Thoughts for a Sunday.

Sometimes things in life get rough. Or stressful. Or annoying. But...just remember who you have around you. Think of your friends and your family. They are most important! Not the traffic, or the paper you have to write, or the six piles of laundry waiting to be folded. It's them. Not that stuff.

Whenever things get rough, I look at my boys and remember how greatful I am to have such a wonderful little family:

Take a look around and find beauty in people. Ignore all that other stuff :)

Happy Sunday!

-K

Hello, new lens!

I am proud to say that my little 'ol Etsy shop has funded a new fence for the backyard, Ethan's second birthday and, most recently, a new 50 mm lens for my camera! I got her tonight and I am already pleased.

These were all taken in doors, at night with heinous lighting. The potential of this lens is ridic:

The oh-so exciting jars on the kitchen counter.

The astoundingly awesome faucet in the guest bathroom.

My favoritist shoe in the whole world. Why must you be scuffed at the toe? :(

And some black and white Boo love <3

I cannot WAIT until tomorrow; when I can take to the great outdoors and the sun is out and I can put this to great use! So excited to see what I can muster out of her!!

A big thanks goes out to anyone and everyone who has supported my shop! It is such a joy for me to create what you see in the shop and it makes me even happier when someone loves it just as much as I do and wants it for themselves. Thank you for grabbing some Nu and Boo-ness!!

In other news...I started my first IV on a living, breathing human being yesterday in clinicals and I didn't blow the vein! Wahoooo!

Have a great weekend! Mine will be filled with procrastinating and taking copious amounts of unnecessary pictures studying for my test on Monday.

Love to you all!

-K

Poor Man's Luminaries.

As I have said before...nursing school puts a dent/hole/gorge/crater in your wallet. So, I have adapted to being cheap :)  But, I've shown you before that you can do some great things around the house and for yourself without spending a ton of money. I found a great little crafting project here the other day and knew I had to do it! I already had all of the supplies--Score!

Here is the finished product:

I'm not sure where they will go just yet, but I'm thinking something on the mantle for Chrismakuh (Christmas + Hanukkah. That's how we roll in this house!)

This was probably the easiest crafting job I have ever done. Try it!

Here's what you'll need:

-Spray paint. Any freggin color your little heart desires
-Glass jars. Any size. See that little one in the front? Old ugly drinking glass.
-Rubberbands--all different sizes:

See...all different sizes.

Here's what 'cha do:

Wrap the rubberbands around the glass:

Start sprayin', ya'll:

Remove the rubberbands after the spray paint has dried (BE patient!):

Now just enjoy. Put a candle inside, put flowers or stick-sorta-things inside:

Have a great week!!

-K

Nu and Boo presents....

...a new line this winter. Coming to runways near you!

ROSETTE EARRINGS:

Head on over and snag some for you or a friend!

Remember...If you purchase anything in my shop between now and December 1st, just enter the coupon code NUANDBOO10 at checkout and you will receive 10% off your purchase! :)

Watch out Dior and Oh, you too Chanel. Nu and Boo is in town!

-K

Big Boy Room: Reveal!

As I always say, in my typical sarcastic tone, I know you have been waiting on pins and needles to see the big reveal of my big boy room makeover--frugal style. The time between the sneak peek and now has been overwhelmingly difficult for you. I know this.

I am not the best at before and afters. Hence the fact that I have zero before pictures for you. Hah! But you can enjoy the afters, right? That's the fun part anyway.

I lied. I do have a before picture of something. A bookcase that came from my grandparents house is now in Ethan's room. I painted it up and distressed it a bit. Here it is before:

Not the most attractive of bookcases.

After some paint, here she is in his room:

A good change, no?

Love me some distressing.

A couple of blocks, some vintage toys, and good 'ol books and we are good to go!

I am a sucker for vintage bicycles. Who knows why? They are just cute! He was $5 at my favorite antique store in Mandarin.

We already had these block things. I just took some sandpaper and scuffed 'em up some to make them look old. I like old-looking stuff :)

Vintage Mickey. Vintage Mickey with one arm. Don't hate--I think it makes him unique :) My mom found him in her garage. God knows where he came from? Hah. He fits in well, I think.

Extra storage. A mother's best friend! I decided to leave the legs the original color. I just liked it that way :)

I made a collage-of-sorts on one of his walls:

I am also a sucker for sillouettes. And when it costs me $0.25 to make? Well, call me a huge sucker.

I found her in an antique store for $8 in Five Points in Riverside. Love.

I painted this little guy with some paint I already had in the garage. If you recall, this was found up in our attic--the previous home owners left it. Weirdos. So now it's in Ethan's room for his reading pleasure.

His dresser that used to be where the bookcase is now, is now in the closet:

Such a great idea to put a dresser in the closet. I stole that idea from my bestie, Rach.

