Emma's Packing Our Dishes | Moving Tips | Wedding China

Emma has been a busy girl.  She took on the task of packing up our wedding china today.  You might be thinking... weren't you worried that a 7-month-old infant wouldn't pack your dishes properly so they wouldn't break during the move?  I'll admit, at first I was a skeptical, but when I saw her technique, I knew our wedding gifts would make it safely all the way back to Kansas City.

 

Place felt round on top of plate. 

Put each plate in a bubble wrap sleeve.

 Smile.  Packing is fun!  Bang your wooden spoon with enthusiasm.

When you've packed 4 plates in bubble sleeves, stack them and wrap them tightly with plastic wrap.  This is a tip I Emma learned from rental companies.  When you receive rental china it all comes tightly wrapped in plastic wrap to keep it from clanging together.  


Next, wrap the plastic wrapped bundles with foam to protect the edges. 

Powder Blue Gold Rimmed Anna Wheatherly plates are done...

Now she's moving on to the Spode Woodlands collection.

She ran out of individual bubble sleeves, so she zig-zagged the foam sheeting between the plates, then wrapped in plastic and more foam.

She especially loved the little birdies on the salad plates. 

Whew.

Next the stacks got packed into boxes.  The bottom is filled with crumpled unprinted newsprint - you can by reams of newsprint very inexpensively at packing stores.  

In go the wrapped dishes, separated by layers of crumpled paper. 

The top is topped off with extra paper to make sure it is packed tight and snug inside to prohibit the dishes from moving.  

Top with the top and label.  

 These are from Rasa Orchards - the orchard of a family friend.  These apple boxes are perfect for moving - they are strong enough to hold a big load of apples!

Salad for Supper | Chicken, Avocado, Sweet Corn, Red Peppers & Greens

Salad for Supper | Chicken, Avocado, Sweet Corn, Red Peppers & Greens

When I ask Mike what he'd like for dinner he usually says something "fresh & healthy" (if not steak and baked potatoes).  Humf.  Then, I explain to him that the blog readers don't want "fresh and healthy."  And honestly, neither do I!  Well, I guess that is not true... maybe you and I just need something that is fresh and healthy AND crave-able.  Because, if you're anything like me (and I'm guessing you are...) you're going to head to the cookie jar (or carton of ice cream) minutes after dinner if it didn't have enough oomph to be satisfying.   Oh, and the side of cheese bread helps, too.

This salad fits the "fresh and healthy" but still really flavorful bill for me.  It is somewhat like a cob salad - if I would've had bacon, I would've added it!  The avocado makes any dressing really creamy, the chicken makes it 'supper' worthy, and the crunchy sweet corn and red peppers are so perfect together. 

On another note, the packing has started (as you can see in the photo above, we're eating amongst packing paper at our table)!  I'm going to be purging the excess from our life and I can not wait.  It always feels so good to get down to what you really need and love - all other possessions will be outta here.  Easier said than done... wish me luck.  I'll be sharing my purging and packing journey over the next two weeks.

2 Very Large 
Supper Salads
Chicken, Avocado, Sweet Corn, Red Peppers & Greens

2 Chicken Breasts*
2 tablespoons of olive oil
sea salt & pepper
.......
1 head of lettuce*
1 Avocado, large dice
2 Ears of Corn, cut off of the cob
3 Green Onions, sliced
1 Red Pepper, diced
Cheese (I used parmesan, but cheddar would've been great, too)
Creamy Dressing (Green Goddess or Ranch)

*You could use a rotisserie chicken instead of roasting your own.
*I used a combination of bibb lettuce, radicchio and romaine.

Place chicken breasts on a baking sheet.  Drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size.  Let them cool for about 10 minutes before slicing.

Cut lettuce into 1/2 inch pieces, then rinse twice and spin dry.  In a large bowl, combine avocado, sweet corn, green onions and red pepper.  With a fork, mash 1/2 of the avocado slightly to help it incorporate into the dressing.  Add cheese, lettuce and dressing.  Toss well.  Add chicken and toss a little bit more.

