Guest Posting on A Home in the Making today!

Hey guys!  Today I'm excited to be guest posting over at A Home in the Making.  It's all about one thing that I'm loving this autumn.  Check it out here!

Coffee Bar

I spoke of the fun gadget that I bought a while back, my milk frother.  I love making lattes and cappuccino's at home (like this)...

...but I got off of the kick during the summer months.  I'd rather drink cold drinks when the weather is hot, and I haven't found a decent recipe for iced coffee yet.  Now that the fall is approaching I can foresee making these hot beverages again.  I had a little coffee bar set up in the kitchen but quickly found out that the space literally was little.

Because of this I decided to move my things over to the larger counter that wasn't being used as much (just for mail, keys, sunglasses and other items).  After a little rearranging I came up with this.

A few problems with this set up:

- Random items tend to find a home on this counter and the same items listed above never found a new home. (btw, the image above is right after placing the items there...the counter doesn't look like this all of the time, ha!)
- The tray holding the coffee accoutrements was too small.
- The coffee mugs aren't in one of the cabinets above.

After buying a new tray from Home Goods, I decided to try again.  I changed counters and tried a different set up, but it still didn't work out because cooking items always seemed to find their way there.  No images of that, but imagine the image above on another long counter.

I was sitting at work a couple of days ago, and out of nowhere I got the idea to create a stand alone coffee bar.  Since I had just painted the dining room I figured that would be a great spot to put it.  A few months back I went to ikea (duh) and purchased two of these carts.

via

I had a spot in mind for one, but not the other, so I decided to turn the other one into my coffee bar.

A cool thing about this cart is that it has a drawer, so I stored spoons, a towel and other teas that I don't drink too often.

I guess this can also be called a hot beverage bar because that's what it holds.  Do any of you have coffee bars in your home?

Barista at Home!

To continue the proof of my domestic kick, I recently purchased a milk frother.  I got the idea after seeing the Nespresso machine that Jen from Made By Girl posted last week.  I wasn't a coffee drinker in my early adulthood because I always felt that it was bad for you and had a negative effect on your spine.  I also felt that it was the reason that I'm short (5' 3.5" thank you very much) because my grandma would allow me to drink coffee with my breakfast every now and then when I was a little girl (7 years old).  Around age 25 I rediscovered coffee and the positive effects...like being able to stay up late and drinking it in the morning to stay awake!  I was kind of a coffee freak after that.  These days, however, I'm not a huge fan mainly because of the gross aftertaste.  I would go to Starbucks sometimes and couldn't figure out why their coffee was so good and mine was just eh.  This was the case even with Starbucks coffee made at home.

In stepped the milk frother!  Now I can drink coffee, enjoy the taste, the effects and the look!  I got my frother from Target and so far I love it!

Observe!

Simon's Latte sprinkled with nutmeg and cinnamon.

Cappuccino sprinkled with nutmeg and cinnamon.

White Hot Chocolate sprinkled with cocoa powder.

Liquors and Tables and Bars...oh my!

Let's talk spirits...and not the ones that go bump in the night.   I have dreams of a well stocked, well styled bar in my dining room.  Currently we have a bookcase that was purchased from Ikea.  We added legs to it to turn it into a buffet.  This idea came from Alaina at Live Creating Yourself.  Here are a few somewhat recent images of our bar/buffet area-

What I'm really going for is something like this-

Then there are these cuties.  Would it be crazy to put a mini bar in my bedroom?  I promise I'm not an alcoholic!

What about you?  Do you have a mini or full on bar in your home?

{credits 1 2 3 4 5 6 }

Anniversary Date Night: January 26th

We've decided to start a new tradition of celebrating our anniversary (the 26th) every month with a special date night.  The dates won't necessarily be extravagant, but probably more low key.  Last night we planned on eating dinner at home, going to Starbucks for coffee afterwards, then going back home to watch our latest favorite comedy special.  It ended up raining pretty bad last night, so I got home later than expected.  My tank was also shamefully low, so we had a really late start. 

 Our events

- Ate dinner
- Filled up the tank
- Starbucks (we didn't get to stay there and enjoy our coffee because they were starting to close)
- Watched Patrice O'Neal: Elephant in the Room (hilarious special!  He was definitely gone too soon)
- Watched a little CNN while drinking our favorite wine

The "Girly" Girl Inside

Lately I've been drawn to things that might be considered "girly".  This includes collecting loads and loads of nail polish (and changing my nail color each week), wearing more accessories, trying to perfect a messy bun, wanting a pair of tea gloves, and wanting to drink hot beverages out of a tea cup with a saucer beneath.  I wasn't the kind of child that had tea parties, so maybe I want to make up for lost time?

  

 {credits: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7}

I'm even more into hot beverages now that we have a Keurig!  Maybe I'll put a really nice tea set with accompanying gloves on my wish list for my 30th b'day (wow...I'll be 30 this year!  Exciting!).

Fruit Infusion

It's still summertime, so what better way to enjoy it than making some homemade fruit infused vodka?!  I happened upon a website called Shutterbean with the best drink concoctions that I have seen in a while.  There was a recipe for strawberry infused vodka, so that same day when I got home I made it.  Of course it had to sit for three days (equivalent to torture) before I could enjoy it, but it was well worth the wait.  I'm not one to follow directions to the book, so I did my own thing down to the container that I used for infusion.  Because of this, I'm not going to post directions in the traditional sense...

*Fruit Infused Vodka*

1. Find a container with a lid that you can screw on tight so that when you agitate it over the next three days nothing will splash on you (and no liquor will be wasted...equivalent to torture once again).

2. Get some fruit (strawberries for this example) and cut it up.  Throw the fruit into the container.

3. Pour vodka into the container and screw the lid on tightly.

4. Store in a cool dry place for three days, and agitate (shake/stir/rock) once or twice each day.

24 hours

48 hours

 5. On the last day get a strainer (I used a tea strainer) and pour the vodka into something else.  Strain again just to make sure all of the seeds and random fruit sediments are gone.

72 hours

6. Taste a piece of the fruit (you know you will anyway, that's why I included it here).  Make a crazy face because the fruit is no longer sweet and tastes like a shot.

7. Pour the vodka into a nice bottle and serve it to someone (that someone could be yourself, no judgment).

For someone else

For yourself

 That's all!  You can check the web for drink recipes that call for strawberry vodka (or whatever fruit you use).

I made a bottle for my friend for her birthday and my mom for her birthday (blueberry for her).

Blueberry:

All images via me...some from the mobile, so excuse the quality of those!