Pizza Heaven

A couple weeks ago, during my winter vacation, my hubby Richard and I ventured out to a new pizza place in our area called Grimaldi's Pizzeria.  They're originally out of Brooklyn and  are unique due to the fact that they cook their pizzas in coal-fired brick ovens giving them a "smokey flavor and a crisp crust."  Since it was new and the talk of the town we got there early to avoid the crowds.  We arrived on a dreary day at noon to a plesant atmosphere. 

The Waterway right by Grimaldi's

Grimaldi's

They have a nice outside seating area but it was freezing so we headed indoors. 

Once inside we were seated and waited on promptly. I ordered a house salad and this is what arrived on our table. Can you believe this is a salad for one? It was as yummy as it looks!

Then our pizza came and I was in heaven.  It was delicious!  I love a good thin crust and theirs was the best I've had since living in Texas.  We will be back!

The first week of January has come and gone.  I did fairly well keeping my resolutions, but I was not perfect.  I managed to exercise 20 minutes on the treadmill five days .  My goal next week is to do more than this first.  Giving up is the easy way out and I am determined not to let myself down.  Good luck to any of you who are also trying to make a change for the better in your lives. 

Pantry Makeover

I thought I should try and get one more New Year's resolution goal accomplished before returning to work so I spent my last days of  my vacation cleaning out our pantry and reorganizing it. 

Here is what I use to see when I opened my pantry door:

As you can see I had quite a big task ahead of me.  

The first thing I did was empty the entire pantry. I put the items in three different groups; items to return to the pantry, items to find a new place for and items to get rid of.

As you can see there was a lot of stuff in our pantry to go through and sort. I tried to group items together into different categories. I also checked expiration dates and am embarrassed to say that I had to throw a bunch of stuff out.

It took forever but I finally had an empty pantry!

It needed a good scrubbing and some paint, which I did next.

  Then it was off to Target to get some items to help organize the things going back in.

I found containers made by Snapware to put dry goods in.  They range in price from $6 - $10 depending on the size.  They are airtight and stackable. 

I also bought some baskets which were only $3 for the large size and $2 for the small.  They are stackable as well.

I used the plastic three-tier can shelves I already had to organize the canned goods.  I haven't seen these around since I bought them a couple of years ago but I did find you can buy metal ones similar to mine at Target  for around $8.  I used sticky notes to help figure out what should go where.

I also bought two turntables for bottled items for about $5 each.

The last thing I had that helped organize my pantry was a spice rack that hangs on the door.

It took parting with some things, finding new places for some others, and a lot of time organizing and reorganizing but here is what I see now when I open our pantry door:

All I have left to do is label the shelves, baskets and containers so everyone knows where everything goes.

I will also be taking a trip to the grocery store soon to restock the shelves since they're a little bare now.

Next on my list to organize are my kitchen cabinets...wish me luck! 

Lampshade Makeover

One of my resolutions for this new year is to invest more time in adding some decorative touches around our house.  We have lived in our current home for eight years and it has been some time since I made any changes and I think the time has come.  So, I am taking baby steps toward doing so.  This past week I took a look at the lamps that sit on our entryway and decided to begin there.  So, I recovered the lampshades and feel like if I can do it, anyone can!  Here is what the lamp looked like before.  Not terrible but I didn't like how the base was painted (crackled with gold) and I felt like the lampshades were a little boring.

First thing I did was remove the old trim.

I then measured the old trim to know how much new trim I needed to buy.

The material I used to recover the lampshades is actually from an old pillow that I had kept because I liked the material and pattern.

I made a pattern and cut out enough panels for both lamps.

I used fabric glue to adhere the panels to the old face fabric of the lampshade.  Most sites I looked at for guidance recommended removing the old face fabric, however I couldn't due to the fact that it was sewn to the lining.  Since it was white it didn't cause a problem.

I took a quick trip to JoAnn's Fabric and purchased trim and once home began gluing the trim to the new face fabric.  The glue I used stayed sticky long enough to position and reposition trim as needed. 

Then I glued the trim with fringe to the top and bottom of the lampshade.

Tomorrow I plan to repaint the lamp bases for a whole new look.

To  see some more of my projects check out the following posts:

pantry makeover  

kitchen valances

front door wreath