Home Goods is like Crack

Granted, I've never done crack or any other drug for that matter - but based on what I learned in school, it can be pretty addictive.

Crack=addictive
Home Goods=addictive
Home Goods=Crack

I try to stay away from that store like the plague.  Paycheck? What paycheck, honey? I didn't get paid today?  *evil grin*

So many things to buy, so little money. 

Take this rustic, country farm section for instance.  Love it!

How about this awesome Halloween section.  Oh, I totally fell in love.

And this sign.

This sign I remember seeing a year or so on Ella Claire's blog.  She did a tutorial on it.  See her post here.  I'm wondering how her sign got into Home Goods.  Hmm.

I'm a horrible DIYer.  I initially went into Home Goods to find the pieces to MAKE a cloche.  You can find the how to from  Fox Hollow Cottage right here.  It's simple really.  However, I didn't find the right components.  Nothing jumped out at me screaming, "Hey you! Make me into a cloche!"  So what did I do?  I bought one.  *hangs head in shame*
It was on clearance though, so don't judge me.

There was also an awesome wooden letter A.  How can anyone turn down their last name initial?  Especially, when the last name is still so new!  Mr. Penguin joked last night, "At least we won't forget what our last name starts with." Oh, hush honey!

I realize that I still haven't started taking photos with a better camera.  Based on these, the ones in my house, I realize I have to.  They are just painful to look at.

I also noticed little clown man is slouching.  I rummaged through my handpainted signs and found this little gem to help prop him up.

 

Ok, all better! (The propping, not the photo quality, obviously)

I managed to get away from Home Goods with only spending $20.  The cloche, the A, and two vases which I'll save for another post.

I'd love to see your Fall/Halloween decorating!

Share your link in the comments and I'll do a feature Friday next week of my favorites!

It's October! *Happy Dance*

All year my Halloween bleeding heart longs for the crisp, cool air of fall.  The beautiful changing of the leaves, the gentle, cool breeze all means one thing to me.

Halloween is creeping just around the corner.

 Mr. Penguin Husband and I love to watch horror movies year round, but it only seems right to make every darn thing we watch in October Halloween or Horror related.  Any other genre would be unsatisfactory.  Though, it is quite hard to watch ANY TV/movies for that matter when we both work 3 jobs.  Yes.  Three.

It should come as no surprise that one of the three is a Halloween themed job.  I'm a haunter and makeup artist for Corner of Chaos.   It's one of the top attractions in the state of NJ, and it sure makes for a very eventful October!

The downside of working three jobs means no spare time.

No time to decorate for Halloween! *gasp*

We aren't home to enjoy it anyway so in reality it makes no sense.

I do try to put some little touches up around the house.

Here is what I did last night:

It still looks too bare for my liking, but it's something and I'm proud of it.  (Considering I haven't done jack to decorate in quite some time)

The zombie baby and Gnome are out year round, lurking in the shadows in the apartment- I just decided to display them in one spot this time.

The Over-sized chalkboard is one of two from our wedding.  We used them to display the seating charts.  As I was searching my blog to link up to what they looked like before, I realized I never blogged about that.  Shame on me.

Remember my post way back about this sign?

It's been a part of my decor around the house ever since.  These lively characters are perched in front of my mantel.  They look like they are in the mood to dance, no?

Hopefully, I can get around to posting more frequently.  I miss it.

I'm also debating on starting up a fitness blog.  More of a "follow my journey" really.  Maybe a fitness blog will help keep me more accountable.

Till next time, little goblins!

Linked to: http://romanceonadime.com/take-it-on-tuesday/take-tuesday-tiot-blog-hop-94/

Overnight Oats *in my spiffy salsa jar*

So, as usual, I'm behind on what is trending.

In an effort to become more health concious and "cleaner" eating- I started browsing the interwebs and social media for some easy recipes to help ease my way into my new lifestyle.

Oats seem to be a popular commodity amongst health gurus so I started focusing most on that. 

Overnight Oats seems to be a huge hit, with no cooking involved.  No cooking?! That's my kind of meal.

I picked myself up a container of Quaker Oats (not the quick kind).  I'm not an Oats aficionado, so to be honest, I just grabbed what I thought sounded good off the shelf.

 After a long day of my full time job AND part time job, I strolled through the door around 10:30pm  and decided to get started on the next days meals.  Tossed some chicken sausage on the stove, sliced up some cantaloupe and searched for some cute mason jars to house my oats.  I have none.  What?! Stop right there. I have no mason jars with lids?  How can this be? I'm a blogger of wedding decor, house decor and some occasional (which may happen more) food posts...and I don't have an abundance of mason jars?  I need to rectify this.

Anyhoo, I grabbed the first thing I saw that would work.  A freshly emptied jar of salsa. Hey now, it's clean. Don't pick on me, ;)

I didn't follow an official recipe but kind of made my own numbers up based loosely on some recipes that I did see.

This is what I came up with:

1/2 cup oats
1 scoop of chocolate protein powder
1 TSP Peanut Butter
1/2 cup of Milk

Mix it up real well (that peanut butter is a pain!) and put it in the fridge.
Voila.  Breakfast is already waiting.  (A little higher in calories than I expected)

In the morning, I mixed it up some more, tossed in the microwave for 45 seconds and added some banana. 

