Life Tr3k: Our little corner of the world

Alright, here we go again-update number two! Our trip back to Chicago after our summer-long stay in Pennsylvania, was a lovely and relaxing little trip. Steven and I rode with his parents in their cute little hatch back car stuffed with all of our darling little trinkets and toys collected over the summer. Er...make that some of our darling little trinkets (my parents drove behind us in a mini van packed Tetris style with our things, like we were newly weds moving into our first home). I may have gone on a shopping spree for foods and household goods almost everyday, but hey, the expensiveness of all these fancy designer stores and what-not here in Chicago was seriously cramping my thrifty style!
Anyway, I basically redecorated the place and stocked my cupboards fuller than they have ever been before-come on blizzard or famine, I'm ready for you...well maybe not, unless I plan to eat copious amounts of crackers with BBQ sauce for a long time (they were cheap). Anywho, I'm sure this has been a bunch of incoherent nothingness to all of you so I will cease my ramblings and give you something a little more interesting: Pictures!

These are the glasses I used to make some delicious homemade butter.
However, the red trying pad underneath the drying rack is what I'm trying
to show off, but doing a fairly poor job. It livens up my counter space.

Fresh tomatoes just purchased from the farmers market. They are
sitting in a basket from the salvation army (my favorite place), next to
a whole grain baguette that doesn't have to do with anything, but just in-case you were wondering.
Oh, and all of these items are sitting upon my wonderful convention oven.

Some yummy herbs sitting on my kitchen windowsill. They are
planted inside some pots that I painted to match my kitchen.

My kitchen is now Asian themed-hence the adorable Asian tea set and chopsticks.
I also have the red bamboo place mats to add a bit of color.

Tea set on top of a lazy-Susan

My lovely little table

I bought this at the Hobby Lobby in the clearance section. I wasn't sure at first
what I was going to do with, but I thought hey, I hate having to drape towels and wash
clothes over the sink-why not hang them up?

A few of my prettier cooking ingredients

These were originally plain old paint lids, but with a bit of work,
they have turned into wonderful accents to my kitchen.
I painted them black and white and though you can't see it in this picture they have
the fruits of the spirit written on them in Chinese.

You can kind of see the figures in this picture

On to the living room! The pillows are kind of hard to see, but
I made them. Found some great fabrics and wala!

More pillows and little black rug purchased from the dollar general
(yay for back to school sales and college dorm supplies!)

I love sitting down in a dimply lit room with candles, a good record and a
cup of coffee.

Another candle and a plant

My favorite part of this picture is the divider next to the stand.
I also got this at the Hobby Lobby on sale for $28 down from $135

Our poor book shelf has been through so much in the past couple years. It has been
stuffed beyond what it can bear. I have decided this year to free up some space for his new books he will be
getting, so I decorated with them. I set them on the top of this stand and put some pictures in front of them and
some dried flowers. It has a great vintage kind of feel. The tree on the wall I made out of about 22 twigs I found out side. I just nailed them individually to the wall to form a tree.