While we have more empty rooms than not, I am doing my best to make even the empty rooms feel a little homier. I haven’t bought anything new, just using a few things we had from our condo to make the house feel more like a home. If you’re struggling to decorate, or have no plans to decorate, here are three easy ways to make your home feel a little more put together.

PLANTS

There is something about having plants in the home that instantly makes it feel more complete. If you look at any designer’s website or instagram, the one thing their completed rooms have in common across all genres and decor schemes is a little bit of greenery.

If you’re like me, and have a really hard time keeping anything alive, here are a few tips. Go with something that is really hard to kill. I know a fig tree would look awesome in that corner of yours, but they are insanely hard to keep alive. They are sensitive to light and temperature, and I swear if you look at it wrong, it will die. I have killed 2. The only two plants I can keep alive are cacti and snake plants. They’re both really clean looking, which I love and can be moved easily from room to room. Even better, go faux. While I am not in favor of going all faux, since a little extra oxygen never hurts, a statement faux plant you don’t have to worry about killing is great! The world of faux plants is amazing nowadays. I am planning on getting a big faux fiddle for my family room and THIS faux cactus for my living room.

ARTWORK

There is no better way to make a house really feel like you, than artwork that makes you happy. It is so subjective, so personal, and the best way to let your personality come through in your home. It is also a good way to freshen up a space you are bored with. At our condo, I was constantly moving around our artwork. While there are a few larger scale pieces I have my eye on for specific spaces in our new home, a lot of our smaller scale pieces will float through the house as I inevitably want to refresh a space! Since we’ve moved in, I’ve been moving some of my favorite pieces from room to room to brighten up our empty rooms and help me get a better feel for what feels right in each room.

Personally, I think the best decorated homes have the perfect mix of high and low end art. I would rather invest my money in a piece of artwork I know I am going to love the rest of my life than a couch that is going to get spilled on 9,879,586 times and inevitably go out of style. My favorite thing Blake and I have ever purchased is our mother and child piece we bought each other for our first anniversary while in Bangkok. My second favorite piece of artwork is a print I cut out of an old coffee table book and the frame was about $12 from target. My third favorite piece is a sketch we got at a market in Barcelona, which cost 5 euro :).

I actually did a whole gallery wall in our office at the condo entirely out of pieces I cut out of coffee table books. Sorry if this offends you or if you find that to be sacrilegious. I have a deep respect for books and love to read, but I think putting a print from a book onto your wall to look at every day just speaks even more to how much you love the book! Should I do a whole post on this and other ways to mix high and low art!?

While we haven’t made any decisions about the furniture we are going to buy to fill our rooms, I do have the artwork picked out for most of the rooms. I am going to decorate around the art.

COFFEE TABLE BOOKS

Hi, I am Katelyn and I have a coffee table book addiction. Along with every other 20 and 30 something woman. Such an easy way to make a room feel more polished and put together!

A couple tips for buying coffee table books that are not ridiculously priced. Antique markets, Salvation Army,  and resale shops all have old coffee table books for great prices! I have slowly been collecting all white, used coffee table books for a design element I want to incorporate into our living room. I have two chairs picked out that I swoon over every day, and I want to put a stack of all white books along side them as a sort of end table. Here is my inspo! Since these books can get pretty pricey, I am trying to find used ones for under $10 a piece as we go antiquing!

We also make it a point to pick one up every time we travel internationally! While I love some of the standard coffee table books you’ve probably seen in hundreds of homes, it’s fun to have some fun and unique books that no one else has! We have unpacked 80% of the house, and there is one more box of coffee table books somewhere that I am dying to get my hands on.  There is an old coffee table book we got in Paris that I want to find a home for. It is the perfect motivation to keep unboxing.

I am clearly a neutral girl, and my house is going to mostly reflect that. But I do like adding in pops of color through books and artwork. They’re not as permanent as a couch or paint color, so I don’t feel quite as committed to them!

The post 3 tips for making your home feel decorated, even when it’s not appeared first on But First Koffee.

I am so excited to start shopping at Trader Joe’s again in the burbs. I love their easy meals and their prices cannot be beat (not sponsored in any way, just really love TJs!). I thought I would mix things up this week and do a Trader Joe’s haul + meal plan! In the spirit of trying to stick to our good habits, I am trying to start every meal planning day off by cleaning out my fridge and seeing what I have. I am meal planning based off the ingredients I already have in the fridge that are going to go bad! Here is what is on the docket this week:

Meg’s black bean + sweet potato tacos

We had my entire family over for tacos this weekend and have bazillions of leftover tortillas. I don’t want standard tacos again so going to mix things up with Meg Mcmillin’s sweet potato tacos! If you haven’t tried Meg’s recipe for these yet, you have to give them a try. They are so easy, so delicious and healthy. See her full recipe here! PS, crying over how young James was in these pics, our babies are growing up sooo fast.

charcuterie for dinner

Blake and I do this every once in a while. Sometimes, I just want all the meats + cheeses and olives and need to just binge on it. We try to make it slightly healthier by adding in some tomatoes and onion! I love the charcuterie selection at Trader Joe’s. We always do this picnic style with wine and it makes dinner feel like a fancy date night ;). I always make bb a little charcuterie board of her own (with the healthy stuff and sub turkey for the other meats!) and she loves it.

