Kitchen 363: Blackman

One place Josh absolutely loves is the kitchen. He loves to BBQ, grill, fry, simmer, etc.,etc.,etc. anything to do with food. With Josh being the great chef that he is, I wanted our kitchen to be clean and organized for him. He confessed a worry to me before the wedding; he wasn't nervous that everything wouldn't be clean but that everything wouldn't be put away in a practical place. (i.e. Coffee mugs by the sink while the coffee pot is by the oven) Which, granted, in our little kitchen it wouldn't make a difference, but it is important to him. So, I made a deal...I would try my hardest to put everything we owned in the kitchen in an orderly and practical way so that he would not be stressed when he decides to bust out the knives and chop. So, I had a game plan, how to make this work...I pondered, made charts and maps of how J and I were going to be able to function in the tiny space that is our kitchen. Some how or another we made everything work, every coffee cup, tumbler, thermos, plate, fork, pot, every little thing that belongs in our kitchen has a place. We can barley believe it, but it works.Our cabinets are holding all of our dishes and cook ware, it all had to go some where right? Josh and I wanted to be certain that all the wonderful presents that all the wonderful friends and family (Thank you notes are on the way!) gave us would be safe. We both made sure that every little piece had a place to stay and I'm happy to report they are safe and sound!

Here's a quick, little, side note: There are a couple DIY projects, can you spot them? The "chalk board" is an old window Josh's grandmother gave to us and J put in the towel rack directly under. We needed some extra space for dish towels to dry...desperately. Thanks J!

I honestly just wanted you guys to see our kitchen table because I love it! It was Mr. Wayne's and Mrs. Kim's back in the day and they gave it to J and I. DIY ALERT: We refinished it with some spray paint and some new cushions and...BAM new table! What do you guys think? Josh and I are pretty proud of it! The table runner is actually some burlap that I got at Wal-Mart the week J and I were moving in, it was super duper cheap. I keep up with these tid-bits I hear on HGTV, they are random, but if I hear something that I think is useful I never forget it. One day Gretchen was talking about every room in your home needing a little bit of texture and for me that's where the burlap comes in! Then, my bf, Callie B. gave J and I the really cool bamboo rug...double texture!As you can see by this "over-view" our kitchen is quite tiny so food storage became quite the task. Remember, all the cabinet space is being used by our new...and loved dishes, so...to quote Tim Gunn we had to "make it work". The steel rack against the fridge has been around since my good ole' days at CBC. We recycled it (thanks to my dad finding it in my parent's storage room) and used it to hold some of our food products. A spice rack and a jar of peppermints, followed by a couple of wicker baskets filled with everything from pop-tarts to peanuts, then two larger canvas bins that hold our chips, breads, and all the Hamburger Helper you can eat. I think J and I are both trying to getting over our college eating habits, we still do not eat like "grown-ups". On top of the cabinets are two large, silver buckets that hold our soups and other food items that cannot be put in the fridge. The fridge however is PACKED down. Everything that could go in...went in the fridge. Living in such a tiny space has taught me to be as organized as possible in a short amount of time; but I'm not going to lie, I'm loving it!

You're a little moody.

I'm sorry this post is a little late today, I didn't have time to prepare a post yesterday. I spent most of the day working with Evernote, (a new managing software I downloaded for FREE!) and learning/playing games with it. A lot more confusing than I thought it would be and it turned out to be quite time consuming. Bummer. Anywho, with Josh and I freshly into our new home, home interior blogs have become my crutch; I enjoy reading them now more than ever. Slowly but surely we are adding things to our house; slowly but surely I assure you. Being on a budget has made us put a lot of our wants and desires for our little abode on hold. But..Aha! There is a way to capture the ideas and keep them until the right time comes! Moodboards.

Interior Designers and Graphic Design artist use them to display there ideas to clients. I had to make a couple for my graphic design class and really had fun. Today, after an invigorating morning of job searching I found mydeco.com, which specializes in helping you put your ideas into physical form. mydeco.com offers moodboards, 3d rooms, and other idea organizers all for free. You heard me...Free!

Since J and I have been putting our home together, I feel that only one room is truly lacking. The living room. With our couch, credenza and TV rounding out the items in that room there is no questions that more furniture is needed. Since J and I live on the cheap and we actually like it, I decided to surf the web for cheap alternatives to help "warm up" our living room...when the budget is ready for it of course. Here it is, my first moodboard! Please let me know your thoughts!

1. Chair- This is a fabric dining chair I have seen around in a lot of stores (Target, Wal-mart, etc.) I thought it could work in a living room. I also like the thought of having a chair in this same style in a pattern? Any ideas? Another plus about this particular chair is that it is...wait for it...cheap!

2. Fabric swatches- Both of these fabric swatches are ideas for throw pillows on our couch. Josh and I lean more towards calm, natural colors and usually don't have a lot of "POP!". I think we need it! I like the yellow, I think it is interesting and fresh, also, it adds just enough pop with out over doing it.

