Would I Make It Again? Chicken Rigatoni with Vodka Sauce
I don’t want to brag, but I’m no stranger to cooking and baking with booze. Do you remember my whiskey cake? And the Peppermint Schnapps Chocolate Cake? So when I saw a recipe for Chicken Rigatoni with Vodka Sauce by What’s Gaby Cooking I said, “Who drank all the Why don’t we have any vodka?” Seriously though. We didn’t have any vodka, so I sat on this recipe for two months. Fast forward to last week and I finally had a stocked liquor cart the opportunity to make this pasta dish. I’ve made a few of Gaby’s recipes and have not been disappointed. She’s the real deal! This was going to…
Happy List: #55
Hello, again! This week I shared our day in Luxembourg over the holidays. There was snow, beanbag chairs and Mexican food. Totally not what I expected from Luxembourg and it was fun to be surprised. I also wrote about the denim pennants I made for a gift topper. Honest to goodness, it took less time to make the pennants than it will to actually get the pennants and the gifts in the mail to their recipients. Why is that? Two words. Post. Office. Here’s what’s on this week’s Happy List! BEAUTIFUL INSPIRATION The U.K. website Humphrey and Grace is full of beautiful photography and inspiration. Or check out their Instagram…
Denim Pennant Gift Toppers
My stack of ripped denim jeans is piling up, folks. At this point, I’m just shaking my head like, “REALLY?!?” But ripped jeans are in style, you say! Perhaps. However, these jeans of Handy Husband’s are ripped in a rather unfortunate location. Do you get what I’m saying? The jeans aren’t really fixable in any way that says you should be wearing them to work for Casual Fridays. It’s not THAT casual! I need to throw them away or repurpose them. The repurposing issue is a challenge because most denim projects seem very dated or way too country western for me. I’ve lived long enough to know that if I…
Travel: Luxembourg With Kids
Our quest while living in Ireland is to visit as many places in Europe as possible. If only those pesky things like budgets, school and work didn’t always get in the way. Am I right? Over the holidays, while the kids were off from school, we had the opportunity to visit Barcelona, Luxembourg and Paris. I wrote about our experience in Barcelona here. I’ll write about Paris soon. Luxembourg came about because we had a gap in our itinerary and we could easily reach it via train from Paris. Luxembourg is a country, but also a city. To distinguish between the two, Luxembourg City seems to be referenced when speaking…
Happy List: #54
We are approaching mid-January! How’s 2018 treating you so far? My kids resumed school this week. I was ready to get back to a routine. Then I remembered that routine involves homework 4 nights a week. *sigh* This week I shared our trip to Barcelona with you! I had never been to Spain, so it was fun to see a completely new place. We tried to practice our Spanish language skills while we were there and it really makes me wish I would have studied abroad while in high school. On Wednesday I asked for your advice on what to do with my latest junky find. Thank you for joining in…
What Should I Do With This Junky Treasure?
If you’ve been following along on this blog – and thank you for doing that – you’ll remember I talked about our sidewalks being torn up and the amazing memento I now have from the tree that was cut down during the process. I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but our driveway apron was torn up too. A few weeks after the new concrete was poured, I cleaned out the flowerbeds next to the driveway. Yes, I occasionally do tend to my flowerbeds. I swear! Do you know what I found when I was weeding that day? A glorious junky treasure! Talk about chippy perfection! It’s a piece of gate…
Travel: Barcelona With Kids
When you’re living though a cold, damp winter in Dublin, a quick getaway to Barcelona, Spain, in December is a real treat! Actually, in my mind, a trip to Barcelona no matter the time is AMAZING. This was our first time visiting Barcelona and we only had two days to explore the city. Before we left I did a little online research so I had an idea of what was available to do in the city and of interest to our family (our kids are 7 and 10). When we landed in Barcelona on December 26, it felt like an Irish summer. I kid you not. The locals were bundled…
Happy New Year!
Hello, hello! I hope you had a fun time ringing in (or sleeping through) the New Year! If you’ve been following me on Instagram (@aprettyhapppyhome) you’ll know we are off on a grand adventure. It has been our quest while living in Ireland to see as much of Europe as we can. In this trip alone we will cross three more countries off our list. We won’t have time to do a deep dive into each of the areas we are visiting, but the highlights are pretty fantastic! I’m taking a break from blogging this week to continue with our adventures. I’ll be back next week to tell you all…
Happy List: #53, Happy Birthday Dad
Hello, hello! You are joining me on a very special day. It’s my dad’s birthday! If you know him, feel free to give him a call today. By “call” I mean leave a message without any expectation of a call back – that’s a true gift. Or honk when you drive by his house. The neighbors will love that! Or maybe just bake him a pie. That’s what he REALLY likes. Now on to some other things making me happy today! PUZZLE TIME This was just too fun not to share. Can you spot the bear among the reindeer? Here’s the original image by Budapest-based illustrator Gergely Dudás . Here’s the solution.…
Living in Ireland: Festival of Trees
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Before we say goodbye to 2017, I thought I’d share one last holiday-themed post. One of the things I’ve enjoyed or found the most interesting about living in Ireland is seeing how the locals celebrate the various holidays. Ireland doesn’t have the Christmas markets that other European countries are famous for, but it does have plenty of other events for locals (and visitors!) to enjoy. This year a friend invited us to see the Festival of Trees at Christ Church in Bray. Bray is a cute seaside town south of Dublin. It’s one of the farthest points south that you can live from…
