We wanted a new refresh in the living room due to old furniture for a long time. When we moved into our house back in 1995 we bought our furniture from Ethan Allen. The Ethan Allen store was located in Manhattan and we had a sales associate help us pick out our furniture. Well, 26 years later we needed new furniture in the living room. The couches were sagging, had holes in the material on both sides of the cushions, and the pillow backing was getting in our way of sitting on the couch. If I was to get the couch reupholstered it would cost about the same amount of money we paid for the new furniture, if not more. We decided on Labor Day weekend to look at furniture at the Raymour & Flanigan store.
OLD LIVING ROOM FURNITURE
NEW LIVING ROOM FURNITURE
We bought the new couch, love seat, and coffee table from Raymour & Flanigan. We were so happy and surprised when the furniture arrived at our house one week later. The reason why we picked out mismatched furniture is because of the sizing of the couch and the love seat not being the correct sizes. The way I had the furniture in our living room has never matched each other. I would have liked the couch and love seat to match but then the love seat would have been too big and to match the love seat with the couch it would have been too small. I think the furniture looks nice and a big improvement from what I had. I bought the five-year protection plan just in case anything happens to the furniture. I figured I better get the protection plan since I have Bosco who likes to sleep on the couches. I am trying to re-train Bosco now to sleep in his dog bed more often and he gives me dirty looks all the time. LOL! I also keep on the couch and love seat sheets to protect the furniture from Bosco.
UPDATE: It's one month later since we bought the new furniture and we've trained Bosco to sleep in his dog bed more often. He dosen't climb on the couch as much anymore. It's proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Bosco's birthday was on Friday, October 15th and he's now 14 years old.
GET THE LOOK:
Sofa - Raymour & Flanigan
Love Seat - Raymour & Flanigan
Coffee Table - Raymour & Flanigan
Lamp Shade - Lowes
Lamp Shade - Lowes
Lamps - Waterford
The furniture in the Dining Room is from Ethan Allen.
NOTE: I have a huge project coming up. I am having my first, second, and third floor walls, doors, and one small bedroom painted. I will have a painting crew come and paint everything. The last time our house was painted in those areas was in 2009. The paint company claims that it will all be painted in three days. When that time comes I will have to prepare everything before it all gets painted. Then put everything back to normal again. I will be busy picking out paint colors and so on. I may not be posting or be around that much whenever we get this project done. Wish me luck!
Have you made any changes to your house lately?
Hello blog friends.
I can't believe it's already the middle of October. The time is flying by so fast and before you know it it'll be the holidays.
I got my first cold. :( Over the weekend I started to feel like I was getting a sore throat and sure enough I had my first cold of the season. Luckily I have my smell and taste!
I have my Friday Favorites - October to share with you.
We had a Zumba class at the beginning of October for breast cancer awareness month. We were all asked to wear pink and I bought this cute sweatshirt at the BJ's store. We all had a fun time together and we even won some prizes.
My husband and I saw the comedian Jim Gaffigan at Radio City Music Hall. It was such a fun night full of laughs as two other comedians came on before Jim Gaffigan did his show. You can see some of Jim Gaffigan's shows on Netflix. It felt so good to be out in the city and I'm happy that it's getting back to normal again.
We did a Costco run and filled up the cart with all sorts of things.
I couldn't resist buying the huge pink Squishmallow for only ten dollars. Last year all the rage was baby Yoda squishmallows. I'm not sure if they are still available at Costco. I've learned that when you see something good to just grab it. I bought new pants and a sweater and my husband needed new slippers. The rest is food we needed.
We did a Trader Joe's run and we loaded up our cart with a lot of good food. We love their salads and dips.
This time I decided to try out their toothpaste. I like that the toothpaste has baking soda in it.
I've tried this facial cream before and I like it.
I received my magazines for the month. I like when I have time to relax and read a magazine. If I have a doctor's appointment I will bring one to read.
I enjoy taking walks in the neighborhood and I thought this yard looked so cute and festive for fall.
We have in our neighborhood this box filled with books to read. You can see Bosco below sniffing away. I tried to get him to look at the camera but he refused to look at me. LOL! Today is Bosco's 14th birthday! We will sing happy birthday to him and give him a McDonald's hamburger.
I hope you have a happy Friday and weekend.
Hello blog friends and happy fall.
I love decorating my mantel each year for fall. You might remember how I decorated my mantel last year. Well, this year it's the same again and nothing has changed.
I love that painting I made of the church in the woods overlooking the water during fall. I made that painting back when I was in high school.
The faux leaves and orange mini pumpkins were all purchased at the Dollar Tree store. The be thankful and happy fall decorations were purchased at Michaels many years ago.
I crocheted those mini pumpkins for the mantel back in 2013 in the colors orange and white.
The green and tan pumpkins I purchased at the Dollar Tree store a few years ago.
I have tan and white pumpkins sitting on my end table.
I love finding fall decorations at the Dollar Tree store. You can also make your own crocheted pumpkins for your home decor. If you can't crochet then you can make mini pumpkins from the Dollar Tree store and add fabric or by using a sweater to make it look like it was knitted or crocheted.
I hope this has given you some ideas for decorating your home for the fall.
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
Julie
Hello blog friends and happy October.
I have four easy recipe ideas to share with you for the fall.
I love banana bread! Trader Joe's has a banana bread mix that makes it so easy to make into bread or muffins. I've shared this on the blog a while back and I've made them a few times since then.
