Thursday, August 26, 2021
Powder Bathroom Renovation
We've really slowed down on our home projects these last two years. There were several reasons why we took a step back and it was much needed for us to slow down, but we were very much missing the process of renovating. We still have a few rooms left to overhaul, but we're also coming around full circle with some projects we did years ago and wanting to change things up mostly because our tastes and styles have evolved.
Our powder bathroom was in need of a renovation and I'm so happy it's nearly done. I say nearly because I'm still on the hunt for artwork, waiting for this cute enamel sign to arrive and there's four pieces of tile we need to add. Before we can do that we need to replace a piece of our wood flooring that was cut too short. This seems simple, I know, but taking the one board out means we also need to take off our baseboards in the entryway which has us itching to revamp. So those last four pieces of tile will start the process of redoing our entryway and we're very excited about it!
But back to this powder bathroom...
It started with our builder grade fixtures, flat paint (I swear is the worst, hello every scuff and fingerprint) and vinyl flooring. Our very first phase of giving this room a facelift included paint and changing out the faucet, but it really needed a complete overhaul. We started by choosing a fun patterned tile. I've been wanting to do something like this for awhile but had a difficult time committing to it because I'm constantly changing my mind. Who else is like this? When we laid the tile we really should have self-leveled the floors and we didn't because we didn't think it would make that big of a difference, but we definitely should have taken the step to do so. Live and learn.
Once we had the tile laid, our next venture was wall color. Since we were installing vertical board and batten we needed to decide which half of the wall would carry color and the other white. This was quite the process because every color sample we tried it kept pulling blue. Blue is beautiful but our decor pulls more greens than blues. I called my trusted color smart friends and together we ultimately decided going dark was the best option and it added the perfect amount of drama. This worked well because we were able to tie it into our new door trim and crown molding.
(sources linked at the bottom of post)
Next on the list was vanity and hardware. I knew before starting this project I wanted to use brass. What I didn't account for was how difficult it is to match brass with other brass. Luckily for some brass finishes using a brass ager can help by changing the color to help match separate pieces better. As for our vanity we really needed storage and this piece works well in this space. The girls can keep their hair bin and accessories downstairs along with a few other extras that make our mornings so much easier.
I love the choices we made in this space. It's classic, modern and a touch of vintage cozy.
Let's take a look at where we started earlier this year with this bathroom space because I can hardly believe this is the same room...
| Vanity | Light Fixture | Faucet | Towel Hook (originally from Hobby Lobby, similar one linked HERE) | Wall Color - BM Chantilly Lace | Trim Color - BM Black Pepper | Tile | Mirror | Hand Towels | Please Wash Hands Sign |
Sunday, February 14, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: February Week 3 & Valentine’s Day
Happy Valentine’s Day! The kids have been looking forward to this weekend for a few weeks and just love celebrating each holiday in both big and small ways. We decided to forego any Valentine gifts or baskets this year in order to keep things more simple. Leading up to Valentine’s we had a valentine exchange with our homeschool group, made heart garlands and added hearts into our everyday baking when possible. One of our traditions is to always make a fun dessert. This year the kids decided to choose the dessert and baked it themselves, they chose a flourless chocolate cake topped with homemade whipped cream and sliced strawberries. Oh my, it was absolutely delicious! We also made homemade donuts using Grands Biscuits. This was also a huge hit and tasted just like a funnel cake! We’ll be making these again and again.
After indulging in some extra sweets this weekend, our meal plan for this week is focused on lots of vegetables as sides. I feel the need to boost our produce intake along with water. I’m always terrible about drinking water, it’s something I’ve always struggled with, but I can tell my pregnant body is holding on to things more than usual and I’m not feeling my best self. Hopefully this week I can help curb all of that and get back on track.
Monday, February 8, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: February Weeks 1 & 2
Last week came and went quickly and I didn’t share our meal plan, so sorry friends! If you ever noticed I missed posting here, I likely still shared on my Instagram account @rachbraden I would love to have you follow along there as well. Sometimes I share recipes over there that don’t always make it over here.
