The Home Life

Homemade Basil Pesto

lunalovegreat — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 09:56:48 -0400

Yesterday, as a part of our endeavor to begin genuinely cooking more of our meals instead of heating them up, Josh and I made a trip to the Rochester Public Market (which is completely fantastic, by the way) to finish our grocery shopping for the week. One of my purchases was a ton of basil leaves, since I adore Caprese paninis, and because they pop up in a billion recipes. When I got home and learned that you have to store them in water, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to store as many as I had, so I decided to whip up some pesto to keep for sandwiches and snacks this week. Turns out it’s super easy, and I already had everything in my kitchen.

Ingredients (amounts are to taste, and dependent on how much you want to make):

Fresh basil leaves

Chopped walnuts

Grated parmesan cheese

Garlic

Olive oil

Procedure:

Combine basil leaves and walnuts in a food processor. Pulse a few times before really grinding to break up the walnuts.

Add a couple cloves of minced garlic. Mix.

Add parmesan cheese. Mix.

Add olive oil, pouring continuously while mixing until appropriate consistency is achieved.

It’s super delicious, pretty healthy, and makes for a great addition to sandwiches. Enjoy!

Today's Project: Decorative Bulletin Board

lunalovegreat — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 22:28:14 -0400

A few weeks ago, Josh and I found this print on Modcloth and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, because of the small size, we couldn’t find a place in our apartment where it would work. We needed a larger piece to work with our high ceilings.

Then, about two weeks ago, we purchased this bulletin board at TJ Maxx:

I’d been puzzling over how to use it, and then a brilliant solution came to me. I decided to recreate the print on our bulletin board, using scraps of old fabric. Here’s how I did it.

Materials:

1 bulletin board

Several tacks

Fabric remnants (I also used pre-printed letters on linen from the “Just Married” banner at our reception)

Scissors

Fabric pencils

Measuring tape

Iron

Patience

An old pair of jeans

Double-sided tape

Procedure:

1. Cut 13 6”x6” squares of fabric, one for each letter of “We Are In This” plus two birds, from your desired fabric. I recommend using heavier fabrics, as they’re easier to cut.

2. Iron each piece so that it lays completely flat.

2. Sketch one letter on each piece, maintaining uniform height for each letter, and cut out the letters.

3. Sketch the birds, then cut two wings from scraps of your letters or any other fabric that catches your fancy. Cut out the birds.

3. Cut a nine inch tall strip from an old pair of jeans, from the bottom of the leg all the way to the hip. I used the fabric pencil to mark six inches from the side seam all the way up the leg and then cut along the side seam.

4. This is the painstaking part. I printed out the image of the “Coop Effort” print to use as a guide. Use the fabric pencil to draw the “together” script onto the denim. This is the part where you need the patience. Be sure that you start fairly close to the top, so that you have room for the bottom of the “g.” I messed up here and had to cut the bottom from a separate scrap. You can’t really tell, but I’d be more pleased if “together” were one continuous piece.

5. Cut out the script.

6. Use the tacks to secure your design onto the board. For delicate sections like the birds’ heads, use double-sided tape. Also secure the wings on with double-sided tape.

7. Voila! Display your board as a stand-alone creation, or use it as a backdrop for photos.

Photo

lunalovegreat — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 10:46:16 -0400

Photo

lunalovegreat — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 10:45:22 -0400

The Downside of Using Netflix for Workouts

lunalovegreat — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:06:28 -0400

Remember my post about how Netflix helped me lose 15 lbs? (If you don’t, here it is.) Turns out there’s a downside. Netflix got rid of all the 10-minute solutions workouts. Boo, Netflix. Luckily, I had one of them on DVD from about a jillion years ago, and I procured a couple others to keep on my hard drive before leaving on my honeymoon. All is not lost. But the big news is that my husband has asked me if I want to start P90X with him next week. I’m either going to be ripped or dead. Stay tuned.

Photo

lunalovegreat — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 21:34:00 -0400

We got married!

lunalovegreat — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 21:25:00 -0400

On July 21, Josh and I finally tied the knot, and we couldn’t have had a more perfect day. The photographer hasn’t gotten us all the photos yet, but here’s a little sneak peek.

