Chillaxin'

Since Dakota was with her Dad all weekend the house was quiet, and the weekend turned out to be pretty uneventful.

Saturday, Julie and I went to San Jose to go shopping. The first mall turned out to be pretty successful, except for the fact that we didn't find a pair of jeans. (one of the goals of our shopping trip) We headed to Santana Row and Valley Fair mall to finally find some pants at American Eagle. The rest of the day pretty much included, eating pizza rolls and watching a movie. I know..... so productive. :)

Sunday, was a little better. Me and Cody re-stained our front door first thing in the morning. Reminded me how much I hate sanding.....My arms were so sore and the saw dust was everywhere. Not to mention it was no where near warm out. Temperature was probably around the low 50's.  And since the front door was off it's hinges you can imagine how cold my house was... Not cool.
After we finished the door Half Ass we decided to be good pet owners and take Ziggy Wiggy to the dog park in Point Isabel. I LOVE that dog park! It's huge and has great views of the city and Golden Gate bridge.

Haha Ziggy kept getting "mounted"

 

To keep adding to my productivity I've decided to open an Etsy Shop . I'll be selling Handmade Jewelry. I can also be contacted at nicandknack@gmail.com for custom orders :)

Happy Monday!!!

Valentine's Day 2012

<3Valentines Day 1991-2009: Thank you Mom and Dad for making sure I always got at least a card. =]
<3Valentines Day 2010: I was in Cape May, NJ in Coast Guard Basic training. Fun stuff there. (sarcasm)
<3Valentines Day 2011: I had just finished driving across the country and reported to my new job at Sector San Francisco for my first day.
<3Valentines Day 2012: My Boyfriend, Francisco, shared his idea of a perfect Valentine's Day with me as "taking the cheap route and breaking up with the girl for the day and then getting back together afterwards". Which is his perfect idea for every holiday. *eye roll*

As you can imagine I was not expecting much when I got home from work on Valentines Day. Lauren and I were hanging out, shopping at Micheal's for stuff to make her wreath's with when Francisco kept frantically texting me to "hurry up and come home". We joked about it on the way home, about how I was going to walk in the apartment and Francisco would be laying on the couch totally in the nude with a sign that says "Best Valentine's Gift Ever" or something tacky like that. Well....I get home, open the door and he's sitting on the couch. Fully clothed.

"What's up Babe?" I asked since I was told to rush home.
"Uh, Look down.."

He had a trail of pink rose pedals from the front door to the end of the hallway leading to the bathroom where he had a bath ready for me with a lit candle and more rose pedals in the water. It was so thoughtful considering, I had just gotten off duty from the night before and I just absolutely love taking long bath's. I feel like I never have that kind of time to relax. After drying off, I headed to the bedroom. He had a huge teddy bear holding a bouquet of red roses on the bed waiting for me. Francisco is about to be deployed for half a year with his ship, so a Teddy Bear was perfect to fill the void when he's gone. I named it "Number 2" since it is going to be my temporary boyfriend.

Thinking that was it, I headed towards the kitchen to see what I should cook for dinner. To my surprise, he had the table set with lit candles and plates of his specialty spaghetti (specialty, meaning it's the only thing he knows how to cook) All together, this was such a surprise, and I was completely impressed.

The next morning we packed up the truck and headed to Oregon to visit family for a week. It was such a well deserved vacation full of dancing, camping, and the cutest little niece and nephew in the world!!!! I hope you all had as an amazing Valentine's as I did.

Pinterest will be the death of.. my bank account

So lately I've had this obsession with making a wreath. OK, not just one, but everyone I see on Pinterest, I just have to have!! I don't know what it is, but I've been so crafty these past few days. On one hand it's something to do and it makes my house look great. On the other, since I wasn't a huge crafter to begin with, I have to buy all the supplies to make this crap. Let me tell you it's not cheap.  I went to Michael's and looked in my cart before checking out.... I swear I had not even $20 worth of supplies in there.. Ya not the case ended up being about $50..FML!! Luckily the cashier gave me a coupon which took off about $5.

Hey $5 is $5. :)

At the end of the day I forgot about the money I had wasted spent at Michael's and gazed at my 2 wonderful new wreaths. In the long run I'm glad I did it, because they turned out beautiful.

Enjoy!!

