I See Spots On Your Feet

      I wouldn't say leopard print is a super new trend, but I still love how it adds great flair to an outfit, especially when it is on your feet.   Lately, I have seen so many leopard print shoes that I must have, I am hopeful the trend sticks around for a while longer. 

   About a month ago, I saw sister JLP wearing these fun leopard print sandals from Target, and I knew I needed to make them part of my wardrobe. 

  

   Then last week while perusing Target I came across these gems, that I will be purchasing as winter slippers. 

Sparkles AND leopard print slippers...YES please!! Perfect to bum around in the house.

I am really excited to get some loafers for the fall, these calf hair leopard print loafers would be perfect with a pair of dark skinnies.

VIA

VIA

I love these to wear to work or out.

VIA

These pointy flats would be great to dress up or down an outfit this fall.

VIA

Do you have the Leopard shoe bug?



Delfest

Earlier this summer DFH and I and some of our friends headed to Maryland for Delfest, a blue grass music festival.  It was my first time being at a music festival where you camp out all weekend, but we had the best time hanging out and listening to great music. 

We arrived Friday night, set up our camp and enjoyed some great blue grass music.

LES, WD, and DFH

Some of our neighbors for the weekend.

 Our camp for the weekend. 

 Luckily WD and DFH knew what they were doing, and made sure we had everything we needed.

It was about 100 degrees out, so everyone tried keeping cool as best we could. 

During the day we attempted to stay hydrated and played polish horse shoes, which entertained everyone for quite some time.

Me and LES

( How cool is that shower tent behind us.)

DFH manned the grill and cooked us a delicious steak dinner. 

 Not, too bad of a meal for a camp dinner.

After dinner we headed up to "Shakedown Street" to check out the vendors and to see some of the live music.

WD and I

We saw Keller Williams Play and he put on an amazing show. 

\

Jamming Out.



                 

      Our crew.

At Midnight it was Doug's Birthday, and everyone sang to him.

Great end to the night and great weekend

A Mini Facelift

  After getting home from Vacation in OBX last week, I was anxious to frame some of our pictures from the trip and find good places for some of our vacation goodies we bought.  Little did I know that this would turn into wanting to re do entire walls and gardens. 

Often, when DFH and I travel we enjoy buying local art work, as a keepsake from our trips.  Unfortunately we did not find anything in OBX, but we found this post card which lists all of the OBX towns, it was the perfect size to frame in our apartment.  Luckily, I had a"beachy" frame at home to put it in. 

We also came home with this adorable frame, I needed to have.   I couldn't print my beach pictures fast enough to fill in the photo. 

    After completing these two projects, I felt antsy to change other areas in the apartment I felt needed a mini face lift.   You know that feeling where you feel the need to change things or move them around.



  After finishing these two projects, and changing random photo frames and moving things around on shelves to try and give the apartment a new look, I moved on to the wall in the dining area. 

( Ignore me in the photo, this is the wall I wanted to re do, and it is the only picture I have of it.)

The theme in our dining area is a wine/vineyard theme.  So this was the only wall that really didn't go, and was plain with only one picture on it.   We had just never got around to changing it. 

DFH and I have been purchasing wine glasses from vineyards we visit for the past few years, and still hadn't done anything with them.  So I finally wanted to get shelves to display them.

The After.

Some of our vineyard glasses. 

It is isn't a big change, but to me it makes the dining room come together so much more, and I no longer feel antsy to change it.

The Week In Review Through Pictures.

After we came home from vacation last week, I was so excited to see that more of our veggies were coming along.  So excited to have home grown cucumbers. 

Baby Cucumber. 

After giving the apartment a mini face lift ( post to follow), I wanted to add some new life to our back yard as well. 

DFH and I picked up some fun colorful plants at super discount at a local nursery, and I painted the planter gold to give it some added pizazz.  I previously blogged about painting planters Here.

I am attempting to grow a plant in a mason jar, not sure how it's going to work in a glass jar, but so far so good, and I love the way it looks.

On Wednesday I came home to a huge mystery package and opened it up to find this:

So creative and so cute, so excited to be a part of SRK's big day next year. 

