Heavy Thoughts

Its been a CRAZY day! We had our Yard Sale this weekend, which sucked the life out of me. It was a good sale over all though. It felt much better getting rid of so much unnecessary stuff!
I also found out that an awesome couple I've known for a few years are separating. It was such a shock to me when I heard this news, because the way they talked to each other seemed like they were inseparable. Its been so heavy on my mind today, I want to cry. I just can't understand how stuff like that happens. And I pray,  for the sake of their little preschooler that they will eventually work it out. I think I will just chill out tonight with some ice cream or something and let my heavy mind and exhausted body re-cooperate.  Hopefully I will be on a more positive note next time.

Easterly... Easter

 I hope everyone had a lovely Easter! I sure did... I was able to wear the dress I made just for Easter, and my sister wore a lovely dress she thrifted! It was a lovely day Easter morning, but then the weather turned strange after I took pictures of baby Everett in his ears, so the pictures are a little dark. It was actually raining when my sister and I took picture outside!

 This is a Coconut Key-lime pie I made. Pretty delicious, but of course looked nothing like the picture on this recipe I used.

 Baby Everett in his Easter outfit... He has a little war wound on the corner of his eye :(

 Hanging out with Grandma, one of his favorites!

 Some of the strange weather we were having... Not very cool after just watching The Day After Tomorrow, last night!

7 Weekend Neat Links!

Here are a few thinks I've fallen in love with this week! I hope to begin doing this "Neat Links" every week... Hope you enjoy!

1. This neat little site you can design and purchase your own materiel on! How cool is that?

 2. I'm SO IN LOVE with this neat sewing themed tattoo. I hope to get one kind of like it someday.

 3. This Coconut Key Lime Pie looks Amazing! I hope it's a neat treat when I make it this Easter!

 4. This necklace is so neat, I wish I had this right now!

 5. This is pretty much the neatest apartment I've ever seen!

 6. Had a nacho party and got the great idea & recipe from this neat blog.

 7. I've been checking out mobiles lately and I'm in love with this neat little rain cloud one.

Ruffle Bedspread DIY

Finally finishing this great, big project I started, I can now share pictures of my experiment experience. I saw this pretty amazing bed spread somewhere and wanted it so bad, but decided I would try to make one for way less money (and way more work).

First, I cut strips of cotton voile about 7 1/2 inches wide. I then folded under and sewed one side of the strip so it wouldn't unravel. You can also save time on sewing all that and just fold in half a strip that's twice as wide.

Once you have your edges taken care of, you can set your machine to a wide stitch. I set mine to 6.

I sewed an inch from the edge. The material should be light enough that it will ruffle automatically.

Your strip should look somewhat like the picture above, once you're finished.

Next, I just sewed the ruffles straight on in a roof shingle sort of pattern. I found an off-white sheet for a dollar that I used to sew them onto. Just keep going and going until you finally reach the bottom! The hard part's over after that. Now all you need to do is sew a nice underside to it, and it should be ready! You can really do it in any color you like, I liked to look of the off-white.

Oh Happy Day

 Today was crazy busy, but awesome! We woke up, drove to load the husbands drum set into the car, went to Starbucks(yay). I wrapped a baby shower gift, then my mom called to see if I wanted to go to the Estate sale they found. They came all the way here to pick me up, but as I grabbed the diaper bag out of the car I noticed the husband's cymbals were still in the car! Yikes! He had a show at 11:30, I looked at my watch and noticed it was 11:00 on the dot. I had to of course bail on the Estate sale for the moment while I ran the cymbals 30 minutes out of town. Luckily, I made it in time (with a little bit of speeding). I then came back, went to the sale, and found some pretty awesome vintage goodies. I bought a TON a vintage material, a vintage sweater and vest, some vintage thermos', a vintage bag, and some vintage post card books. It was so much fun, I wish I had more time today to hunt for treasures! 

After all that I went to a baby shower, then planted my tomato seeds. When the baby and I were watering them, we played with the water and decided it was so hot that we needed to get a little pool out. We had fun splashing and singing. We ended to day with a long walk down town. Hope you had a great day! XO

Going Veggie

Photo
This entire week, the Mister and I are dedicating to eating vegetables. It's been really nice for me, because we get to order my favorite pizzas n such. I'm not a big fan of meat, so it's mostly a challange for him. So far, though, he's been doing really well and is enjoying trying all the "normal" foods minus the meat. We're on our fourth day and going strong. Its been a GREAT experience and I'd like to see other people do this. You can go for as long as you like... a week, month, year! We decided to do only a week for the sake a the big meat eater. If you decide to blog your journey, and/or share vegetarian recipes, I'd really like to hear!
Have an Amazing rest of the week!
XOXO

What I wore 4-8

Sorry for the bad lighting and wrinkled dress. It was really late when I remembered to do this!

Dress: Urban Outfitters
Black tank top: Target
Shoes:Rock & Candy

(♥)

This cute little man is growing up way too fast! I hate it so much, but I love to watch all the new things he's learning and discovering. Hanging out with him is my favorite thing in the world to do. Here are a few photos I shot recently of some fun things we've been able to do recently!