Beet It

I must have been about seven years old, but I can clearly remember sitting at the dining room table crying over a helping of beets.  We were required to ask permission to be excused from the table and any food left on the plate was reason for denial of the request.  My brother, having already choked down his beets, was laughing at something on TV in the living room.  I thought my torture had ended at bedtime when I was finally dismissed from my uneaten beets.   

They reappeared on my plate the next night. 

I've never much eaten them since.

But watching the national news the other night, Lester Holt interviewed Yoko Ono about her new film project called #SmilesFilm.  You can tweet a photo of you smiling and the collection of smiles will be assembled and the confluence of smiles will change the world.  Lester asked her what John Lennon would think of the Smiles Project.  They cut to a video of John and Yoko singing and John's words spoke to me.  

"All we are saying is give beets a chance."

Having been "called" by John Lennon, I went to the farmer's market

last weekend and picked up a little purple bundle.

I have to admit they're quite beautiful.

I always loved the greens.

They were boiled, as I recall it, and served with vinegar.

I thought I would do them two ways.  If I hated one, I'd still have the other.

Way 1:  I spiralized about 1/3 of a vidalia onion.

I peeled two beets with a vegetable peeler and used a spiralizer attachment

that made wide, flat strips of beet kind of like fettucini.  

I sauteed the onion for a few minutes, added the beets and sauteed about five minutes.  Add a little salt, pepper, butter (or Earth Balance) and I called them done.

Way 2:  I prewashed the greens really well and cut them in about thirds and set aside.

When the beets were about done, in another pan, I fried one sliced clove of garlic in about a tablespoon of oil and added the greens, tossing them around a few minutes until they're wilted but still a little crunchy.  Splashed on a little vinegar and I was ready to eat.

Beets two ways:  Beet "fettucini" with sauteed beet greens, garlic and vinegar.

Beets two ways.

Beet fettucini with wilted beet greens, garlic and vinegar served with a little dill sour cream.

I have to admit.  I really loved the beets.  They're really sweet.  And alongside the greens with vinegar, there was a sweet-sour thing going on that was really nice.

Beet "fettucini" with chicken apple sausage

I had the remaining beet for lunch the next day with a chicken-apple sausage and a peppered little sour cream.  Again, really enjoyable.

So if you think you hate beets, send Yoko a smile and give beets a chance.

We Bought a New House... and I'm going crazy on Pinterest

I have been distracted lately.  You may have noticed.  We have some major news... we bought a new house!  Or, I guess, we're buying a new house.  Certain things, like, the appraisal and closing still have to happen, but the plan is to buy the house.  In one month.

So, yes, I've been distracted.  Then I thought, instead of letting my endless search for interior inspiration distract me, I decided to bring you along.

I've been going Pinterest crazy (follow all of my pins here) pinning inspiration photos, paint colors, chairs (oh, the chairs...) and general I love everything about this photo photos. 

Follow along as I share the journey of designing our new home.  Note, I won't be sharing the photos of the actual home until we move at the end of next month to keep the current owner's privacy.  And to not jinx the closing!

So, I've listed some of my new Pinterest Boards below that I'll be updating with inspiration as I come across it.  To follow all of my Pinterest boards (recipes, home inspiration, wish list, clothes, baby...) click here.

New Living Room Pinterest Board

New Kitchen Pinterest Board

New Kitchen Pinterest Board 

Paint Colors Pinterest Board

General House Inspiration Pinterest Board

 

New Dining Room Pinterest Board



New Master Bedroom Pinterest Board

 New Laundry Room / Guest Room Pinterest Board

Design Trend: Peeling Bedroom Walls

It seems that peeling bedroom walls are huge right now!

According to Anthropolgie, I'm right on trend. 

Let's see what other inspiration they can provide.

The caved-in ceiling look.  There's a DIY project I could tackle.

The tousled covers.  No problem.  I'm a master at that.

A little vintage wallpaper with an old wedding dress adds a little romance.

And look at the masterful editing. 

