Friday, November 25, 2011

The Best Thing I Ate, And Some Simpe House Updates



I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!
Mine was very relaxing and.....filling.


We follow the proper food-safety procedures in the Casagrande household.



And we start each Thanksgiving meal with some fiber (pumpkin spice hummus).



And even the men in the household eat the gluten free stuffing (and I am getting married to a man who doesn't like gravey, as is noted by Nick's plate below.)


This was my plate. Half vegetables (brussel sprouts smothered in oil and vinegar, topped with pancetta), sweet potato mash (with bananas and honey!) and random pieces of raw squash from the relish tray, one-fourth turkey (covered in gravy), and one-fourth grain (butter-loaded, and completely full of the stuff that I normally don't eat, gluten free stuffing).


I did go back for seconds (and got more turkey) and I also had two desserts. the pecan pie had chocolate chips inside, and it was by far the best pecan pie I've ever had, and my favorite part of yesterday's meal. Sorry, I'm an awful blogger because I didn't even take a picture. I didn't think I would like it as much as I did, and it was gone before I knew it. Here is a picture form last year (it's the best I could do!).





Let's depart from food and nutrition for a second, because I think we've all had enough of that in the past day or so (or at least the food part).
I'm thankful that Nick and I have finally made the time to start on some much needed house updates!

When we bought our house a year ago last May, it was a blank canvas.
There were a few small updates that had been done to the kitchen and upstairs bathroom, but other than that it had not been updated in a very long time, and all the walls were white. The area we moved to is known for it's old houses, with lots of charm, but I failed to find the charm in our house for quite a long time. Thankfully that charm is slowly showing itself. We really wanted a house that we could make our own, and that we could work on for the next several years. Our goal was (and still is) to do small updates throughout the first couple years, then after our wedding do some of the larger updates (like new windows). Here are some of the small things we have done in the last couple months.

We took down these curtains...



I actually liked how much light we got once the curtains were down.


The problem was the curtains just sort of hung there, with no purpose whatsoever.


So we replaced them with these!
Ok, they are the same curtains, but my aunt sewed some fabric onto the top so we could move the rods up towards the ceiling. Joyce, our decorator, said this would add the illusion of more space in our living room, and open it up. She was right.



And then we added a simple decoration between the two rods. We stuck with our bronze color scheme.





Next we took down this ugly dining room light.



And replaced it with this one. I love it.



Our next project is going to be tough, but in the end it's going to be worth all the hard work.
See these AWFUL cabinets?!

They are not only ugly, but they don't close properly. We are going to paint them and plane them (that's what Nick says...I'm kind of scared). This is going to be a three weekend project, but by the end they will be a nicer color and I'll be able to shut them with ease (I'm crossing my fingers).

We also plan on painting this workout room and adding a television to the wall that the elliptical faces (the current television that is in our living room). I need my TODAY show when I'm working out! I also want to be able to use Exercise TV upstairs, rather than in the basement where I currently do those workouts.


QUESTIONS
: Do you enjoy decorating your house? What was the last update you made in your house, or your condo/apartment, or even your bedroom or dorm room?

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving? Have you ever had chocolate chips in your pecan pie?!

14 comments :

  1. I LOVE the new lamp! Trendy, modern and FUN! Goes great with your awesome colored walls!
    I did the pumpkin hummus for a first time and we LOVED it! I made it a little spicy adding some cayenne pepper and less syrup. So good.
    I had for the first time this year a pecan pie with chocolate...it was AMAZING! Happy weekend! :)

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  2. Sounds like you've got a lot of work ahead of you with the house. I love redecorating, but sometimes I get too lazy to do it.

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  3. oh oh! we put chocolate AND bourbon in our pecan pie! it was amaaaaazing and i don't even like pecans but this one was pretty friggn stellar. i've got to say the best thing i ate on thanksgiving was definitely the peanut butter stuffed cookies i made (OKAY SCRATCH THAT HELLO IT WAS THE STORE BOUGHT RAINBOW COOKIES.) but let's pretend it wasn't then the pb cookies come in first. glad you had such a wonderous thanksgiving mama!!

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  4. Your thanksgiving feast looks incredible. Ours was much more simple.

    Love the changes you've made! I dream of the day we buy a house that I can decorate. I'm already collecting ideas on Pinterest!

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  5. LOVE the new decorating updates! The curtain makeover is so clever and beautiful!! :-)

    We recently added some wall sconces to the dining room, which was much harder than anticipated because we had to use a special industrial masonry drill to drill into the brick wall on that side of the apartment! I love home improvement projects and big power tools - adult toys! :-)

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  6. Happy late thanksgiving!
    Looks like good food :)

    The house improvement projects are such a process! Sometimes in the middle, it's so nerve wracking, but it pays off in the end!

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  7. I love how the curtains look- amazing what a little bit of fabric can do.

    I always say that I lack the girl decorator gene and it's really hard for me to make things look good. That said, we are in major renovations right now and just finished our kitchen. We are now moving to the rest of the bathrooms and replacing the floors. It's all worth it in the end though!

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  8. Glad to hear you had a great Thanksgiving! :) Your house looks fantastic, you guys are definitely good at making updates that make a big difference in the house. I can't wait to see what the cabinets look like since I have no idea how to fix cabinets that don't close properly!

    To be honest, I have not participated much in the updates in our house. Eric spends a lot of time in the summer getting them done, and I work a lot to pay for said updates. Our most recent update was when Eric repainted our bathroom cabinets and walls. We also just got a hutch for our dining room so now we can display some of the wedding gifts we got. We didn't register for nice china or anything but we did get some nice wine glasses that I want to be able to see (they were previously stored in an upstairs closet cuz we didn't have room for them haha)

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  9. Your home improvement projects are great. We had so much more stamina for updates when we first bought the house...LOL. I have never had chocolate chips in my pecan pie. Sounds delish! Happy Thanksgiving!

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  10. Love the pecan pie and your dining room light fixture! I absolutely love interior design and decorating! I spent almost one year as the GC when we remodeled our house. It's been almost 3 years now, so I think I need another project :-). What color are you going to paint your cabinets?

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  11. I noticed all the home remodeling you guys have done the second I walked in a few weekends ago. It looks amazing - especially the living room. Love it! :) And that pecan pie...yum! Pecan and a custard cherry pie (oh heavens) were my favorite this year. So good! I am going to be on TOP of my fruits and veggies this week - Thanksgiving with Mark's side was lunch AND dinner. Insanity! P.S. Emailing you now about cookies and granola!

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  12. Hi Gina. Your home is LOVELY!!! Are you SURE you can marry a man who doesn't like gravy??? That could be a deal breaker..... KIDDING OF COURSE!!! Have a great week.

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  13. It's so much fun turning a new home into your very own. We just moved a year ago, and are still making improvements. I'm glad you enjoyed your Thanksgiving!

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  14. The pumpkin hummus sounds amazing! I have to make some now, you got me craving it!

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