Feeling domestic

I am not a cook. Just as I am not a runner. I have tried both many times and always wonder why I keep trying, because I just plain don't like either.

But I've decided to try cooking again. Call me crazy. My goal is to make one new recipe a week. I am hoping it will become easier over time?? My only rule is there can't be very many ingredients because then it just gets too complicated and expensive.

So tonight I made creamy avocado pasta. I got the recipe here, which I found on Pinterest (of course). I'm guessing most of my recipes will be coming from Pinterest! This recipe was healthy and tasted pretty good. I would say it had a "refreshing" taste...good for summer. I would make it again.

Creamy Avocado Pasta
Cook 1 serving angel hair pasta according to package instructions, about 12 minutes (including boiling time!). Meanwhile, combine the juice from ½ a lemon, 1 garlic clove, 1 tbsp. olive oil, ½ of an avocado and 1/8 cup basil in a food processor and puree. Toss together pasta and sauce and season with salt to taste.

Here are the ingredients. Pretty simple!

While the water was coming up to a boil, I did the other prep work. The recipe claims to only take 12 minutes, but I'm not as fast as them apparently. It took me a while to peel the garlic and cut up the avocado, but I think if I did it again I would be faster.

I put all of the ingredients in a blender (expect the pasta, duh) and hit "puree" and this is what came out.

Creamy avocado-ness.

Then I just mixed it in with the noodles! I added the salt at the end and also added some olive oil because it seemed a tad dry. But overall it turned out pretty good!

Let me know if you all try it and if you have any ideas for next week!

Making a house a home

This week I've been trying to spruce up the house a bit, along with unpacking (still!). It's really hard to pick and choose what I want to buy for the house since I don't have an endless budget. Boo. Anyway, I just wanted to show you all a few things I have added to my bedroom and downstairs bath to make our house a little more "homey."

First, we decided the downstairs bath need some towels. Well, it had towels, but not pretty ones. So, we headed out all over town and finally came up with this.

Not much but it's starting to look better. We still need some artwork but that will come with time.

Next I made some improvements to my bedroom that I'm really excited about!

If you read my last post, you saw that I was debating about the pink ruffle duvet. Well it had a few bad reviews and I was afraid of the color not going well with the peach walls. So I decided to do all white bedding. I was still in love with the ruffles and then I came across this. For only about $35, I decided to give it a try. I LOVE IT! It's so dainty and pretty.

The pictures don't do it justice. It adds just the right amount of ruffles and for a much more budget friendly price than the Urban Outfitters duvet. I still want to get a white quilt and white sheets, but all of those things cost money, so I will have to just wait. I also plan on adding my painted pillow shams, which I hope to finish very soon (with a blog tutorial to come!).

And finally, I added some art to these bare walls.

You may notice the art on the right from my design board. Well, the other night I stopped by Kirkland's to check out a bath mat Jessica wanted me to look at, and I saw it on sale, with a coordinating print! I was so excited, especially when I found out they were only $29.99 a piece! Yes, I got both of these for a mere $60. They are huge, with nice framing and even framing on the inside. I think they look great and I couldn't be happier with my purchase.

That's all the updates I have made so far, but I will keep you posted as stuff starts to look more "complete."

And lastly, I will leave you with these photos. Cause who can resist cute dogs?

The black and white dog is my friend Tacy's new puppy. He's so stinkin' cute! He a shih tzu/bichon frise mix with one eye (aww) and he's the sweetest thing and so happy all the time. Sasha (top right) is Tacy's other dog, and she's not too happy about the new addition to the family. Hopefully she'll come around :). Cocoa was pouting because we had to put the bones away so they wouldn't fight.

Oh, the life of a dog.