Moist Coffee Cake...YUM!

This is one of my favorite things that my mom taught me to make.  It is one of those comfort foods that I get so excited to mix up.  I have to force myself to only make it every once in a while or I'd end up eating the whole pan every time!  You have to drink a glass of cold milk with it and make sure and eat a peice right out of the oven...Mmmmm

Here's my recipe card straight from my recipe box.

Field Photos

Justin and I went out the other day in some of the first springy weather we've had to snap a few fun photos.  We feel like the only way to get better is to practice...so we have fun shooting together when the time feels right.  We went on a walk down to the valley and had fun with our new photo lens.  Justin took these.  He has an amazing eye for photography!  I'm always impressed by him.

We are off to a wedding  today!  I'm excited for my dear friend.  The wedding is held at a big field/camp where her family celebrates Memorial Day every year. 

I hope you are able to spend some time with friends and family on this Memorial Day too.

Retro Wire Shelf

I got to do a little flea-marketing today with my sister in law, nephew and mom. It was lots of fun. I love being with family. Becky helped me spot this really fun retro shelving unit. The booth was half off, so it was only five dollars! It just needed a little love. I bought a can of spray paint and went to work. Within five minutes, I had a brand new looking shelf! I love immediate results...

Before:

After:

I added a few fun vintage finds to go with.  The books I got when I went to college of the Ozarks on the free shelf in the Library! I love old books.

I got the little bronze cat with my mom today too.  I'm not really a cat person, but this one just caught my eye...and for 75 cents, why not!

DIY Party Favor Bags

I had so much fun making these tiny little party favor bags!  Sharon and I got to set up a little party table for a photo shoot this past week. Janae Hardy took the photos.  She is amazing!  We all had a great time.

To see more images of the party shoot, visit A Beautiful Mess.

 

White Wall Pops

We painted our living room white and with the tall ceilings, I'm getting a little decor freeze.  I am super excited about the space and all the possibilities, just having a hard time knowing where to start!  So, like always, I've gone looking for some inspirational photos.  I found lots of beautiful spaces!

Making a house a home...

Even thought there's still lots to do one the house, it's starting to feel like home.  It's not the space you're in, but what you do with it and who is sharing it with you!  My mom brought over these beautiful flowers the other day from her and Dad's house.  It made me so happy!  They still look beautiful sitting on our kitchen island. 

Hand Painted Bathroom

We are well under way with the major projects on our home.  I'll be honest, I was set on an older home...with "character"...but it's crazy how many projects there are, even on a new home!  I am so thankful for what we have!  I couldn't ask for anything more. God has truly blessed us.

I saw this hand-painted bathroom in a really neat eclectic house a while back.  I've been wanting to try it myself ever since.  I figure how hard can it be...right?!  So, I think that will be one of my next projects.  I'm really looking forward to it. I figure the worst that could happen would be I hated it and I'd just paint over it.

I've been looking for inspirational vintage wallpaper patterns that I can put together to make my own.  I think I want to stick with a pretty monochromatic color scheme, but I like these prints.

Vintage Curtains

This week has just flown by!  After work today I went to Pickwick House to work on a guest blog photo shoot with Sharon.  Janae Hardy came to take the photos and we had lots of fun!  I'm excited to show you the pictures when we get them!  It should be up on Red Velvet's Blog soon.

After the shoot, I was heading home and decided to browse a local flea market for some inspiration.  I saw these curtains that I LOVE!  They were a linen fabric and the colors were just so fun!  I wasn't sure if they would be long enough for our dining room windows or not.  Aren't they cute though?!

Home Office Project

Our huge weekend of successful projects with the family has still left me in awe.  Now I'm left wondering what to do next...I don't know where to start.  I tend to start a project and then think of a way more fun one in the middle of it.  So I'm going to make a list.  A LONG list.  I'm not a list person, but I think it would do me good.

I think the first room to semi-fix up is Justin's home office.  I'm so excited for him that he finally gets a clean, easy to think in room.  I went to the fabric store today to look for some drape fabric to replace the ugly floral ones that grace the wall now.  The man in the store was so nice!  I wasn't sure about the color and the fabric looked like it had some slightly washed out patches from sun or something.  He told me to just take the entire bolt home and look at it to see if I liked it...if I did, then I could come back and pay him!  I was kinda shocked.  People just aren't that trusting anymore.  It made me feel good=)

I'll show you some progress photos soon of the office.  We took down the wallpaper border and painted the room so far.  Just that makes so much difference.

Here are some pics I've found for inspiration so far:

Kitchen in Progress

We are still trying to get the main rooms painted in our new house so we can get things put away!  It's been kinda crazy around here for the last few days...a fun kind of crazy=)  I'm loving the projects. The more the better in my mind.

I love things that show immediate results.  Painting the Kitchen today did just that.  I'm not a fan of painting over wallpaper, but in this case we decided to.  We peeled back a portion and the wall was almost like cardboardy sheetrock? I don't think they prepped it right to begin with.  Painting over it is turning out lots better than I thought.  The seams look really good, you can't really even tell.

It's crazy how much more open and cheery it's already looking in there.  Thanks Mom for all your help...and Becky...and Justin...and Dad=). 

Wanted to share a few pics of the progress so far.

 The wallpaper is lovely huh?

Here's my mom working hard, yet again. 

We're going to paint the top wall section a light pistachio blue color. I'm excited to see it all finished!

Oh and we took out the chunky old island and put in this new wooden one (the one covered in junk!)  It really helped open up the place. 

Look forward to sharing more photos soon!

Kendra

I love our big Family!

