Eight Years

Well, it has been a busy week for me around here! My husband Jeff and I celebrated our 8th wedding Anniversary on May 8th. Can't believe it's been that long! I'm thankful to be married to my best friend and of course life hasn't been perfect but I can truly say we've laughed more times than we've argued. 

We have definitely had some adventures together and I can see that God already has done "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us". We had this verse from Ephesians read on our wedding day and it has really been the story of our lives as we continue to walk by faith.

 A few words on my husband: He really gets me and is so supportive with all my creative endeavors-even when my projects invade all rooms of the house and I have to ask him one more time to help me with a camera setting or technical support. 


He is the one to lighten the mood with humor when I get stressed and tells me to escape from the demands of mommyhood to coffee with a friend, the craft store, or a nice walk. All that to say I'm really proud of the man he is and is becoming-still glad I said "yes"! 

For our special day, I arranged babysitting for our 3 little boys and snuck away to a pretty park and cozy French/Italian restaurant. The food was amazing! 


Oh, and I got surprised with this gorgeous bouquet: 

8 years ago on our wedding day

This made me really happy!  Yes, they smell as sweet as they look. 

As far as my projects, I took a little break from crafting and posting so I could get serious about choosing and buying paint colors, lighting, and a new mirror for my bathroom redo. 

 I have finally decided on the colors I want! I can't wait to show you the "before's" and after's". After a year and a half of icy blue walls, boring lighting and mirror and a 1980's floral wallpapered door I've had enough. Stay tuned in the next few weeks for by big reveal! 

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple! 

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

I interrupt this normally crafty/decorating blog to ask an important question: Who likes Thai food? It is really one of my favorites-tied with Middle Eastern-I really can't decide which one I like best but I love the blend of flavors and spices of both.

So, I haven't posted a recipe in a while-I haven't been cooking too many things with the addition of our newborn two months ago. It's been all about survival here and what's quick and easy, but as he sleeps a little more during the night, I get a little more energy to do more myself.

So one rainy day I decided it was perfect to try out my Thai cookbook with an easy recipe-chicken noodle soup with a bang.  I'm not sure I'll ever go back to the old way of making it...

I promise this recipe is really simple-it was my first Thai recipe I've ever tried and now that I know what I'm doing I will try something a little more daring next time. I present to you Thai Chicken Noodle Soup:

So, I didn't actually add the kaffir lime leaves because I didn't make a special trip to an Asian food store-maybe next time? But the lemongrass and ginger paste were conveniently in my produce aisle-with a $1 off coupon next to it-making it really easy and cheap to add these ingredients.

I love my Pampered Chef cutting mats-you can just bend them and slide the food into the pan.

Here's another easy way to add fresh flavor to your foods: I found these mini cube trays of herbs at Costco by a brand called Dorot.

They are filled with tiny portions of either crushed garlic, parsley or cilantro = genius! 

I had frozen fresh ground herbs before, but never had tiny trays like these 20 sections of 1 teaspoon each.  I plan on refilling these trays with my own fresh herbs from my summer garden-I'm dreaming of fresh salsa and pesto...mmmm....

I discovered using chicken tenderloins speeds things up too, because they don't need to be tenderized or marinated and can be cut into cubes quickly. Where have you been all my life?

One of these days when I don't have toddlers hanging on me while I try to cook, I will make homemade broth from scratch. In the meantime, there's my favorite Better Than Bouillon quick option-no MSG, all natural goodness, easily stores in the fridge.

Yes, the weather's warming up, but it's still a great time to make soup, in my opinion. Add some ice cubes if you want. And guess what else? My whole family loved it (well, besides the newborn-but he will someday! ) It only took about 20 minutes to make. And I promise, it really wasn't a huge production=cooking success for this busy momma.  

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple! 

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Vintage Chalkboard Revamp

Last summer, this easel chalkboard was sitting at an antique store just begging to be thrown in a dumpster taken home by me with its clearance price tag. At $15 I couldn't resist.

I imagined using it to write fun messages on it for birthdays and letting the kids use it as an art easel. So far, it's been used for all of those things, but I had been wanting to do something bright and cheerful to the top scroll part.

(I guess from my research the scroll had been used in some way for school-for the alphabet or nursery rhymes.) Well, I finally made some beautiful changes that I'm happy with: But I do have a question about the wood-should I paint it? 

Here's what I did to change the look of the chalkboard so far:

before

starting to paint the scroll a pale aqua

I had some upholstery samples I had bagged up at my local Scrap 4 Art store and thought all the bright colors would make a great pennant. So, I used my fabric scissors, hot glue gun and some twine to create the look below: 

Wouldn't this chalkboard be a cute message board at a vintage style wedding?

But,  I'm still sitting on the fence about painting the wood-what do you think I should do?

Linking up with these parties.