New Home, New Home Improvement Projects!

Posted on July 25, 2016 by coordinatedkate

My husband Sam and I just purchased our very first home in Easton, PA! It’s an adorable 100+ year old, 3 bedroom house with an office and a really cute view of the city of Easton. We’ve been here for about two months now and we’re finally starting to make it our own. I think we’re moving a little fast on some of the projects, or at least my bank account is telling me to slow down, but we’re moving ahead full force! It’s so much fun to take a room, or a house for that matter, that feels like someone else’s and make it into a place that feels 100% and completely your own. It’s empowering and scary and expensive, all mixed together!

There wasn’t too much that NEEDED to be done in the house so our projects have been fairly small. But if you consider how un-handy both my husband and I actually are, it might as well have been extremely gigantic tasks. I thought since I haven’t blogged in FOREVER, that I’d start sharing some of the projects and where we got the inspiration and the costs and what not.

The best part about owning a home is just that. OWNING your own home. Also, my puggle Melo really enjoys the backyard. When we were living in our one bedroom apartment, Melo would take his bones and try to burying them in the corners of the couch cushions and we used to be so sad. Thinking that he probably wishes he had a backyard to bury his bones in. Luckily, he’s out in the backyard everyday digging up and burying his bones and it makes us so happy! He also enjoys some #frontporchchilling with us too 🙂

Follow me on instagram for a sneak peak of some of the projects!

7 Things to Do When You’re Snowed In!

Posted on January 27, 2015 by coordinatedkate

I was bamboozled by all of this hype of this historical blizzard we were supposed to get. I was actually a little nervous about the 18-24 inches that they were calling for, but here in Brick, NJ we probably got like 8 inches or so. But being snowed in can be so fun!

Here’s a glimpse into a few things that Sam and I did during our snow day!

1. Have some delicious coffee/tea/hot chocolate

Sam is a coffee drinker and I’ve never really liked the stuff. I’m definitely a tea kinda gal, but usually I don’t drink any caffeine in the morning which would explain why I’m so tired and/or lazy ALL THE TIME! Have some nice conversations and relax because you’re not going anywhere!

2. Work on a project that you’ve been neglecting!

I’ve been working on this gigantic, ugly crochet blanket for like 4 months now and I think I’m on my last roll of yarn that I’ll need to complete it and I’m super excited. It’s just been taking up space on my couch and I really need to just get done with it already!

3. Read a book/Catch up on your magazine subscriptions/Journal your snowed in experience!

I’m in the process of rereading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for the 30th time probably and also I just started reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up which is sincerely blowing my mind and I plan on writing a review on it as soon as I’m done! Also, I journaled about my all-time favorite snow day today. It included me and Sam sneaking out of a bedroom window to play in the snow!

4. Make a snow day playlist!

Or listen to one that Spotify has already created for you here! I decided to dig out my old, dinosaur of an iPod. I put it on shuffle and let it do it’s thang!

5. Have a drink… or two!

Crack open a couple beers or uncork that bottle of wine and chill out! Today is your day to unwind a little bit and chill out, so do it!

6. FaceTime with friends that are also snowed in.

We FaceTimed with family in Boston who are also snowed in. They were making some delicious looking food while we chatted and I felt like I was in an episode of Barefoot Contessa! (As a sidetone, if you want to mix a little bit of #5 and #6 on this list, go ahead!)

7. And when all else fails – GO PLAY IN THE SNOW!

I don’t have any pictures for this one but last night I put on a couple layers, wrapped my Uggs with grocery bags and spent a few minutes on my balcony and that was enough for me. It was actually beautiful and it made me feel so alive! Standing out in the quiet, thick winter air makes you realize how grateful you are for a lot of different things (the winter air also smells cleaner and fresher, am I right?).

I was snapping pics all day today and last night too! By the end of today I noticed that Sam was walking around the apartment making fun of me!

I don’t blame him. I’m sure it was super annoying telling him to freeze so I can try and capture the moment – LOL!

