Merry Christmas Eve

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. Cheers to a lovely time with family on Christmas and a fresh New Year.

Rachel May

Things I Like: Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Why I like it:
- It's sheer deliciousness.
- Like eating cookie dough, only people don't give you funny looks.
- Put it in a mug for ultimate portability
-This brand rocks-cookie dough in every bite. I like a 50/50 ratio for ice cream/dough.

Rachel May

Canning Peaches: A Sticky Adventure

The boy's father came up a while back and taught us how to can peaches! Now we have like a dozen jars of peaches...and they sure are yummy!


the peaches before! They look so innocent...


The stove with tons of peachy canniness on it...it's a messy, sticky area.


Washing the peaches...very important.


Sanitizing jars and removing the peach skin...


I'm very focused in my work, as you can tell by this picture...


Success! Peaches in jars!



I'm obviously extremely photogenic...which is why you see so many pictures of me. like in this one, I must be explaining the definition of botulism to the boy when he took this. The boy's dad is in the background (doesn't really like his picture taken).

Scissors: A Mystical Craft Anomaly

The other day, I couldn't for the life of me, find scissors. Then I got up and looked around. This is what I found around our house.



over the couch pillows...


and through the cushions...


to the dining room table we go!


They're hiding in bins...


jars, cans and tins!

I know I have plenty of scissors in my home, but why are they the one crucial thing you cannot find right when you need them? Also, you have to have different scissors for different things-you don't use paper scissors to cut fabric, or fabric scissors to cut paper! You have to keep decorative scissors because who knows when you'll need a scallop edge on something, and you need those junk scissors that you got glue on once, so you don't really care if you let the boy use them:)

Enjoy!

Rachel May

Bedroom Shelving: After Move-In

Ta Da! Here is our bedroom shelving (strategically staged by myself. I promise you we are not this organized in our daily life).



Boy's side. (Notice the color coding)


Didn't notice? Here's an up-close of it!


The middle-TV/DVD Player, DVDS, socks and undies.


My side. (the red piggy bank is named Cashew:)

Enjoy!

Rachel May

Bedroom Shelving

Here's the sketch of what I wanted...


Here's the boy scaring me with the saw....i told him I wanted to take a picture, so he gave me the crazy face.


I'm also positive I told him these were going on the blog...but he insisted on silliness.


Okay, when looking at these pictures, you need to know some things about our room-It wasn't actually meant to be a bedroom, hence no closet. It's just this random room at the end of the basement stairs. It's tiny, but immediately when I saw it, I envisioned the shelving unit, so I couldn't pass it up. We gave the larger upstairs bedroom to our roommate and opted for a "cozier" and more private basement room.


Here it is fully assembled. This was the first thing we did when we moved in, so I was super proud.

Next Post: Bedroom shelving after we moved in:)

Enjoy!
Rachel May

Things I Like: Used Books

Why I like them:
They're inexpensive.
You're reusing (one step better than recycling).
The thrill of the hunt.
Surprises (I bought the Rachel Papers just because it had my name in it-5 bucks? Why not?).

Rachel May

Clean Up Your Act

Waking up this morning to a clean house was wonderful. Today is Monday, and my Sunday goals are usually to get back on track. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case lately. We went out of town for Thanksgiving and got back last Sunday-I did 5 loads of laundry, but it wasn't enough...the dishes were piled up, the kitchen was a disaster, and I didn't have enough time (or energy) to get everything all done. But this Sunday was different! I rearranged furniture, organized a bit, did dishes, put away dishes, baked cookies, and finished some projects. I feel so much more excited and ready for the week now!
So this morning I woke up, got ready for week, made some coffee (and grabbed a biscotti)....and ran out of things to do! Trust me-there's plenty of cleaning left to do, but the basic stuff is done...and it feels good!
What's your cleaning schedule like? Do you get caught up on the weekends, like me or are you good at keeping up with it? Whatever your schedule, I hope it works for you! Feel free to share:)

Rachel May

Introspection

As the season changes and it starts to get colder, my moods start to change. I start thinking more-about life, family, work, home and everything in between.
Lately I've been thinking about life- about the people in my life and how they've impacted it. So many people have been in my life and impacted me in a positive way, and I think it's important to acknowledge that.
For all the people that have impacted your life, I hope you've done what you can to impact theirs-whether through helping them, loving them, or sharing with them. Make sure to tell your family and significant other that you love them, to tell your friends that you're glad to have them around, and to treat everyone as you would like to be treated.
It truly makes a difference.

