NEW BLOG!

Come on, followers :)

come visit me on BBharveysnest.blogspot.com

Transitioning

Hello friends and fellow blogger fans,
I wanted to let you all know I have created a new blog, and invite you to stop by!

http://bbharveysnest.blogspot.com/

Growing up

Last night, as I sat surrounded by 5 of my best friends from college, I found myself evaluating what we've been through, where we've all come from, and where we've all ended up. Growing up is difficult, because along with age comes a loss of innocence. We eventually realize that the world isn't really as wonderful and simple as it was when we were children. We realize that after school, work becomes your life. We experience SO much. We love, we lose, we makes mistakes, we hopefully learn from those mistakes, we change, we grow, some friends come and go, unfortunately, and we learn that only our closest will survive our life experiences and be there with us until the end.

I thought back to where I was in my life when I met these women. 18 years old, college, parties, sororities, classes, dorms. My social life MADE me. Life has changed so much since then. We are all career-oriented women. Some of us married, some of us starting families, buying homes, moving in with significant others, making livings and establishing ourselves. Yet when we talk, its as if nothing has changed in these 5 + years that we have been friends. I feel blessed to have this group of friends, as well as the other close friends that I am lucky enough to still have strong relationships with. These women have laughed with me, cried with me, grown with me, held my hands, held my head when I've cried, and given me pep-talks when I've felt down. I've also learned that although I don't speak with these women on a daily basis as much as I'd like to, I always feel at home with them. These women are part of me and if there's anything that I've learned from growing up, its the importance of holding these people close and never letting them go.

Mixin' it up

After some long, hard thought and discussion with the hubby, we both agreed that it was time to rearrange our living room area to be more "welcoming." For those of you who have visited our house, you know that our couch blocked half of our entry way area and our tv sort of became the focal part of our house, laying along the wall opposite the entry way. It didn't really create a very welcoming space. I had been lurking around on the Target.com website and found an area rug that I immediately knew I had to have! It was brown, and has gold and maroon circle accents on it (which just so happens to be the colors of our living area). I totally almost impulse-bought, on the Target website, because it was on sale for $109, but my hubby insisted that we wait until we could at least see it in person. So, guess what appeared in the Menards ad this week? The same exact rug for a mere $79. Talk about meant to be! So we swung in after an ever-so-busy Saturday, snagged the rug, and completely flipped and rearranged our living room. Let me know what you guys think!

The new view of the living room when you are standing in the entry way

Kitchen! Not much has changed, but just thought I'd post a pic for those of you who haven't seen it.

Another one of the living room

Looking to the entry way from the living room

So those of you who had seen our house before .. what do you think? We think its a HUGE improvement and now we've really found a way to divide the space into separate areas. It's almost like the curse of the open lay out. When we were house hunting, we walked into this house and absolutely fell in love because it had the open floor plan, but was also in an older, more established neighborhood in St. Paul. Decorating and dividing the areas into defined spaces was a little bit more challenging that I had anticipated. I mean, I definitely watch HGTV more than the average human, but applying the things I learned in the shows to my actual house was tough. I can safely say I think the living room is complete. . . near complete. Still on the hunt for a new coffee table.

Bucket list

Yes-
This post is inspired by the amazing film staring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The movie is incredibly inspirational because it tells the story of this terminally ill man who has a list of things he'd like to do before he 'kicks the bucket.' I was thinking the other day about how great of an idea this is. Not only will it force me to be ambitious and strive towards reaching my goals, but also will allow me to cherish the lovely moments that I have on this earth.

Now some of the things on my said 'bucketlist' have already been accomplished, but when I think back on my life, were things I told myself I had to do. For example:
-Graduate from College
-Find the love of my life
-Get married

. . . yadda yadda- all things I have done.

Some things will be more difficult to attain because, well- maybe they are more speculative.
-Make a difference
-Be happy
-Don't take any moment for granted

. . . These things aren't things I can just check off after one occasion, but are more ongoing things I'd like to achieve.

Then there are things that are very black and white- I do them or I don't.
-Become fluent in Spanish
-Run a 1/2 marathon
-Travel to Europe
-Go skydiving
-Become a manager or director
-Start a family.

