When I was pregnant I traded in hours of Law & Order SVU marathons for HGTV. Mind blown. I cannot even begin to tell you how inspired I was by all of the DIYing and house flipping. If they can do it so can I...

This summer we purchased our first home!! New construction and a blank space. I instantly decided that all of our hand me down, college furniture was NOT to make an appearance at the new house. After selling what we could on craigslist (guilty pleasure … please don't judge), we used the money for items for the new house.

I wanted to start with the living room. We spend most of our time there. Having a toddler my goal was functional but cozy and cute. We were able to keep the budget low thanks to good will, ana-white, and pinterest ideas.

The first thing I "DIY'd" for lack of a better term was the blanket ladder. 

The frames are a mix between good will finds (spray painted antique gold) and some frames that Brandan's grandpa made years and years ago.

Ikea sells pillow covers for like $4. Who knew?? They make such a big difference. 

When I asked B to help me with the picture ledge, he thought I was crazy for wanting it 8 ft long… but I am thrilled with how it turned out.

This is actually what our house looks like …. I figured why not be real? 

Moral of the story. Take on that project! You can totally do it.  Happy Monday all. xx

Growing up my Granny Miller would make all 10 of her children their favorite dessert for Thanksgiving… from scratch might I add! To carry on the tradition I am making my husbands favorite apple dish. When Brandan and I first started dating he told me this was his favorite dessert. Once I revived the recipe from his family I understood why, and is so easy to make! It has become a staple at our family Thanksgiving as well.

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer -
5-6 Golden Delicious Apples
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Top Layer -
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon

To Make:

Bottom Layer -
Peel and cut apples and mix together with sugar and cinnamon.

Top Layer -
Using a pastry cutter (or a spatula) start to mush together ingredients. Once they have started to mix I actually use my hand. See pics for what it should look like.

Lightly spray a 9x9 baking dish.  Dump the bottom layer first and then sprinkle with the topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.

Special notes: if doubling use a 9x13 pan. double the apples (I use 10) and only 1/2 the amount more of the topping. Do not cover when storing.. will get soggy.  If you want to get fancy serve with vanilla ice cream and carmel syrup!

(sorry for the non Pinterest worthy type pictures)


Enjoy and have a Happy Thanksgiving. xx

I really should be working, or cleaning, or showering .. but instead I am drinking my coffee, watching Taylor Swift on Kelly and Michael, and creating this site. It is something that I have wanted to do for quite a while. Over the last year I have been so inspired by life. All of the greatness and all of the realness. My hope is that I can relay that inspiration here… so here it goes. xx


Beautiful Bozeman.