tulips, vegetables, & chalkboards.

What do these three things have in common?

Not too much, other than they have been making my week a little sweeter!

I bought a couple bunches of tulips at the grocery store at the beginning of the week, and they have been brightening the house ever since. I had enough to scatter small bunches and bud vases around. Is there anything better than fresh flowers? Well...besides maybe, puppies, but I'll get to that!

If you follow me on twitter, you might know that the hubs and I went to visit some little baby chocolate labs on Monday night. Well, everyone should be aware that you don't go visit puppies unless it's something you're really serious about...they are kinda irresistible. So needless to say, we'll be having a new addition to our little family in about a week! More on that to come :)

After visiting what will be our new baby, we made a little dinner. Have you ever tried roasting vegetables in the oven? If not, you definitely should. So delish! This week we tried brussel sprouts, which are SO much better roasted than any other way I've ever tried. 

Start with some finely chopped garlic, and saute it in a generous bit of olive oil, {enough oil to drizzle on the veggies, depending on how much of those you have} then add some kosher salt and cracked pepper. Music is also a necessity. Makes cooking that much better :)

Drizzle that mixture on top of whatever you are roasting. In addition to the brussel sprouts we also tried some loose spinach, which was also good, just cooks much faster!

Sorry this is a little blurry.
Roast at 400 degrees for about half an hour. {less time for the spinach} The outside turns crispy and the inside turns soft. Then enjoy! We've also tried asparagus which is equally as good, and only takes about 20 minutes. You can also add lemon or other seasonings to mix it up.

 

We found this vintage chalkboard at an antique shop. Last week when my nieces were over, I asked them to draw me a picture for the new house and this is what they came up with. Makes me smile.

 

Anything making your week a little brighter?

Maybe if you won my giveaway, that would help!

Enter here, you only have until noon tomorrow.