Here is another Pinterest worthy recipe, first appearing in Fitness Magazine, to add to your recipe boxes!!! It's a Vegetarian dish and even though I'm not a Vegetarian I really enjoyed it! The goat cheese was my favorite part and this was the first time I made caramelized onions! Yuummmmy!
Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, sugar and salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is dark golden brown.
Remove from pan.
Add the spinach and 1 tablespoon water to the skillet; cook 2 minutes, or until spinach is just wilted. Remove from skillet and turn off heat.
Spread a quarter of the goat cheese on each tortilla and top with spinach, tomato and onion.
Fold closed and press lightly. Heat the skillet and place two folded quesadillas in it; cook two minutes per side, or until golden brown and lightly crisp. Repeat.
Enjoy!!!
I hope y'all are having a fantastic start to the week! The weather here in Southern VA has been beautiful which makes the beginning of a work week so much more bearable!! XoXo!!!
I found this AMAZING recipe while gallivanting through the land of Pinterest not too long ago! Who is the gal behind the recipe you ask? Mandy from Baking with Blondie! After finding her blog through my wee little pin, I am really excited to try some more of her recipes!
I gave this recipe my own added twist - shrimp. If you've been following me for some time you know my hubby has to have some sort of manliness in his dinner! I seriously think I could be a vegetarian! The hubby? Not so much!
What You Will Need:
3 medium-sized fresh sweet corn on the cob
3 cups fresh arugula {I used a mixture of fresh arugula and spinach as Mandy did}
3/4 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped {this was optional but I did include them}
1 pound potato gnocchi
3/4 cup half and half, half heavy cream, or half whole milk/skim {I used whipping cream that I had in the fridge}
3 oz light cream cheese {I used fat free}
1 teaspoon salt {see next ingredient}
1 teaspoon garlic powder {I used garlic salt in place of the garlic powder and the salt}
1 teaspoon fresh basil, julienne {I used dried basil in my spice cabinet}
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Pinch of crushed red pepper
Parmesan cheese for sprinkling
And my little added ingredient:
1 lb frozen or fresh tail off deveined shrimp
garlic salt-whipping cream-gnocchi-spinach-crushed red pepper-dried basil-frozen cooked shrimp-arugula-mushrooms-corn on the cob
Directions:
In large pot, boil water and cook gnocchi according to package directions, adding in the corn on the cob in the last five minutes. Remove corn, transfer to cutting board. Drain gnocchi, but make sure to reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Don't rinse your gnocchi.
{My gnocchi packaging stated to cook until gnocchi rose to the top and that the cook time was only two minutes. I wasn't able to add the corn to it, so I drained the gnocchi using a slotted spoon and just added the corn to the pot after I removed the gnocchi.}
For the cream sauce, combine half and half, cream cheese, salt, garlic powder, fresh basil, and pepper in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring until cream cheese has evenly dispersed throughout sauce. Stir in reserved pasta water.
Remove corn from pot and let cool before slicing corn off the cob.
In a medium bowl combine your shrimp, pasta sauce, corn, mushrooms, gnocchi, spinach and arugula. Sprinkle with additional salt, pepper basil and crushed red pepper if desired.
{I combined all the ingredients in the sauce pan to help wilt the spinach and arugula}
Once fully mixed and coated, plate and top with Parmesan cheese! Enjoy!!!
From start of preparing to plating to eat, this recipe took 30 minutes! Y'all know I'm all for that!!! Be sure to add this to your recipe box! It's really yummy and I love that it's packed with loads of veggies! I may or may not have added a ton of spinach to it!! Thanks to Pinterest for bringing another yummy recipe to my kitchen and for introducing me to another blogger to add to my reading list!
Greeting April means a plethora of things; warmer weather, opened toe shoes, opened windows, and more mini goals!! I really can't believe we are saying hello to the month of April! It seems just like yesterday we were celebrating New Years! I am beyond excited to see what this month has in store for the hubby and myself, hopefully a list full of completed goals!!
1. Complete at least one Pinterest project that I posted about here! I'm hoping painting the front door will happen this month, however, I have some serious crafting to accomplish for my cousin's Bachelorette festivities at the end of the month. I know I will be busy trying to complete that, so I may work on something a bit smaller that will be easier to tackle and finish! I certainly do not want to set myself up for failure before I even get out of the starting gate!
