Weekend Recap

This weekend went by in a flash. I can't believe that July is over and that August starts tomorrow. This year has just been flying by, it's crazy! We had a really nice weekend though. We didn't work like crazy like we did the weekend before. On Friday after work was done we headed over to Rich and Tif's. The boys played poker and Tif, her mom and I just hung out, talked and played with Jacob.

On Saturday we were up and out early. We wanted to run around and get some shopping done. We started off with some breakfast and then we had to run over to Michael's parents to drop a few things off. Michael's Aunt and cousin were in from Missouri so we said hello and chatted for a while before we headed out. We made our way to Oakbrook to do some shopping at the mall. I had a $100 off coupon for Coach that I was hoping to use on a new Fall bag but I left empty handed, I was bummed.

We had fun just being outside and walking around the mall though. It's such a pretty outdoor mall; they have tons of flowers and they had all of these cool painted frogs everywhere with different color schemes.

On our way out we stopped at Barnes and Noble just to mull around and peruse the books and magazines.

After the mall we headed towards Lombard to do some more shopping at Yorktown and get some lunch. I hit up Forever 21, Charming Charlie, TJ Maxx and Carson's. I did the best at Carson's. I got a $300 suit for $40, it was a total steal. I also got a great dress for Fall and a cute cardigan. I couldn't find a picture of the suit online since it was on clearance. But this is the dress and cardigan I got.

After I was done shopping, Michael and I went to Flat Top Grill for lunch. It was yummy as usual. After we got done with lunch we got a call from Rich and Tif that they were going over to Kens parents house to swim and Michael's mom and Aunt and cousin were all going over there. We didn't have our suits with us but we swung by just to hang out for a little while and visit with everyone. Jacob looked adorable in the swim outfit we bought him for Easter. The little flip flops kill me, HA!

After hanging out there for a while we headed home and just relaxed. We ended up going out to dinner with everyone later at Weber Grill and then hung out at Rich and Tif's afterwards. 

Today we got up, had some breakfast and then headed out to do some shopping. I had some coupons for a few stores that I wanted to hit up. We did grocery shopping and then stopped at a farm stand for our fresh veggies for the week. We headed home, had some lunch and relaxed in the air conditioning the rest of the afternoon. Michael got a nap in, I got some things done around the house and watched a movie. Michael decided he wanted to make homemade pizzas for Sunday dinner. He found a great recipe for some herb pizza crust. The dough came out great. We always have fun making our own pizzas, they were really good!

It was such a nice weekend. I'm excited that August is here, that means its getting closer to Fall! We have so many fun things coming up, I can't wait. I hope you all had a great weekend and have a speedy week ahead.

Our week in pictures: 7/24 - 7/30

Sunday, July 24: New blinds in the living room

Monday, July 25: Manicure this week, OPI's Chapel of Love

Tuesday, July 26: Mmmm...Starbucks

Wednesday, July 27: Michael is just so important he needs to be talking on 2 phones at the same time, HA!

Thursday, July 28: My flowers are all in bloom thanks to all of the rain this week.

Friday, July 29: Porkchop doing what he does best when I'm working from home, nothing!

Saturday, July 30: Jacob had fun swimming at Ken's house.

Things I'm loving: July

My New Closet

It's no secret I love my made over closet. It was a big project but the end result was so worth it. I still get happy every time I go in there. I am happy to say it still looks exactly like this and is still super clean and organized. 

BLT's

I had a taste for a BLT for months. One night I came home from work and Michael had gone to a farm stand and bought everything we needed to make them plus some fresh corn on the cob. Since then we've been having them at least once a week. Sometimes the simplest things are the most delicious!

Birthday Boy Porkchop

 I can't have a July list without this guy. Porkchop celebrated his 4th birthday this month. We love you buddy!

The final Harry Potter

It was pretty sad that the Harry Potter series has now come to its conclusion. But we'll always have the books and movies to read and watch over and over again. We had a lot of fun going with Rich, Tif and Ken to the final movie. I even made golden snitch cake pops as a special treat.

New Fall Clothes

The end of July means Summer is almost over and Fall is on its way. Fall clothes are starting to make their way into stores. I get so excited about Fall clothes like I used to get excited about back to school supply shopping as a kid. I've found some great pieces so far to add to my wardrobe thanks to the Nordstrom Anniversary sale and I'm sure there will be more to come!

This week I'm...

Loving: That it's almost the weekend, I'm so ready!
Disliking: The amount of projects I have piling up at work, it's going to be a busy Fall.
Craving: Anything homegrown - this is the best time of year for fresh veggies!
Hoping: That August is going to be our best month of 2011!
Reading: I finished The Help by Kathryn Stockett earlier this week, now I'm onto, Summer and the City: A Carrie Diaries Novel by Candace Bushnell.
Watching: So excited for the new season of Project Runway starting tonight!
Listening to: I'm addicted to the Pandora iPhone app. I never knew they had one until this weekend!
Looking forward to: Not doing a million projects around the house this weekend!
Hearing buzz about: The NFL owners and players have finally made a deal. I'm so happy our football Sundays will remain intact!

