Time For a Change

When Zach and I got married, one of the items on our registry was this awesome retro style wall clock from Target. I think they still sell it four years later. It had the aqua on the clock face that was throughout the rest of our kitchen and the red outer that we still liked as a contrast even though nothing else in our house is red. We loved it so much, we bought it ourselves before the wedding and took it off the registry. You know, just in case it was sold out by the time someone bought it. 

I still love the red and aqua combo, but I was ready for a change. Yellow has been a prominent accent color throughout our house (my lamp, my goodwill side table, our bathroom - although not by choice) so it seemed only natural for this little guy to join the club.

Step one was to take apart the clock so I could spray paint just the red part. I also took out the batteries so the hands wouldn't get bent while they were exposed.

The next step was a bit tricky. I thought I might be able to take off the hands, but no such luck. Instead I did my best to cut out some printer paper so I could fully cover the clock face. I made a slit to the middle so I could slide the paper under the hands. Then I carefully taped paper over the hands so they wouldn't get painted. 

It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to get the job done. I used Rustoleum Painter's Touch Gloss in Sun Yellow. So bright and cheery! I did about 3-4 coats. 

Looks good, no? There's a few places right around the edge of the face that got a little yellow, but from a distance you can't tell at all. 

On the wall it looks awesome! So bright and goes really well with the rest of our kitchen/dining room. I love it!

Olympic Fever

I definitely have it. I grew up playing sports. Lots of sports. Soccer (my true love), track and field, basketball, volleyball. I loved competing (and still do!). In fact, I just recently started playing on my work soccer team again and I'm having so much fun! I'm not nearly as good as I used to be (if I was even good back then - ha!) but it feels good to get back out there and compete. 

Watching the Olympics is just as fun for me. I get so into it and I'm definitely bursting with pride for our beautiful USofA. The athletes competing at that level are just so insanely good and I love watching them leave it all out there. The husband loves it too. We have a lot of fun watching on TV and making our own "color commentary." 

What is my favorite sport to watch, you might ask? I have come around to like the swimming. Especially with the last Olympics and Phelps doing so awesome and now this year with the rivalry built up with Lochte. I am also digging the volleyball - women's beach volleyball and men's indoor. They spike it so hard! Holy cow. I also like watching the random sports that you don't get to see on a regular basis, especially in the US. Like archery (have you seen those crazy hi-tech bows?) and shooting. Love it all. 

Oh, and what about the Queen "sky diving" into the stadium? Pretty funny. My favorite part of the opening ceremonies was the lighting of the torch. So cool with the young athletes running in and then lighting the 240 pieces from each country to create one unified flame. So awesome. I loved it. 

With the Olympics in London this year, it brings me back to memories of our London trip last summer. We loved that city so much. A ridiculous amount of history mixed with all things royal and a ton of beautiful old buildings. I loved every minute of it. Read more about our London travels right here. 

Are you a crazy USA super fan like me? What are your favorite sports to watch? 

Photo source: 1, 2, 3

Snickers Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cookies

You heard me. These cookies are packed with yummy goodness - they're essentially two cookies in one and they taste just as good as Channing Tatum looked in Magic Mike. Yeah, that good. I found the recipe via Pinterest on the blog Bakergirl (originally adapted from Picky Palate). I wanted something with Snickers in it, since that's the hubby's favorite candy. These turned out to be the perfect combo!

// 350 degrees // 9-12 minutes //

Ingredients

Peanut Butter Dough

2 cups creamy peanut butter

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup chocolate chips

Chocolate Snickers Dough

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 regular sized snickers bars, chopped (I used 16 mini snickers)

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Peanut butter dough. Combine peanut butter, sugar and eggs until creamy. Add chocolate chips.

3. Chocolate snickers dough. Cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
5. Add dry mixture to the butter/sugar mixture until combined.
6. Add snickers and chocolate chips.
7. Take a teaspoon of each dough and combine, rolling gently into a ball. Place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
8. Bake for about 10-11 minutes at 350 degrees.

Enjoy!

Florence + the Machine (+ the Bachelorette)

Hello there! How was your weekend? Mine was great! Finally got over the cold/sinus junk I had all last week. We had a great time with friends on Friday night playing games and seeing their new puppy, Samwise (Samwise is a cute little brown German short haired pointer and he and Brody are almost the same age and are going to be best friends! I can tell already.). 

