To Do List

First of all....what happened to all of my blog pictures?  They just disappeared one day! :(


I'm trying to keep myself accountable for things that I need to get done at my house so I'm making a list.  I've finally come to the point where all of the pictures need to be on the walls and the rooms need to be finished (even though I know this will change as the years go by, but for the time being........).


1. Paint the master bedroom blue.
*Brian hates painting so this is going to be an adventure in itself.


2. Hang all of the pictures on the walls in our room.  Hang the TV on the wall. Paint Brian's temporary night stand to use until I find one I like.


3. Make or find gray curtains that match the bedding.  I'm thinking this or see picture.

4. Organize the jewelry that's taking over it's place in the closet.  Plus dust the closet....too much woodwork...too much dusting.


5. Recover the 60's yellow chair in the living room with leopard to match the stairs.  I really don't mind the yellow chair....just doesn't match the house.


6. Buy a dresser and hang pictures in the guest bedroom.


7. Get recovered pillows from mom to put on the bed.
* This is the most complete and probably CUTEST room in the house!
* It's currently the holding place for things I've marked as "put in a garage sale"

8. Print pictures of me and hubs and put them in frames.
*Still don't have engagements framed and we've been married 3 months.


The Hunting Room/Office/Other Guest bedroom (This needs it's own title)
Let me just explain why this needs a title all on it's own.  I'm somewhat out of my element on this one.  I never thought I'd see a massive deer head on my wall, but don't worry....there is one.  

To make things most fair in our house I have my super girly room and Brian has a more boyish room.  The deer and outdoor feel is very much beginning to grow on me, but do you know how hard it is to balance cuteness AND well.....outdoors.  When I search google for ideas I come up with something like this:  

Sorry....this girl is not in a cabin the woods.


Sooo.....All that to say I'm having to be a little creative.  But thanks to my good friend Pinterest I've found some pretty great ideas!  Now I've just got to get these started.


1. Sand and glaze the pallet headboard.


2. Make pallet shelves for the wall (Hang those)

3. Sew black backing on the curtains
* The room is too bright and Millie wakes up when the sun comes up


4. Glaze weathered shelf.  
*I started this weeks ago and never finished.


5. Find a desk!!  I'm being WAY to picky.  I just have some things that I want:
- I want a wrap around corner desk so it's more out of the way.
- It needs to look rustic to match the rest of the room.
- I think my dad is just going to have to make one.


Here are a couple I like....they just aren't corner desks.

6. Finish the pillows for the bed that are in the works! :)


So, that pretty much sums up what needs to get done!  Hopefully I'll have some pictures to show for all of the hard work soon! :)

Save The Date

I just saw this stop motion video and thought it was cute!!

Wedding Pictures

I recently got all of my wedding pictures back!  It was so overwhelming at how many there were and I love ALL of them!  Hillary Johnson took my pictures.  She is FANTASTIC!  I recommend her to anyone!
I just picked out a few of my favorites....I wish I could just go and do it all over again!

Ruffle Wreath

I try to be crafty and sometimes whatever I'm choosing to make turns out really rough, and other times it ends up super cute.  I'm happy to say that this is one of those times that I was pleased with the outcome.

Since I got married I've been trying to make lots of little changes and incorporating the letter "K" in to things in our home.

I love having a wreath on our front door.  I think it adds a little something to our porch and makes the house seem more welcoming.  I had put a mossy green wreath with an orange bow up a few months ago but I knew it was time for something more, plus it was my same one from last summer.

I came across a wreath online similar to this and I fell in love!!!!  It was super easy to make.  I'm not great a tutorials but I'll try my best so you can make one of these too! :)

What you need:

•                A wreath form (I used a 14inch)

•                Chiffon fabric: 1 yard for the wreath and 1/4 yard for the flowers.

•                Felt, one sheet

•                Buttons

•                Ribbon

•                Paint

•                The Letter of your choice

•                Tools:  Straight pins, rotary cutter and mat; sewing machine and thread; glue gun and glue sticks; paint sponge.

How to make the wreath:

1. Fold your fabric in half.  Cut chiffon into 2.5 inch wide strips.  Use more fabric for a fuller look.

2. Sew a gathering stitch (the longest straight stitch setting on your sewing machine) down the center of the fabric strips. (It doesn't have to be perfect) For the flowers, stitch along the edge of the strips. 

3. Pull the bobbin thread on one end of your strip, gathering fabric to make a ruffle.  (You can make them tight or loose.  Mine were pretty loose) Continue, until the entire strip is ruffled.  Repeat until all strips are ruffled.

4. Pin one end of a ruffled strip to the back of the wreath form.  Wrap the ruffled strip around the wreath and slightly overlap.

5. Secure the end with a straight pin, and begin a new ruffle right where you left off.  Keep doing this until the whole wreath is covered!

Flowers, these are a little tricky!

