New Home, New DIYs!

The last few weeks have felt like a whirlwind since graduation. I sold most of my furniture and drove 11 hours to my new home outside of St. Louis in Edwardsville IL. I am working as a marketing graduate assistant while getting my MBA.

The new home is coming along slowly but surely and I wanted to post our first few DIYs:

Kitchen Coffee Bar

 The metal rod and metal hanging basket are from IKEA. I used matching S-hooks to hang my mugs and turn a vitrually useless space into an easy-access coffee and tea bar.

Kitchen Table Decor

 We bought an easy (and cheap!) table from Wal-Mart, so I wanted to add a little color to make it appear a little nicer. The plants, candles, and square candle holder are from IKEA. The plates are plastic and came from Wegman's and the blue placemats are from Home Goods.

Wooden "Floating" Shelf

The wood is a simple board from Home Depot painted black with acrylic paint. We used small 90 degree metal hangers (also from Home Depot) that came in a 4 pack for under $4. I probably should have used white to disgue them a little better, but hey, I still like the look of it. We placed it above the couch as a focal design point. The glow balls are solar powered and only turn on in the evening.

Be sure to check back soon for more inexpensive and simple home DIYs that I'm working on :)

Graduation Gap

I started by laying out the design I wanted before gluing anything down. Be sure to double and triple check that the cap is facing the right direction!! I hot glued the flowers to a small square of paper then hot glued the paper to the cap.

I used gold stickers to match the purple and gold theme. I printed out the shape of the states so I could align the text properly. For the final copy, I traced the outline of the states on heavier cardstock and used a glue stick to hold them down. I wouldn't advise using the glue stick as it doesn't hold as well as the hot glue does. 

Ta-da! My finished cap! The states represent moving from my home in Virginia to Illinois. GFIT and COB represent my affiliations with Group Fitness and the College of Business, which occupied most of my undergrad time. 

Graduation Preperation

T-minus two weeks until graduation! 

In front of Wilson Hall, the main building on the quad.

I am so excited and have been working hard to get everything put together before May 8th. From buying my cap, cords, and gown to getting my senior portraits done all while balancing final exams and papers. I wanted to take a break and post some pictures to share with you all!

Used this shot to make my announcements on Shutterfly.com

Used flowers from the craft store and gold stickers to decorate my cap
"THANKS
MOM & DAD
NONNA & PAP
AND COFFEE"

Green Goddess Shake

I have been using this shake recipe for over two years now and still love it. I was surprised how sweet yet tangy the result is. The banana, honey, and vanilla give it a sweet taste that overrides the spinach and avocado. The lemon gives it the kick needed to give it that refreshing taste.

Mix all the ingredients with ice. You need a powerful blender to smoothly blend the lemon rinds and spinach. I don't usually have to add any liquid as the vanilla and lemon juice provide enough. Enjoy!

My sister and I drinking this shake. Summer, 2013 

Best "Frosting" Recipe You'll Ever Use

WOW! I can hardly believe it's almost April already. I graduate in less than two months and I have been busy job searching, studying, and working. In celebration of purchasing my own domain name for my blog, I am posting one of my favorite frosting recipes for the perfect light and moist cakes. I used this exact recipe over spring break to make a strawberry cheesecake marble cake. I used boxed marble cake mix and used cheesecake pudding to give the frosting a cheesecake taste.

Directions:

Prepare cake as instructed and let cool.

Mix 1 cup cold milk with pudding mix,

Stir well until mix begins to thicken.

Pour mix into cool whip and gently stir together.

Spread over room temperature cake and refrigerate.

The frosting holds its shape extremely well and does not run. It is a little more difficult to get a perfectly smooth spread, so this is not the icing to use if that is the result you are going for. I also used this frosting on a hummingbird cake I made. Check it out here! 

Happy Frosting!