Chickpea and Sweet Red Pepper Salad with Lemon Dressing

I've been on the lookout for some healthy new recipes. I found this refreshing salad over at Picky Palate. If you like chickpeas (A.K.A. garbanzo beans) as much as I do, you'll love it. I used a mix of arugula and baby spinach. The dressing is simple and delicious. You can keep the mixed chickpeas, red peppers and dressing in a container in the refrigerator and put it over greens whenever you like. 

Ingredients:

2 15 oz cans garbanzo beans, drained

1 Cup chopped roasted red pepper, drained

1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 fresh lemon squeezed

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

1 bag of fresh arugula (or greens of choice)

Directions:

Place garbanzo beans and chopped red peppers into a mixing bowl.  Place olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper into a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour over garbanzo beans and toss to coat.  Spoon over a bed of fresh arugula leaves and toss.  Serve room temperature or chilled.

4 servings

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you so very much. I'm sending you a great big virtual birthday hug. Did you get it? 

Here's another one just in case.
Love,
Sarah xoxo

Upstate Refreshment Services Logo Design

I have been excitedly working on some freelance design projects. I designed a logo for Upstate Refreshment Services, a food and beverage vending company. The goal was to communicate "fresh" and "refreshment" with a modern feel. I wanted to come up with a graphic to accompany the typography. The abstract shape could symbolize a variety of vending options, such as a coffee cup, a bowl, perhaps a potato chip or snack.

Here is the business card. I kept the logo in white space and placed the contact information in blue across the bottom third of the card for contrast. This was a fun project. I'm happy with how it turned out. The logo will be included on their new website when it's up and running.

Before & After Home: Guest Room

Since I can't reveal photos of my nieces new room yet, here's a look at our guest room, which is pretty much a replica of my teen bedroom from the house I grew up in. I took my furniture with me when I got married (thanks Dad and Mom!) and it has been in our guest room ever since. I still remember when I got that daybed. It has a trundle bed underneath, which is about the coolest thing ever. One overnight guest? Here's your bed. Two overnight guests? Here's your secret bed hiding underneath.

The previous owners had twins, a boy and a girl, and their shared room was green and yellow, with a white chair rail. Here is a look at the BEFORE:

It is a long narrow room, with two windows and a pretty big closet, which makes furniture arranging a little challenging. We kept the chair rail and painted the room periwinkle on top and lilac on the bottom. I like color, what can I say? We also added closet doors. Two years ago. Which still need to be painted white. And the knobs need to be installed. On my to do list... Here is the room AFTER:

Isn't it cozy? Reminds me of my old bedroom. So much so, that it's hard to tell the difference in photos! MY OLD ROOM:

Same three framed photos above the bed. Same pillows and duvet. Almost the same wall color. Is that weird? Ah, memories. Makes me want to put on an over-sized flannel shirt with some baggy jeans and make a mix tape. A lot of time was spent hanging out in my room, listening to the radio, talking on the phone, reading and always making stuff. 

Who can spot the photo of my husband and I when we were just dating? Hard to believe that was about 6 years ago!

Tween Room Makeover Bargain Finds

As soon as I got the green light from my sister, I started looking for items to include in my nieces bedroom makeover. My mission: to find great accessories and furniture for the lowest possible price, that coordinated with the comforter pictured above (and the existing carpet, but that's a whole other story). Did I mention we are working with a budget? The goal is to spend as little as possible. I rise to the challenge of searching for bargains and getting a deal!

The Roxy brand comforter set (pictured above) is where we started. I like to select a main piece to build a room around. If something is multicolored or has a printed design, the other elements in the room should be less-busy and compliment the main piece with similar, like or neutral colors. But not be "matchy-matchy." Our favorite phrase. Lisa purchased the bed set on-line from Overstock.com, and I believe she saved $40. It was the biggest investment for the room, but it's the main piece and will (hopefully) last Emma into her teens. Emma wanted green and pink in her room, and these polka dots fit the bill for being colorful, yet not too foo-foo-girly.

Now for some accessories. I found this adorable brown pillow with a big pink bow at Kirkland's Home, on clearance for $3.18. That's right. 

Also at Kirkland's Home, this stylish vanilla scented initial candle, in pink and green, for $3.99. 

A green picture frame from Marshall's, on clearance for $3. 

A hot pink trash can from Marshall's, on clearance for $4.  

A cool piece of initial wall art for $6.