It’s interesting, some are surprised we meal plan for all seven days of the week. I never really thought about it because it’s just something we’ve always done. We love spending time at home and we all love to cook. There are days that come along and it’s just been one of those hectic and exhausting days where no one is up for cooking, even if we’ve meal planned. On those days we may grab something easy from the freezer or order take out. And sometimes if we’re out and about we change our plans and stop at one of our favorite restaurants and go out as a family.
We love planning dates nights too, but we really have to plan those in advance. We have amazing babysitters whom our kids love, but since we don’t live anywhere near family dropping them off last minute with grandparents or even over-night (what’s that like?!?!) is never an option. However, Mike and I are trying to make a point to plan a date night each week, and you’ll see them showing up on our meal plan because I don’t just make this for you -- we actually use it, but those date nights will mostly be at-home-date-nights where we make something easy for the kids, put them to bed early and just spend time together. It’s still pretty cold here, but in the next several weeks we should start seeing some warmer temperatures that will allow us to spend more time outside in the backyard around the fire pit and we’re so excited!
February: Week 1
February: Week 2
This week I’m pulling a couple recipes from a cookbook my sweet friend Heidi wrote with her sister called Food from the Heart. I adore family recipes and this book is compiled of just those from cover to cover! We’ve made a few different recipes that we frequently go back to because they’re so good. This week we’re trying their fluffy dinner rolls. Olivia actually was helping me meal plan and asked if we could make them for dinner tonight. We’re also trying the ‘Bama’ Chicken recipe. This is a true southern recipes and the first time we actually tried ‘bama sauce was a few months ago from a local bbq restaurant. oh my goodness, it’s delicious and that’s coming from a Kansas City bbq raised girl. I’m really excited to try Heidi’s version this week!
Healthy Bruschetta Chicken with Balsamic Glaze
Fluffy Dinner Rolls
(Food From the Heart Cookbook by Heidi Matson & Ann Traffie)
Beef Enchiladas
(recipes on my Instagram Account, originally from by brother-in-law)
‘Bama’ Chicken
(Food From the Heart Cookbook)
For the month of February in my wellness community we are taking on a Faux Lash Challenge. Over the last few years I have loved finding and learning how to swap in natural recipes for different ailments and even more so, beauty hacks!
We all know lashes are all the rage and of course we want fuller, longer, more luscious lashes and I’m sharing a recipe to help boost lash and hair growth naturally. Come join us as we take on this challenge as we’ll be starting February 14th!
1) Register for our February challenge by clicking HERE.
2) Not yet a Young Living member? No problem, it’s so simple to get started. Grab yourself a Basic Starter Bundle by clicking HERE.
3) Add the needed Young Living essential oils to your order and grab the other supplies through the links provided in the email.
4) Once your supplies arrive, go ahead and get started!
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: January Week 4
Over the last few years we’ve made a bigger effort in eliminating processed foods and making more things from scratch. We decided on this to really eliminate the amount of sugar, sodium and MSG that’s often hiding in foods, especially when it comes to spice blends, dressings, marinades and sauces. This week I added two recipes for dry seasoning mixes in place of buying the packets at the grocery store. I’m all about convince, but it’s easy to mix up a larger batch of seasoning mixes and dry rubs and store them in the freezer or refrigerator if you don’t feel like you’ll use them quickly enough.
Same goes for salad dressings. Try making some of your own to control the amount of certain ingredients. They also taste so much better than the many found on the shelves at the store. For this week’s Cobb Salad, I suggest you use your favorite go to recipe, I always mix things up when it comes to Cobb salad because anything really goes. But instead of using a store bought dressing try making it yourself. This week we’re using Joanna Gaines’ Buttermilk Ranch Dressing from her first Magnolia Table cookbook. We also love using Ree Drummond’s from The Pioneer Woman.
*Buttermilk Tip: to make your own buttermilk use milk and either white vinegar or lemon juice.
For 1 cup of buttermilk use 1 tablespoon lemon juice/vinegar and fill the rest of the way with milk
3/4 cup use 2 1/4 teaspoons lemon juice/vinegar
2/3 cup use 2 teaspoons lemon juice/vinegar
1/2 cup use 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice/vinegar
1/3 cup use 1 teaspoon lemon juice/vinegar
1/4 cup use 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice/vinegar
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: January Week 3
Find the recipes for this week’s menu below.