greek meatballs wrap

Usually this meal seems like a summer meal to me, don’t ask why. But I have been craving Greek lately and there is a serious shortage of good greek food in the burbs, so I guess I will just have to make it at home! Full recipe here. We have a busy week and I probably will not be able to make it to the grocer store later in the week, so I bought the ingredients for this even though I know we probably won’t get to this meal until the end of the week. So as soon as we got home from the grocery store I put the ground turkey and pita in the freezer. I will take it out the morning we are going to cook it! Trying to really think ahead about when we will actually eat each meal in an effort to waste less!

copycat cauliflower

This weekend we had the BEST cauliflower from a little restaurant in our town. It was seared to perfection in a semi sweet sauce with chopped olives! It was such an interesting combo and one I would never have thought would taste good. But I have been craving it ever since and I am going to try to replicate! I will post a better recipe if it turns out, but here is what I am thinking:

sear cauliflower in evoo, when it is tender, stir in salt + pepper, honey, and diced olives. right before serving, squeeze some fresh lemon juice!

other essentials in my Trader Joe’s cart!

everything but the bagel seasoning

caramelized onion dip (amazing with veggies if you’re sick of hummus)

olive tapenade…I could literally put this on EVERYTHING, charcuterie, greek wrap, veggies, bread, pita…

tahini

peanut butter

sriracha ranch

chili pepper sauce

MEAL PLAN

breakfast

smoothies

eggs + avocado

(trying to do intermittent fasting most days, so I usually skip breakfast)

lunches

salads

leftover tacos

cauliflower

dinners

sweet potato tacos

charcuterie

greek meatballs

TRADER JOES GROCERY LIST

ground turkey

eggs

sweet potato

black beans

assorted meats + cheeses

tomatoes

cauliflower

red onion

avocado

green onion

sweet onion

lemons

tahini

hot sauce

caramelized onion dip

sriracha ranch

everything but the bagel seasoning

peanut butter

olive tapenade

honey

greek yogurt

pita

wheat bread

The post meal plan, trader joes edition appeared first on But First Koffee.

I wanted to live in the house for a little while before we undertook any renovation projects or made any purchases for the house, and I am SOOO happy we did it that way. my entire renovation and design strategy has shifted since we moved in. we are using spaces in different ways than I anticipated. and the space feels so different now that we are actually in it. even though most of our rooms are empty, I am really starting to get a feel for what they will be someday!

before we moved in the only thing we did was paint the second floor and basement. we had professional painters do the second floor, but they couldn’t finish the basement in time for the move so my dad and I did the basement! painting a room has always been on my bucket list, for some reason I have always wanted to do it. and it was actually really fun and extremely soothing. there is something so calming about painting a room. maybe because my dad is just a really calm person, but I found the whole process really enjoyable.

a few tips for painting from a beginner: (1) enlist help from someone who has done it before; (2) buy an audio book to listen to, I listened to Becoming Michelle Obama; (3) wear clothes you don’t mind ruining, RIP lululemon pants; (4) be prepared for sore muscles…there are muscles in my forearm that I didn’t even know existed; (5) paint is expensive…I have never painted a room before so I thought a can of paint was about $5. well, the previous owners had used Regal Select on the house and we wanted to be consistent. my jaw actually dropped when I saw it was $60 a can! so budget accordingly. we used about two cans on each room (5) have fun and don’t rush!

our entire house, with the exception of bb’s room because I haven’t decided exactly what I want to do with it yet, is chantilly lace. paint is so subjective and could look entirely different in two different houses, or even in two different rooms of the same house! but we loved how the color looked on the first floor so we just continued it throughout the house to simplify things. it’s a crisp white that goes really well with the natural wood tones throughout our house.

I am not sure what will come next in terms of renovations. it’s a bit of what comes first, the chicken or the egg. we need new carpet upstairs, but if we are going to be moving walls eventually, I don’t want to replace the carpet until we do that. the second floor bathrooms need to be redone and the basement bathroom could use a refresh too. way down the road, we would love to build out the attic space or build a guest suite above the garage. but we haven’t met with contractors yet to see if that is feasible. so until then, we are just living in the space as is to get a good feel for what we want. I am also just starting to get a feel for what textures and tones work best in the house. I am gravitating towards natural fibers, textures and materials.

decor wise, the plan is to get the first floor done and then move onto the second floor and basement! we have our old furniture in the family room and dining room for now, and the rest of the first floor is empty. I am actually starting to love the empty space haha. it’s perfect for bb. room to dance and play and it just feels so calm and airy in here. I am going to try really hard to make our decor feel minimal yet homey. I don’t want it to start to feel crowded in here.

the goal is a really kid friendly space that doesn’t feel cluttered and crazy, with toys and play spaces organically spaced throughout the house. I wish I was the type of mom that could just have ugly and brightly colored toys throughout the entire house without it driving me insane. I am not that type of mom. I want this house to be a place where bb can roam and play freely without it feeling like toys just threw up all over the house. so the plan is for play spaces to be built into the decor scheme and thoughtfully placed.

