Pinterest for Men + Make-Your-Own Cooking Spray

The combination of men and Pinterest is all too a rarity, and up until I watched my husband benefit from the female-crazed site, I was sure there was no hope for the marriage of the two. However, I am now a firm believer that Pinterest CAN being man-friendly, and maybe one day when the site duplicates, changes its name and perceived concept, restricts boards to only manly categories, and declares itself a boys-only zone, men will be just as much of fanatics as women. What? Websites can't undergo sex changes? Lol, yeah right.

Seriously though, I really witnessed Jeff test out a pin. He was watching me scroll through my pin feed, and when I passed over make-your-own cooking spray, he made me go back to see what it was all about.

Picture and Cooking Spray Recipe from  Natures Nurture Blog

PYRC #13: Spinach Feta Hummus and Pesto-Based Pizzas

For as much as I love to cook and for as much as I obsessively crave pizza, I'm kind of shocked that I've never made pizza on my own... until last week. I had a vegetarian friend coming over for dinner, I had some interesting recipe pins waiting to be tested, and it was about time to get creative with gourmet pizzas. I planned my menu, grocery shopped, prepped some hummus and pizza dough and BAM, the day of dinner plans, I fell ill, yucky stomach-sick-can't-get-out-of-bed ill. I was WAY too upset that I had to cancel plans that night SO the next day when we had friends coming over for the 4th, I sucked up my sickness and went to pizza trial round 2. Result? I made pesto.... and that's it. Still a bit too shaky to tackle any kind of recipe, our friends left early without even having dinner. So night 3 for me was a final last ditch effort to execute the meal I had started 3 days earlier. Not only was I still sick, but that day Jeff had been hit by the bug as well. So with no company coming over, with no husband to eat, and with a stomach still in recovery mode, I procrastinated for about 2 hours with HGTV before I dragged myself into the kitchen to make what could have been the best pizzas ever.

Pesto-Based Goat Cheese Pizza

Strawberry Spinach Salad Recipe

Believe it or not, I used to be picky. Not just a little picky, but very picky. I really didn't eat most things, including onions. Well from what I remember, this too easy, too yummy salad recipe that I'm about to share (and introduced you to in Brooke's Baby Shower post) was definitely a game changer in my relationship with onions. This strawberry spinach salad came from my college roommate Tiffany, and I know that both of us and all of those that we've touched with this recipe are still enjoying it today. And now that it's nice and hot and summertime, YOU need to be enjoying this salad too.

Brookie's Bountiful Baby Shower

No one is more deserving of a beautiful baby shower than my cousin Brooke. Whenever it comes time to host a shower or party, she's always there giving her 110% to make it as special as can be. So when it was my chance to help host a shower for her, I was nothing more than thrilled.

At first we looked into hosting the shower at one of our hometown cafes, but when plans changed and we decided to host the shower at my Dad's house, my foodie ears perked up and my catering gears kicked in. I love food; I love to plan; and I definitely love to cook! I am more than proud to say that we had one heck of a spread.

6 Tips I've Learned About Painting

You would think for as much art as I have painted that I would be a pretty awesome house painter, but I'm not. I'm actually very slow and meticulous, like I'm painting a painting, and that does not always work in my favor. However, considering I've painted more walls and trim in the past few weeks than I've painted in my entire life, I have gotten better and learned a few tips along the way. Some of these may be "hello obvious" to you all, but some may teach you something new as well. Note: I am definitely not an expert, nor am I pretending to be one.

1. Use sponge rollers for painting smooth surfaces like built-ins and shelves. Jeff has turned me on to these suckers, and I love them. I've used them for my closet shelving, my bookshelf makeover, window sills and living room built-ins. Home Depot has multiple sizes to suit your specific painting needs.