Quick DIY Project

So I did a post a while back about redesigning the guest bedroom/office at our apartment, but since I had not been able to get a job since moving here that redesign never happened. Now that I got a job, I am hoping to make that redesign happen sometime this year...but until then I have a quick DIY project that I did for organizational purposes.

My hubbs is a landscape architect so he always has tons of drawing and sketches on his desk so, I decided that I wanted to put some type of cork board on the wall by his desk to give him some where to pin papers up. As you can see that wall is pretty blank right now:


I had an extra frame like the ones hanging over the bed so, instead of just putting cork tiles right on the wall I decided to take advantage of this extra frame. All I had to do to get the frame ready was to move the glass from in front of the matting to behind the matting {since I obviously could not use the glass if I wanted it to be a cork board}. My reasoning for not just taking the glass completely out of the frame was that in case I wanted to use this as a frame again one day, the glass would be right there with it instead of stored somewhere random in the apartment {that I would probably forget about}. After doing this I took out all of my supplies:


Next I just hot glued the cork tile directly onto the matting and.....Voila, you're done! Now all you have to do is hang it on the wall!!



This was such an easy project and I love how all of the frames are consistent since they are on the same wall! Hopefully I will be doing a completely redesign soon since I will be bringing in the $$$!! I pretty much got a job to fund my crafting/decorating hobby!

On a side note, people in our neighborhood leave their "junk" on the sidewalk for others to take {amazing, I know}, and I found this old, glass beer half gallon that really wanted to come home with me. After a quick cleaning and some fresh flowers it was transformed into something beautiful:



I guess it is true that your trash is someone else's treasure. I think I may go sidewalk shopping again this weekend!

Hope you are having a great week!!

Top 2 Tuesday-Favorite Songs

This week's Top 2 is tough....it is hard to just pick 2 favorite songs. So, I decided to pick an all-time favorite and a current favorite!

1. My all-time favorite song is "Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin. When I hear this song, it automatically puts me in a GREAT mood and I belt out every lyric to the top of my lungs!



2. My current favorite song is "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars. It doesn't hurt that it was also on last week's Glee episode!! I was beyond excited when I started to hear the music.


{WARNING-The original version of the song contains some expletives}



I can't wait to see everyone else's choices!! I hope you enjoy mine!

Happy Top 2 Day!

Miscellany Monday

{one} This is my first time participating in Miscellany Monday!! I found it through some of the blogs that I read and decided to join in on the fun! Welcome to my blog and I hope you enjoy!

{two} I had a pretty boring weekend consisting on me being sick and watching the hubby watch football all weekend :( Speaking of that, I feel like we haven't gone to Manhattan in at least 3 weeks...it is weird to be only a 20 minute subway ride away from one of the most amazing, fun cities in the country and not go there every weekend.

{three} My brother and sister-in-law are coming to visit us {not this weekend but next} and I am beyond excited...I love them more than words can say {and I love having visitors too}


{four} I got a JOB!! After moving to Brooklyn almost 6 months ago, I finally got a job!! I am pretty excited to be able to interact with people during the day again, but I am not too excited about my hour subway ride to the Upper West Side everyday....the extra money will definitely be nice though! NYC is WAY too expensive of a city to live in on only one income!

{five} I am desperately wanting a crafting space. I love doing random DIY/craft projects {and my Etsy stuff too} and I really need an area in our apartment where I can do this!! I am in LOVE with the following:

{source}

{source}

{source}

Have a great Monday!

Date Night Recipe

So Thursday nights during the Fall are very much looked forward to by my husband and I....why you may ask?? We LOVE the TV line up so much that we look forward to it like it is the weekend! Since this week was premiere week I decided to start a new tradition for our Thursday nights! I will make a NEW recipe for dinner and the hubbs will pick up a bottle of wine on his way home to go with it. I love trying new recipes so, I took this as an excuse to make a date night out of it. This week I decided to make a homemade pizza.....like, I am going to make the dough and all!

