pinterest projects {mason jars}

 We recently moved into a larger apartment which means more space to fill and more nooks and crannies begging for my creative attention.

I saw this pinned awhile ago, and showed it to Sam. He liked it (yay!) which meant I didn't have to feel guilty about having already bought the mason jars :).

I like that it's simple and different than just having your silverware in a boring old drawer organizer!

I wanted to do something that tied in our kitchen colors, so I dug around in my craft stuff and found some ribbon to just add something extra. The best part about the ribbon is that it's simple to switch out because you can tie it tight enough that it won't fall down, so you don't need to glue it or anything! Holla!

Here's our interpretation of the above:

And Sam loved it so much...

 it found it's way into our bathroom as well!

What sort of crafting have you been up to lately?

life through instagram: 7/21/12.

 Nurse socks for the nurse.

 This little guy broke my heart at Petsmart. If Sam was a rule breaker, he would be snoozing next to me right now. Unfortunately, our apartment has a one pet per apartment rule, and I guessssss we have to abide by that rule.

Midweek date night. 

A visit from S!

The view looking up from Sam's parents' pool.

A spur of the moment night out at the Muny to see Chicago.

Straight thugs on the 4th of July. 

Hanging with a naughty clever cat. 

Wild Saturday night: Monopoly and Harry Potter. 

It's super official, people. 

Rereading a favorite. 

Amusement park fun with my mom.

Tomato season (I don't even like them, I just like the way they look in pictures). 

My first Cards game of the year and

a) we won

b) my boy Matt Holliday hit a home run!

I apologize to those who read my blog for life updates--turns out moving and a new job turn me into a poor communicator!

diy: {chalkboard wine glasses}

 Awhile back, I found this cute idea on (where else?) Pinterest.

I started out by taking some wine glasses that my aunt graciously gave me for free....

Do you spy my little helper?

and used some painter's tape to tape off the stem so that the barrel of the glass remained paint free. 

 Then, I wrapped some newspaper around the glass to make especially sure that the glass was safe.

 I then took my glasses outside to a well-ventilated area to spray the stems. My helper tagged along.

I used this Krylon Chalkboard spray paint which I found at Hobby Lobby. It was $7.99, but I used a 40% off coupon and got a good deal on it. Also, I hardly used any of it so it will definitely last me forever.

I then sprayed the stems on the top and bottom and let them dry a bit.

Albert really wanted to lick the glasses, but don't worry, I didn't let him.

And in the end, this was my finished product! They turned out just like the picture, and I found a chalk marker that writes beautifully at Michaels. Not that we host parties a lot, but I can't wait to use them some day (I already used them for my bff's bachelorette party and they worked well!). One cautionary note: do NOT wash these in the dishwasher after you've sprayed them with the paint. It will come off...and then you will have black flecks all over your dishwasher. Whoops!

a spin on chicken pizza

A few weeks ago, I went to a Pampered Chef bridal shower (for A), and they made a delicious veggie pizza for the recipe of the day. I loved it, so I committed some of the recipe to memory and Sam and I improvised our own version the other night.


It's not a typical "pizza" in that it didn't have cheese or sauce on it, but it LOOKED like pizza, so I'm sticking with the name.



This is what I we did: 


I pressed out a can of crescent rolls on my Pampered Chef baking stone which is the best thing besides Sam that's ever happened to me.  I then baked it in the oven for about 14 minutes and pulled it out to cool. I don't think I let it cool QUITE long enough, so I'd recommend about 7-10 minutes of cooling time.

Sorry ladies, that gentleman staring longingly at the crust doesn't come with the recipe.

While that was cooking, I boiled some chicken to cook it through then diced it up. If anyone has recommendations on how to quickly cook chicken for other recipes, I'd appreciate it. I HATE cooking chicken because I'm afraid it's going to be undercooked. I blame my medical microbiology classes for that!

 

Meanwhile, Sam helped me out by making our "sauce". This is the part that I wasn't sure about, so I improvised. Here we used some cream cheese, mayonnaise, fresh garlic, and parsley to make a creamy spread to put on the "pizza".  We didn't soften the cream cheese and it turned out find. Use a big spoon to whip up the cream cheese as best as possible, then stir in the mayo, garlic, and parsley.

