A week in photos

Time is flying by! It's already mid March!

This week was a fun blur, work, projects, company, walks in the woods and a birthday celebration! 

Our latest project was a bed. Yes, we made a bed. We were happily sleeping on a giant memory foam while we figured out the space and what we wanted. Ben designed a wooden bed frame, he and Zach built it. After a few redesigns Ben and I re-built it even better, finishing it off with a wooden pallet border. 

Our other project was a antique farm window that I envisioned as a memo/card board for the empty wall in our kitchen. We found the perfect window, added some chicken wire, mini close pins and lots of love!

Here are a few photos from this week.

Rainy days and Projects

Rainy days in the pacific northwest aren't getting us down, in fact I quite like the moss covered canopy of trees and catching a glimpse of snow covered mountians in the distance.

Lately our days off together have been spent exploring, hanging with new friends, antiquing and of course, projects.
Before we put the finishing touches on the coffee bar area, we were already planning the office/crafting  room. We found the perfect desk at a local antique shop and began planning the style of shelves Ben would build.

I just love it! I've been anticipating a space to paint, design and get crafty for years. It's so exciting to have a place where I can spread out and not have to pack up my things each time. 

Ben's buddy Zach arrived this weekend for a visit and weve been very productive. We took Zach antiquing, we finished setting up the office/crafting room and Ben built me a awesome  earring, ring and necklace display out of wooden pallets and an old picture frame, that I just LOVE!

I envisioned this earring and necklace display for myself and Ben brought it to life! 
I'm so thankful to have a motivated, handy husband who can build and help me design. 

It's so nice to have a friendly face in town. I'm very grateful  that we are able to be a blessing to those around us and host again. We are enjoying game nights, story telling and catching up on life. 

Two weeks in

We've been in our new place for two weeks now.

It's been nice relaxing and taking the time to settle in, figuring out who we are in our new place, in this new state. 

We've both discovered we love antiquing, it's something fun we do together. 

When we were on the road we began collecting things from around the country.  For me it was mostly gems, beads and other things that I'm now turning into jewelry, for Ben it's been patches and coffee. 

I imagined a space in our new home for me to craft and one for Ben to have a coffee bar. When we were looking at places I shared the idea with Ben and of course he loved it. 

We've found the perfect spot for this coffee/tea/chocolate bar and it's been fun to build and decorate together. 

It's still a work in progress. So far Ben has built the wall hanging and shelf from an old pallet. The iron S he made a few years back at a black smithing class in DE. The mat is an AR-15 tekmat that we found at a gun show and the other shelves are ammo boxes I found at an antique shop.

Another fun thing we've been collecting are old wooden chairs. The weirder the better! We wanted to find at least four different chairs and we ended up with seven (so far). The chairs are all different colors from local antique shops. My original plan was to repaint them all the same color, but I think I'll keep them as is for now. 

More to come..

In the kitchen

Yeah! This is my first In the Kitchen post in months! 

Recently I posted a photo online of a raw "caramel" fudge tart inspired by two fellow healthy foodies. One of the ladies liked the post so much she reposted it on her page and people asked for the recipe. 

 The recipe I used,  is my version of one that can be found on This Rawsome Vegan Life.com and I used the Cacao Magic superfood blend from ThePhilosophie.com

So here it is! 

Makes 6

Crust: 

1 cup cashews

1 cup pecans

1 cup dates

"Caramel" layer:

1 cup dates

2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Water as needed

Fudge topping:

1/4 cup of Philosophie Cacao Magic superfood blend

2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

1/2 dates

Water as needed

To make crust: pulse the nuts in food processor into crumbs. Add dates and process until all ingredients are blended together making a sticky crust. Line or spray ( I used coconut oil spray)  tart/cupcake tins and press crust into bottom of each tin, set aside. 

To make caramel: Pluse all ingredients together in food processor until smooth. Add water ( very little) as needed if blend is too thick. Spread into tin on top of crust and put in refrigerator. 

To make fudge topping: Pluse all ingredients in food processor until smooth. Spread over each tart and put back into refrigerator to set for at least 30 mins. 

Remove each from tin ( or not) top with dried coconut flakes and Enjoy! 

* this is my version of a recipe originally created by: thisrawsomeveganlife.com