That's enough for one day:)

Enjoy!
Rachel May

My nemesis

I have a dentist appointment this morning, so I'm out of bed and ready to go. I've been having a lot of trouble with feeling rested. Even if I sleep ten hours, I still feel exhausted the next day.

But today, all I feel are nerves....I have a dentist appointment. And although it's only for a routine cleaning, I hate going to the dentist.

How do you make it easier to go to appointments you don't want to have? I'm going to bring my own reading material for the wait, and other than that, I've heard that a lot of people listen to their ipods while the work is being done-I might have to do that too.

Catch you on the flip side-if I make it out!

Rachel May

Washington DC: Adams Morgan, Georgetown, Downtown DC

From eastern market, we visited Adams Morgan (a great neighborhood in DC),


and did some celebrity spotting (Matthew Lesko-GET FREE MONEY FROM THE GOVERNMENT!!!)



We went to Georgetown (beautiful architecture)...



The Obamas flew right over our heads when we were in DC,



And then went inside. We didn't chat much.

That's pretty much it-don't visit DC without being prepared to do a lot of walking! It's a great workout!

Enjoy,

Rachel May

Washington DC: Postponed

I want to share more of DC with you, but blogger will not let me upload any pictures! Once I fix this technical problem, I will have one more DC post for you and then we will move on:)

How are everyone's Thanksgiving plans coming along? I can't believe it's coming so soon!

Rachel May

Washington DC: Library of Congress

After the Eastern Market, we went to the Library of Congress, sort of by accident (we needed to use the bathroom, we didn't realize we were stumbling onto such beautiful architecture!). We ended up staying for a while and taking lots of pictures.


The outside of the Library of Congress was creepy...what's up with the angry faces?


The inside-breathtaking. Boyfriend tried to teach me how to use my camera on manual before I left, and these are the pictures I got-you should have seen the ones on auto-not good. I'm actually pretty proud of myself, but I know the camera skills need some work still.\




Here's my sister and I posing for the camera-Jen is on the left, I am on the right (I think we look very alike in this picture, no?).

What a wonderful trip so far! Next up: Washington DC: Adams Morgan

Rachel May

Washington DC: Eastern Market

Sorry for the delay...we're back on track now. Now, on to the D.C. portion of our journey...

We arrived in DC, grabbed dinner, and crashed. The next morning, My sister and I went to the Eastern Market, which was definitely a highlight of our trip.







If you see a Marvelous Market while traveling, I highly recommend checking it out-great atmosphere. I got a pumpkin spice chai latte that was divine.

Next up: The Library of Congress!

Have you gone on any adventures lately? If so, please share!

Rachel May

Baltimore: Inner Harbor

Last week I ventured to Baltimore and Washington DC with my older sister Jen. We had a blast and it was an amazing trip (still recovering). I give you: our adventure!

I arrived in Baltimore on Thursday, rode the light rail and the metro (subway) to the hotel, and vegged out. It was nice.

The next day, Jen had to go to work and I was on my own. I ventured to the Inner Harbor.

I saw some wildlife (he was not interested in me whatsoever, I had no breadcrumbs)...



...visited the Power Plant (a cool spot to check out if you're in the area)...



...and enjoyed life at sea (from the sidelines, of course).



It then started to rain, then pour...so I sought shelter in a Barnes and Noble (which is how I ended up with The Bell Jar, and proceeded to read half of the book and drink a delicious mocha while waiting for my sister to rescue me).

Then we ventured to DC-which I will share with you tomorrow.

See you soon!
Rachel May

Halloween!

How was your Halloween? Mine was just dandy. Boyfriend and I went for a walk in the morning and found a lovely breakfast diner/cafe and enjoyed a delicious and inexpensive breakfast. After that, we ventured to a cigar shop (for the boy) and to a thrift store (for me). The thrift store was filled with goodies-and we walked out with two Halloween costumes, a book and a magazine for a whopping $3.97.