 

Cut up the fresh veggies (leave them raw!) of your choice. 

After the crescent roll crust comes out of the oven, spread your cream cheese mixture over the crust just like you would sauce on a pizza.

Then, add the chicken and veggies!

Voila! I'm not sure how healthy this is, given the crescent roll crust. We did however use fresh veggies, reduced fat cream cheese, and reduced fat mayo...so i'm going to say it's not THAT bad for you. Sam was pretty impressed and I liked it a lot too. This is definitely something we'll try again. My favorite parts were that it was really easy, was a "cool" alternative to pizza on a warm Missouri day, and that each time you make it it's so easy to switch up!




Garlic & Herb Chicken Pizza

1 pkg crescent rolls (6 rolls)
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
2-3 cloves fresh garlic
2 Tbsp parsley
veggies of your choice
1 lb cooked chicken, diced.


Press crescent rolls out like a pizza crust, bake at 375 for 14 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil chicken until cooked through (about 20 minutes). Dice and lightly season with salt and pepper. Mix together cream cheese, mayo, garlic and parsley, set aside. Chop up vegetables. After crescent roll crust has cooled slightly, spread cream cheese mixture over entire crust. Top with veggies and chicken (or other toppings of your choosing).

Bon appetit!


*Sorry about the blurry iPhone pictures. Not sure what the problem was.
**My opinions regarding Pampered Chef products are solely mine and were not solicited or paid for by Pampered Chef. I just think they're totally rockin.

a return to the blogging world

Hello, world! It's me, Molly. Remember when I used to update this blog on the reg?

A lot has happened since my last post:

I successfully passed my nursing boards. Woot woot!

Said some goodbyes to some good friends (and some good family). 

Said hello to living with this guy. 

Traveled 1500 miles (each way) to watch my best friend get hitched. 

And started my new job (as a nurse, if you couldn't figure that out). 

Can you believe I've done all of that in 3 weeks? I can't either. Stay tuned for more details on each of those things (except my boards, I never want to talk about those again).

life through instagram: 5-21-12.

Since most of my pictures are from instagram, and I use it so frequently, I've decided to make "life through instagram" a running feature.

I promise they won't all be pictures of my dogs (even though those are always the best pictures).


This floppy beauty is just waiting to get packed away to head to Florida for A's wedding. So. Excited! It does get to stick along on an outing for another friend's bridal shower this weekend too. What a lucky hat.

I am blessed to have so many wonderful friends, and two of my best best best friends sent me this BEAUTIFUL flower arrangement to celebrate my graduation from nursing school. Seriously, how sweet are they? Thanks S & J!

I am officially DONE with nursing school, which if you're keeping track, means I'm now Molly, BSN. If I pass my boards (cross your fingers and toes!) I'll be Molly, RN-BSN. Seriously. cross your fingers AND toes.  This picture was from our pinning ceremony.

Remember when I told you I had wonderful friends? My nursing school savior Chelsea gave me a SNITCH for graduation. What a perfect gift. I am a little embarrassed that people know how much I like Harry Potter...but okay, not really. 

Like I mentioned, my mom and I graduated on the same day! She finished her Education degree. Go mom!

Remember how I told you S & J were so awesome? They also sent me this super sweet graduation gift...I am obsessed with all of it. Especially the blinged out graduation card :). 

I had to head to St. L to fill out some paperwork...for my new JOB and thus my new apartment! While I was there, Sam and I headed to lunch. I can't wait to make this a regular occurrence :). 

Sam's parents have a pool which I plan on taking advantage of...who wouldn't when it looks this peaceful!?

Bella isn't so sure of all this talk about moving, and such. 

Since I've been in the process of packing, my room was a mess. I did my favorite thing: throw everything on the bed and sort it out from there. I think it makes it so much easier to put everything in one big pile and pare down from there. 

I-70, how I loathe thee. It's a terribly long and uninteresting story, but I had to drive back and forth from KC to STL on this road twice in 48 hours. Let's just say do not let your TB test expire when you're starting a new job. 

I should also mention it is not any safer to take pictures while driving than it is to text and drive. So, don't attempt this. I never claimed to be brilliant.