Spring Jelly Bean Pregnancy Announcement

In case you haven't heard the news Patrick and I were excited to announce our pregnancy last week! We're sharing the details here today with how we revealed the news to our immediate family.

After Patrick and I had a positive pregnancy test and a few doctor visits we realized that Easter was a few weeks away and that would be the perfect opportunity to break the news. Easter also happened to fall right along the end of the first trimester and at the point we knew we'd feel comfortable revealing our secret. With this in mind I googled "spring pregnancy announcements" and was hit with a lot of Easter egg, bunny, baby chick, and jelly bean inspiration. I decided to have the jelly bean as the main theme with an egg and a baby chick making an appearance.

Below is the assembled announcement. It contained the message, a pack of jelly beans, and a more official announcement in a card. If you were a family member that we were spending Easter with then your announcement was tucked into an Easter basket. Otherwise the announcement was bundled up and put into a mailer to be sent to unsuspecting family members. If you were a lucky family member that received a basket then you received strict instructions not to tell the secret for a whole week to ensure that everyone was able to open their package!

I found the cutest felt Easter eggs at Target and knew they would be a perfect addition to the announcement! After I decided on the jelly bean theme I didn't have a firm vision for how the announcement would look. It came together over a month or so as I kept seeing things I liked. With the felt egg as my original purchase I began to add to the announcement with that in mind. The felt egg would contain a baby chicken with the phrase "We're egg*cited to say... A jelly bean is on the way!" When you first saw the egg and baby chicken only "We're egg*cited to say..." would be visible and you'd see the fun message when you pulled the chick out of the egg! Or maybe you'd just think you were getting some jelly beans. Finding personalized Jelly Belly jelly beans was a lot harder than I thought but eventually I snagged some and at that point knew the announcement would be a hit! In case someone thought they were just getting a bag of jelly beans we put an official "Baby Eibl Expected October 2016" on a card and wrote a personalized note. And finally the basket was put together with colored grass and a polka dot bow. 

If I thought finding Jelly Belly jelly beans was tough then I was really surprised when I couldn't find any gender neutral stickers! My original idea was to put some sort of generic baby stickers on the card like a bottle or stroller but everything was overwhelmingly blue, pink, or said "girl / boy". So on the front of the card I placed a felt egg sticker that I found in the Easter section which worked well with the other felt egg and then I placed a nursery blocks clip art piece on the announcement. 

And there you have it! Our spring jelly bean pregnancy announcement. 

We are at fourteen weeks and looking forward to Baby Eibl's arrival. 

Painting our Kitchen Table

Today we're sharing a fun update to the kitchen! One of my fall "house projects" was to paint the kitchen table. Our kitchen table was MIA for a few months but now it's back in action and prettier than ever. It brightens the kitchen and brings in some nice, clean lines with the newly painted white color. Check it out:

This post is just focusing on the update rather than the how-to. This DIY project needed a "third time's the charm" approach and I thought it might end up as a DIY Fail disaster. I'm still not completely satisfied with it but, until you examine it with a magnifying glass, it looks good!

The existing table was a hand-me-down from my grandmother and for obvious sentimental reasons I wanted to keep it. It had a very orange-y natural wood tone with lots of curvy detail throughout the legs and spindles. I planned two things for the DIY update to the kitchen table - it would get painted white and then we would swap in our dining chairs and paint them to match. This gives us a unified, modern set. Patrick and I are both very pleased with the outcome. Here's a before and after: 

I ended up using a furniture paint on it but if I were to do it again I'd use chalk paint. We used chalk paint last year for the kitchen hutch and that seemed to work really well. I don't believe this furniture paint is going to hold up very well. There are already some very light scratches on the surface where keys were thrown on to the table. The major DIY fail was using spray paint, not letting it completely dry and "cure", then having the finishing sealant crackle. So there were two to three coats of spray paint, sealing it, realizing it needed to be done over again, sanding it back down, then a final two coats of the furniture paint. This kitchen table lived in the garage for at least two months. We're just happy it's functioning again and with a few placemats looks great. We've also been making more effort to keep the table free of mail and not the place for the evening drop off of all-the-things so we can enjoy quick breakfasts and weekend lunches in the space. 