I haven’t pulled the trigger on any pieces yet. I want a plan for the entire first floor before I buy anything. one piece can effect the entire decor scheme for the rest of the house, and I really want the house to have a good flow. when we “decorated” our condo, I bought things piecemeal and it never felt like it had a rhyme or reason. I want the perfect mix, but I also don’t want the house to feel too “decorated.” you know when you walk into a room and it feels too perfect? like they just walked into restoration hardware and bought an entire room full of furniture? I do not want that. I have a serious love/hate relationship with restoration hardware. we have pieces from there that I love, but when you get too much from there it starts to feel like stepford house. I want a mix that feels unique to my family and home. I want it to feel done, but not too perfect, if that makes sense? I also want room to find more pieces as the years go by. we love to travel and some of my favorite pieces and artwork from our old condo are ones we found in different cities around the world!

to start to get a feel for what I want where, I have been moving artwork and furniture pieces around the house. I want to see how they feel in different spaces before I make any final decisions! we also have some large scale artwork we are going to get framed. but I want to find the perfect place for each piece. I’ve been making blake hold up this kuba cloth all over the house until we find it’s forever home :). to be determined…

can’t wait to share more of this process as we go!

xoxo

The post the weekly edit. 4. appeared first on But First Koffee.

If all goes according to plan, we should be in the new house by the end of the week! Ekk, I am so freaking excited. This feels like it has been such a long time coming, and I cannot wait to just be settled and back to normal life. I miss our routines and I am excited to get back to good habits.

We are treating this move as a fresh slate. A time to drop our not so great habits, get back to our good habits and pick up some new ones. Yesterday we flew home from florida and bb was such an angel on the flight. I mentioned this in my stories last week, but she has taken such a huge independence leap lately and it makes flying soooo much easier. We have been really blessed that she has always been a fairly good traveler. But let’s be honest, even a good toddler traveler is still not easy. I feel like I need to be 100% on with her the entire time we are traveling, and by the end I am emotionally drained. But our last two trips have been so different. She entertained herself and I actually had some down time on the flight. She is so curious and excited about traveling, that she is just happy and content to be on the plane in her own “big girl seat.”

Anyways, I digress. All of this is to say that Blake and I actually had an hour last night on our flight to talk about the new house, habits we want to keep, habits we need to ditch & new ones we want to start. So here they are!

the one minute rule

I’m sure you’ve heard of this in some way or form. This rule is really easy and my family is adopting it 100%. It’s simple. If you can accomplish a task in 1 minute or less, do it now. Examples: hanging up your jacket & purse, putting your shoes away, putting your dish in the dishwasher, throwing in a load of laundry, etc. I am all about enjoying your down time. I would never let household stuff get in the way of me time or time with my family. When Blake goes down for the night, me time starts. I am not one of those moms that puts my child down then immediately gets to the laundry, dishes, and cleaning. I would lose my mind. But if I can keep up on small tasks throughout the day, they won’t pile up as much.

no more phones in the bedroom

I am a bad sleeper. Have been for as long as I can remember. It takes me a long time to fall asleep and I wake often during the night. There are a lot of changes we are making in regards to this, I might even write a whole post about it, but ditching the phones is priority #1. We all know the deal about phones at night and what they do to our brains, so I will spare you the lecture. But that’s why we are ditching the phones. Sadly, this one honestly stresses me out. I do a lot on my phone in bed, which is all the more reason I need to commit to this rule and never turn back. When I am trying to fall asleep, I suddenly remember 9000 things I need to do, so it helps me fall asleep to type them into a note on my phone. It never occurred to me that I could just as easily have a bedside notebook that will serve the same purpose. So…that’s what we are going to do! I hope this encourages both me and Blake to read more, disconnect more, and just be overall more rested people.

no hoarding

This move has made me realize that I am a hoarder. I keep everything. I place a sentimental attachment on the most mundane items. T shirts that I know I am never ever ever ever going to wear again are saved because of that one time in Barcelona when I wore the shirt and have good memories. Or my dance team uniforms that I cannot part with (WHY?!). I am also fairly certain that I do not need 12 different sets of plates. Why do I keep a serving platter I know I am never going to use? Well, because I feel guilty that someone was thoughtful enough to give it to me as a gift. New rule in the new house: if there is not a place for it, it GOES! In the condo, there were always things out on the counters and dressers. Mainly because there was not enough room for everything to have it’s own place. Not because there wasn’t enough space, but because I have too much stuff. So I was constantly shuffling stuff from one place to another because there was not a proper place for everything. I am cutting down in the new house.