Slow cooker lasagna has got to be one of my favorite fall dishes to make for dinner. Here is another lasagna dish that I've shared before on the blog. It's so easy to make in the slow cooker and dinner can be ready in four hours. This lasagna goes great with a salad and Italian bread.
This time of year I like using my Instant Pot for making soup. I've shared this recipe on the blog and it's a favorite of our family. I love that I can make this lentil soup within minutes instead of hours. This is the perfect fall soup recipe.
I shared this soup recipe here on the blog a while back and it's made in the slow cooker. This soup is made with white beans, sausage, and spinach to give the soup extra flavor.
I hope you enjoy these fall recipe ideas.
I discovered this recipe for almond flour pancakes a few months ago on Instagram @low.carb.love. I'm loving all of the Keto and low-carb recipes shared by Mayra at Low Carb Love. Mayra has an awesome Instagram account and shares a lot of her recipes on YouTube. I hope you check her out.
We love pancakes in our house. I decided to try out these Almond Flour Pancakes and we had them for dinner.
Have you ever had breakfast for dinner? Well, it's fun and you should try it out sometime.
I made these pancakes and they tasted so delicious. My pancakes came out on the thin side but they still tasted great. I liked the flavor of the pancakes using cinnamon.
I hope you try these easy-to-make and delicious-tasting pancakes.
I sprayed avocado cooking spray in the pan and then heated the pan.
The almond flour pancakes getting all golden brown in the pan.
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| What you'll need: |
ALMOND FLOUR KETO PANCAKES
Recipe found at Low Carb Love
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 eggs
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. vanilla flavoring or 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1 tbsp. sweetener
DIRECTIONS:
- Place all ingredients in a blender, and blend for 30 seconds or until incorporated.
- Let the batter sit for 10 minutes!
- Heat up saucepan or griddle.
- Pour batter and cook pancakes on one side until bubbles start to form.
- Flip the pancakes and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.
- Serve with your favorite maple syrup and butter.
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| YUMMY ALMOND FLOUR PANCAKES! |
If you want to make bacon with pancakes, the bacon recipe can be found here.
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
If you'd like to catch up on reading about our California trip, you can below.
California Trip 2021 - Day 1 - Here
California Trip 2021 - Day 2 - Here
California Trip 2021 - Day 3 - Here
On the morning of our fourth day, we had our last breakfast at our friend's house who lives in Los Angeles. We were headed for the last three days of our California trip to Laguna Beach. The drive down south to Laguna Beach took us about an hour. We did take a detour on our GPS and were happy we did due to some traffic. We were able to find a beautiful shopping area at the Crystal Cove Shopping Center that had Starbucks and Trader Joe's among many other stores and restaurants. We were able to get our coffee and lunch at the shopping center a few times during our stay in Laguna Beach.
We had reservations at The Inn At Laguna Beach.
Our hotel room didn't overlook the beach but it was still nice. The room was clean and it had a small refrigerator we could use to stock food and drinks. The hotel is located right on the ocean and everything was within walking distance to the hotel.
We had to wait a bit before our room was ready, so we had lunch at Las Brisas. We both shared salsa and chips and Caesar and Kale salads which were all delicious tasting.
The hotel had free coffee set up every morning, in the afternoon fresh baked cookies, and for the evening's wine. For our breakfast, we bought blueberry muffins at Trader Joe's and enjoyed coffee and this view of the beach and ocean.
Look at this lifeguard stand and the beach. The weather was delightful in the '70s and it was a nice relief from the 90-degree weather we had in New York.
We took long walks all around the town.
There is an open street that you can walk down to see the many shops, art galleries, and restaurants.
We wanted to eat at an Italian restaurant but it was too busy, so we ate a place called Brussels Bistro. We shared the shrimp and bread. I had a falafel dish with rice and my husband enjoyed his stew and noodles.
The next day we didn't want a big lunch or dinner. We decided to have salads and wraps that we bought from Trader Joe's for lunch. We walked around town that evening and came across Whole Foods Market. We bought pizza slices and drinks and enjoyed our dinner by the beach.
I had the pleasure of meeting with Ping from @mynomfictionlife after so many years. We've been blog and Instagram friends for a long time. We had so much fun drinking coffee at Starbucks and chatting with each other.
Please check out Ping on Instagram at @mynomfictionlife as she shares a lot of yummy food and is also a talented baker.
The hotel had beach chairs, umbrellas, and towels that we could bring to the beach.
This was my view of the water and beach for the next three luxurious and relaxing days.
One afternoon my husband wanted to drive around and have In-N-Out burgers again. We shared the fries and a drink again.
We went to the pool one afternoon and had it all to ourselves. The pool water was warm and we enjoyed swimming that afternoon.
We loved getting up early for our morning walks on the beach.
On our last night in California, we decided to have dinner in Newport Beach. We sat outside and dined at Modo Mio Rustic Italian Kitchen. We both had cocktails and they brought out marinated mushrooms for us that were delicious tasting.
My husband had pasta e Fagioli and I had a salad for our appetizer. I had fish with vegetables and roasted potatoes. My husband liked his mushrooms and meatloaf. It was the perfect way to end our vacation in California.
We had a great time vacationing in California and I miss it already. Thanks for coming along with me on this awesome trip.
Have you been to California? What do you recommend we see on our next visit?
California Trip 2021 - Day 1 - Here
California Trip 2021 - Day 2 - Here
California Trip 2021 - Day 3 - Here
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
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