Bathroom Brightening!

We have lived here for four years. The builders chose a beautiful, dark, khaki brown for the paint accents. As a neutral, it really is nice; however, it is in every room. We've happily lived with it for the past four years. Finally, I've been pinspired {wink} to update/change some things. I started with the girls' room (blog post coming) and their bathroom/guest bathroom.

Before
(The shower curtain actually has some green and
pink stripes which are cute--but very subtle.) 

The inspiration for the bathroom makeover started with the shower curtain that I found at Fred Myers while shopping for my St. Patrick's Day corned beef and cabbage ingredients. Yes, you heard that right, corned beef and shower curtains. (If you have not experienced Fred Myers, you are missing out. It's got a little bit of everything.)

After
I really wish I were a better photographer--
it's really so cheerful and lovely! 

The walls are a lovely greige (gray and beige) color and the change brightened this small, windowless space up SO MUCH. (Mission accomplished!) 

As a bonus, I got to express a few of my latest "pinsiration" ideas in the form of some very simple projects for this little makeover. I saw this idea online:

{Courtesy of TWRpainted on Etsy}

Then I scoured the house and collected a handful of unused picture frames I thought would update well with a couple cans of spray paint.

Rainy Oregon Days = Garage Paining Studio

Quite early in the hunt, I found a great "designer" color in the right yellow. However, the darker greige color was a bit of a challenge. Everything was too brown, too gray, too green, too wrong. After searching rows and rows of spray paint (Lowes, Home Depot, Fred Myers) I finally realized that the exact color I needed had been staring at me all along. I'd been subconsciously blinded to it:

Camo, Baby!

Finished Grouping

The next crafty project I got to embrace was pinspired by this:

{Lowes}

So I grabbed the seagrass bathroom accessories we were already using in the space and took up my paint brush:

Before

After

And in the new bathroom:

{Insert "oohs and ahhs"}

Added some of the extra yellow spray paint to this votive holder.

 And that about sums it up!

We went from brown, dark, bland...

Before

... to fresh, bright, bold, simple:

After

{bonus shot of two Jones cuties}

I had a great time making-over this bathroom. I'm totally inspired to tackle the next project.
I'm nearly done with the girls' room and I've been busy with my "40 Bags in 40 Days" challenge so the spaces available for mini-makeovers is growing! Look for more updates to come!  

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Recipe Review: Tilapia with Avocado-Pinapple Salsa

We tried a new fish recipe from the current issue of FOOD Day magazine this last week. It was delicious. Everyone ate it (including the girls). 

The actual recipes is for halibut with avocado-pinapple salsa; however, that's not what I had in the refrigerator, so we improvised.

The most time-consuming part of the process was preparing the salsa. There was just a bit of dicing to do.

Here's the recipe (compliments of Martha Stewart):

Ingredients

• 2 avocados, diced small
• 2 cups finely diced pineapple
• 1 jalapeno, minced
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from 2 limes)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 6 skin-on halibut fillets (4 to 6 ounces each)
• Arugula, for serving

Directions

1. Heat broiler, with rack in upper third. In a medium bowl, stir together avocados, pineapple, jalapeno, onion, cilantro, and lime juice. Season with salt.

2. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray and place fish, skin side down, on sheet; season with salt and pepper. Broil until fish is opaque throughout, about 8 minutes. Top fish with salsa and serve with arugula.

I substituted shallots for red onion because sometimes the kids complain that the raw onion is "too spicy." I find that if I use milder shallots, they don't mind at all.

Broiling the fish was completely straightforward. The recipe is specific about serving the dish with arugula. I actually made an arugula salad on the side and served the fish over coconut rice with roasted asparagus.

Everyone was really happy with dinner. I will definitely make this again. I'd love to try it next time with the halibut, but the tilapia was very tasty too. There was plenty of salsa left over that the girls and I snacked on it with our favorite tortilla chips the next day.

I hope you give this one a try!

Bon Appetite! 

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We're Going with the Cold Theme Here...

Cleaning out the pantry a few weeks ago, I came across a wedding gift (Thanks, Bills!) we've used maybe twice in the almost-ten-years since we received it. Geneva, ever curious, wondered what it was. 

 Obviously, after that, it was only a matter of time before we would have to experiment with the ice-cream maker. Needless to say, there were a few faces around here who were delighted with the prospect!

 A few simple ingredients later, we had some chilly goodness churning away.

I had misplaced the directions and "recipe book" long ago. With very little effort, I was able to find them online. We modified the basic Vanilla recipe only slightly because I happened to have some fancy vanilla bean paste from Sur la table (left over from a tipsy, post-cooking class, shopping spree).