Not a single Gustavian nightstand, gourd lamp or ikat window treatment cluttering up the space!

No ceiling fixture.  Just a hole.  The bling is left to the viewer's imagination.

Genius.

Apparently you can even place the bed right in front of the bathroom door now!

I never would have come up with that idea on my own.

Anthropologie:  Thanks for the inspiration!  

I thought I was going to have to start from scratch on the bedroom

but it seems I'm almost done!  ;)

We built a bed! DIY Wooden Headboard

Last weekend a friend called and asked what we were up to.

My reply, "Building a bed."

Really?  Can you do that?   

"Sure.  Why not?"

I feel like I always get a similar response to people when we're working on a project.  Especially the guys that work at the hardware store.  Why do they always assume I don't know what I'm doing?  It is so frustrating.  And annoying.  I'll be looking at nail guns or sorting through pieces of lumber and they'll come up and ask me what I need.  I'll say something like, "I'm building a bed" or "I'm making a wood counter top for my kitchen island" or "I'm creating a bathroom vanity out of a dresser," and they start explaining to me why I can't do whatever it is I want to do.  

I've got new for you people : Yes, I can and will.  

I don't mean to sound "know-it-all-y," and I do know that there are things that I actually can not do (at this point in time... until I google it and figure it out, that is). 

Oh, and when I say "I" I really mean "we" - as you can see Mike has really expanded my repertoire of skills.  

I feel like this mind-set is what sets people apart from others- in everything, not just furniture building and home improvement projects, of course.

I also used to run into this problem a lot when I was a wedding planner - I would have a vision for something, like how the reception space should be set up.  The event space coordinator would say things like, "We usually do it this way" or "Um... well, we have never done it that way" and they would get this really nervous look on their face like, "You're going to take me out of my comfort zone and make me actually think today, aren't you?"  Yes.  Yes, I am.

Even when I worked at my 'real' job at an advertising agency before leaving to start my own business, when I would go to my supervisors and suggest implementing a creative new system would making things more efficient and easier, I would be met with a, "Well we've always done it this way- maybe we should just keep doing it the same way we've always done it" response that sent my mind spinning into an Office Space type of moment. 

 

I just wanted to stand and up and shout at them, "You are crazy."  But then I would've been the one that looked crazy.  All is well in the end, because when I told them I was going to quit to start my own business, they, of course, looked at me like I was crazy.  The lesson : You can't help the vision-less.  There are those of us that have it.  And those of that don't.  Feel bad for them.  Don't yell at them and tell them they are crazy.  

Clearly I was in desperate need of a more creative outlet if I was spending my days thinking of new fancy excel sheets to make my day more exciting.

Actually, I love spreadsheets.  In fact, I spend a lot of time maintaining my spreadsheets for my business, parties, projects, our home and our savings.  I just want to be clear- I'm not insulting spreadsheets or those of you who work with them all day long.  Creativity comes in many ways.

 

Maybe someday I'll share all of the spreadsheets that I've designed?  They make me smile.  What could I categorize them under?  My Life?  Home? 

It seems that this post has gotten a little off-topic.  Or has it?  The moral of the story is to open yourself to do something you think you can't do.

Push yourself.  You might end up with something beautiful.  Be it spreadsheet or bed.  

This bed was inspired by the Sommerset Bed from Pottery Barn that is no longer available (in a Queen size).  So, I did a little research and found plans for building this bed at my new favorite site, Anna White.  If this post hasn't been enough inspiration for you to push your carpentry limits, her easy to follow projects will.  

We built the headboard first, and plan to build the base/frame later this month.  I used the following combination to achieve the finish (I'm including this so when we go back to make the bed base I won't forget) : 

1st : Sand, Sand & Sand

2nd : Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner (Minwax)

3rd : Stain mixed in equal parts : Special Walnut, Provencal & Golden Pecan (Mixwax), brushed on and left on

4th : Special Walnut & Weathered Oak (Minwax), brushed on, then wiped off

5th : Light sand & buff

6th : Danish Oil rubbed on.

7th : Light sand & buff.