2. Arrive on time to work, every morning. Y'all know about this goal, so no need to explain! If you are new to the blog you can read about it from March, February, and January! At least I know I'll get there on time this week as it is Spring Break and traffic was a breeze this morning!
3. Buy a scale. We have not had a workable weighing scale in our home since we moved into this house over 3.5 years ago! I don't like weighing myself because I am usually very disappointed by what it tells me! However, I've been working on my fitness since January and I really wish I would have started keeping track of my weight at that point. Now that I have added running into my fitness routine, I really am hoping to see a drop in weight and the only way to track that correctly would be through using a scale! It's not something I hope to use every day, maybe just once a week so I can see a significant change! Anyone recommend a good scale? I haven't done my research yet and would love recommendations!
4. Host at least one family lunch, dinner or activity. I have said it more times than I can count, how hard it is to divide time between all of our families. We don't do a lot of random, just because get togethers because there are often birthday celebrations or holiday's traditions we participate in! I wouldn't mind hosting a dinner or lunch for some of the family or even an activity of some sort, like visiting the local zoo! I'll have to get creative on the activity but you get the point!
5. Accomplish the 30 Miles in 30 Days workout plan. Nikki over at The Pink Growl did this last month and I think it's a BRILLIANT idea!! The point is to clock at least a mile a day, whether it's running, biking, walking or the doing the elliptical. If you miss a day or two, you have to make it up in another day! I am reeeeeeally excited about doing this and hope adding this to my fitness routine will help me see more good results with my body, energy levels, and stamina! I've already started clocking miles with running a few days a week but I love the option to use other methods to clock miles as well! I plan on hitting the bike or elliptical after my Pilates class tonight to clock my first mile!
6. Figure out if blogging is really something I want to do and stick with! I'm not going to lie, blogging is exhausting me. I stay up incredibly late creating posts the night before. I mean like midnight to 1 a.m. which has really taken a toll on me! I don't feel like I'm forming solid relationships either, because I can't seem to show many readers and other bloggers the attention they deserve! It's hard to juggle this with a full time job and an active home life! Seriously, I'm dying to know how some of you do it, especially those of you with children!! I hope to really reflect on this for April. I don't necessarily want to leave the blogging world, because I do love it, but if I don't learn how to juggle it correctly, I'm going to end up dropping balls in other aspects of my life and I just can't sacrifice those things for this little piece of the Internet world.
7. Start working on renovations in the kitchen. Being that we've been in our home for so long now, I have no idea why we really haven't tried harder to complete the kitchen! It really is the one room in the house where we haven't done ANYTHING, except for replacing the dishwasher and the oven. Our goal is to replace the flooring, refurbish the cabinets, add new hardware, paint the walls, add back splash, install new faucet, purchase a new refrigerator and replace the counter tops! It seems like a lot reading it but our kitchen is small enough that it's not going to be a crazy project to take on, as long as we do one step at time! First step?! Take the hideous 80's wall paper border down!
8. Try harder to prepare better for birthdays and other special events! I will always promise that I will never show up empty handed for a birthday or other special occasion celebration! However, I am HORRIBLE at waiting until the last minute to buy a gift! I would loooove it if I could think so far in advance that we can purchase something more sentimental and personal! I'm a lover of ANYTHING personalized, but I never seem to treat anyone to those kinds of gifts because I'm a crazy procrastinator! I also want to utilize Etsy for more unique and thoughtful gifts as well, which also involves thinking far in advance! I just need to reference my planner more frequently! What's the point of having that if I don't use it?!
9. Develop the attitude of "It is what it is". Here's your shout out Taylor! My little sister and the hubby have this mindset which is very different from my own! I tend to worry about everything, to over analyze everything, and to try and fix everything and sometimes that adds an unnecessary amount of emotional stress to my life! I don't want to adopt this attitude completely, because I feel that my personality allows me to express my compassion on a greater level, but I do want to rid myself of emotional stress beyond my control. It is what it is, there is nothing I can do to change it, therefore I must accept it.