family dinners

All in all, we are pretty good about this. But sometimes we are guilty of feeding bb an early dinner then enjoy a more leisurely adults only dinner after she goes down for the night. bb’s preschool brings in a child psychologist once a month for the parents to meet with, talk to and ask questions. She also shares some unsolicited advice as well. Something I found SO interesting is how much value she puts on family dinners. In her professional opinion, there should be 6 family dinners a week. According to her, whether a child grows up in a house where family dinners are the norm is the single greatest predictor of future happiness (which is measured in terms of substance abuse problems and incarceration rates). I grew up in a house where family dinners were just the norm. Until I was old enough to go to friends houses on the weekends, we had 7 family dinners a week. I want that to be the norm for bb too. Almost all of the families in bb’s preschool have at least one parent who has to miss dinner frequently, either for travel or late work hours. Blake misses dinner a lot when he is traveling. So I felt extremely relieved to know that the benefits from family dinner come from having at least one parent who truly connects (no cell phones, real conversation) with their child during meal times.

good, old-fashioned chores

While we were on our flight, we wrote down chores for the whole family. Yep, bb too. I want her to feel like the house is hers too, and feel some (good) responsibility for it. Her chores are: make her bed every morning (literally throwing two pillows in her crib, but it’s the habit that counts), water her plant (we are getting her a small plant for her bedroom that she can take care of, maybe she will be better at keeping plants alive than her mama), feed George and walk George daily…with my assistance of course. For Blake and me, we broke ours down into daily, weekly and monthly chores. Sounds intense but it is mainly things we do already, just going to be more diligent about doing them regularly. And we added in some new ones that go along with owning a house, like who is in charge of each general upkeep category associated with the house. We have a strict “I cook, he cleans” philosophy in our house. I meal plan, grocery shop, and cook. Blake does all the dishes and loads and unloads the dishwasher every day. We addressed some common grievances we each had in our old condo, so we can start fresh and get rid of them. Blake likes to have snacks available at the house, but I do not like having junk in the house. So he is making me a list of healthy and husband approved snacks, and I will make sure we have them every week. I hate when I get into the car with the baby and it is out of gas, so part of his weekly duties is making sure both cars have a full tank of gas. I hate the word “chores” by the way, so if someone could come up with a better word for this, that would be much appreciated. Wish us luck…

less food waste

I know I have talked about this before, but we are terrible about food waste. Every Friday, I am cleaning out the fridge FULLY. If I know what I have and what is about to go bad, I can meal plan accordingly and waste less. I also hope that having less access to amazing restaurants (insert major tear face) will cut down on our spontaneous meals out. That is what really kills us when it comes to food waste. We have something I could easily make in the fridge, but Sushi Dokku sounds way better, so we go out instead. Hopefully, there will be less of that in the burbs!

morning workouts

OH EM GEEE am I excited for this one. I am a better person all around then I am working out consistently. I have less stress and anxiety, better patience and just feel 1000% better. Getting back into a workout routine cannot happen soon enough. The only thing we have in our empty house right now is a Peloton bike + some workout equipment. The Peloton bike was literally the very first thing we bought for the house. Top of my list of things I miss in the city is soulcycle, :(. I am still going to try to make it downtown to a weekly soulcycle class, but I needed to find a realistic replacement and I am hoping and praying that the Peloton bike can be that. Do any of you have it!? If so, what are your thoughts? Please send instructor recs!! I am really not a morning workout person, but I am hoping I can become one. Day time workouts are just too hard and unreliable with kids.

no junk food in the house

Both of my blakes are addicted to sugar. They could eat chocolate and candy and sweets all day long. So, I end up eating it too because I have no self control. I don’t officially make new years resolutions, but I do reevaluate things and think about what I can do better and what we can do better as a family. Sugar needs to go. So I am ditching the added sugar this January to try to kick the habit. I just want to feel better/get back to my normal self and sugar makes me feel awful. Did you know your brain has a similar chemical reaction to sugar as it does to drugs? Moving forward, there will be NOOOOOO candy, sweets or processed junk in our house. If we need something sweet, which we all do on occasion, we can go out for the occasional ice cream cone.

no shoes in the house

Ew, I do not know how this wasn’t a rule in our old condo, but we never took our shoes off at the front door. I know how disgusting that is, and I know the kinds of germs and bacteria we were tracking into our house. New house, new rule. NO SHOES IN THE HOUSE.

morning routines

This goes for all members of my family. We all have different things we need to do in the morning to make us feel in control of the day. For Blake, that is time alone so he can prioritize what he needs to do that day. For me, that’s time to drink my coffee and have some quiet time before miss b wakes up. In an ideal world, I somehow become a morning person who wakes bright and early, enjoys my coffee and quiet time then works out all before bb wakes up. Maybe I will even put on real clothes before she is awake…but that might be overly ambitious. When bb wakes up, we have quiet reading time and it is my favorite part of the day with her. She snuggles with me and it just starts the day off on the right foot. Since we have been at my parents, we have had no morning routine. She is too excited when she wakes up and it’s off to the races the moment her feet touch the ground. She has to wake up everyone in the house because she is so excited to start playing with her gram and papa. While I love how much fun she is having here, I am excited to have quiet and calm mornings again.

The post 10 habits we are making & breaking in the new house! appeared first on But First Koffee.

if you missed my insta stories earlier this week, here is what I am thinking. we need two couches (I think). definitely a big, comfy one for our family room and possibly a second one for our living room. I have not decided how we are laying out the living room, so I could end up going a different route and just doing a chair seating layout. but that is tbd.

