Burlap Wreath DIY

I made a wreath in the summer (which I will post later), but recently I wanted to make a more fall wreath for our door.   Burlap gives such a fall feeling, so I set out to find a webpage that helped me make a DIY wreath.  It is actually quite simple and the whole project can be completed within an hour.  Michael's is normally my go to store since they are just down the street and always have coupons, but I bought my colored burlap off Amazon.  You don't need much, so I will start with a shopping list.  Below is what you will need for your wreath.

• 2 x 10 yard rolls of burlap (4 or 5 inches wide, I used 4)
• Wire wreath base - I used a 18"
• Wire or twine used to fasten burlap to base
• Decore as desired (below is what I used)
• 5 yds Orange Burlap (4" wide)
• 2 fall colored flour bunches
• Wooden Initial (8")
• White Paint 
• Paint Brush
• Hot Glue

Now that you have everything you need, I will start by showing the links I used to better understand how to make the base of the wreath. Depending on how tight you wind the burlap, you may need 1 or 2 of the 10 yd rolls.  I used about 1 1/2 but mine were pretty close together.

YouTube Video
Written Instructions

Between these two videos, I thought I had it under control.  I was worried about messing it up, but there really is no way to mess it up!  Some loops can be a bit bigger, some can be a bit smaller, in the end it balances out.  I also had a random pattern when doing the wreath so that it did not get too structured.  No joke, you can do it however you would like and it turns out great!

After the wreath was complete, I took white paint and panted the wooden initial.  I wanted it to stand out so I just painted it with a simple acrylic paint.  While the letter was drying, I made a bow.  I had made several bows in the past year for various projects, so you really can Google bow making and find one to your taste. I made a bow similar to the below.

How to Make a Bow

Once that was set, I cut the flowers off of the bushels I had bought.  I chose red, yellow, orange, and white as the base of this wreath to make it very festive for fall.  Now that everything was ready to decorate, it was time to fasten.

Using a fastening wire, attach the bow and flowers to the completed burlap wreath.  The letter is a bit harder to attach, so I went ahead and just glued the letter to the wreath, then weighted it with a book for a couple hours and it was stuck on there forever!  And here you go, my completed fall wreath!

Healthy Italian Wedding Soup

We all know that with the weather getting colder, it is finally soup weather again.  Soup is one of my favorite things to make!  It is so comforting in the fall and winter, and normally quick to make!  I had wanted to make Italian Wedding Soup for quite some time, but as you all know, dinner time for us is healthy for the most part.  I traveled quite a lot the past couple months, so with a week from home, I definitely wanted to make some soup.

This soup turned out absolutely amazing.  It is so quick to make, and was so healthy.  The meatballs take the longest to make, but can be made before hand if you need to.  Because I do not like beans, that was skipped on our end, but most recopies call for beans!  It is such a hardy soup that you really don't need to make anything else with it.  It will fill you up more than you think!  It makes about 6 servings, depending on how much you eat, but it is easy to make it a larger or smaller batch.  So, here we go!

Italian Wedding Soup

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

Soup ingredients:
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 large carrots, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 cup white wine (optional)
8 cups chicken broth (low sodium)
6oz baby spinach, chopped
1 1/2 cups pearl couscous (found near the rice in grocery stores) or small pasta


Meatball ingredients:
1lb ground turkey
2 tbsp milk
1 egg
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic pepper pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1. In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat olive oil. Add carrots and onions; saute for 5-8 minutes or until softened. Add garlic; cook 2 minutes more.
2. Add wine; cook down for 2 minutes. Add broth, heat to slow boil.
3. Add zucchini, seasonings, pasta/couscous, and meatballs. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until your pasta is tender.
4. Add chopped spinach, stir through until wilted, about 2-4 minutes.
5. Serve - some people prefer to add cheese on top, fresh Parmesan is the norm!

Meatballs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with a SilPat or regular foil and coat with non-stick spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients well. Using a rounded 1 tbsp measuring spoon or small melon baller, scoop out meat; shape into small balls. Makes roughly 100  meatballs, depending on how small you make them.
3. Place meatballs on baking sheet, making sure they don’t touch. Bake for 10 minutes.