Saturday we cleaned up the yard. A lot. It is ridiculous how much yard waste we have. Buster and Brody were out there helping too. It was a long day and someone was tuckered out.

Saturday night we went and saw Florence + the Machine. It was nothing short of amazing! Her voice is unreal. So powerful and so clear. I was also pleasantly surprised how much personality Florence had too. When I saw her on TV, she seemed so serious, meek, and quiet. On stage, she is so awesome! Such a cute and carefree personality. She was dancing around the stage and getting the crowd involved. It was pretty awesome. Pretty flippin' awesome. Definitely one of the top three concerts I have been to (except for the venue - not in love with the White River Amphitheater for the sole reason of the traffic to and from the venue). It's one of those things where the songs sound so much better live than the album. I love it when that happens! 

Now on to the Bachelorette! Spoiler alert if you haven't watched last night's show yet...

I'm so glad she picked Jef (one F)! At the very beginning I have to admit, I liked his style but didn't think they really went together as a couple. But as I saw them together more and more, it was clear they were such a good fit. So cute and funny! I hope it works out! I say this every time and obviously more times than not it doesn't. It gets me every time though! Those ABC guys definitely figured out the key to hook me into every season. 

So what about you? Yardwork this weekend? Were you at Florence too? Hooked on the Bachelorette? Spill it! 

Happy Weekend!

As you probably suspect, this week has been a little hectic in the Kane household. Puppy runs the show these days, which Buster is definitely still getting used to. It's a lot of fun watching the two of them figure it all out: Brody chasing after ice cubes like a kitty cat, Buster and Brody fighting over bones, and both of them learning how to play nice with each other. It's hard, but worth it. I'm batting 1,000 as far as puppy accidents in the house go (Zachary cannot say the same)! 

This weekend is a big weekend... the final Batman comes out(!), then Saturday we are going to see Florence and the Machine, plus our first vet visit with the little one! I'm very excited, except that I've been feeling under the weather lately (I am worn out) so I hope I can kick it before the concert. 

Have an adventurous weekend!

What are your plans this weekend? 

photo source

Meet Brody!

Allow me to introduce you to the newest member of our family... Brody!

Isn't he the cutest?!? Those ears. Get me every. single. time. 

We've been thinking about getting Buster a new furry sibling for a while now and Saturday turned out to be the perfect day. It was a little spontaneous though. I woke up at 11:30 Saturday morning (I haven't done that since college!) and by 1:00 we were on our way to get the little guy. 

We adopted him from the Seattle Humane Society through an ad I found on Petfinder. There were actually three separate ads for his siblings that we saw. The pups went up for adoption at 11 that morning so we called to see if there were any left and they said there were a couple, but there was a lot of people looking. So we rushed over to Bellevue, and as our luck would have it he was the last little guy out of his five siblings that was left! We were so happy! 

We quickly filled out an application, got interviewed (where they asked us a bunch of questions about where we would keep him, how long we are gone during the day, our other dog, etc.), and then got to have puppy play time to make sure we were the right fit. I knelt down and Brody came right to me and was so playful and sweet! It was meant to be! 

We then took him out to the car to meet Buster and they got along really well for their first meeting. After waiting a bit, we signed on the dotted line and he was ours! 

He's a lab mix, probably with a boxer or a terrier because of his ears. He has a white stripe from his chin/goatee down to his belly (like a tuxedo - because he wants to be formal but he likes to party). He is super mellow (SO mellow compared to Buster!) but still playful when he wants to be. He's pretty much the sweetest little puppy. So soft and cuddly.

As for his name, we had a little bit of trouble figuring that part out. Since it was a little spontaneous, we didn't have much time before hand to brainstorm. With Buster, we had a day or so to brainstorm our favorite shows/characters and come up with a good fit (he's named Buster after the Arrested Development character Buster, and also after the show Mythbusters). With Brody, we threw around a bunch of different names... Bailey (too girly), Charlie, Indiana (Indie for short), even Darth Vadar (which I'm pretty sure both our Dad's will be calling him anyway). But nothing felt right until we landed on Brody (not from any show, we just liked the name). Plus, we liked the "B" names. So Brody it is! 