Honestly, my bucket list goes on and on, and one day I am actually going to physically write these things down and start crossing them off. I feel like this will provide me with more drive towards completing them. There are so many things I want to do and life is too short to sit around waiting for opportunities to approach us. Get out there and accomplish your dreams and goals :)

Does anyone else have a bucket list? What's on yours?

Movie Mondays

Back by popular demand, I have decided to get back on the blogging train. I'll admit, I've fallen off on a number of different occasions and really never thought people were enjoying reading my blogs, but I have heard from more than a handful of people that they actually DO enjoy reading about my life. Well it seems to be perfect because I greatly enjoy sharing my life experiences with my fellow friends, family, and blogging communities.

Life has been incredibly busy for the hubs and I this summer. We are at that age (which people told us we'd reach) where a large number of our friends are getting married. Along with getting married there are the bridal showers, the grooms dinners, the bachelorette parties, etc. It seems like every weekend this summer we've had something going on. I'm happy to be busy, especially when it involves spending time with the people I love, but sometimes I really enjoy relaxing. Mondays have become our recovery days from our action-packed weekends, and I've started to call them "movie Mondays." Its a time for Luke and I to make a nice dinner together, snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie, relax, and sort of plan out our next week of chaos. The last 2 weekends have been so busy and filled with friends I couldn't ask for a better way to spend my free time! But here we are again, movie Monday-ing with our kitties curled up in our lap, and a discussion of what this week will consist of. I love this stage of our life. I think its so fun to have friends that are 'grown ups' like we are pretend to be, and working hard so we can play hard. There are times when I wish that we were back in college with not a care in the world, but I've worked towards paving this life for my husband and I, building these relationships that I have with my friends and I love the time I have with them. I love Movie Mondays because I am able to ease my mind and truly appreciate what I have.

Happy Monday all :)

What's your love language

When my husband and I began dating, one of my friends handed me a book called "the Five Love Languages and insisted that I read it. "

I sort of buried the book under a pile of others on my I'll-read-that-never-if-not-much-later pile and told myself I didn't believe in self-help books like this. When we were engaged and found the church we got married at, our pastor reccommended the book, and I thought to myself, Hmmmmm. . . I think I already have this book. Well I did what she said and read the book. I immediately felt changed. I truly believe that there are no 2 people in the world that can completely understand the thoughts and actions of one another. I often think to myself, What was he thinking? or What is he doing? Not because I don't approve of his actions, but because I truly wonder what is going on in his mind. This book, by Gary Chapman, truly forces you to not only identify the love language to which our significant other uses, but also learn to accept and appreciate their way of loving you. Chapman identifies the five different love languages as: Quality Time, Words of Affirmation, Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical touch. It sounds ridiculous, but when I thought back to all of the things that I did/do to show my husband, my friends, and my family how I love them, I notice a trend. Whether you hug your loved one, hold their hand, mow the lawn, or simply just spend time with him/her, we all have different ways of how we show our loved ones just how much we love them. I ask you all, how do you love? What is your love language and how do you go about appreciating the other languages?

. . . Getting my run on

Whew. It has been quite a while since my last blog post. Life has been pretty crazy. Summer has been pretty eventful: weddings, showers, bachelorette parties, birthday parties, family get together. And here we are- the summer is 1/2 over and I feel like I haven't even really enjoyed it!

One thing that has become a recent fixation of mine, is running. I was influenced by the other incredibly avid runners in my life, and decided that I needed to start running again. I used to run a lot on college. I could step on the treadmill and easily run 4-5 miles without hesitation. Now. . . . not so much. I don't know if my age has caught up to me, or what but I have begun training for a 5K. I am convincing myself that after the 1st race, it will all get easier. We (yes we. . I talked my husband in to accompanying me in the race) are now less than 2 weeks away from what will be my first official race. I'm really excited about my ambition towards starting a healthier lifestyle. I hope to keep this incorporated into my daily life, because I have already started feeling like a have more energy and just overall feel better about myself.

