moving on

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meal planning and market list

Recently Kiel and I have been trying to work extra hard at cooking more. Not only is a homemade meal healthier, but often way cheaper as well. The biggest barrier we have had has been time. But with my classes almost at an end, we are challenging ourselves to plan and prepare more home cooked meals this week. Eating healthier has been my main goal this month for my wellness project.

On our fridge we have this awesome dry erase day planner (from Bed Bath and Beyond) as well as this Market List that I use to keep our meal planning semi-organized. It helps to keep us on track for eating right and not jumping to junk food out of laziness. (by the way please ignore the Chipotle & Smith's in one week, we may have been stress eating...)

Here are some links other sweet organizers that can be used for meal planning:

delish blog (free printable)
Olli Bird (another free printable)
Martha Stewart ($4.99 at Staples)
Real Simple ($6.99 at Bed Bath & Beyond)

To get a bit more creative, I want to try to start incorporating new recipes into the mix instead of going with the same old chicken or steak dishes. Spring is my favorite time to cook. We soon will be able to grab lettuce and herbs right out of the garden! And by soon I mean in a few months Ohio time, but we will get there!

slow down everyone you're moving too fast

It has been quite around here lately. A challenging last couple weeks has yielded some interesting results. After opening my eyes to some major stressing over my school/ work/ life balance and revisiting my motivations for my life plans, I have made the decision to place graduate school on hold.

This was bitter sweet for me as I have been planning for years to complete a Master's program prior to having children. But plans change, and something I am consequently working on is how to live life with less structure and more ambiguity. I have also realized that I need to continue with my wellness project and focus on taking care of myself. So here I am, ending one chapter to start another.

I am realigning some of my goals to spend more time doing what I enjoy, which is being creative and being with family. Kiel and I hope to work further on an exciting business venture to come, to continue enjoying our home renovations, and even work on growing our family soon. Life is to short to focus on what I should be doing, instead of what I want to be doing.

So this weekend we slept in, visited with friends and family, did some fun projects around the house, and enjoyed the freedom to do what we wanted. Life is not a race, and I think we could all take a bit more time out to enjoy the little things instead of being bound by the should do's.

fresh inspiration

This weekend I was in desperate need of fresh inspiration. With the cold weather and loads of work and homework, I needed something to help me find my creativity. I put together this board a few weeks ago with inspiration for winter/ spring. I keep my mood board in my office instead of the craft room because it often brings me out of my mind overload and reminds me to be creative.

So this weekend I managed to get out of my work overload and get some projects done. Some V-day decor, my lampshade cover project, and we finished tiling our fireplace. Success!

our saturday mornings

Oh hump day! Always the most challenging day of the week. Half way there but still so long to go until my favorite day, Saturday!

One of the things I love about working a normal work schedule (which I cherish after years of shift work in the hospital), is always knowing that I don't have to work on Saturday. Saturday mornings are my favorite time of the week. Kiel and I start our morning routine with coffee and bagels. Then off to our local farmer's market which is now going on all seasons! Next we check out the local estate or tag sales (or garage sales if it is warm out). We then run any extra errands for the week that need to be finished up. This time brings me the clarity I need to overcome the stresses of the week and get a good start to an enjoyable weekend.

Only 3 days away (trying to look at the glass half full) until we kick off this coming weekend with our Saturday morning routine! How do you like to spend your Saturdays?!

DIY knife block with skewers

Years ago when Kiel and I first moved in together, his mother took us shopping to Bed Bath & Beyond. Kiel was looking for a knife block but ended up coming home empty handed. The thing about Kiel is that if he can't find something dirt cheap, he will not buy it. Instead he will make it.

So a few months later, we still had no place for our knives. I kept nagging him about it and he told me he had a plan. A couple weeks later he came home with this odd box he had constructed at work. He made it out of a shipping box that ended up in a scrap wood pile. He constructed the box at an angle just as a knife block would be shaped. He then filled the "block" with skewers. We were able to stick our knives in just like those fancy "stick your knife anywhere" knife blocks in stores at a fraction of the cost.

I called this post a DIY, which it was. Unfortunately I have no photographs of the construction. But my thought process evolved to the idea that any type of box can hold skewers and serve as a repurposed knife block.

This piece is one of the most complimented pieces in our kitchen and best of all it was dirt cheap, simple to make, and easy to use.

january tablescape

With a lovely 3 day weekend, I was able to spend a little time catching up with some projects around the house. I finally got all the winter decorations down and tried to change things up with a bit more color as it is lacking outside right now. I headed over to ecoflora and picked up some flowers as well as a new succulent for the terrarium. One of them was starting to look a bit sad, I think I may of accidentally drowned it...

I pulled out some fabric from sew to speak for this impromptu table runner. I kinda like the idea of leaving the edges rough, it gives it an interesting look. It also lets me not commit to a certain fabric for the table runner.

So with that I decided that my goal is to change out the tablescape monthly and share my stagings with you. This spot is a focal point of our home and I enjoy incorporating new and different finds and foliage for the seasons. Already planning some creative ideas for February!