Do The Dishes!

I love pretty dishes, but why do I have so many sets of them?  Ten sets to be exact, who needs ten sets of dishes? No one, that's who.  I can't part with the ones I have, although this past year I did send a set to the thrift store, and gave my daughter a set of china that I had for 27 years.  I love to decorate with them, hang them on walls, set the dining room table for a meal or just to decorate it for everyday to look pretty.  My dining room is a soft yellow, I am now bringing more of that color into the house, to brighten things up a bit.  The weather this winter made me do that!  I switched out the reds and green for blues and yellows, and I have to say I like it, they are classics together.  I picked up things, while out and about, to decorate along with my blue and white Willow patterned china.  I may be painting this dining room furniture white this summer if I get the energy, it's old and needs an update.  I'll also cover the seats on the chairs, the fabric is outdated.

I set the table with the Willow china,a navy charger, hyacinth woven placemat and a yellow and white checked cloth napkin.

 I was in Home Goods and found these yellow chrysanthemum bowls for $3.99 each so I scooped them up to change up my table.

The petals are really detailed and they look pretty against the blue.

 

This is how the table looked before.

And this is how it looks now!  Yellow brightens everything up, it's like sunshine.

 A jute woven runner, whitewashed lantern, greenery garlands, lighted twigs, blue and white pottery and lemons finish my table off. 

I also found in Home Goods this slice of tree trunk.  You can use it to serve on or decorate with.  I have another one that has ball feet on it.  They're great for a rustic themed party to serve food on.

 Just a sign that keeps me hoping that Spring is in the air!

Time To Spruce up The House - Spring Redo's

I am well rested from re-decorating my daughters bedroom and bath, I am on a roll again, so now it's on to other rooms in the house.  I am painting and redecorating the boys bath and the guest room in our home. It has been quite an undertaking as I wanted to purchase things on sale and clearance, as always.  It's not that hard, you just have to wait for the sales to pick up things you need as you go along.  And I did  pick up alot of things over the last 2 days for the guest bedroom, and I think I saved myself alot of money.  I was undecided as to what theme/colors I was going to redo the room in, but once I had the inspiration it was decided and I just went with it.  Now, I do have to pick up a few more things for the walls and the room, but I already have ideas in mind.  When the warmer weather hits the furniture in the guest room will be painted white, so stayed tuned for the pics when both rooms are completed!

The color pallette in the guest room now is a soft green on the walls, red and cream decor and the furniture is black. This room has access to the full bath on the first floor via a door of it's own.  In the past this room has housed many people, an exchange student for 2 years, my daughter before she made settlement on her home, my mother-in-law and numerous overnight guests.  It is the fifth bedroom in our home, and I am happy to have it even though it now only sees an occasional guest.

The three stores I visited were IKEA,  TJMaxx and Kohl's

IKEA - floral pillow, $14.99 and yellow and white striped duvet set $29.99

TJMaxx - yellow, grey and white patterned 95" long draperies, $29.99 per pair, 72" fringed scarf runner for

 bureau, $7.99
Kohl's - canvas art, $9.99

I am leaning towards painting the room a dove grey color.

Now on to the boys bath. They share a Jack and Jill bath, cabinets and fixtures are white, a great clean slate to work with. Tub and toilet are in a closed door area (water closet), while the double sinks are in a large galley type area with doors leading into both of their rooms.  The color pallette in there now is gold, red, brown, and some olive green.  I decided to use a light grey in this room too.  White and grey with an accent of maybe red or blue.  I like a lot of color, they don't.  I was going to accent the bath with color using towels and other decor. I have a problem with their towels because my boys are messy (imagine that, boys being messy?).  I was constantly buying new towels because they bleach them out when they wash them, they look ugly and usually have to be thrown out.  SO, my son said just buy white towels, I said are you crazy, I will never get them clean with you guys!  But then my light bulb went off, great idea, you CAN bleach them and they won't get ugly.

 The stores I used for this redo are IKEA, Ross, Costco and Gabriel's

IKEA - Striped rug for bath area, $9.99, big grey and white 5 x 7 rug for sink area, $19.99

Ross - Big grey and white patterned bath sheets, $7.99 each, 6 pk of washcloths, $4.99

Gabriel's -  Grey and white striped shower curtain, $3.99

Costco - 6 white bath towels, $5.99 each and 4 white hand towels, $3.99 each

Eeee HA! Fajitas

Peppers and onions go great with anything, I love them.  Pair them with chicken, sausages, beef and salads. However you prepare them, they are great and good for you. I especially like orange, yellow and red colored peppers, they are bright in color and always look so pretty.  They do the work to make your dish look attractive to the eye and stomach.  I bought a package of these guys at the market, relatively cheap in cost, and made fajitas out of them.  I cleaned and cut my peppers into wide strips and sliced up a sweet onion.  I sprayed my grill pan, no added fat there, seasoned with salt and pepper and let them sizzle in the pan.  Then, I added 1/2 packet of fajita seasoning, stirred them up and let them caramelize.

 Marinated my skirt steak earlier in the day with lime juice and the other 1/2 packet of fajita seasoning.  When all was done cooking, I sliced the steak on the diagonal for the best tender cut.  It was time to eat these yummy fajitas, so I filled my all time favorite wraps, LaTortilla Soft Wraps, with the steak, peppers and onions.  Also on the table - hot sauce, sour cream, lettuce, tomato and Mexican shredded cheese.  Awesome fajitas and fast and easy to make.

 Get on the LaTorilla train if you like tortillas.  Regular flour tortillas are usually 200 - 210 calories each!  These LaTortilla wraps are BIG, only 90 calories each, low in fat, and are loaded with fiber and protein - good stuff that's good for you!

Chic - y - ness

I was out and about and picked up a few more pieces of jewelry, on sale and clearance of course.   I really like jewelry that is colorful and versatile, pieces that you can mix and match with pieces that you may already have, and pieces that will go with anything in your wardrobe.  I put on a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, a black jacket and any one of these necklace/earring sets and I've got myself a chic little outfit to wear anywhere.

Left: Royal Blue Necklace and Earrings Set - Lane Bryant, $14.50

Right: Black and White Medallion Necklace and Earrings Set - Kohl's, $14.60.  The black and white medallion reverses to all black for winter wearing.

Left: Multi Color Necklace and Earring Set - A friend selling jewelry, $10.00

Right: Yellow Bead Necklaces (2) - Gabriel's, $1.00 each, Earrings $4.99

Left: Multi Color Bead and Charm Necklaces - Gabriel's, $4.99 each

Right: Multi Strand Ivory, Brown and Orange Necklace - Avenue, $9.96