We took the front railing off of his crib. I don't have a fancy-made-up-children's-bed picture for you. Well, because that usually is not the case. We never have a fancy-made-up-children's-bed in this house. Maybe one day.

I have another piece I am working on. It's a big dresser and I am painting it the same color as the bookcase. It will replace the changing table under the collage. Whenever that is done, I will be sure to show you. It is a process and is taking entirely too long--I wanted to go ahead and show you the rest of the room :)

This chest is not new. It's been in his room for quite some time, but I wanted to show it to you in case you haven't seen it in all of it's glory:

I adore the locks and the layers and layers of old paint. This was in my brother's room when we were little. I'm not sure where it came from or how old it really is, but I am in love with it.

So anywho...this room was about $50 to redo, including paint and supplies. Try repurposing things you already have; room swap stuff. It makes for a new, cute surrounding without having to feel guilty about spending a ton of money!

Happy Veteran's Day! Thank you to everyone who has served and is serving--our country thanks you!

Love,

K

Shock-shook-uhhhh.

This is my way of remembering how to pronounce it correctly, anyways.

"What on earth is she talking about?" I am talking about shakshuka, people! Shakshuka is something new to me. My husband, who is Israeli, made this for me yesterday and I could not get enough of it. One of the many perks of being married to an Israeli is the FOOD. Oh, the food. Food food food, how I love thee. He's been raving about this eggy dish thing for a very long time and we finally decided to make it. And by we, I mean Ofir. I just snapped pictures :)

I'll be honest...it sounded weird to me. Even as it was hitting my mouth, I was skeptical. Suddenly, out of the blue, my tastebuds rejoiced and I was a changed woman, let me tell you! Ha! My intentions are not to be overly dramatic, I assure you. But, really...it's so incredibly delicious, hearty and comforting. AND its pretty freggin healthy too! I just had to share it with you. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to make something out of the ordinary and so satisfying.

You will need:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large garlic clove
1 medium onion
1 green bell pepper
5 or 6 medium tomatoes (you can use a 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes too, if you prefer)
1-2 tsp paprika
1/2 of a jalapeno
5 or 6 eggs
Your favorite bread....pita, french, whatever

Remove the seeds or you'll be sorry, and finely chop the jalapeno. Give your onion and tomatoes a rough dice. I neglected to take a picture of the green bell pepper for some unknown reason. Roughly dice that too:

Heat the vegetable oil on medium heat and add the bell pepper and onion. Cook them until they are translucent. At this point add the minced garlic. I neglected to take a picture of the mincing of the garlic too. Man, I'm the best step-by-step documenter/cooker person ever:

Once you have added the garlic to the cooked onion and pepper, go ahead and add in your tomatoes, jalapeno, paprika, salt and pepper (lots of pepper!).

Cover and simmer for about 25 minutes.

Let it bubble away and morph into some gorgeousness:

At this point, you will go ahead and add your eggs. Tip: Crack each egg, one at a time, into a small bowl instead of plopping them directly into the mixture. This way, you can retrieve those pesky shell pieces easily, if needed:

Looks interesting, I know. Bare with me.

Cover again and cook until the yolks harden a bit and the egg whites turn...oh I don't know...white. :)

Here she is. Complete. In all her glory:

Scoop up an egg or two, round up some of the sauce and have that bread handy for dipping:

Yum. Seriously. This was Ofir's first time making it. He pretty much winged it from memory. I wish I could wing stuff from memory.

We didn't like it all:

Have a great week! Try SHOCK-SHOOK-UHH! :)

-K

Two Costumes. Both Under $1!

Hey ya'll!

Happy Wednesday!

I blogged about Ethan's mummy costume here and I wanted to show you his other costume he wore for school :)

Here he is as the Cat in the Hat:

This was a fun little costume I threw together the night before his school party on Monday morning. They asked them to dress up as their favorite story book character :)

He was pissed after 5 minutes of picture taking. He hated the hat. Haha! Bless his little heart.

I just wanted to break down the two costumes, cost-wise and show you how easy it is to make costumes that don't cost a lot of money at all!

The Cat in the Hat costume was $0. Free is such an awesome word :) As you can see, it's not an elaborate costume, but cute none-the-less. I made the white circle out of computer paper, the red bow tie out of red scrapbook paper that I already had and the top hat was made out of left over wrapping paper from his birthday party. His little nose and whiskers are just eyeliner.

The Mummy costume was $1. One whole dollar. All we spent money on was some white tights. Yes, he's in little girl tights, but it worked perfectly. My mom came up with that idea. Genius :)  She had some gauze already so we didn't have to spend money on that. He is wearing a long sleeved white shirt on the top--one that we already had. I just used makeup that I already had to scuff  him up some.

SO...$1 was spent this Halloween. Try a homemade one next year! It's fun!

Have a great rest of the week. Clinicals for Term II start tomorrow morning. Not looking forward to waking up at 5:00 am again! Ugh! Excited to learn new skills though! :)

-K