We ventured to Run N Fun this weekend, where my fitness really was inferior to um. . . EVERYONE in the store. Conversations flew around about when people were running their next marathon, who was running a triathalon and who was just running a 10K the following day. I could've bolted out of the store in embarrassment, but I decided to stick it out, get what I went there for, and go home and get ready for a run. It was almost 100 degrees and about 90% humidity out, but I still ran. I have decided that I'm not doing this to lose weight or to look better, because I'm comfortable in my skin. I need to FEEL better. I want to wake up and feel energized and excited to start my day and not feel like I need my typical 10 hours of sleep a night. Hooray for making a positive change in my life! I really hope that by the end of summer, I will have enough endurance to run a 10K and its looking promising. . . Wish me luck everyone!

Bi-polar weather

Okay- as a native Minnesotan, I can honestly say that this spring/summer has been very. . umm- bipolar? Luke and I had finally gotten some plants from his parents and began landscaping. Planted at about 50-60 degrees, which within a week became, well- yesterday was 102. My poor plants. My dad told me I couldn't kill my hastas if I tried, but man- oh man am I really testing them!

The back of the house before

Planting. . .

And the finished product!

We have 2 hastas, an iris bush and a bleeding heart dedicated to the losses that we've experienced these past couple of months.

I love it!

Home made pizza :)

First off, my pictures aren't uploading right now but I'm dying to get this posted so I'll do so and post pics tomorrow.

The other night, I decided to whip up a home made pizza. Too often we reach for the phone to order, without realizing that we have the healthy alternatives to the standard pizza ingredients right here! I decided to make some sort of modified margherita pizza, because the grocery store we shopped at didn't have any fresh basil left (I know- crazy?) So here's the ingredients:

Crust:
Corn starch (just a pinch at the end)
3 1/2 cups Whole Wheat flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Yeast
1 1/2 C Water



Sauce:
3 whole Tomatoes (I used babies because they were all we had left)
10 baby or 2 large Carrots (all we had were baby carrots)
1 C Vegetable stock
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 small can Tomato paste
1 T crushed basil
3 cloves garlic
1/4 C diced onions
2 T olive oil

Toppings (Varies depending upon your desire) :
Fresh Mozzarella
Tomatoes
Fresh Spinach
Crushed/dried basil

Crust

1. In a Kitchen Aid mixer, add yeast and hot water. Let sit for 5 minutes, or until dissolved. Stir and let sit if necessary.
2. Add salt, and flour while mixing on low for 5 minutes
3. Add mixing hook and mix on low-medium for 10 minutes
4. Ball dough and coat with olive oil in a bowl for 1 1/2-2 hr
5. Once dough has risen, punch down and roll out
6. Place on a baking stone
7. Bake on 425 as long as needed to ensure the dough is cooked completely through (About 5-7 minutes)

Sauce

1. Add tomatoes, onions, carrots, chopped garlic, and olive oil to pan.
2. Once the onions are translucent, add vegetable stock
3. Heat to boil
4. Reduce heat to low and add in remaining ingredients
5. Simmer on low until vegetables are tender (I did about 10 minutes)
6. Once tender, place in a blender (or I used my magic bullet).
7. Blend sauce to your desired texture

Bringing it together

!. Once the dough has been pre-cooked, add a thin layer of sauce, sliced tomatoes, sliced mozzarella, your fresh spinach and crushed basil I also sprinkled a little salt and pepper on mine.

2. Cook until golden brown!

Long weekend, followed by. . . summer? Please!?

Well-it's 60 degrees and cloudy here in the good old Twin Cities area. I think part of what has made this the most difficult year is because of the weather. I'm finding it so difficult motivate myself. During winter, I often enter a state of hibernation. . You know- like bears. I put on my winter layer and become globula-like to fight off the cold (or at least that's what I tell myself). So along with the everlasting winter, goes my desire to venture out. Every nice day we have had, I have been outside. I got a topsy turvy tomato plant hung (which a storm has since mutilated), and a bleeding heart planted, which serves as a memorial for all we have lost this year. . Sidebar, thanks to my amazing parents for the plant. Its beauutiful!

We have a long weekend this weekend, and I have been repeatedly asked, What are you guys doing this weekend? I'm finding that apparently Luke and I are the only 2 people on earth without defined plans. I greatly appreciate the free time that we have in our lives, because it ALWAYS seems like we have something to do and somewhere to be. Although it causes me a bit of anxiety, I don't mind flying by the seat of our pants every now and then. Getting past the fact that its crappy outside and that we may never see the beautiful consistent sun of summer, I am hoping to spend time outside, go for a run, weed, and maybe re-construct our topsy turvy- or return it for a more stable plant structure. I also don't know how I feel about starting with seeds. I think that because the weather has been so unpredictable, it'd be best to start with little plants. We shall see.

