Thrifting Finds

This past weekend I ran into Salvation Army, and I came out with a few finds. I always love going in there, because I always seem to find something worthwhile. I found a really neat blue carry on bag, which I can use when I head down to Arizona next month. I think it looks kind of retro and I love it.



I also found a few table clothes, which I've been in dire need of. I only have one black table cloth that is slightly too big for our table and Layla our little kitty always seems to be amused with the hanging edges, which then usually leads to the table cloth on the floor. Sure it's annoying, but I'm afraid she's going to take down a center piece with it. So I found a really pretty vintage yellow table cloth with a laced edging, and the biggest perk, it doesn't hang down in reach of Layla. score. I also picked up a simple white cloth too. I love how other peoples trash can become someone Else's treasure :)

I've also been in a crafty kind of mood lately. I've was feeling kind of antsy the other night after I got off work, and I felt like I needed to do something. So I decided to rearrange the pictures on the back of our bedroom wall. They've been really bugging me lately,and I haven't been able to decide what I wanted to do with them. I had them in a collage setting, but I wasn't feeling it. So I took most of them down and added a few new ones. I have a big bird canvas that is the centerpiece and then I put a few other frames up to accent the center. I put one of our wedding invites in the frame, along with some frames with wedding pictures. Then I crafted two new frames. I took fabric from the skirt I found at Salvation army that would never fit and I used it as a backer to the frame. I then sewed a bird silhouette to the fabric. One the other frame I put a card stock backing in the frame and sewed another bird silhouette out of fabric to it. I then added some sparkles to it to liven in up. I was pretty satisfied in my hand work :)





It feels good to start doing small crafts. I see all these ideas on pinterest and blogs and I finally put my ideas to good use.

please excuse the mess in the picture and the fact that it's off center.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

xoxo
jenna

oh monday...please go away

today was a monday. usually i don't mind monday's, i look at them as a fresh start to the week. but today, it couldn't go by fast enough. Work was so busy today, and i feel so drained, but it's over now...thank goodness. after working a long day, i can't find much motivation to do anything tonight, which isn't good, because there's plenty go get done around this place. i think for tonight, i'll just pick up a good book, and spend my evening relaxing. i do have the rest of the week to attack my "to do" list. speaking of books, i just read "The Forgotten Garden" by : Kate Morton. Excellent book, I could not put it down. I think the hubby was getting annoyed since i was buried in that thing for a solid few days, I came up occasionally for air. I love those kind of books. The author did such a good job of placing you in that world, and making you feel attached to the character. So now, i'm on the hunt for another good book. have any suggestions?

Hope everyone had a good monday.
xoxo
Jenna

I love saturdays. In love. seriously.

It felt so good to sleep in this morning. I woke up to the sun streaming through the windows and I felt so well-rested, and I didn't sleep my day away. I was up by 8:30. I felt pretty productive this morning. A load of laundry made it in, dishes scrubbed, and a few bills paid before I made my way out of the house. I did have to squeeze in a few hours at work today prepping for monday, but oh well. I rewarded myself by hitting up salvation army with Jenny afterwards. I scored a really cool american traveler handbag today for three dollars! I can't wait to use it when I make a trip to Arizona later this spring. I also picked up a few table cloths and two skirts. I felt too lazy to try on one of the skirts, and lo and behold it won't fit. ever. so now i have an extra skirt to do something with. hmmm, i have not a clue what to do with it yet. the rest of my day has been spent relaxing at the in-laws and back at our place. later tonight we're heading out to a comedy show in lansing, something different to do. I love these kind of days where you make no plans, but everything falls into place. I'm trying to relax this weekend, because i'm dreading this upcoming week at work, lots to do! I hope everyone else is having a great weekend.

xoxo

Jenna

I love this weather....

This weather is wonderful. the cool crisp days, a nip in the air, and the lovely leaves changing right before your eyes. I was driving just the other day down a road, which was lined with trees on both sides, and it look absolutely gorgeous. there was so much color, i wish i snapped a picture. i'm in chicago this weekend visiting kelli and dan torola. i'm looking forward to a great weekend catching up on lost time. my fall to do list:
1. apple orchard
2. carmel apples
3. that's it.

have a good weekend.
toodles.

living life

Oh how the week just flies right by. I can not believe that tomorrow is Thursday, where did the time go?! It's a good thing though, Friday afternoon I am heading down to Chicago to spend the weekend with my good friend Kelli. I am looking forward to a little vacation and to get some girl time. Dave's staying home since he has to work, so it'll be nice to take a little cruise by myself, but it will probably get boring during the drive.

