What we got ourselves into...

Hello!  I still can't believe we are finally homeowners... We also can't get over that we were actually allowed to buy a house {aren't we too young? oh wait, no...}.  Now, I hope you are excited, because I want to show you some pictures of what we got ourselves into. 

Front Room

Hello wall of wood.  
 

Kitchen

I'm actually most excited for this room.  I think it has some serious potential!  Can you see it? :)

Sun Room

Say goodbye to that middle wall!

Use to be Garage, soon to a Garage again. 

Does anyone want a safe?  We will give to you for FREE.  It may weigh 900 lbs and has already been drilled into...
 

Guest Room

Office
 

The Master Bedroom

The Laundry Room

aka the creepiest room in the house...
 

The Basement Bedrooms

Alright that is it for now {I promise we have bathrooms}!  I will be posting soon about how we are GOING TO BE ABLE TO USE OUR WOOD FLOORS! 

 I am a little excited...

{LJ}

And...we bought a house!!

Holy cow batman it finally happened.  

 

After 6 short months, 10 offers and countless shag carpet dining rooms we finally bought a house!!!  We had an offer accepted in the middle of July, and I have been too worried about it falling through to share the news with ya’ll! I kept thinking that the mortgage people were going like you guys are too crazy, immature, young, weird, or good looking to buy a house.  Then after we were officially approved, came the worry {I know, I have to pray about not worrying} about all the inspections.  Our house was a foreclosure so we knew there would have to be some things wrong with it.  Thankfully it was in "pretty good shape". 

 We are definitely buying a fixer upper with really baaaad carpet, paneling, gold fixtures, a blue bath tub, a space ship window, and double ovens from the 80s.  I could not be more excited!  I cannot wait to share our first home with y'all! 

BOOM!    

{LJ}

Football Schedule Chalkboard

Are you ready for some football?

I AM!  There are exactly 10 days until the first college football Saturday.  So many good things come with the start of football... cooler temps, pretty leaves, hot lattes, lazy Saturdays and crimson, lots of crimson {boomer sooner}.  I have wanted to make a football schedule since my sweet friend Jill posted her's on Instagram.  

She is the most creative person I know.  I have been begging her to start blogging again!  Last weekend Tall Tan Man and I were at his Mom's house.  She had this frame in her "garage sale" pile and said whatever I wanted I could have. Dangerous words.  I loved the gold bamboo frame and it is the perfect size for a football schedule.  That is what I would call a garage sale TOUCHDOWN! 

After lots of cleaning, I spray painted the glass with chalkboard paint 3 times.  Jill used a chalk board pen and I used chalk.  Chalk is messy and a little bit harder to use.  I wish I would of tried using a chalk pen, but what is done is done!  

{LJ}

Oreo Brownies

Helloooooooooo.  I'm so sorry, I know I have been a really bad blogger lately.  I promise I have a reason, but I am not ready to tell yet.  Now I am super mysterious.  :) Last weekend I was wanting to make a quick dessert for the Broncos pre season game.  I was inspired by {Pioneer Woman's Crazy Brownies}, but I think I will call mine Lazy Brownies.  These brownies are quick, easy, and super delicious!

Oreo Brownies

Ingredients

Brownie Mix {make as directed, I swear by Duncan Hines Ultimate Fudge}
16 Oreos

Directions:

1.  Pre Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8in by 8in glass pan. 

2.  Make the brownie mix as directed, and pour half of the mix into the bottom of the pan.  Spread around with a spatula.  

3.  Place all 16 Oreos in a 4 by 4 gird.  Press them down slightly.

4.  Pour and spread the remaining brownie mix over the top of the oreos.  

5.  Bake for 22-30 minutes. Allow brownies to cool for an hour before cutting into them with a plastic knife.  

Hope your week is as great as these brownies!

{LJ}

Linking up with Skip to my Lou, Say Not Sweet Anne, and  Uncommon Designs

Nashville

Hi ya’ll!  The FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL is TOMORROW... You know it wouldn’t be so hard to go back if I didn’t have two months off...  Haha I’m kidding, kind of.  I spent most of last week in Nashville, and my parents and I had so much fun!  We ate at lots of good places and did some cool things.  If you decide to go to Nashville here are some of my recommendations and tips.

Eating {most important part, right?}

Breakfast:

Loveless Cafe

Loveless came recommended to us from the hotel lobby pamphlet section.  I was a little skeptical but then Queen Martha recommended so we decided to give it a try.  It was pretty far out of town.  It took us about 35 minutes to get there from our hotel.  I loved the atmosphere of the old house it was in and they immediately brought us biscuits.  I loooove biscuits.  The biscuits were good and we got omelets, which were also yummy.  My Mom got a side of hashbrown casserole, which I definitely recommend!    If your looking for Grandma’s cooking in Nashville then this is your place! 

