Friday Favorites

Recently I have come across articles, videos, and photos lately that have left an impression on me. So, I thought, why not share them? Even better, why not try to turn this into a weekly thing?

A few bloggers that I follow do something similar where they periodically share things they have found around the internet with their readers. And, you know what? Those are some of my favorite posts! They help me discover new bloggers, look at things from a new perspective, and introduce me to ideas that I would never have discovered on my own.

So, the plan? Every Friday (talk about accountability!) put together a little wrap up of the things that have put a smile on my face throughout the week in the hopes that they will put a smile on your face too.  So, without further ado, the first Friday Favorites.....

this amazing speech given by a Georgia Tech student

a mother's take on teenagers and social media

this amazing house for sale in a nearby neighborhood that I will never afford

(doesn't stop the dreaming though!)

the idea that every class, not just every student, has a unique personality

one blogger's take on Miley Cyrus and her VMA performance

an elementary school teacher's list of ways teaching has ruined her

a fun take on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

this master bedroom paint job has me itching to get into our own home so we can fix it up

the 21 true struggles of Floridians who move out of state

thoughts on living in a 24/7 world and how that applies to students and homework

Simple Paint Storage

I wanted to share a quick and easy storage solution for any leftover paint you might have lying around your place. 

After the paint crew finished painting my classroom, I was left with two messy looking gallon containers. I didn't feel like leaving them in my classroom storage closet, so I brought them home with me. The only problem is that we have pretty much run out of storage space in our apartment, so finding room for two gallons of paint plus all the supplies we had purchased was proving difficult. Not to mention, it seemed silly to keep such large containers when the majority of the paint was gone. 

So, I turned to Google and Pinterest for ideas on how to store paint.  My favorites were these two:

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{pin/original from IHeart Organizing}

I loved the first because it was simple and streamlined. Plus, it seemed like something Dan would approve of. The second option was my favorite in terms of style - mason jars & pretty color labels. And, the jars would be easier to use for quick touch ups.

The Hubby and I went out shopping to price both options. We found quart sized empty paint cans at our local Lowe's for $2.97 a piece. Although the price was right, I was still holding out for cute mason jars. So, off to Wal-Mart we went. After searching all over, we finally found the canning supply section. For under $10, we could get 12 quart sized mason jars. Can't beat that price!

But, as Dan reminded me, we didn't need twelve - we only needed two. What were we going to do with the other ten? And where were we going to store the rest of them? Sure, it's cheaper per jar, but it doesn't make much sense to spend more on them if we're not going to use them. Besides, when it comes time to move, do we really need to worry about glass jars full of paint? Grrr... I hate it when he uses logic to talk me back to reality.

So.... back to Lowe's we went and picked up two quart sized empty paint cans. Once we got home, I transferred all of the paint to its new home. I also labeled each can so that if we ever needed more of the paint, we'd know what to buy.

The labels were $2 from Wal-Mart. I could have made labels nicer/cuter using the computer, but I didn't feel like fiddling with the printer and getting the settings just right. I wrote down the information from the paint swatch as well as the base paint that was used; we've never had to buy more of the same color before, so we were sure what information would prove useful. Oh, and in case you're wondering, I just used my finger to make the little paint dots on each of the labels. Others recommended using a q-tip, but I didn't mind getting a little paint on me.

So, that was our quick and easy solution to storing our paint. Now, the cans fit nicely inside of a copy paper box with all of the other quart size cans we've collected (chalkboard paint, primer, etc.).

How do you store your leftover paint? Do you transfer them all into smaller containers or leave them in the originals?

Challenge Favorites

The last Pinterest Challenge (hosted by Sherry, Katie, Kate, and Michelle) was amazing! I feel like these challenges are great ways for smaller blogs - like this one - to get more traffic (450+ pageviews for one post?! New record!). Not only that, it takes the inspiration level to new heights. It's one thing to see things on Pinterest. But to see that other people have tested out those pins and to see that it's actually possible to recreate these amazing projects is inspiring.

So I thought it might be fun to do a quick recap of my top 5 favorite challenge projects that I came across and share them with you for some weekend reading. Let's get started!

I think my hands down favorite project is from one of the hosts of this season's challenge, Michelle. I absolutely LOVE her mod podged Atlanta skyline. Reminded me of our trips to Atlanta. I may have tried to convince the hubby that we needed one just like it. And he may have said I was a little crazy.

How pretty is that table? Maria from Our Lake Life hand painted the inlay on their patio table.

