Autumnal Happiness

I love fall. I love everything about it. The food, the temperature, the leaves, the football, the pumpkins!

And the other night I carved my first pumpkin. I'm not known to be good with knives so I never did it. But my roomate and her boyfriend brought two home to carve and we had one on our front step. So I grabbed it and carved the following...



That's right-it's our house number! I saw the idea on Better Homes and Gardens website. For my first pumpkin experience, I think it turned out pretty good. We put them out right away...and now our step looks like this.



Spooky? Maybe not!




And tonight Lancaster kids have trick-or-treat time. To our shock, we had two little ones come to our door and we only had a small bowl of random candy. So I quick ran out and got a bag of Kit-Kats. If no one else shows up, at least I like the candy in the house. :-D

Hope everyone has a spooktacular weekend of haunts.

I'm Now a Stuffer of Shells

Last Monday (yes, I know, it's over a week later!) I invited my dear friends Megan and Jacquie (from Bread, Wine & Family blog) over for dinner. I decided it was time to go big in the kitchen and use the space!

So I ventured into the land of stuffed shells- that I stuffed myself. That's right world, Alyssa made a legitimate meal! We also had salad and garlic bread, but those are not nearly as interesting as the shells.

Here's how it went:

You will need 12 dried jumbo shell macaroni, 1 10oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed, 2 eggs, 1 8oz package of shredded Italian cheese, 1 cup of ricotta cheese, and 1 26-32 oz jar of pasta sauce.

Cook the pasta as the package says..duh. Rinse it with cold water and drain it. Then put those babies to the side. Like so...


Then you will want to drain the thawed spinach. To make the filling, beat the eggs (in a bowl). Add the spinach, 1 1/2 cups of the shredded cheese, and the ricotta. Stir, stir, stir. It will appear like this...yum!


Then spoon that concoction into those pre-cooked shells.
They should look like this...



Place them in a dish, cover with sauce, and bake those babies at 350 for 40 minutes. When you get them out, top 'em off with the rest of the shredded cheese. And then...pig out!

I was really impressed with my shell stuffing and the dinner as a whole. It was great to spend time with great people and eat good food and use the kitchen!

Tales of Joy

Some people say that they love their house but they don't really mean it.

When I say that I love my house, I am so not kidding for a second!

I love that right now I am sitting on my couch watching my new fave show (Design Star-it's the season finale) with my diet coke on the coffee table and the windows open. This sure beats sitting on my bed, balancing my snack on my pillow in an air-tight coffin of a room. (Although I loved it at the time, don't worry!) Also- I can walk into my kitchen if I want a snack or to cook myself some dinner. So great!

And did I mention-I have got the coolest bedroom ever. I have my own floor people! That's pretty banging. And I love my workspace and my bed and my nook. Did I mention the love I have for this house. Yes, it has some imperfections, some blank walls still, and unfortunately a few critters that like to enjoy the house too. But really who can blame them?!

I do need to work on a covering for my skylight. I have all the materials, all the ideas, but no time. That is not something I love.

Ok- my homework is starting to pile up. Guess I better start working. It's just so easy to not when you have things to do and hang out with people. Ahhh...the problems of life. :-D

With Love, from the Lane.

New Year, New Title

So yes, this the 4th blog title I've come up with. Sorry-I just can't find my niche in the blogging world yet. But I think I may have hit gold. I've been permanently living in this gorgeous house for 2 weeks while I train to be an Orientation Leader. I LOVE THIS HOUSE! It is perfect for the 3 of us who live here. We've had a bunch of people over for games and dinners and desserts. And yes, we've had our fair share of issues. Aka- 2 clogged toilets, an overflowing toilet, not knowing where the lint trap was in the dryer and almost burning the house down, storage woes, and incredibly large spiders that like to scare us on our way in the house. But the good has definitely outweighed the bad. I plan to take many more pictures of DIY tasks, cooking adventures, and hopefully a lot of joy spilling from this house. So come along for the ride, and if you're in the neighborhood-stop by and I'll cook for you. :-D

A Roof Quiz

So I took a roof personality quiz from younghouselove (yes, them again!) and it told me that my colors are beige and taupe. HOW BORING!

http://roofing.owenscorning.com/homeowner/color-compass/compass.aspx#/quizresults/

I did think that the description was accurate.
You like classic looks and are careful about allowing too much excitement into your life. You are practical, fair, and well balanced, and you make a good arbitrator.

