Media Room Gallery Wall

Long time no see! Things have been super busy around here, I'll post about that soon ;)

I finally got around to working some more on the decor in our media room. I knew that I wanted to incorporate a gallery wall into the design somewhere, but I couldn't figure out where exactly.  Well, I decided to use the dead space above the couch and came up with something pretty cool.

I've been collecting frames and items for the wall for a long time. It takes a lot more stuff than you would think to fill space well.  Plus, I wanted a varied look, with different color frames and shapes.

One of my favorite things in the gallery wall is this frame with old passports in it. These are passports of members of Kevin's family that we found and decided to put on display.  The one on the left is from Britain around 1920 and the others are mid 1900's US passports. This really goes with the world travel theme that I'm trying to pull in. 

I added a small floating shelf to the gallery wall to showcase our sentimental champagne cork collection. I've been debating for a while over what to do with the corks that we save from our anniversaries, and this seemed like the best option (better than stuffed away in a box, for sure!).  You will notice that a lot of the frames don't have real pictures in them yet. I went ahead and put the gallery wall up without finalizing everything. But, my plan is for these to be travel-themed, with maps or landscape pictures of places that are special to us, and pictures from our actual travels.

I got a new lampshade at Target to go on the floor lamp that I have in the corner. This made a big difference, I like the shape and linen texture of the shade. 

Oh, and I'm also currently working on accessorizing a bar cart-like shelf that will hang out in the back of the room. I think this will be both pretty and functional.  I can't wait to get this completed and show you! Here is some of the inspiration for that space:

Weekend Recap

Yes, I realize I'm late and it's almost time for the next weekend... but better late than never.  We had a great 4th of July!

Thursday we spent time at home relaxing and grilled out for dinner, with s'more after for dessert! :)

Then, we went downtown to watch the fireworks. We went with Kelsey and Brandon and sat on the roof of the building he works in. It was a fun night and nice spot to get away from all of the craziness downtown.

On Friday, we drove to the beach and spent the weekend with my family. We took the dogs out on the beach Friday night. They loved it! Rory was afraid of the waves, but he loved digging in the sand!

Saturday was spent out on the beach and cooked shrimp and grits for dinner! Then, we went back to the beach to take some family pictures. It was windy!!

Sunday we drove home in all of the traffic (yuck) and had a relaxing evening. Hope you had a fun, safe and relaxing holiday weekend!

P.S. This was 5 years ago today... we got engaged! It's crazy how time flies!!

The night we got engaged - 7/11/2008

4th of July

Happy (early) 4th of July! In case you're planning a party or get together with friends and family, I thought I would share some of my favorite ideas for the holiday.

Two years ago we threw a 4th of July party/cookout right after we moved into our house. It was a lot of fun. I made bunting from scrapbook paper and ribbon and painted terracotta pots to hold festive flowers on the deck. I also made a red, white and blue layer cake... yum! And of course, dressing up the dogs is always fun on a holiday. A red, white, and blue bandanna looks super cute!

Here are some other great ideas from Pinterest. Click the picture to take you to the source. 

Aren't those some awesome ideas? Happy 4th of July!!

Cucumber Crostini

A couple of weekends ago, we went to Kelsey and Brandon's for their birthday cookout. After reading lots of recipes, but not finding one that I liked, I created these cucumber crostinis to take to the party. These turned out to be a perfect summer treat. They're like a fun appetizer version of cucumber tea sandwiches.

Cucumber Crostini
- cucumbers, seeded and large diced, 2-3 cups (~ 2 large regular cucumbers or 6 pickling cucumbers)
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1 bunch mint
- 1/2 bunch dill
- garlic powder
- salt
- chives, chopped, for garnish

Remove the seeds from the cucumbers (you can also choose to peel them, but I didn't) and cut them into a large dice. You want them to be easy to eat, but still have some crunch!  Then, pat dry with paper towels. In a separate bowl, whip the cream cheese and add mint, dill and garlic powder.  Add the cucumbers to this mixture, adding salt to taste, and  stir well to incorporate.  For best flavor development, refrigerate for 12 hours.

To prepare the crostinis, slice french bread into thin slices. Drizzle with olive oil and garlic powder and toast in oven until golden brown. Allow to cool, then top with a spoonful of cucumber mixture and garnish with chives.

Enjoy!

I'll share the recipe for these chili lime shrimp cups soon! 

Goodbye Reader

via

I'm sure you're well aware of the demise of Google Reader by now. But, just in case you're not up to speed, Google Reader will no longer be functional after today. Google says that it's been losing popularity (I don't believe), but really I think it's a push by them to use Google+ and similar features over there.

So, what are you using now in it's place?  I'm using a couple of things until I find my favorite. For the most part, I've been using Feedly. But, it's not my favorite. I've run into some issues with it synching what I've read across multiple devices. If I've read a bunch of new posts on my computer and then browse on my phone, sometimes they show up as unread still. There are also some kinks with navigating, but maybe I will get the hang of it. I'm also a little worried that Feedly depends on Google functionality, it seems to synch with Google data every time I log in, I don't know if it will be dependable after Google takes this away. I think I'm going to end up using another service.

If you're looking for the least amount of change from Google Reader, The Old Reader might be for you. It has a very similar setup. Once you've signed up, you need to upload you subscriptions by uploading the .xml file that you can download from Google takeout. After that, everything is very straightforward.

I also signed up for Bloglovin' and imported my Google Reader list, so that I would have that option. I like the layout and suggestions for new blogs to follow.  The only problem I've had has been in the actual reading, I don't like having to click the posts to read everything... I want to just be able to scroll through the entire post.

So, what have you settled on to replace Google Reader? Are you liking it even more than you thought?

P.S. If you're looking for another way to follow my blog, you can always sign up to get a message straight to your inbox each day that I post. Enter your email address into the box on the left sidebar that says "Follow by Email."