Chalkboard paint

I love chalkboard paint. 

There is White Castle, my home for 2 years!

Who knew back in 2003 when I moved into a college house called "White Castle" (with 11 other people) that I would have my first experience with chalkboard paint? Some forward thinking college woman before me had painted a large portion of the living room wall with chalkboard paint & hung a frame around it. It was our house's place to track bills/expenses & it worked perfectly. You may wonder why it took me so long to try it out! I don't have a great excuse although since I own my home now; it is much easier to do painting projects of any kind. (I have owned my condo for 4 years.....so it still has taken me awhile to get going on this!)

Paint & primer are on!

Chalkboard paint drying

Fast forward 9.5 years to now & chalkboard paint is everywhere! My brother & sister in law painted 2 of the walls in my nephew's bedroom with the stuff and it provides him with some entertainment when he wants it. Pinterest is overflowing with chalkboard paint ideas, which is where I got the idea to paint the inside of my pantry cabinet doors with the stuff.

Almost out of list on the left

Ongoing projects on the right

A moment of love for my pantry cabinets; my Dad gave the cabinets to me, stained them to match my other kitchen cabinets & helped haul them up to the 2nd floor walk up I share with my husband. They give me so much additional storage in my kitchen, which I desperately needed (not to mentioned wanted.......because I love my kitchen and spend lots of time there; I want it to be orderly.)

Pretty colors of chalk

So over the course of a weekend, I taped, primed & painted the inside of my doors. I had the benefit of a recessed area in each door, which gave me a perfect outline of where to paint. I like the natural border or frame the door style gave me. Once I had painted the second coat of paint, I needed to wait 3 days for the paint to be ready for writing. All in all, the project took less than a week, including all of the drying/waiting time. In terms of supplies, I spent $20-$25 on 1 small roller brush set (which included a tray), 1 roll of painters tape, 1 small can of primer (only necessary if you plan to paint on unfinished wood; which the insides of my cabinet doors were), and 1 small can of chalkboard paint. I regret not asking for a paint stir stick at the hardware store........so do my wooden spoons :(

As you can see in the photos, I am using the left side of the pantry for a list of things I'm almost out of and the right side as a place to track ongoing cooking/baking projects. 'Tis the season for stocking up on cookie dough for my freezer and I like to have a list so I don't have to dig through the Ziploc bags in my freezer to remember which dough I've already made! The completed doughs have a check mark in the box (I don't want to erase them until I've finished them all; lest I end up with 4 batches of plain peanut butter cookie dough & no chocolate chocolate chip dough :)

Reused a preserves jar for my chalk!

Please let me know in the comments what you think & if you have any questions about how to do this relatively quick project at home.

I will have another post soon about the pantry reorganization (specifically baking supplies) that happened in the same weekend!

I love fall.....part II

I love fall enough that it warrants a second post!

Lizzard Loves Fall.Walking on the Geneva Lake path

Lizzard Loves Fall. Fire in the fireplace. Perfection.

Lizzard Loves Fall. Jack-o-lanterns keeping watch from our place

Lizzard Loves Fall. Trick or Treat!

There is just something magical for me about fall;

the weather

the coziness

the hot drinks (spiked apple cider anyone?? I used Apple Pear Brandy last weekend and it was delicious)

the curling up by the fire, the chilly walks along the water

the Halloween costumes on my nephews & neighborhood kids

carving pumpkins & the resulting pumpkin seeds

making Pumpkin Pie Almonds (obviously I found the recipe on Pinterest- here is the link; http://kneadtocook.com/?p=2151)

there are so many reasons this season is the best one there is. 

I hope you all are enjoying fall this year!

Popcorn on the cob

I love Fall.

Before.....

It is the season of cool weather, my birthday, beautiful leaves, pumpkin everything, squash, jeans+boots, crisp days & nights, fires in the fireplace & (for me at least) popcorn.

I also love farmer's markets & farm stands of all stripes. I bought an incredibly fun treat at Pearce's Farm Stand over my birthday weekend in Wisconsin. This is a family run farm stand which comes fully to life in the fall; they have an annual customer appreciation weekend with live music, corn, bratwurst & kettlecorn. Amazing small town fun for everyone! You can find them on Facebook, you'll see what I'm talking about; http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pearces-Farm-Stand

Cob in the bag, bag in the microwave - getting cooked!

As I lose my train of thought; I should be reminded to get back to the popcorn! I saw dried corn on the cob for sale at Pearce's last month and figured I should absolutely buy them, because of my aforementioned love of popcorn in the Fall. 

After! So awesome.

I giggled like a schoolgirl while this was popping in my microwave! Well, to be perfectly honest, the popping took about a minute and a half to start and being that I am more than slightly distractable; the explosions from my microwave scared me so much I jumped and yelped quite loudly at the same time. (the good news is I was at home & didn't need to explain myself to Chris) The minor fright was followed my unadulterated childlike happiness at the silly feat of popcorn coming off of that dried cob after only a few minutes in the microwave!

