Burlap Curtain

My husband and I are redoing our kitchen in our cabin in the mountains. I have been looking at curtains for weeks and have gone back and forth about them. I really liked this cute little strawberry curtain and thought it would go perfect with my colors. All my friends hated it, but I loved it so I was about to pull the trigger and buy it and then I decided it wouldn't really match out pot rack we made out of an old vintage sled. So basically I was back to the drawing board. 

While I was at Home Depot one night I just decided I would make my own out of burlap. We went to the gardening section and bought a HUGE roll of burlap for $12. Then we went to Wal-Mart and I bought some lace, stitch witchery, and a tension rod. 

Thankfully the width of the burlap was exactly what I needed for the size of the window. I rolled out a piece that was double the length and hemmed both ends with the stitch witchery. I laid that over the tension rod and tied it together in the middle with the lace. 

I felt like it just wasn't enough so I decided to make a valance. I measured how long I wanted the valance and rolled out double that. I only hemmed one end since the other wouldn't show. I just laid it right over the curtain. Now when I untie the curtain to close it, it looks much better with the valance. 

The curtain ended up coming to less than $9. I used less than a 4th of the burlap roll so I can use it for other projects (I see placemats in my future). I have a ton of lace and stitch witchery left. Really the biggest cost was the $4 tension rod for Wal-Mart! 

This is an awful picture from my phone, but you get the idea! Nothing fancy, but it;s what I wanted! 

Alaskan Vacation

A friend of mine is going on an Alaskan Cruise in a couple of weeks and asked me to give her some advice. I didn't really have much to offer up since our trip was a little different than the normal cruise, but one of the best vacations I have EVER been on! 

We flew into Anchorage and rented an RV for 10 days. Best decision ever! We basically made our way around the Kenai Peninsula. Sometimes we stayed at campsites, but most of the time we literally stopped off on the side of the road and went to sleep. We had no plans and no agenda. The major towns we hit were Seward, Homer, Kenai, and Wittier. Of course there were lots of little stops along the way. We didn't really eat out much because we bought a ton of fresh salmon and halibut to cook in the RV.

The first night we were there we stayed in Anchorage. We ate at a place called Simon and Seaforts. It was very good. Of course I had to get the Alaskan King Crab Legs and they were amazing! The next morning before we picked up our RV we took a flight tour with Rust's Tours over Denali National Park and Mt. McKinley. This was WELL worth the money. The views were breathtaking and you could only get them from a flight. I HIGHLY recommend this if you are ever in Anchorage. 

We saw more bald eagles than I have ever seen in my life. We saw black bear walking across the street in front of us. At one point a momma moose and her baby ran beside our RV for at least 2 miles. The wildlife up there is incredible. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip. 

Our first point of interest was Portage Glacier. The river that ran along the road to this glacier was aqua blue and AMAZING! You can't tell in the pic below because it's a sunset shot....you have to see it for yourself! :) 

Our next big stop was at Exit Glacier on the way to Seward. It was HUGE and gorgeous! 

We did a lot of fishing. Mike was more excited about that than anything. It wasn't salmon season yet, but we still had a ton of fun! We fished at Homer Spit, Kenai River, Kasilof River, Skilak Lake. And probably others that I am forgetting! 

There are a couple of lakes we passed that stick out in my head. One is Kenai Lake. This lake was a color green I had never seen. It was breathtaking. There was an amazing restaurant on it called Kingfisher Roadhouse. I had a mushroom tart there that I will never forget. It was one of the best meals I have ever had. The other lake was Skilak Lake. This lake is from the runoff of a glacier so it is cold and aqua blue. We were able to pull our RV right up to it. It was the best campsite I have ever laid my eyes on. 

Another stop was in a little town called Whittier. It was a cute little place right on the Prince Edward Sound with a population of 177. To get there you have drive through a tunnel that is 13,300 feet long. It's also a railway tunnel so the light tells you when you can go. We just walked around and ate reindeer sausages. It was nice! 

This was truly one of the best vacations I have ever gone on. The fact that we had no plans and just stopped when we wanted was great. Since the sun never sets up there you can pretty much have any schedule you want. If you have never been to Alaska, it's a must! 

Clean Watermelon Salad

There is nothing I love more than watermelon in the summer! I like to have it in the refrigerator at all times. It's so refreshing and is a cure for the sweet tooth when it rears it's ugly head ;)

I had quite a bit of watermelon that was going to go bad so I decided to make a quick salad as a side item to some grilled chicken.

Clean Watermelon Salad

2 cups of arugula
1 cup of cubed watermelon
1/2 cup of fat free feta
1/4 cup of chopped fresh mint

I drizzled the whole thing with some balsamic vinegar and added a little fresh ground pepper.