New guest bathroom, new guests

Last weekend you probably remember my good friend Rachel came in town and we had our winery adventures. This weekend I'm awaiting a fun-filled weekend with my high school friends Erin and Lindsay. They are staying with me as well which makes a lot of house guests for the past two weekends.

Just my cup of tea since I love playing hostess, but I felt like my guest bathroom was desperately needing a makeover. It was a pattern I'd picked out when I was 18 so my tastes have changed a little from a Parisian purse and shoe theme. Plus, I thought it didn't really reflect Hugh's taste that much, ha.

So, here is the new theme, complete with pics of Hugh and me on the wall :)

Comfort meal with a bestie

On Wednesday night, Katie and I decided to make dinner at my house to save a little money and we also thought it would be a fun change. We usually have the Chili's, Barnes and Noble, and movies routine when we hang out (which isn't enough if you ask me!)... that quickly adds up to a lot of moola!

On the menu was stuffed pork chops, mashed potato casserole, green beans, and beer bread. After a few mishaps (gluten-free instant potatoes and not using self-rising flour, haha), it ended up being a great meal that left us in the proper food coma this meal usually brings.

A welcome addition to the meal was our good friend Chris who contributed dessert (cookie dough ice cream) and good company.

I love nights like this where we can spend hours from start to finish preparing a meal, enjoying it, and cleaning up after it in the summer. August 2 I will be starting to visit my new classroom at least a few hours a day... I feel like school just got out!

Wherever the road takes us...

This weekend, I had the pleasure of having one of my dear friends (and future bridesmaid), Rachel come into town from St. Louis. We are sorority sisters from college and always have kept in touch well over the years with visits and phone calls. She is so much fun to be with because she brings out my spontaneous nature that needs to come out more often.

Case in point, yesterday afternoon. My sister loves New Oak Winery outside of Odessa, so we decided to drive out there among the corn, open road, and blue skies. While tasting different wines (I just took small sips since I was the driver), we discovered that Lafayette County is apparently a wine county. We decided to go to another winery about 25 minutes farther away from home, in Dover. This winery, Baltimore Bend, had a lot sweeter wines. I'm not a fan of dry wines, so this winery was my favorite of the two. I actually really liked a red wine and bought a bottle, which is saying something! We sat outside after the tasting at Baltimore Bend and looked at acres of corn. However, it was about 90 degrees in the shade, so that didn't last too long!

Rachel kept sharing all day that she has an urge to grow things, and one day would love to have a small sod farm. Hugh has always wanted to have a farm too, so I knew later that night when we went to dinner, that would be a fun topic of conversation. Hugh and I might eventually live just outside of the city limits in a few acres, but I think that's all I can do!

While we drove to the wineries, we decided- well I decided- that I wanted fruit and apple butter. So, we stopped at orchards along the way and an antique store too. We ended up with some awesome loot when the day was said and done. I am particularly excited about okra, which I am going to try and fry like Lambert's.

I haven't had an afternoon like that in a long time. It was a nice little day trip driving around the countryside and having good talks with a good friend.

However, by the time we got back to I-70 four hours later, I was ready to stop seeing mazes of corn and driving on windy roads :)

Another attempt at being a domestic goddess...

Every couple weeks, I try to be like Martha Stewart. Whether it's scrapbooking with my cricut, making elaborate from-scratch meals, or last week's candle making, there's always something new I want to attempt to prove I can do it all. I've found that I always take it a bit farther than I should (did I really need to buy four boxes of Mason jars and go to three Hobby Lobby's?!)... so it isn't until I have a few days to reflect on the project/meal that I realize that I really enjoyed it.

The candle making was an attempt to prove that making candles would be saving me money in the long run and that they would be personalized. The Mason jar candle also has a vintage feel that I love.

I decided on using white soy wax and just used the directions on the wax, wicks, and a DIY blog that my best friend Gwen wrote a couple years ago when she worked for KC Star. Here's a link to that: http://www.kcweddings.com/blogs/topic.php?t=6

I decided to make some of the candles with coffee beans in them, but decided I may have dumped too many beans in them (something I'll perfect if I make these again) for them to burn without crackling. I used mostly vanilla scent but a few have guava mango or a pina colada scent.

Overall, the project was fun, but I honestly don't know if I'll be dying to do it again. I will eventually need to do another session to use up the extra wicks. It ended up being more money than I thought, and I have a lot of Mason jars left. Putting in only the recommended amount of scent isn't enough if you are used to very fragrant candles like I am. They are really cute though, and they are making good gifts for friends staying with me the next couple weekends or hostess gifts when people have me over. It's a homemade gift that people can actually use. I bought two big bags of soy wax and it made about 15 candles (in four different sizes). The plus of soy wax is that it will burn for a very long time, so I made high quality candles. I'm sure I could make them cheaper next time!

I would recommend making the candles if you already have the jars or if you are just wanting to make a handful of candles. Also, if you like fragrant candles that reach an entire room, put in double the recommended amount of frangrance.