Area rugs in the kitchen, good or bad idea?

I have been seeing a lot of area rugs in the kitchen on blogs, in catalogs and even on television shows. I have been kind of liking the look so I have been considering it. My question to you is, are area rugs in the kitchen practical or will I be trying to clean spots off of it all of the time? Maybe I will have less of a mess if I go with something like burlap or jute? What are your thoughts and do you like any of the rugs below??

1. This one is jute from Overstock.com.

2. This one is also from Overstock.com but has a nice design on it.

3. Another Overstock.com rug (I really love Overstocks selection and price on rugs).

or maybe this same rug in blue??

I like the simplicity of the first rug but I also really like the designs on the others. There is something about the last two that keep getting my attention. I am excited to hear your thoughts! THANKS!

SCORE!

Remember this post from yesterday? Well guess what?!? I found three of the tray/plates today at Goodwill! The tea cups were nowhere to be found but that did not bother me one bit, I was so excited to have found three of the tray/plates on my first hunt!! Oh, and did I mention that they were only $1.99 each? That's right, a steal!


**Update**

Today, 9/28, I found the rest of the tray/plates that I wanted (well....the original amount I wanted anyway, now I am thinking I could use a few more)! I also found 6 of the tea cups! Only a few more of the tea cups and I will have the entire set I wanted. I can't believe that I was able to find these at the first two Goodwill stores I went to, it was meant to be! = )

Perfect Day

Today was a perfect day! We decided we needed to get out of the house and enjoy each others company, so.... today was a "date day." What does this perfect day include? I will show you with pictures.

I would love to start a collection of these!

I have seen these a lot lately online and really like love them! I think they would be great for entertaining and I would LOVE a few sets (or 10)! = ) If you see them, and live near me (you know who you are) pretty please call me, I would be so very grateful!

What I Want to Accomplish Before We Have A Baby...

I saw this on another blog recently and thought it was a great idea. I think it is very important to be completely ready in all aspects of your life when you decide to start a family. Yes, you can still live life once you have a child (and we will) but there are some things I would like to experience just the two of us (and on my own) before we do so. I am going to add on my side bar and continue checking off each one as I accomplish. Of course, we also need to get married first, that will definitely be #1. = )

Some of these things I have already done but would like to do one more time pre-baby.

1. Go on a wine tour in Napa or Oregon

2. Go to Washington D.C.

3. Go to New York City

4. Go on at least three more stay-cations

5. Visit the San Juan Islands

6. Travel to Disneyland

7. Take a cooking class

8. New kitchen floors

9. Host a dinner party or game night

10. Make a disaster preparedness kit

11. Organize all closets and drawers in the house

12. Get to the weight I want to be at pre-baby

13. Try a yoga class

14. Collect bottles of wine to have ready for unexpected guests

15. Shoot a gun at the shooting range

16. Go on a hot air balloon as an adult

17. Skydive

18. Build up our “emergency fund”

19. Blog weekly

20. Redo three pieces of furniture

21. Continue to decorate and be crafty

Wall Art

HELLO! As I mentioned in my previous post, I am currently working on sprucing up our basement. It has actually been a lot of fun and even Carson has gotten involved. I love sharing ideas with him, it is even more fun then decorating on my own.

I have decided that on one of our walls I wanted to hang pictures, art, etc. I got some really great ideas from Britt, at A Penny Saved. I decided to try one of her ideas this week, you can see it here (she gives really great directions).


Here is my version....






It is nice because both Carson and I have a last name that starts with the letter "B". I also made one for my sister because that's what you do when you have a sister. = ) The one thing I did a little differently is I layered my buttons up a little more. I bought two pieces of the scrapbooking paper for $1.00, and the buttons for $4.00. I wish I would have had buttons laying around, now I know how hoarding could come in handy (I only kid = ) The frames I already had on hand so those were FREE! It would have cost me even less if I only made one, this project is very affordable and if you have all the supplies could cost you nothing at all!


Hopefully I will have a lot more to share this next week!





I am linking up for my first time EVER!!! to 320 Sycamore (check out her blog, I LOVE!)

Basement - Before

Hi there! We are working on our basement these days. Hoping to have most of what we want completed by the end of November. We are inviting the family over to celebrate McKnight's Birthday =) (our dog) and want it to look pretty much how we want it. As we complete areas of the basement I will post "after" pictures. For now, here are the "before" pictures (the day we moved in).

As you can see it is somewhat of a weird layout, more long and narrow. We are really liking it though! It is cozy!

Fall....oohhhhh Fall!

Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year, no doubt about it! Everything about Fall is perfect. The smells, clothes, lighting, decorations, candles, food, cuddling, trees, college football... EVERYTHING! I was realizing today that I would rather loose weight and be all cute and skinny in the winter than I would in the summer? Why?? Because I want to bundle up in all the super cute clothes, layer over layer and not look like a huge marshmallow! Some of the things I look forward too....

I LOVE HER!

My niece, Maci Nicole

Back to Ikea!

"Inspiration Rooms"

Love the pillows in this picture. I tired to buy something like the black and white ones at Ikea (see below). I bought three of them. Now I am on a hunt for something a little less busy in orange and white like pictured.

Stenciling looks AWESOME! Hoping to pull this off in black.

Today, Carson's mom and sister (Cheryl and MaKesha) were going to Ikea and invited us along. I have a lot on my want list but I was pretty much just going to get some pillows, or so I thought! HA! = )

We are working on decorating our basement. Carson went to OSU so we want to do somewhat of a Beavers theme but I also want to keep it classy and not all sporty. I am working with an orange, black a and white color palate. I know that the wall behind our t.v. I want to stencil like Brooke at All Things Thrifty. (By the way, Brooke is sooooo creative and I HAVE to check her blog everyday because I am pretty much obsessed!) I want our wall to be stenciled in black.

I am going to touches of orange around the room. Here are some of the things we bought today!

The mirror above is not the actual one we got, we got one with a dark black/brown border (not white).

Next on the "to buy list":

Our house was built in the 1940's. I LOVE the house but really hate how small the closets are. My clothes are all over the house and none in our bedroom. Carson has some in our room and some in the guest room. We decided it is time to buy an armoire and we really like the one above! That will probably have to be next months buy!

It was really nice spending time with Carson, his mom and sister! Ikea is always fun but going with others who are excited to buy and decorate makes it even that much better!

Yummy and Super Easy Zucchini Casserole

Today I had the day off work but wasn't feeling real well for most of the day so I wanted dinner to be easy, quick, somewhat healthy and most of all YUMMY!

We had lots of zucchini and squash in the fridge from our garden so I was hoping I could make something using at least these two ingredients. I went online searching for recipes and found one that looked really good. I switched it up a bit and LOVED IT!! Thought I would share.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 pounds sliced zucchini and squash
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 can of corn
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1 (6 ounce) package chicken-flavored dry bread stuffing mix
• Olive oil
• Garlic powder
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Saute the zucchini, squash, corn and onion in olive oil (add salt, pepper and garlic powder as you like), drain well. In a medium bowl, combine the soup and sour cream. Stir in the zucchini, squash, corn and onion and mix well.
3. In a separate medium bowl, combine the butter and stuffing mix. Spread half of this mixture into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Spoon the zucchini mixture over the stuffing, then top off with the other half of the stuffing.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until stuffing is golden brown.

ENJOY!!!