A pair of wall canvases, on clearance for $8. This isn't a great photo, and they're still all wrapped up until we decide if we're keeping them, but aren't they cute? My niece likes dogs, and the pink and brown would tie in nicely. Gotta love Marshall's.

I found these cute little metal containers in three sizes at Goodwill. They had tons of them and they were brand new. I love the scalloped edge. They were marked $1, but when I cashed out, they ended up being 50 cents!

The only problem: they were yellow. So I spray painted them white. Presto change-o! 

I can picture these cans being filled with pens, pencils and markers, sitting on Emma's future desk. Perfect for organizing art supplies! 

Are you ready for the best bargain of them all? My sister found this 9 drawer white dresser, on Craigslist, located just 10 minutes away, for...drum roll please...TWENTY DOLLARS. I couldn't believe it. We had both been stalking Craigslist looking for a dresser like this. She gets mad props for this one. Do people still say "mad props"? I am old. I get mad props for agreeing to go pick it up with her. At night. In the rain. Then shortly after, the Lifetime movie "The Craigslist Killer" came out. Made us think twice about our night time furniture pick-up adventure. We were FINE. I know God wanted us to have that lovely $20 dresser, so He kept us safe. I have bought and sold many-an-item on Craigslist, so I don't have any complaints. 

We also scored a tall narrow white bookcase off Craigslist for another $20 buckaroos and a white wicker trunk for $25. Sorry, no photos of either. You'll just have to wait for the big reveal. 

I put together a basic floor plan so my sister could see the furniture arrangement I had in mind. We actually did a test run and moved things around to see if it would even work. Here is the plan:

There is still a bit of work to do:
• Paint existing desk from the basement white OR find and purchase a white desk 
• Paint bedroom walls 
• Purchase storage baskets and bins
• ORGANIZE STUFF


I can't say when exactly the room will be done, because we're doing a little as we go. And it depends on when they can paint. I'll keep you posted. I think the fun part is looking for accessories and envisioning it all coming together. I'm as anxious as you are to see the end result!

Tween Room Makeover Challenge

My niece Emma turned the big 1-0 last month. Her Mom (my sister) wanted to makeover her room as part of her birthday gift. I was like, "Sign me up!" It was all I could do to help myself from buying stuff at every store and day-dreaming up a beautiful room for her. Visions of curtains, wall art and fluffy pillows danced in my head.

Before I share some of the crazy deals my sister and I found, and I mean ca-razy deals, I'll share with you the horrifying unsightly before. Now, I must warn you, what you are about to see is not pretty. The following photos were taken on a random afternoon when no tidying up had been done. But in all honestly, I don't think tidying up would have solved much. Sorry Lisa, don't kill me for showing these. That's what's so great about a makeover! The worse the "before" photos are, the better the "after" photos are! Brace yourself...

 

I especially like the Sponge Bob poster. How can one little girl have SO MUCH STUFF? Yikes. This will certainly be a challenge. I can identify with Emma and her creative 10-year-old mind. For I too, once was a hoarder pack rat. Every paper, marker, shoebox and string could be needed for a future art project or held sentimental value. These things are hard to part with. That, and the 714 stuffed animals. That's not the actual number, but that's what it felt like, as I pulled stuffed animal after stuffed animal out of her closet. No wonder she can't find her clothes!

Behold, our inspiration:

This is the comforter set and inspiration for Emma's room. We have already made tremendous progress. I am excited to share more of the juicy details with you, but you'll just have to wait on the edge of your seats for a while. I'm running short on time lately, but I promise to share more about our tween room makeover as we go.

So, what do your kids or nieces and nephews rooms look like? Are they neat and tidy like our inspiration photo or are they more like disaster zones? What DO you do with all their toys? Our biggest challenge is storage space and finding room for all the barbies, puzzles, doll houses and STUFF. Without a playroom or storage space, you quickly run out of room. I welcome your suggestions.

New Year, New Look...Not So Fast

Hello 2011! I had high hopes of having a new blog design rolled out byJanuary 1st, but I wasn't quite ready. I decided it was time to design my own background and header, seeing as I'm a designer and all. But it was more challenging than I thought! I still have some work to do, but it's a start right? Stay tuned for more updates...

In the mean time, I can reveal my new Sohl Design business card, which I am incorporating into the new blog look as well. I couldn't wait for them to arrive in the mail! I'm on a pink and brown kick right now, but I change my mind so often, we'll see if it lasts. What do you think? Is it a keeper?