3. Wicker basket- I love wicker baskets, in fact, I have a small collection building. While building this mood board I found a nightstand on Ikea that I thought we could us as a cool end table. I thought this wicker basket would look great on the base of the nightstand/end table. What do you guys think? Click here to check out the night stand. (P.S. I like it because it is modern, it's interesting right? I think small coffee table books would look cool on the top shelf. Thoughts?)

4. Picture frames- I really love these, I think it adds a simple and clean look to pictures. I would like to use these on floating shelves or on the walls. Considering we do not have anything on our walls right now it might be a good idea to start there. Which brings me to number five...

5. Floating shelves- Josh and I actually found these the week we got back from our honeymoon at Tar-jet. We were super excited! We used Christmas gift cards to get these nifty little boogers!

6. Curtains-Eventually, I would like to purchase long sheers for our living room. Right now, curtains could be the last thing we need, mainly because we have those HUGE apartment blinds on our balcony door. The blinds make it practically impossible to hang curtains, which is fine. Just something that will have to wait!

7. Sconces- I loved this sconce when I saw it! Josh doesn't like to admit, but he loves...LOVES candles. We always have all our candles lit at night and I know he would love these wall sconces any day!

I hope my first moodboard was a success! I hope you guys enjoyed viewing it! Seriously, I want to know all your thoughts. I have always enjoyed making a space into a room and I think Josh is really starting to enjoy it too! Yesterday we were discussing possibilities for ottomans and I mentioned maybe we should do something bold and get a patterned or bright colored ottoman. By the way, Josh and I talk in the future a lot with our home decor, none of these totally awesome changes will be happening for a long time! We're living cheap! Anywho, he said "Well Kels, if we do a bright color...well...didn't you hear accent colors are supposed to be done in three's?" I died. I literally could not believe he remembered that! I'm starting to believe that little Josh is really starting to enjoy building our newlywed nest. Can you believe it?

There's an App for that...there really is!

Apps. What can I say? The best thing that ever happened to me. Ever. (Not ever Josh, you know...I'm only being dramatic :)) Anyway, for my Christmas present Josh hooked me UP! As I mentioned earlier I got a new iPod Touch...awesome...pure awesomeness. Since my iPod Touch and I have been introduced a lot of things have changed in my daily life. For example, I am now on twitter as you can see here and with my iPod Touch I can holla at my tweeps any moment of the day! But for all of you great readers out there..question...any apps you can't live without? Are you an E! apper or maybe more on the CNN side, either way I want to know! I will admit, I only download the free apps (what can I say, I'm cheap.) but, those apps have not been disappointing so far...here's the break down.

I said I would never join, but what the heck? Those tweeting, social networking-crazed people sucked me into their world and...look at me now? Tweeting it up and I'll be honest, I love it! John Mayer's tweets are pretty funny and Chelsey Handler always has a funny back-handed comment to say about the newest celeb that's lost it. Guilty pleasure #124- Twitter.

Now thanks to this little dude I can tweet anywhere and anytime...well anywhere there is wifi! But, how cool is that?!

Which leads me to my next app, but first I have to make an announcement. I am a stalker...I stalk on facebook, yes...I am that person that everyone makes fun of and gets frustrated with. If you pop on my mini-feed occasionally, I've probably stalked you. I want to take this time to apologize and let you know that I have no intention of hurting you or your family, I'm just a noisy person and I'm even annoyed with myself. Please forgive me? But, to make matters even worse (or...let's be honest...in my opinion, to make matters awesome)

This:

Is an app on my iTouch...O yea...it's real bad.

I am a major fan of Pandora, in fact if there was a flag to wave, I would wave the banner of Pandora all the time. I have stations for just about every mood I could possibly be in. For example: happy: glee Cast Radio, sad: there's really not one, needing motivation: The Shins Radio, something funny: Regina Spektor Radio, I want to be a Broadway Star: glee Cast Radio (it's on a lot!), I want to go to Lilth fair and wear flowers in my hair: Missy Higgins Radio...you get the idea.

Yes, if you love music as much as I do you know about Pandora...if not...set up a station as soon as you can! You'll fall in love! But, not only is Pandora available for free on the world wide web but it is also available as a...wait for it...app! O yea! And again, for FREE! Groovy.

My final apps consist of:

AND

Which combine great things! Weather and food! WeatherBug gives you an up to date check on the weather around you. It uses wifi to check your location then provides the forecast, whats coming, tips on weather during your golf game...well basically it's the Weather Channel for you phone or iTouch, pretty cool. Urban Spoon is so neat; let's say your in the mood for Italian but not wanting to spend more than 20 dollars, Urbanspoon checks your location using wifi after you select the price range, shake your phone/iTouch and bam...restaurant, with reviews! Awesome!

What about you guys? Any apps out there you can't live without? App's are those things that once you know, you'll never go back! And I ain't ever going back!

Top 5 reason to take a cruise.

Top 5 reasons everyone on the planet should take a cruise!

