Jessica

We Bought a House

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So do remember way back when I kind of announced that Chuck and I were going to start looking for a house? Well after just a few months we found one! The closing took a couple weeks but as of last night the place is ours!!!

Phew! I have been holding in my excitement for weeks now and o-m-g does it feel good to finally tell you guys what has been keeping us busy/stressed/sleepless and everything else.

I cannot even contain my excitement. I have been daydreaming of owning a home since childhood. That’s not a joke, I was never into planning my wedding, but I always wanted to play house, in fact I always wanted to build the house too. Early signs of the engineer right there.

Of course celebrations included take out, champagne and camping out on the floor. We like to keep it classy around here. It was absolutely amazing to wake up in a home that is all ours!

I am thrilled to finally have a place to make my own, and experiment with my own style. I’m especially excited to have a place to start perennial plants, and a berry patch. My garden can finally fulfill all of my dreams!!

Brody is ecstatic to have a fenced in back yard where he can roam free. There is even a doggy door for him so he can come and go as he pleases if mom and dad are running late, which is a huge relief for us.

This place is a bit of a fixer upper, and I’m sure Chuck is just thrilled to get started on all the projects that I have planned (HA!). To name a few we will be refinishing the floors, adding some doors to the outside and a deck, a patio, a new septic, paint obviously, shelves, and a new kitchen back splash. I hope your ready for some DIY posts.

I planned on having pictures today for you of the whole house, but Saturday morning we started working on our floors. We are redoing them ourselves and man, is it a chore. We are all exhausted, even Brody. So forgive me, but I will try to post with pictures soon, very soon.

How I Designed my Own Wedding Stationary

By Jessica

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I knew I wanted handmade stationary from the very beginning, though I wasn’t sure on the specifics. Since we were trying to keep costs down I knew I would have to make them myself, but I was certainly up for the challenge.

I was able to paint the designs that I wanted in the first few tries. The editing took the longest, I’m still trying to figure out both my camera and photoshop so there is definitely room for improvement, but I’m still pretty pleased with the result.

I never knew there were so many rules to creating invitations, but apparently there are, and I’m pretty sure I broke every single one. Honestly I don’t think any of our guests know the correct invitation etiquette anyway so they probably didn’t even notice.

Anyway this is how it all turned out, with all pertinent info blurred of course. This might be the time to admit that Chuck is not my fiancé’s real name. It has been his nickname since high school though, and even his mother calls him that occasionally. Moving on. . .

I hand painted the flowers on watercolor paper, took pictures of them and then edited them with Photoshop. Editing was the worst; probably because I’m not well versed in photoshop. It took me far too long, and about a thousand youtube videos to get done. Thankfully I’ve learned a lot with this project so hopefully the next foray with photoshop won’t be so bad. I’m thinking my next Craftsy course is going to have to be this one.

The next step was getting them printed. I went looked at a couple different options but when I found out that overnight prints sends out a free sampler with a ton of different options I was pretty much sold. I really liked getting to feel the texture and weight of the product in my hand while I was deciding what I wanted. All I had to do was upload the file I had created and lay it out in their design system. I could even make a few editing tweeks and add text there and I was done. Seriously, it was as simple as pie. I was really impressed with their services and please to see my entire order arrive neat and tidy.

In the end I’m so glad I decided to hand make these. I think it really adds a personal touch to the wedding, and while they aren’t perfect I’m really happy with how they turned out. Now we just have to deal with getting them out the door!!

Let’s be honest that’s Chuck’s job, I made them after all, and now I have thank yous to write for the shower.

Cheesy Grilled Hasselback Potatoes

By Jessica

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Liven up your typical backed potato with this recipe for Cheesy Grilled Hasselback Potatoes.

I’m really glad to see that my weekly meal plans are such a hit here on the blog. I love creating them and sharing with you guys the style of food that we actually eat every single day. I’ve noticed while trying to put these together that there is a serious lack of side dishes here on the blog so I’ve made it a point to get a few more of our favorite side dishes posted for you.

Hasselback potatoes are one of our favorite side dishes because they are fun! It’s a little different that a normal backed potato, which let’s be honest can get so boring! I’ve never really been a fan of plain baked potatoes. Hasselback potatoes can get crisp edges and soft insides which is something that baked potatoes lack, but they are still just as versatile.

In this recipe I kept it simple with cheddar cheese, but feel free to add any other toppings that you like on a typical baked potato. I know you can get creative here with things like sour cream, chives, bacon, pickles, or salsa. Really the sky is the limit with these babies.

Note 1: I also want to note that while this recipe uses the grill you can also make them easily in the oven. Simply cook them at 400 degrees in the oven for about 55 minute to one hour.

Note 2: Peeling the potatoes is optional. I like them better peeled, but Chuck likes the crisp skin it doesn’t change the instructions either way.

