that glorious rainy city

Today's the first day back to work after having two glorious weeks off for Spring Break.  Beyond being bummed that I can't live in sweats and workout clothes, I'm excited to finish out the school year and graduate from grad school.  

This spring break was extra special because I traveled up to Seattle for the very first time.  My dear friend, Conni, and I hit the ground running...and there was definitely rain, lots and lots of rain.  I fell in love instantly with the city.  I think I was made for Seattle.  The coffee shops?  Oh, the coffee shops.  Never did we touch a Starbucks, it was always cute little shops filled with cozy locals.  My top fav was Stumptown Coffee.  

If you follow me on Instagram you definitely noticed a trend, the food!  And I would definitely call this the "foodie's guide through Seattle".  I think I can say with confidence that I'm a foodie, I just love food, the ambience of a fantastic restaurant, and the comfort it brings sitting alongside great company.  Oysters became my newest friend.  It was my first time trying them and I think I had the best I will ever have in my lifetime.  If you are looking for some amazing oysters, be ready to wait a while, but you must try The Walrus and the Carpenter.  For a superb cocktail, cheese and bread, Bar Sajor is the best.   This was the first restaurant we went to, and it instantly won me over.  It is small but cozy inside, and you feel like you have access to an amazing kitchen.  The kitchen is wide open in the restaurant, and the pale blue walls coupled with dainty white chairs just made me swoon.  

If you follow Orangette, you will love that we definitely made a stop into Delancey and Essex.  We were so thankful that Essex was right next door, as the wait was quite a while.  But Delancey is another kitchen you are welcomed into with open arms.  We sat and watched the handmade pizzas be proudly placed into the brick oven, fresh salads were prepared right before us...and the food was to die for!  

We dubbed this the trip where we "ate our way through Seattle".  My gym was happy to have me back home to start getting back on track :) 

(I will apologize in advance for the picture overload, and most of them are from restaurants, but they were all just so amazing inside I couldn't resist.)  

Bar Sajor

Oddfellows

a lovely productive weekend

Remember my little sweet and sour week?  Well, I'm so happy to finally be out of the funk and waking up with a smile on my face. 

Maybe all of the heat in Palm Springs helped me sweat it out.  

But I just feel so incredible happy, peaceful, content.  

This weekend was amazing, and there wasn't anything in particular that we did.  In fact, the Mr. had to work the whole weekend.  But I took some "Jamie time" and sanded and painted, and covered myself in paint, and sweated like crazy, and come Sunday night I was able to cross another item off my Summer Bucket List!  

I decided to be a little adventurous with our dining room table and paint it!  The table is white and the chairs are light blue.  It's not completely done, and I'm actually not that happy with the chair colors, but I think I'm going to work on them a bit more and see what happens.  

I searched high and low for a before picture and couldn't find a good one.  Our table was a hand-me-down from our great aunt.  I finally decided to just go for it and got to business on Saturday.  

This was my first ever project like this.  As I was doing it I felt like a true DIYer!  And, I was covered head to toe in forest green paint, primer, and blue paint!  

I promise to keep you updated once it is completely done!  I'm going to seal the table and am thinking about roughing up the edges of the chairs to see if that helps at all.  

Well, on Sunday after I painted all day I went to Target and Trader Joe's (my two favorite places) and they did not disappoint.  Some of my favorite purchases: a new planner, Bossypants, salmon, and kettle corn.  I was determined to make a scrumptious dinner, which I did (recipe coming tomorrow).  Then, as if I couldn't do any more in my day I decided to sweep and mop all of the floors to create a sparkly clean surface for the new table and chairs to inhabit.  And then-dessert!  Four little words: Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread.  Heavenly!!  I think I finally sat down at 10pm, but didn't regret it one minute as I looked over at everything I had done throughout the day.  

On a completely separate and random side note, my friend handed over a beautiful zucchini to me.  One would ponder what all you could do with such a large zucchini.  Me?  Never!  In fact, I made three separate recipes from this one zucchini and will be sharing them tomorrow will you all! 

summer bucket list revisited

The bucket list.

I thought I was doing pretty well, and then all of a sudden I went to revisit my summer bucket list and realized that I have some catching up to do!  I should cut myself some slack because I have accomplished some items on my list.  