Anyways, I hope that everyone had a great day and that you’re all safe!

Happy At-Least-It’s-Not-Monday Day!

Blue Apron Review + Special Discount!

Posted on January 22, 2015 by coordinatedkate

It’s no secret that I’m a below average cook. I’m not sure why either! I come from a family of amazing women that can cook their asses off. I even married into a family of women that can cook really well so I’m not sure where I went wrong. You’re probably thinking, “why do you care if you can cook or not? You have awesome cooks in your family, just let them do all the cooking.” Well, the truth is that I do care and I don’t know why. I’m a pretty creative person outside of the kitchen and I just figured that if I learned a thing or two or tried new things maybe something will click and I’ll turn into this Julia Child’esque chef and never depend on anyone else to make me a delicious meal!

So, with all of that being said, I signed up for Blue ~~Ribbon~~ Apron. I’m not sure why I want to keep calling it Blue Ribbon, but I do. Anyways, it’s called Blue Apron and if you don’t know what it is you can check out their website here. But to make a long story short, they ship you everything you need to make a great meal. They have two different plans. One plan is for two people meals and the other is for four people meals. The cool thing about it also, is that you can skip weeks if you’d like. I don’t want them mailing me stuff every single week so I skip every other week. We get three meals a week, twice a month. Sam and I eat really boring things. I only know how to make a handful of things so as long as Blue Apron doesn’t send us sloppy joes, Old El Paso tacos, chicken pot pie, or DiGiornos pizza, then I’m fairly confident that we’ll be making things that we’ve never tried before. I always see recipes online that I’d like to try but then get discouraged when I see things like sage, turnips, gochujang, gai lan, etc. I don’t even know what those ingredients look like, let alone where the hell I’d find them if I wanted to attempt to make these crazy dinners. So Blue Apron sends you all of that stuff and I don’t have to go to the grocery store and make an ass out of myself looking for them!

My first Blue Apron delivery came this week and this is what I got:

Korean-Style Tteok – w/ spicy pork “ragu” & gai lan

Chicken Charlemagne – w/ roasted root vegetables & parsnip-potato mash

Banana Leaf-Steamed Cod – w/ spiced rice, yu choy & coconut

They suggest that if you receive any kind of fish in your package that you make that first, as it’s the first that will go bad if you keep it for awhile, so we made it on Tuesday. It was actually really good, really easy to make, and definitely something I would have never made if it weren’t for Blue Apron being so convenient. I’m not even much of a fish person and I liked it a lot. Last night I made the chicken charlemagne and I was quite impressed with myself because I’m usually awful at making chicken but it came out really tasty! And the potatoes AND parsnip mashed potatoes? Like, WHAT? Does everyone know about this? PARSNIP in the MASHED POTATOES? Because it was amazing and quite frankly blew my mind.

So, let’s break it all down. Sam and I have a grocery/food budget of about $300-$350 a month. That includes all of our take-out money and going out to eat money. We only go out to eat or order take out when we want something that neither of us can cook so Blue Apron sends us stuff that we don’t know how to make and teaches us how to make it for only $120/month. Which I think is a fantastic deal and based on the dishes that I’ve made, I’d definitely say it’s worth it so if you were on the fence about giving Blue Apron a shot, my recommendation would be to GO FOR IT!

My first 50 readers get two free meals with their first Blue Apron Box – redeem here.

Happy Thursday/Almost Friday Day!

New Years Project!

Posted on January 2, 2015 by coordinatedkate

I’ve been waiting for the perfect table to come along that I can paint and refinish and I FOUND ITTTTT!

This is the picture from the craigslist ad and as soon as I saw it and noticed that they were selling for $50, I had to pick it up quickly! The guy that was selling it took the legs off and helped get it in my car because it’s a pretty heavy piece of furniture, so thanks to him!

As soon as I got home I laid down my plastic and took off all the hardware and just sanded all of the pieces a little bit but knew that I was going to use a primer so I didn’t go crazy.

