Well, it's that time again. Truth be told, I have been the most excited for this week's renovation post! Since we were living in a one bedroom apartment before we bought this place, our bedroom served as the 'master bedroom,' as well as the 'catch all' for all of our extra junk. Oh, and Riley's crate. Minor details.

Since our bedroom in our apartment didn't really feel like 'us,' I was very excited about transforming the master bedroom in our new home into a room where we'd love to spend time. If you've seen any of my other renovation posts, you've probably already realized that the people that lived here before us hadn't really updated the place in a while. So, feast your eyes on these 'before' shots ...

Yes, they really had those curtains in the bedroom, and the walls were STARK white. You know, other than the places that had stains on them. Needless to say, we had to start all over again with this room. Luckily, the room is a nice size, and had a bathroom and walk-in closet in it already (Sidenote: the  bathroom is a totally different story, and is currently still gutted, so we'll save that portion of the master for another day!)

I knew that I wanted the room to feel light and bright. Once we got rid of the old blinds and curtains, there was a lot more natural light flowing into the room, which made it the perfect canvas!

Once the duvet came, I started picking out other accessories that I thought would accent it well. A few lamps from Target, some pillows from Home Goods and a few hanging mirrors, and the show was really rolling!

Our room is really a collection of lots of different pieces from lots of different places, but I'll do my best to share where I got the majority of the newer items.

Queen Duvet Cover - Crate & Barrel, Summer 2011

Bed Pillows: Home Goods, Fall 2011

Nightstands - Target, Winter 2009

Matching Lamps & Shades - Target, Fall 2011

Round Wall Mirror (above bed): Hobby Lobby, Winter 2012

Hanging Wall Sconces (set of 2): Willow House 'Looking Glass Sconces'

Cream Shag Area Rug: WalMart, Fall 2011

Dresser: Gardiners Furniture, Fall 2011

I am absolutely in love with the way our master bedroom turned out! It is definitely my favorite and one of the most 'complete' rooms in the house, and it's the perfect retreat for us when we've tired of chores and renovation projects at the end of every weekend!

I hope everyone is having a great week! Today, I head to NJ for a long weekend. It will be four days full of work tasks, catching up my friends, QT with the family and a bridal sower for my sister-in-law-to-be! I'll be sure to catch you up on the happenings of the weekend next week, but I just HAD to share this with you before the week ran out!

Are you a face wash person? I never really was because I fell into the habit many years ago of NEVER washing my face before bed and it continues. Lucky for me, and for my darling husband, I have picked up the habit of washing my face in the shower. It works out well for everyone involved.

I've never been super picky about what I wash my face with, and I don't have super sensitive skin, so I usually just went with whatever B was using, or whatever I had leftover in my linen closet from years ago last year. But then my Mom gave me a bottle of this new face wash in my stocking at Christmas this year. It's by 'derma e', have you ever heard of them? I sure hadn't, but boy am I glad I found them!

This is the little bottle-o-heaven that my Mom bought for me. I wouldn't say I have 'problem' skin, but I do hate zits, so more power to this stuff! Derma e's products are made with natural ingredients, and this stuff goes on nicely, rinsing off cleanly and smells great, too! You can see their full line of facial cleansing products here. They also have about 4 thousand other products that I have yet to try! So, if you're in the market for a new face wash, are tired of your old stuff, or you just plain love to try new products, you should definitely check this out!

Stay tuned tomorrow for a sneak at our master bedroom renovation - I think it's my favorite room yet!!

Why, you ask? Well, my hubby is a project manager for a large home builder. And before you think I'm complaining about his job, let me explain. His job has definite perks. He is almost always home by 4PM, he runs his own job site, so he sort of makes the rules, and he knows a ton of subcontractors, so we have our list of go-to's for our own home projects. 

But, the downside to this job? He works out of his car. His company is generous and does offer some financial contribution towards the vehicle of your choice (as long as it's a pickup truck), but it still means that he spends many hours per day going in and out of his car. And all of those little items that so many of us gather up in our desk drawers or on top of our desks and cubicles? Well, those items end up in B's pants pockets. And, instead of his items coming in the form of post-its and Scotch tape, they often come in the form of pens full of blue ink and random screws. 

Are you ever looking for the perfect piece of jewelry for a Friday night out? Or perhaps you have a work function or family party coming up, and you'd just love to dress up the LBD with something sparkly and fabulous? 