One of the most important ones was doing quiet time daily.  When we were housesitting it was so nice to sit on the back porch and read in their beautiful backyard. Unfortunately our back porch is minuscule and not very private from the other tenants in our condo complex.  I have been reading everyday and am so thankful for She Reads Truth, I'm currently going through "Living the Surrendered Life" and have been thoroughly touched and amazed.  

Another big project for me was to get more organized.  That has slowly, but surely, been happening and I'm saving up for an upcoming blog post.  I wanted to share with you today two projects that have finally been completed that I am fanatically in love with.  

The first one wasn't on my summer bucket list because I started it two months ago.  Yep, you read that right!  The Mr. and I saw some chevron canvases in our friend's home and he thought I could make them for our house, and our guest bathroom was the perfect spot for them.  They were pretty easy once I got all of the taping down, but it took the Mr. almost a month to finally hang them.  They're now proudly adorning the walls in our bathroom and I love them dearly.  

Funny story: We couldn't decide on what saying we should paint.  I also was making the stencils using my Cricket machine.  The first saying just looked awkward, and I kept going back to the verses of one of my favorite songs.  So I repainted, made new stencils and got to work.  Well, the stencils sat for too long and then paper stuck to my canvases!  I grabbed a q-tip and a small paint brush and got to work to clean up the lines and from far away you can't even tell!  I love all of the little imperfections though, they fit nicely into how much God does really love us.  

Speaking of organization and bathrooms I wanted to show you guys one of my favorites.  I picked these up from Ikea and headbands fit perfectly in them!  I like having my headbands out so I don't forget about them.  My blow dryer also fits perfectly and is easily accessible. 

I can finally cross off making my first maxi skirt!  Being me, it didn't go as planned.  After I got busy making cute baby shower gifts for Heather I decided to be ambitious, wake up one morning and make a maxi.  Well, I used this tutorial and I didn't have enough fabric, I didn't have a surger, I am still a fairly new sewer, and the thing wouldn't go past my lovely lady hips.  So, I called my sister in law and had her try it on, hemmed it to fit her, and now we have matching skirts!  To make my maki skirt I used this tutorial.  It's still a bit too big because I made sure I had plenty of fabric but I've worn it countless times now and am in love.  Now I've been on the hunt for lighter weight jersey knit fabric that has a cute pattern so I can make another one!

my summer bucket list

Happy 1st 2nd day of summer!  

I don't think I can fully express how happy I am that summer is finally here, school is over, and my last assignments are done to clear my teaching credential.  I spent yesterday completed lounging, and I even took a nap!  A fancy nap at that: my co-workers call naps that are in bed "fancy naps".  

Now that summer is finally here I can't wait to start on my summer bucket list.  There are many projects I can't wait to start, but I really want this summer to be about relaxing, focusing on God, and just feeling happy.  

Without further ado, my bucket list:

-juice/make a smoothie at least once a day

-go to the beach once a week, either in the morning for quiet time or for fun in the sun

-read three books

-organize our bedroom closet

-finally finish our photo collage

-make some decorative pillows for our living room

-organize the laundry room

-go to breakfast/coffee with the Mr. once a week

-have weekly date nights

-have a picnic at the beach

-try a cupcake from here!

-have brunch at Tower 23 and soak in all of the amazing views

And now the projects:

Source: imperfectlypolished.com via Jamie on Pinterest

I finally organized all of our baking goods and bulk items into nice glass jars thanks to Ikea.  Now I can't wait to make these adorable labels for all of them!  I'm crossing my fingers I will finally be able to tell my flours apart.

Source: thepaintedhive.blogspot.com via Jamie on Pinterest

There is a pile of old shirts next to my dresser that I keep wanting to give to Good Will but am saving them for these...

Source: makeit-loveit.com via Jamie on Pinterest

And last, but not least, this summer I'm going to paint our dining room table.  We have such an old and gross table, but I love the color of these chairs and they will match the color scheme I'm trying to have in our condo.  I'm debating on painting the table white or staining it dark brown or black...or looking on craigslist for a slightly bigger table.  

Source: betterafter.blogspot.com via Jamie on Pinterest

I can't wait to share with you how I'm doing on my bucket list!