I mean look at those ears! So cute. How's he getting along with Buster, you ask? Pretty good considering our first furry child has been de-throned. Since Brody is so tiny (about 11 lbs right now, but could get up to 60 lbs!) Buster is trying to exert his alpha male-ness with a little humping and some rough playing. Buster likes to bark a lot when he plays and is a little rough for a new puppy (he's only 10 weeks right now!), so we are trying to teach Buster to play a little more gentle and nice. Otherwise, they are just getting to know each other and it's going pretty well. 

We are so happy with the new addition to our little family and can't wait til Brody is grown up so he can hold his own while playing with Buster (although I love this puppy phase, besides all the pee and poop:). 

Oh! Brody slept through the night on the first night we had him too! Let's hope this keeps up or else it will be a long couple of weeks... 

We love you so much already, Brody! 

Raspberry Cobbler

There's something about summer that just screams Pies! Cobblers! Anything with fresh fruit! After we got some raspberries at Pike's Place Market last weekend we immediately came home and made some raspberry cobbler. 

Here's the recipe we used (adapted from here): 

Ingredients

3 cups raspberries

2/3 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice (we left this out since we didn't have any on hand)

2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups Bisquick biscuit mix

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup milk

whipped cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Wash raspberries and combine with sugar (and lemon juice if you have it).

3. Use butter to grease an 8x8 pan and spread the berries along the bottom.

4. Place dollops of butter on top of the raspberries.

5. In a separate bowl, mix Bisquick, melted butter, beaten egg, and milk. Stir until combined.

6. Drop over berry mixture in spoonfuls.

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.

8. Serve warm with whipped cream and gobble that up!

Messy, but delicious! Perfect for a summer night in front of the fire! What are your favorite summer desserts?

P.S. This looks pretty darn tasty too!

The Great Wheel

We took advantage of the sun on Saturday after Zach's shift at the hospital (and so it begins...) and went downtown to hang out. Our first mission was food. I'd never been to Ivar's down on the pier, so I suggested we go there. It was so busy! And it was so weird the way you order and pay there. Everyone stands in line, you give them your order (your fried order only!) then you step back and wait. Then they call out your fried order and you go up and tell them you want a drink, etc. and pay. It's just really weird and hectic when it's so busy because everyone is confused, then you have to get back in line and everyone huddles towards the counter in fear that their order won't be called. Weird, Ivar's. Just weird. Anyways, we both got fish and chips and they were pretty tasty. 

From there we were on a mission to The Great Wheel! I was so excited (as I mentioned here)! I was prepared to wait in line for hours, but the whole process (from getting into line to getting off the wheel) only took about an hour and fifteen minutes. Not as bad as I thought. One way to save time (we realized after it was too late) is to buy the tickets online before you get there (tickets are $13/adult). That way you can skip the ticket line and head straight to the wheel line. Since it was such a beautiful day it wasn't so bad standing around in line though. 

We figured a few things out while we were standing in line (we're like that). There are 42 gondolas (we may have counted) including one VIP gondola (it's the black one and it has leather seats and a glass bottom!). Six people can fit into each gondola so if you are with a smaller party, be prepared to share. We were in a gondola with three other lovely ladies and chose to face towards the city.

The ride was surprisingly smooth and very sturdy. Very little swinging at all and there was even A/C! The last time I was on a Ferris Wheel was at California Adventure and it was so scary! The gondola rocked and there was nothing to hold on to so I thought I was going to fly right out! The Seattle Great Wheel was nothing like that (in case you are afraid of heights). Super smooth and while it is high, the views are worth it. We were constantly twisting and turning to see everything around us. 

Oh, and you go around five times - once to load, three full times, once to unload. Overall, it's about a 15-20 minute ride. 

After the Great Wheel, we hit up the Seattle Antiques Market (under the viaduct) and then went up to Pike's Place (we like being tourists in our own town:). I love Pike's Place Market. Just walking around, seeing all the different people and art and flowers and fish. Especially on a nice day, it will never grow old for me. :)

We picked up some delicious raspberries (and later made some delicious raspberry cobbler!) and the mister even bought his lady some sweet peas for the road (they smell so good). The peonies were also out in full bloom and were gorgeous!

On our way through Westlake Center, I noticed the trees in the courtyard had their trunks painted bright blue. Crazy, huh?

The whole day was awesome and perfect and everything that I love about being in Seattle. Such a great city. We love you, Seattle!