Cheesy Grilled Hasselback Potatoes

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour

Serves: 4 Servings

Ingredients

4 medium russet potatoes, washed
4 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
6 ounces cheddar cheese
½ tablespoon chopped chives for garnish

Instructions

Cut each potato into thin slices without cutting all the way through.
Place the potatoes on a plate and microwave for 3 minutes, rotate and microwave again for 3 minutes. Place each potato on a piece of foil large enough to enclose the potato.
Melt the butter and combine it with the garlic, salt and pepper. Use a brush to coat each potato evenly.
Fold the sides of the foil up to create a pouch and place each potato on a preheated grill. Cook for 35 to 40 minutes or until the potato is tender.
Carefully remove from the grill and open the foil packets. Sprinkle the top with cheese and place back on the grill for 4 to 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Garnish with chives and serve immediately.

What are your favorite side dish recipes? I would really love to try some new ones!!

Half Year Thoughts

By Jessica

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A review of new years goals at the half year mark and a few new ones for summer.

Yesterday marked the first day of summer. The changing of the seasons always feels like a good time to reflect, and I have been doing a lot of that lately (See here, here and here). If you are interested in my thoughts from the beginning of spring you can read them here.

I had a few simple goals this year and at the halfway point I’m feeling pretty good about achieving most of them.

One of my main goals was to stay in touch with my many far flung friends, and while I have done better with some, others have fallen to the wayside, and sometimes that just how it ends up being, it’s ok, if time and life push us together once more I will happily accept them back into my life, if not that’s ok too. I have made a number of new friends that I am excited to get to know further. We are building a little community here in our town and it’s a wonderful feeling.

Saving money was very much on my mind in the beginning of the year and despite spending a pretty penny on our house, and this wedding we are still doing ok with that. Our spending habits have improved, along with our eating habits (I think that may be related). I know that during the work/moving phase of this year that will go backward a bit, but once we are settled I am hoping to keep those good habits up.

Fitness was another major goal category for me this year, and I have to say I could be doing so much better in this category. I have spurts of good habits before the stress of life pulls me back into laziness. I am drinking more water, eating breakfast every day, and my overall diet is much better than it was in January, but I have not been successful at morning yoga or keeping up with regular workouts. I hope that I can make this a priority again soon; there are less than 4 months until the wedding so I am running out of time!

Something that was not on my goals list, but I want to mention, is the blossoming of my artistic side (too cheesy? I’m not sure). In the last six or more months I have really developed a need to be creative daily, something that I had hoped after NaNoWriMo to really develop. The 12-12-12 project has driven me some but the daily practice of being creative has really made me feel more alive than I have in a long time. It might even be to blame for why I can’t seem to get myself to work out regularly, I’d rather be doing something creative with that time. I’m looking forward to sharing a number of really awesome projects with you in the coming months, and I hope that you guy’s are too.

This summer is going to be busy, there is no doubting that and on the other side of it there will be a long awaited wedding, the first full week of vacation in almost 3 years and the first holidays both in our home and as a married couple. Even though I know that I already have a lot to look forward to there are a few little goals that I want to jot down here to remind me to enjoy the little things and stay on track.

Get the new yard under control
Do yoga often
Get married, without loosing my mind
Host a dinner party
Keep “Stuff” from entering the new house
Drink red wine by the fire in the back yard
Encourage Chuck and guests to play music more
Settle into the new house
Paint some rooms
Hike more
Fish often

I am so pleased with how the first half of this year has turned out and I cannot wait to see what summer and the rest of 2015 has in store for me.

How is your year coming along? Have you accomplished or worked toward any of your goals??

Weekend Links

By Jessica

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Females in robotics and engineering are rare enough, but a female teenage entrepreneur in robotics? She might be my new hero.

And along the same lines… When did Girls Start Wearing Pink.

And it’s no wonder the gender thing is an issue, when a male Nobel Prize Winner talks trash a bout women in science. So proud of my STEM ladies responses! check out the awesome hashtag here.

“Have a nice day” was written on a yellow sticky note by 2 escaped prisoners from a maximum security prison, in my home state. Suddenly a few hours doesn’t seem like far enough.

Where the 10,000 step craze came from and what it isn’t doing in the fight against obesity.

And because I fell down the rabbit hole; here is a post on gut health. I’m not sure if the gut is the key to it all, but it’s probably a good idea to eat more fiber anyway and I will always advocate for the presence of dogs in every home.

When Did Blogging Get so Serious? – amen sister!

I cannot believe this woman was arrested for braiding hair?! Glad to see her fight and win for her rights!!!

5,000 Free Lunches – More of this!!! There are starving people in the world and we actually produce enough food to feed them. Food waste needs to stop!!

And more of this: Taylor Swift continues to astound me and as a former hater I have to say that she is a true inspiration.

The Hipster Beard is over. I always wondered who made these decisions. Chuck’s had a beard as long as hes been able to grow one. I’ll have to tell him the news that he’s out of style again.

Debunking Fitness Myths. It’s all so true!

Jessica

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