Author Archives: Adora Mae

The Apartment 3 months later: Walter

Perhaps the biggest challenge of all was finding this sweet sweet bud. He was wandering the streets and we saw him inches away from getting hit by a car. We stopped, picked him up, and took him home. We’ve searched high and low for his owners, scanned him for chips, no such luck. He also had a crazy advanced ear infection and was bone thin. We’ve had him and had been fighting his ear infection for about two months. The vet had him on new ear drops every other week and he HATES having drops put in his ears. Finally, he kicked the infection and is healthy pup once more. He’s finally up to his lowest acceptable weight of 73 POUNDS and never leaves my side all day when I’m working. He has some major separation anxiety though, (he’s had some bad experiences in his four years of life) so we end up staying in more than I would like. He’s so big and really deserves a big yard to run around in, so we knew we couldn’t keep him and were looking for a permanent home for him. I can tell you though, his sweet steady affection for me and his OBSESSION with Josh has pretty much made me a dog person. I know. I know. After months and months of looking, we think we have finally found him a new forever home about 7 hours north in Oklahoma. The girl who contacted us has 3 other dogs, and lives on 5 acres. It’s going to be really hard to let him go. I think all my biological clock hormones have zeroed in on this sweet guy, he’s definitely become my “baby” during his stay. In a few weeks Josh is going to drive him up to his new home in Oklahoma. I’ll keep you updated.

xoxo,
Adora

| Posted on Thursday, the 9th of October, in the year 2014 by Adora Mae

Hard Workin’ Hubs

I think the whole world should know: last week after working so hard ALL day long, my husband came home and went to town on our apartment. After 9+ hours in the office, he swept and mopped the whole apartment, did several loads of dishes – leaving the whole kitchen spotless. He cleaned up the litter box situation that had gotten out of control and took out all the trash. He didn’t ask for help or complain that our apartment had gotten so dirty (like I would have). He just worked hard and thought nothing of it. I’m seriously the luckiest woman I know. I don’t know why on earth this man pursued me in the first place or how on earth he puts up with me now, but I’m so glad it’s worked out the way it has. Thank you God for sending Josh to me. He’s everything good.

Today, make sure you tell someone in your life how happy they make you & how much you love and appreciate them.

xoxo,
Adora

| Posted on Wednesday, the 8th of October, in the year 2014 by Adora Mae

The Apartment 3 months later: Stand Up Desk

Well, I made a promise and I have certainly tarried with the deliver of it, but now here it is. This post is part of a series on what we did to the apartment. View all the posts here. You remember the apartment when we moved in. And we spent the first two months really setting up shop. One of our very best friends moved to Austin shortly after we did, and was looking for a short term and affordable place to rent; the perfect answer was our second bedroom. So, our “formal dining” room became my new office, we always have our friend around and it’s worked out perfectly. On today’s edition of “The Apartment 3 Months Later” we are taking a look at my pipe based stand up desk.

Josh was on a roll with pipe-based furniture so I didn’t want to slow him down. When I was in my former office which we now just call “Bert’s Room” I didn’t even have a real desk I was working on an Ikea console table and it didn’t give me much room. I told josh I wanted a stand up desk like I had at my old office. I held my hands to the height I wanted the desk to be, he measured, and a few hours later (and one quick trip to Ikea to pick up the corner desk top in the as-is section for like $25) my beautiful stand up desk was born.

xoxo,
Adora

p.s. I’m a total bum and i’ve bought a bar stool for the days I just don’t want to stand.

| Posted on Tuesday, the 7th of October, in the year 2014 by Adora Mae

Tapas & Wine Bar

A couple nights ago Josh and I made our way over to WineBelly, a wine and tapas bar just south of downtown. We were there for a low-key, last minute date night and this was the ideal place. From the wine-based cocktails that we ordered (I recommend the ella fitzgerald) to the perfectly balanced meat and cheese plates that we split. Everything was delicious and really affordable compared to other tapas places I’ve been to. The vibe was chill and cozy without feeling cramped. Our waitress was so sweet, knowledgeable and helpful while we were making up our minds on what to order. I’m sure Josh’s delightful company didn’t hurt- but the next time you’re in the mood for tapas and some delicious wine I highly recommend this spot. Check it out at 519 W Oltorf St, Austin, TX 78704

xoxo,
Adora

| Posted on Monday, the 6th of October, in the year 2014 by Adora Mae

The Apartment 3 months later: The Couch

While not exactly a project, I’m in LOVE with this couch from Rooms to Go. It’s the first non-ikea piece of furniture we’ve ever bought new, and it was worth every penny. The cats seem bent on destroying it, but I’m enjoying it while I can. You like it? You can get it here. Also, for the record, I pretty much gave Josh carte blanche with the above the couch art and he went hard on the nerd vibe, so yeah those posters are covers of vintage comic books.