Complete User Guide here

Then it was time to wait...

 ... and wait...

 About 20 minutes later, we were ready to dig in!

Sweet and satisfying.

Next time we'll try to modify the recipe even further and really have some fun.

 We even managed to save some for Daddy!

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Two Rainy Day Pinspiration Projects

Here's a little project I saw online and "pinned" to my board, "Kid Projects" some time ago.

Better Homes and Gardens

So, after poking around through our craft supplies, I found just what we needed:

felt, thread, needles (big ones), and scissors

The girls and I decided to add little heart-shaped patches
to jazz 'em up a bit.

With a little help from Mom to get started,
they were both off and running.

The "messy" stitching actually adds a ton of
 character and charm to the little pouches.

I used some fabric adhesive to keep the hearts in place
while the girls sewed around the outsides.

We used coordinating thread on the outside to draw more
attention to the individual stitches.

And I happened to have a few buttons at the bottom of our junk drawer.

 Geneva was quick to finish her project and Piper has been working on hers off and on. Geneva isn't sure what she's going to do with hers yet but she has a ton of ideas.

~***~***~***~

The next project we did was inspired by this pin which I have filed on my "Giving" board which is loaded with amazing ideas for wrapping gifts and making presents:

Better Homes and Gardens

All we needed was some markers, water-color paints, and a large piece of butcher paper.

Geneva was eager to get right to work.

Vibrant colors + an eclectic design = perfect!

I had some raffia in the palette she used so we just tied a simple bow.

Voila! 

Both projects were simple and easy for the girls to manage with very little help (interference) from me or Greg. They had a great time with each one and I'm sure we will repeating versions of these in the future. I hope you will too!

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Recipe Review | Salmon and Spinach in Parchment

I tried a new recipe this past week from my latest issue of Everyday FOOD (April 2012).

The cover recipe, Salmon and Spinach in Parchment. All four of us love salmon so I thought I'd give it a go.

Overall, the prep was about 20 minutes. There are only 5 ingredients to shop for: baby spinach, oranges, salmon, fresh ginger, and shallots.

The following serves 4 (Compliments of Everyday FOOD):

• 8 cups baby spinach
• 1 Tbsp grated orange zest (I didn’t measure, just used the zest of 2 oranges)
• 2 medium-large orange peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds (use same orange that you zested)
• 4 skinless salmon fillets (mine had skin, which I removed before serving)
• 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin strips (matchsticks)
• 1 shallot thinly sliced
• Course salt and pepper
• 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Divide spinach among four, 16-inch long pieces of parchment paper. Top with orange slices, salmon, ginger and shallots. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil.

Bring long ends of paper together and fold down 3 times to make a seam. Tuck ends underneath to secure.

Place packets on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until packets are puffed and salmon is cooked through, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer packets to plates, pull open and serve immediately.

I substituted Citrus infused olive oil because I have it! 

Get your own Citrus Olive Oil from the Temecula Olive Oil Company.

 Don't fuss too much over your wrapping job. Do be sure to use parchment paper and NOT waxed paper.

The result was scrumptious!

(And I do say so, myself.)

I served this up with creamy polenta.

We all ate every bite--well, maybe not each piece of ginger.

When I make this again...

1. I will use more spinach in the pouches or sauté some on the side. There was not enough to be considered a "side dish," which was how I envisioned it (based on the photos from the magazine).

2. I will grate the ginger. The matchsticks were a bit stringy and overpowered the other flavors when you had too big a piece in your bite. 

3. I will make extra. The leftover salmon on a bed of fresh spinach would make a lovely salad (citrus vinaigrette) the following day.

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St. Patrick's Day Pinspiration

My girls are part Irish and I try to make a big deal about the holiday every year because growing up, I always wished that I was Irish (especially on St. Patty's Day). Luckily, my very best childhood friend, Natasha, was (and still is!) Irish (she's also half Hungarian and there are a lot of fantastic stories I could tell you about growing up with her fabulously crazy Hungarian father--but I digress...). 

Because I was taken under the wing of Tasha's whacky and wonderful family, I can tell you that you've not experienced St. Patrick's Day if you haven't enjoyed homemade corned beef, cabbage, and boiled red potatoes (all dripping with butter and showered with salt and cracked pepper). I make this meal every St. Patrick's Day (and then wonder why we don't eat it more often--until I wake up March 18th with swollen fingers and a parched palate). I always serve dinner with Guinness Stout for Greg and I and Green Milk for the girls. It's super fun.

This photo is from our family archives--can't wait to make this again soon!

