An Office for the Christopher

Our house has three bedrooms.  One is our bedroom, one is a guest bedroom, and the third sat empty for the first year we owned our home.  We affectionately referred to it as "the office," even though we primarily used it for storage and it was a just plain empty room with a little futon. 

We entertained the idea of actually making the room a real office (with furniture!) from the time we moved in, but it wasn't until the Mister was away that I decided to put the space together before he got home.

Since the rest of the house is pretty much my domain when it comes to decorating choices, I decided to make this room specifically for him, a space in the house that I knew he would enjoy.  My mother-in-law and I painted the walls his favorite color (luckily, it's my favorite color, too), and I picked out every item with his taste in mind.

Our families and I didn't wrap this project up until the day he arrived home, but it was finished in time, and he loves it.

- Desk & lamp - consignment from Bella's House in Burlington, NC

- Desk chair & shelf - consignment form A Junkin' Ginger in Burlington, NC

- Knick-knacks & "liquor cannon" decanter - consignment from Consignment Connection in Burlington, NC

- Curtain rod & throw pillows (the orange striped pillow was on clearance when I purchased it, so it is no longer available online) - Target

- Curtains (I couldn't find these online, but the brand is Park B. Smith) - Bed, Bath, & Beyond

- Window seat/storage chest - Ross

- Futon - from my college dorm room : )

- I can't take credit for the flag.  It's a prized possession of the Mister's that he added after he arrived home.

Our Most-Loved Smoothie Recipes

We've been hooked on smoothies for breakfast for quite a while at our house.  Other than when we have breakfast out on the weekends, smoothies are a staple in our morning routine.  They're such a quick, easy way to get a ton of nutrients at once, and they help us feel like we start our mornings off on the right foot.  Not to mention they can be delicious if you find or create some good recipes!

On that note, I'm always looking for a new smoothie recipe to try.  Having the same thing every morning can get boring!  So I thought I'd share some of the recipes we've come to love in case any of you are in a smoothie slump or are looking to jump on the drinkable breakfast bandwagon.

A few notes:

I'm a weirdo who doesn't like strawberries in my smoothies, so all of my recipes are banana based.  I've found that the riper the bananas, the better flavor your smoothies will have.  Green bananas can result in a bitter aftertaste.  I slice my bananas to avoid "chunky" pieces in the finished product.

We prefer baby spinach or baby kale for our juicing greens.  Fresh Express now makes a "Juicing Greens" mix of both spinach and kale that I can even find at our local Food Lion!

We split one serving of whey protein in the mornings because we both take protein after we work out in the evenings.  Feel free to add as much or as little as you like.  Our favorite brand is BSN Syntha-6 in the Vanilla Ice Cream flavor.  Just follow the instructions on the package to find out how much a suggested serving is - some brands it's one scoop, others it's two.

The Mister drinks his smoothies later in the morning, so I add lemon juice to keep them from turning brown and looking unappetizing.  If you're going to drink your smoothie right away, you can skip the lemon juice.

For good smoothies, invest in a good blender!  We registered for a nice Hamilton Beach model from Target when we got married, and it's not "top of the line," but it gets the job done.  Speaking from experience, you don't want to fight with your blender every morning. Even though we didn't pay for ours, I can still say that the price tag would definitely be worth skipping the headache.

All of these recipes make two big servings. I make one batch each morning that the Mister and I share.  You can half everything for one serving, or follow the recipes as they are and save the leftovers for a healthy afternoon snack!

These measurements are more suggestions than exact instructions.  I "eyeball" how much I add of each ingredient instead of measuring everything out each time.  For a thicker smoothie, add less orange juice or milk, and more ice.  And for a thinner smoothie, add more orange juice or milk, and less ice.

Peach Mango - Chris's favorite!

2 bananas
1 cup frozen mango
4 scoops nonfat frozen peach yogurt

2 big handfuls of juicing greens
1 cup ice
1 serving vanilla whey protein
1 1/2 cups orange juice
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sweet Cherry - My favorite!

2 bananas
1 cup frozen pitted dark sweet cherries
4 scoops nonfat frozen vanilla yogurt
2 big handfuls of juicing greens
1 cup ice
1 serving vanilla whey protein
1 1/2 cups orange juice
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pina Colada

2 bananas
6 oz. pineapple juice - (Dole make cans in this size that are super convenient!)
4 scoops nonfat frozen vanilla yogurt
2 big handfuls of juicing greens
1 1/2 cups ice
1 serving vanilla whey protein
1 cup orange juice
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract OR 1 teaspoon imitation coconut extract (I loved the coconut extract, but Chris was not a fan)

Banana Butterscotch

2 bananas
4 scoops nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt
2 big handfuls of juicing greens
1 1/2 cups ice
1 package Jello-O instant sugar free fat free butterscotch pudding
1 serving vanilla whey protein
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
*This one was a little too sweet and thick for breakfast in Chris's opinion.  I really liked it, but I like sweets more than he does.  If you do like the more "milkshakey" consistency, you can try this recipe with any flavor of Jell-O instant sugar free fat free puddings.  They have a wide variety, including cheesecake, banana creme, and white chocolate.

Our Backyard Makeover

Hello, hello!  As always, sorry I haven't been checking in here lately.  Between enjoying my time with the Mister and the holidays (when I wanted to hang out with him even more because he was on leave), I've been very distracted and scatterbrained.  But now that he has gone back to working regular hours, we're settling back into our daily schedule and feeling really normal again.

I can't believe how quickly time seems to be moving right now.  It feels like the Mister just got home a month or two ago, but he's been here since early October.  And it's almost been a month since Christmas!  My parents have always told me that once you're a "grown up," times flies by, but I'm just beginning to appreciate what they mean.  I wish I could press a "pause" button right about now.  But on the same note, the good news is that spring is truly right around the corner.  We only have one more month of real winter around here, then comes March when spring starts to make an appearance.  Lent will be here in less than a month, and Easter will be in sight.  A sure sign of this is that it is after 5:30 pm as I am typing this, and it is still LIGHT outside.

Since warmer temperatures and longer days are fast approaching, I thought it was about time I share the photos I've been promising of the backyard renovation I worked on while Chris was gone.  ALL of our family members helped with this in one way or another, but we owe a big thank you to both of our dads and my grandfather.  With my lack of knowledge and skill in the fields of masonry, carpentry, and yard work in general, it is very obvious I couldn't have pulled any of this off on my own.  Now we're just counting down the days till the season of grilling, outside beer drinking, and late nights by the fire (says the girl who was just wishing she could slow down time).

Before:

I have tons of "in progress" photos, but I'll spare you those... except for these of my dad and grandfather working on the patio together because they're my favorite.

After:

Of course, there is always more to be done, but we are so happy with how it all came together!  We're no longer embarrassed to have guests out back (because the ground doesn't look like the surface of the moon anymore).  As I said before, we are so thankful for our family members who gave up their time to make this happen for Chris before he got home (and we're also grateful we're related to brick masons!).  We had the best welcome home party for Chris the weekend after he arrived and, even though the evening started out with rain, we were able to wrap up the night on our new patio.  It was a great inaugural backyard party, and we are chomping at the bit to have 100 more this coming spring, summer, and fall... not to mention the countless dinners just the two of us will have together out there.  Until then, I'm going to be torn between trying to enjoy winter and longing for the days the highs are above 70 degrees again.  We're still waiting on a good snow, though!

Patio pavers, deck/fence stain (Olympic Tobacco Semi-Transparent), and pergola (could no longer find online) - Lowes

Chairs and lights - Walmart (for real!)

Hammock - Wayfair

Table - Handmade by my dad for our wedding : )