team mems

umm… homeade hot dog buns. yep. you can make those. and it only takes 5.5 hours! haha. totally worth it though. nice crumb, hearty, filling and wholesome. add some potato coins and some coleslaw and bam. dinner. done. next meal. next. meal.

In other news, I’ve been cooking up a STORM. Now that I have so much time, i’m much more inclined to try and make things totally from scratch. i’ve also been experimenting with different kinds of flours, sweetners, and fats to bake with and everything has been really great.

a few new favorites:

• Whole wheat vanilla wafers (shh, dont tell jason— he’s gobbling them down)
• Healthy Cheese-its! Ok, not “California” healthy, that is to say, there are carbs and calories in them, but they’re organic, whole grain, and made with wholesome farm-fresh cheese and butter. Gene, come at me bro!

Summer, summer, summerTIME (summertime)

Oh just a little something to break the monotony of all those trader joes dinners that have gotten to be a little bit out of control… ladies and gentleman, the grill has been christened! Tonight I tried to pay homage to my husband’s mexican heritage with:

• Red Chili! I couldnt find great chili, but these new mexico reds were smokey and rich, and for my first batch, it was pretty tasty!
• Homemade corn tortillas!! I’ve never made them before, and was totally surprised at how EASY and how CHEAP homemade tortillas really are. and i dont even have a tortilla press…yet…
• ELOTE and CARNE ASADA! it was truly a mexican feast. And if you’ve never had elote, it’s grilled corn with chili, lime and cotija cheese and its INCREDIBLE.

Enjoy the yummy!

The pub room looks incredible.  Love it!

(from mom frye)

Weber Genesis!!!

Yo dawg, I heard you liked grilling, so we put a grill in your grill so you can grill while you grill.

Annnnnd oh yeah, saved about 40% off retail. skDOOSH!!

Pub Room Updates!!!

We’ve been hard at work. here’s kind of a mockup of what the finished dining area of the pub room concept will look like. Eventually that table will be something we build and make all modular and hells yeah cool, but in the meantime, it’s a few foldable tables from costco with tableclothes on them. In other news:

CUSHIONS!!!! Thanks to dwell fabrics and my UNREAL mother in law, i have those cushions. in that fabric and i can still afford my mortgage. i mean, no big deal ;-) don’t be hatin.

Check that new lighting DAWGS! I mean, for real. Jason and Kathy put those in a few nights ago and they look amazing. I know, i know, the 80’s called, they want their track lighting system back. BUT hear me out. Sure the track itself is kind of fug, no doubt, but what we did WITH that fug track is totally cool and modern. those pendant lights are suuuuuper nice. the lighting is so warm and inviting. and the spot lights at the end give off this amazing wide led light that is so perfect in there.

Here’s a shovel, can you dig this fool???

Cutting Table!!

This thing is so amazing it merits it’s own post. It’s not totally done, we still have to do a wood treatment on it, add an ironing board insert and a little drawer at the bottom. But honestly LOOK at this monster!!! can you believe Kathy MADE this?????!?!?!?!?!? It rolls, folds out, folds in, holds shit… i can cut patterns, stretch quilts, you name it. It’s GLORIOUS.I can’t believe i actually have a full functioning craft studio now :) How cool is that?! This summer I’m going to do some serious studio work. I’m pretty excited.

NEXT LEVEL KITCHEN RAVE PLAYER!!!!!!

I finally got my led kitchen lights with built in dimmers to keep the haters out. go head and hate on me haters, cuz i aint afraid of what I got to pay for…

BANG-quettes. see what i did there. B/c they’re banging! You guys don’t even know. it’s going to be UNreal up in here. so many seatings. so many. SOOOO nice! the pub room is becoming a reality. I’ll continue to add pics as it shapes up. right now it’s looking CLASSY.

**UPDATE**

Can you BELIEVE that banquette!!! i left the house for a few hours today to do an IKEA run and catch up with Metz, and when i came back, this had happened! it’s primed, painted and paneled. that’s 3 times the alliteration! it’s seriously so beautiful already and we haven’t even added the cushions yet! And the best part is it was made, by hand, with love from Kathy and Gene. There’s something about having built in furniture made by your family that makes the house feel, i dunno, warm and fuzzy. That’s a thing, right?

Even partially complete, it already feels exactly the way I wanted it to feel in that room— like a big group of family could come and gather and stay for a while. I don’t exactly know how to repay Kathy and Gene for that gift. I guess just by enjoying it EVERY day :) that’s a fair trade, right? I hope they’re not expecting me to build them anything… i dunno how reliable I’d be for that…maybe i can build them a bacon cup to drink four loko from? Too soon?

YOU betta WERK!

I’m telling you, those Whittingtons are some hard workin sons of bitches. Check out this effin PROGRESS y’all. This is change we can believe in. Drumroll…

• 4 new faucets in all the upstairs bathrooms
• 2 new toilets! No more pooping on poop! for now…
• Craft room updates: fabric organizer in closet, organized craft wardrobe, new layout annnnnnnnnd oh yeah. CUSTOM. BUILT. CUTTING. TABLE. That’s next level crafting player!
• Master Bedroom closets are now functional. Jason engineered this door system so i can actually access the built in organizational system. also, they put pull out drawers in for me. you know that’s right.