Rug-A-Ma-Roll
The tv is louder than ever. Our voices echo. Moosehead is tap-dancing. My feet are cold.
Such is life without rugs. I never realized how much we’d miss the feeling of soft fabric on our feet until we didn’t have it anymore…
Sing it, Cinderella.
Sure we love our beautiful wood floors – (ok fine, they’re laminate wood floors) – but when you want your house to actually feel like a home, you need some softness and acoustic-killers in your life.
After hours upon hours of pouring over websites for the perfect rug for our bedroom, I finally found the one…
Not only is it exactly what I was looking for, but Overstock has amazing prices plus amazing shipping (meaning: $1). And I could’ve saved myself some time if I actually was looking for the correct size. This whole time I’ve been looking for an 8″x10″ when all we really needed was an 5″x8″. Duh
Slowly but surely, the rug-a-ma-roll situation is coming along in thee ol’ household. We already have our living room rugged-out – here’s a clear shot of the rug we have, as it was kind of hard to see the actual colors…
It’s got my color of the year in there, too -whoot! whoot! oh yeah…
So now my focus is on the dining room. We left that area last because it’s the least important – basically, we don’t use it as much. Since the other rugs are a little more neutral and understated, I really want find a rug that pops. I laid my eyes on this one, and I had saved it to buy later – it pretty much had my heart at ‘Add to Cart’…
Sadly, I checked back today to make the purchase and of course it’s sold out. I had been saving for this rug for 2 weeks. Cool. My heart is broken, and I don’t ever think I could find something that is as glorious as this one. However, it’s just a rug and time heals all wounds.
I have my eye on these other rugs as well – but I don’t feel the same way as I did with that one. Sigh. The one that got away. I can’t talk about it.
It’s just not the same. One thing I do know – I want orange in that room. It’s a perfect complement to gray.
It’s ok though, I can hold out hope that it’ll come back in stock, right?…
Breaknner
Some days, you just want to have breakfast for dinner. And if I had my way, it would be more often than not. You see, I’m sort of crazy about eggs. Like obsessed, like could-eat-every-single-day-for-every-single-meal-crazy for eggs. I don’t even know where it came from. I don’t even think I always had this obsession for eggs. There’s just something so delightfully simple and delicious… let’s just say it’s pretty hard to replace the good ol’ egg. At least in my book.
Anywho, these past few nights have been super busy. On top of painting, unpacking and cleaning, we’ve spent the past few days looking for one receipt. That’s all. I have found receipts for lunches, haircuts, groceries, furniture, dog treats – but I haven’t (of course) found the one receipt I actually need. Damn you, little thing! I’m sure we’ll find it once we don’t need it anymore. As usual…
All this non-stopness has got to stop eventually… right? I’ve been too tired to cook, but we have a fridge full of food that’s just waiting to go bad. But tonight, I’m putting an end to the madness. The Top Chef finale is on and nothing is going to come between us. This makes for a good excuse for “Breaknner” – or breakfast for dinner.
Cue heavenly music…
I know. Pretty glorious.
I didn’t even have to read the recipe before I knew this was the perfect Breaknner. It’ll feel like a full meal, but it has all the essentials of an easy, laid-back breakfast – you guessed it: eggs.
Grilled Cheese and Fried Egg Sandwiches
Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit
INGREDIENTS
12 slices pancetta (I prefer Canadian bacon – a little less salty)
2 tbsp butter
4 slices sourdough bread (really any bread will do, but sourdough is extra-special)
8 thin slices provolone cheese
4 large eggs (or extra large :))
1 small green onion, chopped
Parmesan cheese shavings
12 fresh basil leaves or arugula leaves
Melt butter in extra-large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 4 bread slices; top each with 2 provolone slices. Sprinkle with black pepper. Cook until cheese melts, 3 to 4 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat skillet with drippings over medium heat. Crack eggs into skillet; cook until whites are set but yolks are still runny, 2 to 3 minutes. Set 6 bacon slices and 2 eggs atop each of 2 cheese toasts. Top eggs with onion, Parmesan, and basil, then remaining bread slices, cheese side down. Cut sandwiches in half and serve.
So good you’ll want thirds…
Quatrefoil
You can now add Quatrefoil to my list of favorite patterns – in addition to Ikat and Chevron. I’m a HUGE fan of finding items that look expensive, but are easy on the wallet. Quatrefoil does the trick. You can find Quatrefoil patterns in pretty much anything – clothing, jewelry, home decor – I’m finding it everywhere. It also seems to be quite popular for rugs (yep, still looking) – it looks nice enough for a dining room, but funky enough for a bedroom or even a hallway. Either way, I’m loving it right now and I’m starting to think I might not have enough house for all these pattern favorites. But as I always say, if there’s a will, there’s a way – so I’m going to make it happen. Only space can stop me now!
Here are some Quatrefoiled items I’m loving right now…
Some people call it clover – but this is a design and fashion blog, so let’s at least make it sound expensive…
Like a Rock Star
I didn’t get to go to the farmer’s market. I didn’t make the 1 hour trek to Ikea. But I did feel like a rock star on Saturday. Why?
I got myself a brand new washer and dryer – that’s why. Maybe not the rock star you were thinking – more like a domestic rock star – or not… Either way, the 3+ weeks of laundry that was piling up finally had a visit from the detergent fairy. (Backstory: Once we got in the house, we did one load of laundry and the washer that came with the house quit. That was awesome…)
We went to HHGregg where they were having a nice sale and a 12-month interest-free credit card promotion this weekend. Holla! Once I got approved, it was on like Donkey Kong. Yeah, I said it.
I felt like I had won a shopping spree. I was picking out washers, dryers, laptops, laptop bags, wireless mouses (mice?), tv wall mounts, grills, desks, refrigerators. You name it, I wanted it.
Finally ManFriend stepped in and gave me a dose of reality. Even though we could get all this stuff, we had to pay for it. What a party pooper.
Needless to say, I still made out like a bandit – washer, dryer, laptop and tv wall mount. But only one of each…
The laundry goddesses (shameless Charlie Sheen reference)
And my glorious new laptop (I just had to get the white, of course)! (wall mount isn’t up yet – posts to come)
As you may notice, I’m posting a little later than usual. Now that I have my laptop, I can post from home rather than elsewhere. Although my posts may be a little later, they are sure to be even better. This laptop is like magic … it oozes with inspiration.
Also, I added Twitter updates to the right. Sometimes they are just links back to these posts, but I also sprinkle little nothings in there as well. I’m unstoppable!
Happy Weekend
This week went by fast for me. Before I knew it, it was Thursday. Today, however, seems to be dragging – most likely because I’m really excited for this weekend.
Manfriend and I have plans to visit a local organic farmer’s market we just learned about. I’m excited to see what kind of goodies they have to offer. I’m a big believer in buying local if possible, and we’re trying to go more organic. It can be difficult, and expensive, but we feel it’s worth it.
We’ve also been tossing around the idea of finally visiting IKEA. Never been. I can almost hear the loud gasps through the computer screen. I’m excited/nervous to go – excited because well, it’s IKEA and nervous because I hear it can tend to be somewhat overwhelming. We’ll see how it goes.
I hope to get the finishing touches of the paint in the living room and our bedroom done on Sunday. Then, if I’m not too exhausted, I might attempt the guest bedrooms. I’m still unsure if I want to do gray in those rooms…
Oh, and got one of the nightstands last night. It’s weird that they shipped them separately, but I got a reminder that the other one is waiting on our doorstep. I’ll post pictures next week – try to contain yourselves until then!
Listening to this song today…
Have a great one!
salted chocolate | life with a dash of flavor 