Thick Crust Sausage & Cheese Pizza {with prosciutto}
{adapted from a recipe here)

1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups lukewarm water
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 lb. mild ground Italian sausage
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons
crushed tomatoes
shredded mozzarella cheese {I used fresh mozzarella too}
Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. The dough takes a while to make because you have to let it sit and rise on 2 occasions so, make sure you leave plenty enough time for this process. Put the yeast, sugar, and warm water in a mixing bowl and give it a quick stir.

2. Let this mixture sit for about 10 minutes for the yeast to activate. It should look like this at the end of the 10 minutes.

3. Add the flour to your yeast mixture.

4. Stir the ingredients until combined {try not to over work the dough, as this will cause it to be tough}

5. Cover the bowl with a few warm, moist paper towels and set it aside to rise {untouched} for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

6. While the dough is rising, fry the sausage over a medium-high heat until it is nicely browned. Set the sausage aside to cool.

7. Now that the dough has set for an hour and doubled in size, it is ready to be put in the pan. Cover your pan with parchment paper so the dough does not stick. Pour the dough into the pan and spread it {with you hands} until it touches all four corners.

8. Set the dough aside for another hour to let it rise again. At the end of the hour, the dough should look like this.

9. Bake the pizza crust at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and makes a hollow noise when you tap on it with a finger.

10. Now the fun part....TOPPINGS! First, I spooned on the tomato sauce. This step is all about preference...put as much tomato sauce as you would like.

11. Add the sausage on top of the tomato sauce.

12. Add the remainder of the ingredients in the following order: basil, prosciutto, and then mozzarella. I decided to put fresh mozzarella chunks on half of the pizza and shredded mozzarella on the other half.

13. Sprinkle the entire pizza with a little salt and pepper and bake for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

This pizza is perfect for a {stay-in} date night. I hope you enjoy this recipe!

What T.V. shows do you look forward to watching during the week?

Happy Friday!

I heart Hummus!!

I find myself buying hummus every time I go to the grocery {which is often}. So, the other day I thought to myself, "why don't I try making my own...it has got to be cheaper and yummier!"

Well I spent a little while {I mean, hours} researching hummus recipes and here is a combination of a few of the recipes that I found.

Homemade {regular} Hummus
15.5 ounce can garbanzo beans
3 tablespoons tahini {kind of hard to find, but worth the hunt}
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
pinch of sea salt and pepper to taste
water {as needed}
recycled plastic containers

Directions:
1. Put everything {except the water} into your food processor and blend. Slowly add water {in small increments} until you reach your desired consistency.

{yes...this is the first time I am using our food processor, which was a wedding gift almost 2 years ago}


2. ENJOY!!

{I sprinkled a little cayenne on top for some color and a little bite}

**I also decided to make a Roasted Red Pepper Hummus {since this is the type I normal buy}. The recipe is exactly the same except add about 2 roasted red peppers to the food processor!


{I topped it with a diced roasted red pepper, just to be fancy}


This was the perfect afternoon snack {I need to get some celery and cucumbers to make this a little healthier}

*I case you are wondering what tahini is {like I did}...it is a sesame seed paste that looks a lot like peanut butter. It gives the hummus that nutty flavor. It is a little expensive {like $6 a container} but it should last a while. Look for it in your ethnic food aisle.

Next time I think that I will use roasted garlic instead of the raw. I found that the raw garlic had a little too much of a bite than I would have liked...plus I am pretty much obsessed with roasted garlic {sorry hubbs}!

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Tornadoes in NYC!

I am not sure whether you heard about the tornadoes in New York yesterday, but I experienced them first hand....it was CRAZY!!! From what I have heard since yesterday, weather that intense is VERY uncommon in this area!