This one is by far my favorite!!! It was hard to keep Dakota away from the crayons though :)

Dakota also had her own little craft session today. She made an Easter door hanger. Very proud of her. 

Have a Happy President's Day!!!!!

Dakota's Cure

On the way home today Koda kept saying her tummy hurt. She does this everyday after I pick her up from daycare. She puts one hand on her tummy and on on her forehead and complains of tummy pains. I've come to the realization that she is playing me in order to get her medicine lollipops.

She's so smart.

Today was different though. I knew her games by now. I said, "oh no! If your tummy hurts we can't play in the sand box when we get home."

After a bit of silence..... Dakota says, "Mommy, my tummy feels better. It's all better now."

Uh huh......

Valentine's Surprise

Honestly today didn't start off to well. Traffic was unusually horrible, Work was slow and boring, I had to call the IRS and they were not helpful. The only thing that was going OK today was the bagel I ate this morning from Noah's.

MMMMMMM Noah's!!! yummy. *wishes she had some*

I thought today was gonna be like normal. I would give Cody a Valentines day card and we would go about our day like usual. You see Cody isn't a hopeless romantic. He's the sweetest man ever, but buying flowers and cards are not his thing.

Well today ended up being different! Cody surprised me with chocolates and a makeup palette from my favorite store, Sephora. He also got Dakota a chocolate rose, and some candy. He reminded me why I love him so much. It's the little things that matter. I don't need flowers and cards, I just need him.

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL Valentines day! Cherish the time you have with your Love ones. Time together is all that matters.

(Me and Cody)

D.I.Y Wall Planter with Mason Jars

I love Not just a housewife's  Blog. She makes all these wonderful creative crafts and furniture by hand. She is truly talented. I saw her Wall hanger on pinterest and fell in love. I had to have it. So about $40 later it has procured a permanent spot in my dining room. Here are the step by step instructions how to make it.

Things you'll need:

1 2X4 board of whatever wood you like. (I choose a rustic rough look)
6 wide mouth mason jars. (target carries these in the baking section)
6 pipe clamps big enough to fit and tighten around the mason jars.
6 small wood screws
4 long wood screws
6 plants of your choosing. (I choose herbs and moss)
1 small bag of potting soil
landscaping rocks

To start off you'll need to cut the board in two separate pieces. I just laid out the three mason jars on the wood with the spacing I wanted and went from there.  We used a Jig Saw to cut the wood.

After cutting the wood, figure out your spacing again and hold the place with a pipe clamp. There is probably an easier way to drill the pipe clamp to the wood but we just used small wood screws and drilled the crap out of them. They were so stubborn!

(this is what it should look like at this point)

Do the same thing with the other board. I placed both pieces next to each other so I could compare spacing.

( If you need any web/graphic design, or music mixed, my SO does it. www.mindframempire.com)

Once everything is screwed on the board, you'll need to figure out where to want to put it in your house. 

 This is the wall before. Super white and bare.....

 We staggered ours, but you can put them however you'd like. :)

To hang on the wall we used a stud finder and drilled the boards with long wood screws onto the wall directly. If you don't have a stud finder you can use any picture hanging hardware or use anchors.

After it was hung, I filled up the jars with rocks for aeration. If you don't have some form of aeration, there is a high risk of mold and mildew growing under the dirt. I got the rocks from my backyard. They are just plain landscaping rocks. I put about 8 rocks in each jar. 

Place the dirt on top of the rocks, about 3/4 the way up. Leave some room for the dirt that the plant is in already.

Next put the plants in the jars and fill up to the brim with remaining dirt.

All you have to do now is hold the mason jar in the pipe clamp and use a Flathead to tighten.

VOILA!!

 

you have yourself a one of a kind wall planter. :)

What's for dinner friday?

This recipe is by no means healthy but is sure is DELICIOUS!!

Chicken Pot Pie-


What you will need :

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. 

Cut up all your Veggies. 

Cut up your Chicken

Combine Chicken, Carrots, Peas and Celery in a Saucepan. Fill with water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.

In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent.

( I ended up using a full chopped up onion, and 3/4 cup butter. Go ahead take the risk. The outcome is YUMMY!)

(yummy!!!!!!!!!)

Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over.(sorry i missed that picture) Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving

ENJOY!!!!!

Here is a Recipe Card for you to print out!