It's so windy this weekend, I highly doubt we'll get out to hunt down yard sales. Our walk lasted for a while fifteen minutes today, because it's so dang windy, booo!
Having a date night with my better half tonight, maybe I'll post a little later what I wore. I'm super excited!
Hope your weekend is especially special!

First Bike Ride!

Today we bought a seat and helmet for baby Everett to go on bike rides with us! He was so cute, and actually seemed to like it. I was kinda against getting the bicycle trailer because, if it were me, I would rather be out where I can see everything instead of stuck in a tent the whole time. We just went around the block today to get used to it, but I can't wait to go on an actual one! yay

diy doily pillow

I made this cute little pillow the other day! So cute, and so easy. I found the DIY form Smile and Wave HERE. Such a great idea if you have useless doilies laying around.

Weekend Finds

Last weekend wasn't a great week to go yard selling, but I did find a couple Awesome vintage sweaters that are in the middle of being fixed. This weekend made up for it though. I'm so excited to hang up this old mirror I discovered, for only $1! It's more of an art piece than an actual mirror mirror to me I think :)

In other other cool news... Baby Everett got his first tooth the other day! It's so sharp, and Does Not feel good when he bites lol, but I'm so happy for him!

No Cry Sleep

I've been on a book reading craze the last two weeks trying to find solutions to help baby Everett sleep better. I started out with a book I received last year for Christmas, from my sister-in-law, called On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep. This book was good for the most part, but mostly had good information for BRAND NEW parents, so I had to skip over some of that SUPER basic info that I've heard a million times from Doctors and Nurses. This books theory for you baby's sleep was to let your baby "cry it out". I've heard a lot of parents eventually going to this method, even though the idea of letting your baby cry itself to sleep sounds pretty awful. The idea is to help your baby learn to put itself to sleep without help from you. There are a few other things in this book that I learned. Over all, I'm glad I read it, even though not all of it is something I would do.

So, after two or three days of putting him on a strict schedule and laying him down awake(both of which the book suggests) it was working out pretty well (luckily my baby doesn't cry much). I began the second book written for babies more Everett's age. This book had some pretty good stuff such as: info on starting solids, disciplining, sign language, and more.

After those few blissful days of solid sleep for him though, it felt as if the pixie dust was disappearing. He began waking up and balling more often. And, even though, I would try and let him "cry it out" I eventually HAD to pick him up because it became too much for me. After that, we both caught a nasty bug that's been going around, and crying it out wasn't an option for us because of how sick he was. I knew he needed more sleep to get over his cold, but he was getting LESS SLEEP! After one HORRIBLE night, I bought this book on my Kindle the second I woke for the day, hoping that this would be the answer.

Even though I can't start the plan in this book until he's better, (as the book suggests) I still got a lot of great, easy suggestions. He's been sleeping a little better now and is finally starting to get over this nasty bug. I Suggest EVERY mother read this one, even if you believe in the cry it out method, it has some great stuff. It actually teaches you about how your baby's biological clock works and WHY he wakes up during the night. The only other thing I have to say about it is to READ IT :)


P.S. Hope everyone is having an awesome weekend!

New Favorites

Having a little more free time lately, I've been able to try some new recipes and I'd like to share a couple of m favorites! First is definitely a keeper since the hubby likes Asian food so much. I substituted the pork with turkey and made my own Sweet Chilli Sauce from scratch. I used this recipe for it.

Original Recipe Yield 6 servings

Sweet and Spicy Pork and Napa Cabbage Stir-Fry with Spicy Noodles

Ingredients

• 12 ounces dry Chinese noodles
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3/4 cup sweet chili sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 (1 pound) pork loin, cut into 2-inch strips
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 2 onions, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
• 3 cups chopped napa cabbage
• 3/4 cup sliced celery
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 3 red bell peppers, chopped
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup cold water

Directions

1. Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, stir in the Chinese noodles, and return to a boil. Cook the pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 5 minutes. Drain well in a colander set in the sink.
2. Whisk together the 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 3/4 cup sweet chili sauce, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, the ground ginger, and the sesame oil in a large bowl; add the drained Chinese noodles and toss to coat; set aside
3. Whisk together the 1/2 cup soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder in a large bowl; add the pork and stir to coat. Allow to marinate 5 minutes.
4. Heat the cooking oil in a wok or a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork, onions, and red pepper flakes to the oil; cook until the pork is browned completely. Stir in 3 tablespoons sweet chili sauce, the napa cabbage, celery, carrots, and bell peppers; cook and stir until vegetables are completely heated, about 5 minutes. Whisk together the cornstarch and water and add to the stir fry, stirring until the mixture thickens. Serve the stir-fry over the noodles. 

This second one is probably THE BEST salmon marinade I've ever had! I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil.

Grilled Salmon

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets
• lemon pepper to taste
• garlic powder to taste
• salt to taste
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Season salmon fillets with lemon pepper, garlic powder, and salt.
2. In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, brown sugar, water, and vegetable oil until sugar is dissolved. Place fish in a large resealable plastic bag with the soy sauce mixture, seal, and turn to coat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
3. Preheat grill for medium heat.
4. Lightly oil grill grate. Place salmon on the preheated grill, and discard marinade. Cook salmon for 6 to 8 minutes per side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. 

Have a lovely weekend! XOXO