I was obsessed with our couch in our condo. it was sooo comfy, extra deep and the perfect neutral. but to be honest, it did not hold up well. all of the cushions are pilled. we are still going to use it in our basement because it is the perfect cozy couch for movie nights, but I am very disappointed in how quickly it pilled.

I mentioned this in my instastories, but I am going for modern meets comfy meets durable. I also want something a little unique that speaks to our home & our style. we are going for vintage & modern vibes. if you can find me that couch, within our budget, I will owe you BIG TIME! here are the dream couches…

THE DREAM

mario bellini

this type of mario bellini couch is the dream. I have been obsessed with them since I saw Athena Calderone’s home, the woman behind Eye Swoon, featured in Architectural Digest a couple months ago. I mean, talk about heart eyes. her home and style is extra swoon worthy. I haven’t stopped thinking about that couch ever since. at $15,000-$50,000 a pop, it is way outside the budget. I am beyond obsessed, it is so chic, cozy + modern all at the same time. so the hunt is on to find something equally swoon worthy but within our budget.

image via pinterest

image via pinterest

image via pinterest

b&b italia

I am equally obsessed with this tufted B&B Italia sofa. if we went with something along this route, we would do a velvet fabric. I love the rich blue in the picture below. I know I want a mostly neutral home, but I would love to add in some pops of color in jewel tones along the way. a muted velvet sofa is the perfect way to do that.

image via pinterest

off white

if we don’t go with a leather or velvet, I really really really want to do a white sofa. I know I have a toddler and I know this is risky business. but there is something about that soft white sofa that just speaks to me. it is calming and serene.

image via pinterest

image via pinterest

image via pinterest

THE REALITY

for our next family room couch, I want better quality that will last over time. THANK YOU times one million to everyone who sent couch recs and tips on insta! I literally spent an entire day going through all the sites you sent and even spoke to a few brands to get more specifics. here is the rundown from your recs. leather is a big hit for kids, but it has to be the right kind of leather. wayfair, urban outfitters, interior define, and overstock were all recommended for budget options! this one from wayfair is an amazing price and a look I LOVE. if you are looking for a smaller leather sofa, this one is awesome and again, you can’t beat the price. urban outfitters has insanely priced sofas, if you are looking for a great deal!

in terms of durability and quality, I got a lot of mixed reviews. some of you swore by your restoration hardware couches, while others said they were hard to clean and do not hold up! please weight in if you have thoughts!

most recommended brands/retailers were: montauk, pottery barn, restoration hardware, interior define, rejuvenation, macys, verellen, circa modern, cb2, dwell studio, arhaus, room & board, cole furniture, walter e smith, cisco brothers, lee industries

some brands/retailers I stalk regularly: thomas hayes studio, france & sons, article, rove concepts, croft house

my favorite vintage shops/sites: 1st dibs, chairish, decaso, south loop loft, redefined decor, jayson home

I love how muted tones look in a family room, mixed with some pops of leather to add a bit of texture. so I am between a leather accent sofa, or an off white sofa in a very durable fabric. if we go the off white route, I will add in some pops of leather with THIS tufted ottoman I have had my eyes on for years, or leather chairs. to be determined!

stay tuned…

xoxo

The post the weekly edit. 3. appeared first on But First Koffee.

It is so hard to stay healthy when you have holiday parties galore filled with your favorite unhealthy foods. I cannot resist appetizers when they are in front of me, I literally have NO self control. But I can make an effort to make my meals at home healthier. So here are 5 changes I am making in my daily life to try and get myself back on track.

start your day right

For me, I find that if I start my day on a good foot, I am way more likely to keep up healthy habits the rest of the day. If my day starts with pastries, pancakes or butter soaked skillets, the rest of the day will follow suit. The moment I wake up, I down a big glass of water. When I am trying to be extra healthy, I have a detox drink in the morning too. So for the rest of the holidays I am going to do that. Either (1) lemon + apple cider vinegar…I know, this tastes absolutely god awful, but it is a quick chug and the benefits are amazing; or (2) celery juice. I have not done a ton of research on this, but my mom and family friend were talking about it this weekend, and it inspired me to give it a try.

intermittent fasting

I am getting back on this and, aside from my morning juice, trying to keep my eating hours between 12-6pm when I can control it. Obviously, on holiday party days this is near impossible. But I will make a conscious effort to be better about it on non-holiday party days. On days when I eat late into the evening, I wake up the next morning almost feeling like I have a hangover. My mornings feel heavier and lazier. Days after I cut off my eating earlier, I wake up energized and ready to go. I need to be better about listening to my body in general.

dessert TWICE a week

In a normal, non holiday season week, I would never have to try to stick to dessert only twice a week. But during the holidays I have to make a conscious effort to ditch the sugar. Instead of letting myself have dessert at every party (and as leftovers for the next week) I am giving myself two cheats a week. That means planning out my week and saving my cheats for the really good stuff!

detox often

Other times of the year, I do not need to detox as often. But over the holidays, maintenance detoxes become a necessity. I am trying to plan a weekly detox into my routine for the rest of the holiday season. This week, detox is happening on Sunday, because I literally have something every single day until then. My Sunday detox is going to be simple. Fast until 1pm, celery juice to break my fast then a smoothie for lunch and a detox salad for dinner. My go to detox salad includes lemon, avocado & apple cider vinegar + whatever other antimfiammatories I am craving that day.

plan your week

So far this holiday season, I have been flying by the seat of my pants. If you know you have two holiday parties that week, plan your meals around it. Pick lighter, healthier options so you can indulge at the party! On that note, here are the meals I am making this week! I have something 5 out of 7 nights this week, which means I need to be really good the meals I can control. I also want healthy meals in the fridge for the Blakes when I am gone.

