The Next Chapter

Hi everyone, sorry its been so quiet on my blog this week [and last] I have good news I wanted to share with you all, we are moving back home tomorrow! As you can imagine we are super excited to move home!! It's just a few weeks shy of one year of being out of home for re-building our home due to a fire loss, you can read more about the events here.

We officially start our next chapter in our home tomorrow, in some ways it feels like a dream like the last year was some bad nightmare filled with tears, way to much paperwork and several pushed back moving dates with little and big things causing delays. But we made it though to the other side off all that mess and it taught me so much about myself and everyday I fall more and more in love with our first house we bought four years ago and showed so much promise then (it was literally the ugliest house on the block, but I could see past all that) 

We are so looking forward to getting settled in our home and filling it with lots of love and laughter and boy does my family love to laugh. Crossing my fingers my Internet is working on Saturday morning, I'll share a FULL House tour pre-move in next week (hopefully Monday) so you can all see our new home. We started over from a true blank slate since our house was torn down to the studs, it was heartbreaking to see to home we love in pieces it was like memories being ripped away from my heart (rolling out sod, our backyard Wedding Reception, and bringing home Avery to his nursery just to name a few) Thankfully each week we saw the home we loved and cared for being slowly put back together, built great relationships with our contractors (we had a great crew!) I'll share our contractor information soon for any locals in need of: hardwoods, tile, general contractor, plumbing, rough carpentry, electrical etc.

Here are a few Things I'm looking forward to tackling in our home, beyond the design part [because although in others eyes it may 'appear done,' its so far from being 'done' lol] But are rooms ever really done? Me thinks not. 

• Maybe adding stenciling or Wallpaper for our Laundry room / Mudroom
• Installing cabinets in Laundry room
• Seating Area in the Mudroom area of our Laundry room
• Organizing our Kitchen
• Installing Crown molding throughout [right now it's in the Dining & Living room] 
• Sewing curtains for Dining / Living and Bedrooms
• Recovering Roman Shades with prettier fabric
• Creating a reading nook for Avery's room
• Prettying up in-stock bathroom vanities
• Huge over haul on our backyard and front yard, our poor lawn is dead! Sadly its a project that will have to start all over: busted sprinkler heads, dead shurbs and flowers everywhere etc
• Pretty-up our patios
• Maybe break-out some paint swatches and paint rooms (as needed, we'll live with most colors for now)
• Find a creative solution for storing my sewing machine and fabric [and swatches] 

I'm sure as time progresses my list will continue to grow. My main focus this weekend is getting settled in our house and just enjoying each moment. I'm hoping to get Avery's room mostly 'set-up' and then help him transition back into his own bedroom & bed wish me luck on that. 

A huge heartfelt thank you to everyone who's reached out to me on the Blog / Instragram / Email and checked on how my family and I have been doing. It's really meant the world to me reading the comments or getting a surprise email from out the blue has helped my keep going and allowed me to stay positive even when I didn't feel like getting out or bed and dealing with anything. Thank you all so much!! 

I plan on listening to my go to jam today, now on to The Next Chapter!  

Cooking Slump

For the past several months, I've been in a cooking slump. One too many nights of uninspired taco night, or other just random dinners. One thing about me is I enjoy cooking yummy meals for my family, but with this slump I've been in, dinner feels so much like a chore and not at all enjoyable. Other the weekend Hasani and I were shopping at Barnes & Nobles and I started looking at cookbooks, I have a ton I have yet to replace since our house fire. I like a good realistic cookbook, the kind that make week night meals a breeze since Hasani and I both work full-time and most nights I don't start cooking dinner until after 5:30 pm. I'm sure most of you out there can relate to being on a time crunch, but still want to make a delicious healthy meal. I know once I'm back in my own kitchen, I'll want to cook & bake and make lots of memories in the heart of our home. I've put together a list of five cookbooks I plan on getting to start my new collection. I've already got ahead start and bought one from my list below. 

Five Good Cookbooks

1. While at Barnes & Nobles, I ended buying The Mom 100 Cookbook for only $6 bucks (the online price is more) I loved the variety of recipes a mixture with simple ingredients and full colorful pages of recipes. For some reason, I like lots of pictures in my cook books. Even though the cook book is for 'Moms' I consider it more of a go to recipe cookbook. I'm so looking forward to trying her recipe for Risotto, I've always wanted to try and make it. I blame it on watching one too many episodes of Hell's Kitchen and Chef Ramsey freaking out on the contestants that can't make a bloody Risotto. 

2. My mom bought me the Martha Stewart Cooking School Cookbook, for a wedding present and I just loved it. I love all the cooking details Martha shares. I love pretty much anything Martha. 

3. The Betty Crocker cookbook is one of those classic old schools cookbooks full of knowledge and the basic how to. 

4. I've always enjoined Ina Garten and watching her cooking show Barefoot Contessa back in the day when we had a cable. I plan on giving her Barefoot Contessa Foolproof Recipes: You Can Trust cookbook a try after reading though all reviews, I think this will be a good for entertaining which plan on doing at lot of when we move home. 

5. The Pioneer Women Cookbook, I've tired a few of her recipes from her blog and loved them. Her food is that yummy 'stick to your ribs food,' meals I try to avoid on a daily, lol. I love that is cookbook feels like the perfect crowd pleaser  & large meal making cookbook. 

Girl Crush Cookbook

I have a big girl crush on Gwyneth Paltrow, I find her her style effortless and fun! I like that she puts herself out there and isn't afraid to speak her mind even if it comes across as smug or annoying. I guess there's two camps on Gwyneth: Camp Hate and Camp Love. I fall under the love category and have been thinking about giving her cook book a try, even though I typically shy away from celebrity cookbooks. I'm still on the fence about ordering her cookbook My Father's Daughter the reviews on Amazon are pretty decent, so we'll see if I end up buying it.

Do you own any of the above cookbooks? Any suggestions for cookbooks I should buy?