Monday, April 30, 2018

Cucumber Greek Salad

This Greek cucumber salad is one of my favorite side dishes to make in spring and summer.  Simple and quick as always low carb!

Dressing Ingredients: 
1/2 extra virgin olive oil
1/4 red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced

Salad Ingredients:
2 large cucumbers, diced
1 pound cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 six oz. container crumbled feta cheese
1 6.5 oz. jar kalamata olives




Instructions: 
In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar and minced dill, set aside.

In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients.  Toss with dressing until all ingredients are covered.
Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours.  Drain excess dressing before serving.

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Bathroom Brighten Up

The downstairs full bath is pretty dull and dark.  The whole bottom floor is in need of some brightening up and I'm gradually updating and changing some things around to make the area seem brighter and bigger.  Bye bye brown shower curtain and  Colorado photo collage! 
What a huge difference a white shower curtain makes.  (Sorry for the terrible lighting, this bathroom has no window so I'm stuck with using the existing can lights).  Your eye doesn't automatically drift to the busy shower curtain print.  The new semi sheer shower curtain brightens up the room, thanks to the recessed light above the shower.  We had this fish print hanging in the hallway, but bringing it into this room brings in some much needed color.  

I'm not insanely in love with the rattan mirror anymore, but it's going to have to do for now. Plus the brown rattan doesn't blend well with the gray granite countertops at all.  A new hand towel with both brown and gray designs helps tie in the two tones. 


The floor in the downstairs hallway is a dark slate, so the addition of a large light patterned rug, helps lighten up the floor.
 Small inexpensive changes can make a room seem so much bigger  and brighter.  I changed all this without saying anything to Chad this week.  I heard him say "where the hell am I?" after he walked in the bathroom the other night.  I like to keep him on his toes.
Happy Sunday!
~Katie

Monday, April 23, 2018

Prom Session

Saturday I did a quick photo shoot for some friends who's son was attending junior prom.  Prom has definitely changed in the last 20 years!  I think my mom took a few pictures with a disposable camera in front of a flower bush before we hit the road.
I was pretty nervous, this was the first time I'd shot anything other than babies, kids, and one bridal shoot in my yard.  Thank goodness for Pinterest.  A quick search for "prom poses" gave me a few ideas.
I'm still a little rusty with the camera since I've finally dusted it off again, but thankfully I was working with some fantastic smiles!
Here are a few of my favorites....












Happy Monday!  
~Katie 

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Thinking Inside the Shadowbox....Again

Years ago I made a shadowbox of items from our wedding.  Invitations, honeymoon boarding passes, a koozie from my bachelorette party, and a cd compiled of our favorite music that we gave away as favors at the reception.

You know what's really funny about nostalgic items that you display in your home?  You tend to look completely over them.  I haven't truly looked at any of these items since I hung this in our home.  It's weird because it's right there on the wall, and I walk past it everyday and don't really look at it.  It's almost as if since it's in our line of sight everyday, we don't appreciate it, whereas if it was put away in a scrapbook to pull out and enjoy once in a while, we would appreciate the items even more.  

Chad has an amazing collection of arrowheads he inherited from his granddaddy in Kingstree, South Carolina.  They all were found in and around a creek on his property. We had them displayed in a basket on a hallway table downstairs, but you really didn't notice them in the dark wood basket.  
I've recently wondered if there was a better way to show this collection off.  They were just collecting dust in the basket....and the shadowbox in the hallway with our wedding memories had seen it's day.  I still treasure all memories in that shadowbox, but they deserved to be moved to a scrapbook.  
The linen backing is the perfect shade of cream to display the earth tones and the textures on these treasures.








Fun little project for a Saturday afternoon!  I might have to pop that cd in to remember what our favorite music was from 2006....IF I can locate a cd player in this house.  It's amazing how much technology has changed in the last 11 years.  That was back in the days when I burned cds all the time and didn't even own an ipod, much less have the capability to listen to music on my phone.

Now I feel as old as these arrowheads.  Excuse me while I go slather on the night serum and eye cream.

Happy Sunday!
~Katie

Saturday, April 7, 2018

Classic Frittata

I've lived a low carb lifestyle since March of 2012 and the diet has changed my life.  There are so many variations of low carb diets out there right now, but just sticking with a diet low in carbs and staying away from sugar makes me feel the best.  After such a big change, I've started experimenting with different recipes that I can keep on rotation.  Frittata is a quick and easy brunch or breakfast meal that seems to always get rave reviews.