So I started this post yesterday and believe it or not- the sun has begun to peek out today. Maybe my weeding will get accomplished!

Happy 3 day weekend, ya'll- Talk soon :)

Inspiration

Lately, I have found that in all the sadness in our lives, we have really begun focusing on the positives. I, specifically, have found myself noticing that certain little things truly make the world a more beautiful place. For example, the trees our blooming in our neighborhood, and since we moved into our house in the dead of winter, we've never seen it in all of it's glory. Definitely not something to take for granted. I have also found that in my last blog post, people read our story, became my followers and really supported me. Another truly beautiful thing. Complete strangers being brought together by the internet to experience, learn from one another, and become inspired. I've started finding inspiration (both musically and just in life in general) in different places. Music, of course, has always been a creative outlet for me. Whether it's finding inspiration in other artist's lyrics, melodies or being inspired by their talent to write my music, I've found myself reaching for my recorder even more frequently lately. I also think this blog serves as a good stress reliever and support system for me. I am able to, not only, share my home improvement projects with everyone, but also my emotions and life events as a young, married couple. I was very skeptical to write about these things, but I think this is the best decision I have ever made.

Thank you to everyone who has inspired me!

. . . Coping

So. . .
I'm sure you've noticed that my blogging has, yet again, ceased to exist. I hate to admit that the reason for this was, yet again, a tragic and troubling event that has occurred in our lives. My family. My loving, amazing, beautiful, poor, poor family. I've decided to just start writing; without hitting delete, share my feelings about this experience:

This past week was spent grieving, crying, and mourning the unexpected loss of my husband and my 20 month old god-son and nephew. The day after Mother's day we were awoken with a rather shocking phone call informing us of the devastation. The rest is a complete blur. It seems like time elapsed so quickly I can't even recall its events. Its difficult to cope,and to mourn the loss of such innocence, because there is just no explanation or justification. I have seen so many things this past week. I have seen pain in peoples eyes greater than anything I've ever experienced; I've seen hurt, anger, frustration, and SHOCK. I was in shock. We see the news, we see the movies, we hear of people who have experienced this sort of pain, but somehow we can just so casually move on, thanking everything that it is not US.

. . . What happens when it is us? What happens when our closest loved ones are the ones experiencing this pain, and we are, first hand having to cope with the anger associated with such loss? How do we explain? How do we justify? How do we move on?

I found it very therapeutic to write about my previous loss, but I feel like I had just reached a state of recovery when this devastating news reached our family. I just wish I could have done something! I saw the tears and tried to be strong. I tried to just BE. Be there for those who needed a hug, a hand, a heart, or just my presence. If anything positive this week, I saw the way my in-laws, and my immediate family came together to support one another. I saw the love I am surrounded by on a daily basis. I received phone calls, e-mails, text messages, and gifts from people who were thinking, and praying for us. People who care so much about my family and I, that our hurt was their hurt; our tears were there tears. It was so heartwarming. Everyone held one another, told one another how much they meant to us, how much we loved them, because we immediately had a new appreciation for life, and family, and love.

I don't really know what I'm trying to accomplish with this post, if anything. But I just really needed to say these things before I could go on. I feel like writing the words actually makes them real, and enables me to cope. I hope everyone who reads this post can learn and somehow feel, for a moment, exactly what it feels like.

In loving memory of: Silas Luke Meyer

Wine, momma's day and gardening fun

Phew!
It's 8 o'clock on Sunday and I could absolutely go to bed right now. We've been asking for nice weather and boy oh' boy did we get it this weekend. Friday, Luke and I headed out to a bonfire with some friends- BBQing and bonfire was the perfect way to end a long week. Saturday morning, we ran some errands and took a trip out to Stillwater for the day. It was 70 degrees and sunny and we had bought a gift certificate to a wine tasting and tour at this winery in Stillwater for our parents so we made it a full family affair :) The wine tour ended up not being a tour at all. Well they explained it as a 'tour' of the wines not of the actual winery. And although I got a little angered, it was sunny and I was surrounded by people I love so it absolutely did not ruin our day. We finished it off with a late lunch at a restaurant right on the river and walked around at some cute little shops downtown.