Recipe adapted from here

St. Simons Island - Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend may have been a long time ago, but with work being crazy, travel being at an all time high, and life just being busy, the blogging has dropped off quite a bit.  We knew that summer was coming to an end as labor day weekend was approaching and didn't get to spend much time this summer at the beach.  We had some friends that were off of school, so we decided it was the perfect time to take an extended weekend enjoying the sun!  We hit the road on Thursday after everyone finished up work and started the drive in the direction of St. Simons.  We had booked a hotel along the way, so around midnight, we made our destination.  Kellie Ann and Reza were with us, so once we made it to the hotel, we went to sleep pretty quickly since we knew we wanted to hit the road pretty early on Friday.

Friday we got up and drove the remaining hour to St. Simons.  As soon as we got there, we hit the beach and met up with Duncan and Allie, who had stayed on St. Simon the previous night.  After enjoying some time at the pool, we finally got to check into our place.  We rented a beautiful place in Coast Cottages.  The place had 4 huge bedrooms, three stories, and a beautiful balcony, kitchen, and living room on the bottom floor.  That was plenty of room for the 8 of us! We also had private beach access, two beautiful pools, and bikes to go explore the island!

walkway to the beach

sunset from our rooftop

The weekend was the perfect weekend.  It was spent with wonderful company.  The mornings normally started with a beautiful bike ride.  We were lucky to have 6 bikes at the house so we would explore different areas of the island once we woke up.  After our bike ride, we would enjoy breakfast, then head to the pool.  The pool was beautiful, relaxing, and didn't require any work, so we would relax there until lunch time.  After lunch back at the house, we would set up at the beach for the remainder of the day.  We had brought a tent to make sure we didn't get too much sun, corn hole, soccer balls, and everything needed to entertain us.  The weather really was perfect all 4 of the days, and only started raining after we hit the road on Monday to head home after some time at the pool.  Once we had enough of the beach, we would pack up, stop for some more fun at the pool, and then head back to our house.

The Whole Crew!

Bike Crew!

As far as dinner went, we cooked two of the three nights.  One of the nights we made steak and chicken fajitas,and the other night we made a low country boil.  Both are super simple to make with a large group, don't take too much prep time, and everyone was happy!  The one night we went out to eat, we headed to Catch 228.  Joe and I had been there before, and knew it was amazing!  Needless to say, all of us got our fill of seafood! 

The trip was absolutely perfect and we couldn't have asked for better weather for our labor day weekend.  The company was great, the location was beautiful, and it was a much needed break from the real world.  After getting home, it was time to hit the ground running again and finish up the year at work.

Girls Weekend - Edisto, SC

I am way behind when it comes to blogging and the summer time, so I am doing my best to catch up.  A long time ago, Amanda reached out to a couple girls to plan a girls weekend.  Although people are busy at the end of the summer, and we decided on the weekend before labor day, it was a weekend I was looking forward to.  I hadn't gotten to spend too much time with my best girls since the wedding, and between the wedding planning, bachelorette weekend, and wedding, I got quite use to having them around!  It was a much needed get away.

We decided on the beach because who wouldn't want a weekend at the beach in the summer.  Two of my best friends were and I decided on Edisto since we were all coming from different locations!  Amanda came from Charlotte, Courtney from Greenville, and I came from Atlanta.  I was so excited to spend a wonderful weekend.

After quite a drive, we all got to Edisto where beach weekend was!  We left really early Friday so that we could spend some time on the beach Friday.  We started the day with some grocery shopping, then quickly hit the beach!  Just laying on the beach and catching up with two of my longest friends was much needed!  After a couple hours on the beach, we decided on a long walk by the ocean.  It was beautiful weather and perfect for relaxing, reading, and gossiping.  After the beach we packed up and got ready for dinner.  This was the one dinner we decided to do out and we had reservations at The Old Post Office.  It actually is in an old post office and the restaurant was so cute!  We enjoyed local seafood, Amanda and I got the crab cake special, while Courtney go shrimp (I think).  After dinner we headed home to relax, drink some wine, and eat way too much ice cream!

