Category: home

Fiesta Friday: links I love and things to celebrate

~ jen ~ Leave a comment

things to celebrate happy weekend links

Does anyone have a robotic vacuum?! Our home in Texas and our current home in CA have all wood floors. I love the look and glad we didn’t inherit grungy carpet. I’m intrigued with the idea of a robot vacuum, it would make it much easier to clean crumbs and dog hair that I’m constantly sweeping up 🙂

I recently tried this fired grilled steak bowl for lunch and loved it! I usually don’t eat frozen food but received this one complimentary to review. It was quick and easy to make and tasted similar to the veggie burrito bowl I like from Chipotle. I loved that it had 20 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber! I can’t remember the exact cost but it was around $3-$4. The only con was that I was still hungry afterwards (although maybe this is a reflection of me and my eating habits rather than the meal ha!) I would definitely buy it again!

Agree with many of these 6 things I didn’t realize about having a baby

 

Winter bedrooms

~ jen ~ 1 Comment

I guess it’s finally winter in Austin, the temperatures have dropped, brisk winds, gray skies and mostly rain. This type of winter is much preferable to our previous winters in Utah! I’m loving not driving or walking/slipping around in the snow 😉 I’ve never thought about winter bedding besides just adding more blankets when it’s cold but I love these ideas of special, cozy bedding for the winter time.

winter reindeer bedding

Snow Flake Stag bedding

tartan bedding winter plaid

Tartan bedding 

snowflake bed winter

Snowflake bedding

Jen’s favorite things

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There are a few products that I love so much and wish this could be like Oprah’s favorite things where she actually gives out the product, guess this recommendation list is the next best thing 😉

my-favorite-things

Charcoal face mask – Clinique claims this product will refine your pores and it actually does! You use it only 1-2 times a week (to prevent over-drying) and I love how fresh and clean my face feels afterwards.

Hydro Flask water bottle – keeps water cold all day without leaking condensation. I love the flip lid on this bottle with a wide-mouth opening that clips shut and doesn’t leak. I seriously take this bottle everywhere, it’s definitely helping  me with my health goal to drink more water.

Baker’s Twine – I bought a bulk pack with 6 different colors a few years ago from a daily deals site and love the twine for wrapping presents, treat bags, crafts, etc.

Steam Pocket Mop– we got this floor steamer when we moved to Draper and had new, beautiful laminate flooring. It’s super easy to use and maintain. I love the smell and feeling of freshly steamed floors.

Brow pencil – by Anastasia – I’ve posted about this before but after using a few other brow fillers (crayons, powder, etc) this one is by far my favorite. It’s easy to apply and get a natural look.

Running shorts – these fit great with a semi-high waistband that doesn’t ride up or slip. The 4-way stretch allows for maximum flexibility and it has a small zip pocket in the back. They are so comfortable to run and exercise in!

Homesick candles: Places we’ve lived and loved

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I recently discovered this awesome soy candle brand that makes ‘homesick candles‘ whose unique scents transport you back to states you’ve loved.  After reading the scent descriptions, I feel they’re pretty accurate! Here are the signature scents of the sttates we’ve lived and loved (minus DC which they don’t have):

Southern California: cactus, orange and ocean

Utah : desert air, mountain spruce and ski lodge

Virginia: honeysuckle and forest floor

Texas: leather, cotton and sage

texaswithprops_grandevirginiaboxwithcandle_grande

 

Fiesta Friday: things to celebrate and links I love

~ jen ~ Leave a comment

The amazing story of Hayes Tate, a 1 year old triplet as he fights a rare form of brain cancer. We had a chance to meet his awesome family when we lived in Draper during a 5K that was organized to to support him.

60 things to toss out – I’m in the middle of reading a book all about de-cluttering and this list is a great place to start.

60_things_in_60_days_spring_cleaning

Enjoying this sitting space with perfect natural light for reading

natural light sitting and reading room

How to update an older home on a small budget

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Our first (town) home in Utah we bought  while it was being built so  we were able to pick the interior features – floors, carpet, colors, cabinets, counter tops, tile, etc. We loved that home, however we love to travel and see new places and wanted a home just a little bigger with a backyard for our kids and dog.

Our home here is Austin was built in the 90s and has a few updates like the floors, kitchen and master bathroom. Moving is fun but also usually more expensive than you anticipate. For example, the previous owners had cat door on the door between the garage and the interior of the home, which isn’t a big deal for us but the inspection said it’s actually a fire hazard so one more thing to update! Here are a few things we’ve found to update an older home on a very small budget:

  • paint – a fresh coat of paint can go a LONG way! We re-painted almost every room in the house and the garage (which was yellow and blue, looked like IKEA ha, ha). We used the Behr brand paint from Home Depot.
  • cabinet hardware – we added drawer pulls from Amazon that weren’t too expensive (other good options were from Home Depot and Anthropologie)
  • new window treatments – I love natural light so we just replaced the brown curtains with white ones (from Target)
  • update outlet and light switch plate covers – we like these white ones from Amazon to replace the previous brown and/or metal ones

Updates we want to do in the future:

  • replace older light fixtures
  • new exterior doors
  • matching doorknobs – why did the previous owner have so many mismatching doorknobs?! We’ll never know ha, ha…
  • epoxy the garage – we have this epoxy kit from Amazon but have to finish clearing out the garage before using it.

Other ideas for updating an older home:

  • new light fixtures
  • add a large mirror – the reflective light can often brighten a space or make it appear larger
  • update faucets
  • re-paint cabinets
  • replace floors or old carpet (I love wood, laminate and tile that looks like wood)
  • update counter tops (I love granite and marble)

Our home has been a labor of love, but we appreciate it and the new city we live in!

6

How to remove dried paint from wood

~ jen ~ 3 Comments

We’ve been painting our entire new home here in Austin (pictures to come!) and one super useful tip I found is how to remove dried paint from wood. I’m not the cleanest painter and we have wood (laminate) floors in the whole house. After a google and Pinterest search, here’s a successful and super easy method that’s worked for me:

Pour a small amount of rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball or cloth with . Scrub.

how to remove dried paint from wood

Ta-da!

how to

(I’ve only used this method on laminate wood, test first in an inconspicuous spot)

Fiesta Friday: Things to celebrate

~ jen ~ Leave a comment

Happy Friday and weekend! We made it!
Hosting a tea party? Check out this scone recipe.

I’ve been reading about how to epoxy a garage floor (exciting, I know!) Anyone have experience doing this – any tips?

My current favorite recipe for roasted butter garlic carrots!  Disclosure: all the recipes I use and post here are simple ones that basically anyone can make, with 2 little kids I don’t have much time to cook 🙂

and a little motivation:

quote