My Spring Cleaning Tips

I love spring cleaning.  It's a great time to get everything freshened up from the dreary winter days!  I used to help my mom spring clean all the time and she used to really go at it.  That's probably where I get my habits from but I thought I might compile a good list of tips to get rid of the winter feel and bring in spring!  I typically like to spend two full days and just pound it out!  Crank up the music, throw the phone on silent and get my gloves and supplies ready to rock.

There's nothing quite like opening your windows and letting the fresh air in so here's a few things to keep in mind.

1. If you have more than one person in the house, split up the tasks and they will go a lot faster.  

2.  Wash all the windows and windowsills, open them up and let the FRESH air in.  This will help get the stale air out and make everything feel shiny and new.

3.  Instead of using paper towels, use newspapers to wash the windows, mirrors, anything with glass.  I have no idea why but newspaper makes glass so much shinier.  

4.  Go through the house and get rid of anything you don't use anymore. If you haven't touched it in the past 6 to 9 months, it's time to reconsider whether you really need it taking up space.  Recycle or donate to Goodwill!  For nicer things (like good coats or name brand clothing), take it to a resale shop.  That way, you're still getting something for it but you don't have to worry about trying to sell it.

5.  Don't let the couches go untouched.  Take out the couch cushions and vacuum in those creases.  Make sure to pat out the couch cushions and wash the couch covers if you have them.

6.  I pile in the winter.  I seem to have piles laying everywhere.  This is the perfect time to invest in a few lovely baskets or bins (there are some terrific ones at Target) and organize your piles.  It will look so much nicer and much less cluttered.

7.  When all is said and done, pick up some pretty fresh flowers.  It will complete the clean look of your house and will make everything smell terrific.  Not to mention putting a smile on your face when you walk in the house everyday!

Sorry for the lack of pictures! I sent this from my I-Pad so pictures weren't possible this time around.

Oh Spring, How I Love Thee!

Let me count the ways!

1.  Bare legs

2.  Sunshine

3.  Bright colors

4.  Flowers blooming

5.  Farmers markets opening

6.  Cookouts on the deck

7.  Brids chirping

8.  Baseball season

9.  Fresh fruit and vegetables

10.  Windows rolled down

11.  Easter candy

12. Bicycle riding

Tasty Tuesday

It's officially my first of many many (hopefully) Tasty Tuesday posts and I am so pumped about this.  First, I want to thank anyone who actually reads this blog for sticking with me through this because I know this is going to turn out a lot better than my awful Tone Up Tuesday posts were.  For those of you who were around for those, trust me...you weren't missing much.

So I guess I'm not really sure how I should start these off so I'll just dive right in.  This week was much busier than planned and things just kept coming up last minute that continuously threw me off my beaten path but I was able to throw together this super easy, super quick meal this past week.  Honestly, monkeys could make it and it's so good!  Bonus!

No-Bake Macaroni & Cheese

8 ounces whole-wheat elbow noodles (2 cups)

1 10-ounce package frozen chopped broccoli

1 3/4 cups low-fat milk, divided

3 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

3/4 cup shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta for 4 minutes. Add frozen broccoli and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the pasta and broccoli are just tender, 4 to 5 minutes more.  Meanwhile, heat 1 1/2 cups milk in another large pot over medium-high heat until just simmering. Whisk the remaining 1/4 cup milk, flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl until combined. Add the flour mixture to the simmering milk; return to a simmer and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cheddar, parmesan and mustard until the cheese is melted.  Drain the pasta and broccoli and add to the cheese sauce. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, over medium-low heat, until heated through, about 1 minute.

The recipe makes about four servings.  We had this for dinner and were good to go for lunches the next day so when I say four servings, I don't mean double it so you really get four servings.

If you're anything like me, you've pinned 73472489 recipes on Pinterest and have yet to try one.  I'm on this new health kick (more on that at a later date) that is preventing me to eat lots of certain foods for the next month or so.  Which means the majority of the recipes on my boards are my to-be-made-after-these-30-days-are-over recipes.  However, there is this little bite I would simply love to try this upcoming week for breakfast.

via

I'll let you know how it turns out next week!  Happy cooking loves!

