Our Dresser Re-do

I can't say that we haven't done anything this month. We've actually been really busy and done a lot of fun things. This project has been finished for a while and just waiting to be posted, so I guess there's no time like the present!

Our place in NY has a lot of space, much more than we're used to. While that is a very good thing, it means that I'm keeping an eye out for pieces of furniture to add to our home. (Amit would probably say I have too much stuff, but technically I have lots of decor, not a lot of furniture.) Our second bedroom serves as a guest room right now and since our bookshelves need to be moved downstairs to fill the basement with some furniture, I needed something to add to upstairs. Since we obviously enjoy building things together, we've decided that if we need a new piece for the house, we're going to try to either build it or do a little re-do.

I found this dresser on Craigslist and since it was right in our price range, Amit ran over after work and snatched it up. I love the idea of two-toned furniture, like this piece, but we went with a more subtle look, based on this one.

Oops. I forgot to take a "before" pic.

Here's what I got!

(Amit didn't want to put the knobs back on the other shelves,

I guess I can't really  blame him.)

Drawers are out...

Let the painting begin (again)!

In the middle of painting...
(Obviously we focus more on painting, than picture taking.) 

And our finished product!

I think we'll be going with a beach-themed guestroom, since the dresser has some shell accents. It'll be our little piece of the east coast in our NY home! Now I just need to find a new piece of furniture to work on...

Our Latest Primal Recipes

Apologies for the lack of posts! Between school assignments, student teaching, and my quick weekend visits to NY, time has gone by way too quickly! (And I've been slacking on my blogging!) I'm back in Mass now, busy with school and student teaching. It's so great being back in the classroom! I've already been busy with assignments, and I have my first faculty observation tomorrow (eek!). It's hard to believe that we've already been in school for three weeks! Now I only have to survive three more months before I'm back in NY for good. I have a feeling that with all the work I need to do, it will fly by! Now that I've talked about the work I'm supposed to be doing right now, I'll get back to my blogging break.

Aside from our occasional "cheat" treats, I'm primal and still going strong. Amit's been mostly primal, though he can't quite give up the beer, burgers, and wings. My favorite part of being primal has been finding new recipes to experiment with! Cooking together is one of our favorite things to do, and we definitely miss being together in the kitchen every night.

Here are some of our favorite new recipes. Some aren't totally primal, but we tweak it to make it work!

Taco Salad

So easy and we don't even miss the tortillas!

A really easy veggie bake.

And a burger made of  local, grass-fed beef!

Zucchini Lasagna

It wasn't too bad, but I wasn't impressed.

Think I'll just skip the whole lasagna thing. 

Too much work!

Our absolute favorite new recipe - 

Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers.

AMAZING!

I'm trying to get creative and eat more vegetables.
Brussels sprouts with cranberry-pistachio pesto works for me!

For my sweet tooth - 

Fruit with whipped or plain cream.

Oh, and the occasional piece of dark chocolate.

Hopefully I made you good and hungry! In addition to the cooking and schoolwork, we've been doing some hiking, but haven't taken many pictures. Next weekend, Amit is headed back to MA and we're planning to head up to Keene to do some hiking. I promise, I will take pictures then!

Letchworth State Park

This past weekend we decided to get out of Rochester and go for a good hike. Amit wasn't on call, so we had some freedom to go explore! After considering the Finger Lakes, we decided we wanted real hiking, so we headed back to Letchworth, one of our sites from Easter weekend. We chose to hike one of the trails that runs right along the gorge, which made for some great photos!

A great day for hiking!

We loved the scenic overlooks!

 Hmmm... I wonder what's down there?

The gorge is amazing.

So we actually did all that hiking along the gorge to find a way to get down to the water. Well... we were a little high up, but as we were leaving, Amit decided to try one last little parking area and see if that would work. Guess what? It did! After a very short walk, we found water!

What a beautiful little place to wade!

Run for the shore!!!

Emma is still a little iffy about the water, 

but she seemed to have fun!

She was scared of the rapids,

but wanted to check them out anyway.

She had to stick her head under the water, too.

Doesn't she look so happy??

We love this girl!

 Emma hasn't spent much time in the car lately -

I think she misses how close to us she can get.

You might wonder, how do we refuel after hiking?

It's not entirely primal, but oh, it is so worth it!

Chocolate frozen custard with chocolate sprinkles.

Emma shared in our frozen treat by licking the air.

Yum!

It was great to get out in nature, just the three of us. It's a great chance for us to talk and spend some quality time together. I will definitely miss these hikes when I'm back in Boston. We're already making hiking plans for Labor Day weekend and might even throw in a fun trip this weekend. Looks like my semester of student teaching in Massachusetts is a great excuse to get our fill of local adventures!

Our DIY'ed Craft Table

We just got our latest issue of Family Handyman, one of the highlights of our month. Inside, they had an article about a shop table that looked rather easy. Amit showed me the plans (one of the rare times he's seen the magazine before I have) and I knew exactly what to do! We have a big, finished basement, that we've designated our workout/craft room. (It will be a great way to avoid having craft projects sitting on our kitchen table.) While we have the space, I don't have a table down there yet, so we knew this would work!

We used this workbench as our inspiration, skipping the drawer and bottom shelf since I wanted to be able to sit at the table. After sketching out our FH-inspired plans, we set out to pick up our supplies and get started!

Our supplies:

Then I painted and painted...
(Right next to Summer Project #2,
post to come soon!)

After making the legs out of 2x4s 

and adding trim to the table top, 
we were almost done!

(Oops... Looks like you're getting even more of a sneak peak of project #2)

Caution, wet paint!
(Which managed to get all over me and in my hair.)

In the basement and ready for some crafting!

I'm so proud of our table! It looks great and I can't wait to make some projects on it. We're planning on making a second table, so that they can go side-by-side to make a long counter top or back-to-back to create a larger work surface. We'll make sure to post pictures when the second one is complete, but I'm already planning some other painting projects around the house, so who knows which one will be complete first...