Stud Muffin

(download the tag from datingdivas.com)

 

My amazing husband is off to Arkansas for the last and final interview for a job. Everyone right now cross your fingers with me... are they crossed? Okay good... When he woke up to leave for his flight this morning this is what was greeting him for breakfast. I think this would also be a great idea if your husband has finals coming up (which they are coming up)... should we cross our fingers again?

If I was really fancy I would of made them but I highly doubt I can make them as good as Costco. Then I just wrapped them in paper, backed the tag onto card stock and then stuck it onto a coffee (hot chocolate for me) red straw.

 Easy enough right? Now go and do it for your "Stud Muffin"

Healthy Recipes

I have to give credit where credit is due. I found this amazing app called SparkRecipes. It is an app for healthy recipes and you can search by category, course, cuisine, dietary needs, or occasion. The recipe can be saved to your favorite list and you can keep going back to it again and again like I do. Another cool feature is you can use it as a timer for when you are cooking or it can help you with conversions. You can even watch videos or download their diet and fitness tracker. you can get a customized diet plan, track your food and calories, plus record your fitness program and weight.

Best part is SparkRecipes is a FREE app and if you like their app then their fitness one is free to. I haven't tried the fitness one because I'm breastfeeding (too much information) and I am more concerned about that then I am about loosing weight.

Oh wait I forgot... the BEST BEST part is it has the nutritional facts for each recipe.

Okay so here is my favorite recipe I have gotten off this app. It's super easy, serves 4 and is 173 calories per serving.

HONEY BALSAMIC CHICKEN

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tsp of dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp olive oil
1 lb chicken breast
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp honey

Directions:

Combine first 3ingredients; sprinkle over both sides of chicken

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 7 to 8 minutes on each side or until chicken is done.

Transfer chicken to a platter; keep warm. reduce heat to medium-low; add balsamic vinegar and honey to pan. Simmer 1 minute or until glaze thickens; stir constantly. pour glaze over chicken.


( I personally like to serve it over rice and double the sauce. I lay the chicken over the rice and then drizzle the sauce over the whole thing. or I like to add it on a skewer. Who doesn't like eating something on a stick? )

Bead Board Wall/baby room

A lot of people do half their walls with bead board in rooms, bathrooms etc but my wall was 10 feet high and it would make the wall look shorter than it really is. 4 ft didn't look right so I decided to just go for it and do the whole wall. We added bead board purchased from home depot. It took 2 1/2 sheets of bead board and then on the top we added 1 inch molding to polish off the look. After painting it sage green we then stained it in sections.

Then antiqued it with a brown glaze

Then we decorated it for my little boy!

one half of the room

The letters were painted or modge pods but my favorite is the big button for the O and the X is brass. all the letters have different texture and shape! love it

one side of the room

The other wall.

the changing table looked like this before.

and the other side of the room with a few vintage sport frames from hobby lobby

my favorite vintage sports piece in the room is the light switch and of course the actual vintage baseballs in the mason jar above the baskets

I already had this piece of furniture and I just bought the chalk board signs at pottery barn then with vinyl I made the sayings.

color Melting?

I was going for Whitney Port's look

Mine didn't turn out exactly like Whitney's but I still like it. It's the darkest I've gone but it has faded a lot since I did it a couple weeks ago so next time I need to get some shampoo for colored treated hair.

Here it is a day after getting it done:

I laugh because it isn't that much darker than my natural color but my dad FREAKED when he saw it. He said I am suppose to be a blonde and I might as well of gotten a tattoo... really dad, really?

What are your opinions on color melting?

Vintage Finds.

Last weekend I stoped by abode in Salt Lake City and I found a lot of things I wanted to buy but I only left with my top favorites. I have a lot of ideas of what to do with these items but if you have any ideas please share.Gosh, I love old stuff but sometimes I'm shocked about how much they cost.

 vintage baseball bat and balls

 love this empty frame. I want to do a wall with these of all different sizes.

My mom found a ballet bag that she had when she was little (don't judge that my baby doesn't have pants. He peed all over and I didn't have a second pair of pants)

I love vintage wood block letters. They would be cute in a vintage mason jar

I love vintage baseballs. In my son's room he has this... (they are my husbands old baseballs)

 
I bought this old vintage door knob on the left: I don't know yet what I'm going to do with it but I love it.

I also bought this vintage milk crate.

