{serious} case of the mondays.

And I blame the weather! 

I don't know about y'all but I am O-V-E-R winter! This has been SUCH a cold one! Since B & I have moved back to NC from Charleston, it's snowed THREE times! I never remember winters being like this ... And I was only gone 4.5 years ... I couldn't have forgotten THAT much! :) 

So today ... I've been online shopping and blog-hopping to cure my very serious case of the Mondays! 

And y'all there are some CUTE things out there! 

I'm loving the new Spring looks ... What do you think? 

via GAP

via GAP

via Piperline

via Piperline

via ShopBop

What are y'all loving for Spring? 

{chicken} Sunday!

I have always wanted to be a coupon shopper ... I'm just NOT good at it! I've tried ... But somehow I always end up leaving the grocery with things that I don't need, rarely use, or that I have NO idea what I'm going to do with once I get home! 

So instead ... I've learned to shop the VIC specials at the good ol' Harris Teeter ... And y'all I have gotten GOOD at it! :) 

So the other day at my weekly grocery visit HT had whole chickens for 59 CENTS a pound! I got an over 6 lbs. chicken for like 3 bucks ... (yes, I'm tooting my own horn)! 

I actually really enjoy making whole chickens because you can cook once and have at least 2 meals with one chicken! (convenient is my middle name!) 

I wanted to try something different with this chicken though ... And since I've recently become OBSESSED with my slow cooker ... I decided WHY NOT?

After some google searching I found this recipe and thought it sounded perfect ... easy AND delicious ... yes, thank you. 

I changed it up a little ... I used LOTS of garlic and instead of using the Mrs. Dash I created my own yummy-goodness with onion powder, paprika, sea salt & sage. 

Here's the ingredients I used (and I just eye-balled everything ... I'm not big on measuring!)

- whole chicken

- apple

- garlic (A LOT - seriously like 6 cloves!)

- dried sage

- paprika

- onion powder

- olive oil

I mixed all the spice together, rubbed olive oil all over Mr. Chicken and then rubbed the spices on. Minced some garlic to rub on top and left some cloves whole to stuff inside with the apples! 

I don't have an after pic because she didn't come out whole ... Meat was LITERALLY falling off the bone, which in this house is NO reason to complain! ;)

If you try it ... let me know! And if you change up the recipe ... let me know! :) 

Happy Sunday! 

newlywed ???

How long can you consider yourself a newlywed? I still do ... Even though B & I have been married a year & a half! 

Is that bad? Against the 'rules'? Are there rules? 

I don't know why I'm so focused on this today ... 

Maybe because I was browsing our wedding photos AGAIN this AM! They just make me so, so happy! It was such a perfect day ... Even with the torrential downpours! :) 

Whew, thank y'all for taking a trip with me down memory lane ... 

I've been really trying to work on my home office ... What a task! I can't seem to lock down exactly what I want to do in there! I've seen so many great ideas all over blogland, but I'm just not sure!

Off to hopefully get some organizing done in there! 

Happy Friday!  

{and} I'm BACK!

Y'all it has been SO long since the last time I posted (September 16, 2010 to be exact) .... 

But I'm BACK! 

And I have LOTS of news! (sorry this post is so long, I promise lots of pics though!)

Me and the Mr. (and of course Tux) moved from Charleston, South Carolina to Greenville, North Carolina! We both graduated from ECU in 2006 and immediately moved from Greenville to Charleston; B for work and me for school! We loved every single second of being in Charleston, but when B got another job offer we couldn't pass it up ... so we're BACK in North Carolina and right down the street from the football field of our alma mater! 

Here's a little peak of the new house ... 

I have also opened 2 booth spaces at 2 CUTE stores ... One in Greenville and one in Wilson. They are both spinoffs of my mom's BIG store at the beach ... The Painted Cottage. I'm so so excited about both of them (and have already made sales out of both!) 

Some pics of Artisans ... 

Some pics of Gracie's ... 

So what do y'all think? 

Let's see that might be all the news I have for now ... 

I'm sure as soon as I hit publish, I'll think of something else! :) 

Thanks for sticking with me .... After my LONG hiatus from blogging! 

No worries though ... I promise to not leave again! :) 

So much going on ...

Y'all the guest room is for sure coming together. Got paint on all the walls and I'm LOVING it! I'm still putting the room back together though! 

It seems I started this project at SUCH a busy time (as I always do!) ... 

Last week, my younger sister Meghan and I road-tripped it to Orlando, FL for Surf Expo! What a crazy busy but SUPER fun time! 

This week I'm not sure what I've been doing besides catching up on sleep, fighting a cold and/or allergies and now all the sudden it's Friday and Bryan and I are heading for the NC mountains tomorrow for one of my best friend's weddings! 

An affair that I PROMISE to show pictures of because it's sure to be BEAUTIFUL!!! 

So next week ... I WILL be getting the guest room completed and there WILL be pictures to prove it! :) 

Goodbye Guestroom!

So y'all after WEEKS (okay, okay ... MONTHS!) of planning what to do in my guestroom ... I took the PLUNGE! I started!!! (slight EEEEK moment going on here!)

I'm still not 100% what color I want to paint it, but you can always repaint, right? So I decided today to just go for it! 

Here are some before shots ... PLEASE PLEASE don't judge me because even I am cringing looking at them! And I've been living like this! (insert another EEEK moment!)

That's the bedside table that I want to find glass knobs for. 

Yes, that is a TV ... ON THE FLOOR.

I am forced to cover my oh-so-cute PB duvet because Mr. Black Dog (Tux) has taken over this bed as his napping room! 

Grouping that's WAY too small for the wall. 

(Can't wait to reveal the project I'm working on!)

SOOOOOOO over fabric covered tables. 

Goodbye brown & darkness. Hello pretty weather & paint.

Glass knobs!

So as y'all know I am DESPERATE to re-do both our guest room and office. I want to be sure it's perfect and JUST the way that I want it so I've been doing LOTS of research to try to make sure that happens!

So we have these white pieces that I love but I want to update them!

(armoire in the office)

(bedside table in the guest room)

 I'm thinking of adding glass knobs and have spent some time researching where to find these jewels for a good price!

Check out some that I've found!

I love all these though some are DEFINITELY out of our price range! Newlyweds on a BUDGET! I may go thrifting to try to find some too! I'll definitely let y'all know what I choose!