Halfway through, I realize how satisfied I am (trying to avoid the 'stuffed' feeling)
This is great! It's half the calories I calculated, since I only ate half- and now I have breakfast for tomorrow too!

My next concoction will be pumpkin related.  Nutmeg, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, pumpkin puree maybe?

What are you favorite Overnight Oats variations?

I also saw ways to make Oats pancakes, can't wait to try those babies out!

My 'found' treasure- my lovely bouquet

We had a long engagement. Longer than most.  We got engaged May 28th 2011.  We got married June 1, 2013. We were engaged 2 years and 2 days.

2 whole years to plan a wedding!   I entered every dang wedding blog giveaway possible, and believe it or not, I won quite a few!

On June 14th 2012, I won my bouquet.  I never would have dreamed it would come out as gorgeous as it did.  You can see the winning post here.   It wouldn't have been possible without Big Day for 10K hosting the giveaway and EightTreeStreet offering up a free bouquet in the giveaway!

Source

Loved. It.

I seriously don't even have the words for how awesome and perfect this bouquet was.  Maribel from EightTreeStreet was so great to work with (even with it being a giveaway)  She asked what I envisioned and she followed it to a 'T'.  The vibrant reds and yellows, burlap and get this...firefighter flair!  

See for yourself.

Source

How utterly perfect are those firefighter charms?

Maribel loved it so much as well, she submitted it to a few publications. 

Here is the bouquet featured on the blog The DC Ladies 

Here is the follow up post over at Big Day for 10k

Here is the bouquet featured on Pretty Pear Bride

Do yourself a favor and if you see a giveaway: enter enter enter! Any giveaway you see that you like, enter it.  You just never know! It might be your most favorite thing you've ever won! 

Thanks again to EightTreeStreet and Big Day for 10k for the opportunity to win this!

Source

Bubbles, Rice...YAY!

Throw rice at us, it wishes us a prosperous marriage and future.

Huh? 

Tradition or not, I never really liked the rice idea.  Maybe it's because I know the twisted humor of my friends and family.  No, the rice would not daintily be tossed in the air in a fit of joy.  The rice would most likely be pelted at us with wicked and evil laughs, (all in fun of course) get stuck in my eye, or better yet, my ear.  Yeahhh, let's pass on the rice shall we?

(It also helps that rice is banned in most places.  More namely, the state park we got married at.  Whew.)

Lots of brides do bubbles.  Yes! Let's get soapy before our reception.  I decided to pass on that too.

Being a DIY bride, I wanted something fun and different.  I came across some pennant signs like these for proclaiming excitement after the ceremony.

 Source: etsy

Source: Project Wedding

These are adorable!  I had to do them.  

A couple packs of dowels, multi color cardstock, mom's printer and we were in business.

I won't mention the glue gun injuries that occurred.   Oh, who I am kidding, I have serious issues with glue guns whenever I use one.  Yep. I'm special. Don't hate.

 

I found this rusty old milk jug in mom's house.  She was using as as decor in her living room.  Snatchies!  I stuffed it with some raffia and it was love at first sight.  

 Photo Credit: Ulitmate Party Central

My friends had a blast handing them out!

Photo Credit: Ultimate Party Central

My guests loved the sentiment and I loved the photo op!   I thought my husband was going to crouch down too.  We are both on the tall side and you couldn't see the guests directly behind us.  I guess I was wrong, so I just look silly here.  Silly is fun though!

Another successful DIY!

Whirlwind Wedding!

I can't believe I haven't posted since Valentines Day!

Subsequently, that was around the time I got a part time job on top of wedding planning so my free time was basically shot down to oblivion.

The wedding was beyond phenomenal.  All of my little DIY touches were recognized and fawned over. It was a great feeling for people to acknowledge them.  

I'm going to break everything up into smaller posts so as not to overwhelm- I had a lot of fun touches I want to share.

Probably my most favorite was my MR and MRS burlap banner for our sweetheart table and the LOVE IS SWEET burlap banner for our cake table.

Here they are just laying on the couch.
I'm still waiting on the photographer photos but here is a less than stellar one showcasing them in use.

Yes, I am aware we were sitting on the opposite sides as the Mr and Mrs- It makes me chuckle. :)

We've been married almost 2 weeks and I do not want to admit it's over already.  I keep looking at pictures.  It was honestly the best day of my life and I think my husband would agree.  *coughhebettercough* 

That is still so odd to say.
Husband. 
Huuuusband.
Husbaaaaand. 
It is going to take some getting used to.

Valentines Schmalentines

 ♥♥♥

Don't get me wrong, I love Valentine's Day and all the little cute sayings and mushy-ness and romantics.
 However, I think these gestures and flower deliveries should be done any other day other than Valentines day.

Show me you love me on a random day in March. 

Sprinkle me with affection on the third Saturday in September.

My boss buys his wife flowers every Friday on his way home from work.  EVERY.FRIDAY.
Yes.
Every Friday.

That's a bit excessive to me, but it's cute.

Pinterest has been loaded with Valentines day crafts, recipes and printables- and yes, I admit to pinning my share.  You can see my Valentines Day board here .

February is also the month for the mid season return of The Walking Dead. Um, I was so stoked for it to finally come back!

I wish I had kids, because what better way to send out Valentines?? Encorporate the love of Zombies of course.

Lolly Jane did just that.

I am so in love with this printable.
Go visit Lolly Jane and eat it up. ;)

Happy Valentine's Day! ♥