Officially home owners!!
Now we're enjoying our new home and slowly adding more furniture, ya know, for the four extra bedrooms we currently have. But really, the dining room is next. I have the table picked out, but chairs have been leaving me stumped. Plus, have you priced nice dining room chairs lately? They're insane!
Living room has been a slow process, but I'm so happy with how it's turning out.
The happiest door in the world!! I seriously can't get enough of it. (Also a month old are my olive trees....and I can't believe I haven't killed them yet!)
Our Phoenix has done such a good job adjusting to the house. In case you don't know his history, he was an avid chewer. Blankets and pillows were his favorite with the occasional shoe on the side. We rescued him as a tiny little kitten so it could be a result of being weened from his momma too soon. Maybe he was just pissed at us each time he chewed something. Whatever the reason, there was a little apprehension in letting him have free reign over the house. But I'm happy to report that he's done great! The only incident was him pulling a towel off of the towel rack in the bathroom and dragging it into the living room while we were at work...but he didn't chew it! And if you can't tell, he thinks he's king of the house...especially the chaise in the living room.
Favorite spot.
We all had a pretty traumatizing first night in the house when the smoke alarms starting going off at 3am (after a full day of moving) and continued to go off every 30 minutes until the electrician could get there later that morning. Not only is there an alarm that sounds, but a voice that yells, "FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!" Nothing like thinking your brand new house is burning down in the middle of your first night there! Phoenix was especially traumatized and didn't come out of his teepee until later that afternoon.
And then he discovered the sprinklers running outside and all was well.
We've also had our first overnight guests! Remember the four extra bedrooms I mentioned? Well, Brooks has already claimed one for his jump bed (bunk bed) and one as a play room for when they come over. For now they slept in our bedroom with us, one on a blowup mattress and the other on sofa cushions, which he thought was the coolest thing ever and kept asking where his "new bed" was the next morning when I had to put them back on the sofas. I have so many memories of spending the night with my aunts and uncles growing up and am so thankful for the memories I now get to make with these two.
Breakfast time and silly faces.
They've also come over for an afternoon of swimming at the neighborhood pool!
Synchronized jumping!
I love these faces.
And that brings us to now. I can't believe July is almost over. I have got to get cooking if I want to cook everything on my summer cooking bucket list by the end of summer! Not only have we been busy, but I got pretty sick two weekends ago. I was fine and then a 102.5 fever hit my like a ton of bricks and I was down for the count for over three days. I actually ended up in immediate care when I couldn't get my fevers under control and after four hours there and many, many tests, it was determined by the infectious disease doctor that I'd been bitten by a tick! It might be the sickest I've ever been and as a result, I will now be bathing in bug spray before leaving the house. Aside from yucky side affects of the antibiotic I've been taking and the crazy bruises on my arms from the endless blood work, I'm finally starting to feel normal. I have to go back next week for more blood work to make sure all my numbers are back up to where they're supposed to be.
Luckily this post includes several things I've cooked from the list over the past few weeks and just didn't have time to share!
First was the Shish Tawook Grilled Chicken. My mom has made this a few times and we both really liked it so I thought I'd give it a shot! I threw the chicken in the fridge to marinate in the morning, we went to the pool and came back and they were ready to be assembled and grilled. I can't recommend them enough!
Grilling skills courtesy of the hubs
This past Friday night I made these Sriracha Lime Chicken Chopped Salads and I must admit that they weren't as good as I imagined they would be. That's not to say they were bad, I just expected more. I feel like they were missing something and I can't quite put my finger on it. I would definitely give them another shot, but I'm going to put some thought into what could make them better. They made for a beautiful summer dinner though!
I mean, how gorgeous is this?!
The Best Damn French Dip On Earth is something we've actually had twice now! They're that good. I can't say if they're really the best on Earth, it would take a long time to test that theory, but they're seriously good and seriously easy. The key to these sandwiches is FRESH bread from the bakery. The recipe actually says to use fresh roast beef from the deli, but I can't bring myself to spend $12/lb for a couple of sandwiches. I just can't. Maybe if we were having guests, but for a quick Saturday lunch for just the two of us, the prepackaged stuff will work just fine. And surprisingly these sandwiches reheat pretty well. Just make sure you also save a little bowl of the au jus!
Our summer has been great so far. We haven't spent as much time at the lake as we'd like to, but hopefully now that things have settled down, we'll find a few weekends to spend on the water. And hopefully I can catch up on my cooking!
xoxo