Which basically means boring. But at least it was accurate!

Then I took the colorstrology quiz (regarding how your birthday fits in your color) It was pretty accurate.

http://www.colorstrology.com/colorstrology_sniffer.html

Then I took one based on colors and what occupations you'd most be suited for. It said I was first and foremost an organizer. I KNOW- I was shocked too. haha, kidding.

It was fun!

A Serious Addiction...Well maybe not quite so serious

So babysitting for two functional boys who love video games means I have a lot of time on my hands to read, knit, & be on my computer. And being on my computer means keeping a permanent tab open of younghouselove! If you have never been to their site, trust me, you'll be addicted as soon as you go there.

The site upkeepers are the Youngsters, John and Sherry (with help from baby Clara and Burger, their dog.) I love it!

And while puttering around their site today, I found this: http://www.blogadilla.com/swedishFurniture/swedishFurniture.html

You can see what your Ikea furniture name would be.



That's mine. I'm LOVING the umlaut over the A. Can you imagine if I walked around spelling my name like that. Cool!

I'll be posting again soon with the DIY task of covering the skylight in my room. It gets so stinking hot that I need to do something. So I'm going to tackle a covering that doesn't require tracks, hammers, OR an empty wallet. Check back soon.

Martha Stewart...Eat your Heart Out

Although it's been a little while since I officially moved into my house in Lancaster. But with a vacation right after, there was no way I could post all about it. It was such a crazy move in day! My uncle and friend Tom got here at 7am to pack the truck so we could then leave by 8am.




We arrived at Livingston Lane and had this to deal with:


And them too...


We were all so excited to move in and make our house a home!



And here's the house, all set up!

Bedroom! I love it.





Kitchen/Dining Room




Living Room




So what do you think?!
We love it!

THE HOUSE!

So..move in day- 5 days!

Holy jeez- that is soon.
And am I ready?
-As far as stuff is concerned, yes. Everything is pretty well packed in boxes. My uncle and a church friend are going to help me move plus my parents.
-As far as emotionally, no way Jose. I am terrified.

This move requires me to put on my big girl panties and grow up.
And I'm just starting to enjoy my childhood I think.
Which is freaking terrifying.

Any advice- how you grow up without losing the fun?

Anyway...I am excited. It will be lovely. I love house stuff. I love cooking. I can't wait to have a nook in my room. :)

Oh yes...and here's the house!!!!!

Home Renovation

So even though it's not the new house, it's still a house. My home home. Which has been painted and repainted, modeled and remodeled. Mostly by my mom- she loves redoing things in the house. However, each redo always looks gorgeous. Unfortunately I don't have a ton of before pictures...but there are lots of "here's what it looks like now" pics.

So first...my room.
Before


And after (a world better!)






Next...the bathroom. It used to be green and blue.






Mom's bedroom...it was a deep brown/pink for about a day, then it was light green and a tan for a while. Now, it is this. Much better!





And finally, the kitchen. Probably the biggest and best remodel yet!
Before


After



It's a great house to come home to!

Bittersweet Symphony

Yes...that is the name of a song but it is also the story of my day. Today is my last day living in a dorm at Millersville. And while there are a zillion reasons why I am thrilled about this, it also feels like a turning point in my life. In a month, I'll be renting a house with two of my closest friends. That's kind of a big deal. It means that I'll be kind of a grown up. And that scares me!

This room of mine has seen a lot of joy and a lot laughter along with some pain and tears. I'm so excited to see where the next two years take me. Because it has been a life-changing two years but still...it's scary.

Growing up is scary. But fun too.

Trace Adkin's song-You're going to miss this...that's where I'm at right now.

Moving Forward...

So we're moving forward with our house.

Yesterday...we turned in the lease. What a huge weight has been lifted. We have an actual address and we've seen the outside of our house..SO CUTE!

We all are moving in on June 5th and can't wait to start this chapter in our lives.

Tons of pictures and questions and ideas to come!

WADT and a Lease!

So yesterday, I got a whole crew of people together for Wear a Dress Tuesday. Sarah, over at The Strength of Faith, is the one who started this and who is now spreading it around the east coast. We didn't get any pictures because we were all super busy but 9 or 10 of us wore our dresses!

So bad to the actual home part of this blog...we got our lease!!! Which means that this is actually happening. So exciting!