SHREDDED BRUSSEL SPROUT SALAD – Iowagirleats.com

ROTISSERIE CHICKEN SOUP – backtothebooknutrition.com 

LEMON COUSCOUS SALAD – barefeetinthekitchen.com

GROCERY LIST

rotisserie chicken (x2)

couscous

craisins

pecans (using pecans in couscous instead of pistachios)

lemon

brussel sprouts

shallots

pears

garlic

yellow onion

red onion

carrot

fresh parsley

celery (for soup and juicing)

bay leaf

thyme

cinnamon stick

basmati rice

chicken broth

The post healthy holiday habits + meal plan appeared first on But First Koffee.

We thought we were going to be in our condo through the holidays, then our plans changed & everything happened really fast and we ended up closing before Thanksgiving. I loved how warm and cozy our home felt around the holidays, especially when it was filled with my loved ones. So I had to host one more wine night before we moved. But we were mid move & life was crazy hectic, so prep needed to be almost effortless. I love how a charcuterie board looks, and I wanted to take it to the next level…a charcuterie table! I prepped everything that day during naptime, and set it on the table about 15 minutes before everyone got there.

Everything was served room temperature. If things need to be served hot, hosting can tend to get a little hectic. I wanted to be able to enjoy my company, my wine and the food. So the entire menu was room temp. It was SO easy!

THE MENU

SALMON

prepared in olive oil & herbes de Provence seasoning and baked at 350 for 15-18 minutes. Served with red onion, tomatoes, cucumber, hard boiled egg and crackers

ROASTED VEGGIES

shallots, brussel sprouts, sweet potato, mushrooms & caramelized onion. I cooked them all in a skillet with olive oil, salt & pepper earlier in the day, then let them come to room temperature

ASSORTED CHARCUTERIE

selection of salami, prosciutto, and cheeses with accompaniments (grapes, crackers, bread, & olives)

BURRATA & TOMATOES

I splurged for the really good, freshly made burrata from Eataly and served it with heirloom tomatoes & basil!

SPREADS

cream cheese spread, fig spread, honey, olive oil & balsamic

 THE WINE

I really do not know much about wine. I know what I like and I know what I don’t like, but beyond that I am clueless. I want to learn more and love doing casual tastings with friends who won’t judge me when I cannot distinguish flavor profiles and miss the blackcurrant undertones in a cab. So here is how we did our really casual tasting! I picked three wines from the same region in France with slightly different grape varieties. I grabbed a $8 bottle (my go to cheap bottle of wine from Trader Joe’s and the only one of the three I have had before, Laurent Dublanc Côtes du Rhône), a $18 bottle and a $40 bottle. I wanted to see which one turned out to be everyone’s favorite doing a blind tasting.

It was so much fun sampling and seeing which was everyone’s favorite. The $8 and $40 were the winners. I loved that we could pick at the food, sample wine and chat at the same time. There was no pressure to sit down at a certain time, because all the food was room temp! And I wasn’t running back and forth from the kitchen, because everything was on the table before anyone got there.

If you’re looking for an easy, beautiful and tasty way to host a holiday party, I would highly recommend!

Happy Holidays!

xoxo

The post how to host an effortless holiday party appeared first on But First Koffee.

in the meantime, I have just been mentally decorating our entire house. if I could go back in time (or have 15 different careers) I would do something in design, architecture, interiors, etc. I could spend all day surfing pinterest and design websites finding inspiration for our little home. so my life these past couple weeks has been pinning all the home inspo! my pinterest home inspo page is here! follow along for all the home inspo.

the vibes we are going for is a modern feel with vintage finds! I love modern, but want to make our home feel warm, cozy and welcoming. and when you go too modern, it can feel a little cold. here are a few things I know I am finding a space for in my home somewhere!