Well, ladies, I am happy to introduce you to my new sponsor, Lena Warnock! Lena and I have become fast friends via Twitter and blogging recently, and she just recently started selling Stella & Dot jewelry! Before I had ample time to drool over the online catalog, her and I decided to get together and pimp out her little shop (in the classiest way possible, of course).

How much do you love the S&D signature clover? It's very Tory Burch-esque in my opinion, and I can't help but want to scoop this gorgeous necklace up for my own collection!

So, head on over and check out Lena's online store, because it promises to have you drooling at your screen! Maybe I'll even host an online catalog party here on my blog in the near future! Any takers?!

You can also get to know Lena, and some her some love here and here.

Often times, when I make my grocery list, I fill it with items that I know I'll use, but haven't found the perfect recipe for just yet. This was the case when I bought pork chops last week. We both enjoy them, but I've only made them one way, and although we love the recipe, I knew I should eventually expand my repertoire.

This week's menu called for pork chops on Monday night. So, in typical wifely fashion, I took them out of the freezer to thaw Monday morning, and still wasn't sure what I'd be doing with them when prep time came. The recipe I normally follow (inspired by the SIL) calls for fresh mushrooms and a can of cream of mushroom soup. But, since neither of these items were in my kitchen at the time, I went to good old Twitter for some simple recipe inspiration.

Just a few minutes later, Becky sent me this pin, and I was immediately sold. The best part about this recipe (other than how tasty the rub is) is that I already had all of the ingredients in my spice/baking cabinet! 

This recipe was simple. It was delicious. The perfect amount of sweet and tangy. And, once I shared it via Instagram, I had a few requests to share it here on my blog. Of course, I'll oblige!

Voila! It's really that easy. I served mine with roasted garlic and olive oil couscous and peas. 

I would definitely recommend that you try these as soon as possible! They're super yummy, so easy, and a definite husband pleaser :o)

I have had so much fun getting to know new bloggers lately, that I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to linkup with Neely for her 'Get Your Blog Out There' linkup today! Better late then never, right?

Well, for those of you who don't know me already, I'm Pam, the author of this little slice if the internet. I started blogging at the end of 2008, and took about a year long hiatus while I was planning my wedding. Oops.

Speaking of my wedding, that cute guy at the top right of this blog? That's my adorable husband, B. We were married in November of 2010, and since then, have been learning our new roles of husband and wife, adopting a puppy, buying our very first home and creating lots of newlywed memories!

If you're a blog reader, or you have spent any amount of time on Twitter or Pinterest lately, you probably already know that Valentine's crafts are EVERYWHERE. I'd be lying if I said that seeing all of these creative beauties didn't make me catch the 'crafty' bug in time for Vday!

In my house, the printables came first, and I think I went a bit overboard! I ended up printing out 5-6 of them. Here's a photo of some of the ones that made it up in our house this year.

And then, of course, there had to be a wreath involved! I had been swooning over this pin for a few weeks, and had finally gotten my butt to Hobby Lobby to pick up the tools necessary. The cutting for this wreath was time consuming, but the overall process was pretty simple!

3/4-1 yard of felt in the color of your choice

1 10-12" foam heart

1 box straight pins

I started by cutting my felt into strips because I found that this made it easier to cut the circles. I also found out that I'm not very good at cutting nice, round circles :o) I had purchased a yard of carnation pink felt, and probably only needed 3/4 of a yard, but my foam heart was on the small side. I think I cut somewhere in the neighborhood of 65-80 3 inch circles.

Once your circles are cut, the hard part is over! You simply take each circle, fold it in half, then in half again, and place a pin through the point that is created at the bottom. I then placed each pinned circled sporadically into the foam heart until it started creating a flowing, heart-shaped pattern. 

I continued to pin the folded circles into the foam heart until I felt like the pattern was even and thick enough to pass as a small heart! And, voila! Valentine's craft success!!

I think it's safe to say that I'm addicted to crafting! I even picked out a few new DIY projects t work on for the Spring!! You can check them out here!

First of all, I just wanted to take a minute and thank all of my new followers, and all of you lovely ladies who left love for us after yesterday's 'Our Love Story' post!! So happy to meet new bloggers, and happy to have you here with us!!

