Filling Up On Furniture

whoosh! we had a long day on saturday. i'll start with dinner and then rewind. i've blogged about cinco de mayo a few times (here and here), and i'm always looking for people who want to join andrew and me for a drink. our new friend kathryn was interested, so we went out for $5 sangria margaritas last night, yum! our food spread that you can see surrounding us include nachos supreme, cheese enchiladas, and a delicious shrimp cocktail with pico de gallo and avocado. we hadn't tried the shrimp before and it was so gooooood.

 kathryn is only here for another month, so sad!

 you know you want that shrimp/avocado/pico glass of goodness.

 yummmmmy!

now to rewind. i work at steelcase (in food services; i'm a barista!) and andrew was doing that too until he just landed an internship there in the HR department. kathryn also has an internship this summer, so that's how we met her (and we are so glad we did!) we are all in the market for furniture, so one perk about working at a furniture company is access to great sales! every week they have "employee sales", where you can get great discounts on slightly damaged items. once a year, they also have a big re-market sale, where they have a huge selection of returned items for a big discount. the re-market sale was yesterday, so we all got up early and hit it!

this SW_1 chair by coalesse retails for around $2000. we got it for $60! and the ikea throw was $6, i think it matches nicely! this was actually from employee sales a couple weeks ago and is technically an office chair, but we have it in our living room.

this leather chair by turnstone is likely to be a good reading chair. this was the most expensive thing we bought - $150. again, an ikea pillow puts the look together. the table next to it was just $5! bargains!

when our roommate moved out we were left with a huge dining room and nothing to fill it with. we got these great move stools for $30 each. we really need to find a great table for these, asap! anybody know of one?

we also grabbed a couple of dining room chairs at employee sales for $15 each. we probably shouldn't have bought these, but we couldn't let them sit there! any ideas for a use?

where do you get your furniture? i'm not opposed to thrift stores or yard sales, but for soft chairs and couches, i'm a little pickier. i think we're really lucky that we have access to some really nice things for a fraction of the price! now if we could only find a great couch!

happy sunday! are you watching the closing ceremonies of the olympics tonight? i hear the spice girls really are going to perform!

Fresh From the Farmer's Market!

tonight i actually made a real dinner, which i feel like i haven't done in a super long time! anyway, the theme of the evening was "farmer's market" because andrew and i did a ton of shopping there on saturday. i really hate wasting food, and lots of times we buy things and then forget about them or are too lazy to cook, so i was determined not to let that happen! i should have taken more pictures, but i made a stuffed eggplant dish with spaghetti on the side for dinner, with the eggplant and tomatoes from the market. while i was preparing everything, i asked andrew to grab some vanilla ice cream for dessert. we never buy/eat plain vanilla, so he wasn't convinced that this was a good idea until he received his sweets. i made...

peach and blackberry crisp! he loved it. and he's hard to impress when it comes to sweet things, for some reason.

i also should have taken a "before" picture of this, but a "during" really delves you into our dessert-eating experience, i think; )

this is about when andrew asked for more ice cream. guess the vanilla was a good choice!

yum!

i feel confident that i can share this easy recipe and you will follow it and your mouth will be so happy afterwards!

Peach Blackberry Crisp

Ingredients: 

at least 3 peaches, peeled and sliced

big handful of blackberries (raspberries work great as well)

for the crisp:

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup (half stick) butter, melted

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x8 or 9x9 pan with oil. Place peaches and blackberries in pan. Stir your crisp together and evenly distribute on top of fruit. Bake for appx 30 minutes and do yourself a favor and top with vanilla ice cream! Enjoy!

see? super easy! and really delicious. i can't wait to go to the farmer's market again this saturday so we can have this again! please feel free to share your favorite recipes with me! i am always looking for something easy yet delicious and healthy (more or less) to make.

