Hello! It’s been a while since I listed out some of my favorites, so I thought I’d share a few things that we’ve been enjoying! This list has been compiled over the past couple months since we haven’t really had much ‘fun’ money to spend on new things (wedding and new house on the horizon!). All of our purchases have been super intentional, and I can’t say enough how appreciative we are of the gifts that are on this list.
There’s quite the hodge podge of items to show, so let’s jump right in!
KitchenAid food processor
We were gifted this food processor by a coworker and his wife, and it has been the little engine that could in our kitchen! I’m very good at finding other things to do besides chop an onion, so Brandon usually has to do it. Now I help out! We’ve found that the chop mode works best for onions, black beans, and chickpeas. And the puree option will be perfect for blending up the strawberries for our strawberry wedding cake!
We also love how easy it is to clean. There are three pieces (bowl, blade, lid) and all disconnect from the base to be washed fully. I had a small Ninja a while back, and it was hard to keep the piece where the blade went into the base free of mold. So gross! Also, the bottom of this food processor has a groove so the cord can be wrapped up when not in use. This is a 10/10 food processor, and we’ve probably used it over 10 times in the few weeks that we’ve had it!
sandstone tile samples
Alright… I love the look of limestone, and I was trying so hard to find a budget option. Then I was just trying to resort to finding a tumbled limestone in the United States, regardless of budget. Through some research, I found Floors of Stone. They were offering free samples of this gorgeous sandstone, and I was drawn in! I placed my order of 4 free samples, then got a very nice email from customer service saying that customers outside of the United Kingdom were asked to just pay the courier fee. Well… this ended up being $56! But honestly, it was so worth it. For one, we know that the first tile is as pretty as it is in the pictures and if possible, we want it for our future mudroom. The second one is nice as well, but a slightly different tone than we were looking for.
Wilsonart Black Alicante laminate sample
What I love about this laminate sample was the price tag (free!), and how it made us really trust in our decision to pair laminate near marble. It’s also helpful to keep near my mood board of samples to remember our color scheme for the dream house!
KitchenAid standing mixer
We were gifted this mixer by my parents and sister’s family, and we love it already! We have yet to use it for cakes, but it will surely be easier than using our hand mixer and having to stop to pour in more ingredients. We actually used it to make mashed potatoes, which was an unexpected but perfect use case.
Besides the fact that it frees up your hands while mixing, I love how easy it is to clean. If you can’t tell already, we value easy clean up because we don’t have a dishwasher. This mixer just has the bowl and attachment to clean, and there aren’t any nooks or crannies to scrub into. I’m sure it’ll last many years, and it’s nice enough to keep on our counter!
220 grit sandpaper
No, this was not a mistake! Our keurig duo (which we love) has had a leaky pour spout since we got it. Apparently this is a common complaint and a manufacturing flaw. We did not believe that sanding down the tiny line on the spout would fix the issue, and we held off on buying a new coffee pot for quite some time.
Anyways, $2 + tax later, it’s fixed, and we have no issues spilling our coffee! Moral of the story, don’t be like us, just trust the super simple, stupidly obvious fix.
belt bag
Brandon gifted me this belt bag for my birthday after I expressed interest in a purse that was more hands free. People can say what they want about the look or the trend can die down, but I’ll still use my belt bag! I love how it’s never at risk of falling off my shoulder or needing to be hung up on a gross public restroom hook. Plus, it keeps everything in my line of sight and would be hard to pick pocket!
PB&J sandwiches
Yes, PB&Js made the list. The past two months, we have had to cut some spending categories in order to pay for unexpected purchases without disrupting our dream house savings goal. The restaurant budget was first on the chopping block! We really don’t eat out very often to begin with, but we knew that we had a lot of road trips this spring due to weddings, birthdays, dentist, etc. Instead of spending what could’ve been 5 meals on a drive through order, we did some planning and made PB&Js for all of our little trips! Our trick was to make more than we thought we needed and place them back in the bread bag for easy travel. The sacrifice has honestly been so worth it, and we’ll get to enjoy our favorite restaurant (JJ Jasmine’s) next month!
marble fruit bowl
This was gifted to us for our wedding by someone who doesn’t read my blog or know what my home decor style is. In fact, she’s on Brandon’s side, so she probably doesn’t know much about me at all! For her to pick this out out of all the more common things on my registry, it was so special! Maybe she has a sweet spot for marble too!
chickpea fritters by Feel Good Foodie
We have been making this recipe every week, and it’s absolutely delicious. We like to double this so there are leftovers, make it into 6 normal sized patties, and then swap the 2tsp cumin (after doubling) for 1tsp cumin + 1 tsp smoked paprika. Yum!
chickpea salad sandwiches by Nora Cooks
Another recipe that we’ve been eating on a weekly basis! This one is so quick now that we have a food processor, and there is no cooking required! It’s great for a quick meal.
Hear me out on this one! One of my coworkers brought up this website during our meeting, which I’d heard of before but never had anything to claim. However, I entered in Brandon’s name and got a hit! He submitted the claim, and next thing we know, we have an extra $30 going to our new tires fund! It’s so easy! If you’re in Iowa (or maybe your state has one), you should see if there’s any money you need to claim. I’m telling you, it’s legit!
Do you have any recent favorites you’d recommend? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
Davien
fluted wood & marble 
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