Jackie Gets an Upgrade

Happy Spring!
So, people that know me know who Jackie is. Since most of you probably don't know me, Jackie is my car. She has been with me for quite some time now. Let me tell you a brief story of how she got her name.
I had just purchased my 2005 Malibu in 2009 and decided I needed to name her. I needed to give her a good name, but could not think of one. While I was "on vacation" meaning I went to Bainbridge to visit a good friend of mine, Becca, we decided on a name. Now, my car, when clean and tidy and tires are shiny is a classy lady. Much like Jackie Kennedy. When she is untidy and has some dirt on her, she is much like Jackie O Nasty (ONassis). Therefore whichever way her owner keeps her, she is Jackie.
So Georgia has extremely hot summers. I am not complaining, just stating facts. So, overtime the door panels that were bound in leather, would begin to melt the adhesive and fall off. This caused Jackie to always be Jackie O Nasty. It was terrible, and unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures to show you how nasty she was.
Whilst on Pinterest, I came across a tutorial of replacing this said area on a vehicle. Amazingly, my car is not the only one that has this problem.  This girl sounds a lot like me. I read this tutorial a couple times to make sure I knew what to do. It was super easy, but it did take a while to do, and it does require a helper. In my case, my mama! So please check out this blog post and see how I did it, since I didn't take pictures of the steps. I also wanted to give all credit to this girl because I have had so many compliments on my car since then.
Here is a link to the tutorial:

http://buildersforeternity.blogspot.com/2012/08/pimp-your-ride.html


Here is how Jackie turned out:

Beautiful!!!!
Now go and upgrade your car!!!

Kaitlin

Sorry for the delay, life kinda got in the way a minute.

So, here is my official apology to my 2 followers of my blog. I have been away for some time! Since my last post a lot has happened in my life. I have moved to a new apartment (by myself! Yay me!) and have since cut ties with others in my life (I mean if you can't hang you just can't hang...). Any who, I'm back for the mean time and since I have done SO MANY projects, and of course didn't take pictures of steps, I'm just going to post them up and get to DIY eventually. So here are some things to look forward to:

Among a few others.....
But no one has time to get those pictures on the computer to upload right now, so maybe soon! Hope you enjoy these and I will soon get some detailed explanations of these up too!

Keep Wishing!

Kaitlin

Trying something new

So, it has been a long while since I have written on my blog. I just checked it and I have officially reached over 1000 views!! Thanks guys!! Don't know if that is good or not but it's good to me since I have only had this thing a few months.
I have been going through a lot of things personally lately, making it more and more difficult not to sit down and type out a few things. I am going to eventually get my post on my table done, as soon as it's done.... Yeah, not done. But it's close. So I figure, I need to just get out what I am working on right now, something totally different... wait for it..... wait for it...... a BUDGET!!! The word frightens me so! I am the WORLDS WORST when it comes to money.  Thank goodness I have kept my head on straight not to bury myself into credit card debt or student loans. I have just a little debt that I am paying on to a hospital from something awhile ago, but anywho... Without divulging too much of my financial info, basically I am paying rent, gas, cable, power, groceries, insurance, hospital bill, and water. They are greatest to least in that order. That's right, no car payment yet! Woo hooo! I am lucky to make enough to cover those expenses and then some, but for some reason, I cannot save money. Which is what I plan to work on the next couple months.
 I am taking the month of September as my guinea pig month. I am going to write down everything I spend. Yes, everything. I have no idea where all my extra money is going besides maybe going out to eat. I hardly ever get to buy new clothes, and with fall coming up, I really want to save money to buy some new work clothes. Don't forget Christmas is coming too and football season!!! I am hoping to surprise my boyfriend with UGA tickets this year. There is just so much going on that I want to have the money for so I have to start working right away.
By writing down everything I want to be able to create a diagram and categorize everything. I am stealing this idea from Discover because my Discover card has a way I can track how I am spending money and I can see that I need to stop eating out or buying clothes. So, in saying that, I want to see where this extra money is going and if I can see well that if I only have a certain amount of money to last me until payday, that candy bar might not be a good purchase, or might need to hold off on groceries for another week. I have got to learn how to stretch a dollar.
Currently, this evening, I have written down all of my monthly expenses that are concrete and never change and on another column wrote the ones that are variable. This is how it looks:
Fixed Expenses:
Rent
Electricity
Water
Cable

Variable Expenses:
Gas
Car Insurance
Groceries
Medical
Renters Insurance

I also split them up to the first of the month bills and the 15th of the month bills. I spend most of my paycheck at the beginning of the month since rent is my highest bill. So, with everything written out and I know what extra I should have after each paycheck, I should easily be able to put $200 in savings each month. With that said, starting September 15th I will begin a savings account and add that each month. That should bring me to $800 just before Christmas, which is way above what I would be spending anyway since no kids and my boyfriend and I don't spend a whole lot on each other. I get my Christmas bonus right after Thanksgiving so that will go straight to savings.

