Meet the Shaneyfelts

Archives for October 2015

Life Lately (this week)

Embarrassingly, my life lately photos are all pretty much about food.  This week I’ve taken two finals for my two graduate classes I’m in right now, so I haven’t done much that’s worthy of taking photos–except food apparently haha!

 One of my students, whose mother is Greek, and I bonded over our love for Greek food.  And she loves that I can pronounce the food correctly.  On Monday she brought me a piece of Greek candy that her mom got at a local Greek festival.  It was interesting… 🙂


 I made a really good new recipe that Dustin really liked!  Before I post the recipe, I’m going to make it again and tweak just a few things, but we both loved it.


 The other night I walked into our closet to get something and looked over to Dustin’s side and noticed the above photo.  He obviously didn’t feel like hanging up a shirt, so I guess it was acceptable to just throw it up on top of his dress shirts.  We laughed about it….and then he hung it up 🙂 haha!


 The same student who brought me the Greek candy came in on Tuesday with homemade baklava.  Her mom had made it, and wow–it was so good!  I’ve never had homemade baklava before…only baklava from a Greek restaurant so this was so so good!


 And then that same day, a few other teachers and I helped judge food for the county beef cook-off.  There were 11 dishes to taste-test.  That’s right….ELEVEN!  There were a few that were really good!  And then a few that were okay.  I mean, I don’t think I could cook at all in junior high, much less cook a dish with beef.  It was a good day!


I made a frozen pumpkin and marshmallow cream pie this week, too!  You know, in between all of the studying 🙂

My fall two term of grad school doesn’t start until October 19th so I’m looking forward to a short little break!!

House Tour Tuesday–October 2015

Happy Home Tour Tuesday!  This series has grown to be one of my most favorite things on my blog!  If you’re anything like I am, you love looking into people’s homes to see how they decorated their home.  I get some of my best inspiration from looking inside someone else’s home!

To see my last two tours, click here for August and here for September.

This month we’re touring the home of my friend Hailey.  She teaches seventh grade English with me and so we talk about a million times a day–and her classroom is super cute, so you know her home will be!  Hailey has a gift that I do not have–craftiness, and it shines throughout her home.  She and her husband bought a foreclosure and turned it into the cutest home!  Let’s take a tour 🙂

 Welcome to Hailey’s home!


 The view from the front door.  Don’t you already love it?


 Her living room


 The lighting was a little dark but don’t you love how she mixed the masculinity of the deer head with the femininity of the china dishes?  I’m all about mixing masculine design with feminine design in my home so I loved this area of her living room!


 I love her fireplace and how she’s decorated the mantle.  


 Her dining room


 I love the color of her china cabinet!


 I really like how she painted her cabinets–it feels like a really good mix between French country and shabby chic.


 Breakfast nook inside the kitchen.  She’s inspired me to get place mats for my table!  (Although the last time I had a runner on our breakfast table, Dustin spilled a bottle of white sauce all over it and I had to throw it away.  I’ll need to get washable place mats haha!)


 The boys’ bathroom–Hailey has two little boys who are two and four months.  I love how big this bathroom is!


 Okay, this is my favorite area in her house.  This is a wall in her hallway.  She has both her and her husband’s wedding picture and invitation framed, and then she has wedding pictures from their grandparents.  So so sweet!


 Look at the seating area at the end of the hallway!  I would have never have thought to do this but I love it!


 Shane’s room–he’s the baby.  It’s a fishing theme and she pretty much made everything in here.  Don’t you wish you were crafty like her?


 Rhett’s room was done in a hunting theme–perfect for a little boy!


 I love the details that Hailey adds around each room in her house!


 Master bedroom


 I love how she made her bed–straight out of Pottery Barn!


 Master bath


Before I left I had to get an up close picture of her dining room table centerpiece!  Seriously, I love it!

Hailey was kind enough to answer a few questions!

