Lately I've been....

...wearing more dresses.

...dreaming about painting our new apartment.

...putting avocado on everything.

...wanting to eat more real food, less processed stuff.

...needing a haircut and color.

...making time to cook and workout.

...trying out this Bar Method DVD and kind of liking it.

...taking more walks with Tim.

...thinking about new furniture.

...loving the warm weather.

...thinking about those books I've been storing for beach days.

...drinking more water than I have in my entire life.

...feeling inspired by our move to create new things.

...longing for days on the beach.

...feeling inspired by our move to purge everything we own and only keep the best, loveliest, and most useful.

...wanting to paint something fun on our downstairs bathroom.

...driving my new car everywhere.

This baby was so worth the wait. Just wanted to share a photo of my lovely new car because I am very much in love with it. It's just so cute!

So sometimes when you compromise and try to find a cheaper option, you end up with something you look at everyday and hate. That's how I feel about these bar stools. I wanted something that might not be the most comfortable, but really cute, and Tim wanted something with a back that would be comfortable. So we ended up with these stools below from Target. They had backs, were cheap, and didn't look completely hideous.

I decided that instead of buying new stools, I'd do that DIY-way and recover these bar stools and give them a new coat of paint until I find something better. Here's how I reupholstered the seats of these bar stools, but it's a standard way to cover any basic chair with a upholstered seat.

Remove your seats cut your fabric. I just lay the seat upside down on the fabric and add about two inches around the entire seat. More is better than less.

Using a staple gun, pull the fabric tight and staple in place. The goal is to get as few bumps or overlaps on the right side as possible, so you will need to overlap the fabric on the back. The corners are the trickiest part. Just keep pulling and overlapping and stapling. I aim for pretty-good and don't stress over a few bumps on the right side. 

The photo below better shows how a corner will look once finished. After you've gone all the way around, trim off some of the extra fabric to get something that looks like this...

Reattact your seat to your frame and that's it! Much simpler than you thought, I bet!

Keep in mind you can always pull a few staples out with a pair of pliers it starts looking really bumpy. The next step is to give these little babies a new paint job. I'm thinking kelly green, but I'm not set on anything yet. 

**Fabric is from Joann and is an outdoor fabric.

This recipe has been floating around in my brain for a while now. I love everything that s'mores have to offer. Sitting around a fire with friends in warm weather, drinking a beer and roasting marshmellows. That's quite a little piece of heaven if you ask me. These are a basic chocolate cupcake on top of a graham cracker crust and topped with a melted marshmellow frosting. They look much more complicated than they are and they are sure to impress at your next BBQ. People love these babies! Here we go...

S'mores Cupcakes

Yields 48 cupcakes

Crust:

3c graham crackers, crusted

1/4c sugar

1/4tsp salt

11tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Cupcakes:

1 1/2c granulated sugar

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature

3 eggs, room temperature

2c flour

3/4c cocoa powder

1tsp baking soda

1tsp baking powder

1/8tsp salt

2tsp vanilla

1c buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 and place liners in a cupcake pan.

To make the crust, mix melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, salt, and sugar until combined. Place one heaping tablespoon of crust mixture into the bottom of each liner and press down. Bake for 10 minutes.

For the cakes, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, Combine. Add vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add dry mixture to the butter mixture, alternating between dry and buttermilk. Only mix until combined so you don't overmix. Overmixing=dry cupcakes.

Fill each cupcake liner with crust until almost full. Bake for 16-18 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Gooey Marshmallow Frosting

Yields enough for 48 cupcakes

4 egg whites, room temperature

1c sugar

1/2tsp cream of tartar

1tsp vanilla

Whisk egg whites, sugar, and cream and tartar in a double boiler over medium-high heat. Whisk frequently until mixture reaches 160 degrees (I used a candy thermometer). Transfer mixture into bowl of electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beginning at low speed, gradually increase speed to medium-high until stiff peaks form, about 5-7 minutes. Mix in vanilla.

I piped my frosting on with a 1M Wilton tip and then used a creme brulee torch to toast the marshmallow topping. This is what impressed people mostly I think. If you don't have a torch you could top with a chocolate drizzle and some crusted graham crackers. I've read that you can't just stick the cupcakes under the broiler, so I feel like I should mention that, but that sounds like a terrible idea anyway. Just splurge and by the torch. Think about all those creme brulees and lemon meringue pies you could toast...