Saturday morning Court and I got up and went for a run on the golf course and then Amanda and I went on a walk.  By the time we were all fit, it was almost lunch time so we made an early lunch of sandwiches then headed to the beach for the remainder of the day!  After a lot of sun, we headed home to enjoy a early evening snack of chips and ice cream before showering up.  I made bow tie pasta and Italian sausage for dinner which was simple and quick.  After dinner we relaxed then called it an early night.

Sunday morning we packed up then hit the beach for a couple hours.  After lunch, we packed up the cars to hit the road and head home.  The weekend was perfect and much needed.  The place we stayed was beautiful but very reasonably priced so the whole weekend made for a pretty inexpensive vacation.  I loved getting some interrupted girl time for a weekend, and a lot of time to reflect on my long drives alone.  We already cannot wait for mountain weekend once it gets cold!  And now, cheers too two of the best friends a girl could ask for!

New York City!!!!

I know it has been quite some time since I have taken the time to sit down and write, but life has gotten super busy!  I have been traveling a lot for work, and spending time with my wonderful husband.  We have been working on small projects around the house to get art work up, cut the bar for downstairs, hosting plenty of dinners at our house, and so much more.  One of the main trips that I took was a trip to New York.  After spending some time in Boston, I drove down to New York to visit my sister and brother who both live there, and cousin who was nannying for a month for baby Rose.

My cousin Jana and I were on babysitting duty for a portion of the weekend since my sister was studying for her bar exam the following week, but we also got to spend a lot of time exploring the beautiful city.  I'll try to remember all the fun we had, but the best times were spent with little Rose in the park seeing how much she had grown in the past year!  She is now pulling herself up and standing, babbling away, and eating real food while making a mess.  She is so cute and is growing up so quick.

BEAUTIFUL CENTRAL PARK

Rose with Aunt Jana

One of the best experiences we had was a boat tour.  We had not booked anything in advance, so when we got to the peer, all of them were booked but the 45 minute Beast tour.  Since we had committed to taking a boat ride to see the city from the water, we went for it, and had a blast!  It is a speed boat so you are going super fast, and you definitely get wet, but we accomplished what we wanted.  We saw the Statue of Liberty from up close, took a ride around the city on water, and saw a beautiful view!  That day we were in charge for dinner so we cooked dinner at home, then headed out to the Empire State Building to see the beautiful city at night.

We met up with Amber at the Empire State Building after exploring Grand Central Station and stood in line for quite some time before getting to take the elevator up.  The wait was totally worth it and we saw the most magnificent view!  It was a bit cold and windy but the views are breathtaking.  Jana had been in NY long enough to know what a lot of the buildings were even at night, so we loved looking out onto the city.

We also took some time to explore time square and bought some chocolate at the M&M store for my cousins.  Time Square has a crazy exhibit where they have cut ours in the body shape that we enjoyed taking pictures in.  We also took some time and walked a good portion of the Brooklyn Bridge.  It actually wasn't nearly as crowded as we thought it would be so we enjoyed walking across the bridge!  We also stopped by the 911 memorial and which was breathtaking, and really reminds you how lucky we are each and every day to be surrounded by loved ones.

Z

911 Memorial

On Saturday we got to spend some time with my older brother.  He lives in Brooklyn so we ventured over to visit him for brunch and then walked around the flee market, farmers market, and the neighborhood to see what a cute little town he lives in!  I absolutely love Brooklyn and it has so much to offer.  He lives in a beautiful apartment with some friends and we loved seeing it all.  We also went to a church on Sunday that has a Slovenian priest.  We also explored Little Italy and bargained at China Town for some killer deals. It was so cool meeting the Slovenians in NY and socialize with them for a bit before grabbing some ice cream after church in the west village.  Before I knew it, it was time to head home to Atlanta, but it was so amazing seeing my older brother and sister as well as my cousin who spent so much time with me!  I can't wait to see them again, hopefully soon!