Last night we had some company over. My cousin Jeff is on leave right now from the Navy, and he made a little detour through detroit to visit the family. My mother hosted a dinner sunday after church, so it was nice to catch up. Then last night, my brother, his girlfriend chandra, and jeff came over for a visit. many laughs.

I was so glad to get out of work early today. I was able to beat dave home by an hour, and I squeezed in a walk around town before i started cleaning and making dinner. Now i need to drag myself back into the kitchen to clean up the dinner mess. We don't have a dishwasher, so it's me. it gets really old. I made chicken alfredo tonight. i got the recipe from jenny, who found it somewhere in cyberspace. it was delicious, and i normally hate alfredo sauce. for some reason, it's always been really hard for me to gut, but this recipe was wonderful.

1/2 c of butter
1/2 c of flour
2 c of milk
1/2 c of chicken broth
1/2 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 c of Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

melt butter in a sauce pan and add flour, mix until smooth. whisk in milk, broth, and seasoning. bring to boil over medium heart and stir for one minute. remove from heat and add Parmesan cheese. serve with chicken and broccoli. enjoy ;)

it was seriously so good. i promise. give it a whirl.

okay, i'm off to do the dishes and start a project. i'll post pictures if all goes well. I found this really neat wall art on stumble upon the other day, and i'm determined to recreate the art in our bedroom.

have a good evening.

toodles

jenna

my monthly posts

well i have internet again so i can try to blog again. i'm going to blame the lack of internet thing on my lack of motivation. dave and i are finally settled into our new place in fowlerville. it feels nice to be in our own place again. we've slowly moved furniture into their proper homes and made it a little more homey in here. we also have internet which is a huge plus.

we also added a new member to our family. her name is layla. she is 14 weeks old, and she's a kitty. yes i know..." cats are gross...why didn't you get a dog instead?" well my response to that common question is simply that dave and i work too much to be able to train a puppy or give the needed attention to a dog. a cat is more self sufficient and can be home alone all day. i don't mind her. either does dave, but he probably wouldn't admit that to anyone.

layla is very playful and cuddly, and she even plays fetch just as a dog would. she just doesn't bring it back every single time. who cares.

aside from the kitty, dave and i have been working and hanging out with our family and friends. luckily, dave has been home for the past few weeks, and when he did have to leave, it was only for two nights. i can handle that.

it's hard to believe that summer is over and the leaves are slowly starting to drift off the trees. i love this time of year. cool brisk evenings, cider mills, and bon fires.

i need to get going, this laundry isn't going to do itself. i figured i would jump on here for a second make my monthly post.

toodles.

Laverne and Shirley

I keep doing this. I get on a roll and will blog for a little bit, and then I fall off the grid. What can i say, I'm not doing so hot on keeping up with my blogging commitments. the funny this is though, that I jump on here once a day and check out other people's blogs...yes i am a creeper. so one would think that while i jump on here to see the "news" i would also take a minute out of my time to update my blog. epic fail.

so lots of changes going on lately. Dave and I moved back to Michigan about three weeks ago! happy news! Dave got a great job at construction helicopters which is located at the Howell airport. He absolutely loves his job. there's a lot of travel entailed... bad for me, but good for him. he was gone for a whole week and traveled to Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Texas, and a few other states which I'm sure i forgot to mention. so he's been able to travel the country and have a blast working. I also started a new job. I'm working at hertz, doing their business management program. the ultimate goal of this job is to own my own branch..which has some pretty sweet perks. running your own branch, company car, gas card, and no insurance. those are some pretty sweet benefits that i could live with. so now that we're back at home, we've enjoyed spending time with our family and friends. it's so nice to be home.

We've been crashing and Paul and Paula's house. we live in the basement. my mom calls us Laverne and Shirley. awesome. so Shirley and i are ready to spread our wings and find a place to live. we've been looking for apartments/houses to rent. we've found a few in the area, so hopefully this week we can settle on a place and start our move. Jenny has been such a doll, and let us take over her bedroom. it's a mess thanks to us. boxes and clothes spread everywhere and throughout the basement. so I'm sure she'll be more than happy to have her bedroom back. she's been crashing in the guest bedroom since we've been home. she's pretty generous, this girl even drove a u-haul trailer to Columbus to help us move. so we're pretty thankful that she was able to help us out.

I can't make any promises, but I'm hoping to keep up with this blogging thing. my goal is at least one a week, worse case scenario, one post a month. lol. hope you're all having a great weekend.