Preparing For A Busy Week

It has been an uneventful weekend-but I needed the down time to prepare for this coming week!!! 
I spent all day Saturday cleaning. And cleaning. Seriously, lots of cleaning. Sunday Tanner shampooed the carpets and I rearranged the bedroom a little bit. All because my FAMILY is visiting! Well, half of them anyway!
My mom and sister will be here on Thursday. But that's not all that's going on this week. My best friends all have stuff happening! 
I've been planning on my family's visit for the last month and have been coming up with ideas of things to do. I can't wait to take pictures and share on here! Christmas in July is gonna be a hit! We've been finding Christmas presents for each other and I plan to make Christmas cookies as well as other traditions. But that's just one day! We've got a lot planned so I'll be attached to my camera their entire visit.
Other than that nothing has new has been going on. I tried to learn to french braid my own hair. Check this out:

Its totally crappy-but I did it myself so I'm proud. Practice makes perfect...I just need the patience to practice! 

Tried rockin' the red lips also:

Not a very exciting or stylish weekend!

Well, I don't want to ramble on. This update is a lame one but I'll have more/better things in a couple of days! 

Cilantro Butter Cornish Hens

My weekend was a bit uneventful. No exciting 4th Of July plans. No family gatherings or grilling. Just an ordinary weekend!


I did, however, go on a culinary adventure. I made cornish hens. The first time I've had them since I was probably 17, when my mom made them for my birthday. I remember how fun it was for us to all have our own chicken. So I finally picked some up and decided to make them for dinner. 


Little did I know, but the entire experience turned into a flood of different emotions-which ended in me just praying they were worth the remorse I was feeling for these dear little chickens that I was prying apart and stuffing. Without all the nitty-gritty details of my mini breakdown brought on by thinking of the poor beheaded chickens in front of me, lets continue!!


I had scoured for some recipes that sounded good. This one worked out for me and there's not much I would do differently. The ingredients are simple:
Butter
Cilantro
Onion
Garlic
Cornish Hen


Really simple! And I didn't use measurements because everything could be adjusted to taste or was simply to add flavor to the dish! 
I sliced the onions, lined them in a 9x13 dish (if you have a roasting pan use it instead) I then minced up the cilantro and added it to a few spoonfuls of room temperature butter. Peel the garlic and slice into big chunks. Here's an idea of everything:

I then proceeded to unwrap the defrosted hens, season with salt and pepper and slowly separated the skin from the body. You can use a spoon handle or your fingers, I used a little of both. Then stuff the cilantro butter under the skin and rub in. See-Easy!! Using the leftover butter brush the outside of the skin and put some into the hen, along with a few chunks of garlic. Place on top of the onions and you're ready to bake!

Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 20 minutes! 

Wah-La! A simple recipe! You can add or take away whatever you like. Turns out the possibilities are endless! I would like to try a citrus chicken recipe-one where it rests on lemons while baking. I'll be trying out more ideas shortly! 

Well, that was my Saturday night! I finally had a chance to get to the store and buy some baskets for the vegetables in the fridge. I get SO tired of seeing tons of bags and twist ties in the veggie drawer so I went out and bought these:

I love them. And for only a dollar each at Dollar Tree! That's right, $2 for an organized looking vegetable drawer. Now if only it were that cheap to organize the rest of my apartment! 

Bookcase Decorating and The In Between

Yesterday evening I was in the kitchen starting dinner when my boyfriend got home from work. Out of no where I decided it was time to rearrange our apartment and started throwing ideas around. Within 5 minutes I had started stuffing the mushrooms and my boyfriend was clearing shelves and arranging furniture. It was very exciting! 
Now our apartment looks a lot more spacious. And it could be mainly due to the fact that we got rid of our huge, gaudy computer desk and downgraded to a mere table to hold everything. It was his suggestion and I was very skeptical-I liked having a lot of room for everything. However, the extreme downsize has now given me the opportunity to start looking for dining room tables and planning what to do with all of the extra space! 

 

Don't mind the Christmas decor in the 'Before'-it was obviously Christmas time!

Its definitely a smaller work zone...but I must admit, I like the challenge of getting ideas for the ample space we have now!

But the most exciting (and time consuming on my part) new arrangement of all was the bookshelf. Before it held our hamster's cage-but our beloved Cokey Smurf passed away earlier in the week. 

**We love and miss you Cokey Smurf**

Each shelf held its own chaos and I almost wish I had taken a before picture of it-however-I don't feel like embarrassing myself today!

Now, our shelf is not PERFECT and I am fervently searching for accessories/books and whatever else to keep getting it to where I want. But I must say I do love the way it looks as of now. Its by no means David Bromstad approved and won't be featured on HGTV anytime soon-but for a decorating-inept 24 year old designing on a whim I think its coming along nicely! 

Here is the shelf as a whole (strange angle and terrible Samsung Epic 4G pictures-apologies!)

The 'Twilight Shelf' is my favorite. I am a little biased considering I'm a huge fan and Team Edward, but I also like the red and black look. Here are our 'black spined' books. You'll notice the attempted color coordinating theme in each shelf.

Here is the maroons/browns/orange and the gray/white on the right. The brown box in the center holds my Twlight movie film reel snippets that I was given (told you I was a fan!) The photo on top is of my boyfriend's grandmother's first house. The picture is very nostalgic to him so I'm glad it fits nicely with the more 'rustic' theme on this shelf!

This is definitely more me. I like the transcending colors from greens and blue to purple and pinks. I was glad I could use my Rose Quartz candle holders as book ends. My feng shui game and crystals box adds to the sort of metaphysical feel of it all. Yep, definitely me!

As you can see at the bottom of the photo the last shelf is still chaotic and not as put together. It holds photo albums, binders and notebooks. (I'm sort of a notebook hoarder! But I prefer the term collector!) 

Which is why I'm still coming up with ideas and ways to put the bookcase together so it flows a bit better. But for now I'm quite satisfied! 

This has been my newest project. I'm thinking of which wall decals to create and put by the computer 'desk' or perhaps a cork board. Limitless options. But fun! 

Do you have any bookcase ideas or suggestions?! I always love hearing new DIY and decorating tips!