10. Secret goal! As much as I want to share this, for my well being I can't. If things change from this goal I will, without a doubt, publicly tell you about it, but at this moment I have to protect myself and certain parts of my life. I'm including it on this list, because if I write it down, I tend to stick to it!! If your curiosity is getting the best of you and you would like to know what it is, shoot me a comment or email, I'm totally okay with sharing it privately!
As always, some of these are a bit easier than others! I brought a few over from last month but I am really excited to have added some new ones to the list! Any of you trying new goals for the month of April?! I'm looking forward to what this month will bring, including warmer weather, though the forecast for this week isn't looking too swell in the warmth department!
Be sure to check out my April Sponsors to your left in my sidebar!!! I am beyond thrilled to add them to TRYHOSOVA Family!
Don't forget... The Give Away Contest ends tonight at midnight!!!! Winner will be announced on tomorrow!!! Enter here!!!
********** Do you realize how random social media can be?! How it can connect people with just a click here or a click there! We visit someones twitter and see them conversing with someone else so we click on that someone else and before we even know it we click to follow them! We visit someones blog and peruse recent comments, happen to like what someone said, click on that someone and before we know it we are now a huge fan of their blog! It's an ongoing cycle! We find people that interest us and other folks come in contact with us because we offer something that appeals to them! Well Well Well, that's how I met this little gem today! Twitter can be credited for our blogging friendship and while I don't know exactly how she found me, I find it pretty rad that she did! Enjoy this sweet girl and find her on your own Twitter!!! Better yet just go visit her neck of the woods and follow everything!! She has some changes going on next week so you'll want to be a first hand witness!
I'm an English teaching twenty seven year old mom, who is obsessed with pearls, polka dots, Target, books, flip flops and drinks with umbrellas in them. My love of the warmer months is in complete contradiction to the fact that I live in Massachusetts and only see warm weather for about 3 months a year!
When you get to my site, you won't find many pictures of me (because I'm terrible at selfies and my husband can't take a picture of the side of a barn without it being blurry!) but you will find a TON of pictures of my super cute kid, books I'm reading, things I'm lusting for at Target, and Pinterest pins to die for! I offer free advertising and even do spotlights for each person who works with me!
I'm also working on a 30 by 30 list which has proven to be a LOT of fun!
With Spring officially here (even if it's still snowing by me!), Easter isn't too far away!
I try and keep an updated mantle every season/holiday and I wanted to share with you a free Spring time printable!
I hope you love it as much as I do!
Click here for the full version! You can download or share with friends!
I'll be adding more printables as the year goes on so be sure to stop by my blog and see all the fun changes happening in the next week!!
I don't know about you but I love printables! I'm known to have a subway art framed for every season and holiday on the table in our foyer! I've recently been looking to some printables to frame for certain rooms and decor projects! I will definitely be paying close attention to Heather's collection throughout the coming months! I hope you enjoyed meeting Heather and pay her a visit next week to see the new happenings occurring in her blog world!!! Have a fantastic Thursday my darlings!!! xoxo!
Thanks to Pinterest, I am forever adding crafts to my To Do list! Have I done any of them?! I'm pretty sure I haven't, but let's be real for a moment. The point of Pinterest is to inspire us and give us ideas on new meals to cook, new outfit combinations to try, new home decorations to create, and do-it-yourself gifts and projects to make. There really is an unlimited amount of ideas you can pin and draw inspiration from!
Since I haven't really followed through with any of my DIY crafts or home decor pins, I'm making it a point to, hopefully, in the coming months work on creating some pieces I've added to my boards! I don't want to set myself up for failure so I'm not going to try anything that will be too intense or expensive {I'm on a super severe spending freeze at the moment}. Those big projects will have to wait, however, the ones that are easy on the pocket and time are what I'm hoping to accomplish!
I really would like a new front door, however to extend the life of the one we have for a wee bit longer I think painting it may be a better alternative! I love this mint color and think it would look great with our contrasting black shutters! I may just paint it black though, as to keep it all cohesive!
I definitely would like to do this with one of our home keys as a part of the gallery wall as well!