Tomorrow We Can Drive Around This Town

Lyrics:  Hey Jealousy by Gin Blossoms

My sister is back from school for spring break and her and I spent the day bummin' around the town yesterday.  It was so much fun to just hang out and not have to worry about anything.  We kicked off the day with some delicious sushi and the rest was history.

inspirational wall decor.  urban outfitters

cute notebooks.lust worthy rugs.lace dresses.

spring nails.fourth of july ready.

perfect everything in the kitchen.  williams sonoma

my feet and eyes are craving these.  aldo  bare escentuals

easter bunny.spring blooms.candy.

easter dresses.first flower of 2012.my tulip garden. h&m

Teaser!!!

I found some preview pictures that our photographer put up and eeeeeeks!!!  They're turning out sooooo good!  Once I get them all, I'll toss in a few pictures throughout my posts but for now here are some teaser pictures!

Hair Salon & Muuuuuusic

Continued from here...

The morning of my wedding, I woke up at my parents house and it still didn't feel like I was getting married that day.  I ate a delicious breakfast and then myself, Alyssa (my sister) and my mom met up with Chelsey and Miranda (two of my best girlfriends) at the salon where we got our hair and makeup done. 

This woman was a miracle worker

Getting all prettied up

Keepin' it real with the robot boots

Three of my four bridesmaids

MOH

Obviously, mimosas and food were involved in this fun!

I don't want to turn this into a picture overload (even though it sort of already is), so I wanted to mention some of the songs we chose for the wedding. 

Music is so important to my roommate and I.  It has always played a major role in both our lives since we have been young so we wanted to make sure it would reflect our personalities.  The DJ was one of the biggest things for us. 

I know this is going to sound kind of strange but for our First Dance we had a mix of two songs.  We both love to dance so we didn't want the entire thing to be slow and boring for people to watch.  The first part, was "Tangled Up in You" by Aaron Lewis.

And the second half of the First Dance song was "Down" by Jay Sean.

After we were done, people were coming up to us asking how long we rehearsed our dance.  Ha!  I wasn't even positive we were doing the Jay Sean dance until that day!  I guess we're just naturals ;)

The Father/Daughter dance was a bit trickier to pick out.  My dad and I mulled over it for days because we didn't want the generic slow wedding song but we wanted something that would still reflect our relationship.  We ended up going with "Forever Young" by Rod Stewart and I'm glad we chose that one.  It just worked.

As for the Grand March, we combined two songs again (because we don't like to keep it simple).  The first chunk of time while everyone was being introduced was "Bring Em Out" by T.I.

The second song that was included was "Give Me Everything" by Pitbull.

As far as the ceremony went, the pre-service music was played by an acquaintance of mine from high school and we had a few hymns but the song that we really picked out was for when everyone walked down the aisle.  This song was "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by J.S. Bach.  I'm so happy that we chose this one because the typical wedding music has just been so overdone.  I'm really happy with all of our music choices throughout the entire day and especially the DJ's we went with. 

If you live in the Milwaukee area and are in need of a DJ, check out Sound by Design.  They truly made the night with their talents.  (And no, they did not ask me to say that.  That's my honest opinion.)

Rehearsal Night & Bridesmaids Gifts

Wow, did last week get away from me!  I didn't even think it was that busy but I missed three of the five days for posting and I have zero excuse!  Okay, back on track...

I wanted to post this last week but failed so here it is. 

Here starts the wedding posts that I previously promised.  Rehearsal night was such fun.  We all were at the church at 5pm for a little run through of the big day.

After the church, our families and the wedding party met at Horny Goat Brewery and Restaurant where we ate delicious food, gave out awesome thank you gifts, and enjoyed eachothers company before the big night.  I got so emotional  (tears and mascara streaking everywhere)once everyone started leaving the rehearsal dinner because I was sad it went so fast!  Haha...this made me verrrrry nervous about the wedding day but that didn't end up happening (thank goodness).  That night, I went to my parents for a sleepover party for my last time as a Klatt...

I probably went a little overboard for the girls gifts but I was so excited about them and super antsy to give them out.  For my bridesmaid gifts, I included these awesome gifts in pretty sweet wrapping paper.

The brown bags and blue/zebra print wrapped boxes are the girls gifts; the comic paper wrapped boxes and the red bags are the guys gifts.

