Wednesday, June 29, 2011

I am sorry for the delay...

I came from NYC with a stomach bug, I have been out of it pretty bad. Hubs to me to get iv fluids, I am hoping to be on the mend tomorrow and announce the winner of my 2 yr blog giveaway.


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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Home.

I am getting home today, ok more like early tomorrow morning, EEK. You have until midnight tonight to enter my giveaway! I will pick a winner tomorrow between laying on the couch recouping!!!


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Thursday, June 23, 2011

My bags are packed...

Heading out right now to NYC for a girls weekend. Soooo excited!!



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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

What we ate Wednesday. {Ice Cream in a Bag}

I am killing two birds with one stone on this post, cause I am so into that these days.
Multitasking is my middle name.
So for the price of one post you get a "what we ate" and a mark on our "summer fun list".
Good deal right?!
When I saw Christina's from 2 little hooligans post on making ice cream in a bag, I added that baby to our summer fun list right away.
Oh and if you do not follow Christina, you really should. Besides being supa nice, she is one talented Momma.

Per Christina here is what you will need:
- 1 cup 1/2 and 1/2
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup coarse salt {I bought ice cream salt at my grocery store}
- quart size ziploc
- gallon size ziploc halfway filled with ice

Mix your 1/2 & 1/2, vanilla, and sugar together. Add to the quart ziploc and seal tight.
Place it in the gallon bag with ice and salt, seal.

Set a timer for 8 minutes and start shaking your bags.
Now I did this as a play date activity.
We gave the kiddies the bags and said ok "Shake what your Momma gave ya!"




30 secs, in they were done. So the Mommas took over, wish I had a picture of us, it was very humorous. You get a good workout with this. Some of my quotes during this shake-a-thon, "promise to come over again?" "this is the longest 8 mins of my life." "do you hate me?"
But once it was done, and we rinsed off our quart size bags with cold water, we had ICE CREAM!



It was the perfect balance of vanilla and sweet. SO SO SO yummy.



The kids loved every bite. And were very proud and thankful of their Mommas and our shaking skills.


Wish I had a bowl right now. We already have a list of different flavors we want to try.

And once we hugged all her friends good bye, Buggie got to mark off her first summertime fun activity!

Now your turn, please share what you have been up to in the kitchen...



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Did you enter my bloggie anniversary giveaway? Over $350 worth of goodies.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Shopping with a cause {Love is Rising Adoption Tees}


Its funny how the internet can feel like a small world.
Even though there is millions upon millions of people out there, it still is amazing how
little connections are made.
Like an "Oh wow I did not know you knew so and so.."
This is how I became to know Rachel from Love is Rising.
Small little connections made us connect.
And I am glad we did.

{Rachel and her cute little fam}

Rachel is in the process of adopting and their efforts to raise funds to support their adoption
they created some adorable tees.
Here is a little something about Rachel and her shop.

Hi! I'm Rachel from over at Love is Rising.

My hubby and I are adopting a baby this year! We've learned a lot, had many ups and downs in the process and are now waiting to be matched with a birth mom. You can learn more about our adoption story here.

as a way to fund our adoption i created my etsy shop a few months back. as a part of the shop, we created alternative apparel tee's (2 to be exact) that you can buy and every penny goes towards bringing our baby home.

these tee's are SWEET, whimsical, soft, organic, quality v-neck tee's.

Check these babies out. i LOVE the design. and the tee itself is soft, cuddly and grabs you in all the right places ;)
my vision was an Urban Outfitters type tee and i think we hit the nail on the head.
Enough describing, take a look. There are TWO to choose from:
OR


You can click on this here link and go buy yourself one, and rest assured you'll get a sweet v-neck tee, that's going to help bring our babes home!

So go shop and support a good cause.
You will look good and feel good at the same time!
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Do not forget my BIG anniversary giveaway going on...

Monday, June 20, 2011

Two year Blog-O-versary Giveaway Week.

Two years ago this week blogging entered my life and made a little niche in my heart.
I have made some dear friends, learned valuable lessons, and found out a few things about myself. To celebrate this fun occasion I have gathered
some of my favorite people and their lovely goodies for you.
Scroll through and drool....




