antique mall finds

 This comes from one of my most favorite booths in the local antique mall. This antique mall, you just really can't go wrong! I can always find something to spend money on!
This collection of jars would be glorious on a window sill, don't ya think?

Now if I could talk myself into spending $50 on a clock that would be amazing and as much as I adored it, I had to say no, mostly because the hubby was with me.

I did talk my husband into this. The tag said $30. It was a toss up between this desk and a table simliar to my other one for $25. But as it turned out the desk had 30% off! 22 buckaroos -baby!!!! The only painful part was getting it into the back of the car. We might have lost a little paint along the way. eek!

I will have pictures soon of it in our place- speaking of which we will finally have our own address on Wednesday!! no more bumming off of others!

Now I'm off to start my IV of coffee and get back to packing!

love weddings!

this little guy is too stinking cute!! 

just lovely!

Someone is excited about being married! They are such a cute couple and they were just positively glowing.

and yum!

Landscaping!

It's my other passion. I absolutely adore landscaping, I enjoy looking for plants, picking plants, coming up with plans of how to arrange them and so on. It's just fun for me!

So my mom asked for some help with her front yard. it had 2 clumps of irises and tons of weeds.
We were fighting a storm trying to get them in, we got very dirty in the process, but we had a blast doing it.
The irises were leftovers, hopefully, they will survive - they had a bit of a shock when we moved them around. Columbines, Salvia, Lavender and Delphiniums, now join the mix, with some creeping phlox for ground cover.

I went rock hunting for some edging rocks, along this little road out in the flint hills. It's so quiet out there and so beautiful. Loved it.

So we're almost done. The edge looks great and we have more lava rock to put in. My dad likes it, so we might get to extend it a bit further around the corner and make it look complete!
Yay! I can't wait for have my own yard!

Broccoli Salad

So I thought I had this killer recipe, made famous in Spain! But no, my mother-in-love had an almost identical recipe in her little tin of recipes. So not funny.
Since it's not world famous by the lovely ladies in Spain, I'll go ahead and share it.

4-5 heads/bunches of broccoli, chopped
1 cup mayo
2 tbsp vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 of a  medium onion, chopped
10 slices bacon, cooked and rumbled

Mix mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar.  Mix well with broccoli. Add raisins and onion.  Refrigerate.  Add bacon just before serving.

P.S. the broccoli may be throwing me off, but this is probably the healthiest comfort food. :)

garage sale. almost fail.

My husband said maybe. But who goes to a garage sale with their husband?
So I went on a thursday without him.
To a town-wide garage sale.
That wasn't so wide.
The first place I stopped was the only place I actually got something. Yes, sad.
But they are so very cute.
So I was more than happy to spend money on them.
I can't wait to put them on a wall! but sadly, they got wrapped up and put into a box with other cute things, waiting for their day to shine. somewhere.

I thought they would look good in the bathroom. Maybe opposite of my $2 Goodwill Anne Geddes picture? maybe- the pinks are similar.
Hopefully I wil get to go back out to hit up more garage sales tomorrow!

secret obsession & Chicken with Mango Salsa

So it's not so secret. I love food. I love cooking. and.... I love cooking shows.
I also love experimenting though I usually talk myself out of extreme things. Every once in a while I see something tempting, especially if there's chocolate involved, and I want to try to recreate it. So this is me recreating without chocolate.

Chicken Marinade
1/4 cup of Bourbon
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1 packet of Mojito Lime Seasoning minus 1-2 tbsp
1/2 tsp of chili powder
1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes

Mix together and add 3-4 chicken breast. Marinate in a shallow pan or a ziploc bag. Cover or seal and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Mango Salsa
1 mango
2 tbsp of vinegar
4 tbsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of pepper
1/2 tsp of chili powder

Dice mango into small chunks. In bowl, mix together other ingredients. Add mango, toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate.

Heat skillet to medium-high on stove. Place chicken in skillet; cook for a few minutes on each side til it turn white with a little brown. Transfer to pan or cast-iron skillet. Rub the chicken with olive oil and then
sprinkle with remaining Lime seasoning. Cover pan with foil. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.
While the chicken was baking I made rice, using half the amount of water called for and replacing the other half with chicken broth. In the last 5 minutes of cooking I added thinly sliced green onion and a sprinkle of fresh ground pepper.
Remove the chicken from oven. Place on bed of rice. Drain excess liquid from Mango Salsa. Spoon chilled mango onto chicken and serve.
It looks amazing and taste amazing.

My heart in Italy.

I think my absolute favorite things about traveling in Europe is the love of color! They are not afraid to use it! The colors are, for the most part, very earthen colors, but they are not neutral sometimes confused with natural.  This color in our room at a bed and breakfast in Verona, Italy, stole my heart.  If this were edible I would eat it! Such a delicious color. I still regret not have one of those paint sample books with me. But seriously, who takes those on vacation? I should.  

I have come to find out I am secretly Italian. Seriously if I were, it would make a lot more sense. I mean I live and breathe pasta and bread. If you want to lose weight- don't come to my house! You will gain it all back plus some! We LOVE food!                                               I was so born in the wrong country. In the wrong century. I was meant for the amazing architecture, the wonderful culture, and the delicious food of days gone by. In Italy.                    

and the brick wall would not fit in my bag.