We moved this weekend!  It still hasn't sunk in.  I had hopes of getting the main rooms done in the house so we wouldn't have to worry about moving furniture around/getting paint on stuff.  I had no idea it would all get done as fast as it did!  I can't believe all our family did for us.  THANK YOU GUYS!  You are all amazing. 

In less than 48 hours...a small family army can accomplish lots:

Here's what got done:

• Painted two coats of trim white in half of the house
• Painted the dining room light grey
• Painted Living room walls and mantle white
• Ripped off wallpaper border in office
• Ripped off part of wallpaper in Kitchen
• Ripped off all the wallpaper in hall bathroom
• Painted Office
• Moved most all of the boxes and furniture from our farm house
• Put all food, dishes, etc away in kitchen

I feel like I'm leaving lots out too.  They are just quite amazing.  I sooooo appreciate every single one of them.  We are so so blessed.

Look forward to showing you our progress as we work on projects here at our new home!


Here are a couple snap shots my little sis took for me of the beginning stages of our house.  Thanks Kins.

Thanks again family!  We are so blessed by you.  I really can't thank you enough!!!!!

Dress up with a vintage apron!

This week is flying by!  Between working on projects and packing things are a bit crazy.  I was headed home to pack more when I spotted this green neon sign posted on a telephone pole.  Oh, no...I had to follow it!  I went against my better judgment, knowing that I'd probably find SOMETHING I'd like.  And I did...but how could I pass up these super cheap vintage Aprons!  I think I have one for every day of the week now!  I better get to cookin!

Oh, and we only have two more days until we get our house keys!  I can't believe it's really gonna happen!  We are so excited!

Have a great day.

Summery Fun

Here are just a few little things that caught my eye today as I was browsing...

So simple.

My little treasures

I have been collecting things for when we get our own house for several years now.  I can't even tell you how excited I am to be able to have places to put them!  I can't wait.  I know they're just little things, but I find it super exciting!  I wanted to share a few of the many with you. I'll have plenty more photos coming soon!

I want to hang these vintage lights in our bathroom. My mom and I actually just went to a garage sale last week where I got them for five dollars!  So cheap!

I'm thinking about painting all the gold part white to create more of a silhouette.

It all comes at Once...

I'm not sure why this seems to happen, but every year about this time, things get a little crazy!  I suppose the graduations and weddings add on to that a bit! Add on moving and we've got quite the month!  lately I feel like I just can't keep up with it all.  I'm not complaining about having work to do, or a house to move in to...I'm just excited for things to die down a bit.

Here are some things that are coming up for me this week:

• On top of my part time job, work lots with Sharon on a fun wedding we get to be a part of! 

• Finish a side job that my mom and I are doing together.  There are 1200 shirt tags we are working on for a woman who just started her own company! I'm glad I get to do it with my mom, but it is a lot to take on!

• Keep packing boxes!!! 
• Attempt to paint and move in to our house this weekend!  

For my Marmie...

I have a very amazing mom.  She is one of those women who can do just about anything she sets her mind to.  She is First and foremost a woman who loved the Lord with all her heart.  She has made that evident to everyone she comes in contact with through her love and genuine character.  I am so thankful to have her in my life!

To Do Wish List...

I'll probably be making lots of posts about our new house/home decor because I just can't get it off my mind.  I'm so excited to be able to do some of the things I've been wanting to for the last few years.  I couldn't stop talking about it with Justin.  He suggested I make a list of everything so we can see what should be top on the list and start from there.  He knows me too well.  I tend to get a little ahead of myself.  I havn't quite put them in order yet, but here's the top ten!

  

Paint

Off the Path...

It is just my personality to not want to stick to a certain routine or schedule.  And to be honest, I'm battling myself about my little blog schedule I've set up.  Sometimes I want to write about decorating on a monday...or baking cupcakes on a Friday!  So I've decided to stick with the topics, but try leaving the "when" up to however I feel...we'll see how that goes!  

Today I feel like writing about color palettes because we got the house!  We should be able to move in Next Friday.  I can't even wait!  I wish I had pictures of the inside of the house to show you, but I don't yet.  Soon.  It is such a good mixture of what we both wanted.  I think we both had to give in on a few things, but we are so thankful and happy for what we have.  We went to Wal-Mart a few nights ago and picked out a bunch of paint swatches. Here's what I have so far.

Anthropologie Peek

I forgot to show you the Anthropologie pictures from our weekend trip to KC!  I couldn't believe they let me take pictures in the store, but I asked and they were totally fine with it.  I'm sure I looked a little crazy but I'm glad I was able to get a few photos.  They just have so many amazing colors and inspirations!  Enjoy!

Flour Tortillas and Chicken Fajitas

We havn't closed yet, but we found a house!  We are still going through all the final paperwork.  We are so excited and thankful and would like to thank Jake, our Realtor, for all he's done!

Since we are moving soon, we decided to try not to buy any more food until we do.  So we are having to be a little creative...at least for me it is!  I wanted to make Chicken Fajitas but we didn't have any taco shells, so I decided to make our own.  The recipe called for butter...no butter in the fridge.  SO...I just scraped some cream off of the top of the pitcher of farm milk and it worked out really well.  I'm sure many of you have done way more inventive things while cooking that that...I'd love to hear!  Please, give me some tips!

If you want to try making your own tortillas, here's the recipe.  It's So easy!

2 cups flour ( I used one cup of white and one cup of wheat)
1 tsp of salt
7/8 cups of water ( Or until dough is just moist)
2 Tbs butter melted ( This is where I replaced it with cream.  It turned out just fine)
*This makes about 4 big shells