absence makes the heart grow fonder... ;)

Sorry my lovely readers for being absent and ignoring this blog for a couple of days. The hubby was gone for a few days on a business trip and so we had to make up for some lost cuddle time ;) I should be used to him being gone a lot but since it's only during baseball season it is hard to get back into the awful grind. So we spent Sunday night cuddling on the couch with a movie and yesterday we went out to Ikea to shop for some furniture for our dining room and the nursery. We moved into this house almost 3 years ago but still have so many bare walls and things that need finished or already fixed again. We also had an early dinner at IHOP ;) yes, we love us some breakfast for dinner... 

So today I will be busy helping the hubs put most of this stuff together. We are hanging shelving units on the wall but Ikea didn't have the suspension rails that are needed. So for now we will put everything together and since the hubs is leaving on business again soon, the hanging part will have to wait until next week. Sorry there aren't any pictures today, I will make it up to you, I promise :) 

Have a lovely and productive day everyone! 

fresh pineapple and hawaiian toast :)

Today I am going to a consignment sale for baby and kids stuff with my neighbor and friend. I remember going to these kinds of sales with my mom back when I was little. She volunteered there and we were always allowed to get the first pick on items the night before the sale started. This sale is several days long and seems to be pretty huge. My neighbor just had her first child last July so we both will be looking for some good deals. My baby shower is coming up in April so I am going to have to pace myself a little ;) 

So since I won't be here today I will leave you with what I made for dinner last night. It's called Hawaiian Toast and it is something my mom made a lot when me and my brothers were little. It is the equivalent to a US kid's grilled cheese. So easy and yummy, you will love it. 

I had fresh pineapple on hand but you can just get a can. I love using our pineapple corer that I got from WMF in Germany before I moved here. It makes cutting up pineapple a breeze. 

 It removes the core and leaves you with a perfect pineapple spiral :) 

Then, for the Hawaiian Toast all you need is bread that you butter lightly on both sides, some sort of lunch meat like ham, turkey or hard salami, some cheese (I like swiss) and of course pineapple slices. 

Simply layer the meat and pineapple and top it off with your cheese. Then put it in the oven at around 350 degrees until the cheese has melted. Voila! 

 Serve it with some ketchup or any other sauce of your liking. It is so easy to make and perfect when you don't really feel like cooking a meal. If you try this let me know how you liked it or even link back your post. 

for japan with love

Please donate or join in today's day of silence. Thank you all :) 

 www.ForJapanWithLove.com

{diy} wall mural

Yesterday I finally got around to painting the wall mural in the nursery :) I am kind of in love with birch trees because of their gorgeous white bark and the way they grow so skinny and tall. 

Photo: Michael Hudson, Source

I knew for a while that wanted to put trees on the wall and I think it definitely suits a boys room. I looked at some of these wall decals that seem to be everywhere right now, but couldn't get myself to actually pay that much money for something I feel skilled enough to do on my own. 

Source

Source

However, I still had a little bit of hesitation due to the size of the project and was worried about being able to achieve the right scale without the help of a projector. I looked around for a cheap art projector but again couldn't get myself to spend money on that either ;) WoW I didn't realize how frugal I can be! So I ended up just free-handing the entire thing. 

I guess the worst that could have happened is that I would have had to repaint the wall. The worst did not happen :) 

I actually really love how it turned out and its whimsical qualities as opposed to a more bold, graphic look of the decals. It only took me a little more than an hour to do so I wasn't completely exhausted afterwards either ;) Some of you ladies out there probably know how exhausting just a little bit of physical activity can be when you're almost 31 weeks pregnant...

I am happy with the way it looks but I may still add in some birds or leaves. We have a bunch of picture frames to hang and I want to put up shelving. So again, it is not done but we are one step closer :) 

If you want to give this a shot all you need is some left-over paint and a few different sized paint brushes. The darker the wall the bolder your trees are going to look. Obviously, if you have a very light wall you may want to use darker paint. Do any of you have murals or decals on your walls? I would love to see them so feel free to leave a link in the comments section. 

Also, I am still looking for more bloggers who would like to join the blogger rewards program. For more info just click here :) 

Hope you are all having a wonderful Tuesday, we have our last childbirth class tonight, yay! 

florida i miss you already...

So I am finally settling back in at home and unfortunately there is a ton of stuff to do, like cleaning and laundry and cooking instead of going out for lunch and dinner ;) Florida was a blast and I wish I didn't have to come back to freezing temperatures and snow... The hubby gets to go back already on Thursday so I guess the puppies and I will be spending a lonely weekend together. Can you hear the violins playing? ;)
Even though he had to work a lot, hubby made sure I was taken care of and even brought me food to the room. He's great like that :) He also does this when we're home, this morning he chopped up some pineapple for me and brought it up so I didn't even have to get out of bed. Do you guys have awesome hubbies or boyfriends like that? What do they do for you? 


The good thing about being back home is that I can finally keep up with writing regular blog posts again so you guys should be totally excited about that. Look at you all doing your little happy dances :) I also have some give-aways coming up soon so I'll be posting more about that in the near future. For now I am going to leave you with some pictures from the trip. Enjoy ;) 

business and pleasure

I am still alive ;) just been a little busy enjoying myself on a little trip with lots of sunshine. The hubby had a business trip to go on and so I came with him and enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather. So sorry I've been ignoring you all, maybe these pics will make up for my absence and I promise to be better ;) Here is what I wore to one of the hubbys work events. Kind of hard to dress up when you're about 30 weeks pregnant but again, I managed with non-maternity clothes ;) 

Jean Jacket - American Eagle, Dress - Don't remember, Shoes - Old Navy, Earrings - H&M

Hubs enjoying some sunshine

puppy haircut

Today was the day ;) Melvin got a long needed haircut and he did so well. He is a Yorkiepoo and doesn't shed. However, his hair grows and grows and gets all curly which looks cute but also kinda ratty after a while. So since it's warming up outside I decided it was finally time for him to shed a layer or two... 
Soon after we got him as a pup we took him to Petsmart for a grooming. I think it was maybe $25 and so we took him back there the next time and it ended up costing $40!!! Because he was over 6 months old and they didn't consider him a puppy anymore. My puppy only weighs like 8 lbs and $40 is so not appropriate. So ever since then I have been grooming him myself. He used to hate it, try and bite the scissors, walk away, cry etc... now he is perfectly used to it :) 


I'm using the other computer so I don't have a before picture but if you go to this post you can get an idea. 


Here are the after pics

He even got a bath ;)