The Stats:

Who: Joshua and me (obviously), Megan (my cousin and MOH), Erika (my cousin and a bridesmaid), Meagan, Danielle H, and Danielle M (my best friends and bridesmaids), BT (Joshua’s brother and BM), Greg, Mark, Justin, and Jason (Joshua’s buddies and groomsmen)

What: Our ceremony and after party. The reception is this Saturday.

Where: Bon Echo Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. It’s located on the lake where my family has vacationed for almost a century.

When: July 21 at 2:00 PM

Why: Because we love each other so stinking much!

My Narrative:

I was not nervous at all on the wedding morning, despite months of nerves and planning. I had been unsure about how the park would receive us. When we originally asked them if we could do the wedding there, they basically said that they couldn’t tell us no, but they couldn’t really support it either since it was peak season and they would be too busy. Au contraire, park people, because when we got there, the staff was so stoked. Everyone knew about it, and it’s all they were talking about on the walkie talkies. The beach we got married on usually has about 5 people tops, but when I came down the aisle I was surprised to see, I kid you not, at least 50 spectators on the beach and in the water. Canoes were stopped, people were watching from the water and the sand, and every single one of them were silent. Still, with all those people watching, it felt like just the two of us. We both choked up during our vows, which read as follows:

“(Name), in the sight of God’s love and in the presence of our families and friends, I promise you these things:
I will laugh with you in times of joy and comfort you in times of sorrow.
I will share in your dreams and support you as you strive to achieve your goals.
I will listen to you with compassion and understanding and speak to you with encouragement.
I will help you when you need it and step aside when you don’t.
I will remain faithful to you for better or worse, in times of sickness and health.
You are my best friend and I will love and respect you always.”

We did a sand ceremony, during which my dad sang a beautiful song he wrote, a capella.

After the wedding, we took a few photos, then went over to my parents’ cottage where we had a wonderful after party.

I’m posting photos as a photoset, because let’s face it, photos are always better that way. More will come after the reception and after the photographer finishes with everything.

Sad news for you, good news for me

lunalovegreat — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 10:07:13 -0400

Today I leave for the two week long extravaganza that is my wedding experience. I’ll probably update a couple times next week, but after that is my honeymoon, and of all the fun and exciting things I’ll be doing, holing up in my cube and writing about my apartment will not be among them. So, I bid you adieu for now and leave you with the promise of an enormous amount of wedding pictures when I return.

Registering for Wedding Gifts

lunalovegreat — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 15:00:56 -0400

I thought this would be the most fun part of wedding planning, and I guess it has been good. But it’s really a pretty frustrating process. If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that you really can’t know what you need or what you want until you’re in the space in which you’re going to be. I must have updated my registry a trillion and one times. That said, here are my best tips for registering and a few random tips about bridal showers:

1. Don’t use any sort of list that claims to have the “101 Things You MUST Register For.” They tell you to get like seven table clothes, fancy napkins, casual napkins, and a million other things that you don’t need. You know what you want more than anybody else does.

2. Don’t be drawn in by all the fancy kitchen gadgets. Think realistically. How often am I going to use that? If it’s less often than once every couple months, forget it. You’ll live without it and you’ll be glad to have the extra space for things you do need.

3. Use MyRegistry.com. It lets you choose gifts from all over the internet, so you can pick what you really want instead of the tablecloth from Macy’s that you think you can live with.

4. Don’t let anyone guilt you into keeping a gift that you don’t want. For me, it was these bizarre salt and pepper shakers that looked like frollicking kittens. Very Dolores Umbridge. I didn’t care that they were Lennox. They were ugly. Obviously, don’t tell the gifter. But don’t let your mother-in-law or anybody else convince you to keep things that will only gather dust.

5. Go through your registry once a month or so, just to get rid of things that you might have picked on a whim or to add things you forgot before.