On Thursday my craft group met and we used mercury paint to give mason jars, candle sticks, and vases a new look. 

BEFORE.

AFTER.

*Just spray any clear glass items such as vases and mason jars with mercury spray paint you can pick up at Hobby Lobby or other craft stores. 

The mason jar in action. 

And only two days after crafting, craft member KW gave birth to a baby girl and future crafter :)

On our rainy Sunday I headed to Michael's, and was shocked to find so much Halloween decor already.  I saw so many Pinterest ideas using these cardboard pumpkins and witch hat that I wanted to pick them up before they sell out. 

So excited to glitterize and/ or mod podge these pumpkins for the fall.

The Perfect Pickle....seriously.

 About two years ago I was flipping through my Better Homes and Gardens magazine, and found a recipe forThe Best-Ever Dill Pickles.  As a huge dill pickle lover I could not wait to try this recipe, and the recipe truly creates the Best-Ever Dill Pickles.  Each summer since, I've used the recipe and it never disappoints, so I wanted to share it with all the other dill pickle fans that may read this blog.

The Best-Ever Dill Pickles

Ingredients

3 - 3 1/4 lbs. small pickling cucumbers ( I've used regular cucumbers and they still come out great.)

4 cups water

4 cups white vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup pickling salt ( I usually use sea salt)

6 tbsp. dill seeds

( half garlic dill jars/ half dill jars)

Directions

1. Before slicing cucumbers, thoroughly rinse cucumbers. Remove stems and cut off a slice from each blossom end. Slice cucumbers into thick slices (the slices should be 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick). In a large stainless steel, enameled, or nonstick saucepan combine water, vinegar, sugar and pickling salt. Bring to boiling.

2. Pack cucumbers loosely into hot, sterilized pint canning jars, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace. Add 1 tablespoon dillseeds to each jar. Pour hot vinegar mixture over cucumbers, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace. Discard any remaining hot vinegar mixture. Wipe jar rims and adjust lids.

3. Process in a boiling-water canner

Note:  I normally skip the boiling water canning process and just put the mason jars in the fridge and in about two weeks you have the Best-Ever Dill Pickle.  They will not last as long as if you can the pickles, but I've kept them for a couple months. 

Garlic Pickles:  I've also used this recipe and added garlic cloves to make garlic dill pickles. 

Book Swap

    Last week I hosted book swap for some of my friends.  It was such a great way to get together  and exchange books we have already read for new reads.  Steel Magnolia had hosted a swap about a year ago and I came home with so many great books, that I was excited to host another swap.

I had asked everyone to bring any old books in their collections that they had already read or wanted to exchange. 

    Although so many people, including myself are now using Kindles or IPads to read, I figured everyone could always use some new paperbacks to take traveling or to the beach, especially in the summer. 

            We all had a great time chatting, and exchanging books, and enjoying champagne sangria and apps. 

And I left with some great reads for beach. 

Cannot wait to host another swap. 

Open Face Caprese Sandwich

        Do you ever have one of those days where you look in your fridge and don't have much, but you attempt to come up with a meal with the random ingredients you do have??  Well, this is how this dish was created. 

  DFH and I had just returned from OBX from vacation the night before and were hungry for lunch, but didn't have much in the fridge or pantry.  Luckily our garden provided us with some tomatoes and basil. 

   It end up being a surprisingly delicious lunch, light, but perfect for a hot summer day.

Ingredients:

1. Two Tomatoes

2. Fresh Basil

3. Bread Slices ( approx. 2-3 per person)


4. Mozzarella

5. Olive Oil

6. Garlic

7. Salt / Pepper


Instructions:

1. Preheat the Oven to Broil

2. Spray the pan

2. Add fresh Mozzarella, Tomato slices, and fresh basil to each slice of bread

3.  Drizzle each slice with olive oil

4. Add salt/ pepper/ and garlic to each piece of bread

5. Broil the bread until toasted to your liking and the cheese bubbles and starts to brown ( about 5-10 minutes)

ENJOY!