Fancy Grilled Cheese

I love cheese.  What can I say? It's probably my favorite food. No joke.
Needless to say, we eat a lot of grilled cheese in our house.  Lucky for me, my husband likes cheese too.

Grilled cheese isn't exactly the most "adult" dinner out there, so I've been playing with ways to make them a little more exciting!

One of my favorites was pinterest inspired:

Sandwich #1:  I used honey-wheat bread for this one.  Lather one side in pesto.  On the other side I put a slice of mozzarella, some avocado (I used half of an avocado for 2 sandwiches) and some garlic-dill goat cheese.  The sweet bread and tangy goat cheese are a great combination!  Grill as usual.  I'm a butter girl, but you can always grill sandwiches in a little bit of oil for a healthier option!

Sandwich #2:  I spread a sun-dried tomato pesto on one slice of the bread, and a thin layer of horseradish on the other slice of bread.  For this one I used a slice of gouda cheese and pieces of an heirloom (ugly) tomato.  Despite their nickname, they're delicious! 

Expect more grilled cheese recipes soon.  I've got a lot of 'em!

Do you have a favorite ingredient for you sandwiches?

-Megan

Chair Revamp

So one of my favorite things to do is to give old things new life.  Seriously.  If I could quit my day job and hunt junk to repurpose all the time I would.

A few months back (yes, months!) Seth had a friend make us a kitchen table as a surprise for me.  Ours came from craigslist, then to my apartment, and eventually into our house.  We couldn't eat at it without our plates touching.  It was so teeny! So I was really excited to get a new table, and I wanted to find the perfect chairs to go with it.

For a while I tossed around the idea of mixing and matching chairs and painting them all white.  The problem was, I couldn't seem to find 4 chairs I liked at a reasonable price! One night we found ourselves at an auction in Easley, and before I knew it we had won 6 wooden chairs and a table for 20 dollars!  I can't lie-it's kind of a thrill to stick that little auction card in the air! I couldn't say no to such a good deal, so I had to think of something to make them each different.  (I'm using the table as a craft space, I'll share more about that later)

So these were the chairs...

Not bad, but they needed something.

I thought about painting them, but I wanted each one to be different.  In the end I decided to give them all different cushions.  My mom suggested oilcloth, and I jumped on that idea!

If you don't know what oilcloth is, it's the vinyl-like fabric usually with floral or fruit prints that you would find in your grandmother's kitchen.  I love it!

So the hunt began! I finally found an Etsy shop with an assortment of oilcloth, and you can even buy it in partial yards, which was exactly what I needed. 

 

So far, I have covered the cushions and I love them in my kitchen!  Pretty simple cover-just staple-gunned those suckers on!

I gave them a really good wipe down, but I haven't decided whether or not I should paint them.  I thought about white, but now I'm thinking it might be too much with the crazy cushions!  What do you think?

Happy Friday!

Megan

New York in Photos: Part 1

This past week was the first time Seth or I had ever been to New York, and by the end of it we were scheming ways to move there!  If you know either one of us at all, you know this is pretty typical of our vacations.  We've looked at houses in Asheville, Savannah, and now New York.  

The trip was a birthday trip planned by my husband for my 25th birthday.  It was supposed to be a surprise, but Seth couldn't stand it and told me one day in the Publix parking lot.  I'm so glad he did! Part of the fun of a vacation is the anticipation leading up to it! (and of course packing...)

 

We took a Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Cruise.  

China town was one of my favorite parts.  We bought cherries for a dollar a pound! One dollar!

We also ate this crazy stuff.  It's called Jack fruit, and I was so excited to find it. I actually ate it in Uganda a few years back so it was nostalgic.  Seth wasn't a big fan, but I couldn't have been more thrilled!  They were pretty impressed I knew what it was, too! 

This is the rooftop of our second hotel.  Yes, second.  That's another story.  Both hotels were awesome, and the Pod had this fantastic roof deck.  

We have so many New York stories-we were tourists, and we didn't care who knew it!

More soon!

Happy Thursday!

Megan

The week in Instagrams.

So I was so excited about my blog, begged my sister to help me get it started, and then I disappeared.

I'm not complaining though. Over the past week and a half I've been to NYC, celebrated a birthday (I can officially rent a car now!), and been to the lake.