Any pro tips for DIY furniture updating?? I may not have any pro tips but I definitely say it's worthwhile to jump in and tackle the project. Chances are if you're considering a DIY update then you're not happy with the current state of the furniture. 

Gifts for the kitchen

Hello! Checking in today with a new installment of gifts for the kitchen. We like sharing these posts so you can see how we're updating our kitchen gadgets to assist us with all of our meal planning and cooking. We've shared quite a few over the years: this one in spring 2015, this one for 2014, this one for 2013, and this one in 2010 (a long time ago!). I can happily report that most everything in those posts is still being used and loved in our kitchen. Patrick wrote in one of those posts that "It probably won't surprise you that one of the most frequent categories of gifts that Whitney and I give to each other is kitchen tools". Well I think our kitchen is just about fully stocked so maybe next year there won't be quite as many kitchen gifts.

Santa managed to stuff our stockings with a few gadgets we needed in the kitchen and Patrick gifted me a "want" and a surprise. Read on to see what they were...

Santa brought Patrick a pie weight chain
   Santa knew Patrick was getting pretty frustrated with using dried beans as a pie weight. Pie weights are used when you are blind baking a homemade crust before placing the filling in it. The pie weights prevent the dough from rising and bubbling on the base. Dried beans or ceramic / stainless steel beads are commonly used as pie weights. Dried beans or ceramic beads pose a problem for quickly removing them and a pie weight chain solves that problem! Here's a visual for how it works:

We'll be using this pie weight chain when we make our go to pie crust recipe.
[The one Santa purchased from Crate & Barrel isn't available anymore but this is similar]

Santa brought Whitney some soft gel paste 
   Santa knew that one of Whitney's new favorite kitchen hobbies is making royal icing so she can creatively decorate sugar cookies. Unfortunately her pumpkin cookies and Christmas cookies were more pastel than vibrant. Santa did some research and saw that the Bake at 350 blog recommended AmeriColor soft gel paste so he brought her a starter kit. Once she masters these 4 colors she can move up to the 41 color kit!

[purchased this set]

Patrick gifted Whitney a new canner!
   Whitney had been using an old canner that her dad had been keeping in his barn and gave to her. Over the years it had become quite rusty and even though it held water it needed an upgrade. Since Whitney proved she was serious about canning Patrick researched a super awesome canner for her to have. Come check out tomorrow's post and see what all she canned in the fall. She can't wait to test it out!

[purchased this one]

Patrick surprised Whitney with a tea infuser and a variety of loose leaf tea
   Patrick knew one of Whitney's favorite parts of their Californian vacation was their tea tasting in San Francisco's Chinatown. He surprised her with an over-the-cup tea infuser and a variety of loose leaf teas. Though we haven't been tea drinkers before now we look forward to including more tea and less coffee in our life. We learned a lot of about the benefits of tea during the tasting and can't wait to explore the different varieties. They also had some tea gifted to them over Christmas so there is a lot to try!

[purchased this tea infuser and tea from here]

Parent Santa also gifted Patrick and Whitney some fun kitchen gadgets that included a tomato corer, oven rack puller/pusher, cat bag clips, a small funnel, baggy ties, and a Polish pottery tart pan. One can never go wrong gifting Whitney some pottery (I'm sure Patrick doesn't approve of that though)!

We also replaced a nonstick pan with a Le Creuset saute pan at the beginning of December. It was a Christmas gift to each other. Patrick shared the details in this post.

Want a more in depth look at what we're using in the kitchen? Here are linkbacks to our registry post where we detailed what upgrades we made in the kitchen after our wedding: cutlery, electrics, cookware, formal table setting, and our casual table setting.

Cheers to a yummy 2016 in the kitchen! Hope Santa brought you something to use in the kitchen.

Holiday Home Tour 2015

Welcome to our Holiday Home Tour: 2015 edition! I had so much fun decorating this year. Even though it was our second holiday in our home, since we are a bit more settled this year than last, I felt like decorating was much more impactful. I can envision decorating our mantle for years to come and look forward to creating many happy holiday memories here. This year's decorations weren't too different from last year but I did switch things up a little bit. The mantle decorations are a new addition (with a DIY piece - did you see it yesterday??) and of course the buffet required some new pieces because it's a new furniture piece I haven't decorated before!

