Bye bye, Mr. Hyde!

I've heard before that you should paint a section of wall and see the color in different lights before making a final decision.  Yeah, I didn't do that.  Which is why I somehow painted our living room, stairwell, and hallway all the same color:  Behr's "Warm Muffin". Little did I know that the paint had a Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde complex.

You know, like sometimes it would be warm Dr. Jekyll, all cozy and mature.  It never quite went with our furniture or rug, but I would think... "Meh, but at least it's still a decent color!"

Then, other times its Mr. Hyde side would lurk, and I would be struck with how much it clashed with our sofa.  It was kind of an orange sherbert color:

I decided this summer that I had had enough of the overly warm wall color and the too dark mirror.  To remedy it, I picked out a new color for the walls (Olympic's Toasted Almond) and spent a few hours sloshing three coats of glossy white paint on the mirror. 

 

I don't know if these pictures capture the change very well, but I am loving the new color.  It goes better with our furniture, matches the rug, and feels calming.

Toasted Almond doesn't switch on me in different lights.


 

Can you see the change at all?

    

I finally settled the debate of what to put in the apothecary glass on our mantle.  After nixing fresh fruit (done that, sick of the sticky mess when I inevitably forget to switch it out), I decided to fill it with postcards from our trips to Italy, France, London, and my birthday trip to Savannah.  It makes me smile, and when I have time later, I plan to steal the YHL idea of writing down what we did on each trip to read later.  Easy and sentimental

 

You can see in the last picture how the wall and rug are in the same color family now:

It may be pretty basic beige type color, but I'm okay with Mr. Dependable.  Anyone else been changing their minds about house stuff too?

Summer This and That

Hi! I don't have a ton to write about unless anyone wants to hear about summer school??  No?   Then, I'll just share a few summer things, like unnecessary Target cuteness and my favorite summer drink instead.  Here are a few summer "to do's" I recently finished.  Get jealous of my motivation lately:

1) Target has really cute summer stuff.  No, I don't think anybody really needs an icecube tray in the shape of lemon slices, but I couldn't resist. 

I made my sister's "Summer Fun" themed gift because she has been all about her balcony space lately and Target basically provided everything but the liquor:

The gift consisted of:

* A white ice bin for holding drinks

* A graphic dish towel for party fouls

* Lemonade mix and liquor for the best drink ever.  See below for "recipe".

* Fun straws and a lemon shaped ice cube tray

* A magazine with The Bachelorette gossip

* A modest gift card to her favorite store to buy a summer top

* Vine lights to hang on balcony for A Mid-Summer Night's Dream look

2.  Best drink ever:  I am not a fan of sickeningly sweet drinks, like Mike's Hard Lemonade, but I surprisingly do like this one:

* Lemonade (preferably fresh squeezed, but Country Time will work)

* Firefly sweet tea vodka

* Ice

* That's it.

Make to taste, stir, serve.  I love an Arnold Palmer without the overwhelming alcohol taste.

I first heard of this combo on Pinterst.  Their version was a thousand times fancier looking:



3) Trivia Night:  Dan and I did the trivia night with friends that was on my summer list.  Dan is a Jeopardy jedi, so his nerdy power combined with the other two guys won us first place! 

Mali and I were not as helpful.  :)

At least our big winnings paid for a round of drinks!

The summer list is getting whittled down now...

1. Learn to use my DSLR camera
2. Go to an outdoor summer concert
3. Make homemade ice cream
4. Put together cute theme gift for Bethy
5. Create photo books for all recent vacations (thank you, Shutterfly!)
6. Read five new books
7. Cook five new dishes
8. Celebrate anniversary with something new
9. BBQ and baseball game
10. Try something new on Pinterest
11. Beach trip with family
12. Trivia night with friends
13. Visit a farmer's market

#22. Make Homemade Ice Cream

The day after school lets out, I always have high hopes I'm going to have time to indulge in the perfect "Pinterest" summertime activities.  You know... like growing my own veggies and building flower boxes whilst using freshly picked strawberries from our backyard to make homemade ice cream. Or at least to make homemade ice cream.  That one is always on the summer list.

Many of you reading are those inspiring people who are just awesome at crafts and cooking and being domestic goddesses.  You all are completely inspiring because, while I have the best intentions, I usually end up taking on too much tutoring and teaching summer school and later crashing while watching Real Housewives with Dan instead.  

But yesterday, I did it!  I finally made homemade ice cream after three years of wanting to do it.  I'd like to take credit for finally getting in gear, but it wasn't me at all. We visited my parents for July 4th, and my mom actually said to me, "I saw that you posted 'Make homemade ice cream' on your blog, so I bought all the ingredients for it!" She's the sweetest.

She even set up her counter like a cooking show, with the measuring cups and cocoa and cream and all the fixens' ready to go, perfect for a lazy cook like me. 

I'm not rocking a new fashion statement; I just had my bikini on underneath for the pool afterwards. I'm pointing at the computer screen that Dan set up with the recorded episode of The Bachelorette that we missed. Yes, I have him (begrudgingly) into it too.

Side note: Still Team Arie. Just saying.

Anyway, we watched it while I made the ice cream.  For those with an ice cream maker, the recipe was easy and sinfully rich. Skip over the blue part if you don't want the recipe:

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1-1/2 cups whole milk

3-1/4 cups heavy cream

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

NOTE:  You can put in up to 1 cup of mix-ins

Instructions

Place the cocoa and sugars in a medium bowl; stir to combine. Add the whole milk and use a hand mixer on low speed or whisk to combine until the cocoa and sugars are dissolved, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. If not freezing immediately, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Turn machine on; pour mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened. At the end, pour in a cup of mix-ins, if desired.  The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

***

I just chopped up a ton of Giaradelli chocolate and threw some mini marshmallows in.  My mom owns the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker which makes AMAZING ice cream and gelato.  None of this rock salt and gritty ice cream mess.  This stuff turned out like a five star restaurant "food with height" dessert.

Can you tell I'm psyched?

I also knocked #9 off my summer list:  Go to a baseball game

I just have to share one more picture from that.  A guy was launching free t-shirts from one of those guns, and Dan caught a balled up one!  With one hand!  You would have thought they had just launched a ball of cash at him.  There was much screaming and fist pumping.  I think he felt like the man:

Truth time: I'm glad for my summer list because it's kind of reminding me to schedule fun in, as nerdy as that sounds.  I think I've taken too much on this summer, and I've got no one to blame but myself. I said yes to teaching summer school, yes to tutoring several students, yes to taking two college classes, when I should have been saying "Another mojito, please" and chilling out.

I also somehow persuaded myself that I have tons of time to take on house projects, which is why I now have a half painted living room, a strip of peeled off wallpaper in bedroom, and three pieces of furniture still in boxes. At least I'll hopefully be able to share some house updates later in August. Or I'll just get used to the open paint cans and bolts and screws under my feet. Either way.

Anway, more summer list and house updates coming soon.  How was your 4th??