These are all pretty simplistic, wouldn't y'all agree?! I'm looking forward to accomplishing some of these sooner than later! There is A LOT going on in our home right now! I may even "bare it all" to you soon and share how imperfect the inside of our home is! Lots of projects going on at once and never enough time to finish them!
Hope y'all had a fabulous weekend!! We had snow yesterday! Yes, snow at the end of March! Where is Spring?!?! I hope it's closer than it appears!!! Have a lovely Monday my darling's and don't forget to enter my Give Away here!! It ends on Friday! XoXo!
I am very excited to introduce you to today's sponsor!! She's a mommy to two precious wee ones {seriously, they are darling children - check out her little man and his mohawk and bowtie below - i die!} and a wife to one sweet hubby! We met through a link up, which she hints on, and the coolest part is that we don't live far from each other at all! It's a shame we haven't arranged a blate yet, but being that she and her family are looking for a home in my area, it may happen a lot sooner than later! Y'all enjoy Michelle! She is one hilarious momma and I love and appreciate her sense of humor, it keeps me reading!
Hi! It's so nice to have the opportunity meet all of your lovely faces today.
My name is Michelle and this is me. I blog at Let It Shine. It's pretty much about shenanigans.
The first thing you should know is my faith drives everything I do. I'm sure that for some of you I might be eliciting an eye roll and some a high five, but it's simply the truth. I might not talk about it all the time, but make no mistake, it's always there. Behind the scenes I am always thanking Jesus for this beautiful life of mine. I am happily married and we have two kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hand me a chambray shirt and I'll be just about the standard blogger cliche. :) I like to sew, take pictures of my adorable, mouthy rugrats, and laugh. I love to laugh. Good thing I have an awkward sense of humor and a husband and kids who have no shortage of mishaps, giggles, and general silliness.
Like what, you may ask? How about the time my daughter announced to Taco Bell that her brother was a Queen? Or the time my one year old wrote me a letter. Yeah, okay, I might have wrote that letter for him. Or perhaps the time we road tipped it. It doesn't end there people, my family is always doing something off the wall.
If you've read Lauran's blog for a hot second I'm sure you've seen her do the Friday's Letters link-up. It's actually how she and I met. I prefer to take a deviation from the usual and try to make my Friday's Letters a little more comical than the norm. Sometimes on Fridays I skip the letters and do confessions. People really seem to like it when I confess things, but honestly, there's only so many things a girl can confess without having to invoke the fifth amendment. I might have to put them on hold for a while. Not.
I also tend to work some of my sillier quirks into the blog. I have a childish love for unicorns. Really I don't know why more people don't love them, they are awesome. Occasionally I also like to poke fun at dinosaurs for their short, short arms. I know, it's easy to poke fun at extinct animals. In my defense, I think they're extinct because all they had to fight with was their tails. Their poor little arms were just so short.
My last love is tutorials and DIYs. Frugal isn't just my middle name, it's a way of life. Creating things on your own gives me sense of accomplishment that is just not attainable by watching an entire season of White Collar on Netflix in one day. I have a DIY Stocking tutorial, a basic skirt tutorial, and a tutorial on how to turn an old pair of jeans into a skirt. Sewing is so much fun. I'm still a beginner but I love to learn new tricks. I do other crafts too, like this Pinterest Challenge. I also feature just about any DIY project you can do. Just email me and I'll feature you (for free!) on my blog.
So yeah, that's pretty much me. I'd love it if you'd come over and join me. It's never a dull moment in my house. Thank you Lauran for letting me invade your space today!
Seriously? Michelle must realize I am all thumbs when it comes to most DIY projects! I am definitely going to have to check out her basic skirt tutorial! I've had a sewing machine for almost a year and I should probably put it to use! I do have to argue that I feel pretty accomplished when I watch a full season of White Collar in one day!! At least I can't ruin anything while watching a full season! I could ruin a lot with a DIY challenge and I could even lose some fingers in the process, who knows?! Regardless of my DIYin skills, y'all should visit Michelle's blog and get your crafting on! She's pretty inspiring when it comes to DO IT YOURSELF! If you are interested in FREE Sponsorship with my blog, I am now booking for the month of April and May. Please email me at Lauran.Huffman@gmail.com if you would like to be a part of The Real Young Housewife family! XoXo!