The fireplace: an update

lunalovegreat — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 09:49:12 -0400

So we finally picked up the fireplace, and I have to say that it’s looking a little sad in the cozy area all by itself.

So, last night I drafted an idea for cozy-ing up the space. So without further ado, here it is:

Most of this was already in the plan, but the real coup would be the addition of a sort of a mantle piece. I don’t think it should be too difficult to build, and I really think it would add. Stay tuned to see how close I get!

Decal-icious

lunalovegreat — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 17:21:00 -0400

A few weeks ago, we bought this wall decal on Etsy at Joshua’s behest. He really liked the layout and typography, so whatever. When it finally came, we spent a half hour on the floor peeling off the backing, only to find that one letter was missing. We resolved to e-mail the seller to ask for a letter “I” and proceeded to get ready to stick it on the wall when the back got all stuck together and Joshua responded by wadding the whole thing up and pitching it across the room.

$50 later, a new one was delivered, and this time we read the instructions, which said to start by taping the whole thing to the wall. This was much more effective.

Our second helpful hint is to rub the crap out of the whole thing with a credit card or something. We used scrapers from my buttload of Pampered Chef stoneware. This keeps pieces of the decal from staying on the sticky when you try to peel it off.

Next, peel away the top very slowly…

And voila!

I was afraid it would be cheesy and was pretty surprised that he even picked it out, but I like the way it looks and I like that I can now enforce rules number 8 and 10 with some kind of backing (as long as he doesn’t invoke #17).

Bedroom

lunalovegreat — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 10:00:01 -0400

This room was the hardest for me to think about before the move, because it was so under-decorated before we came. There’s still a long way to go, but I’m confident that it’s going to look fabulous when we’re done with it. Here’s what it was like before:

About the room:

The room is long, which I thought would make it difficult, but the high ceiling makes it feel much more spacious. It’s 18’ from the window to the closet, and 12’ from the door to the back wall. After the entrance, though, it thins to 9’ wide. The closet is 9’ wide and about 3’ deep.

What we’ve done so far:

Also, there’s our cat Cleo checking herself out in the mirror.

We painted the wall behind the bed a shade of grey called “Stone Fence” (Behr 720F-4), which really grounded the space and made the beams on the ceiling pop. My dad built the bed for us, based on the MALM at Ikea. This one is much sturdier, we suspect, plus he was able to make it white with a natural wood accent, which we love. The Regate bedspread is made by Lacoste, and we got it at Macy’s for about $150. My vanity is a family heirloom, made in Jamestown, NY and shipped to Wilson, just like Joshua! Those are the only pieces that we’re expecting to keep in the room.

The plan:

My dad is building endtables similar to the MALM nightstand at Ikea, except that they’ll be white with a natural wood trim, just like the bed. They will still affix to the side of the bed, so that the drawers float, but the top won’t be even with the headboard. Instead, they’ll be about 6 inches shorter, which will add visual interest and give us a space for wall sconces. He’s also building natural wood drawers to put under the bed.

The room doesn’t have any lighting except for the windows, so I’m hoping to install a big pendant lamp above the bed, very much like this one, also from Ikea.

We’re planning to pick up two MANDAL dressers, which will match the room nicely and will go beneath the window.

Long-term, we’re planning to get a bigger TV for the living room and will mount the old one across from the bed, about 8 feet high, so that it doesn’t obstruct walking and will be at a comfortable angle for watching from the bed. We’re also planning to hang a stretched canvas print from our wedding over the bed.

In the end, I think we’ll have a classy, comfortable bedroom!

Bathroom

lunalovegreat — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:01:54 -0400

I wasn’t sold on the bathroom when we first got the apartment, but it’s one of my favorite things in the apartment now. The previous tenants just left it cream-colored, and it was pretty boring.

About the space:

I recently learned that this is called a “European-style bathroom,” but I’ve been to Europe and I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary about the bathrooms. I’m guessing that it’s European because it’s long and thin, but I don’t really know. Anyway, some of our obstacles include the eensy-weensy medicine cabinet. Usually the mirror and medicine cabinet are one unit, but ours is on the wall adjacent to the mirror and is only about 3” deep. One thing I love is the walk-in shower, which has a handy dandy little seat that is perfect for leg-shaving. It’s about 12’ from the door to the back wall, and the walking area is about 3.5’ wide.

