3 Girls & A Blog: Homemade Dark Hot Chocolate

Reblog from 3GB - I made this today and it's awesome!

3 Girls & A Blog: Homemade Dark Hot Chocolate: Prepare for delicious-ness. I have recently committed to trying to eat more healthful, real, whole foods. AKA the paleo or caveman diet. B...

High Five for Friday

Hello again! I have been MIA in the blogosphere the last few weeks. My world had been sucked into the busyness that seems to be the only "acceptable" pace of life lately. What I've come to realize is that this is not acceptable. I am trying to be intentional with my time and savor moments.

And so, in participating in my first H54F, these are five moments in my week that I chose to savor and share with you.

1. I got to spend time with some amazing women the other day, and we were each given Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts to begin reading. I haven't read a book outside of small group or school in years. The underlined words really struck me. I can't wait to read the rest!
2. & 3. Both of these photos are from a trip to the antique shop near my house. I loved the fall-inspired "harvest blessings" frame and that table, well, let's just say I drooled a little. Plus it was so nice to spend a few hours with a dear friend of mine.
4. My fur-babies. The weather has gotten really chilly the last few days, and my pups are more snuggly than ever.
5. My fall mantle. I have so enjoyed the decor for this season. I will be a little sad to put it all away and pull out Christmas stuff in a few weeks.

What's your high five this week?

Linking up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk!

Falling into Autumn

It's been a busy week here at La Villa Rosa. Isn't this time of year always busier? I have just posted about my Fall DIY Wreath over at 3 Girls & A Blog. Go check it out! 

As I mention in that post, I went to Hobby Lobby with Melba this morning and found a couple little treasures. One of which was this adorable bird-in-a-cage hook. 

I am loving slowly adding to my kitchen. When we bought this house, the previous owners had just painted the entire inside of the house. Fortunately for us, we like most of the colors. This powder blue (kinda hard to tell in that pic) is throughout the hallway, stairs, living room, and kitchen. 

Instead of repainting, I've been adding little bits of darker blues and bright yellows to my kitchen decor.  Can't wait to add more! :-)

Early Sunday

So, I'm a nurse. And I recently switched to night shift after being on day shift for a year. I love the switch. I sleep way more, feel less stressed, and am able to take, what I feel is, better care of my patients. 

With my weird sleeping schedule, sometimes I wake up at the darndest times, for the darndest reasons. Like 6am Sunday morning, while my sweet husband is snoring next to me. Because my ant bite on my foot itches, and I am ravenous. My growling stomach begging to eat. Did I mention bedtime was just 1:30am? And last meal was 10pm? I'm still trying to figure out when to eat. 

Anywho, since I was wide awake, I got to enjoy my breakfast in the company of the most adorable fluffy companions I know. 

Precious Lola.
Please ignore the random shoe and half-chewed toy in the background. 

See what I mean? Who wouldn't want to wake up early to that cuteness?

Sweetest mutt. Jackson.

And they are always so happy. It almost made me forget how gross my chunky half-and-half was in my coffee this morning. *gag*

Check back later this week for my Fall Wreath DIY - it's getting crafty up in here!

September Birchbox Preview!

I got my favorite monthly gift in the mail yesterday!! I have been subscribed to Birchbox for over a year now. I love trying new products but never liked to commit to paying for a full-size product I may not even like. Birchbox was the perfect solution! I had seen it on my favorite blog, and then later on Pinterest and just knew I had to give it a try!

Here is a quick pic of my box. I will post a review once I try the products!

Adventures in DIY

I shared this post over at 3 Girls and a Blog earlier this week. (Check it out for some awesome recipes, fitness and fashion tips, and more to come!) I am slowly picking up the DIY bug, and this was my first major project a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

I wanted to share with y'all my first "real" DIY project: refinishing our old, ugly living room tables. I picked these up at a garage sale in our old neighborhood right after we got married. 

That's Jackson in the middle. He is an attention-hog.
See the awful honey-colored tables? 

They were hideous, beat up, and just plain ugly. But for $25 I thought I could restain them and give them new life. Flash forward two years. New living room, same tables. Yuck!

And then I stumbled on a blog saying that Rustoleum's Furniture Transformations kit was awesome. So I thought, hey, why not? Anything is better than how these tables look now. The biggest draw for me was that this kit didn't require any sanding.

We checked online to make sure Home Depot carried it, picked out a color and headed to the store. It's on the same aisle as the spray paint. For $35, this is quite a deal. The kit has everything you need except for paintbrushes, trays, and gloves. It includes a few rags for the glaze, but I ended up using an old t-shirt too. Make sure to get your base coat tinted before you leave the store! It honestly could not have been easier to use. 

Remember, we are not (were not? ;) ) DIY people AT ALL. 

There are four steps in all, first to deglaze your piece (kit includes a scrub pad) and I would wear rubber gloves for that. Then two base/paint coats, then glaze, and finally protective top coat.

Between base coats. The color is a handsome charcoal gray.

Yes, we painted in the living room. Those suckers are heavy!

The glaze has to set for 8 hours and then you can seal it with the protective top coat. Then that dries for 12 hours and you're done!

Starting the glaze...

The glaze will set a little lighter with the protective coat, so if you want it a little darker, don't be afraid to use more. There are specific instructions for cabinet doors, too. Take pictures! You will be amazed at the difference. Also each box covers 35 square feet, so measure before you go.

Glazed.

I felt like this was a lot of glaze, but I so could have used more! This is before the
protective top coat.

Ta-da! 

I am so glad we decided to try out this project! It has made such a difference and really made our living room feel like it all goes together. Let me know what you think!

Rustoleum has no idea who I am. I just really liked their product. This is not an advertisement, nor will I get paid for this post.

Anniversary Beach Trip

Our second anniversary was in June, but we didn't get to go on a trip to celebrate until August due to work schedules. Finally, we worked it out to take a long weekend trip to Panama City Beach, FL.

View from our balcony

Sadly, it rained the first day and a half we were there. :-(

View from our balcony

View from our balcony

But we went to dinner at a really busy place. Sharky's, maybe? The atmosphere was fun but the food was so-so.

Oh, and we also found out that we left the wrong key for our house-sitters. Awesome...not!

Thankfully it was Marco's brother so we could get a locksmith to let him in, where the extra keys were, and he could let our dogs out. Talk about a way to start a vacation!

The last day, however, was beautiful!!

We got to enjoy this incredible sunset.

It was beautiful. Just a nice, simple getaway to celebrate our two years of marriage. We are so looking forward to the next 80! :-)