Sweet Kale Salad recipe c/o Magnolia Table Vol. 2 page 125
Homemade Tortillas
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Emotions & Essential Oils
This last week has been quite the rollercoaster ride on top of just finishing up one of the craziest years. It’s easy for us to be affected by events and situations which of course lead so many of us to feel an array of emotions that are difficult to navigate through. Being pregnant during all of this chaos doesn’t do well for my hormones to say the least. I know so many of my friends and family are incredibly hurt, confused, sad and angry. We all are experiencing these feelings. Since we started using essential oils as part of our daily routine I can say they have helped our family be more in control of the emotions. We still feel all of them, but they don’t take over and control everything we do and I’m thankful for that. In hopes of helping others deal with their current emotions I’m sharing some of my favorite essential oils to use for emotional support.
Many of you know we only use Young Living essential oils because we trust the quality and we’ve seen awesome results. The quality of essential oils is very important and if you’re interested in learning more about Young Living’s Seed to Seal promise of quality oils and products you can read more about that HERE.
Essential oils have incredible benefits that can support the different systems of the body. What’s really cool about essential oils and other natural wellness elements is that they can work well with western medicine. It’s creating a balance of the two. This can work especially well for emotional support like our feelings. Young Living even has an entire kit just for emotional support called The Feelings Kit and you can learn more about it HERE.
Here are some of our favorite essential oils to use for emotional support...
Use these oils aromatically by diffusing in a room or throughout the home. I also love using these oils topically by mixing them with a carrier oil and using them in a rollerball. These oils are great for our kids too. Let’s not forget all the emotions our kids may or still are walking through. We can use these tools to help support them just as much as ourselves and remember our emotional demeanor sets the tone for them. Keeping ourselves grounded and calm helps create an environment that feels safe and nurturing for our children. Our home is our safe place and we are the gatekeepers, we get to decide what we allow to come inside.
In our oil community we talk all about how to use our favorite essential oils to help support our bodies and our homes through simple DIY’s, class events and recipes. Come learn more about our Wild & Grape community and how to join in on the fun!
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Winter Reading Favorites & Reading Logs
Winter reading logs are here for the new year! We’re swapping all our Christmas books out this week for our winter and Valentine books. December seemed to fly by and we didn’t read nearly as much as we had hoped, so hoping to kick it back into gear this month. What are some of your favorite winter books to add to your kids’ bookshelves? Since Kensi is reading chapter books I’ve been on the hunt for some winter themed ones. One of her favorites from last last year was All the Fun Winter Things by Erica S. Perl, this is an easy to read book, but it was perfect for her as she was just starting to get into chapter books. I think we’re going to have to make a visit to our local library to find a few new ones for her.
Also, to help keep Kensi on track with reading her chapter books I created an individual book log where she can track her chapters. She’s very much like me in the sense she likes to cross things off her to do lists. This particular book log I laminated so she can use it again and again with a wet erase marker. She also has the book log so once she finishes her chapter book she will record her book on the other sheet.
| one | two | three | four | five | six | seven |
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Weekly Meal Plan: January Week 1
Happy New Year friends! Several of you have asked throughout the last year about our meal plan and to be honest, we weren’t great about sticking with it the last few months. So in an effort to be better and get back on track I’ll be sharing our weekly dinner meal plan right here and on my Instagram account @rachbraden. I only meal plan for our dinners, it overwhelms me to try and meal plan all three meals each day. We’re pretty low key when it comes to breakfast and lunch anyways, often eating eggs and waffles for breakfast and either leftovers or something simple for lunch.
I’ll also share where the recipes come from if I can link them. Often I throw something on the menu and just go with it such as our baked fish and sautéed green beans. I don’t do anything fancy, but season it with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Some days those simple meals we’ve made a hundred times are just what we need.
If you want to try any of our meals we have planned go ahead and scroll down to either grab the recipe link or work it into your own weekly plan. Happy Meal Planning!
(We grow pesto basil (mom brain) in our garden in the summer, harvest it and make large batches of pesto to freeze so we can eat all winter long. Also omit the pine nuts if you have a nut allergy)
Taco Seasoning (see below)
Homemade Pizza Dough from Magnolia Table Cookbook Vol. 2 page 29
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