Wordless Wednesday: My handy man finally gets some rest

New Recipe: Pizza Pull Apart Bread

I had this recipe starred on my Google Reader and had just happened to buy the bread for it when we were at the store this weekend. When Rich called to invite us to appetizer night this weekend, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to try it out. It was a hit! It's kind of like Italian bread sticks with ooey gooey cheese, yum!

Ingredients

1 unsliced round loaf Italian bread

12-16 ounces Provolone cheese, thinly sliced
1 (3.5 ounce) package pepperoni, halved
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasonings
2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese
pizza/marinara sauce for dipping

Ingredients

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the bread lengthwise and widthwise without cutting through the bottom crust. It's a little tricky on the ends, but you can fluff the bread right back.

Place bread on a foil-lined baking sheet and insert cheese slices and pepperoni between cuts. Combine butter, garlic powder, and Italian seasonings.

Drizzle or brush over bread with a pastry brush. Sprinkle bread with Parmesan cheese. 

Wrap bread completely in foil and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Unwrap the bread and bake 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted and pepperoni is a little crispy. Serve with warmed pizza sauce and enjoy!

Menu Planning Monday

Monday: Walleye fillets and baked fries

Tuesday: Turkey meatball sandwiches

Wednesday: BLT's and tomato cucumber salad

Thursday: Pesto chicken pasta (this didn't make it to the table last week)

Friday: Take out/going out

Weekend Recap

Whew, we had a really busy weekend. We got so much accomplished since the weather was pretty crappy all weekend. On Friday I worked from home which I was glad about because we had some crazy storms roll through.

After work we went over to Rich and Tif's to hang out with them, Jacob and Ken. We had some dinner and played with Jacob before he went to bed. 

On Saturday, we were up and out early. We were originally supposed to go swimming but we had more storms so those plans got ruined. We decided to take advantage of the crappy weather and ran a bunch of errands. We went to breakfast, Home Depot, Whole Foods, Costco, Target and Lowes. We also did some carpet shopping. We are looking into replacing all of the carpet in our house. Everything is crappy builders stock that we didn't get to choose. It's really starting to show wear so we want to get it done.

After running around for a few hours we headed home to unload everything. We decided we wanted to do some baking and make a big pot of marinara sauce to freeze for dinners. Michael made homemade marshmallows to make s'mores pops and s'mores bars. We also got the sauce started.

While we were doing some cooking Michael heard from Rich and he asked if we wanted to come over for dinner. We decided on having an appetizer night. Luckily we had bought some stuff that would work so we didn't have to run back to the store. Michael made BLT's, I made a new recipe for pizza pull-apart bread and then we made the s'more pops and bars. Recipes coming this week for the new items!

Tif made Taco dip and Ken made his famous cream cheese rolls. It was all very yummy! After dinner we just hung out, played with Jacob and then watched a movie. Jacob was cracking us up as usual. I actually remembered my big camera too so I got some pictures.

I think Jacob's favorite part though, was dessert! He was loving the s'mores bars I made. He was grunting and screaming for more! He had it all over his face, it was hilarious.

This morning we woke up to more storms. The whole house was shaking from the thunder, it was pretty crazy. We laid in bed for a while waiting for the storm to pass. We finally got up and moving and then we headed out again to run some errands. We went to breakfast and then headed to IKEA. We wanted to get there right when it opened because it tends to get a little crazy on the weekends. We got in and out in under 30 minutes which was really fast. 

We went to IKEA to get a TV stand for the man den. We wanted to expand the office in there and needed more space to put things on. The TV was on our filing cabinet before and we bought a new printer that we wanted to put on the filing cabinet instead. We came home and started putting together the new TV stand. 

Now we have plenty of room on the desk and the printer and router fit perfectly on the filing cabinet. The new TV stand came out great too. Another project done!

I did find a few other accessories at IKEA while we were walking through. I found a few cool picture frames and some candle sticks I can use on our mantle or in a tablescape.

After we were done putting together the TV stand, we put our marinara sauce that we started on Saturday back on the stove to continue cooking. We had some lunch and then next up was blind installation. I ordered the same white blinds that we have down in the man den for the windows in our living room, master bedroom, master bath and the guest bedroom. We only got the living room done today, the rest will have to wait until next weekend. They came out really nice, it just finishes everything off. 

After the blinds we were both pretty wrecked and we both conked out on the couch for an hour or so. After we woke up I made some homemade turkey meatballs to go along with the marinara we cooked all day. We also bottled up all the extra sauce to freeze for future dinners. I love doing this because for $15 we made enough sauce for 11 dinners. Plus, it's my sauce and I know what's in it. It was a really yummy Sunday dinner.

The rest of the night we have just been relaxing. We got a lot accomplished this weekend. Hopefully the weather will be nicer next weekend and we will get to be out and enjoy it instead of working in the house! I hope all of you  had a great weekend and have a good week ahead!