What we’ve done so far:

We painted the long empty-ish wall a shade of green called “Herbal Garden” (Behr, 420D-5), and at first I was really nervous because it looked like guacamole. But once it dried, it looked springy, serene, and generally awesome.

The plan:

The lack of medicine cabinet space has led to an unsightly build-up of medicine-cabinet things under the sink. So, my plan is to put a tall set of shelves in the little alcove across from the toilet (over Cleo’s litter box) where we can keep some seagrass baskets like these ones from Pier One. They can replace a medicine cabinet.

For the long empty wall across from the shower, I originally wanted to tie in the seagrass theme with a seagrass framed mirror, but Joshua doesn’t want a mirror across from the shower because he’s creeped out by his own naked self. So, I’ve decided to go with a few candle holders. I chose these from Kirkland’s since they have a sort of a spa feel. I also registered for clean linen scented pillar candles to put in them.

I registered for these Turkish Ribbed Towels from Bed Bath & Beyond, partly because they look nice and partly because they sound fancy. I’ve always been a victim of advertising.

Also from Bed Bath & Beyond are this Kate Spade Gardner Bath Rug and this bamboo Boomba bath ensemble that we registered for (with the exception of the tumbler, since it reminds me of a bad 70s coffee table).

Now that I’m looking at it all together, I’m less sure about the bamboo ensemble. I might keep an eye out for a seagrass ensemble instead. What do you think?

Josh's Loft

lunalovegreat — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 14:57:01 -0400

The loft above my cube is the perfect space for Josh’s office. The tenants before us used it as a second bedroom, but we won’t be needing one of those. He hasn’t had much interest in decorating it, so it mostly looks like his old apartment and will probably stay that way. Still, here’s a look.

About the space:

It has the same dimensions as my cube, so at the back it’s 11’ x 4’ and at the front it’s 7’ x 4’. There’s a spiral staircase leading up to it which, if you ask me, is a pain in the tukkus, because you have to duck under the stairs to get to the entrance, and from there it’s very tightly wound. But it’s not my problem, so that’s good news.

What he’s done:

Josh and my dad took the railing off and somehow managed to lift the couch and desk up that way. The couch, bookcase, desk, endtable, and pretty much everything else in the room came from his old apartment. The couch was a $65 craigslist purchase. We made the lampshade one evening a couple years ago out of all the old ticket stubs he had laying around and some fishing wire.

The plan:

Truthfully, I don’t think there’s much of a plan where the loft is concerned. There are a couple wall decor items that haven’t been hung yet, but once we hang them I have a feeling the loft will be done.

This bulletin board has photos of us out to dinner with friends, as 13- and 15-year-olds at camp, in a photo booth, and on an airboat in Florida, a few photos with his friends and his old band, a quotation, some pins, a coaster that I’m pretty sure he snagged from Red Lobster, and whatever else.

This poster is one of his favorite decor pieces. He got it from some Facebook app that grabs the profile thumbnails of all your friends and prints them on a poster. So, there’s all his friends!

The Cube

lunalovegreat — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 10:20:11 -0400

This is the part of the apartment I was most excited about from the very beginning. I like small, confined spaces for reading and working, so this was perfect for me. Two tenants ago, it was built as a wine cellar, and the tenants before us used it as a dressing room for the girl who slept in the loft above. I’m using it as a reading room/office.

About the space:

The word “cube” is a little misleading. Though the main part of the room is cube-like, there is a little nook in the back so that it’s more of a wonky “L” shape. It’s exactly the same shape as the loft above. The cube-y part is about 7’ square and the little nook in the back is about 4’ square.

