Blazer and necklace from Target and my favorite sparkly pink boyfriend style tank top from Top Shop.

Dark Pewter and Antique Tin were only one shade difference and while Dark Pewter came out very blue, Antique Tin was gorgeous! Sadly, too dark for a room with no windows, so, moving on… Millennium Silver was also very pretty, but we decided that it was too blue. French Silver turned blue as well, surprise surprise, but was way too light since our goal was to make the room more cozy. Last but not least, we picked up Timber Town from the 2013 trends collection, and it was our winner! We love how it warms up the room and is a true gray.

For a little before/after action, here was the original color of the room. A light peachy pink literally straight from the 80′s.

In the end, for anyone searching for that perfect shade of gray (inner-child-giggle) my advice would be to invest a few dollars in samples and take your time! We had the colors up on the wall in various places, in various sizes, and next to our current furniture before finally deciding. We were 99% sure of a different color about 3 or 4 times before making our final decision. So, don’t always go with your first instinct. Let it sit in- because you just might change your mind for the better like we did!

I’m so happy with the outcome of our new friend, Timber Town, aka a Girly Machine Tool Gray. Behr may just need to update the name of it. Still to come in the office makeover- office reveal (we got innovative with some tables!), conference room, bathroom, kitchen, hallway and additional offices! Get excited.

Interesting enough, this mirror, which is now in style and available at many stores, was left there with the original building and they only had it hung up because it was there to begin with. An example of how styles come back : )

But, the old guy needed an update. We thought about using a bright red for a pop of color, but in the end decided on a more glamorous route and picked up a can of Aluminum spray paint for $3.50. There are pops of silver throughout the bathroom, so in the end everything will look clean and put together.

With a good cleaning, and some painters tape and card stock paper in place to protect the mirror, I started spraying! Two coats later and the mirror was complete. Just FYI- It also makes you look like the Tin Man if you get it on yourself. Hence my hand.

I have to say, I’m absolutely obsessed with the outcome. It makes me want to play the Queen in Snow White and ask it who’s the fairest of them all. The men in the shop may not appreciate it as much, so it’s a good thing they have their own grungy bathroom up front : )

A fun and simple update anyone can do with an existing piece for a measly $3.50!

It’s definitely a store to leave your big purse in the car for, because it’s cram-packed with breakable goodness. You could literally spend hours looking through everything!

My most favorite things were the baskets of old silver silverware, buttons you could purchase by the scoop, and old keys. It’s basically a DIY crafters dream! The only creepy thing about the store- all of the pictures. I may be missing something, but I’m not quite sure why they would want pictures of deceased people from their head shots, to wedding pictures, to family get togethers, but I’m not willing to look through them or even take a picture to share because it was a bit too much for me. But- if that’s your thing- then those are here too!

Another fun thing is the amount of tea cups they have.

We both ended up walking away with one, because we’re bringing class to the machine tooling world, one cup of tea at a time.

Plus, if we wouldn’t have walked back there, I wouldn’t have noticed this plate. Who wouldn’t want a full set of Presidential dishes? Please try not to laugh. It’s a toughy : )

In the end, I ended up bringing home a small white plate, a decorative cup/bowl, and my tea cup! These will all be a part of our office makeover, which I’ll share soon as well : ) I love the cutouts on the plate, and the cup/bowl has almost a pearl effect on it and changes colors which I thought was very cool!

I’m back in Chicago all week for the IMTS show and apparently the hotel thinks having power is optional so I’ll try to shoot out a few more posts this week if they decide to keep it on! Cheers!

From How Sweet It Is- 135 Recipes for Football Season

• I seriously don’t even know where to start with this list- it all looks soooo amazing. I will definitely be trying one (or ten) from this list asap.

From Cooking Classy- Carmel Cheesecake Apple Dip

• How easy and delicious does that look! And with apples? It’s practically healthy : )

From Simple Provisions- Homesick Toast

• Avocado- sold! Would be very perfect for tailgating on smaller bread or crackers as well! And- it’s pretty too : )

Now I just have to get busy cooking! Going to need the energy to cheer on my MSU Spartans (GO GREEN! Beat them Chips!) and my Detroit Lions! Maybe a little more energy for the Lions than the Spartans, but who could complain when you have great food and a cold beer in front of you? Not this girl.

Random: Can NOT stop thinking about the coaches speech in Grease the movie today. It’s making me laugh out loud at random times which makes me look like a crazy person. Good thing I only work with family. Safe : )

I’m headed off to my first Detroit Lions game! Confession: I know nothing about them outside of a few players and how to play the actual game of football, but I’m going to pretend I do and see who I can fool. Insert evil laugh. Cheers : )

The story begins last week when we visited some family friends and they sent us home with lots of veggies from their garden, including two large eggplants. Wanting to get creative, my mom and I sat out on the deck with a stack of cookbooks, a cup of coffee with “creamer” (we’re on a Rum Chata kick- don’t try it because you won’t be able to stop, but you should try it) and looked for a fun recipe!