It was very overcast all day yesterday, but at about 5:30pm I looked out of my living room window and saw a horrible storm approaching from Manhattan. Here is a little back story, the hubbs and I live on the 5th floor of a brownstone and most of the buildings around us are only 4 stories high so, I can see all the way to Manhattan from our living room. I called the hubbs right away to make sure he was still at work, and at 5:35pm, I swear I was in the middle of a tornado. I looked out the window and all I could see was the rain going sideways in a circular motion with branches and debris in it. The noise from the wind and hail was so scary. The entire storm was over by like 5:40pm. One of the weirdest parts was that the electricity and cable did not even flicker....it stayed on the whole time so, I was able to watch all of the warnings as they were happening. I guess that is a benefit of underground wiring!

Here is a map of the destruction from yesterday's storms:

{my neighborhood is circled}

The authorities are still trying to decide whether or not there were actual tornadoes that touched down from this storm, but if you ask me, just look at that map and you can see a pattern. The pictures below also seem pretty convincing. Here are some pictures that I took right after the storm passed:

{this picture was taken on the street next to mine}

Needless to say, it was a very scary evening, but the hubbs and I were both safely inside for the duration of the storm.

Have a great weekend!

Big Brother Watchers!!

Who do you want to be the final 2? Who do you want to WIN??

I definitely want it to be Lane and Hayden in the final two! I think that they have both fought all season, and they definitely deserve it. I don't know what it is about this season.....but I can't get enough of it! I am SUPER excited about the finale tonight and I am sure I will be back tomorrow talking about it!


Go Lane and Hayden!!

What are your thoughts on the BB finale?

Top 2 things I want to accomplish before the end of the year

This week's Top 2 Tuesday over at Taylor's blog is the top 2 things that you want to accomplish before the end of the year:

1. To be health and in great shape - I have to agree with Taylor on this one. I am one of those people that always wished that I was healthier....I am tired of just thinking about it...I need to get off my butt and do it! I have been wanting to take up running for a while now, and now that the weather in New York is so nice...I have no excuse! One of the main reasons for me wanting to get healthier is that before the hubbs and I even think about a baby I want to be happy with myself, and getting healthy is the way to do that!

I live 2 block away from Prospect Park....I mean, who would not want to run in this beautiful park:


2. Finally narrow down our wedding pictures for an album - we have been married almost 2 years {this December} and I have yet to give my photog the narrowed down pictures for a wedding album. It is not a money thing because we have already paid for it...it is just narrowing down the pictures is harder than I thought it would be. Our photog took like 3000 pictures and she suggest that the album only have like 70-80 pictures if we want it to be very clean and artistic {which we do}! This is my promise to myself and to my mom {for all of you to witness}...I WILL have a wedding album before 2011!!

**A lot of the items on sale in my Etsy shop end tomorrow so, remember to go check them out here. Check out a preview of the sale here.

Happy Monday!

Homemade Yumminess!

I am probably the biggest pickle lover you will ever meet so, I decided to take a shot at making them homemade!!

I adapted the recipe from the Making Chicken Salad blog {i mentioned it here when I made my homemade cleaning products}.

{click here for the recipe}

*I adapted the recipe to fit a larger jar. I also decided to make pickled okra. Being from the South, I have definitely had my share of pickled okra over my 25 years of life...yum!! I used the same recipe as for the pickles except that I added 2 pinches of red pepper flakes for a little kick!

Here is the final product:


I am going to let the pickles and okra sit in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks before trying them. I really want them to absorb all of the flavors of the spices/herbs!

I will follow up about how deliciously, amazing these are...hopefully I can wait 2 weeks before having a taste!

Happy Tuesday!

If money grew on trees....

this is what I would buy!!

{the gray sofa and curved floor lamp from Crate and Barrel}

{shelving for our office from The Container Store}

{or maybe even a whole new look for the office, like this one from The Container Store}


If/when I get a job, hopefully you will be seeing a room makeover like one of these!!

What are your plans for the Labor Day weekend?? The hubbs and I are taking it easy since we will be headed home to NOLA next Thursday through Sunday for the first Saints game and visiting with family and friends!!

Have a GREAT holiday weekend!