I was thinking about leaving it white but felt like it would look way too fancy and the room that I wanted to put it in desperately needed a pop of color so I chose to paint it Hawaiian Teal!

I also left the bottom of all the legs unpainted which I’m currently loving the look of! I took off the hideous, gigantic knobs that were on the cabinet and exchanged them for some glass hardware and they look perfect!

I also distressed the whole thing and I love it! I really wanted a cabinet just like this but was not willing to pay like $300+ for it. Luckily, at the end of the day this whole table cost less than $100!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Total Slacker!

Posted on June 2, 2013 by coordinatedkate

I’ve been totally slacking on the blog! I apologize. The last week and a half have been a little crazy and way too fast for my liking. Last Thursday I had to take a half day from work because I was driving back to Pittsburgh for my sister’s dance recital weekend. She did beautifully, by the way. The next day on Friday Sam found out that he was being promoted at work but at a different store. Great news but it was a little sudden and I was excited but saddened that I was unable to be with him to celebrate or anything.

All last weekend was dance recital stuff. Friday night was dance rehearsal night and then Saturday and Sunday were both crazy because of the actual recital. My sister’s senior solo was amazing and I’m not ashamed to say that I cried three nights in a row, dress rehearsal included.

This is my sister Rachel with one of her adorable dancer students

I left Pittsburgh on Sunday night and got in around Midnight on Sunday night or Monday morning (whichever way you look at it). I came in early because I had to go look for cars to lease. Before Sam got promoted we were lucky enough to be able to share one car. We both worked really close to home and were able to drop each other off and pick each other up and what not. It worked great! But now that Sam got promoted to a different store, the one car was not going to cut it. I spent all day Monday, which happened to be Memorial Day, with my mother and father in law at the dealership. Negotiating is exhausting, let me tell ya! We got a pretty good deal. I was just freaking out all day due to the fact that I really hadn’t got to talk to Sam about any of it because I got in late Sunday when he was still sleeping and he left before I got up to go to work. It was insane!

Anyways, I ended up getting a Hyundai Elantra to drive back and forth to work in. I like it a lot.

This coming weekend is my sister’s graduation party. I’ve been blogging about it for a little over a month now and it’s finally here and I’m freaking out! Did I get enough? Do I need anything else? Did I forget something? Oh my! I know it’s going to be fun so I’m trying not to stress about it! I’ve already got a stress pimple on the bottom of my cheek! Guh! Anyways, I’ll be blogging more often, I promise and I actually have some good stuff coming up so stay tuned!

Mother’s Day Gift Idea! It’s Not Too Late!

Posted on May 9, 2013 by coordinatedkate

If you haven’t already got something for all the mothers in your life then you should definitely consider checking out Fairytale Brownies! I was introduced to them a couple years ago when the insurance broker for our company sent a huge box of them to our office. They are AMAZING! I started sending them to family for special occasions and I actually sent a box to my mom this year. I think I saved $20 by having it delivered early instead of on Sunday (the sooner the better!) and my mom received them today.

Isn’t my mom so adorable?!

My mom’s favorite brownie is the cream cheese brownie. My favorite is the cheese cake brownie which is to die for and Sam’s favorite is the mint chocolate brownie. They have all different kinds like raspberry swirl, pecan, toffee, peanut butter, espresso, caramel, and a ton more! They’re all individually wrapped and come in big and small sizes. Also, the packaging is beautiful! Not only were my coworkers fighting over their favorite brownies but they were also calling dibs on the adorable boxes that the brownies came in. They have holiday boxes around Christmas and Thanksgiving and Easter and they also have ‘Get Well’ boxes and ‘Thank You’ boxes and ‘Sympathy’ boxes and a box for any occasion that you can think of. Do yourself a favor and CHECK THEM OUT! If you decide to purchase anything use code ‘ML608’ to save 15% before it’s too late.

Happy Earth Day!