Without anymore chatter please enjoy our holiday home tour!

WELCOME

ENTRY

LIVING ROOM

DINING ROOM

KITCHEN

Happy Holidays!

Past Holiday Home Tours: 2014 | 2013 | 2012

Dinner club cocktail party

Last weekend was the weekend of parties for us! We hosted the dinner club on Friday night for a casual holiday cocktail get together, attended a wedding on Saturday, and then hosted a holiday open house on Sunday. We're featuring a roundup of the dinner cocktail party today and then the holiday open house tomorrow! If you've still got some holiday hosting to do hopefully this will give you some ideas.

We co-hosted the cocktail party with another couple in the dinner club. And you know what that means?! We only had to do half what we usually do for a party. Love co-hosting! Patrick and I were responsible for a few savory dishes, the desserts, and the wine. Our wonderful co-hosts provided the majority of the savory dishes including cheese fondue and the other drinks. They brought over a festive holiday punch that really set the mood for the party. Check it out...

Doesn't it look wonderful?! We had holiday music playing in the background and enjoyed everyone's company. Knowing we had a party just two days after this one I made sure I was super organized going into the weekend. I tried to do as much prep beforehand as I could. I made a google doc with all the recipes that I would need to be making for the cocktail party and the holiday open house. Then I had a to-do list broken out into each day beginning with Thursday for what I could make ahead and when to do it. Check out the document here (link) if you'd like to check out any of the recipes.

Here's a brief rundown of what we prepared for this party:

Veggies and dip - Mix equal parts of yogurt and sour cream; combine with ranch seasoning packet. I doubled the dip so I could have it for both parties. We served with broccoli florets, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and celery.

Chicken salad and crackers - Always good to have some protein offerings at any party! For this chicken salad I took the meat off a rotisserie chicken and shredded it. Then I added a dollop of mayo, spoonful of dijon mustard, handful of almonds, some diced pickles, and salt and pepper.

The brownies were a box mix. You really can't go wrong with a box mix for brownies in my opinion.

Red velvet trifle - I googled quite a bit and ended up following the recipe from Melissa's Southern Style Kitchen which puts a white chocolate spin on it. Check out the Red Velvet White Chocolate Cheesecake Trifle recipe here (link).

And finally there were some blackberry cheesecake bites - This was my favorite dessert! I followed Pioneer Woman's recipe (link)t and it couldn't have been easier.

Cheers!

Fall House Tour

With Halloween just around the corner I thought it would be appropriate to share our fall decorations! It's so much fun to decorate a space that is yours and you know the decorated spaces will be the base for many happy memories. There are distinct pieces that I remember my mom decorating with in my childhood home that I always looked forward to her putting out every year. That's what I'm hoping to put together here. Each year I try to pick up a few new pieces to add to the collection so that it gets more and more fall-y. Enjoy!

Entry

Leaves on the stair railing and "welcome friends" seen upon entry. Watercolor art with the pumpkin and "happy fall yall" are hung down the entry hall. The bench next to the door has pumpkin wind chimes and a spider with web on the mirror.

Living Room

Happy Fall pumpkin on the side table. Seasonal place mat in the tray on the ottoman with a rustic pumpkin basket to hold the remotes.

Mantle

Fall banner hung on the mantle; wheat flanking both ends. Trio of pumpkins on the left and trio of Halloween figurines on the right. Canvas art of apple, pumpkin, and leaf was a craft project for me at the beginning of the season - love how it turned it out!

Couldn't resist these figurines to add to the decor this year!

Dining Room
Red candles in the sconces with miniature pumpkin fillers. Halloween collection on the buffet - pumpkin serving platter, spider candy dish, trio of orange lanterns, and ghost and pumpkin votives. Dining room table has a new runner and place mats. Centerpiece is a bread basket with miniature gourds and pumpkins with mums in the vases.

Front Door
"E" fall wreath and mums. "Beware of Monsters" says the cat!

We're ready for the trick or treaters!

