Herb Garden

After building our deck, I found these neat hanging pots at Target.  I thought they would be perfect for herbs!  

They hang nicely along the side of our deck.  We started off with 2 but we quickly wanted more and now we have 7 different herbs!  We also have a Rosemary plant that's not pictured below.

The Original Herbs: Oregano & Lemon Thyme.

Basil and Curly Parsley.

Dill and Chive (seeds right now).

Michael cooked a chicken and veggies with some of our herbs and it tasted amazing!  I can't wait to use them some more!

I am also thinking about getting a few more of these pots to use on my front porch for flowers! They come in all the bright summer colors!

Easy Chair Makeover

This weekend we decided to clean out our garage.  Among far to much other junk, we found these old white patio chairs.  These had been left at my brother's old house, then passed on to me when he moved.  They are old, dirty and stained and were just hidden away in my garage.

I was just about to throw them out (or pass them along to someone else) when Michael suggested we try to paint them.  I figured we didn't have anything to lose. We picked up 2 cans of Rustoleum for about $3.50 each.  And this is what the chairs look like now:

Three BEAUTIFUL chairs that look brand new!  They are shiny and can be easily wiped clean.  These will be perfect extra chairs for when we have guests over!

 What a great 10 minute makeover for these patio chairs!

Finished Deck

So how many screws does it take to build a deck?  I think we used close to 700, maybe even more.

Lola definitively approves of the deck! She enjoys hiding underneath it too.

It only took us a few hours on Saturday to add the deck boards.  And now we have a great 16' x 12' deck to enjoy in this beautiful Spring weather!

I picked up some colorful chairs from Target and some pots for my plants as well.

Target had these cute hanging pots that we planted Oregano and Lemon Thyme in. We also ran another Faucet for the backyard (since previously we only had one on the side of the house).

We can't wait to invite friends over to enjoy this new space!

Let's Build a Deck

Michael and I's anniversary is coming up so I've been brainstorming what to get him.  While clothes or cologne is nice, he doesn't really need that.  We've been planning on doing some backyard renovations, so I decided to build him a deck.  But of course he had to help!

After laying it out, we decided to build a 16ft x 12ft deck.  This is a great starting size, and we can always add on later.

The deck is raised on building pyramids. This way you will step down from my house onto the deck and then have 2 stairs to step onto the yard.

We got all the framing completed on Sunday!  All that's left is laying the deck boards.  We should finish up this Saturday.  I can't wait to enjoy our deck!  I know Michael is ready to BBQ and boil some crawfish.

Valentine's Day Door Decor

I stumbled across this neat Valentine's Day Door Decor post on Pinterest last week. I decided to give it a try and make my own!

I purchased Styrofoam shapes (you can find these in the floral department of craft stores). The 'O' was easy because they have different sized Styrofoam wreaths.  I had to create the 'X' by cutting two rectangles of Styrofoam and gluing them together. I painted the 'X' and 'O' with red craft paint just so they would blend in with the flowers.

While I really liked the rustic look of using pink and red berries for this, I wasn't able to find any in my local craft stores.  I decided to use pink and red roses with white carnations instead.  Since these flowers had metal stems I was able to cut them and just push them into the styrofoam.  I used hot glue where needed to make sure nothing would fall off.

Here's a side by side comparison.  What do you think?

Ordering the Kisses and Hugs Berry Wreath from Etsy would have been $75 plus $17 shipping.  I made mine for less than $30.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Low-Cal Strawberry Icebox Dessert

While killing time on Pinterest, I found this simple recipe for No Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake.  The recipe seemed easy enough, but I decided I would make a low calorie/nearly sugar free version.

I used about 3 cups of sugar free chocolate pudding, 12 Low Fat Honey Graham Crackers, almost a whole container of Cool Whip Free, and maybe 1 cup of sliced fresh strawberries.  Then I layered them like a lasagna and refrigerated it over night. (You definitively have to let it set for a minimum of 4 hours, this allows the graham crackers to absorb moisture from the Cool Whip and pudding and softens them.)

Here is the nutritional break down for 1 of the 12 servings of this -

Calories - 145
Carbs - 25
Fat - 1g

Pretty good I think!  More importantly ~ How did it taste?  It was very tasty!  It's no chocolate birthday cake but it will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth craving.

I will make a few changes for next time.  I think I will cook down the strawberries to make more of a strawberry sauce and I think I will try cream cheese sugar free pudding.

Freaux Yeaux Addict

Apparently I'm late to the game about this new 'Frozen Yogurt" craze.  I've noticed the 10 different yogurt stores popping up around town, but I wasn't so sure about this 'pay by the ounce' deal.

So on Saturday Michael and I decided to try it out.  We went to Orange Leaf - (I think) a relatively new yogurt shoppe in town.  At first glance this place was CUTE and they had a Facebook check in deal.  I was 'liking' it.  My coworker had recommend I try the Cheesecake yogurt, and boy was I glad she did.  It was delicious!

I decided to swirl Strawberry and the Cheesecake together for a tasty treat!

Michael swirled Key Lime Pie and Coconut together, and he was pretty excited about it!

He is holding (and playing like a guitar) the second best thing about Orange Leaf - The Spoon!  It's not your usual plastic spoon.  It's made of sturdy plastic and has a rounded rectangle shape.  

In the past at other frozen desert establishments I've had plastic spoons cut my tongue.  That would never happen with this spoon.  I'm not going to lie, I wanted to save mine and bring it home. 

Regarding the 'Pay by the Ounce' deal - it wasn't as bad as I thought.  I believe its about .42 an ounce.  They only offer you one large size container and you don't know until you check out how much it will cost.  But for the 2 of us it was only $7 which I think is a very good deal compared to other frozen dessert places.

Michael and I will definitively be going back!  We can't wait to try more flavors.