Cut a 2-inch circle out of felt.  Hand-stitch the ruffled strip to the circle beginning in the middle of the circle and stitching in a spiral pattern to the outside. (This wasn't my favorite part, my first one was a little rough.)  Then sew the button to the center of the flower.

Next I took my painted letter and hot glued it on to the wreath.  I tried to get it on the wreath form but you don't want to move the ruffles too much.  Next I hot glued the flowers in to place.  I also secured them with 2 pins JUST TO BE SAFE since It was hot glued to the chiffon.

Then, cut a long piece of ribbon, tie it in a bow, hang it on your door and TA-DA....a summer-time front door! :)

So now my front porch is colorful and ready for a warm and sunny summer!!!

I think a colorful pillow may be in the works for the bench......we'll see! :)

PEPPERONI PIZZA PUFFS

I'm slowing getting better at cooking. The truth is I don't really enjoy it. I'd much rather make a cake or something fun like that!


Well, I'm currently ADDICTED to Pinterest...if you're not on there, you should be! Anyways, I saw these yummy Pizza muffins and thought they looked good and were easy to make so I made them last night for dinner. They were SO good! It tasted just like eating a pepperoni pizza, only healthier! We paired it with a salad and it was a perfect meal!

Here's what mine looked like

This is what was on the website

They are SO easy to make!!

• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• pinch of salt (my addition, optional)
• pinch of red pepper flakes (my addition, optional)
• 3/4 cup whole milk (I just used low fat)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup cubed pepperoni (I may do more next time)
• 1/2 cup store-bought pizza sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning, salt and red pepper flakes (if using) ; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, Parmesan and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.


2. Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.


3. Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through. Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.


NOTE: I used the extra-large 6 muffin pan. Doing it again I'd probably only make 4 large ones, but you can make them any size you want.  You can also add a different meats other than pepperoni!

Being a Mrs.

I've been married for 3 weeks!! 21 days!!! It's crazy to me how fast the time has gone by! It's still weird to not come home and worry about wedding planning and not constantly carry a to do book around with me writing down every little thing I think of during the day. I'm still getting use to the fact that there is also a boy there when I go to bed and when I wake up.

While things are awesome we still have our little spats about where things need to go and the why can't you put foil back on the bowl arguments. I've come to terms with that fact that clothes will be left in the floor when he gets in the shower, razors will be left next to the sink, and the wrong towel will be used to wipe the dogs dirty feet.

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to be a wife and to love when I want to scream, and cook when the kitchen fills with smoke but I wouldn't change one thing that I have in my life right now. God has blessed me with an amazing husband that I cannot get enough of and I'm so excited for this journey that we are on and so happy that we get to figure it out together.

Wedding pictures coming soon.

Mrs. Kessler.

Advice to My Younger Self

I saw this article on Real Simple (I ADORE Real Simple) but I just LOVED it and so I thought I would share! I definitely agree with everything she says!

ADVICE I WISH I COULD GIVE MY YOUNGER SELF
1. Stop apologizing so much.
2. Appreciate how you look right now. It’s a lot better than you think.
3. Understand that sometimes boys are just clueless. They are not being intentionally clueless to hurt your feelings.
4. One cupcake/donut/piece of candy is not really that important.
5. If you have to ask yourself whether you should have one more drink, the answer is probably no.
6. If you think everybody is looking at you, you’re wrong.
7. No matter how much you love your parents, they probably love you more.
8. Sometimes doing the right thing is embarrassing and not cool. Get over that.
9. When you are arguing with someone, yelling rarely accomplishes anything.
10. Many of the smartest people are the best listeners.
11. Waterproof mascara is not worth the hassle of taking it off.
12. Just because you hated a book at age 20 does not mean you will hate it at age 40.
13. Arguing with your boyfriend after 10 p.m. is just completely counterproductive.
14. There is no substitute for a cake made from scratch.
15. Be careful when stating your opinion because it might change tomorrow.

What would you add to this list?

What story are you telling?

GREAT book!! Check out this video!! Order you copy on Amazon today!

What story are you telling? from Rhetorik Creative on Vimeo.

Things I'm eXCitEd About!

1. I get to marry the man of my dreams in 65 days! 65! I can't believe how fast the last few months have gone by! It seems like just yesterday he put a ring on my finger!

2. Since I'm getting married in 65 days that means SO many out of state friends and family members are coming in to town. I'm SO excited to see each of them!

3. I get to begin having all of my fun showers in 2 weeks!

4. I'm going to redo my guest bedroom! Add bright green walls and some damask pattern! LOVE :)

5. Spring time is coming soon!! That means shorts and flip flops ALL the time!

6. In 66 days I'll be laying on the beach in Mexico!

Engagements!

My friend Michelle Meisner is one of THE BEST photographers!!!

She is so incredibly talented!!!

She took our engagement pictures last weekend before the storm hit!

You can see her sneak peak on her blog! :)