a realization and a recipe

It's no secret that I haven't been blogging much lately. And when I have, yes, I can admit this, they're less than stellar posts.

I was cooking this recipe last night and started thinking. Sometimes I do my best thinking while I'm cooking, it relaxes me and lets my mind flow. I've been in a blog funk ever since we moved back to Houston, and when I realized that, the light bulb went off.

Lafayette was a great city, and if we had to move back there, I wouldn't be upset. Ok, as long as we could transport our house there I wouldn't be upset. But it's a hard city to make friends in. A had tons of friends, but that's because he was born and raised there and went to college there. So of COURSE he has tons of friends! That's also the reason why I didn't...pretty much everyone in Lafayette grew up there, so they've had their friends for life. It's not that they are mean, but when they already have a set group of friends, why make new ones? Sure, I had friends, but not the type that I could call up on a Tuesday to go see a movie with on my own. Obviously, I had a lot of free time in Lafayette.

Sidenote - how does one make new friends these days? It's so awkward. I miss college and classes where it was easy to make new friends! What am I supposed to do...walk up to the normal looking girl at HEB and ask if she wants to hang out sometime? The awkwardness of that is making me cringe right now.

Enter moving to Houston. The city I am from, so of course I have my friends here. Add these to the new amazing friends here I've made from blogging (aha! that's how one makes friends now-aw-days. And to those who find this weird, I say HUSH, people are meeting their husbands online, what is so wrong with meeting friends online???) and all of a sudden, I have plans all the time. We're having a dinner party tomorrow night and then Thursday night Meg and I are going to a blogger/book signing event.

In Lafayette I spent time writing posts at night because I had the time. I don't have that time in Houston...and that's not a bad thing to me. Also, in Lafayette A was home with me all day long, so we talked a lot during the day. Enough that I didn't feel bad staying on my computer all night. Now, he's at work all day and we're lucky to get two texts to each other all day long. Gone are the blogging sessions at night because I spend my time catching up with him and spending time with him. That, or out with friends.

All that was a VERY long way to say that I am just busy living life over here. I'm trying to get a balance of everything. Yes, I would like to post great posts everyday again, but I'm not going to stress out about it anymore because I'm too busy having fun.

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About that recipe I mentioned earlier...

 



I don't have much to say about this one besides YOU BETTER MAKE IT NOW. I am still dreaming about it. The best part? It's one of the easiest recipes I've made. Ok, that wasn't the best part. The best part is how healthy it is. Healthy, easy AND affordable...why is this not on your weekly list yet?

Panko-Crusted Tilapia
Ingredients:
1 T coconut oil
2 Tilapia filets
1/2 C panko
S + P
How to:
Heat the coconut oil in a pan over medium-high. Pat the tilapia dry. Season with salt and pepper on both sides. Coat with panko, press down slightly. Don't worry if some falls off, it's supposed to be lightly coated. Cook in the pan 2-3 minutes per side, or until cooked through and crispy.

Coconut Smashed Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients:
2 small sweet potatoes
2 t coconut oil
1/2 t cinnamon
Salt
How to:
Chop the sweet potatoes into even cubes. Place in pot and fill with water until the water is about one inch over the sweet potatoes. Season with salt and boil 10 minutes, or until fork tender. Drain the water. Mash with a potato masher until the texture is how you like it. Put the coconut oil and cinnamon in and whisk until combined. (A likes them as is, but I add in salt to make them sweet and salty!)

I still can't get over how good the coconut oil made the fish taste. I'm looking for new ways to use it now, if you have any good recipes to share, send them my way!

if I'm being honest...

Soooo I lied. Said I was going to post Wedding Wednesday yesterday and, obviously, I did not.

I was going to write it on Tuesday night, but I went over to my best friend's house and helped her mom with the formatting to address her wedding invitations. We actually had a lot of fun doing that and I didn't get home until 9:30. Then I wanted to spend time with Andre'...so I did. And like I said Monday - it was kinda nice being away from the computer. I spend 8-5 glued to my screens, so when 5:01 rolls around...I want off. And I am sure as hell not going to wake up early to blog. Sorry, but I like my sleep. And when you work from home, one of the perks is having an alarm that goes off at 7:50am.