Living & Dining room furniture

At the beginning of the summer Patrick and I checked off living in our new home for one year! How quickly time flies! When we moved into the house the upstairs bedrooms were quickly filled with existing furniture pieces and a few pieces that we picked up shortly after moving in. As a reminder here's a look at the bedrooms.

The downstairs left a little to be desired however. We were still rocking everything from Patrick's bachelor pad and you could tell. We had a Walmart table in the dining room and dark leather sofas in the living room. After the holidays and throughout the spring season we worked to update the two spaces (dining room and living room) to really make it our own and how we envisioned our home.

As we were making decisions on what to put into our home it was really important to us that the pieces were "live-able" (and cat-friendly). We didn't want to ever be stressed about messing up the furniture and we wanted to make sure that they could hold up to daily use. So we selected furniture pieces that were durable or not super expensive in case they would need to be replaced because we lived and enjoyed the furniture!

Without further ado enjoy our reveal! Up first is the living room and then below is the dining room! Dupree makes an appearance too so be on the lookout for him. Cats never do what you want them to!

Updates

Sofa - Dark leather sofa replaced with khaki sectional

Coffee table / ottoman - Wooden coffee table replaced with ottoman to match the sectional

Rug - Striped 4x6 neutral rug replaced with 8x10 jute rug

Updates

Table - Farmhouse style table replaced with custom pedestal base table with extension leaves

Chairs - Coordinating farmhouse chairs replaced with khaki upholstered chairs

Rug - No rug before! Added a fun navy floral print rug

Chandelier - Lights facing down with frosted glass shades replaced with candlelights facing up 

Buffet - Added a buffet

Here are a few more snapshots of the dining room furniture. We worked with Under The Table, a Wake Forest, NC based company that specialized in making custom furniture from local wood. I had a very specific idea of what I was looking for in a table. I wanted to be able to seat 8 at a square table (2 people on each side) so that when we had dinner parties couples can sit next to each other! Well Patrick convinced me that our dining room wouldn't accommodate a square table so I settled for 50"x60". The width is slightly longer than average and can easily sit two on the shorter ends. We also have two 10" extension leaves for the table so that the table can seat up to 10! We opted for a pedestal base to give it even more flair. Needless to say I am in love with the table! Under The Table also offers coordinating pieces and we chose to get a buffet as well. This room desperately needed some storage. We purchased a corner China cabinet when we moved into the house but it had limited storage space. This buffet allows us to store everything in it that a dining room should have in it.

And remember how I said custom? Below is my rendering for my ideal buffet. Good thing they made it to my measurements and not my drawing!

We are loving our new finished living spaces. The furniture pieces add style and functionality to our space. Patrick jokes that the cats use the sectional more than he does! This living and dining room redo happened at our pace and we weren't rushed throughout the process. Next up is a bit of color on the walls!

Gifts We're Lovin' - Pie Crust Bag and Butter Warmer

It probably won't surprise you that one of the most frequent categories of gifts that Whitney and I give to each other is kitchen tools (so much so that it's about time for another round of kitchen de-cluttering!). This post will highlight two such recent gifts that we've been enjoying.

The first one is a pie crust bag. When Whitney said she was interested in this I had no idea what it was, but when I found out I figured it would be pretty useful. Rolling out pie crust can be fairly annoying with it sticking to the counter or rolling pin and constantly checking whether it's big enough and is in a proper circle. With the pie crust bag you roll the dough inside a bag zipped together from two circles, which solves the sticking issue, and the edges of the bag give a clear guide for how to roll the dough. We've found it to be very helpful with our recent pies and quiches. Here are some step-by-step photos from a crust Whitney made:


The second gift is a butter warmer. We keep our microwave in the garage since we don't use it very often and want to save the kitchen counter space for cherished items like our toaster oven. One thing we use the microwave for is to melt butter, which can be somewhat challenging; it either doesn't melt, or if you slightly overdo it, it foams up and makes a mess. The butter warmer is a small vessel that can be placed on the stovetop to melt butter or warm anything else, and it allows us to stay in the kitchen and keep an eye on it, and then conveniently pour it as soon as it's ready. Here it is in action!