This faux-pallet art is so simple, but that's what I love about it. Some wood, paint, a stencil, and a little sanding. Check out Sam's instructions over at The Junk House.

We've all seen the EAT kitchen signs that have been popping up all over pinterest and etsy. But I love how Kara created a WASH sign for her in-progress laundry room. The metallic finish on these is gorgeous. I might just have to get crafty and make a similar project for our tiny laundry room.

Last, but certainly not least, Diane at In My Own Style shared her tips for creating a cute chalkboard sign for any event. Now I'm wishing I had an event to test out this project myself!

Did anyone else participate in the Summer Pinterest Challenge? What were your favorite projects? I for one am seriously looking forward to the next one!



Dining Room Word Art Inspiration

This is a brainstorming post of sorts. Last Wednesday my mom came into town and the two of us went shopping. While we were out and about, we stopped at a store called Dockside, and I came across this little guy for $20 in the clearance section. Excuse the blurry cell phone pic. 

It looks like it was once a mirror, but the mirror itself must have fallen out. There weren't any others like it in the store to compare it to. But, I loved the black metal look of it with the bits of sparkle. I immediately thought of the empty wall in our dining room. The black would go well (much at the risk of being too matchy-matchy) with the black photos on the gallery wall and the black metal dining table that we already have.

My first thoughts were to chalkboard the inside of the piece and use it as sort of a menu board. But, the hubby wasn't a fan of that idea. Another option, that my mom thought of, was to find a piece of fabric or even wrapping paper and place it inside. Not a bad idea, but I was afraid it would look too plain or too much like a bulletin board. Then, while we were walking around in Kirklands, I kept seeing these large frames with sayings about family in them and immediately I knew what I wanted to do - find a meaningful and/or cute saying and paint it inside the mirror frame. And if I can manage to find it in vinyl, that'd only make my job easier!

So, I turned to pinterest to search for sayings that might fit well in our dining room. Some sayings talk specifically about food or eating, while others talk about family and love, and still others are quotes that I just happen to really like.

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Who doesn't love some Winnie the Pooh??

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I think this one is a contender:

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Maybe turn it into a "house rules" board?

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This scripture was said during our vows. Traditional, but might be nice to tie into our home

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Simple, but I like it.

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I'm still having a hard time deciding which one I like best. I'll probably have to hand-paint whatever phrase we end up choosing. Of course, since I'm not much of an artist, that poses a bit of a problem. Maybe I can find a vinyl to put in the frame instead? Or chalkboard the inside so that I could change up the saying whenever I felt like it.

Which one is your favorite? Or is there a saying/quote I'm missing here that you really like? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Recipe Resolution: Spaghetti and Breadcrumbs

I mentioned in the last installment of RR that I had made two new dishes in one night. So I'm finally back with the second dish that was made that night. 

THE RECIPE

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The original recipe is called Linguine with Garlicky Breadcrumbs, and you can find that recipe here. But the inspiration photo used whole wheat spaghetti, so I decided to go with that. We also made some slight changes to the recipe, but I'll divulge those details as we go through the process of making the pasta.

THE PROCESS

Step one: Gather your ingredients and start boiling the water. Follow the directions on the package of noodles for the right cooking time.

(please ignore the obnoxious hard water stains on the side of the pot...)

Step two: While the pasta is cooking, mix all of the other ingredients (minus the breadcrumbs) into a little bowl. Since we didn't have garlic cloves, I just used a little bit of garlic powder. And, instead of parsley, I used some Italian seasoning we had in the spice cabinet.

Step three: Once the pasta is done cooking, drain it. Pour the pasta into whatever dish you're going to serve it in. Then, pour the "sauce" onto the pasta and toss. Lastly, add the breadcrumbs and toss the pasta a little more. Now, you're ready to serve. We enjoyed our pasta with our pepperoni stuffed chicken.

MY THOUGHTS

This has seriously been the easiest recipe I've done to date for this little resolution of mine. And the flavor was amazing! We substituted pre-made lemon-pepper breadcrumbs rather than making our own breadcrumbs from stale bread; skipping this step made the whole process that much easier. And the combination of the breadcrumbs and the lemon juice was perfect. But, I think the next time we do this recipe, we'll try it with regular breadcrumbs (still pre-made of course) and see how they come out; mainly to see if it works with other types of breadcrumbs. 

