My fancy new dining set...

When we moved into our place in November, we debated over whether we needed a  dining room table. We ended up choosing to put my handmade kitchen island, in the small corner of the small kitchen that designated it an "eat-in kitchen." It fit there quite perfectly, and between appliances and cooking messes, I have been SO thankful for the extra counter space. Without that corner of the kitchen free, there wasn't a very logical place to fit a table.

We have had a dining room table on and off throughout our marriage and it had never been a priority for us. We are not sit at the table kind of people, so in our often small houses, it has seemed silly to have one.

However, this cute little puppy:

Has turned into a steely eyed, 50 pound, hungry girl who is far to solid to have to push her off you as you try to eat at the coffee table... So we came to the conclusion that we needed a dining room table, whether we had room or not, it was time to make room!

We were most fortunate that sitting in our backyard was... you guessed it! a dining room table. It had been cast off by the family as we were moving and while we didn't want it, a friend committed to take it off our hands and never did. So its been sitting in our yard all winter with us wondering what to do with it. I had ambitions of a patio table after a refinish and lots of polyurethane, but after shoving the dog off me during a meal once again, I set my sights on an inside table. So we shifted our living room furniture around a bit and found a corner for it.

The before picture. Its a solid oak table that is sturdy and was FREE, but that dated golden oak finish had to go.

Another before of the table and the monsters. Our older dog is not so food obsessed, but the puppy has some awful manners when it comes to people food.

"I was thinking of chalkboarding the top...." I had told Pete as we sat on our couch brainstorming ideas. "Yes, let's do that." He responded, and within minutes we were on our way to the trusty ace hardware store.After a few laps around the hardware store, I opted for a flat black finish on the bottom.

Here is the base of the table after one coat of black. With all the grooves and curves, I had to brush it on, which meant more coats, but the paint went on more easily than I expected... that first coat always looks sooo bad!

First coat of chalkboard paint. This we rolled on with a 3/8" thick nap just like the rustoleum chalkboard paint directions said to.

Here is the base after coat 2. still pretty streaky, but a significant improvement.

In all, we did 3 coats of black and 2 pretty thick coats of chalkboard to get a result I was quite happy with.

The instructions had us wait for 3 days to do anything with the chalkboard paint. I think that was the hardest part of the process. We were both ready to draw on it! To make sure that we did not cheat and start early (and risk ruining the finish), we just didn't buy chalk until the third day.

Once we hit that mark, I had to condition the chalkboard paint, by giving it a though coating of chalk all over it.

I did this just by turning a stick of white chalk on its side and coloring in the whole top.

This process made me a little nervous about the end result because there was some definite texture to the paint finish that really came out by scraping the chalk on it. But once I wiped it off, you couldn't tell and it looked great!

At this point, I had to head off to work and Pete was home for the afternoon enjoying some free time. While I was gone, him and some friends clearly enjoyed the new furniture addition because when I came home, every INCH of the top had chalk drawings... We had a futurama theme with nearly everyone from the cartoon drawn out, as well as a Colorado flag, a sunset.... 

I had no idea our friends were all such artists! But you know what they say, you give some men a box of multicolored chalk and...

Okay, that is definitely not a saying.

I hate to erase it, but I guess that is why it is done in chalk, so there can be a new masterpiece every couple of days.

Next project is some placemats so we don't mess up the nice refinish with dinner dishes....

I would love to hear what projects you are working on right now: whether it be for your work, your humble abode, your sweetheart (it is valentine's day afterall)... I definitely feel like we all need some creativity in our lives to keep things from getting too repetitive. Tell me what you are working on now... or would like to be working on soon!

And as always, Happy crafting my friends!

Lia

Wild Wednesday: Pete's birthday adventure!

On January 15, my dear husband turned 29. A week or so before this, I asked him what he wanted for his birthday. He had trouble answering... and when he came up with an answer, it was something far more complicated and technical in his realm for me to easily purchase for him.

So, he told me instead, that he just wanted my time... He wanted to be able to go on an adventure, to spend time as a couple, to enjoy each other's company.

I responded by giving him a surprise adventure to the mountains.
We started with a night at a bed and breakfast just south of Divide, CO called the Stonehaven Inn.We were in the "Asian" room. So we took corny pictures with the decor...

After an evening of hot tubbing and making fondue in our room, it was time for the real adventure! So we spent a gorgeous day hiking in Mueller State Park. This gets lengthy, but is mostly very scenic pictures, I'll keep my narration brief.

Ready for adventure!