I'm Featured

YEAH, looks like today IS a lucky day. I have been featured again on a VERY popular blog. I'm super excited about it (if you cant tell.)

 Late last night my "POPcorn" baby shower party was featured  HERE  on the blog ucreateparites.

I just started this blog because I went to make my family blog into a book and I was annoyed by how much I posted that I didnt want it in a scrapbook. I am excited that my blog is getting noticed but I also feel the pressure to make it something worth following. I said from day one when starting this I wasnt going to put any pressure on this blog or take the time to make it all fancy but I cant help enjoying myself with this blog. Hopefully as time goes on I can make this one worth following!

cupcake bites

Today my cupcake cake bites from HERE are featured on the birthday blog. They have a lot of great fun ideas for kid parties on their blog. These cake bites were easy but just took some time.

So, if you’re a first-time cake "baller" you may want to start with a cake mix and ready-made frosting. (These proportions work right for me every time.) Then, you can try with your favorite cake and frosting recipe once you see how the proportions and texture should come out. Here’s what you do:
Easy Cupcake Bites
1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (or candy melts for cupcake bottom)
sprinkles for decoration
Colored Candy Melts (for cupcake top)
Candy Cup Mold

After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl. (The texture should be fine/fluffy)

1. Using the back of a large spoon, mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
2. Roll mixture into quarter size balls (make sure they are smaller in diameter than that of your candy mold) and lay on wax paper covered cookie sheet.
3. Chill in the freezer for a few minutes, until they are slightly firm, not frozen.
4. Melt chocolate bark and candy melts in microwave per directions on package.
5. Using a spoon or squeeze bottle, fill each mold cavity with a small amount of chocolate. Sorry, I didn’t think to measure how much. But as soon as you fill the cavity, go ahead and place one of your rolled balls into it. Carefully push it down until the force causes the chocolate to push up and fill in around the sides of the ball. You may have to experiment with a couple to get the right amount. Stop pushing once the chocolate reaches the top edge.
6. Place the mold tray filled with cupcakes in the freezer for just a few minutes to let the chocolate set. Remove and then gently pull up on the cake ball top to release from candy mold.
7. Now, holding the bottom of the cupcake, dip the top in another color of melted chocolate.
8. Decorate.
9. And, probably impress your friends and family

AND when you bite into them they look like this:

(images from google)

Popcorn Party

Yesterday I threw a baby shower for a dear friend who is having her fourth baby, but this time it was a girl. I had a lot of fun throwing this party. It was themed "she's ready to POP".

IT all started with these invites:

the envelope

THE FOOD:

Chocolate covered popcorn

Cake pops

CANT HAVE A PARTY WITH OUT CHOCOLATE

The party favors

AND ALL OF THIS WAS FOR THIS LITTLE BUNDLE OF JOY

baby fashion

(grandpa sweater from gap kids)

I know there are a lot of moms out there that also love fashion, follow the latest trends, and love to get expert advice when it comes to raising our babies. I found and fallen in love with this website. Its called stroller traffic, isn't that such a cute name. It will email you once a week with some great fashion, tips, and advice. I also have found this cool new website where you can pick out outfits and put them together so you can see what it will look like from head to toe for your little tots.  You can choose from all different stores from gap to top designer clothing.

(A few other staple websites I check every day are babysteals.com and mamabargains.com.)
A few things I want for my little stud:

this bow tie from J.Crew ( I love anything on babies that look like they are for grown men)


These shoes with this shirt.

I could shop for hours on line, If I had hours. I get my cart full and dream, then I delete :(

UPDATE: mom if you reading this... I really want THESE SHOES

so "Lucky"

Do you feel lucky to be married to your spouse? I know I do so I wanted to do something for him for St. Patrick's Day. I got this idea from dating divas.  I paired it with a pair of black dress socks. But you can do it for your visiting teacher partner and who you visit teach by pairing it with some gloves, (they have some really cute ones at All A Dollar) You can go to their site and print off this cute tag and get many more fun ideas.

*** WARNING***
If you are going to put this in a place you think they will find make sure it's WAY obvious to them. I set it literally on his Sunday shoes before church and he was in the closet and out of the closet 3 times then decided to go with a different pair of Sunday shoes and reached right over his little gift with out noticing. After he said, "Why are you watching me put my shoes on and whats so funny?" I finally had to literally point to them and then he started laughing cause he completely missed them.