THE HUBBY'S THOUGHTS

Considering both the chicken and pasta had the same lemon-pepper breadcrumbs on them, eating them in the same dinner made the lemon-pepper a little overwhelming. However, I think if it were served on its own, it'd be pretty good. The breadcrumbs gave the pasta an oddly nice little bit of a crunch.

Overall, I think we were both pleasantly surprised by how well the entire meal came out. Both recipes are ones that we'd make up again. I'm seriously dying to make up this pasta recipe - so quick, simple, easy, and full of flavor! What sorts of sauces/dressings do you add to your pasta to change things up? Is there a particular kind of pasta you stick with?

Recipe Resolution: Pepperoni Stuffed Chicken

I'm back with the April installment of Recipe Resolution. Yes, I know I'm a day late. But, I did manage to make two new dishes in one night, which will count not only for April, but May as well. One thing at a time though.

THE RECIPE

This time around, we tried another recipe that involved mozzarella and pepperonis (read more about our first round here).

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Doesn't that look delicious?! When I showed this recipe to the hubby, he got excited. And, surprisingly, we had most of the ingredients on hand already - just needed to pick up some more pepperoni (turkey pepperoni this time at the recommendation of the source) and mozzarella.

THE PROCESS

Step one: Start preheating your oven. Gather your ingredients. We decided to use boxed bread crumbs that we had in our pantry instead of making our own from day old bread.

Step two: Wash and trim your chicken breasts. I decided to follow the directions of the original recipe and cut each breast into two pieces. I found that it was a little tougher to create the little pocket for the mozzarella and pepperonis with the thinner pieces, but it all worked out pretty well. We each ended up eating one of the four pieces, and the hubby took the leftovers to work for lunch the last two days.

Step three: Stuff the pepperoni and mozzarella into each of the pieces of chicken.

Step four: Then, create your dipping stations. First the flour, then the egg wash (with a tiny bit of water), and lastly the bread crumbs. Be prepared to get your hands dirty!

Step five: Arrange the prepared chicken on the prepared baking sheet. We baked them for about 25 minutes. At that point, the chicken was fully cooked, but we felt like the bread crumbs needed a little bit more color on them, so we turned on the broiler on high while leaving the chicken on the middle rack. We did that for a couple minutes under close monitoring (broiling tends to burn things quickly in this household), and then pulled them out when we felt they were crispy enough.

Step six: Enjoy!

MY THOUGHTS
I actually think this recipe will become one of our favorites. It was super simple to make. Maybe 10 minutes of actual prep time? The flavor combinations were amazing! Something to note: our packaged breadcrumbs were lemon-pepper flavored. Although I loved the breadcrumbs themselves, I felt they were a little overpowering. I think next time we'll get simple breadcrumbs, or maybe garlic flavored. But overall, I'm giving this recipe two thumbs up!

THE HUBBY'S THOUGHTS
This stuff is good. Like the wife said, I think trying it with Italian breadcrumbs might be a better route next time.


Who would have thought to stuff chicken with cheese and more meat? Oh wait, there's this little thing called Chicken Cordon Bleu... But I'm telling you, this is much better and a whole lot simpler. What are your favorite chicken recipes? Any go-to-favorites? I'm already looking for our next new recipe for June.

Office Gallery Wall

I've been on a roll. I did it again. I hung another gallery wall in our apartment. This time the office got the gallery wall treatment.

For my gallery wall inspiration, you can check out my pinterest board, or check the gallery wall we created for the dining room.

Here's what we were starting out with in the office space (sorry, I didn't get a shot of it head-on).

When we first moved in, I had thrown up a bunch of frames in a makeshift gallery wall. But I wasn't happy with it. The frames didn't coordinate. I didn't like the layout. And I felt like there wasn't any sort of flow.

We'd been talking about hanging up some of our degrees and awards in our office space. I received a really nice degree frame for my UCF degree from the hubby for Christmas. And one day while we were walking around Michael's, we came across these guys in the "as-is" bin in the back of the store.

Normally, this would come with four 8x10 frames for about $20. We were getting two frames for a quarter of that price. So it was like getting each frame at 50% of the normal price. Score! We brought them home and one of the frames had a crack in the corner. Nothing a little super glue couldn't fix.

Originally we planned on swapping out the hubby's Eagle Scout award with his community college degree, but the scout award didn't fit in our new frames. So, both of our community college degrees found homes in the clearance frames.

With the dining room, I played it safe with a symmetrical layout. But I was dying to try out an asymmetrical layout. This is what I came up with.