I can't wait to go back and look through the books again-I've been on a reading binge for awhile now. I just finished Jemima Jones by Jane Green and now I'm reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. My reading interests range widely, obviously.

Halloween was nice-we had a few trick-or-treaters before we left for our costume party, and I made some Tortilla soup for dinner beforehand that turned out delicious.

Unfortunately, we still have two uncarved pumpkins sitting in our living room, which I plan to plunder today for seeds-my favorite part. We were a little behind on the spirit of Halloween, but for good reason-lots of work to do (for me) and homework (for the boy). But I also just got back from a trip to Baltimore and DC! I will posts pics very soon, I promise.

As for today, Sunday is catch-up day, so I'm cooking, cleaning, and of course reading and watching movies (got to catch up on entertainment as well, of course!). After the delicious tortilla soup, I'm back in cooking mode, so I made some yummy delicata squash (pictured), and roasted the seeds. So delicious!

I hope you had a fantastic weekend! Is anyone else freaked out by how quickly Christmas is coming? I've got to get my gifts started!


Rachel May

Ketchup Day

Sunday is ketchup day, folks! Wait, I mean catch-up day.

Yesterday I woke up to clean dishes (thank you, boyfriend!) cleaned the kitchen counters and the microwave (it looked like a small human had exploded in there), swept the floors, picked up the living room, did the laundry (I'm still doing laundry, but I digress) and laid out some items for a big trip on Thursday. We hung out with some friends in the evening, which was a blast, came home and crashed.

I had a dream last night that I had this monstrous cold sore on my lip and when I woke up-whammo! Awesome. I usually get them when my lips are dry and/or I'm stressed. You could definitely say I'm stressed right now. I'm up at the butt crack of dawn to go into work early....but I'm not leaving early. We will see how that goes. I mean, we'll see if I can stay awake for it.

Work has been stressful, but it's really making me appreciate coming home and spending time with boyfriend, and just being home. I also got a lot of crafting done this weekend, so I couldn't have asked for much more to prepare me for another stressful week at work, except for maybe a longer weekend with more time to enjoy the time off!

How did you spend your weekend?

Rachel May

Technical Concerns

My computer likes to do this awesome new trick where it shuts off while I'm in the middle of typing a new blog entry. Awesome. Thank goodness for auto-save!

Rachel May

Salsa!

We made some wonderful salsa this summer. I'm not much of a cook, but sometimes I just want to feel cute and look like I know what I'm doing in the kitchen (Note: my salsa does not require cooking whatsoever...just chopping and the use of the blender). The great thing about making salsa is that you can have all of these great ingredients out, be chopping away, and it looks really advanced-it's totally an excuse to wear an apron.



I'm sure there are better recipes out there, but this is how I made it:

Salsa!
3-4ish Red tomatoes
2 Green tomatoes
1 Red onion
2 Jalapeno peppers
salt
pepper
cilantro
(we got our ingredients at our local farmer's market-you will not get great tasting tomatoes like these at a store!)

Chop up all ingredients and add salt and pepper until it's to your liking. There's no exact science in this recipe.



When boyfriend comes into the kitchen and complains about the consistency of your chopping-throw it in the blender and ask him if that's to his liking:)

Dump in jar, refrigerate and consume later, if you can wait that long.

Enjoy!
Rachel May

The New Place: Our Pantry

I love our new house. I hope to be able to truly make it a handmade home and to document that through this blog. It has SO much potential.

My only major issue with this house so far (I say so far because who knows what this winter will be like) is that apparently, 100 years ago when this house was built, there was no need for closets. None.

Where did they put all of their stuff, I ask you? They must have been minimalists in the early 1900s.

For the first edition of Our New Place, I give you: Our Pantry.

The first thing we needed in this house was a pantry. Food storage was our priority.



The boy doesn't like for me to use the saw-it makes him nervous (who knew?), so he cut the pieces and I drilled and started the screws for the makeshift bracket pieces.


The boy and I are in the midst of changing our entire diet, and this pantry doesn't really do it justice, but I wanted to get some pictures of the new house up asap. Once this pantry is looking more "interior design magazine" ready, I will repost the pantry pictures.

I would love to get pretty canisters for our food items. Wouldn't it be fun to add cute handmade labels to them? I might have to try that soon.

Enjoy!
Rachel May