Our First Home

Oh hi there ...  Apparently I forgot how to turn my computer on write.  I swear we have been busy!! Between the last time I blogged and now, I got a new job (yes, again!) and we bought a house ... Crazy right?!  We are now homeowners in Charleston, SC!!


Here are some before/after pictures of the house so far:

Our First Home

Walking in .. 

 

Before

After (will be changing that rug soon)

Main Living Area

Before 

Before "Opposite View"

After 1

Dining room (no before picture)

 Kitchen - After

Kitchen After

Living Room

Before

After

And of course Thurman needed to get in on the action ...

We still have work to do, but we absolutely love having our own home! No upstairs pictures yet, all we have done is work in our bedroom/bathroom.  The other rooms are nothing special right now, but we can't wait to share more of our new home with y'all.

xo -

The Bogan's 

p.s. All visitors welcome! 

March Madness

We have been so busy this month that I have forgotten how to even use a computer!  Our poor little Thurman has been battle a cough for almost a month now.  Long story short, it has taken many vets, all different types of medication and LOTS of $$ to get this dog back in good health.

I think he is finally starting to feel better!! He is a video update from Thurman:

He was very afraid of his "chicken" toy for a little bit and now it doesn't have a head.  I guess Thurman won that battle.

In other news, my big brother and his beautiful wife, Christina welcomed their baby boy into the world on March 11th!  I am an Aunt again and it is the best feeling in the world!  He is the cutest little baby with the longest lashes and I cannot wait to meet him!! We are going home in May to meet both our new niece and nephew.  

Currently, I am counting down the days seconds until my sister, brother-in-law and nephew get here next week!! I have literally been waiting for this week since well ... November, the last time I saw my nephew.  Being an Aunt is truly one of the best blessings I have received in my life.  

I promise to blog more in April, March just "marched" right away from me (Sorry, I couldn't resist).  I do have FOUR new Charleston restaurants to talk about in my next post! 

Have a great week! 

Candle Making

I have been itching to make anything and everything that I usually buy!! If it is over-priced and I can make it, I want to! Candles, cleaning products, the possibilities are endless.

Today I want to share how I made my first homemade candles, but first lets talk about how much I am saving by doing this.  I love going to yankee candle and trying to justify spending $50 on 2 candles.  Here is what I spent to make 20 candles!  All ordered on Amazon.com:

10oz bag of soy wax flakes - $9.99
50 Candle Wicks - $8.99
Lavender & Beach Linen Scents - $15.98
Pouring Pot (optional) - 9.79
Mason Jars - FREE, I already owned, but you can get them at Target or Hobby Lobby

Grand Total: $44.72

That is $2.24 a candle, not $25 for a candle.  Yes it is a little more work than walking into the store and buying some candles, but it is a lot less work on your bank account!! 

Now for the tutorial:
(when I made my first two, I didn't receive the pouring pot in the mail yet so I just used a double burning and pyrex measuring cup.)  Also, I realized I didn't have a wooden spoon to use for this, so I used the end of a spatula to stir.

Set up candle jar on a trivet with candle wick in it.
(if it isn't standing up straight, don't worry we will fix it later)

Use double burning or pouring pot to melt the wax flakes

Stir while the wax is melting

Add scent to melted wax

If you used a double burning,  pour the melted wax into the pyrex measuring cup.  If you are using the pouring pot you can just poor the melted wax right into the mason jar.

I was having trouble keeping the wick up, so I used some chop sticks to hold it in place
while the wax dried ( I will be stocking up on chop sticks every time I eat sushi now!).

Once the wax has completely dried, you can decorate your new candle
however you wish!

Once I get all my candles decorated, I will share a picture later this week.  Hope you enjoyed and make some candles of your own!!

Favorite Recipe Friday!

One of the items on our 2013 bucket list was to try a new recipe once a week.  Well... we haven't done that yet, but I do have one of our favorite healthy recipes to share:

Shrimp over Green Beans

sorry the picture isn't great!

This recipe replaces pasta with green beans and is so good!  Pasta may sound better, but I promise you that you don't miss it at all in this! 

Ingredients:
1-1 1/2 pounds of uncooked shrimp (peeled, deveined and no tails)
16oz-18oz fresh green beans 
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 bunch of fresh basil (sometimes  I just use dried)
2-3 tomatoes - diced into small pieces 
1 tbs of chopped garlic
1/2-1 cup of freshly grated pecorino romano cheese 

Directions: 
Cook the green beans in about a 1/3 of a cup of water bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer cook until desired firmness or softness.  Add garlic, chopped tomatoes, basil and cleaned shrimp to heated pan of olive oil, cook until shrimp is pink and firm sprinkle with 1/4cup of the cheese, drain the beans and put in a serving bowl pour the shrimp mixture over the beans and sprinkle more cheese. 

We like to enjoy this recipe with a nice bottle of wine.  

Do you have any good recipes for us to try?
Please Share!

Throwback Thursday

I have seen so many people post about #throwbackthursday on facebook, instagram and twitter.  Here are some of our Throwbacks!!

#New Years 2010-2011

#Jamaica2011

#football season 2011

Before I go, here is a "throwback" of Thurman ...

a young 9 weeks old here - can't believe he is 5 months now!

Happy Thursday!

Few and Far

Sorry my post have been few and far in between. It has been a little busy around here, adjusting to the new job and all.  Now that we are getting into a routine, we were finally able to go out for a date night on Saturday!!

We went to Cinebarre!!  Where you Eat.Drink.Watch Movies.   I like to call it cinna-bear even though it is cinna-bar.  Cinna-bear just sounds like so much more fun, right?

It was such a fun experience.  While waiting for the theater to be cleaned up, we ordered a drink at the bar.  Yes, you read that right ... a BAR at the movie theater.  Here is how it works:

- Get there about 30 minutes before the movies starts.  Order a drink while you are waiting for the theater to be cleaned.
- After to sit down, you can look over the menu while watching previews.

- You server will take your order, but if you need anything during the movie (like another drink or some popcorn) you just pop your little piece of paper up and they will come to you.

Being able to eat dinner, have some wine and watch a new movie was so cool!  Trevor even said he could get through a chick flick like this.


Love trying new things in Charleston!!

A Crazy Week

It has been a crazy busy week (and a half).  Remember that exciting news I promised to share?  Well, it is exciting for me at least ... I got a new job!  I am absolutely loving it so far and feel like a normal person again!

Other updates:

1. Thurman:

We put him in day-care on Monday and Tuesday.  To say he loved it is an understatement!  He came home so tired out and the girls at Paws in Paradise say he had a great time.

Didn't even make it out of the parking lot

Wednesday morning we got in the car and he was so excited thinking it was going to be another day of daycare.  Little did he know he would be coming home like this ...

"Not only did they take away my manhood, they put this PINK cone around my head"

2. We have a new niece!

Trevor's brother and his wife welcomed a beautiful baby girl, Arianna into the world on February 3rd.  We can't wait to get back to NY to meet her and our soon to be niece or nephew(my brother and sister-in-law are due in March).  Lots of new babies!!

3. Visitors!

My sissy, brother-in-law and this amazing little man have officially booked their flights to come visit!!

4.  Nemo

Don't get me wrong ... I love that is is 67 and sunny today here in Charleston, but I kind of miss all the excitement of a big snow storm.  Of course if I was in NY, I would probably be working and cursing the retail gods while I was driving home in a blizzard.  

pic

To all my New Yorkers: Be Safe out there!!

Have a wonderful weekend!!