We ended up with eggplant parmesan. Does not sound very unique- but we made it our own. We took the original recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites and then altered it so that it would feed both the girls and the boys in the house, who aren’t big on having “just veggies” for dinner.

Step 1: We poured some wine in preparation. This recipe takes about 2 hours from start to finish, so we needed some strong motivation.

Step 2: We followed the exact recipe for making the Tomato Wine Sauce which was amazingly delicious. It doesn’t look like the recipe is posted on the site, or I’m crazy and can’t find it- but I took a picture of the book instead of typing it all out for you.

Make sure you taste it while it’s simmering! How amazing is that color by the way?

Step 3: We followed the recipe for the Eggplant Parmesan with the following adjustments:

• Used the whole egg instead of just egg whites
• Used italian bread crumbs instead of whole wheat for more flavor
• Made layers into more of a sandwich shape rather than a lasagna
• Added chicken that after using a meat tenderizer was about 1/2 inch thick, used the same egg mixture and breading as the eggplant and cooked it in a pan with oil while the eggplant was baking. When we were combining all of the layers for the final 25-30 minute baking instructions we snuck the cooked chicken in between the layers of eggplant!
• Used the remainder of the egg mixture and cooked it as an edible garnish for the tops of the servings- waste not, want not!

And ta-da! Here is our finished product- it looks good and tasted even better! Cheers : )

The end!

You will need:

3 tbsp onion

1 large clove of garlic

3-4 large tomatoes

peppers of your choice

3 tbsp cilantro

1/2 lime

1tbsp vinegar (not pictured)

salt and pepper to taste (not pictured)

Prep work: Remove the seeds from your tomatoes and chop them, along with your onion into small pieces. Mince your garlic, cilantro, and peppers (quantity and type determined by your preference for mild/medium/hot!).

1. Place onion and garlic in strainer and pour about 4 cups of boiling water over them, let sit for 5-10 minutes to cool.

2. For chunky salsa that’s great for use on chicken or sandwiches, mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and squeeze the lime over the top. For a smoother salsa for chips or other snacks, mix all of the ingredients including the lime juice and separate into two bowls. Using a food processor, mix the ingredients from one of the bowls together until they reach your desired consistency. Then, add the two portions together and you’re done!

Store your finished salsa in your refrigerator in an air tight container for a few hours in order to blend the flavors, and serve!

These sunflowers were so cheerful that I had to take a picture to share.

Then of course there were tons of veggies, including a load of sweet corn out of the back of a pickup truck with an attractive farmer sitting in the bed watching over his spot. Hot-dang. So, I bought some… Well played cowboy, well played.

We also found a veggie we didn’t even know existed- purple peppers that are in the picture above! They were sweeter and softer than ordinary peppers, but were great on a fresh salad!

There was also a booth for Michigan cactus? I didn’t know Michigan was known for their cacti, but we thought it was entertaining and snapped a picture as well.

One of the booths sold organic meats and eggs as well as honey. I thought these honey sticks that were available in all sorts of flavors for your tea were fun!

We spent about half of the time looking through all of the fruits and veggies, and the other half of the time sucked in at a jewelry booth. She had the cutest displays and little magnets with sayings on them! I bought a few things as gifts for certain peoples birthdays that are coming up : )

At the end of the day, we ended up with quite a few purchases! We’ve been enjoying them all week and I’m definitely excited to make a few more visits before the summer is over.

Next year I’m going to convince my mom to start a little garden of our own. We have the land and the sunshine, now we just need to get my step dad to make us a raised bed! I do have to give her mad props though- she’s tried planting herbs for years. And. Always. Fails. They just die on her. She’s tried what seems like everything and then gave up the past few years. But, drumroll please, check out her basil this year! I think it deserves a trophy after her years of struggles. Cheers to the mama, her basil and summer farmers markets!

First, start off by collecting your ingredients. You will need:

1 medium sized cabbage finely shredded

5-6 baby carrots finely shredded

1/2 apple diced into small pieces

1 tbsp honey

5-6 tbsp vinegar

1 cup mayo (not pictured)

1 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp salt and pepper

Simply prepare all of your veggies, then mix all of the ingredients together! These measurements are approximate, so if you like your coleslaw sweeter or more vinegary than add more or less of that ingredient.

Now for the secret-grandma-recipe: prepare your coleslaw in a wood bowl that has been rubbed with a fresh clove of garlic!

Let the coleslaw sit in the wood bowl for an hour or two before serving to pick up the garlic taste, then serve! Cheers : )