Ingredients:
*8 large eggs
*1 meat:  I usually use turkey sausage or regular sausage, but I used bacon for the recipe pictured
*2 green peppers, diced
*2 red peppers, diced
*1 half onion, diced
*1 small container white mushrooms
*2 cups mild cheddar cheese

Prep:
*Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
*Brown sausage
*In a large pan, cook mushrooms, onions and peppers with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
*In a large bowl, beat eggs and add in vegetables, cheese and sausage, mixing well.
*Add mixture to a greased casserole dish or pan.  I use a cast iron skillet, but any baking dish or casserole dish will do.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until eggs are cooked through.


This is usually a crowd pleaser and an easy breakfast to throw together especially when we have company staying over.

I'll be adding a new tab to the blog that will include all the low carb recipes call "Low Carb Eats" for reference.

Happy Saturday!
~Katie

Friday, April 6, 2018

Friday Favorite





It's been a while since I've done a favorites post....but boy, do I have a list a mile long of some things I've become obsessed with since I dusted this blog off and restarted this baby.

If you haven't listened to Jen Sincero's audiobook "You Are A Badass.  How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life," please, PLEASE do yourself a favor and download it.  Why listen instead of buy the hardcopy?  Because some books NEED to be listened to in audio form.  Why? 2 reasons.  Huge time saver.  If you're like me, you're busy and don't have time to actually sit down and read. The other reason is that Jen Sincero herself narrarates it and I love it when authors do this.  They are the ones who are going to be the best at getting you motivated. 

This book, ya'll, this book is numero uno THE reason I'm sitting here typing away again.  There is something in it for every single person I know.  She pushes you to stop worrying what everyone else thinks, get over yourself and take the steps to achieve your goals!!  I've listened to it twice already and I'm probably going to listen to it again, and again.......and again.




I know everyone has insecurities, and if you know me personally,  you know I've got some MAJOR ones. This book has pushed me to start typing again. I look at obstacles in a different way and have learned to stop blaming my insecurities and anxiety on my past, but look at them as tools to learn and grow from.



It's such a great motivator if you're stuck in a rut and feeling sorry for yourself.  I see so many people I know that are so artistic, so beautiful, so amazing and talented, that truly don't see how amazing they are and sell themselves short.

I think we all have something we are passionate about that's either a side hustle, a hobby, or a passion we'd like to share or pursue.  This book is something I urge you to start with.  After I read this book, I stumbled onto some amazing motivational podcasts that I'll be sharing later on, but this book is a must if you need a little self love boost.  I know always do!

TGIF!
~Katie 

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Breakfast Nook

If you saw my Instagram post recently about my dining chairs from Tuesday Morning that I was lucky were still there.....well, here they are.  I LOVE these chairs and can't believe I didn't snag them the day I saw them.  At $49.99, they are a steal.  They're light and I love the woven seat cushion detail.  I originally bought these chairs for the large dining room table that has a similar finish, but they just worked so much better in the kitchen, they found a new home here.
Curtains: Overstock.com; Chairs: Tuesday Morning
Table: Pier One; Dinnerware: Marhsalls 


This area is a little nook of of the side of the kitchen.  We've never had a table in this area because A. It's small and B. We already have a bar area with 3 barstools, so we have a place to sit and eat.   I've been ready to change everything, so one day (much to my patient husband's dismay), I asked him to help me move the dining room table into the nook.  I never thought we'd have enough room to be able to move around but it fit perfect!








Here's a shot of what we had going on in this space before.  2 rattan chairs flanking a small table.
This is the table from the dining room that we used.  The X back chairs from Tuesday morning are much more noticeable in the kitchen instead of these more formal ones. 


I'm surprised we have as much room in this space as we do.  Now I'm on the search for the perfect rug for this space.  For about a week, Beckett wanted us all to sit together and eat at this table and I was proud to oblige...however, just like everything else, the newness has worn off and he's lost interest.  *Sigh*

Happy Wednesday!

~Katie

Monday, April 2, 2018

Footstool Freshen Up

A few months ago, I bought a small footstool that has the same lines as the coffee table with the intent of recovering the cushion, and I finally got around to grabbing some fabric from Hobby Lobby last week.  I went with this neutral deer print.  Very quick little project that turned out pretty cheap.

Here's a picture of what this poor stool looked like before (I promised y'all real life and there's nothing more real life than stains).  I've walked in twice now to popsicles and cheetos being eaten on this stool....but I knew it was being recovered soon, so I didn't make too much of a big deal out of it.  Plus, it's white, so it wouldn't have stayed clean long anyway. 

Stool: Ross
Deer print fabric: Hobby Lobby
Printed fabric is so much easier at hiding stains and spills. Hopefully we can try to keep this one cleaner this time around, but on the upside, I have enough fabric to recover it all over again.
With a 40% off coupon, the fabric ended up being less than $7 and the stool was only $24, so I came out pretty good for a place to prop up my feet!

Happy Monday!
~Katie