Summer Nail Art Round Up

I wanted to share some of my different manicures from the summer.  I post them on Instagram, but here they are with the details listed.

I started doing my nails in 2011, started to get creative in 2012, and started to get crazy in 2014.  (One time I spend $80 in one month on new nail stuff.  I'm a little ashamed.)  If you have any questions about anything you see or if there's something you'd like me to try, just shout.  And if you're in Atlanta, I'd love to do your nails!  Drop me a comment or email!

Recommended with Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

A while back when we were working really hard to save money, Caleb found a recipe for homemade teriyaki sauce.  It called for sake, but that wasn't in the budget, so he did some research and decided to use mirin instead.  Mirin is a rice wine similar to sake, and you can buy it at Asian markets and probably elsewhere, too, just not at the Howell Mill Kroger, we checked.  Anyway, this cheap version of the sauce is awesome, and we both love having it on our teriyaki chicken and rice.

(If you do have sake, just split the 4 tbs of mirin into 2 tbs of mirin and 2 tbs of sake.  You could also try subbing agave nectar in for the honey.  Let me know if you try it!)

To make some excellent teriyaki chicken, combine all the sauce ingredients and poor over thawed chicken thighs laid in a hot cast iron skillet.  Cook on medium high until the chicken is done and the sauce is thick.  Sometimes our chicken gets a little crispy on the edges.  We like it that way.

 Recommended with Homemade Teriyaki Sauce...

Inspiration for minimalist hanging planters

I love-love-love plants.  Inside plants and outside plants.  My parents' house is nestled in the perfect Southern wood with ferns everywhere, and it's one of my most precious places.  My parents will be moving next year, so I won't be able to visit my precious place anymore, but instead of being super sad about it, I've decided to try and bring some of the ferns from the woods into my apartment.  What I really want to do is make some hanging planters for them.  I think seeing my childhood ferns hanging from the ceiling would be so cool and pretty!  My ideal is something that looks simple and clean and that doesn't involve any macrame.  Lucky for me, lots of other people have the same idea!

Minimalist and modern hanging planter inspiration:

PSA: $14.99 for the most comfortable heels

Ladies!  The most comfortable heels I've ever worn are now on sale at Payless!  If you've been looking for some pumps that you can wear all day, to work and to dinner, you definitely want to try these out.  I never knew heels could be this comfortable, and I want to spread the good news.  From today to next Monday, these bad boys are half off!

Check out the sale here!

Do you have any go-to heel recommendations?  What do you think of these from Payless?

Organization Tips : Introducing Trello

I usually go for pen and paper when I need to make lists, but my friend Sarah Becker recently mentioned Trello, and I wanted to see if it would work for me.  Turns out, I had some great new research to categorize and share with Caleb, and Trello has been the perfect medium.  See my first board (and a very special announcement) below!

You can interact with this board by clicking here.  FYI, this is currently an active board, so expect some changes from this picture.

Recommended with Asian-Spiced Meatballs and Noodles

This is one of my very favorite dishes!  I made it on Tuesday, and can't get enough of it.  The recipe is very easy and quick to make, and it's got noodles in it, so it's an immediate winner with me.  The sauce is actually my favorite part of the dish.  It tastes so good, I almost always overeat when I make this!  Here's the recipe from Bev Cooks!

Picture and Recipe for Asian-spiced meatballs with noodles from Bev Cooks

I've used two different kinds of noodles with this recipe.  Japanese soba noodles have a softer bite than spaghetti and are pretty slippery, so the sauce doesn't stick well.  Korean glass noodles have a strange texture to most American palates, but the sauce sticks to them like glue.  Let me know if you try it!

Recommended with Asian-Spiced Meatballs and Noodles...

DIY Lace Project Inspiration

To be honest, lace isn't typically my style, but I've found some subtle ways to bring it into my life that I really like.  Take this cuff, for example.  I think it's beautiful, and I love how I can make my own and completely customize it.  Here's the tutorial at Verily Mag!

Tutorial at Verily Magazine

Looking through the tutorial gives me a lot of ideas.  What if I fixed two bands together?  What if I sewed on small beads or jewels?  What if I used thin lace or wide lace or fastened it with a button?  I've used lace trim before for a few projects (here and here, sorry for the poor photo quality), but I had never thought that fabric stiffener could open up so many possibilities.  Like this!

Here's some more subtle lace project inspiration...

Travel Destination: Atlanta Treehouse

This tree house looks unbelievable!  Seriously, can you believe it's in the center of Atlanta?

A Fox Village in Japan!

Mark this on the list of places I need to visit before I die.

Zao Fox Village in Japan!

via RocketNews24 via Matome

3 Things I Learned in My First Year of Marriage

We made it!  Caleb and I made it!  Today is our one year anniversary!

