Well hey there little fella

Look closely. Yep. Thats a dead lizard tied into my shoelaces. NOT OKAY. I have been mentioning to David that I have seen lizards running around in our house lately, but this guy got a little too comfy in Casa  Legate.  (Disclaimer: I didn't maliciously tied this lizard into my shoelace and let him die a slow, painful death. I didn't realize he was there until nearly two hours after I had my shoes on. Its not my fault that he is an idiot for climbing in there). Luckily I discovered my new friend while I was doing laundry at my parents house so Mama Malone came to my rescue and removed the little guy from my shoe - even though she was a little grossed out by it. Thanks for taking one for the team Mom. 

I tried to use this little incident as leverage for my "can we get a kitten campaign?" with David. It has failed so far - but I will persevere. I think Sugar needs a little friend. 

Tilapia and fried potatoes

A little over three and a half years ago when David and I started dating, he made it his goal to, 1. Make me his bride, and 2. Get me to like seafood. Well my friends. It has happened. I am David's wife. And I occasionally (sometimes more than occasionally) really love a piece of fish. 

Last night for dinner I actually made the meal that I have, for so many years, despised. Tilapia. And, if I do say so myself, it was quite tasty. 

Don't let this face fool you. He enjoyed it. He just doesn't enjoy getting his picture taken mid-bite :)

Ingredients:

1 large sweet onion

1 green pepper

3 potatoes (Yes. David and I, between the two of us ate three ENTIRE potatoes. Is that bad?)

3-4 tablespoons of garlic butter

A whole lot of olive oil

1 lb of tilapia fillets (if you are making it for two people)

Zatarans Seasoned Fish Fry Breading Mix

Directions:

1. Slice the onion, green pepper and potatoes. 

2. Melt garlic butter in a skillet. Add the onion and green pepper. Saute. 

3. Fill your frying pan with about a 1/4-1/2 inch of olive oil. Place the potatoes in the skillet and fry 'em up. Make sure to stir them from time to time so the ones on the bottom don't get scorched while the ones on the top are not cooked enough. 

4. Wet each fish fillet with some water and place it on a plate of the breading mix to coat the fillet on each side. 

5. After the potatoes are done frying, transfer them to a serving plate with a paper towel on the bottom to absorb the extra oil. Season with Nature's Seasoning (or salt and pepper). Keep the oil you used for the potatoes to fry the fish in. 

6. Once the onion and the pepper are nice and soft/slightly browned take them off the skillet and place in a serving bowl. 

7. Place fish in the potato frying pan and let it sizzle away. (I don't have a picture to show of the fish frying process because I was too busy yelling, "Oh no Oh no. Their burning, their BURNING!!!!") So make sure you keep an eye in those little babies. Because they burn QUICK!

8. Once they are just slightly crispy and the inside is no loner pink, remove from the oil and place on the dinner plate. Squirt some lemon juice on top (or lime juice if you are David). 

Serve up some potatoes and give a good portion of the onions and peppers on top. 

Enjoy!!!

Sneaky Sugar

This is how I found Sugar this morning when I walked in from the kitchen. This is her, "I know I'm not supposed to be on the couch, but Mom and Dad won't notice" stance.

Look at her. She thinks she is so slick. 

Living Room Face Lift

This morning I was doing a sufficient amount of time-wasting while looking at blogs. I have SO missed my morning blog time (David and I just got our internet in our new place on Saturday). 

I was looking at apartment therapy this this morning when I stumbled upon this adorable little room

I like it for a few reasons. I like how it has lots of neutral shades but then has bright pops of color. I also like how the curtains really pop because they are pretty much the only thing in the room that has a pattern. This got me thinking about our little living room. We boast a lot of neutrals with pops color, but it has just seemed to me that it is still sort of "blahhhh." 

So I decided to try some patterned curtains to give the room a little more movement and detail. I think the room is a little more pulled together with the black in the curtains balancing the black in the shelf and mirror on the other side of the room. 

What do you think? I'm not completely sold yet. Just giving it a taste today. We will see what David thinks when he comes home :)

Ellie Belly

Today is a tribute to a my little niece, Ella. Now, I know that I am biased, but she is quite possibly the cutest baby girl on the face of the earth. Just look at her...

My sister has a blog. Dear Dear Sister. If you want a guaranteed warm, fuzzy feeling every day, you should check it out because Miss Ella delivers every day and Mama Emily is right there to share with us all :). 

Kitchens and Riverside dining

Its been a few weeks, but we finally were able to get our last piece of furniture to really unpack our house. Remember the kitchen the day we walked in?

And then our we-don't-have-a-paycheck-can't-buy-anything-eat-dinner-every-night-at-my-parents-house-phase:

And now. Finally. We have our kitchen. And we love her :)

We are still working on our sunroom/dining room. But currently there is no AC in there and it feels like a sauna. Not exactly where I like to eat my dinner, ya know? 

ALSO. One of my best friends in the whole wide world came to visit last weekend with her man. Meet Amanda and Collin. The Legates like these two :)

We had a super yummy dinner at Coconuts on the water - my birthday dinner (!!). Thats our yacht in the back round. (just kidding) :). 

Casa Legate

David and I moved into our new place three weeks ago. I really can't believe it has been that long already. We had a few hurdles to jump over right from the get go, as the tenant who lived in our apartment before us didn't move out until the Sunday before we arrived. So needless to say, the place was NOT ready for us when we got there. But we had to return our U-Haul the next morning, so we had unload all of our stuff. 

The kitchen. Oh the kitchen.

This is what it looked like when we walked in for the first time. YIKES.

The living room, not quite as scary as the kitchen

Our bedroom

The guest bedroom

A week and DAYS of bleach scrubbing with Mama Malone later, we finally spent our first night in our new home. We were so blessed to have my parents only 20 minutes away to crash with until our place was livable. This is what our house currently looks like. We still have a few more little projects that we want to tackle. But that will come with time (and paychecks) :).

The kitchen. Oh hey, Sug. 

The living room

Ps. Does anyone have any tricks for getting those shelves that stick straight out of the wall to sit flush against the wall? Call me crazy, but I don't think little pieces of cardboard hanging out from under the shelf screams cottage chic.

Our bedroom

This is where you'll sleep if you come to visit us. It's comfy - I promise :)

And finally, our itty bitty bathroom

So, like I said. Still a work in progress. But it is becoming home :) We love visitors so come visit us!!!