A GALLERY WALL

throughout the years at our condo, we had a handful of gallery walls. they migrated from room to room and seemed to evolve over time. We had a really colorful gallery wall in our master bedroom for the first 4 years we lived there. The busyness started to get on my nerves and I took it down. In the new house, I want to somehow create a gallery wall that doesn’t feel too busy. we will see…

image via pinterest

image via pinterest

image via pinterest

A MARBLE TABLE

I have been lusting over marble tables for the past couple of years. I couldn’t justify buying a new table in our condo and it didn’t really fit the loft/exposed brick vibes. but we will DEFINITELY have a marble table of some sort in our new house! we are even toying with the idea of a double mini table setup in our breakfast nook!

image via pinterest

image via pinterest

image via pinterest

A FLAG HALYARD CHAIR

I saw this chair for the first time in Danielle Moss’s condo post a couple years ago and fell in love with it! We didn’t have a spot for it in our condo, but I have been dreaming of a space for it ever since. While I would love to buy an original, that is not in the budget. But Rove Concepts makes an ahhhmazing modern version. It will be one of my first purchases in our new home!

image via pinterest

image via danielle-moss.com

AN UPRIGHT PIANO

to me, a house is not complete without a piano. I grew up with a piano in my house, I played the piano when I was little and I have dreamed of having a little girl who plays the piano my whole life :). We don’t have room for a grand piano, but I actually love the look of a black upright piano just as much! There isn’t a perfect spot in our house for a piano, but I am determined to make it work. stay tuned.

image via pinterest

image via pinterest

image via pinterest

AN AFRICAN KUBA CLOTH

this is the first and only thing I have bought so far for the house. I haven’t decided if I am framing it, making it into throw pillows, or keeping it as a throw blanket…but it will be somewhere in my house!

The post the weekly edit. 2. appeared first on But First Koffee.

As promised, I am going to share some pics of our condo over the next few weeks! I miss this condo so much, and Blake’s room was my very happiest place. I love reliving our memories and stalking all the pictures we have.

I have a serious fear of flying. I get the worst anxiety. Once a therapist told me to imagine my calmest, happiest place. To go through every single detail in my mind and try to place myself in that spot. Over the past 2.5 years, it has always been the rocking chair in bb’s room. I imagine myself sitting there, with bb sound asleep on my chest, with the light from the living room coming in through the french doors (the only “windows” in the room). It was a stone throw from the kitchen, so even over the loud fan sound we used to drown out the noise, I could always hear the clinking of dishes from the kitchen. The ceilings were SO high but the exposed brick made it feel so warm and cozy. ps – if you have a fear of flying, this is the only thing that has ever come remotely close to helping me. I have tried xanax (makes me faint), liquid courage (makes me nauseated and that doesn’t work for 7am flights), meditation, hypnosis…none of that worked for me. So I would highly recommend giving it a try!

Anyways, I digress. But to say I loved this space is the understatement of the century. I love remembering being pregnant and creating this room, not even knowing who bb would be. It suited her so perfectly, my heart just must have known. I am so excited to create a new space for her in our next house, but this one will always hold a spot near and dear in my heart. Her very first place she called home.

The original inspiration for bb’s nursery was this picture. I was OBSESSED with this giraffe print. I found the original image on Pinterest and stalked down the Style Me Pretty post and eventually found the actual artist who did the painting. Her name is Jenna Snyder-Phillips and her Creatures collection is incredible. My hopes and dreams were crushed when the price tag was way outside the budget. I hope I can someday get one of her pieces, because they are everything.

This was another nursery picture I fell in love with, and stalked it equally hard. I finally found the original post and the cutest little family DIYed the print! So I set out to create the giraffe print (or my do not have an artist bone in my entire body version) myself! I told Blake for weeks I was going to try to do it on my own, and on valentine’s day, he surprised me with paints and said we were going to make all the artwork for our little one’s nursery together! If you know Blake, he is NOT crafty, does not paint, and this is extremely outside his comfort zone, which made the gesture even cuter. My pregnancy brain could not handle it and I basically cried the entire time we were painting. Blake made the I love you to the moon and back piece and I am not kidding, spent 5 hours (using stensils haha) making it exactly as he thought it should be. He said “I hope she takes this to college one day” while we were making it. It was the cutest thing and whether she wants to or not, she is taking it to college one day.

I love that gallery wall so much, and I don’t think I would have loved it as much if we hadn’t painted them all ourselves! The frames are the polished brass line from West Elm. Just a suggestion, but if you plan to hang a gallery wall, pay the $150 to hire a handyman to get them hung correctly and securely. All of the lower pieces were ripped off the wall at one point or another by an unruly toddler.

The very first piece we picked out for the nursery was the crib from Nursery Works. My parents got it for us as a gift and it is one of my favorite things we own. Someday, when we don’t have any use for a crib, it turns into a little daybed that will be perfect for a kids reading nook! We already owned the map that hangs above the crib. We found it at a going out of business sale in the city. They were basically giving away their artwork and we got it on an insane deal. I love how the mixed metals turned out with the brass legs from the crib, soft gold art frame and white book shelves.

Before we had bb, the closet space in her room was my overflow closet space. Our master closet was really small, so I used all the extra space in what was originally a guest room. When we started to make plans for a nursery, I decluttered as much as I could, but had to keep one of the two closets in her room for myself. Which meant we would need to have a lot of useful space inside the nursery.

We ended up with two Ikea bookshelves flanking her crib and they were invaluable. If you are doing city living with a little one or just have limited space, I highly recommend ALL the baskets and bins. Over the 2.5 years, the things that filled the baskets evolved, as her needs did. The metal bins held her toiletries and first aid supplies. At first, the wicker baskets held her blankets, swaddles, bibs, and burp clothes. And when we moved out they were filled with dress-up clothes and toys. And there were always plenty of books, including my original set of Harry Potter books which I CANNOT WAIT to read to her someday. And of course lots of fuzzy friends adorned the shelves. A little travel theme formed around the map on the wall, so we filled the shelves with some finds from our travels, like a hand carved elephant we bought in Thailand years before bb was even a wish in our heads.