Well, it's time for another home renovation post. This week, I decided to focus on my home office. Since I'm now running my business full time, it was a requirement that we have some form of an office set up in our new home. Like I've mentioned before (I think?), we're in a three level townhouse, with three bedrooms upstairs, and a fourth on the bottom level. In true townhouse fashion, the 'third bedroom' on the upstairs level is very small. So, I knew it would be the perfect place for my office before our family begins to grow. 

Here is what the office looked like when we bought the house ...

The room was completely bare when we moved in. No paint, etc. Luckily all of the rooms have brand new windows, and since the office is on the back of the house, it's get plenty of natural light in the afternoons. We ripped out all of the existing flooring (read: ugly blue/grey, stained carpet) and replaced the entire level with the same natural hardwood floors that we put it throughout the main level of the house. We also painted the room in Behr Ultra Premium Chocolate Froth.

The first thing I found for this room was the rug ...

As soon as I laid eyes on this rug, I needed to have it! I ordered it from Overstock back in November! 

The rest of the room consists of items that we had in our apartment that have been freshened up or re-purposed for our office.

Our filing cabinet used to be one half of a large sized desk that we weren't able to fit into our apartment, so we had been storing it over at our rental property. We decided to saw off the desk portion and re-purpose it as a double drawer, stand alone, filing cabinet! I am SO glad we did this!! Organizing the inside of this cabinet is still on my ever growing to-do list!

My parents bought me this white, Nantucket style desk from The Christmas Tree Store a few years back. It should really be used as a sofa table, but fits perfectly into small areas and can still function as a desk if you don't need a ton of work space on the desktop. I plan on replacing this desk in the near future for something with more space and storage, but it works for now!

And the green chair? I've had since high school and I still love it!!

The rest of the space is filled with small details that just added a little more 'me' to the room. I just love the way each piece dresses it up!!

Iron Wall Shelf - Home Goods 2006

'Keep Calm' print - Livy Love Designs Shop, Winter 2011

Since the day when I was old enough to 'celebrate' Valentine's Day with a boy, it has always seemed that there are two sides when it comes to the mushy stuff, and more specifically, when it comes to the holiday: we'll call the two sides the 'Lovers' and the 'Haters' (bear with me, friends). I am a 'Lover' through and through, always have been and always will be. I totally buy into Valentine's Day, and have been lucky enough to be spoiled over the years with flowers, candy, jewelry, and even a puppy!

Anyways, I love a reason to celebrate love in the ordinary things, and throughout ordinary days, and Valentine's Day just gives us all another reason to do so each year! When I heard that Becky was hosting her 'Love Story Linkup,' I knew I couldn't pass it up! She even put together some questions for her readers to answer based on whether you're currently 'taken' or 'single'; so much fun, right?!

Taken Ladies

1. How long have you and your significant other been together? It will be five years in March! Unless you count those five months where I was playing 'hard to get?' Then, we reached the five year mark back in October :o)

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?} I have been asked this question many times, and the funny part is that I don't remember the exact time and place where B and I met, but I'll give you some background on our 'story.' We both attended James Madison University in VA, and were in the same class. Although we lived on opposite sides of campus freshman year, we soon found ourselves living across the street from each other in an off campus, town home neighborhood filled with other JMU kids. Our roommates had a class together, and I had recently broken up with my high school boyfriend, so she took me to a party at their place to meet some 'new guys.' It was around that time that I first met B and about 15 of his closest friends. And, did I mention that they were all adorable?!

3. If married, how long have you been married? We just celebrated our 1 year anniversary on November 5th!

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Nothing too 'pet-like,' but he calls me "Babe" and I call him "Honey" most of the time :o)

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey. He is genuine, hardworking, and his laid back demeanor really balances out my crazy, OCD tendencies.

7. Tell us how he proposed? It was Thanksgiving weekend of 2009, and I had a bachelorette party in VA, followed the next morning by my best friend's surprise bridal shower in NJ. Needless to say, I was busy and distracted. Little did I know that shortly after I hopped in my car to head to NJ, B hopped on a train bound for NJ, and spent the next few hours setting the perfect scene in my parents' backyard (with a little help from my Mom and sister). 

 
A few short hours later, I came home to the biggest and best surprise of my life, complete with a handwritten letter, 2 dozen roses, our song playing in the background, and my handsome hubby-to-be getting down on one knee and asking me the words I had been waiting to hear my whole life. My sister even managed to hide in the bushes and capture it on camera! It was better than I could have ever imagined, and we celebrated that night with a big family dinner, and a romantic night at the Hyatt where we eventually had our reception!

