Family Visit

Over the weekend my cousin, who also happens to be one of my best friends, came to visit me. It has become an annual tradition for her to come at the end of her J-term. Her visit usually consists of shopping, eating, dressing up, and crafting.

As always, we squeezed a little of everything in.

We made cupcakes.

We did a little shopping.

We dressed up for dinner at Buca.

We did a little crafting.

And of course we did a lot of cuddling and chatting.

It was so great to spend some together and have a good reason to eat without control.

Broccoli Chicken & Rice Divan

One of my Bible study leaders started a blog with the new year. I thought one of her recipes looked particularly fun and tasty, so I gave it a shot.

Broccoli Chicken & Rice Divan. I don’t know what “divan” is, and I’m not entirely sure I care, because it was wonderful.

I divided the dish into four individual ramekins rather than one baking dish. It was so lovely to sit down to dinner with an individual little dish of loveliness just for me.

I divided the meal into four very full ramekins. This could have easily stretched to six I think.

Here is the recipe with my modifications.

Broccoli Chicken & Rice Divan
2 cups of cooked brown rice
2 chicken breasts, chopped
1 1/2 cups broccoli, chopped
1 (10.75 oz) can Cream of Broccoli Soup
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp dried bread crumbs

- preheat oven to 450 degrees
- cook rice
- cook chicken
- cook broccoli, let boil for about 5 min. then drain
- spray ramekins with non-stick spray
- mix soup and milk
- mix chicken, broccoli, rice, sauce, and cheese
- pile into ramekins
- mix melted butter and bread crumbs
- sprinkle bread crumbs on top
- bake 15-20 minutes

** I know my pictures indicate that I did not follow my own directions. Its because I didn’t. After eating the dish I realized that some of the rice on the bottom did not get touched by the sauce, meaning I had several bites of plain rice. Rice is great and all… but I totally love a bit of cheesy goodness with every bite.

Tea Party

Yesterday I hosted a little party with the girls from my Bible Study. I decided we need a good excuse to get a little dressed up, and have a little party to get us geared up for another semester.

Everyone brought a little something to share.

We enjoyed sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, crackers & herb dip, cranberry scones, and brushetta.

our spread

Brushetta
3 large tomatoes, seeded & chopped
1 tbsp chopped mint (I used mint instead of basil because the store was out)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 loaf of crusty bread

stir together the tomatoes, mint, olive oil, & garlic powder
serve on crusty bread

This was a really simple appetizer to throw together for a small get together. The tomatoes make it super light and flavorful.

And who doesn’t love to add a bowl of color to a spread?

Another Add On

I have been wanting to make these little paper pinwheels for awhile now. My living room wall just looked like it was missing something. I think I found the missing link.

These little friends are adorable and super quick to make.

Supplies:
- paper (patterned, plain, craft paper, whatever you want)
- scissors (if you’re super talented you might not even need those!)
- glue
- string

First: Fold a piece of paper back and forth. The fold should be between 1/2”-1”. Fold entire sheet of paper. Do this to three sheets of paper. If the last fold is not quite long enough, trim it off. You will want your folds as even as possible for the smoothest look.

Second: Fold your long strips in half. Then glue in the middle.

Three: Glue edges of mini fans together to make a giant fan.

Four: Glue the last side together carefully. Your three sheets will expand a little to bridge the gap.

Five: Glue a string to the back to hang it on a wall. Hang it.

Done. These are so simple. I made all three in about 10 minutes. This little project can be added to any room in the house to add a little homemade touch.

 

Old Made New

Over the summer I had spray painted 3 small vintage trays hot pink to turn them into little magnet boards. Since then, I have loved the idea of painting old, beat up items to give them a much needed face lift.

In August I bought a mirror that I really wanted to paint to match our bedroom. I didn’t find the time to do that project until now. I also found a yellow, outdated lamp base to go with my chevron lamp shade that I fell in love with at Target, and a little gold elephant that I couldn’t pass up.

Here are my results:

Before
photo taken with phone (sorry it’s so blurry)

After
I love the color and how well the teal pairs with the gold and white chevron.

Before
How adorable is this little guy? Unfortunately, his white eye creeped me out. So, he got painted too.

After

Before: umm… oops? Sorry. It was bronze and no where near as playful.

After
Eventually the mirror will get hung above the dresser 

—

 A nice layer of paint can make an outdated piece look brand new. Another bonus of painting– you don’t have to dig through department store after department store searching for that perfect color to match your bed spread in that lamp you love the shape of. Hello spray paint. My name is Holly. Lets be friends for life.

Give it a shot. What do you want to spruce up with a coat of paint?

First Day Back

I thought the new semester was going to be awful. I thought I was going to cry and whine about going back for weeks and weeks.

Turns out, school isn’t so bad when you decide you can suck it up.

It may have also helped that I made some awesome french toast for supper the night before.

Sweet French Toast
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp brown sugar

-whisk together.
- dip bread.
- fry in skillet with butter.

Adding brown sugar and almond extract brought a little extra joy to the traditional french toast.

School may not be so bad after all. Just don’t cross me before my 8am class if I haven’t had my coffee.

Montana Part 3: West Yellowstone

The majority of our week consisted of board games. When we did get out though, we tried to be a little adventurous.

We wanted to spend a day at Yellowstone National Park. Unfortunately, we would have each had to pay roughly $100 to rent a snowmobile or a ride on a Snowcoach. Buzz kill. Second best option- look at shops in the town next to the park.

Wednesday we made the 40 minute drive to West Yellowstone (town next to Yellowstone National Park).

It was an adventure. To start it off, we drove about 20 miles in the wrong direction on ice covered roads. Oops.

Once we arrive in West Yellowstone we were slightly disappointed to see that about half of the shops were closed for the season.

However, we did enjoy browsing the shops that were open, as well as enjoy lunch at a cute little ice cream parlor.

For lunch I enjoyed a corn dog, potato/cheddar/bacon soup, and some of the best fries I have ever had- crispy and salty on the outside, with a little bit of potato on the inside. The boys got real crazy and had a buffalo burger. No thanks. I prefer mystery meet skewered on a stick then deep fried. I’m classy.

After lunch we found a cute little candy shop too. Lots of chocolate and at least 20 different flavors of taffy.

The trip back was more direct than our drive out. West Yellowstone gave a nice chance to get of the house and cause a little trouble.

 —-

Side note: school starts again tomorrow. Ack.