Not to bad if I do say so myself. The hubby of course likes to point out that not a single frame is level. However, they all slope at the same angle, so you really don't notice it unless (a) you are standing on the opposite wall, or (b) the hubby points it out to you and makes you take a closer look.

I like that, again, all the frames coordinate well together. Plus, there is a pretty common theme: everything within the frames has to do with either high school, college, or work. The only frame that doesn't is the round  frame (which is actually a photo Christmas ornament), which I threw up on the wall because I didn't like that gap.

I'm looking for a small "C" to put up on the top between our high school graduation and prom pictures. One, to add a little more of a personal touch to the wall. Two, I loved the initials in all of the inspiration photos and I think an asymmetrical gallery wall is the perfect place for a letter. But other than that, I'm pretty happy with everything.

Anyone else jumping on the gallery wall bandwagon? Or do you still admire from afar?

Dining Room Gallery Wall

My husband would be the first to tell you that I have a thing when it comes to picture frames. Our little apartment is littered with them in all of our rooms. I think the only rooms that don't have at least one frame in them is our kitchen and the guest bathroom. Seriously, sitting in our living I can count 9 frames just in this one room.

I think part of the problem is the fact that, once a photo is in a frame, I hate to take it out to replace it with something new. Instead, I find that new photo its own frame and its own home within our living space. I can't be the only one who does this, can I?

Anyways, ever since I had hung up our maps in the guest bedroom I wanted to add some more art on the walls around our apartment, and I thought the dining room was the perfect spot. We had talked about finding a large piece of art for that space, but we're always hesitant to invest a large chunk of change into something without knowing if it'll fit into our next (hopefully more permanent) home. Here's what we were starting out with:

And then it hit me... picture frames! I had a whole box of them sitting in a box in our black hole guest bedroom closet that still needed to be hung up. The best part, they were all black frames. Immediately my mind went to creating some sort of gallery wall using all of the frames. I had seen some on Pinterest that had caught my eye, so I used them for my inspiration.

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What I love most about this one is the fact that they changed things up. Large and small. Matted and un-matted. Chunky and sleek. I also love that they included what I can only guess is the intial of their last name.

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This one is probably my favorite hands down. Again, it has their inital featured within the gallery wall. But it also has some pieces that aren't totally devoted to photos. I'm also realizing that I like the asymmetrical gallery walls more so than the symmetrical ones.

So, now that I had an idea of what I was going for, I took out all of my frames and started laying them out on the floor.

Even the cats joined into on the fun and helped out.

As I was playing around with the frames, I realized I wasn't ready to take the risk of an asymmetrical gallery wall in what was suppose to be our "formal" dining space. I did, however, like the fact that I managed to throw in a couple of frames with matting, and the large circle collage frame (a Christmas gift from my sister) helped it not to look so straight-lined and boxy.

I used a tip that I've seen a million times online to figure out the right placement of all the frames on the wall - newspaper.

After taking the corner shelf with my Willow Tree figurines down and relocating them to our master bedroom, this is what the gallery wall looks like with all the frames up on the wall.

Please ignore the fact that some of the frames don't lay right. I use push pins to hang everything in our apartment, and sometimes the frames just don't sit right on them. Why push pins? Well, I don't think our neighbors want to hear us banging a hammer on our adjoining wall. That, and the fact that you don't really have to patch push pin holes as much as you do nail holes when you move.

When I first snapped these pictures we were still waiting on photos to come in the mail to fill in the large circles in the collage. But now that they have arrived, here's what that frame now looks like.

I love the fact that all of the photos are of the same color tone and that our DIY wedding program fits right in. It's a little personal touch without being overwhelming. Also, if you noticed, I swapped out a black/white photo of my sister & nephew when he was a baby with a photo of our niece and nephews from our wedding.

So that's our gallery wall. Nothing too fancy, but it makes a big impact. Now we're just looking for something to balance out the fish tank on the other side of the wall. We've been looking at options for a small buffet/bar of sorts. I'll keep you posted on what we find.

We're not totally done with the changes in the dining room though. We did a little something something to the lighting fixture. But I'll be back with those details another day. And...I recently changed up the photos that hang above our desk in our office, where I played around a little with an asymmetrical pattern that I'm excited to share with you.

Anyone else love the idea of a gallery wall somewhere in your home? I would love one day to be able to have one going up a staircase like the first inspiration photo above. Any tips on how to make an asymmetrical configuration work and still look elegant? Is there any thing to avoid when putting a wall together, or do you think this is one of those "anything goes" type of project? Would love to hear your thoughts!