So, lets see if I can stick to the plan and save some money!!
I will keep you posted!

Go SAVE!

Kaitlin

Drive thru Daiquiri, Bourbon Street, and Duck Waffles

So, a spur of the moment road trip to deliver a Polaris RZR turns into a mini vacation of a lifetime! New Orleans!! So, the boyfriend sold the RZR.... it was sad...

This was it after a trip to Stoney Lonesome UTV park outside of Birmingham, AL back in Fall of 2012. Needless to say, we rode this this several more times before it was sold, and it was really sad to see it go.  BUT we did turn a sad moment into a GREAT weekend in the Big Easy....

I just want to share one of the most memorable experiences from New Orleans which was at on of Cory's good friends Bryon Peck's restaurant Elizabeth's. If you have been to New Orleans and not eaten here, you are seriously missing a piece of New Orleans.
We walked in and experienced VIP treatment (hey, it helps to know the chef) went upstairs to the bar area where we were asked if we were allergic to anything and if not, the kitchen would make something special. And special it was:

Literally, hands down, the most amazing thing I have EVER eaten. And I eat good food. This "Waffle" which looks more like a southern biscuit is light, airy, slightly sweet and when smothered in a bananas foster creme and whipped cream it really tastes like a piece of heaven.. (My mouth is watering right now thinking about it). It is paired by what looks like a couple slices of bacon, but correction... Its Praline Bacon (pronounced PrAH-Lean not PrAY-lean like us Georgia folks are used to). Yeah, it's the best salty/sweet combo I have experienced so far in my 25 years of life, and they are known for it. So, the surprise from the kitchen didn't let me down so I took to the menu...
Feeling extremely brave, it must have been the drive thru Daiquiri Shop I had been sipping on for 4 hours, I ordered the craziest thing on the menu just to see if it would be any good. I mean he brought me the slice of heaven I just ate, why not be ballsy? So I found the Duck Waffle... Yes, DUCK! It is a cornbread waffle with a duck and sweet potato hash and pepper jelly... So this is what comes to me after I order:

So, I was kind of nervous, I mean I really wanted to like this dish, but it was the wildest thing I had ever eaten in my life. It was a close second to what I ate earlier on the best things I had ever eaten. The waffle was crisp and not a super sweet cornbread mixture. The pepper jelly had a good temperature to offset the sweet potato hash. With the duck pieces, the texture was not sloppy but structured. Perfectly seasoned it needed nothing. Duck was tender too, which can be hard to do. So I look over at what my boyfriend decided to order and of course he doesn't stray far from a steak and eggs for his brunch:

So sorry for the poor picture quality, when I get some extra money the IPhone is hitting the curb. This steak was ordered medium and was dropped in front of us medium. Like perfection. My biggest pet peeve at a restaurant is to order a steak MEDIUM and get a well done brick or something that looks like it was walked through a warm room. Perfect flavor, the hollandaise I could have eaten with a spoon, eggs over easy and the best potatoes ever. Again, perfectly seasoned and cooked. Cory actually let me have a bite (I believe so I would write a good review)!

The atmosphere was awesome, everyone was super cool and really friendly. I never caught the bartenders name, but he was great. You want to experience New Orleans? Head to Elizabeth's for brunch, like now.

601 Gallier St. New Orleans, LA 
Check out their website and like them on Facebook:
http://elizabethsrestaurantnola.com/index.html
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elizabeths-Restaurant/154591867500

Thanks Bryon for an awesome experience and for breaking me into the New Orleans experience. We will be back soon!

Go EAT!

Kaitlin

Making Something New... NEWER!

This is another one of my sister's projects. I believe my mother and sister are just doing the projects and I am stuck getting the typing done. But I do have some projects that have not been completed yet that I will post soon!!
My sister, who just completed repainting the chest of drawers on a previous post, decided she wanted a mirror above it. She went to Lowes and found a plain wood mirror on the clearance rack and decided to paint it. Here it is!

Materials:
Mirror in wooden frame
Painters tape
Newspaper or plastic for covering while painting.
Rust-Oleum Universal Spray Paint in Espresso Brown Gloss

Start with cleaning and wiping the mirror until it is clean and dry.

Tape off the interior of the mirror and cover with plastic.

Use the spray paint and use even coats back and forth over the mirror frame to ensure no running of paint or missed spots.

Allow the paint to fully dry then hang where you want it to go!

See how simple that was??

Go Paint!!!

Kaitlin

Updating the Outdated

So, after I told my sister and my mama what I am doing with my blog now, their creative side has really shown up. My sister sent me a picture of an old chest of drawers and advised me that she was going to re-do it and she wanted me to put it on my blog. Well, turns out she is way better at tutorials than me, and a lot faster at projects than me. This project started with an old chest of drawers and turned into something you would find at the Pottery Barn.  I absolutely love it! She even wrote the tutorial for me!... So here it is, my creative and talented sister's work:

All materials came from Home Depot:

Zinsser Cover Stain, Oil-based Primer (1 qt.)

