Dining Room

This is my dining room.  It's big and open to the kitchen and sunroom.  It's part of a great entertaining space.  However, I don't have furniture for a big fantastic dining room.  I plan on buying a new rug, table, drapes, and a buffet.  (And I have a lot of shelves and art to choose from for the walls.  The mirror is just hanging out in the corner because there was already a nail there, so it probably won't stay.)  Eventually I will have hardwood floors as well.  Maybe one day I'll even replace the light fixture!

Current

Table that I want from Ikea - it has 2 leaves so it can sit 6-10!

Buffet from Cost Plus World Market that stores wine. So perfect for me!

My dream chandelier that I cannot justify buying right now with so many other expenses.

For chairs I plan on painting 4 chairs from my parents.  They're pretty standard round back traditional kitchen chairs, but I think they'll work if I paint them in 4 different colors - yellow, white, red, and aqua.  I also want to buy 2 fancy end chairs.

For the floor, I need an 8'x10' rug (the current one is 5'x7').  I want to bring some color to the floor, so I'm looking for something with aqua in it. A pattern like damask or floral will look good.  Any advice on wear to buy a good rug for cheap?

Pumpkin Revisited

Today was dedicated to pumpkin.  After brunch and shopping at Earth Fare, I started cooking.  I started out with a pot of pumpkin white hot chocolate.  It's basically my pumpkin coffee drink with coffee replaced with white chocolate.  For dinner, I cooked Rachael Ray's Penne-wise pasta and Green Gobble-'Ems garlic bread.  Following dinner, I baked pumpkin butterscotch cookies.  Whew, that's a lot of pumpkin (& dishes)!!  However, I didn't stop to take photos today, so these are from the web.

 

From Food Network

From Joy the Baker

Pumpkin White Hot Chocolate

2 cups vanilla soy milk

1 Tbsp maple syrup

3 Tbsp pumpkin puree

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

vanilla extract, if needed

Whisk together soy milk, syrup, and pumpkin then heat over low heat until hot.  Place chips in a bowl, add a small amount of hot milk mixture and stir until chips melt.  Add melted chips to the pot of hot milk and whisk to combine.  Add in pie spice, taste and adjust sweetness or vanilla if needed.  Whisk vigorously or blend briefly to create foam.

Pumpkin Spice

I was thrilled to find the recipe on the Kitchn for a pumpkin spice latte since I really don't like paying for it at Starbucks. Despite the price, they're amazing.  So I found some canned pumpkin and made it...YUM!  I modified the recipe a little, so here's my take on it.

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Drink

(makes about 2 very large mugs)

2 cups vanilla soy milk (I used 8th Continent Complete Vanilla)

2 Tbsp canned pumpkin

1 Tbsp maple syrup

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Coffee to taste

Whisk together soy milk, pumpkin and maple syrup in a small saucepan over low heat until hot.  Off the heat, add in pie spice and vanilla.  Blend or whisk until frothy.  Serve in big mugs with coffee to taste (I used a 1:1 ratio) and an extra sprinkle of pie spice.

The soy milk I used was very sweet and had a strong vanilla flavor, so if you use something else, you can double the syrup and vanilla.

Small Town, NC

Just a few miles from where I live is an adorable little town, Waxhaw.  It has a main street with train tracks running down the middle, a bike shop, antique stores, ice cream parlor, and more.  During one of my Mom's visits, we explored.  I bought an antique cake stand, we ate ice cream, and we walked around.

Race Photos

The professional race photos from the 5k I ran last weekend are online, so I thought I'd share them.  I wish they had gotten a finish line photo of me though.

Photos taken by Image Magic Photography

Big South 5k

I am finally back into running!  This is important since the official Disney Princess half-marathon training started this week.  The half-marathon is in 20 weeks, so I'm doing the first three weeks of the beginner plan, then I'll switch to the 18 week "to finish in the upright position" plan.  This weekend the shopping center across the street from me hosted a 5k, so I just had to run it.  I hadn't expected to do well since I am very rusty in my training (only 2 runs into the half-marathon training).  Since I got bronchitis earlier this year I have been really neglecting my running.  I am proud to say that I finished the 5k today in 38 minutes!  I walked a lot, but I got it done.  My mom is in town, so she cheered me on and took photos.  Also I cannot recommend this Lululemon top highly enough.  I was decently warm at the start line and comfortable during and after the race.  I was so happy I didn't need any layers!

 

New Shoes!

Well I had a crappy morning.  I was rear-ended this morning and it was a hit & run.  Thank goodness there wasn't any damage to my car other than scuffed paint.  Mostly, it was irritating and pissed me off.  Since my day kind of sucked, I went to Off Broadway Shoes after work (and the insurance adjuster).  I fell in love with glittery peep-toes and pumps at Kate Spade a few weeks ago that I couldn't afford, so I went in looking for something similar.  I got SO lucky!  I found a pair of pewter glitter covered pumps in my size that are comfortable which is insanely lucky in a size 5!!

And a theme song for this post: