10.30.2010

Saturday Style


It’s Saturday! Yay! Instead of sitting at the ball field all day today, (like I do every Saturday) I’m going to spend the day on the apartment! I’ve been spending a lot of time working on the apartment, but going at a leisurely pace. However, my MOTHER is coming in 2 weeks, so it’s time to get the ball rolling! I’m going to hopefully get a lot of things done today, inspired by these pictures:






Here goes nothing! Check back tomorrow for my accomplishments!

GodisLove,
Mrs.Grinder <3

10.28.2010

Things I love

So I’ve admittedly been spending large sums of time stalking other people via blog lately. I figure that since it’s on the internet, it’s an okay thing to do. (Probably not logical, but whatever.) I have been coming up with so many different ideas that I have actually dubbed the house in “official redo mode” (& yes, we’ve lived here 3 months max). Whatever, as long as I don’t spend large sums of money doing it, I don’t think there’s an issue.  Now that we’ve got that sorted out, I figured I’d show a few random shots of things I do like about the apartment right now.

(I just adore this, not sure why.)


(Pretty proud of my toilet set-up, I'm not sure why.. it just sits right with me)


(Little collage things that are in the bathroom, cute I think)


(another modpodge I made of our wedding photos, kinda funky.. I likey)


(The wall above our bed, I'm going to add things to the boxes though)


(Queen Elizabeth, she's here to stay)


(My husband, I'm pretty fond of him too.)

Well that’s it for now, I’m going to fantasize over the way my apartment would look if I could rip up the carpet and paint the walls! Have a great night everyone!

10.24.2010

This weekend was the perfect definition of lazy. Friday night we went to a friend’s house, watched a movie & ate apple pie. Then on Saturday I spent the majority of the day at the baseball field, Gabe had a double header. He’s a closer, so that means he usually just pitches an inning or so. This means that I usually sit at the field for 6 hours to watch Gabe play for about 6 minutes. Makes sense, right? OH the things you do for love.

Due to the large amount of time spent in the baseball stands, the player’s girlfriends have all come together and became friends, which makes the hours upon hours spent there much, much better. This weekend with was just Shannon, Dolce & I, but Dolce kept us plenty entertained.

After Gabe’s games, we came home to watch more baseball. I have a hard time doing just one thing at a time, so we stopped by the store & got the proper fixings to make “Pumpkin Brownies”. So while Gabe sat on the couch & chilled, I slaved in the kitchen making these brownies.

(I didn't take a pic of the final
product because I was unimpressed.)

Two downfalls of the night, the brownies turned out just okay, and the Phillies lost. Double suckie. But the plus to the evening was that I got to read one of my favorite magazines & try to get some ideas of how I’m going to decorate this awkward bar-space that we have in the kitchen.

(excuse the dirty dishes on the counter..)

This morning I woke up & was sick. I have interstitial cystitis, which means my acid doesn’t get filtered out in my body & makes me sickie, so I missed my soccer game & spent most of the day out of it. Then I got the urge to make New England Clam Chowder, which was the best thing I cooked all weekend.

Now I’m going to spend more time digging through magazines & coming up for the perfect solution for this awkward space. Any suggestions are welcomed!!
GodisLove,
Mrs.Grinder

10.22.2010

Re.arranging.life.

I’ve been reading some amazing blogs lately & coming up with so many great ideas of ways to decorate a house or apartment. I’ve been finding so many different ideas that I love, causing our apartment to be on decoration overload. Yesterday I took apart most of the house, just to put it back together again- but in a different way. I had been wanting to re-organize the bookshelf for quite some time & I think I finally got it right! (minus the fact that it’s so small.)
Besides the bookshelf, I’ve wanted to spray paint some candle stick holders, I know there’s an official name for them but can’t remember it, so I finally got around to that as well. They came out great, I love them & they look amazing in the bathroom. However, I was not that smart & painted them outside on the balcony while the wind was very strong. Besides my body turning dark grey, I managed to also give the ground a nice new coating. (I tried to scrub it off today, leading to me flooding the people under ours porch... I’m thinking of baking them some pumpkin brownies or scones to make up for it.)
Anyways, here are some pictures... The bookshelf is pretty much done for now- don’t think I could fit another thing on it. As for the candle sticks & sconces- I need to purchase some candles for them!

(Before)


(After)


(Before)


(Primer)

(Finished product!)


(These cost me $3.. Pretty good $3)


Pretty darn great for a Friday afternoon. Now off to watch a movie & eat dessert with some good friends.

10.21.2010

"fall"ing my life.

I’ve been spending a lot of time wishing it was fall, I miss the colors of the leaves, the cool mornings, scarves and eating the perfect fall dish that my dad usually came up with off the top of his head. Instead, when we got married- we traded in that type of fall, for Florida’s fall... which includes 85 degree mornings, shorts & flip flops,  and pretending like it’s fall by purchasing pumpkins from the grocery store & putting them around the house.
I’m not trying to sound like a brat, because living in Florida does have many perks, including being able to go to the beach in the middle of December, not having to deal with snow & also being around our college friends (yes, even you Shannon & Tara who are reading this right now making fun!)
So in order to make our apartment seem more like home & what we’re use to, we are doing some fall decorating to set the mood. Being that we’re broke, (just graduated & still in school) I went straight to the internet (thank you Al Gore- Mom, that’s a joke) and searched for cute fall decorations that I could “DIY”. I went to Martha’s site & found the cute idea for the mice, bats & “blood” candles. I made the rest!

(bat lampshades)



(i think they're so cute!)

(little mice!)


(the candle is from our wedding)


(not bad for dollar store materials)


(blood candles.. sooo scary)

Off I go to clean up my Goodwill finds & reorganize that living room. Expect another post, like tomorrow. Yes, I will be that girl.

GodisLove,
Mrs.Grinder

10.19.2010

A Little Bit Sticky..

Over the weekend we had some friends over & I knew it would be the perfect time to make the Carmel Apple Cupcakes that I read about in the Rachael Ray Magazine, that way everyone else would eat them all up & I wouldn’t be left with jeans any tighter than they already are.
These cupcakes were pretty good, not as GREAT as I thought they were going to be, but they were all eaten up by time our guest left. (That probably had something to do with the fact that we had 5 guys over who had just played in a soccer game!) We couldn’t find any Rome Apples at the store, so we used another kind, which I’m sure makes a difference in the cupcakes!
Anyways, here’s the recipe! If you end up making them, let me know how they turn out for you!

Carmel Apple Cupcakes!
Makes: 12           Prep: 20 min.     Bake: 30 min.
Ingredients:
1 ¾         cups FLOUR
2              teaspoons BAKING POWDER
½             teaspoon ground cinnamon
½             teaspoon salt
2              eggs, at room temperature
½             cup packed light brown sugar
½             cup granulated sugar
2              teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2              rome apples (about 1 pound),
                pealed and shredded
1 ½         coups chewy caramel candies
1              tablespoon heavy cream
Directions:
1) Arrange a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350.
Line a cupcake pan with baking liners. In a large bowl, whisk together
flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
2) In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar and
granulated sugar until smooth. Whisk in the oil and vanilla. Stir into
the flour mixture until just combined; stir in the apples. Spoon the batter
into the prepared pan until almost full. Bake until golden and a toothpick
inserted in the center comes out dry, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a
rack to cool completely.
3) In a small, microwavable bowl, combine the caramels and cream.
Microwave for 1 minute at medium power, then stir; repeat in
30-second intervals until melted and smooth. Let cool. Spread the
frosting generously on the cooled cupcakes.



GodisLove,
Mrs.Grinder

10.18.2010

5:15 wakeup call.

Now that it's FINALLY cooling down in Florida, cool being 80 instead of 110, Gabe & I like to sleep with the windows opened in the apartment. This is usually a good idea every morning except for Monday’s- apparently. This morning around 5:15 I was woken up to what felt like the whole building rumbling and a piercing sound. I quickly realized that this wasn’t the Rapture, instead it was the dumpster being emptied a few apartments down.
I tossed & turned for what seemed like forever, a mere 30 minutes, before I decided that it would be a good idea tojust get up & an even better idea to wake my wonderful husband up as well. He laid in bed, holding his pillow over his face for a few minutes- sure that this was a joke (I don’t wake up before noon).. But soon after he realized that I was as serious as a heart attack, he willingly got out of bed, made coffee & joined me on the couch.
We thought that there was going to be a soccer game on this morning, but quickly realized that Brighthouse is a cheap cable provider and does not carry ESPN3. So, what to do? Of course, I get on the internet and start sifting through blogs. I came across what is currently my favorite blog, www.smittenkitchen.com and found a recipe for Apple & Cheddar Scones... Um, yes please?! (if you want the recipe, go to the website, she has really good directions on there..)
After mixing up all the ingredients and waiting for the scones to cook, I decided that I would edit some pictures so that I could update MY blog. So here are some pictures from Friday Sushi Night...


(Good food, GREAT friends)


(My Red Devil Roll- Spicy Tuna, Crab, Cream Cheese, Asparagus,
topped with Spicy Tuna, Wasabi Roe & Spicy Sauce)


(2 Friends were in town, Green shirt guy- Jonnie & White dress- Casey!)

(Me & my husband, Gabe)
-Married for almost 4 months!


Now for pictures of those YUMMY scones that we just ate!

(Kneading out the dough!)


(Scones before they went into the oven)

(Scones after the oven!!!)


(Final Product...)


(My food critic, he LOVED them!)

(the AFTERMATH!)

So there's a little update on Mrs.Grinder's life from the past few days.. Be prepared for another post soon, I've got to post pictures from the fall decorations I made ;)

I love being married!
God is love,
Mrs.Grinder

10.15.2010

Beginners Luck?

Due to the rapid increase of free time that I'm experiencing right now, which is due to the rapid decrease of time spent at a job (or lack of job all together) I have been spending a lot of my free time browsing on the internet.

I'm sure that there are MANY more important things I could be spending my hours caught up in, however I've become slightly obsessed with all of the fun things you can find on the internet, including great recipes, home decorating ideas and inspirational fashion. I’ve actually started a whole new folder on my computer for all of the pictures of things I’ve found & want to replicate or print off & display around the house.

The thing that’s my favorite “new find” on the internet though? Blogs. I use to have an Xanga back in like 8th grade when they were popular, but those were mostly used to write about how much we hated our parents, what we were doing that weekend that would probably get us in trouble with the law or why we were depressed, which usually had a lot to do with the first two things I’ve listed, or the ever popular- why our boyfriend broke up with us & why they shouldn’t have. Straight drama those Xanga’s were... I actually remember looking back at mine about a year ago and just laughing at the way that the mind of a 14 year old girl works.

Well, I have resolved to make a blog that is going to be drama free. I want to make a blog that is similar to the way that my mind works, random, but yet organized and detailed. I want to have a place to be able to pull together all of the things that are inspiring me currently and put them on display, incase perhaps there’s a chance that they will be inspiring to someone else as well.

So be patient with me as I figure out my “blogging style”, that is, if anyone’s actually reading this. (I’ll probably send this to my mom & aunts, so that I can guarantee at least 5 readers each week. ) Also, if you have any comments, feel free to leave them.

Until next time folks!
God is Love.
- Mrs.Grinder

[This is my project for the day.. redo the bookcase. I wish I had A.) a bookcase this big & B.) this many colorful books, but I don't. So I'll just do the best I can. I don't think my husband is willing to make any more trips to Goodwill with me this week. ]