In addition to the traditional meal and dressing my children in green from head to toe, I saw something on Pinterest recently that I wanted to incorporate into our holiday fun (You know, so it wouldn't just be about drinking, kissing, and gluttony--Admittedly, my favorite characteristics.)

(Idea and Pin from Lisa Storms' Blog)

So we set to work. It looks like Miss Storms has a shamrock paper punch. We do not. Instead I downloaded a simple shamrock silhouette from Google Images and traced it only a little car stock to make a stencil. The girls and I got busy tracing the edges and cutting out our shamrocks.

I found a small green bucket in the Dollar Bins {love} at Target and bought a cube of floral foam at the craft store. I had some wooden skewers and toothpick swimming around the bottom of a kitchen drawer. 

Next, we needed some rainbows to decorate the bucket.

Here's what we came up with. We add a thought each day and hope to have is overflowing by the time St. Patrick's Day arrives.

Cheers!

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Gusano (That's "worm" in Spanish)

Piper, this morning:

"I learned something in school yesterday. Did you know that if you put a worm in your pocket at recess and bring it into the classroom and you lie about it, you will get a consequence. But if you get a worm at recess and bring it into the classroom in your pocket--but don't lie about it, you will not get a consequence? Did you know that? It's true. Because yesterday, after recess, Avery had a worm in her pocket and she lied about it and had a timeout. But Autumn also had a worm in her pocket that she did NOT lie about--and she did not have a timeout--she just had to put the worm back outside, which maybe is a consequence, but not so bad."

I'm pretty sure the biggest consequence here might be the result of reaching into your pocket for a worm and squishing it under your fingernails--or simply having a worm in your pocket at all. However, I'm not five--so maybe I'm just missing the point?

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Pinspiration Pantry

Not sure if you're familiar with Pinterest. It's one of my latest timesucks. I love it. It's an amazing forum to "bookmark" fabulous ideas and organize them in one convenient spot. You can have as many different categories as you like (recipes, books to read, "Do it Yourself" Crafts/Projects, fashion, etc.). For me, it's been a terrific place to take a virtual "note" of something I like, something I want to make, or something I want to do. You get to choose one picture from almost any website and when you "Pin it" to your profile, you can trace back the original source (often for full recipes, directions, or information about how to acquire the item).

Lately, I've made a commitment to myself to actually do more with all the pinned goodies I've found. Which is to say, I need to spend less time on the computer planning what I'd like to do and more time taking action. :)

While I have been pretty good at making some of the recipes I've found and pinned (and purchasing some of the items I've also pinned), my first "big" Pinspiration Project has been to give our pantry a makeover. It's been absolutely desperate for one. {It's true--I hear it crying out in embarrassment anytime someone, other than our immediate family, accidentally sees its insides.} 

Here are two photos I found on Pinterest that I used as my inspiration (get it, pinspiration?).

{Brett Valenstein Designs}

{Martha Stewart}

I love the cohesion of the first pantry above. While things are organized, it looks like a family actually uses this space as well. I really love the light fixture (but didn't actually get that far with my makeover). I also love the second photo but feel as though it's not realistically achievable in my home. You see, I have lots of things I like to keep in my pantry that are NOT yellow or white {snicker}. However, the idea of having a few common elements to make the space unite, seemed doable.

Here is what I had to work with:

"Where's the cat food (substitute anything else here)?"
"It's in there. Just look for it!"

You can see I had some good intentions along the way: bread basket, canned food shelves, a basket for my tea...

And so the process began, with me emptying everything out and into the kitchen. I'm embarrassed to admit how much expired food was in this pantry {blushing}. You may be able to recognize that I was raised in my grandparents house. Having lived through harder times, they always kept plenty of canned food and dried goods on-hand (just in case). I do enjoy having a backup up two!

During:

The pantry threw up into the kitchen!

I should have taken a picture of the floor too. Because as soon as I ran out of counter space (which did not take long), I started making rows of stuff on the floor. The process of purging was thrilling. When I was finished, I had a trunk-load for donation and had filled the recycling and garbage bins to the top.

It was a solid, six-hour process (not including wine breaks). I'm quite pleased with the results.

So much less on the floor!

Apron Collection

Apparently, I have a "Basket Collection," as well--though, I came to have this more by accident. 

I'm addicted to jars and bottles.

Look! We even have food in here!

I invested a few funds into the chalkboard baskets (to tie the space together and house smaller items that go together) and bright, flower wall decals (to add a little fun surprise). I picked them all up at Target. 

I look forward to sharing how some of my other pinspiration comes to life at our house.

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