving… you can think that today. i’m giving you permission! gid and i are celebrating our one year anniversary this weekend (no idea how that came so quickly), so i was feeling all lovey and anniversary-y — and i made this little card for all of us!
i was brainstorming what to do for the card, and was thinking about how this year has flown by, and it’s been so easy. no kids, no mortgage, no “real” stress yet. so while i’m so thankful for this first year — we’re a little anxious to get stressed out with a house and a baby and start the next chapter. so … the best is yet to come.
i ended up sizing up the printable a little after i photographed these cards, apparently i kind of have no idea what is the standard size for cards, but if you want to cut it down smaller to fit your smaller envelope, i made the design itself small enough that you can do that!
this card could also be perfect for like, graduates? engagements? you know, whatever you want!
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cucumber refresher
you know i love an easy cocktail recipe, the less ingredients the better – and the less muddling, straining, jiggering and whatever else bartenders do… the better.
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happy weekend
not to be a total broken record — but i wanted to thank you guys again for filling out the reader survey. i REALLY appreciate every single piece of input. i’m going to do a follow up post asap, but for now i’m going to mostly chill this weekend. we’re seeing a few houses and getting ready for our trip to new orleans next week! (ps. anyone know where a tall lanky guy can buy cute shorts?)
⋅ how pretty are these backgrounds?
⋅ i want a backyard
⋅ i want a pool in my backyard
⋅ i’m obsessed with this DIY. makes an empty hallway look so good
⋅ a cute simple way to make a giant wall hanging
⋅ been eyeing this for weeks now
⋅ i usually lean towards monochrome but not in this case
⋅ this is like the best use of wedding footage
⋅ lauren is so talented, and generous! -
DIY housewarming gift box (+ free printable)
you may remember that i love curating beautiful gift boxes, you can make them so personal and i love watching people discover one thing after another. i made my first one for my mom when i was a kid, i got her a cute pouch and then realized i had to fill it with all sorts of cute little items and i spent way too much of my allowance but i got hooked.
so when method sent me some bottles of their gorgeous nourishing hand wash that will be sold exclusively at target through october, i immediately knew i wanted to include them in the prettiest housewarming box i could make. because as we all know, we’re house hunting. but my brother took the sibling rivalry too far and beat me to the punch of house buying, so i made this beautiful gift box
for himto make him jealous. this box instead will be our own house warming gift to open when we buy our house. (ok ok, i’m making him one too. sheesh.)
Read More -
printable watercolor stroke gift wrap
as a thank you for filling out the reader survey yesterday, i wanted to share a little freebie printable for you guys today! the other day i was bored so i started watercoloring and trying to paint some pretty leaves… well they looked ugly. so instead i just did some simple brushstrokes. because brushstrokes are WAY EASIER.Read More