Okay Okay, I know the title is a little much, but I thought it was kind of funny and would make you wonder what the heck I'm referring too! I am a huge "doughy" person! I love cookies, cake, danishes, muffins, cupcakes, scones, doughnuts, cinnamon rolls and the list could go on and on! It is most definitely a curse and I wish almost daily that I didn't have such a sweet tooth!
We are pretty big on eating breakfast on the weekends! The Hubby is a mean breakfast chef! He can whip up eggs and omelets, bacon {of course}, pancakes, waffles pretty much any and all things related to breakfast! I usually let him have full reign in the kitchen on the weekend mornings, however if I have a new idea {ahem... thanks Pinterest} that I want to try, I kick him out and get to cooking!
I've tried one really EASY recipe from Pinterest that consisted of putting Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in your waffle maker! They cooked crazy fast and were yummy! Yesterday, I figured I'd put another Pillsbury product to the test and make donuts and I will be the first to tell you that these donuts did not disappoint! The Hubby was even impressed! I'm quite certain we've found a new breakfast favorite!
What you will need:
1 can of homestyle or buttermilk biscuits {I used Pillsbury Grands Buttermilk biscuits}
1 small cookie cutter or small circular item you can use to make a hole in the dough
Vegetable Oil
4 tbls melted butter
Sugar
Cinnamon
Directions:
Fill frying pan about 1/2 an inch with Vegetable Oil
Heat oil on Medium
While oil is heating open biscuits
Flatten out each biscuit and use the cookie cutter or small circular item to make the donut hole {I actually used a small heart shaped cookie cutter in honor of Valentine's Day}
Mix sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl or dish {I used a tupperware container}
Place flattened biscuit and holes into the pan
Flip them with tongs when they start to brown
Once the second side has lightly browned place on a paper towel lined plate
Lightly brush donuts with melted butter
Toss donut in the sugar and cinnamon until fully coated
Place and a cute serving dish and enjoy!
Frying up some goodness!
All sorts of scrumptiousness!
Valentine donuts on a Valentine serving dish for my sweetie of a Valentine!
It really is as simple as that!! From start to finish it may have taken all of fifteen minutes! I have no doubt that you readers out there with kids will have a new breakfast winner on your hands! Considering that my hubby has an appetite for kids foods, he would definitely agree that your wee ones will LOVE this treat! And for those of you with a pastry sweet tooth like me, well then these will most definitely be winner for you too! Next time I hope to experiment with maple icing and maybe even sprinkles!
Happy Monday my darlings!!!! Wishing you all a fabulous start to your week!!! XoXo!
Allow me to introduce my third sponsor for this month {how is it we are already into the third week of January?}!!! Kimberly and I became friends through Instagram! To be honest I have no idea who found who, but I am so glad, at that point of clicking the "follow" button, that one of us chose to friend someone new! I love this gals writing style and her insanely hilarious sense of humor! Her quick witted tid bits make me laugh out loud, literally! She is one drop dead gorgeous diva and when I say diva, I mean this military chick could probably kick your booty and then some, with her pearly white smile still beaming! Now get to meeting Kim, she is pretty freakin' fantastic!
Thank you so much to Lauran for allowing me this opportunity, she's fabulous.
We've gone from Instagram/GFC buddies to doing guest posts, *tear* it's been so magical.
But I haven't even introduced myself...
I'm Kim over at The Simplicity of Being Curious.
Top things that I'm best known for: I'm a military officer, I have a personality that has been compared to Leslie Knope's (Parks and Recreation), and I love to craft.
So much love, so much enthusiasm :)
Pinterest and Instagram are like bosom buddies to me. Nevertheless, we all have those moments when Pinterest isn't quite as kind to our delicate, crafting egos or Instagram flat out encourages the green eyed monster in all of us. Why yes I'm a model, my agency is Instagram ;)
Those moments when you're like WHAT HAVE I DONE?!
I think we can all agree that Pinterest is one sneaky mom.
Don't get the reference? Watch this:
Pinterest can be a magical land of DIY or a nightmare.