Can I get real with you for a bit? This year was really, really difficult, and I just want to let you know how thankful I am that my husband and I had this first year.  I knew that things wouldn't be peaches and cream.  Smushing two lives together into one tends to be a little sticky sometimes, and I'd heard many times growing up "The first year is the hardest."  Well, I didn't know it would be this hard, and I didn't know it would be this hard because of these reasons.

Caleb and I one year ago!
by Sarah Becker Photography

Recommended with Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't usually care for cookies, not often, at least.  On Sunday, though, I got a hankering for a soft, wonderful chocolate chip cookie.  Because I'm an adult with a kitchen, I realized I could make them myself instead of going out to buy them, and so I did!

I Googled "the best chocolate chip cookie" and landed on Handle the Heat and the "Ultimate Guide Chocolate Chip Cookies" Tessa has published there.  (Check it out, she's got some really valuable information on her blog!)  The recipe she uses in her guides is just the regular one from Toll House, so that's what I used, too.  I guess the recipe isn't all the earth shattering, but seeing my cookies come out beautiful and perfect and biting into the most wonderful chocolate chip cookie I'd ever made was pretty awesome.  Cooking them on airbake sheets with nonstick aluminum foil underneath allowed them to slide right off of the pan, which was a very nice surprise.  And just look at how gorgeous the cookie bottoms are!

 By the way, do you know how to make cookies ...less sweet?  That's the only thing I would change about the batch I made.  Call me crazy, but I wish they were less sweet.

Recommended with Chocolate Chip Cookies...

A Cooking Conversion Printable!

Don't you love this measurement conversion chart?  Sugar and Charm is giving away this beautiful goodness for free!  I'm printed mine out yesterday, and it's going to be sticking to my fridge with a magnet for a while, but I'd like to get it in a standing frame for one of my kitchen corners.

via Sugar and Charm (click to download)

What My Blog Is and Isn't

Guys, my blog has changed a lot.

A long time ago, it was like an online journal.  Even later, I would write out long, drawn out, heartfelt letters on my life.  In Korea, I would tell stories and share pictures of adventures.  Now, I don't know what I have going on here.

When I read old posts of mine like this, I'm reminded of what I really want this blog to be.  Genuine.  I tend to be genuine by nature, I want this blog to be a reflection of who I am, and I want to be able to share my heart and growing thoughts.  But then there are other things I want this blog to be, too.  I love to research and to share research.  My post on birth control is one that I'm very, very proud of.  I'm also proud of my recent Job Hunt Series.  Sharing helpful information is something I'm passionate about, and when I have an opportunity to do that in this medium, I just love it.  I like sharing about the few things I've made, too, even if I've done a crummy job...

How to Be a Good Guest At a Dinner Party

My boss, Diane, likes to throw dinner parties.  We'll usually have two a year for the whole office plus dates.

Now, Diane is a part of high society here in Atlanta.  To my embarrassment, I was not prepared for her high society dinner party.  We arrived right on time and came empty handed, both major faux pas I was unaware of until I saw everyone else arriving "late" and bringing gifts for our hostess.  Dear oh dear, I'm never letting this happen again.

To save yourself the same embarrassment, read this article from Dinner, A Love Story for the low down on proper etiquette.  Then the next trick is figuring out what kind of hostess gifts you can bring after being invited over so many times.  Don't want to seem repetitive, you know?  Here are some ideas and tips.

Recommended with Carnitas

I've got an awesome recipe to share with you.  Slow cooker carnitas!  I've made it twice, and it's a favorite.

I got the recipe from The Noshery.  I almost followed it perfectly. I used all the same ingredients exactly like prescribed, but I didn't cut the meat before hand.  I actually just cut the huge pork shoulder in half and plopped it into the crock pot and continued with the rest of the steps.  When it was finished cooking, the first time I made it I fried up some of the meat, but I found that took away the moisture, so the second time I made it, I didn't fry it, which makes the recipe that much easier.

Put meat in crock pot > Put ingredients on top of meat (you don't even have to mince the garlic if you don't want to) > Shred meat in its juices once it's finished cooking > Serve with tortillas!

Bada-bing!

My favorite toppings are pictured above.  A little bit of sour cream, avocado, radishes, and fresh cilantro.  It's the perfect bite of summer!  (I'd love to have people over for an end-of-summer party and serve these carnitas and this cilantro lime shrimp I tried last week.)

Bonus: You can use some meat and its juices to make this great and hearty Puerto Rican soup called posole.  See the recipe here.

Recommended with carnitas...

Dreaming Together

One of my favorite things to do with Caleb is to dream about our perfect future.  We talk about where we'd like to live, what we'd like to do and be good at, and what we'd like to be focusing on years from now.  We come up with different ideas, but they all fit in nicely around a large parcel of land in the country.  Envisioning all our ideas together makes me think that our home will be the kind of place Robin and Marian would visit.

Transylvanian Dream by Laszlo Indig