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals? I think B is a flowers and champagne kinda guy :o)

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch? Can I choose both? More often, we're a curl up on the couch for a movie couple, and we love it!

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere? B studied abroad in Australia for four months in college, and I would love to go back there with him some day and have him show me around!!

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day. We don't have anything crazy planned this year. Just dinner at a local wine bar and two tickets to see The Vow!

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day? I have my eye on a few pieces of furniture for the house, but I think we may be foregoing traditional gifts this year.

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love. Set time aside for each other; date nights, a cup of coffee on the deck, glass of wine on the couch, etc. I love turning off the TV, putting on some music and just catching up with my man. I think it's most important that your relationship stays a priority, even with how busy life gets!

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

Happy Monday! I hope you all enjoyed your weekends as much as we did. We were super productive and got to spend Super Bowl Sunday with some great friends! The Giants winning the Super Bowl was just the icing on the cake. Congrats Giants fans!!

Today, I decided to link up with Molly and share my weekly meal plans with all of you. I have always loved planning our weekly meals, and had a little magnetic pad that I'd stick to the fridge each week with my new ideas, but when Molly posted this meal planning post with a fabulous printable, my little OCD heart about burst! I quickly printed out a drawer hand full of these babies, and was on my merry way!

Does this printable just make you want to get to planning?! Well, it did for me!

So, for this week, I came up with a few new ideas, and threw a few staples in there as well.

Monday: Tuna Noodle Casserole (found here!)

Tuesday: Turkey Burgers a la the Duchess with Sweet Potato Fries and Grilled Asparagus

Wednesday: Crescent Chicken Squares from Laura's Kitchen!
Thursday: We have our Small Group, and it might be my turn to cook. Still need to work on this :o)

Friday: Tortellini with Spinach (I make this about once every 10 days, I'll have to get the recipe up. It's quick, easy and yummy!!)

So, there you have it. We'll be dining in 'style' this week thanks to a few of my blog friends :o) What are you waiting for? Go ahead and share your ideas here and over on Molly's post as well!!

While I was away, the fabulous Mandy from Mommy Musings tagged me in a fun little blogger game. I like learning random facts about other bloggers, so I thought I'd play along! 

The Rules
1. You must post the rules (and link up who tagged you)
2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.
4. Tag however many people you want
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

Whew. It's pretty hard coming up with 11 random things about yourself in combination with the answers to eleven random questions! What are my eleven questions for you?

There you have it! Although this was a bit of a challenge, it was also a ton of fun! I hope I didn't bore you to death yet!!

I'm Tagging ....

Ever since we bought our house I have been trying to live by a new motto: "Live better with less." Err, something like that?!

I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm a borderline 'hoarder,' but I do tend to hang onto things I don't need/use/wear a bit too long, and B is definitely better at purging than I am. Maybe there is a blog sale in my future??

More recently, I have gotten the urge to start purging what I don't need/use/want and to start organizing what I do. Specifically, in our closets. I have always been a clean person, but I'd be lying if I told you that my closets were always organized. Once the door is closed, I can usually forget about what's behind it. Until now. I have been on a mission to fill our closets with shelving, storage bins, and have even considered purchasing a pretty little label maker thanks for my friend, A.

Last week, before my trip to Florida, I found time to squeeze in the beginning of my linen closet organization project, and I thought I'd share, you know, in case you've caught the organization bug like I have.

I should probably preface this little tutorial by telling you that our linen closet is on the small side, so I had to make do with the space that I had.

Here is what the closet looked like before ...

Obviously, this closet needed some work, so while I was at WalMart one day, I picked up some handy cream storage bins that just so happened to be the perfect size for the depth of my closet, and they were reasonably priced at $4.99 a piece!

The after ....

The WalMart bins made a huge difference, and now it's easier to sort through the plethora of extra toiletry items and towels we have (that's a whole other problem). I even used the bins to store extra hand towels and wash cloths. Their size was great for what I needed!

I am pretty happy with the way it turned out so far. We still need to add another shelf and figure out how to organize the cleaning products that are stored in there, but more on that later. Oh, and in case you noticed, yes, I do realize that I am lacking labels on said bins, I'm still working on convincing B that a label maker is a necessary 'business' expense!!