Fido 

 When you google best breakfast in Nashville the Pancake Pantry is one of the first options that pops up.  We decided to head over there on Monday morning at about 10 am and the line was sooo long.  My Dad said “no breakfast is that good.”  I love him.  We decided to walk around the Hillsboro area to see if there was another place and we found Fido’s.  This place was a lot less commercialized, a little hipster and NO line.  My Mom and I split a breakfast scramble and whole grain banana pancakes.  SO GOOD.  I couldn’t stop eating.  I can’t imagine the Pancake Pantry being any better.  The cappuccinos were also pretty spectacular and pretty. 

Cracker barrel 

Within walking distance to our hotel… Nuf said. 

Dinner:

Puckette’s

  This restaurant is right downtown and came recommended to us by a local.  The atmosphere was great and there is live music later on a night.  I was excited because the menu items looked unique and yummy, but they weren’t… I got the BBQ sliders, my Mom got the baked chicken, and my Dad got a gouda mac and cheese with pulled pork.  Everything was either mediocre or if I am being honest bad.  Such a disappointment!  Even the sides were bad!  This was definitely our worst dining experience in Nashville. 

Caney Fork  

The restaurant was also walking distance to our hotel so we went there twice.  I got ribs both times and my Mom got the catfish.  These were both the items they were known for.  I thought my ribs were awesome!  The key lime pie and the chocolate peanut butter pie were also yummy. 

Random Bar Downtown 

 This place looked dingy and I was sure it was going to be bad bar food.  I was sure surprised when my pulled pork sandwhich was outstanding!  Wish I would of gotten the name!

Activities:

Tree Top Zip Line  

This was my favorite thing we did!  I felt like I was back at camp!  We found this place online and were able to get discounted tickets {$35 each} and it took us about 3 hours to complete the three courses.  I love activities that involve working up a little bit of sweat and this one delivered.  There were a bunch of obstacles and some were more challenging than others.  I had so much fun doing this with my parents.  My Dad did say “I would not of done that if I would of known it was THAT hard.”   I would not say it was super physically demanding, but there were 3 obstacles that were challenging.  This helped balance all the good eating we did. 

Downtown Franklin

Franklin is a about 20ish minutes south of downtown.  The main reason we went there was because it was on the way to a winery.  Downtown was super cute with lots of little shops.   My favorite was the fudge shop.  Of course. 

Arrington Winery  

This winery is about 40 minutes of town.  We had never been to a winery and Kix Brooks was the owner so we thought why not.  The vineyard is really beautiful with a huge deck and friendly workers.  I had no idea what half of the stuff our guide was telling us {nose? Legs? Flowery?}, but the wine was good!  You can take your wine samples outside to the deck or picnic tables if you don’t want to hear the whole shpel. 

Golf 

I don’t golf, but I do shop.  My Dad does not shop, but he does golf.  We dropped my Dad off at Gaylord Springs Golf Links.  He thought course was really nice and not too crowded.  Yep, that’s all I got. 

Hilsboro Village

 This is where we went to Fido’s.  It is really close to Vanderbilt University.  There is was about 6 boutique shops that had cute clothes. 

Tootsies 

 This is the bar we went to when were downtown.  I am sure some people have strong opinions on which ones are better than others.  All I cared about was listening to some country music.  Tootsies had a 3^rd floor patio, which was nice.  We went there on Saturday night and also on Monday at about 6.  The Monday crowd was a little more enjoyable chill. 

Grand Ole Opry

We had not planned on going to the Grand Ole Opry, I don’t know why.  Tall Tan Man’s friend found out we were in town and pulled some strings and got us VIP at the Opry!  It was SO AWESOME!  We got to sit on the pews that are the stage and see all the backstage happenings.   This was definitely a major highlight of our trip!  Thanks Keith!!

It is safe to say my obsession with the show Nashville is even stronger now.  We had a lot of fun and I can’t wait to go back in 3 weeks for a wedding!  Now I better head to bed.  I have this thing I have to use now and it wakes me up real early.  Oh hello alarm, I haven’t missed you. 

{LJ}

Lemon Zucchini Cookies

Hello from Nashville!  My parents and I are on a little family vacay {minus my bro and hubster}.  We are having so much fun!  I wanted to drop in to say HI and share an amazing recipe! These Lemon Zucchini Cookies have a cake like texture, and are just the right amount of sweetness.  I followed the {recipe} from Taste of home closely. 

Enjoy! :)

Zucchini Lemon Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup peeled & finely grated zucchini
1 tsp lemon zest
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 - 4 tbsp lemon juice
Directions:

1.   Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl combine butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2.  Add in egg, zucchini, and lemon zest.  

3.  In another bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

4. Slowly add the the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture.  Stir in the cranberries and pecans. 

5.  Spray baking sheet with bakers joy and bake for 8-10 minutes.

6.  Make the lemon glaze by combing the confectioners sugar and lemon juice {I ended up adding an addition TBSP of lemon juice to get the right consistency}.  Drizzle the glaze over cookies.

These cookies will not disappoint you!  Now we are off to enjoy try a breakfast place Martha Stewart suggested. Bring on the biscuits baby!

 
{LJ}

Linking Up With:
The Blissful Bee
Ginger Snap Crafts
Someday Crafts
Polka Dots on Parade
Seven Thirty Three
Liz Marie Blog