Saturday was gone before we knew it and we were up bright and early prepping for Mother's day lunch at our house. Luke and I were both extremely nervous to fit 15 people in our home, but it turned out the open layout is really suited for entertaining guests. Lots of food and family made a perfect day. And as surprising as it is, there were still some people that hadn't seen our house since we moved in. Some of these included my aunt and uncle. They entered with a very thoughtful housewarming gift:

GARDENING TOOLS, SEEDS, and a little gardening roller thing! Now I have NO excuse not to start a garden. We had been talking a couple weeks ago about how I really wanted to plant some veggies, but was a little scared because I didn't know where to start. Well so far I still don't really know where to start, but I think I'm close with having the gardening tools :) The plan so far is to make somewhat of a raised planters bed with the veggies. Something like this that I found on the Home Depot website: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202102095/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053. Does anyone have gardening tips they'd like to share?

Happy Mother's day, to all the momma's out there!

Finished product

Well, despite my presumption, my husband got the shelves completed in approximately 20 minutes. Apparently I nagged more than I needed to, but I am so unbelievably happy with the way it opens up the hall way and provides so much more space.

I like being able to keep the toiletries and towels available but not completely in-your face.

Again, hard to imagine this is once how we were storing this stuff:

Phew! Those days are no more. Again, I am amazed at what $25 spent at Home Depot can do to transform a house. We maaaay be shelving experts- what to tackle next!?

Lack of linen space

I found it to be incredibly odd that when we moved in to our current home, we had a cute little bathroom that completely lacked a linen closet. As previously mentioned, we don't have much storage space in our home so when we came up with the idea to transform a little nook we had in the hallway outside our bathroom into a linen closet, I was all for it!

Here's what the 'nook' looked like naked:

I think it is a great improvement from the bookshelf we were using before to hold out towels and other random items

So, we tripped it on out to Home Depot, and found some shelving that fit width wide, and were able to use their lumber services to cut them to length. We also scored some white finished trim to use as bracing for the shelves to sit on

The nails will need some putty and painting and the ends that were cut will also need a quick paint job, but I think its turned out pretty darn nice :)

Final pictures to come soon! And by soon, I mean in the next day or 2. . No more of this taking a couple week break to blog!

Another couponing adventure

So. . . as I'm sure all of you lovely followers are aware, I made my first couponing attempt a few weeks ago when I saved a whopping $40.00 on my entire bill totaling about 23% savings. Now, as I mentioned previously, certain grocery stores offer certain days in which they will double all manufacturer coupons. Well I searched my Rainbow ad far and wide and found on the back in little print that on Saturdays they do this! So. . . I dragged my husband out the Saturday before Easter (which wasn't as unpleasant as it sounds) with a handful of coupons and a strategic game plan. I ended up only getting the necessities and sales items, but my greatest save was $.75 off organic eggs, doubled making them well under a dollar for a dozen. We ended up with a cart full of groceries and a bill of only $74.00. We saved 34% on our entire bill! Don't act like your impressed from my SECOND couponing attempt. Also, I want to share a website my lovely mother-in-law reccommended: pocketyourdollars.com. Tons of printable coupons, directs you where the sales are and it's super user friendly.

Happy couponing ya'll :)

Antiquing

I have been dying to share this with you all! One of my super cute and trendy co-workers informed me about this little house in Minneapolis that they stage and fill with antiques for sale. It is called the cottage house and was easily the highlight of my weekend. So, the house, which you can find at: www.thecottagehousempls.com/ is open 5 days a month and foes from a Wednesday to a Sunday. The selection completely depends on who contributes and what they have at the time. This month was the Spring Fling and the selection consisted of dressers, light fixtures, vases, pictures, garden tools, garden decor, and any other antiques you can think of. My mom, aunt and I trekked out on Sunday, which just so happened to be their discount day! I am constantly on the look out for 'things' for our house: tables here & there, new light fixtures, a dresser- you know, standard obsessed home-owner decorator. I left with an immense amount of self-control and promised my husband I'd behave. Well I happened to score some wonderful items:

This adorable maroon-ish, red end table

Matches perfectly and looks great next to our colorful chair. Ummmm and did I mention it was $10.00!