The gift to my girls included:

• A bottle of homemade wine
• A wine glass that is painted with chalkboard paint on the base
• A small bag that, when unbottoned, turns into a large tote
• A black pashmina (which they never needed because it was a gorgeous day)
• A "Day Of" Survival Kit
• A necklace for them to wear on the day of the wedding

A peak at the girls gorgeous necklaces (wish I would have ordered one for myself!)

Survival Kit included:

Chocolate (LOTS of it)

Tissue packets

Lip gloss

A file

Shout wipes

Lifesaver mints

Aleve

Tums

Small First-Aid Kit

Mini Deodorant (just in case)

Short note that I included with the Survival Kit

I loved this gift and would have been pleased as punch to get it for a wedding I stand up in so I just thought I'd share for anyone else who needs ideas for bridesmaid gifts!

First Day of Spring

Welcome Spring!  You are being gladly taken in with open arms as well as your 75 degree days!  I can already smell the freshly cut grass and the flowers blooming.

Out with the Tone Up, In with the Tasty

As most of you know, Tone Up Tuesday is a post I do every week to motivate and keep myself accountable for getting to the gym (aka road with my running shoes or living room with weights in hand and Jillian Michaels on the tube). I'm not talking about Tony Horton intense. That's bananas. I'm just talking feeling good about your body and having energy that takes you from day to day.

You know what has been toned about my Tuesdays lately? Not a goddamned thing. Yep.

I really did believe that making weekly blog posts about working out would encourage me to get this rear of mine moving but guess what? Yeah, apparently I need more motivation than that. These last few weeks have been a cluster of nonsense that has led me to working out only in my mind. Between coming back from the honeymoon and getting our house back in order, starting the projects that we've put off on the house due to the wedding (more than you think), learning how to cook and be a wife (whaaaaaaaa?), and a million other excuses I could come up with, I haven't had the ambition or time to pop on my running shoes or throw 10 pound shards of metal over my head in an attempt to make my arm flab vanish.

I have been going on Monday nights for walks with my girlfriend Chelsey though. So I am getting some sort of exercise in regardless of whether or not it's cancelled out by the wine we consume afterward. My point is that I'm failing. Miserably.

And remember this post where I mentioned that if these posts are more or less a joke, I'd call it quits? Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. I'm not calling it quits in terms of working out, but these embarrassing Tone Up Tuesday blog posts have got to go. Until I get my act together with a workout routine, I am no longer going to be posting about how I didn't work out yet again. I know you are all very sad to hear that I won't be mentioning weekly that I'm a failure.

However, I have thought of something even more awesome to replace this extra weekly blog post. Tone Up Tuesday will now be known as Tasty Tuesday! There is reason behind this madness. And yes...it is only coincidence that we go from working out posts to eating posts.

After the honeymoon was over, the roommate and I made an agreement. He would complete all the odds and ends projects around the house that we didn't have time or money to do before the wedding and I would do all the housework and cooking. Now I just want to mention that I can cook despite popular belief; I just don't do it often because my roommate likes to cook and I'd rather eat. But I haven't cooked since...it's been a very long time. Let's just leave it at that.

In honor of our agreement, Tasty Tuesday will include at least one scrumptious recipe that I made the week prior and one recipe that I would like to try in the upcoming week. These include but are not limited to appetizers (my specialty), main dishes, breakfasts, desserts, salads, and sides. I might throw in a fancy drink every once in a while too.

This will be way more fun to read because I'll actually be sticking to it! I can promise you that!

A Day of Birthdays

God did me VERY good on March 18.  Yesterday was my mom's birthday!

This was us on our trip to Alaska a few years ago.

We all went out for her birthday to Rudy's for Mexican food.  It was delicious and what a beautiful day for her to celebrate!

Not only was it my mama's birthday but it was also one of my very best friends birthday as well!

This picture (as you can tell) was from way back when but I love it!





Happy birthday to you Mom and Chelsey!  You both are the most beautiful women in the world and I love you with all my heart!

Honeymoon (Part 2)

This is the second half of the honeymoon pictures!  These days included boat rides to rainforest, love of rain and fog, invisible volcanos, beautiful flowers, fishing, and our final day there. 

We honestly had the best time and want to go back there someday!  It was beautiful!

Boat ride to the rainforest

The lovely sky that looks like it's going to pour on us any second.  PS. It did right after dinner.

Hot Springs

Apparently there's the Arenal Volcano behind me

Resort swimming

Waiting for the boat at 6am to pick us up

My first fish ever!

Last day goodbye's