But then, as nice as it is to be away from it all - I miss it. I started this to have a creative outlet. And I can tell when I'm away - I'm more stressed out in those days. Because I need that outlet. I'm an extremely creative person, so when I don't let that out at least once during the day, I think I just freak out and get more stressed. Whether it be blogging, sewing, crafting or building furniture...I need to let it out in some form each day.

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Now that I've got that off my chest, let's move on. Truthfully, I probably would have time to blog if I didn't spend hours upon HOURS on Pinterest every day. I think I doubled my pins this week alone - and all in the Home Décor category.

Maybe I am biting off a big chunk and maybe these things will never get done...but I keep telling myself: "Kaitlyn, if you make these things, you can blog about them. So make them so you can blog every day of the week." Riveting, I know.

Anyways, today I'm sharing the things I want to make/do. Tomorrow I am going to the hardware store to buy a circular saw. Let's hope I remember my skills from the mission trips I went on! Though maybe I wouldn't mind if I chopped off my left arm on accident. That thing kept me up ALL night. I probably got two hours of sleep. COOL.

The now media room will be my office until it will be the nursery (many many moons from now), so I need to make sure that the built-ins I do work for both. Enter this built in bookshelf I will be creating.

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My plans for this are to put it along the back wall in the office. The end one will be on the other side, though. It will be along 3/4 of the wall, and then I'll have an accent chair with a small table to make it a reading "nook." Please tell me there are other people out there who automatically think of Boy Meets World when talking about a nook? Just me? These are actually from Ikea and it's just one tower, so I'd buy three and have those facing out with the fourth to the side and a chalk "wall" on it. This is probably the one I will start with as it only requires me to fasten it to the wall. I may add some crown molding around it to gussy it up, though.

 

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I'm not sure how I'm going to do this because we have plantation shutters on every window in the house, but ideally I would LOVE to do this on the two windows in the kitchen. Just the "cottage chic" look I am going for. But with fake flowers, because who wants to replace flowers every three days? Not I.

 

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This one you have to put on your imagination caps. It's just my inspiration. I'm going to take a 2x4 and secure it to the wall at chest level, and then put hooks along it. Then I'll take bead board and line it down the wall until it hits a storage bench that I'll be making myself. And then above the 2x4, I'm going to find an old window and hang it there to use as a wipe-off reminder station thingy. And then if there's room, I'll do small bookshelf tower things on either side. BAM - custom mudroom. But in white, not black. This will go on the wall next to the door to the garage on the first floor. I haven't talked much about the layout of the house, but it's three stories: first has the garage and then you walk into an entryway where the stairs are, a linen closet, and then a hallway leading to two bedrooms and a Jack & Jill bath. Second is living room, dining, kitchen and a half bath. Third is laundry, master bed/bath, media/office/nursery room.

 

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This one also requires your thinking caps. Got them on? Ok, good. I need a desk that is large enough to fit my double-screened work computer, our iMac and my sewing machine. They just don't make that - or ones I like, that is. The bookcases above are the 4x4 ones from Ikea that you put baskets in the cubby holes. I like that, but I also need one to hold the tower for my work computer, so I'll be making those myself so one has two cubby holes and then one opening without the middle board. (Added plus - I'll use real wood and not particle board!) So it will be two of those, one on each end facing out. Then I'll be buying 2x8s and securing them together to make the top. I plan on making 3 holes along the middle portion so all the cords can go in there. And then I'm going to stain it a deep wood color to match the "stage" in the Mediaroom/office. Voila! Custom desk for cheap. And much prettier and more functional that anything I could find online.

 

 

I have limited power tool skills - but in my head, these things seem SO easy. I know how to use a circular saw, so I should be totally fine...