Wear a Dress Tuesday

So my friend Sarah (who got me started blogging) over at The Strength of Faith started this thing called Wear a Dress Tuesday. Because sometimes you just need to dress up.

I've been meaning to wear a dress for several weeks and its been raining most of those weeks unfortunately. Having a job that sometimes requires me to run around campus and deliver things, I decided against a dress in the rain.

But today when I woke up, I knew it would be hot and lovely out. It started out hot but raining (surprise!) so I changed my dress option but still chose to wear it.

And gosh, it was such a great choice. I got a ton of complements including the mail guy at work. Who knew?!

All in all, I'd say it was the start of a happy month of WADT!

Here it is! Although this was at the end of the day when I wasn't feeling nearly as good and stress free. (Notice the shoes...they are my faves!)

Building Houses

Over Spring Break, I travelled with University Christian Fellowship from Millersville to Ramona CA to help rebuild homes lost in the 2007 wildfires. I was really nervous about what I was going to have to do because I don't love heights.

Well that went out the window on day two when I agreed to help build a 3 story scaffolding and then climbed up it to put nailers in the beams.



Yup, that's me up there. With Korbin, who kept me safe all week!

I also climbed up many other ladders, including an extension one. That was high too! I learned how to caulk, I painted a TON of the one side of the house, I used a skill saw, I nailed siding, I used a chalk line...I learned how to help build a house!

While it wasn't my house for next year, I poured my heart and soul into the house we helped to build. This experience also made me want to be more handy.

Here's more pictures:


The house before we started working on it...


And after we finished our week...




An absolutely amazing trip!

Moving Right Along

So moving right along in the house process...we heard from our realtor finally!!

And within a few weeks, we'll know our new address!!! We told him that we wanted a 3 bedroom, no basement/no garage layout for the house. We don't want to pay for the garage and we don't party which means we have 0 need for a basement!

Our realtor said that we should definitely be able to get this layout! We are hoping to finalize our plans soon!!

More picture updates to come soon.

Snowmaggedon

So if the past week is any indication of what next year will be like, we had better invest in a pretty banging snow shovel, blower, and perhaps a 4 wheel drive vehicle.

Because right now, Lancaster County looks something like this:




For Millersville to close for 2 days is like unheard of. So it's a pretty big deal. Don't get me wrong- I love being able to sleep in, stay in pjs, and have fun with my friends. And the campus is stunning.



But still...next year, I do NOT want to be shoveling this magnitude of snow!

The Start of the Chaos

So my mom has been collecting things for our house. And by collecting, I mean buying herself new things to pass on the old ones to me. Like these lamps. They used to be in our living room.



She's also taken to just throwing random things into the "new home" boxes she's been compiling. Which is why our spare room looks like a tornado hit the house. Exhibit A.



But my favorite things so far for our house are the cookware items. Despite my mediocre abilities in the kitchen, I enjoy cooking and cooking products. My grandmother bought me all kinds of stuff for the kitchen and my mom put it in a great basket for Christmas for me.






I love preparing for this house!!

Tips on a finding a cheap bed?! Please help!

New Year...New House

So as a final test at blogging and actually doing it for a reason, I have figured out something legit to blog about.

Two of my closest friends and I are getting a house for next semester. We have been collecting items, checking out tons of websites, thinking of plans for the house, and it's been a blast. We are so excited.

So in the effort to remain sane through the remaining months and to hopefully get some tips on decorating, efficient home planning, house living, and any other helpful items, this blog is now devoted to that.

Tomorrow I will take pictures of some of the many delightful things that have been collected, donated, and purchased for the house cause!

Happy Reading!

A Lovely Break

I love when breaks consist of these things:
-Time to knit and think and breathe
-The ability to read books for pleasure
-The time and tools to cook good food
-Fun movies with the family
-Playing Wii with good friends
-Scrapbooking about fun times in Disney
-Dining with good people
-Happy times

Unrest

So I enjoy blogging and I adore reading other people's, but I feel like mine is just not connecting me with what I want. I want to be able to have fun writing it. I just feel like I need to revamp my blog again. I have no idea as to what I should write about but it needs to be different than what I'm after.

I love knitting and have started a new project. So I think I will start this revamp (number 2 time) with some updates on my new project. Then I will continue to write about faith questions or food or whatever I can come up with. I'll probably put up some recipes too for my blogging friends who love recipes!