xoxo,
Adora

| Posted on Sunday, the 5th of October, in the year 2014 by Adora Mae

The Apartment 3 months later: TV Nook

We negotiated the acquisition of this GIANT TV from our new roomie Bert, for a couple bucks, one of our older small TV’s, and one month of free rent. Josh is happy. Fortunately we had just gotten this tv stand, that I think is actually supposed to be a buffet for a formal dining room, but we (read: Josh) drilled holes in the back to run chords through and it works perfectly. We even have room for our record player, video game consoles, DVD’s we will probably never watch again, and all our records. Again, this is an Ikea (as-is section) purchase, but I like how mid-century it looks. After painting the back wall of the nook Navy Blue with left over paint from our bedroom, it was done.

xoxo,
Adora

| Posted on Saturday, the 4th of October, in the year 2014 by Adora Mae

The Apartment 3 months later: music wall

I actually saw a piece of art with this song reference before I ever heard the old crow medicine show song, Wagon Wheel and I was immediately intrigued. I “play” the guitar the way that all girls in high-school played guitar. I know major chords and that was enough to play every worship song from the late 90’s, so I never learned any more. While Josh, just recently got a banjo and is planning on taking lessons. We both said we wanted to hang the instruments up rather than have them in their cases in a closet, so this wall idea was born. I worked with a lovely woman on Etsy to get the vinyl, and at the last second, we decided to add the letters at a 90 degree angle to better fill the wall space. I think it worked out SO well. I’m finding that I play more, if I can just take the guitar down from the wall and then put it back there.

xoxo,
Adora

| Posted on Friday, the 3rd of October, in the year 2014 by Adora Mae

Fall is here! Let’s beef stew.

Steps:
-Cube the steak and add to crock pot
-Mix up flour and cornstarch with rosemary salt and pepper & paprika
-Dust the cubed steak with dry mix and stir to evenly coat everything
-Chop potatoes, carrots, onion & celery and add to crock pot
-Mix tomato paste and half beef broth and then poor over crockpot contents
-Add the rest of the broth until it pretty much covers everything
-Add a bay leaf and set your crockpot on low for 8 hours or high for 4-6 (try to stir occasionally)

Ingredients:
-2 pounds steak
-4 to 6 yellow potatoes
-4 stocks of celery
-5 large carrots
-1 small yellow onion
-Large container of beef broth
-2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
-small can of tomato paste
-Paprika, Rosemary, bay leaf, salt and pepper to taste
-1/4 c. flour (or a little less, just enough to cover the beef)
-5 tbsp. Corn starch (Mix 3 tbsp with the flour mixture and add 2 tbsp to the pot later on while stirring to make the sauce thick like a gravy)

Serve with warm bread from the oven. That’s what I need to learn next: artisan round loaves. Stay tuned for that. Happy Stewing!

xoxo,
Adora

| Posted on Thursday, the 2nd of October, in the year 2014 by Adora Mae

Basic PB Cookie

It’s a classic for a reason and it’s easy as can be. Here’s all you need for a batch of yummy peanut butter cookies.

1cup sugar
1egg
1 stick softened butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup flour

Mix it up. Place it on the cookie sheet. Make crisscross shape with fork (dip the fork in water between cookies so it doesn’t stick) and then bake for 15 min at 350°.

xoxo,
Adora

| Posted on Wednesday, the 1st of October, in the year 2014 by Adora Mae

Brunch heaven

Olivia’s in Austin. Change your life good. Pretty affordable for how vogue the vibe is. We went for brunch and I just love their garden and chicken coop behind the building. Check them out at: 2043 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704

xoxo,
Adora

| Posted on Tuesday, the 30th of September, in the year 2014 by Adora Mae