This hat. I love it on J, I couldn't convince him to buy it, so I had to settle for a picture instead. But, how cool does he look? Smooth, like Old Blue Eyes!These are the coolest! We actually got some pretty cool ones through out the week! Every night we would move them ever-so-carefully off the bed, they were precious treasures! To us at least.The FOOD. Oh my goodness! This is Josh and I after a night of appetizers ( I think Josh had two), main courses ( I think Josh had two) and desserts ( I think I had two). Our conquest was bold, but there was no victory. The Carnival Victory's menu defeated us, every night. But, we left happy!The soft sand, exotic beaches, takes the number 2 slot...hands down. I loved laying out by the beach and enjoying the sound of the ocean! Josh would go swim and...I would watch him...( I have a slight fear of the ocean). They were beautiful! In Dominica we actually got to walk on a black sand beach, Dominica is an active volcanic island, hence the black sand. Preety Cool!NUMERO UNO!! The number 1 reason you should take a cruise,for any vacation you might be taking in the future, is simply...for the fun of it. It was an amazing time! Plus, it was the first time Josh and I have actually been alone for any extended length of time. I didn't want to leave and that's how I knew our honeymoon had been perfect!

I have found something I have to share. My sister's brother-in-law is a phenomenal writer and when little AG was born he wrote her the sweetest letter; one I know she will treasure for her entire life. Well, with the new addition of Edy Rose he wrote her a letter as well. Guys, seriously check out Corey's letter over at Say Cheese? A blog of sorts, to read the most loving words ever written to a week old, little girl. Enjoy.

I'm married now!

I can't believe it! We did it...we tied the knot! I am officially Kelsey Blackman and even though I have warned everyone that posts might become few and far between, please know I am going to try to keep them up the best I can! So far I have been on a honeymoon and finished getting our house together. Which is so exciting!

As some of you might know Josh and I ventured out on the Carnival Victory for a week of exploring the in's and out's of the following islands: St. Thomas, Barbados, Dominica, St. Kitts, St. Maartin, and San Juan. After fulfilling a dream of living on a boat for a week. There are so many reason why our Honeymoon was awesome! In fact, it gave me reason to create Top 10 list. So for this post here are 10-6!

Local jewelry is the best. We spent the whole afternoon in Barbados searching for something "local". I couldn't find anything, I was starting to get discouraged when we found her, our friend Lana. She made me this bracelet right in front of us. I was so pumped to have a m0mento from our trip that was completely unique.

I'm usually not very into "dress-up". I mean, I like to look pretty...I guess, what I'm trying to say is I like to fix my hair and putting on make-up. But, I'm not too into fancy dresses and high heels, I guess I'm more casual. But, on the cruise it was such a blast! Josh and I dressed up (he wore a suit...so handsome :)) for dinner on Tuesday and Thursday. It was Prom...Cruise'n style!

I held a monkey! I did! Yes, that is me and the first time I saw the guy with this little dude, I was scared to death. But, before J and I headed back to the boat in St. Kitts I couldn't turn down a once in a lifetime opportunity. So I held a monkey!

New friends! This is Evan and Lindsey our dinner partners, their from...wait for it...Nebraska! Josh wasn't to mean to them, thank goodness, I didn't want to have to move tables over sports rivalries. Whew.

There are guys like this everywhere! It was so much fun, they are always trying to sell you stuff they've made from palm tree leaves or straw or some other plants they have found on the ground...by the beach. They're preeety hilarious! Top 5 scheduled for tomorrow...stay tuned!

BIG NEWS!!! We have a new addition to the family!

Chill out everybody...goodness, who do you think we are? The Duggars? My lovely sister and brother in law welcomed sweet, little, Edy Rose Hale on January 21,2010. She's healthy and perfect, Josh and I couldn't be more proud of our new niece! We can't wait to meet you sweet girl! Swing on over to Our Joy...His Glory for updates!

On the road...again...and...again.

Josh and I headed out Sunday morning and made the long trek to Columbia, MO. We were excited for the big move and couldn't wait for the longest drive...ever...to be over. One of the highlights of the drive is that this would be our final trip from Magnolia, AR to Columbia, MO individually. It was wonderful to know that from here on out we would be traveling buds! J and K, two youngsters, making their way back and fourth between two states. Anyways, here are some stats from the past two years of traveling:

It is a total of 378 miles from Little Rock, AR to Columbia, MO. A traveling period of 2 1/2 years with gas prices averaging at $2.60 brings a grand total of 36,288 miles traveled and $8,675.32 in gas. Can you say expensive? Yes. Our relationship has been a lot of things and one of them is ex-pen-sive. But, all the money, driving, and gas (haha!) was worth it!

This was J and I with our cars packed and ready to go. We made the final trip from Magnolia to Columbia individually.

After a good 5 hours we stopped in Springfield, MO for a break at Lambert's Cafe, you know the place that throws rolls at you! I forgot how BIG the helpings of food were! Wowzers! Josh caught the first of many rolls!

I was pretty tired from the driving and asked for a cup of coffee, I wasn't expecting a whole pot,but...I was thankful.

We are both so thankful for the love and patience from our family and friends during the traveling, the break-up, the reunion, and the traveling again, that took place during our relationship. Thank you so much for a wonderful holiday and we are excited for the week to come! I can't wait to be Kelsey Blackman!