What I’ve done so far:

As you may recall, we painted the outside of the cube Pointsettia red, which I’m still in love with. I moved in all my books, which was no small feat, along with all my other strictly Alyssa stuff like my knitting, paint set, and teacher supplies. I hung a bunch of the pictures my second graders made me when I was student teaching to motivate me to keep looking for teaching jobs and a couple love letters Josh wrote me, since I suspect this will be where I go when I’m feeling huffy. I also moved my desk in so that I can look out the window into the rest of the apartment.

The plan:

I’ve got big plans for the cube, but they won’t be executed until probably mid-to late-August. First, I’m planning to paint it a light blue, as you can see from the paint swatches I’ve hung to the right of the window. I think the color is relaxing, plus it will look nice next to the red when you look through the window from the great room. My dad is building me a big floor to ceiling bookshelf to put on the wall opposite my desk, which will be super. He’s also building a little seat/storage chest to tuck into the back nook for me to read in. There’s a little hole in the wall back there where the first guy kept the air conditioner for the wine, but I think I’m going to put a little wine rack in there. I’m also considering draping gauzy fabric on the ceiling, just to make the room a little airier.

Wedding Planning

lunalovegreat — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 14:52:44 -0400

Though decorating the apartment has been a major part of my life for the last week, even more of it has gone into the wedding, which is approaching swiftly. So, here’s a little fact sheet:

We’re getting married on Lake Mazinaw in Ontario, Canada where my family has vacationed for more than 75 years. Here’s a photo of our ceremony site:

That cliff across the lake is about 300 feet high, and one of the most amazing things you’ll ever see in your life. We have about 60 guests making the trip up for the ceremony, and we’ll have a small after-party that evening. Josh and I are honeymooning at the Catalonia Royal Bavaro in Punta Cana, DR. It’s all-inclusive, sunny, and warm, which were our three criteria for a honeymoon. After we get home from all that sun and relaxation, we’re having a bigger reception for all of our friends and family at the Roger Robach center on Lake Ontario. Here’s that:

Our colors are aqua and coral, as reflected on our invitations. Both our invites and our save-the-dates were designed by designer/groomsmen/Canadian extraordinaire, Greg Cunneyworth, co-owner of We Make Nice Websites.

There’s also a heavy birch theme, as showcased on our save-the-dates. Our cake will look like birch stumps with J+A carved in a heart on the side. The flower girl bucket is also birch, as are the planters holding flowers in our centerpieces. Pictures will follow after the event, but here are the save-the-dates:

To check out more, take a look at our wedding website.

Kitchen

lunalovegreat — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 09:55:04 -0400

Though it’s full of cupboards and drawers, we don’t have a very spacious kitchen. Still, we love the stainless appliances, garbage disposal, and new stove. Here’s what it looked like before:

About the space:

We have slightly over 19’ of counter, and the counters are all 17.5” deep. There’s only about 5’ x 4.5’ of floor space, but it’s actually kind of nice, since you can pretty much reach anything from any given point in the kitchen.

What we’ve done:

My favorite detail is the decision to paint the recessed shelving next to the bar in the same shade of red as the cube. I think it really ties the great room together, and it will make the things on the shelves pop, once we have things to put on them.

Other than painting, all we’ve really done is filled the kitchen with the plethora of kitchen-y gifts I got at my bridal shower. One drawer is entirely filled with various Pampered Chef implements that I had to save the instructions for, lest I forget what they are.

The plan:

I love that we have a bar, so that’s what most of my kitchen planning is related to. I’ve registered for these fantastic little terrariums from CB2, an offshoot of Crate and Barrel. I’m hoping to hang those above the bar.

We obviously need barstools, and both Joshua and I agree that they need to have backs. Though there are plenty of barstools at every furniture store in the world, I think I want to look into a few antique shops. So, that’s the plan for this weekend.

Lastly, we need to get some canisters, just to keep the counter looking a little less cluttered. I registered for the Oggi 7-Piece Ceramic Air-Tight Jar set from Bed Bath & Beyond and think they’ll be good, unobtrusive organizers.

Dining Area

lunalovegreat — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 09:57:04 -0400

As you saw in the post about the cozy space, the former tenants used that as their dining area. They left empty the space where we decided to have the dining area, so there isn’t much to say about what it was like before we got here. So, without furthur ado…

About the space:

It’s still a part of the great room, but we’ve designated about 16’ x 8’ for dining.

