Until Next Week...

See ya in a week.  Til then, I'll be here.  Really.  This is a picture from our hotel.   

A little rawr in my room.

Today I read this which was perfect timing because I just bought this earlier this week. 

It arrived today and I love, love, love.  Room feels cozier already.  And, per MFAMB, cooler, too.  And goodness knows I can use all the help I can with getting cooler...

Bedroom lamps at a bargain!

I finally did it....I found new bedroom lamps that I love and I bought them.  And at under $40 a piece, I am pretty darn proud of my bargain.  Thank goodness for Home Goods.

I'm not there yet to my totally redone, relaxing and neutral looking bedroom that I want, but these lamps are coming with me when I get it to its finished state. 

The even better news was that last week I saw a post on Haven and Home that featured this lamp from the Arteriors collection...similar to mine but probably not nearly as affordable!  I do love these lamps too but prefer the shade on mine to the white one here.

Beautiful Bouquet

My husband surprised me yesterday on our anniversary with the most beautiful bouquet of flowers.  But, this wasn't just your usual bouquet.  He took the time to go to a huge florist warehouse and handpicked out all of my favorite flowers for the bouquet.  The result was not only stunning but so meaningful.

We also went to dinner at Chez Francois in Great Falls - a place we've both been dying to try for ages.  Delicious, wonderful, perfect.  I'm still full...

Time Flies!

Happy one year anniversary to my sweet hubby. Time flies when you're having fun!  Less than one week til vacay - heading to Puerto Rico for a few days next Saturday.  Yipee! 

Why would you go out to eat?

If I had a dining room as beautiful as one of these, it'd be easy to motivate to never eat out...

I love the unexpedtedness of all of them - from the color and fabric choice to the type of seating around the table.

Katie Leed via High Street Market

 via My Little Happy Place

via My Little Happy Place

 Elle Decor via Coco and Kelly

via Life in the Fun Lane

Roasted Veggies - a quick side dish

After making the sage and lemon roasted chicken the other week, I couldn't wait to have more roasted veggies because those turned out so good.  So, I added some different veggies to the mix, nixed the chicken and came up with this.  Delish!

Roasted Veggies
(use what you prefer but I used a mix of the following and loved the flavor, color and textures of the mix)

eggplant
asparagus
onion
leek
carrots
celery
zucchini

Chop all veggies roughly and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Get our your silpat (for ease in clean up!) and place veggies on the baking tray in an even layer. 

Season with salt and pepper, olive oil, a little chicken stock and a drizzling of honey.  Roast for about 40 minutes or until they are nice and browned. 

We had ours with teriaki pork chops and scalloped potatoes for a super easy supper.

Easy Centerpiece Ideas

At my wedding reception I had various sizes of vases filled with white candles interspersed  with small floral bouqets and loved not only how it turned out but how it kept the florist prices down by needing a small amount of flowers.  This is what it looked like:

My friend Liz's brother got married last weekend so she and her mother borrowed some of the vases I used and they came up with the idea of using the different sized vases with candles but added the addition of dried beans and wild rice to them.  Very cute fall-y idea.  Here's what theirs looked like:

Last night we had dinner company and I was flower-less and in need of a quick and easy centerpiece solution.  I borrowed Liz's idea for my own - quick, inepensive and a cute look.  I used black beans because I had them on hand but I think a mix of different things would have been adorable.

Quadrille Fabrics

I was reading Architectual Digest and I came across an ad for Quadrille Fabrics - I liked what I saw in the ad so I decided to check it out further.  Ohmygosh.  It's like obsession over everything - their site is awesome and shows all kinds of rooms designers have done and where they've been published.  Check out some of my favoritos. 

It's interesting because these fabrics and rooms all have a general bright and bold punch-y theme and only earlier this week I was writing about my love of neutrals.  I am all over the map but full of love for good design!

Weeknight Inspiration: Sage and Lemon Roasted Chicken

I know, I know.  You think: how could roasting a whole chicken and getting into all that mess be good for weeknight inspiration.  But it couldn't have been easier and was delish and quite cost friendly.  I purchased a whole organic chicken it and ran me just under $8 and we got several meals out of it (if you count leftovers which I love).  You can't buy four chicken breasts for that anymore! 

In addition to the chicken, all you need is:
1 lemon
2 large bunches of sage
chopped veggies (optional)
honey
salt and pepper
blackening seasoning (optional)
chicken broth
olive oil

The hardest part of this whole meal was cleaning out the gizzards from the chicken.  And even this wasn't hard; it took two seconds.  It was just disgusting.  Usually I have my husband do it but he was still at work so I braved it.  Now that I've done it, I know I could do it again.  Anyway, get out the gizzards and leave your chicken out of the fridge to get the chill off.

Get out your veggies.  Use whatever you want or have on hand.  I had leeks, celery, onion, garlic and carrot - made a great side dish without having to do an extra step!  Chop up all veggies except lemon and sage.

Set your chicken on a baking sheet.  Cut the lemon in quarters and and squeeze the juice of two quarters over the chicken.  Stuff those lemon pieces inside the chicken and stuff the sage in as well.  Season the chicken with the salt, pepper, and blackening seasoning (optional).  Toss the veggies on the baking sheet around the chicken.  Season those with the remaining lemon juice (you can toss those lemon pieces right on the tray with the veggies) and season with salt and pepper.  Drizzle everything with a little bit of honey and drizzle a little olive oil.  Sprinkle a small amount of chicken broth over the veggies.

Bake at 400 degrees for approximately one hour - until the chicken reaches 180 degrees with a meat thermometer. 

We had ours with rice and green beans and the roasted veggies on the side.  Simple and yummy!