It tastes delicious - I didn't add any butter/oil/salt/flavoring, yielded a full bowl of popcorn & all of it has been eaten less than 24 hours later. 


Needless to say, I am back in Wisconsin today, went back to Pearce's and bought 6 more of these. They are just too fun. Happy Fall everyone!

Soft Pretzels

I love soft pretzels.

Ger & Volker meet our train

Before this summer though, I loved the soft pretzels I could get at Wrigley Field, or at a bar with dipping sauce; I had no idea what I was missing.

National Lampoon's European Vacation (my pet name for our trip abroad this summer) took Chris & me to Munich, Germany. We stayed with my cousin & her husband; perhaps the most gracious hosts in the world. They were waiting for us in the main train station at Munich when we arrived, carrying signs, wearing an Irish flag (the heritage my cousin & I share), and a German one (partly because they didn't have an American flag to wear & the German flag was welcoming us to the their country!).

Obizda - soft cheese with herbs & Camembert. Amazing.

Olympiapark (Olympians need pretzels!)

Breakfast at Ger & Volker's home.YUM.

Brunch at the Hofbrauhaus

Lunch at the Viktualienmarkt beer garden

But back to the pretzels. Perhaps I am the last person on Earth to realize how perfect a fresh made hot pretzel is? This could be the case, but I was blown away by the salt flecked crust that gave way to a chewy center. The pretzels we enjoyed in Germany came in all shapes & sizes- we made an effort to try them everywhere we stopped! Ger (my cousin) would always be awake before her lazy house guests (us. darn.) and go to her local bakery to buy pretzels as part of our breakfast, then we would get a pretzel at a beer garden, and perhaps another as an afternoon snack. And so it went!

The photos give you some idea of how many pretzels I was capable of eating in 5 days..........

La Tour Eiffel

I love the Eiffel Tower. 

I think it is wonderful that it is just a structure. It wasn't designed to do anything (other than be beautiful & astonish the world; which I'd say it succeeded massively on both fronts).

The first apartment we stayed in while in Paris had a view of la Tour Eiffel from the kitchen window. Granted, it was in the distance, as we stayed in the 12th arrondissement - away from the action in a quiet neighborhood. That being said- being able to look out the window & see the Eiffel Tower within hours of our touchdown at Charles de Gaulle made me abundantly happy.

The view from our 1st apartment - Eiffel Tower at night!

Cheers!

View from a boat cruise on the Seine

Gazing up at this breathtaking structure while sitting on the grass with Chris, sipping wine and enjoying a summer night; I was in heaven. The most romantic city in the world, its most iconic attraction, the love of my life & wine.....what's not to love?

I took about 100 photos of the Eiffel Tower throughout our days in Paris- here are a few of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Europe Fund

I love to travel.

Lizzard Loves....travel!

I also love to hoard change like a squirrel hoards acorns. Hence the "Europe Fund 2012" growler! I bought this growler in August of 2011, on a 2 week long road trip. I bought the growler in Columbus, OH at the North Market (http://www.northmarket.com/). If you've never been (& you have access to Columbus) please take the time to visit! It is chock full of delights; food, beer, wine, shopping, and Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams (http://www.jenis.com/) which is perhaps the most delicious ice cream I've ever had.

The growler accompanied me home in a cooler with some freezer packs, so I had a treat to give Chris when I returned! Now onto the growler's rebirth.....

Fast forward 6 months to February/March 2012. Chris & I decide we should take another big trip in August, this time to Europe! The label went on the growler & the saving of all change began.

We leave in 4 days for our 2 week trip and I think it is time for me to cash out our growler full of change. 

Well, we only made it 3/4 of the way full- but hopefully there is enough money in it to buy some wine+cheese in Paris, beer+pretzels in Munich & whatever we feel like in Prague ;)

Bon voyage to us!

Coffee from around the world

I love coffee.

I also love my sister (shocking I'm sure :). 

Organic Coffee from Nepal!

Returning from her trip to Nepal & Bali, my sister carried gifts galore, including some amazingly delicious organic coffee! I support eating locally - I know its good for me & the world, but coffee doesn't grow in Chicago...so why not try some from Nepal?? 

I bought the square glass container for my coffee grounds after my sister brought me the coffee, because I never know where to put the ground coffee........because the bag it came in is full of the beans! My coffee grinder only handles enough beans for 3/4 of a pot, but I like to grind more at one time. Enter my simple new container. 

How do you store your coffee? Do you grind it at home? I'd love any new ideas you all have!

I'm back to my coffee now; it is the best way I can start my day. Thanks again sissy for such a delightful gift from around the world.