We have since re-arranged our living room too. . . pictures later!

I also picked up a cute little pot of wheat grass, which Luke has been dying to find.

And this adorable plaque

So that was my first cottage house experience and boy was it a memorable one! I'll let you guys all see how a simple furniture re-arrange completely opened up our living room and made it a separate space. Happy Tuesday!

The Importance of Relationships

So, I have received some questions recently about my lack of blogging, and well- I really have no excuse as to where I have been for the past week and 1/2. I guess life just kind of wrapped me up in all its glory and I happened to forget to share my endeavors with all of my wonderful followers. So here's a little re-cap. I spent last weekend up in Northern Minnesota with 13 other girls celebrating a bachelorette party for one of my best friends. It was like a Gustavus reunion (that's where I did my undergrad) because I was surrounded by my old roommies from college. The way we click and the way we interact really got me thinking about relationships in general. Some of the girls I had just recently seen, some I hadn't talked to in weeks, but we all managed to pick up where we left off and have the time of our lives.

I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by healthy relationships. I have a wonderful relationship with my husband, my husband's family has become my own, and I really can't imagine having anyone else as my in-laws. My entire family is my world. My immediate family serves as my rock- they are so supportive and have shaped me into who I am today. My extended family is amazing. I find myself constantly laughing and having fun with them (I really wish I wasn't always so busy so I could spend more time with them). My friends, ugh my friends. . . Until I reached college, I never knew how rare my strong friendships from childhood were. I am fortunate to have a handful of friends who have been there through thick and thin since my days in middle school (I know, crazy since I am 25!). Now, people change. That is inevitable, but sometimes we are fortunate enough to experience these changes with our loved ones and allow them to influence our changes in a positive way. In this way, we grow and change together. Stay connected, and remain friends. This is how these long friendships have become what they are. It seems as if I have found one of the rarest, and most important pieces of life, and that is keeping my friends in my life and in my heart. I know, it's cheesy! But I have been thinking a lot about this. Wishing that there were more hours in my days so I could show and tell each and everyone I love how much they mean to me. My husband hears it every day, My family hears it extremely frequently, but my friends just have to know. So I hope they know.

I'd like to finish this post with a quote about relationships I found:

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same." ~Flavia Weedn

Couponing

Okay so this post is perfectly timed, as this new "Extreme Couponing" show started on TLC. . . Now, now, I am not currently being paid to promote this show, but I found it absolutely enticing. Not having had seen the show before this evening, my husband and I headed out to Rainbow for our bi-weekly grocery endeavor (Well typically it should be bi-weekly, but we were slacking a bit. . . our cupboards were pretttty bear). Anyhoo. . . I had been doing a bit of coupon research online and decided to take advantage. I mean, we get ads at our house once every couple days and I figured I'd dig a little deeper. Turns out, those ads we get in the mail, SmartSource, or RedPlum are just advertisements with manufactures coupons. I found that these are different than store coupons, but can be paired with store coupons for even greater savings. There are also a bunch of websites like http://thekrazycouponlady.com/ and http://www.couponmom.com that break down their entire couponing process. With a simple coupon printer download, you can print off coupons on all these website, along with http://www.coupons.com. I also learned the term "doubling." What, might you asks does that mean? Well it means that some coupons enable you to use multiple in one transaction (hence, why we see some people actually making money on an item). For example, if we find a coupon in a RedPlum advertisement that is $1.00 a glade plug in and the coupon does not state that only 1 coupon per item, or no doubling, you can gather up all the $1.00 glade plug in coupons you can find and they will all apply towards your transaction. I haven't gotten merely as ambitious as some of these ladies, but I clipped, and paired the coupons with in-store sales, and came out pretty well.

Now, given my new choice in eating habits, a lot of the coupons coups didn't directly apply to us, but we saved quite a bit! We came home with a longer than usual grocery list

And came out saving over $40.00!

Not to shabby for a first timer, I'd say! Is anyone else a part of this whole couponing revolution? I'd love to hear other peoples thoughts.