Behr Premium Plus Ultra, Interior Satin Enamel, Ivory Palace (1 qt.)

Foam Roller (6")

Foam Brushes (for the details)

Wooden Trim (for drawer fronts)

Drawer Hardware

Directions:

1. After removing the old hardware, I thoroughly cleaned the inside and outside of the dresser with warm water and Greased Lightning (degreaser) as the dresser had been sitting in storage for a while.

2. I decided to attach the drawer trim before painting (don't know if it was easier or not) using a miter box/saw, measuring tape, and a nail gun. Tip: When attaching the trim to the drawer fronts, use a bit of wood glue in the corners, as that will eliminate any gaps in the mitered corners. I also used a corner sander to smooth down the rough edges and make for a better fit.

3. Now time to paint...I believe the "trick" to get that Pottery Barn finish is the foam roller/brush applicator and not necessarily the paint itself. First, I painted two coats of primer to the insides of the drawers and the top of the dresser as those areas were the most stained. Everything else got one coat. Tip: I used a completely different paint tray, foam roller, and brush to paint the outside of the dresser as I did not want the possibility of transferring dirt from the insides of the drawers to my outside finish.

4. Next, I painted two coats of the paint (it also has primer in it) to the outside of the dresser and one coat on the insides of the drawers. Tip: On the dresser top, I paid special attention to my roll marks to ensure a smooth finish. The less pressure placed on the roller, the better.

5. The hardest part of the project was waiting on everything to dry and cure fully before placing the hardware back on and moving it to its new home. I plan on using this method in the future with a nightstand and mirror.

Go DECORATE!!

Kaitlin

Special thanks to my sister Kindal for creating the masterpiece. I'm still waiting on my own......

It's Canning Time!

I always love that time of year when someone you hold dear hands you two beautiful bags of fresh peppers. I was given banana peppers and green hot peppers from my boyfriend's mother who gave me the challenge of pickling the banana peppers and making pepper jelly.  I will be posting my pepper jelly at a later date, but here is my rendition of canning banana peppers and it is pretty easy!

Materials:
11 Pint Jars with lids(Whatever size you would like is fine, I used regular mouth pint jars)
1 Gal Distilled White Vinegar
Jar Funnel
Ladel
Tongs
Large Pot
Knife
Cutting Board
Banana Peppers (I just had a grocery sack full, I didn't need to use all of them)

So, first thing is preparation which really is where the hard work is. It is EXTREMELY important that you do not skip the step of the sterilization process of these jars. If you have a dishwasher, wash them on the hottest setting with nothing else in the dishwasher with regular dishwasher detergent. If not wash them by hand in the hottest water you can stand. I just do not trust my dishwasher so I wash mine by hand. (Yes, I know they come straight from the package and are already clean, but they are not sterile.)
Wash away, get them nice and shiny clean!

Next you need to get those peppers clean. I just rinsed these off in cool water really well and ran each one through my hands under the water. Then lay them out on a towel to dry. 

Next thing to do is to get those peppers cut up! Just slice them however you will want them out of the jar. I slice them like they have them in Papa John's pizzas. 

Just cut the tops and bottoms off and slice. I leave the seeds for kick. Place the slices in a bowl and set aside. You will need to sanitize the jars next. Heat up a very large pot of boiling water. Be extremely careful, my mother and myself have burned ourselves many times while trying to do this, so if you want to spend the extra money to get a jar grabber, they are about $8 at Walmart and really safe. I didn't think I would need them so I just used my tongs. 

Once the water is boiling, I dropped 3 cans at a time. Completely submerge them for 30 seconds under the boiling water then pick them up and set them on a towel to dry. Do the same with all the lids and seals. 

While those are drying it's time to get the vinegar ready. I used distilled white vinegar and ended up using the whole gallon. The best way to do it is measure a little at a time and heat it up. 

Heat up the vinegar on the stove, I used the same pot I sanitized the jars with.

While the vinegar is coming to a boil flip those cans over and fill them to the brim with pepper slices. 

Once the vinegar is boiling and all the jars are filled, use the jar funnel and your ladle to ladle in the vinegar, filling to the very top of the jar, you really don't want any air. Place the seal then the lid on the can. I use a towel to hold the jars because they will be really hot and so I can have a good grip to twist the lids as tight as they will go.

Once they are all filled and lidded, put them on the counter and DO NOT TOUCH THE LIDS!!! This will ensure they are sealed properly. And if you have canned before you know that sound of lids popping is the best sound in the world after all that work. If you hear all the cans pop, check them after awhile to make sure they all sealed good. All of mine did, but if yours didn't after about an hour, just repeat the process of canning and re-sanitize. Make sure the seal fits perfectly and doesn't have any blemishes. And wipe the seal off before placing on the can and they should look something like this!

BEAUTIFUL! Label and put them away or give them away!
Any questions, please comment below!

Go CAN!!

Kaitlin