You go there planning to make a holiday wreath that your neighbors will envy but then it turns into a Pinstrocity. What is a pinstrocity? A craft project that starts at your local craft store, with a twinkle in your eye and ends with you in a mental breakdown in your living room. What? I can't Instagram this and I didn't even take pictures of the disaster for my blog!
This happened to me with the "money-saving tip" of using an insulation tube for pipes as a wreath instead of purchasing a regular foam wreath at Michael's or HobLob (my affectionate term for the store known as "Hobby Lobby"). It seemed brilliant, only spend a buck on something that normally is $7 or more. Let's face it, you can't walk into any type of craft store without dropping a $20 bill. It's easy...kind of like the same experience of walking into any Target, there's always something I need. So saving some money here and there is always a good idea to me.
Well I didn't get the wreath, or the ruby slippers, or the sword in the stone...wait, wrong story.
The insulation tube got the best of me. I'm a big fan of hot glue- it's a miracle adhesive. You can't hot glue anything to it unless you have some type of barrier in between, aka duct tape. This would cause an automatic dislike for this project, but it gets worse. The type of dislike where you think, you're wearing sweatpants, you can't sit with us (Mean Girls, anyone?). So my once super adorable wreath now had scraps of duct tape holding it and styrofoam balls together. It was like a 21st-birthday-hot-sloppy-mess and had sections missing from where hot glue hit it.
The kicker?
The duct tape that actually made it a round shape fell apart and then it was just a tube.
A limp, floppy tube.
Classy.
So the remainder of my adorable yarn snowball wreath laid on the top of the couch throughout the holidays. I didn't even have enough creative spark to finish it. Just looking at it was discouraging. I told my husband that I plan to salvage the expensive styrofoam balls that have now been turned into yarn snowballs- here's to hoping.
Isn't this great? Totally true, unless you burn the enchiladas...
Speaking of the holidays, you see these beautiful recipes on Pinterest and pin them in hopes that your Christmas dinner and sweet treats turn out to be just as delightful.
I failed at every single batch of cookies I made for Christmas.
Like epic fail
One set of my peanut butter kiss cookies were just a blackened sludgy mess, something from the likes of It Came From the Swamp. No bueno. I don't even know if that's a real movie but I'm sure you can guess my reaction- sheer, adulterated horror.
Of course the solution is to take a cheese grater and scrape off the charred bottoms.
Let's be serious- ain't nobody got time for that.
I go to Pinterest to get it right the first time, isn't that why we use the interwebs? ;)
That's just the DIY and baking aspects of Pinterest, there are products and outfits of the day, not to mention an entire search engine dedicated to weddings. My vow renewals have been set and planned for awhile now and I just hope my flower girls are ready for two to three costume changes. I joke, I keed...sort of.
Then there's Instagram, the social media device that has turned me into an iPhone camera aficionado. I love it a little too much. Post a picture of a book, I'm all in. Of course every blogger and his or her mom has an account, so 200+ friends later, my Instagram feed is fully entertaining.
What makes me laugh about many of these someecards is that it's a way to laugh at ourselves.
Who is guilty of Instagramming a picture of their massive margarita or a juicy steak they've just prepared (probably with a marinade found on Pinterest)?
Raises hand
Our generation is a little ridiculous but immensely entertaining and I'm just enjoying the ride. There will always be that one recipe where your apples turn to mush or a DIY organizational space that turns out far messier than when you started. At the end of the day, if you can still laugh at yourself and give it another shot or just admit that this is just not your battle- it's all good. Hey, at least you can tweet about.
#owned
I'd love to see y'all comment on my blog sometime.
Sometimes I'm a little funny, a little crafty, or sometimes go buck wild.
PeaceNBlessins
Kim must have secretly known about some of my Pinterest fails! I mean hello... more than half those photos are styled for magazines, websites, and professional blogs! There is NO WAY any of us measly ordinary people can pull off that stuff! My Potato Chowder soup SO DID NOT turn out like that Pinterest photo! It's great that we all live in this DIY craze right now, but it's refreshing to hear people like Kim admit that some of that crap is just for the birds! Somethings just need to be left to the pros, and by pros I mean the stores that sell them, to which I will go and purchase said stuff from! Be sure to pay Kim a visit and follow along with her fun-loving, Pinterest-crafting, military-wifey, puppy-momma life! She was a joy to share with all of you!!!