Making Friends

andrew and i have been making so many new friends lately and also catching up with some old ones!

one of my best friends, colleen, just took an amazing road trip from california to michigan with her boyfriend, ryan. they are two of my favorite people, and i was so happy that they stopped in grand rapids to stay with us! we had some ice cream at jersey junction, caught up with our old friend dan fisher, saw our even older friend roger play a show last minute at mulligans, and had brunch at san chez the next morning. i got to see her again the next weekend at home and the weekend after that here in grand rapids! i rarely get to see her and i hope she moves to grand rapids and lives with me forever!

we have also made a few friends from steelcase! with the influx of summer interns and andrew becoming one himself, there are a lot of new faces around our age. we joined kathryn, gaby, and brian for dinner and drinks the other night and told them about our love for mangiamo's happy hour. we all went yesterday right when it started and stayed for six hours. it was insane. they have a lovely outdoor area and yard games, so it just made sense to hang out, especially with the beautiful weather. we have had so many laughs and good conversation after getting together just a couple of times. we even went to hopcat to top off the evening.

brian, me, andrew, kathryn, and gaby!

i've been somewhat down on myself lately, so days like these really help uplift me! i am also beginning a part-time/trial position at steelcase on a new website launch team, so cross your fingers that it goes well and can turn into something great!

happy olympics! i've been enjoying all the amazing athletic abilities this weekend. these people work so hard for this!

Croatia 35mm Film; Part 2

another few choice photographs from the trip taken with 35mm film:

on our way to a vineyard on the island of vis for dinner, we were able to stop for this photo op.

inside is the "blue cave" on the island of bisevo. at the right time of day the sun makes the interior glow. don't have great photos of the inside, but definitely a sight to see!

a view from our villa, which was in the village of prijevor, near dubrovnik. unfortunately a fence (and a snake sighting) kept me away from that orange tree!

taken outside the pile gate of dubrovnik

andrew's favorite souvenir

inside the walls of dubrovnik

<3 dubrovnik

andrew and his sisters in montenegro - i totally regret not making them step on that weed though!

spotted a cat while walking the wall of dubrovnik

view of the area that we took off on our kayak tour. we learned that a game of thrones scene was shot here!

outside dubrovnik's walls. such beauty!

i can't believe we've been back just about a month. i wish i could always be on vacation!

Underrated List #1

you know what really bugs me? when there is something or someone just so amazing and no one gives it/her/him/them any credit! so here is my toast to the things i can't get enough of that others have seemingly missed out on.

Kate Nash

kate nash is a british singer whom i have so much respect for. forget adele and try on some kate nash for size. she has a beautiful voice and sings so honestly about her insecurities and feelings, good or bad. plus you can actually understand the lyrics (which is something i tend to have trouble with). look up the song "habanera" and be forever in love. she also has some really raw and real songs like "mansion song" and "i just love you more." ugh, i love it! she had an album called "my best friend is you" in 2010, and it didn't make a single 'top albums of the year' list that i could find. wtf?! she may have more respect in the UK, but in this country i proclaim kate nash, underrated!

Dick

this 1999 movie is so sooo funny but also so clever! i always say that it taught me everything i know about the watergate scandal. they basically revolve the plot around deepthroat, the top secret source who exposed the nixon administration's knowledge of watergate. in the movie, two 15-year-old girls accidentally find out all the juicy information and feed it to the washington post. kirsten dunst and michelle williams are awesome in dick; i watched it last night on vhs, which was a throwback, and laughed out loud more than i thought i would. the soundtrack also has oodles of great 70s songs, and i just think they did a really great job on this movie! dick = underrated!

Cinco de Mayo

cinco de mayo is a mexican restaurant in the heart of downtown grand rapids. it was one of the first places i tried out when i moved here almost two years because i noticed they had a 32oz oberon special on mondays for $4! once i popped, i couldn't stop. not until recently did i try out any of their other drink specials - buy my oh my is the 20oz frozen sangria margarita (pictured above) delicious! they also have a frozen lime margarita that hits the spot on a thursday afternoon.

the food, service, and atmosphere are also great. and of course, they serve free chips and salsa. that should win you over from the start. if you're ever in grand rapids, go to cinco de mayo and see what i'm talking about! you'll love the colorful chairs and booths, the friendly staff, and although the food isn't the best mexican i've ever had, it's at least the second best in town. you can't beat the location, either! for some reason though, it's never super busy and i don't hear much buzz about it. underrated!


i really like promoting the things i love, especially when they really need promotion! i'm going to work on another post like this to share more. what people/places/things do you love that you feel are really undervalued? i'd love to hear about them!

have a great saturday: ) i'm crossing my fingers that i get to have a drink with the lovely colleen tonight!