What we’ve done:

At the moment, our dining room consists of a table/4 chair set that belonged to my Aunt Bea in the 30s. We would like to be able to entertain, so Aunt Bea’s set will be replaced by a much longer table once we get ourselves to Ikea.

Our table settings are pretty clean and basic:

The plates/bowl are from the Colorwave collection by Noritake for Bed Bath & Beyond. The utensils are also from Bed Bath & Beyond, and are called Non-Stop. We liked them for their modern look, and less shiny patina. The glasses are Luna by Bormioli. A word to the wise: you need far fewer glasses than you think you do. We registered for two sets and found that 32 glasses is excessive, even for two people who like to entertain. The placemats are pressed vinyl (Pressed Dahlia by Chilewich) and wipe clean, which is really nice. We tested them out for the first time on taco night, and they cleaned up very easily.

The plan:

The table of choice is the TORSBY, a sleek black and chrome table that’s simple, but classy.

We haven’t been able to agree on chairs yet. He likes these chairs (TOBIAS chair), which I think look incredibly uncomfortable:

In my perfect world, we’d get the NILS Armchair, but he thinks they look to confining:

Ultimately, I think we’ll probably settle on something like the HERMAN Chair, which, apart from being a style compromise, only costs $15. Bonus!

The other plan for the dining area is not so much an issue of purchasing as one of logistics. Meet Olive (left) and Alice (right):

Olive is named after my great-great-grandmother, who passed down the clipping from which her namesake came. Alice is just a good name for a plant. They hang on macrame plant hangers that my mother made for us. On Wednesday, we tried to hang Alice on the wall to the right of the window with a plant hook, and even though we used a stud finder, she came crashing down about five minutes later, along with a good chunk of the drywall. My dad and Josh have big plans to bolster them with chunks of wood, and later we will hopefully hang Alice between the windows, since she requires a little more sunlight, and will hang Olive beside the doorway into the bedroom/bathroom area, to the left of the window.

I’m also hoping to hang a big old pendant lamp above the dining table, to draw the eye upward, but apparently you have to think a lot about electricity or whatever, so “we’ll see.”

How Netflix, my computer, and my smartphone helped me lose 15 pounds

lunalovegreat — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 15:01:53 -0400

Part of getting ready for the wedding has been the quest to get into the best shape of my life. Since January, I’ve made a few lifestyle changes and have slimmed down 15 lbs. Here’s how!

1. MyFitnessPal

After you fill out a short questionnaire about your body and habits, MyFitnessPal calculates how many calories you should be consuming daily in order to meet your weight loss goals. Throughout the day, you enter the food you’ve eaten into your daily food diary (most foods are already in their database), and it keeps a running tally of how much you have left. At the end of the day, it lets you know how much you would weigh in five weeks, if every day were like that day. It can be very motivating. You can also keep track of exercise, which earns you extra calories.

There’s also a MyFitnessPal app, which not only lets you keep track of your food on the go, but allows you to scan barcodes rather than type in the name of your food and search the list.

2. 10-Minute Solutions on Netflix

Search 10-Minute Solutions on Netflix, and you’ll find like 7 or 8 different options. Personally, I love Target Toning, both of the Pilates sets, and Yoga. Each one is comprised of five 10-minute workouts, each targeting a certain area of your body. I try to do between 3 and 5 of the workouts each day, and it’s made a huge difference.

The Home Life

Homemade Basil Pesto

Today's Project: Decorative Bulletin Board

Photo

Photo

The Downside of Using Netflix for Workouts

Photo

We got married!

Sad news for you, good news for me

Registering for Wedding Gifts

The fireplace: an update

Decal-icious

Bedroom

Bathroom

Josh's Loft

The Cube

Wedding Planning

Kitchen

Recommended Reads: "Life's Too Short to Fold Fitted Sheets" by Lisa Quinn

Dining Area

How Netflix, my computer, and my smartphone helped me lose 15 pounds