If you are interested in Sponsoring/Guest Posting, e-mail me at Lauran.Huffman@gmail.com I am now booking for the month of April!
Howdy Hoooo! So yes I realize I did not post but only two days last week! Forgive me as I did not plan out my blog week, as I should have, and couldn't find the time or motivation to write! Ooops! I'll try to do better this week!
Be prepared for photo overload! We had a pretty productive and full weekend! Well kinda sorta. More like a full Saturday and a productive Sunday! Friday evening, I made the hubby's favorite meal {meatloaf, in case you didn't know or wanted to know}, we relaxed a bit and then headed to bed at a decent hour in preparation for Saturday!
My step-sister-in-law, her hubby, and my nephew and niece live in Northern VA. They actually live a stones throw from George Mason {which I find pretty cool since I went there for two years of my college career}. Anywho, my niece's 4th Birthday party was Saturday and considering we've never been able to make it to one of her birthdays, the hubby and I decided to go! To drive this in a day is possible but spending 6 hours in the car {if not more because you NEVER know how traffic will be} is not my cup of tea, nor the hubby's, and nor my in-laws... so we flew!
I may have also failed to tell y'all that my step-father-in-law {we will call him B} is a pilot. He pilots a personal jet for a doctor who travels constantly, between here, NOVA, NYC, and any other place he wants to go! "B" also has his own personal Comanche plane that used to belong to his father, it holds some serious sentimental value, and it comes in handy when "B" and "A" {my mother-in-law} take day, overnight, or weekend trips. Considering Saturday was a day trip and the plane sits 4, we were in luck!
The Birthday Party was at the Frying Pan Farm Park in Herndon! What a unique place! It's home to the last working farm in Fairfax county AND has a public equestrian facility. There are animals everywhere, from sheep to pigs, to goats, to roosters, to peacocks, to cows and so on and so on! They also have an on site carousal for the kids to ride! My favorite part was the equestrian facility. As many of you know I used to ride horses and I miss it, a lot! Being in the barn and smelling the familiar smells of hay, leather, horses, and yes... poo... all brought back some amazing memories of my younger years! What I would give to get back in the saddle again. Why I ever stopped riding, I will never understand, I guess I just got "too cool" for it and thought boys and cheerleading were more important.
I'm pretty sure my niece had the best birthday ever, not to mention she got some pretty awesome gifts! Annnnnnd the one we gave her seemed to be one of her favorites! It was a Puppy Spa, a little furry stuffed dog {that she named, Maria} that came with brushes and combs, bows and jewels, a necklace and crown and a few other little things! She carried it around with her the majority of the day and I'm quite ticked I didn't get a picture of her with it!
After flying back home Saturday evening we literally spent a few hours cuddling with Baby Reef and then hit the sack! I'm pretty sure I turned out the light before 10:30! I mean we did get up at 6 a.m.... we were beat!
Yesterday, the hubs got up and went surfing while I slept in a few extra hours. Once I woke up though I was ready to roll! One of the most productive Sunday's I have had in some time! I did a TON of laundry, ironed, started AND completed a Pinterest craft, meal planned for this week, went to the grocery store, folded all of the laundry, picked up around the house, decorated a bit more for Fall, watched my Skins lose {Thanks Morgan... you need an attitude adjustment!} and finally worked on the blog! Listing it all out, doesn't seem to be that much, but I was on the move ALL day! SN: The hubby did vacuum for me... I wasn't doing ALL the work!
None the less, here is my photo dump of the weekend! Enjoy!!!!
Our ride for the day!
Private Jets at Dulles! This wasn't even half of them!
Kinda scary!
The Birthday Princess!!!
Frying Pan Farm!
Goats!
Wilbur's Cousins!
Our new little friend!
If only I could have opened that stall!
Nostalgic! A barn used to be my home away from home!
My Pinterest Craft! A Book of all of our Wedding Day Cards!
I'm kind of in love with it!
Love my baby boy!
Hope y'all had fabulous weekends as well!!! Wishing you lots of love for a great week ahead!!!