Croatia 35mm Film; Part 1

i had a mini panic attack when i got back from croatia and learned that snapfish recently discontinued film developing. they had the best deal, too! $5.30 for photos sent to you and put online. dang. so then i called around and discovered that most people have given up on film and barely anybody is developing it now. i eventually settled on meijer, but i paid twice as much as i was planning on!

i am glad i brought my big old camera bag and took the time to take some film shots, they definitely turned out the best of any camera, as i knew they would; )

At ACI Marina, in Split, Croatia. We got our boat from here and had a little time to kill before we took off.

This is the president's vacation home near Split that our captain showed us.

Andrew's sister, Tory. First day on the boat.

C'est la vie.

Tory, Andrew, and our captain Joško on the rocky shore. 

The town of Milna, on the island of Brač

Exploring the town of Stari Grad, island of Hvar

Stari Grad, Hvar

Stari Grad, Hvar

Meeting up with Andrew's family friends; Jelsa, Hvar

Props to Andrew for taking this; Jelsa, Hvar

Hvar Town, Hvar; this was a pretty ritzy town! We couldn't dock our boat - we had to pull up and jump onto shore.


do any of you still use film? where do you get it developed?

Go-To Beauty Products

so i've never claimed to be an expert on, well, anything really, but i thought i'd share some of my go-to beauty products! i'd love to hear yours in the comments. i'd also like to apologize for not posting much! getting back from vacation and dealing with extreme heat can do that to a girl. anyway, i guess i should preface this with these somewhat personal facts about me: i have thin, fine hair that grows very slowly; i have fair, dry skin (as opposed to oily); and i've never been a super girly girl that spends a lot of money on beauty items, but i like to smell and look good!

favorite conditioner:

herbal essences: long term relationship
i have been using this almost constantly since the first time i tried it, mainly because it smells AH-mazing. i love love it. i initially bought it hoping that it would help my hair grow faster, which it doesn't really, (i think it's just meant for girls with already long hair), but it still provides everything i need in a conditioner plus makes my nose happy! it's also super affordable, as you probably know. do you have a favorite herbal essences collection?


favorite moisturizer:

H2O+: face oasis hydrating lotion SPF 30
i was introduced to H2O last spring when i went shopping with my cousin, who swears by this brand. she bought a few things at their store, and they gave me a couple samples, score! i finally used the samples and am really enjoying this one. it's what i like in a moisturizer - hydrates instantly, protects my face from the sun, and smells good. the downside - it's $42 for 1.3oz. not looking forward to my little free sample running out!

favorite body lotion:

bath and body works: country chic body cream
i'm not too picky about lotion; it just has to keep my skin soft and smell good. this one fits the bill! i guess the pretty label helps, too. in the winter, especially working with food where you have to wash your hands several times a day, my hands get really rough, so i prefer body cream to body lotion. country chic has the texture i like, and it's my favorite scent right now at bath and body. and of course, it's an affordable place to shop! they have sales and coupons all the time, and you can usually get a deal if you check in on foursquare as well. what scent do you like at bath and body?

favorite nail polish:

maybelline color show: green with envy
mint is (or was at least) pretty 'in' this spring/summer, and i was looking for the perfect nail polish. i didn't have to look far, because i popped into the beauty section at walmart and found this one for $3. i hate when nail polish applies differently than it looks in the bottle, but this one matches perfectly! one coat can be enough, but i usually do two. when searching for this on maybelline's site just now, i couldn't find it, so i'm a little worried they discontinued it already. i better go hit up walmart and see if i can find another one because i love it so much!

favorite eye makeup remover:

avon: moisture effective eye makeup remover lotion
i didn't really think i could have a favorite of something so simple, but after trying two other kinds of eye makeup remover, i decided i'm really glad my mom didn't like this one by avon and passed it on to me. i love that this is a lotion and not a liquid - the others i have tried don't work as well and make my eyes feel all oily after, it freaks me out. anyway, this one is only $4 for 2oz, and lasts for a long time! i haven't actually had to buy my own yet.

favorite perfume:

juicy couture: viva la juicy
obviously there is no one perfume that suits everyone, but this is my favorite scent. there isn't much to say about it besides it smells sweet and fruity. it's not for everyone, but i love it! other scents that i use are: burberry brit, the regular juicy couture, and victoria beckham's intimately beckham. what suits you?


so i'm looking for suggestions on a few other products that i haven't found a favorite of! please let me know what your favorites of these are: deodorant (not an antiperspirant), teeth whitener (toothpaste or kit), foot cream (to help with roughness on the bottom of feet), and under eye concealer.
thanks friends!