Evy's Tree is giving the winner a HOODIE of their choice! I own a few and after you have one you will want a few too.
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aPearantly sew is giving a custom banner to the winner, any word or name. The workmanship is top notch with aPearantly sew.
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$25 store credit coming from Marine Parents {the shop} to enjoy. These make me happy!
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More shopping money coming from lilly pie, $25 store credit. The shop is beautiful.
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Winner picks a 5x7 print from Yellow Heart Art, holla.
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A set of three yummy flower pins will be going to the winners home from sugar money.
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The winner will be getting some $60 store cred to use at amye123 and score some new finds for decorating their home.
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Winner will be sporting this necklace and earrings. Check out Kristen Haynes's Stella and Dot and ask her how you can host an online party.
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Love coffee or tea? Have a favorite cup? Paint Me a Picture wants to immortalize it for you in a painting. I have one and it is stellar!
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More shopping for the winner with $10 store credit to Moxie Mandie. Love all her fabric choices...
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Who wouldn't love a custom portrait?! The winner will get a 5x7 custom painting from Pencil and Daisies. PSSST she does blog button paintings too!
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And lastly but certainly not least my winner will get a 50 buckaroos to spend at the vintage pearl!!

So the important deets:
- US only {sorry}
- One entry per person
- Open until midnight on Jun 26 at midnight Eastern
-ONE winner will get all this yumminess.

To enter just leave me a comment, maybe something you enjoyed from my blog, or something you like about blogging in general, or just a hi. Whatever.

Winner will be chosen via random.org.

Thank you for reading along with me blog over the past two years, it is has been a truly special journey.
Good luck FRIENDS.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

What we ate Wednesday. {Asian Slaw and Grilled Chicken}

My allergies are attacking me this week.
Putting me in a miserable state of sneezing, itchy eyes, and running nose.
So cooking is the last thing I want to do.
But alas my kids need to eat, those darn kids always needing to eat.

Easy has been the name of the game.
And for ME nothing is easier then grilling.
Why?
Because Hubs does the grilling, SO technically that means no cooking for me.
But making easy yummy sides I can do.

Asian Slaw.
Which this recipe was originally a dip our family friend Cindi makes,
that I turned into a cole slaw dressing.


What you will need:
- 1 cup mayo
- 2-3 tsp of wasabi paste
- 4 tsp soy sauce
- 1 and 1/2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- bag of shredded cabbage

Put all your ingredients in a bowl and mix. Ha, told you easy.


Add to slaw, one tip for making cole slaw of any kind, add a little bit of sauce at a time.
Stir, then add more, you always need a lot less then you think. And you can use the leftover sauce for dipping your chicken.

We had ours with some grilled teriyaki chicken and endamame. Just a note my favorite store brand teriyaki is Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki, you can get it at Target or Whole Foods. I think it has the best and freshest flavor.

And you can see why Hubs is the griller in the family.
Best chicken EVA.

Enjoy.

Please share what's been brewing in your kitchens...



Tuesday, June 14, 2011

A Unicorn Bag and Summertime Fun List

Buggie is starting ballet and jazz class this week and she was in need of a bag to carry her
little ballet slippers and jazz shoes.
And since I am one of those unlucky souls thats do not own a fancy schmancy Silhouette machine I had to use the old school wax paper iron on trick.
Buggie loves her some unicorns, so when I saw My Girl Thursday's guest post on Sunshine and Carousels, I hit the free unicorn JACKPOT.

After I printed out the freebie uni. I taped down my wax paper {remember that you will iron the wax side down, so if you image has a right or wrong direction make sure you trace correctly}


Once you have traced, then you are going to take an exacto knife and cut your image. You want the relief image.


Iron you image on to your surface. I took an invisible ink pen {crafters best friend} and draw in the hair and other thing to know where to paint.

Painting is so therapeutic. I need to do it more often.

Pull you wax paper off once you paint has dried.
I added some extra details with a paint pen and put her name at the bottom.


It screams girl, purple, pink, hearts, glitter, unicorn!!


I think the exact words were "Oh Mommy it is beautiful. My dance teacher is going to be so happy with my pretty bag."
I say that is a job well done.

We did our Summer FUN List.
It BIG and the door to the garage, so we see it everyday.

I hope to have a post for every single one of these.
Do you have a summer FUN list?

Happy Tuesday!