1. What’s your favorite thing about your house?​ 
I love the floor plan. A lot of older homes, like ours, have all of the bedrooms on one end of the house. I love being right across the hall from my kids. I also love that it has a dining room in addition to the eat-in kitchen. The front bathroom is another thing that I love. There is so much room in there! It even has an enormous linen closet!​

2. If you were to build again, what is something that you would do differently?
​ We do plan to build some day, so we have been making a mental list of the things that we DO NOT want in a home when we build. I’ll start with the outside. Ha ha. We don’t have much of a porch right now, and what we do have is basically right on the ground. This time of year, leaves fly in the house every time we open the door! We definitely want a big porch some day, and we want it built up off of the ground. I also want a foyer when you come in the front door instead of just an entry way. I think it makes a home feel more inviting. I want more cabinet space in my kitchen, a bigger master bath, and a media room/office. You said something… not some things. Sorry! Ha ha.​

3. What’s your favorite memory that you have made in your house?
​ My favorite memory would have to be bringing both of our babies home to this house. I’ve also enjoyed having family and friends over. I’ve hosted many  birthday parties and a few showers in this house. 
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4. Any plans for your house in the future?
​ SELL! This house had been foreclosed on prior to us buying it three  years ago. We got an amazing deal on it, along with a $5,000 repair escrow. We were able to use that money to make A LOT of changes to the house, which bumped up the value significantly from when we purchased it. There are a few things we need to work on before we are ready to sell the house. I never did anything to the laundry room, so it still has an 80s teal and apricot wall paper on the walls! I really would like to paint and freshen up the laundry room and add shelves to make it a laundry room/walk-in pantry. Also, we have a very unsightly, huge oak tree in the front yard that sucks every bit of moisture out of the ground. It’s made it impossible for us to keep shrubs alive. We really need to cut it down before we list our house!

5. What’s your favorite store to shop for home décor?

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If money were no object, I would say Pottery Barn

​. Realistically though, I love Target, Ross, Hobby Lobby, and TJ Maxx. A lot of my most favorite pieces came from antique stores. Papaw’s Porch in Hartselle has some really unique items, and I like to browse for pieces there any chance I get. I also like junk-type stores. I consider myself pretty thrifty, and I like to find a bargain!

Thank you, Hailey, for letting us inside your home!

Weekend Recap!

This past weekend was a lot of fun!  Even though Dustin worked days all weekend, we were able to hang out with friends and I was able to relax–that’s a win-win in my books!

Friday
 As soon as I left school on Friday, I rushed to Walmart to get our weekly grocery shopping done.  You can see in my purse my Erin Condren planner.  I plan our meals out each week and the grocery shop the week before.  I used to do all of my grocery shopping on Saturday morning, but I soon realized that I hated going to the grocery store on Saturdays.  So instead of going home on Fridays after school to relax, I fight the crowd at Walmart (it’s surprisingly crowded on Friday afternoons).  And since Walmart honors Publix adds, I got a lot of stuff on sale–yummy food that I will be mixing up for the blog!


 As soon as Dustin got home from work, we scarfed down supper and headed to watch our hometown football game.  If you’re from Hartselle, I’m sure you heard about the red powder incident….Dustin only got a little on him and I don’t think I got any on my coat.


 Trying to take selfies in the stands without being noticed 🙂


 It may have only been 60 degrees that night but the constant wind mixed with misty rain at times made it feel like it was 40 degrees out!  We had a hot chocolate break during halftime.

Saturday

 I woke up early Saturday morning because apparently I’m getting older and cannot sleep in past 7 AM.  Since I got up early, I decided to get started baking desserts for the Alabama game later that day.  This is the beginning of Lucky Charm marshmallow treats, and I also made another bundt cake–because they’re my fav!


 I needed a few more items that Walmart didn’t have Friday, so I headed out to Kroger in the rain…..dressed like that.  I seriously didn’t think many people would be there but I saw half the town.  Thank goodness I brushed my teeth before I left!


 Dustin took off work four hours early in order to watch the Alabama-Georgia game–that man is crazy about his football.  We went over to our friends’ house to watch and this was what the guys looked like during part of the game.  They either sit on the couch together or stand up and yell at the TV 🙂


 Toward the end of the football game, the girls decided to head to Hobby Lobby to “look” around haha!  I stocked up on more Christmas decorations since this is our first Christmas in our home!

Sunday

Sunday consisted of church, watching a Hallmark movie I had recorded, and a nap (which is not like me during the school year).
 I also cooked dinner and looked at my new Pottery Barn catalog that came in the mail this weekend.  I’m OBSESSED with their Christmas decorations this year!!!!!  (Don’t you love my  outfit that matches so well?? haha!  Welcome to Sunday night Sarah)
Check back tomorrow for October’s Home Tour Tuesday!!

I’m linking up with Biana today 🙂