We stayed at the ACE Hotel.  This is something I've wanted to do for a long time, and never expected to actually get to do it! It was just as awesome as I expected!

     

We also got handpicked to sit in the front row of Letterman.  They said we had "something special." We watched the show when we got home, and Seth's forehead made a few guest appearances! :)

 

 

 

  

We were so sad to leave New York, but we've had some fun times at home this week, too! The (above) picture was drawn of us at a fair in our hometown.  I'm thinking this would be a fun thing to start collecting! I can totally see a wall of these that we have collected in different frames somewhere in our house. What do you think? 

 

Also, my mom got me this sweet sewing machine for my birthday!  I'm still working on my workspace.

What fun things are you doing this summer?

Summer Sun Tea

This afternoon I wanted a special treat but didn't really feel like going out to get something.  I started thinking of what would be a perfect summer beverage...and I remembered sun tea! (Okay, let's be honest-I was watching reruns of 30 Rock on netflix, and one of the episodes is called "Sun Tea")
I hadn't made sun tea in a long time, but as far as I could remember, I just needed some water, tea bags, and a little bit of patience.  Turns out, I was right!

I decided to use a Wild-Berry Zinger Tea from a variety tea box I had.  If you know me at all, you know I have a whole cabinet devoted to tea and coffee-so I had plenty to choose from.  You could use whatever tea you have!  I had 4 of the Wild-Berry tea bags, which was just enough for my small pitcher of water.  Before I put my tea in the sun, I threw in several handful of frozen raspberries, to give it a little something special.  (I love having frozen fruit available-it's the perfect substitute for ice cubes in the summer!)

It turned out as the perfect, refreshing treat for a summer afternoon.  I have the feeling I'll be enjoying a lot of sun tea this summer!

 To go with my sun tea, I decided to have a little sweet treat.  I spread some Trader Joe's Cookie Butter on Ritz...yum!  I've been eyeing the cookie butter every time I go to Trader Joe's, and I'm so glad I bought it! Totally delicious.

How to make sun tea:
1. Choose your container.  Make sure it is glass (remember, the sun is brewing your tea!) and make sure it has a lid.  If you use a pitcher like I did that doesn't have a lid, rubber band some saran wrap to the top.  You don't want ants enjoying your tea before you can!
2.  Select your tea.  How many tea bags you use totally depends on the size of you container.  For my very small pitcher, I used 4 tea bags.  Because you are relying on the sun instead of hot or boiling water, your tea might not turn out quite as strong.  Use more tea bags for stronger tea.
3.  Add extras!  I added frozen raspberries to compliment my Wild-Berry tea, but anything could work. Think fruit, fresh mint, or even some fresh rosemary!
4.  Cover your tea and put it in the sun!  Forget about it for at least an hour.  You certainly can't hurt it by leaving it there even longer, so go make something.
5.  When you bring it in, decide if you would like to sweeten it.  I chose to sweeten the cup I was drinking with a little Splenda, rather than sweeten the whole pitcher.  It's delicious both ways!

Enjoy!
-Megan

Oh! Hello friend!

Hi there! Welcome to my blog! I'm Megan-a vintage-loving, craft-making, picture taking, 20-something living in small town, South Carolina. My heart belongs to God, my sweet husband (Seth), and my closest family and friends. I have two furry children (Emi and Tilly) and a 1969 Shasta Lo'flyte travel trailer fondly known as Eloise.

I'm a teacher by day and let my creative juices flow at night. I love to spend my time creating, and I've developed Isn't it Lovely as a place to share some of the beautiful things in my life. I've been planning and dreaming about this blog for quite some time now, and summer couldn't be a more perfect time to see my dreams turn into reality! Now that I don't wake up at 5:30 and work all day, I can manage to stay up past 9pm :). (I jokingly nicknamed myself "Summer Megan"-even the in-laws are calling me that now!)

My husband, Seth, is my very best friend. He encourages me to do the things I love, he's hilarious, and he's handsome! Lucky me! These are some of our engagement shots done by the talented Olivia Griffin, so they are almost 2 years old.  I just love them so much! I had so much fun taking them, and even more fun styling them!

Hope to see you back soon!

Happy Tuesday!

-Megan

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