Welcome to the family, Crash

Dear Future Kids,

I hope that when you're reading this, you have fond memories of your first dogs: Crash and Lucky. We have been blessed with well-behaved dogs and they truly are a part of our family.

Your dad and I decided spontaneously this past weekend that we were ready for a puppy. We have been talking about it a lot for the past few months but in the past weeks we've been dying for a little fur baby of our own. I am so in love with Lucky that I highly doubt I could fall for any animal as hard as I have for him, but I am willing to try.

I spent the past four days online looking up any and all puppies I could and we almost adopted a 7 month old bulldog puppy, but something didn't feel right. First of all, we wanted our first "baby." Secondly, I've always wanted a mini Australian shepherd- ALWAYS. Since this year had been a year of fulfilling dreams, I decided to go for it- and so we happened upon Crash. He is half mini Aussie and half toy Aussie. My requirement was that the puppy have long hair and be cuddly. Your dad's request was that the puppy be able to play fetch and have lots of energy! We so lucked out. We brought Crashy home tonight and we are so in love! It makes me so happy to see your dad happy- and he loves this puppy so much already! Tonight he googled the breeds lifespan and said "11-13 years!! So our kids will be in middle school before we lose Crash!" and it just made me so happy. 

Here is to the next 11-13 years with the sweetest puppy- but I really hope in your lifetime, you will have a chance to know Lucky too- he is my happiness all wrapped up in a smiling tri-color face :)

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I have so much to be thankful for: my marriage, my beautiful home, our supportive families, my girlfriends (without whom life wouldn't be half as fun), a roof over my head and food on the table every day. I am also thankful that for the first time in my life, I truly love an animal- getting Lucky had changed my perspective on pets am shown me it is possible to fall in love with something covered in fur. Cuddling with him always brightens my days- I am so thankful to come home to a little furry face every day! And now, two furry faces!

Door Transformation & Tutorial

I will be the first to say I am a hasty, spontaneous DIYer. I get an idea, I hit up a TON of Pinterest pins/blogs in quick succession, then pin some paint colors and run to Lowes as fast as I can. It happens quickly and before my husband even knows what hit him, I'm knee deep in paint and whatever else I've gotten myself into.

Today's project? Well, I wanted to sand and paint my entire kitchen. Talk about thinking big, right? I have a tendency to take on large projects and totally screw them up, so I decided to start with a small project that would have a big impact- painting the front door on both sides.

For the inside, I used a beautiful Valspar color, Siene. I'll eventually trim it in white. The Posh Red is for the outside of the door and the Chef White is for the screen door.

Taping that window off was a bitch. I was nervous to do a dark color in our entryway, but I have to say- I am absolutely THRILLED with the final results. Here's the before and after!

 

 Inbetween coats, because I have absolutely no patience, I needed a side project. I happened to have just bought some house numbers from Lowe's, and also happened to have the perfect sized wooden plaque.

 

I didn't want to drill it to the house because I didn't want the screws to show, so I used some liquid nails I had left over from having some baseboards installed. It didn't stick right away (clearly) so I did this lovely makeshift support... thingy. 

And the final results for the front door:

A little blurry but when I can get to an actual computer I will post a better one!

Ari's Autumn Potato Soup

Future kids, by the time you're reading this you must be aware that my first love was not a person, but soup. There is no food in this world I love more than soup. I mean of course I would love a big fat steak any day of the week, but when it comes to my comfort foods, my staple foods, and my favorite foods, soup will always top the list.

Last week I had dinner at a girlfriends house and in the spirit of inviting autumn, she made an awesome crockpot potato soup. Now I will be the first to say that the thing I cook most is soup, but it is also the food that I am most likely to screw up. Until that day at Ari's house, I had never heard the word "roux." Surprisingly, I not only heard it for the first time that week at her house, but when some other friends came over Saturday to make dinner, my girlfriend Jenna made a "roux" for our cheese sauce as well! Consider my mind blown when I realized the staple and key ingredient missing from all of my soups was this so-called "roux." I was a tad mortified that in all my years of reading recipes and watching the Food Network, I'd never stumbled across this delightful mixture of fat (butter) and flour that thickens and perfects even the thinnest of broths. Once I got over the initial shock, I knew my life in the kitchen had changed as I knew it.

For the potato soup, she served it hot from the crockpot and topped with freshly grated cheddar cheese, green onions, and homemade bacon bits. It was delicious. I had to make it for my husby, so here, in Ari's own words, is her delicious recipe:

What You'll Need:

Bacon (maybe four slices, depends how much you like!)

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

Dry packet ranch 

1 tbsp flour

4 cups broth

3 lbs cubed potatoes

1 cup milk or cream

1 cup sour cream

"I cooked the bacon and removed it from a skillet. Then cooked an onion and 3 cloves of garlic in the bacon fat. When the onion was translucent I added a dry ranch packet and a tablespoon of flour. To thicken, I whisked a cup of broth into the mixture until combined. Then I added 3 cups of broth to a crockpot along with 3 lbs of cubed potatoes and the skillet mixture. I put it on high for about 4 hours. 

Remove potatoes w a slotted spoon and mash with about a cup of milk (lighter than cream). Return mashed potatoes to crock pot with a cup of sour cream. Mix and allow to warm for about 10 min. Serve with grated cheese green onion and bacon from earlier."

This is the perfect potato soup I have been trying to make for ages, and I'm so lucky to have a friend who taught me to do it! I use what I had on hand, so my soup was made with red potatoes instead of russet (these make for a chunkier soup), 1/2 packet onion soup mix instead of ranch, and a tiny bit of butter instead of sour cream because we were out! It came out super delish. This is definitely a new staple in our home. Thanks Ari!

Note- this can totally be made paleo with a gluten free flour and just the broth instead of milk. Doesn't have to be so thick!