We consulted the map... A LOT. But we got to all the places we wanted to.

Look at this crazy rock!

I promised you beautiful scenary.

While consulting our "pikes peak atlas" map the night before, we noticed a number of historical buildings marked in the park. This one was notated as "Worley Ranch."

Another historical building.

Exploring inside.

I don't think this is remnants of the historical cowboy meal.

Well if this isn't the most ornate door plate you have ever seen, please email me pictures of yours... because I am intrigued. But, remember this one is a hundred years old or so.

Looking a little more tired than at the beginning. We had hiked about 8 miles by this point.

So there you have it, folks! We had a fantastic time and I hope you enjoyed a brief view into our adventure time. Hopefully there will be many more to come!

Menu Monday: organized for a busy, healthy eating week

Hello my lovely friends!

It has been forever since I wrote a post (I feel like I have been starting 70% of my blog posts with that), but I am determined to make it up to you with a glance at this week's menu.

Pete and I went on vacation to California over Christmas and yet, despite it now being FEBRUARY, are in some ways still recovering. Because after 6 days off, we both had to jump right back in with work and there was extra cleaning from being gone, and Pete's birthday, and more work...

That is to say, our menu planning has been... unfortunate. The meals we have had at home have been mostly thanks to my freezer prep of 15 meals in early December, but we have taken to lots of last minute trips to the grocery, takeout, delivery, and other less than ideal options.

But, I used this weekend to try and get back on track, and I have some excellent meals planned for this week. The kitchen is clean, the dishes are (mostly) done, and we are ready for another busy week of work and fun.

This week's recipes are half from pinterest / blogs I read regularly, and half from old favorites in the household. I have really been searching out meals that are more whole ingredients, and have starting perusing vegan recipes... not because I am about to give up all animal products, but because I feel like Pete and I could both benefit from recipes that are more vegetable and vegetable protein, and less meat, cheese, and butter.

Monday: we are having a meatless Monday with Apple Parsnip soup and a kale and brussels sprouts salad .
I am looking forward to a vegetable dense meal after a long inventory day at work. I think I will add some white beans to the soup for a little boost of protein in the soup. Pete and I love brussels sprouts and I am excited for this uber healthy, green salad

Tuesday: I am pulling a chicken pot pie out of the freezer. That is not to say that we bought some freezer aisle, preservative laden pot pie. A month or so ago, I found a recipe for pot pies that made two. So we made up one for dinner that night and one to put in the freezer for later. The recipe is from a "freezer cooking" magazine I got in November. Perhaps if I keep up with this blogging thing, I may post it soon...

Wednesday: Good ole' fashioned pot roast. We have a roast in the freezer, we have onions and carrots and potatoes in the fridge... Just throw them all together and you have Pete's favorite dinner.

Thursday: Another new recipe from menshealth.com. I found this one through a list of whole food crockpot recipes and I am excited to try it. Pete and I both love lamb, and curry though I am often limited on the curry side since I am allergic to coconut. So imagine my excited surprise when this lamb curry recipe contained no coconut milk!

Friday: Thai peanut noodles. A vegan recipe that looks super enjoyable, and quick to make!

Saturday: Tuna Casserole. A dish that was once a subject of nightmares (choking down a whole mouthful of things I didn't like just because I was at a friends house and my mom wasn't there to save me) became a recipe of interest in college when I tried a friends mom's version and I have been thinking about it ever since... Browsed a number of recipes to find this one that doesn't have any condensed soup in it: Martha Stewert's tuna casserole

Sunday: keeping it simple with pork green chile and quesadillas. I made up what turned out to be a HUGE batch of green chile after I went to the chile festival in Pueblo with my parents in late August. (early september?) Its delicious an another recipe that... maybe should I be habitual with this blogging thing, I will post at a later date.

So that's the plan! And who knows what may come up, but it is nice to have a plan for dinner for all 7 nights and adjust as needed when things come up. I am not doing much prep for any of these recipes but instead kept to pretty simple. Tonight, I will prep everything for tomorrow's soup and the salad dressing... and that is really all the work I need to do for Monday and Tuesday's meals. Since I close Wenesday and Thursday, I have some prep time built into my morning.

Building a weekly meal plan and doing a little extra prep during the weekend has really helped us to keep from falling into the "call the delivery guy" plan b that everyone secretly has. Since I eat restaurant food everyday as my meal break, I feel especially bad about going out during the week because restaurant food inevitably has more sodium, fat, calories and is more expensive than the make at home counterpart.

What do you do to help you enjoy healthy meals at home throughout busy weeks?