Looking for more chocolate creations? Try these Chocolate Mint Cupcakes, Chocolate Banana Cupcakes, or Chocolate Potato Chip Cupcakes!

Can you believe that I've been blogging for an entire year?! I certainly can't! I'm happy to report that I love it more than ever in the year I've been blogging, and I'm sure my enthusiasm will continue!

Half way through the year and I'm enjoying this way of setting goals. I like looking back each month and seeing if I completed them and I love that the goals I'm setting are easy and fun. Last month I wanted to spend more time outside, which we are working on (lots of morning and after work walks and a few BBQs) and get back into cooking, which is going stronger than I thought it would. I say, I cook 3-4 nights a week. That might not sound like a success to everyone, but I think it's pretty darn cool. I am also thrilled to tell you we are moving again! But this time, just a hallway over. Our apartment is bigger and will hopefully be everything we are yearning for (more space! less stuff!). Here are some things to focus on for June....

• Get healthier. I've been thinking a lot about how I feel everyday (and maybe how I look in a bikini) and am wondering if my lack of diet and exercise is hurting me. I want to get more real food into my diet, cut out some junk by finding new things I love, and get to the gym more. I just want to feel positive!
• Have a stress-free move. We decided to move earlier this week and will be moving June 8. That's two weeks to pack, clean, purge, organize, etc. I think the small amount of time will help me not becoming overly stressed, but I'm still a basket-case on the day of the move. Trying to avoid that for the sake of everyone.
• Enjoy our shore time. We are lucky enough to have access to my parent's place down the shore and I want to spend that time relaxing. I tend to get anxious without things planned and just laying around, but that's what these vacations are for. 

Happy Summer!

We'd had a string of lovely weekends over here. The weather has been (mostly) warm and sunny and we've had a handful of things planned each weekend, which I love. Add to that some shopping, thrifting, multiple walks into town for breakfast, frozen beverages, tons of live music, my new car, and handful of new dollar records and you've got a couple of perfect weekends. I'm loving our town and the weather around here more than ever. Life feels rather full right now.

Happy Friday! (And for those keeping track at home, yes, Tim got a haircut.)

This little DIY is really simple, but also pretty freakin' cute. Sometimes you just want to decorate a dessert for a party, but happy birthday candles don't quite cover it because you aren't celebrating anyone's birthday. These cake toppers can be made in a million different ways, but here is a very easy one with bamboo scures and some fabric scraps.

Using embroidery floss or any other kind of string you have laying around, tie each end around the top of a bamboo scure. The size of the string will depend on personal preference and how big your cake is.

Cut about 10 rectangles out of fabric and cut each rectangle into a diamond. The number of diamonds will depend on how wide your string is.

Apply Mod Podge to one side of the diamond and glue the fabric onto the string. After all the fabric pieces are glued to the string, Cut off any fabric that doesn't match up when you folded them in half. And that's it!

Stick that topper into some cupcakes or a pie and you have an instant party. Or at least, your party is instantly better. Happy dessert!

PS: Those smores cupcakes are coming up later this week!

A few weeks ago, I was asked to put together a DIY for BuzzFeed on cord organization that was featured on their DIY website! Check out the link to see how to repurpose some Altoid tins to keep your headphones and cords manageable. The tiny one came out just darling. So honored to be featured among these lovely ladies!

These sleep shorts were a combination of a two ideas I stumbled upon on Pinterest. I found an online shop/blog which sells handmade dresses made from vintage sheets as well as a tutorial to make sleep shorts. I decided that since I had a small growing collection of vintage sheets in my fabric stash, I'd try my hand at a pair of elastic sleep shorts made from vintage sheets. So soft!

With only a minor size issue in the behind, I love them. Since I made them, I've been thinking about who else would want a pair so I could make another! My next step is to figure out how much to adjust my pattern for a smaller and larger pair. They look really cute with a simple ribbed tank top, so I also want to figure out a way to use the fabric on a tank, maybe a pocket or something. Who wants a set?!