Posted on April 22, 2013 by coordinatedkate

I had no idea today was Earth Day until I walked into Target and was greeted by an elderly woman passing out small, free reusable shopping bags filled with coupons. Did anyone else visit Target today?! According to the sweet, little old lady, I was helping them celebrate Earth Day by simply taking one of the bags.

Anyways, I never use these bags and I always feel bad about it when at the end of my shopping trip the cashier politely asks, “do you have any shopping bags with you?” and I say, “no” and it seems that she crinkles her nose and replies, “oh” with a disgusted tone and then goes ahead and presses a few buttons on the register. The buttons are probably labeled ASSHOLE and ENVIRONMENT KILLER, I don’t know. But today, I went in and got a few tank tops and got to the register and the lady asked if I had any bags and I think I was so excited that I screamed “YES!” with a huge smile on my face. She looked at me the way people looked at Will Ferrell in Elf when he told James Caan that he was his son. I’m rambling again. Not only was the small bag free but it also saved my 5 cents! Pretty cool.

Well, happy Earth Day everyone!

Flea Market Finds!

Posted on April 21, 2013 by coordinatedkate

Not sure if I’ve told you guys this before but my husband works most weekends but recently he’s had Sundays off so we’ve been looking for something to do now that the weather is getting nicer. The BlueClaws minor league baseball team has a stadium one town over from us and we’ve never been to a game so we’ve been thinking about doing that but this Sunday I wanted to go to thrift stores or garage sales just to buy junk I don’t need. What I found was even better! I went on Craigslist to see if there were going to be any garage sales near us and I found out that there is a Sunday flea market near us! I got soooo excited when I found it last night that I actually set my alarm to wake up early and get ready. Normally, there is no alarm setting on the weekends, because I need as much beauty sleep as I can get but this was a special occasion. I think I got the love of garage sales/Estate sales/Flea markets from my dad who would go to them early on Saturday and Sunday mornings. He got this really awesome, old leather bomber jacket, a huge wooden trunk that I hope to get after my little sister goes off to college, a cool vintage camera and some other stuff. Anyways, I thought I’d share with you guys what I picked up and some cool stuff I saw.

We found these cool aluminum posters and signs. Sam really wanted the Bob Marley Drive sign haha! I ended up getting two I Love Lucy aluminum posters.

Aren’t they gorgeous?! I’m a HUGE I Love Lucy fan. Actually, I’m a Lucille Ball fan so these posters became a necessity as soon as I saw them.

They also had boxes and boxes of CD’s and vinyls so we picked up a couple of those.

Got these four CD’s for $10. They’re all music that we already have but I like having the actual CD. I’m not sure why.

These are the vinyls we got. I’m actually listening to the Billy Joel album now and I’m happy to report that it sounds way better than any CD. I’m telling you, there’s just something about albums on vinyl that make me feel so much more content with life.

We met a guy at the flea market that restores old trunks. He was selling two of them today.

I would have definitely bought the one on the right but it was very low to the ground and I was looking for something a little bigger. He told me that he has a workshop that has a bunch of trunks that he’s working on so I took his card and hopefully I’ll be able to find one I like there!

So overall, today was a success. My mom told me to go there and not have anything in mind to look for but I did expect to see some kind of furniture that I liked, which I did not. I over heard a woman saying that this flea market was just starting back up and in a few weeks there should be a lot more stands so I’m excited to go back and see what everyone else has got to sell me.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Brilliant Idea!

Posted on July 13, 2012 by coordinatedkate

I’ve been thinking lately about what I want to be doing, career wise and I’ve decided that I want to start networking with professional organizers and party planners and stuff. I love doing things like that and to potentially get paid to do something like that would be great. I work part time now so I’m thinking I could free up some time in the afternoons and also on weekends to just kind of see what that would be like. I’m not too sure how to start even looking for opportunities like that but I’ll find out and I’m really excited.

If you live in New Jersey and know anyone, hook a girl up!

Coordinated Kate

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