The teal dresser is an antique. I love that no other kid in the world has that exact same dresser. I wanted a neutralish nursery, but wanted to bring in some pop of color that wasn’t pink. I fell in love with this piece the moment I saw it.

The rug is Safavieh from Amazon, the rocker is Nursery Works from Amazon, the lamp is from Target. and the fuzzy ottoman is Pottery Barn Kids. They don’t carry the exact ottoman anymore, but this one and this one are similar!

When we moved in, there was an ugly old ceiling fan. I think one of the easiest (and least expensive) ways to give a room a little facelift is to swap out the light fixture or ceiling fan for something fun! We knew we weren’t going to stay in this condo forever, so I was not going to invest serious money in a light fixture that would stay with the apartment. So we ended up with this cute little chandelier from Overstock for only $238!

Love this little space so much. Cannot wait to create a new one with new memories in our next house.

The post Blake’s nursery appeared first on But First Koffee.

I never knew it was possible to experience the gamut of emotions that have been flying round over here. we are SO excited for this next chapter, heart broken to leave our condo that has been home for the past 7 years, sad to leave our city life, so ready for suburb living, and SO so so grateful for the home that we found. continue on for the long version…

to be 100% honest, I could stay in the city for another 3 years. but blake is a country boy, grew up in nashville, tn and has wanted to be in the burbs since the day we moved to the city 7 years ago. marriage is about compromise, right?? I told you guys we were moving in August. for everyone that keeps asking and checking in, thank you so much for following along and being patient. I never imagined it would take 3 months to share all the details. but a lot of twists and turns have happened since then. until about 3 weeks ago, our plan was to build in the western suburbs of chicago. we had a lot, had started on plans and were going to stay in the city through the build process.

about three weeks ago, a new listing popped up in our dream town. blake and I are one of those weird couples that actually enjoy doing open houses on saturdays and sundays, just for fun. I love seeing interior inspiration for architectural designs and decor. so we went to see the house. I got those butterflies I had when we first saw our condo. I literally cried when we were walking through the house. I knew this was the house we were supposed to live in.

it is not the style I ever imagined we would end up with and it is way smaller than we thought we wanted. but it is our house. my mom always said that someday we would find a house that we loved so much, that selling our condo would not be so hard. obviously, in true daughter fashion, I did not believe her. until the day we saw this house, I was devastated over the prospect of selling our condo. like sick to my stomach, losing sleep, crying all the time about moving out of the place that has been our home for 7 years.

…a little flash back to when we bought our condo. the second I stepped into our condo for an open house 7 years ago, I said to my mom, “I am going to live here.” blake was traveling for work and literally could not get home to see the condo. I hated the kitchen, the wall color, the bathrooms and the floors, but something about the bones of the condo just clicked with my heart. I felt so confident deep in my bones that it was going to be a good and happy home. he trusted me and bought the condo without even seeing it. if that’s not love & trust, I don’t know what is. and my gut was 100% right, this condo has been more than a home. it feels like it has a heart inside it’s walls and these 7 years have been the best I’ve ever had.

our new house gives me that same feeling, deep in my bones, that it is going to be a good and happy home. I’ve cried happy tears over it a dozen times. I am not a person that says or believes those cliché things like “everything happens for a reason” “it’s fate” “it’s meant to be,” but this is as close to that feeling as I will ever get. it feels like all the set backs, stress, tears and headaches that have happened over the past 6 months brought us to this house.

the family that is moving out sent us a personal letter after we were under contract, just telling us about the house and what is has meant to them, and I cannot get through the letter without crying. everything they say about the home is what I imagine it will be for us. I am so grateful and happy and feel truly blessed that we found this house.

the first floor was just renovated and is perfect, but the second floor needs some TLC. so I am excited to share some renovations over the next year or so. would you guys like to see some home content as we renovate and decorate the house? we move out of our condo next week, wish me luck! but we don’t move into the new house until the new year, so we are staying with my parents for about 6 weeks. works out perfectly that we are with my parents over thanksgiving and christmas, since we spend that time at their house anyways. I talked this in circles with blake, about when the right time to share the news was, because we don’t want to jinx anything. we don’t officially close until december, but as we move out and move into my parents, I want to take you all with us along the way!

in an effort to be better about sharing this whole process, I am starting a new series, the weekly edit. I will try to share updates as we go! thanks, as always, for following along on this crazy ride! I cannot wait to show you all the whole house, but for the time being, here are the only pics I have, crappy iphone pics from the day we saw the house. the picture of bb running down the hall literally brings happy tears to my eyes I love every single thing about this house, but here are the first few things I fell in love with: the original barn door off the back, the leaded glass windows, the tiny but mighty backyard and the reading nook of my dreams.

xoxo

The post the weekly edit. 1. appeared first on But First Koffee.