Making the Moment Matter

New Years Cake Pops

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:15:00 +0000

Over the holidays this year I also worked to get my skill up on cake pops! First I made a couple of big batches of the cake balls for a cookie exchange party and then for my BF to bring to work to practice.

I decided to go big to celebrate the New Year with my new skills. I have found the key is to take your time getting the balls rolled, then freeze them for at least 15 min (or refrigerate if you are making them overnight). I then dip the stick like instructed in the candy coating then put into the cake pop, then freeze them for 15 minutes again to set the cake pop. I kept having them fall apart before I did this process and this last time making them I had none fall off the stick! Success!

Unfortunately I took all these pictures at night, but you can see the idea. To create the base that I placed them on, I used three foam circles from Michaels and used toothpicks to stick them together rather than glue so that I can take them apart if I want in the future. I wrapped the circles
before I put them together in tissue paper rather than painting as I saw other places online again so I could take it apart and use this for another event. When I put the parts together, I wrapped each level in ribbon to smooth out the edges and make it decorative.

I used for the coating silver sugar sprinkles, gold sugar sprinkles, and white candy balls to cover the cake pops (filling was vanilla frosting and butter pecan cake mix).To create the numbers I just got some frosting in a tube to write on them. Happy 2012!

And finally the New Years pic with B in front of the tree!

Catching Up.... starting with Colorado cross Country Skiing

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:48:00 +0000

Sometimes life gets busy and I miss to catch up on the blog! I am sure like you over the holidays you had friends over and family and spent time with them. Therefore, I am going to post just a bunch of pics that I took over the last month as I traveled and did work on the house!

First up in December, a fantastic friend of mine in Colorado asked me to come up and spend a few days at the YMCA of the Rockies. This fantastic and affordable location is a few miles north of Winter Park Colorado. With your stay, you have access to a vast facilities they have there including the cross country ski park. We stayed with a group of 15 in a cabin you can rent out. I actually got a cold the first day up there so the altitude got to me more than usual (you stay at above 9,000 feet, and coming straight from Arizona the altitude always is a consideration). My friend dayquil got me through the weekend!

Gorgeous View of the park from our cabin

Cabin we stayed in

My fantastic friend Brittany and her BF

Me looking out over the Valley

And me goofing off!

Gym makeover - just in time for the holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:15:00 +0000

If you read my recap post on Thanksgiving you saw I really did not get the chance to overstuff myself from Thanksgiving meals. It is that time of year though - when way too many treats are available and you start to think about your New Years resolution. You know the one - the one you make every year to hit the gym more! I started this early with making over my home gym. Sure it took a year but better late than never! It is a work in progress- I have a thought to add more mirrors to the room.

Here is what I started with. I always had a treadmill but felt crowded in the room. It was a gym/extra guest bed/desk room. Too much all at once!

I had the shelves also not even on the walls - one was on one wall, and the other shelf was on the other. It made it feel even more crowded.

Proof that it always looks worse before it looks better.

And now the result so far! I still have work to do on the walls but so much easier to workout in this room. I moved in my bike and trainer (just in case I get on the triathlon track again) and my rebounder (which I started using when I learned about Tracy Anderson)

It still is a gym/desk area/ soon to be my craft area but looking much better.

I also tried to make the many books we have look a little better by placing a few items between the book and changing the way they are stacked.

Thanksgiving Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:00:00 +0000

I really had the best intentions to take more pics of Thanksgiving...but a root canal the day before threw those plans off track! Note to everyone - don't delay going to the dentist too long! What I thought would be a filling and crown turned into a 4 hour ordeal at the dentist with a tooth that did not want to cooperate with a root canal. I still pulled through on Thanksgiving with making the meal thanks to B's help (THANK YOU!!). Its one way to eat less on Thanksgiving!

Now down to the meal... I bailed on making cake pops (like I said the day before was pre-occupied) and also bailed on the homemade pie crust. We still made all the other fix in's that I planned thanks to all those Williams Sonoma tools I tried! Two turkeys, the stuffing, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.....The best was the potato ricer - it was just fun to put the potato through that instead of mashing. Kinda that when you played with play doh as a kid (ahem) and made the play doh hair (was I the only person who liked doing that???) After the day was over I realized that I did not have any pics of food - I guess if you are having issues eating it my mind did not go to taking pics of it, so here are other pics of the day.

As for the table, I just put on the items I had from last year- when in doubt pull together what you already have!

The real fun on Thanksgiving was the football. If a bunch of people are playing, the pics just mostly ended up of my cute niece.

She's got mad skills... much better than watching football on TV

Are kids just playing and laughing the cutest??

Her daddy my brother teaching her how its done.

Dad

Brian Tossing the ball around

And for one last close up of cuteness

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!

Apple Pie with Williams Sonoma Piecrust Cutters

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:15:00 +0000

I have never made a pie - sure I had some of those pre made pies I heated up but never made a pie from scratch. Since I have never done this I thought to get a head start on Thanksgiving by making one over the weekend as a trial run for the big Turkey day. I admit I did cheat the filling with an apple mix from Trader Joe's, but the crust was my first ever by hand!

I used the Williams Sonoma recipe for Basic Pie Dough - check out the site for the details, but here are the ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
8 Tbs. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
3 Tbs. very cold water

If I can make a pie turn out like this the first time - you can too! The Williams Sonoma Piecrust cutters are the key to this!

First I started with the ingredients in the recipe and used my new kitchen toys from Williams Sonoma - an Emile Henry Pie Dish and the Piecutters.

These piecrust cutters make all the difference. I was not perfect with the edges on the pie crust, but adding these made the edges looking uniform and decorative! Just a tip - someone at Williams Sonoma said these designs change from year to year so if you like them, get them now!

I then just used the pie cutters to cut the designs out and placed them around the edges.

TA DA! Here are the leaves and acorns around the edges.

After putting in the filling, I then placed a few turkeys and pumpkins in the middle.

If you are a newbie like I was, I read online that placing foil around the edges helps with browning so that the edges do not burn. I took them after 10 minutes before the pie was done cooking. I cooked this for 1 hour at 350, but I have a convection oven so yours may be more or less.

And it is done!

Thanksgiving Dinner Menu and Place card ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:15:00 +0000

Once again I am having my family over for Thanksgiving. It really ends up being 10 people so it is not a big group but this will be only my second Thanksgiving doing this. Last year I wimped out - I ordered half the meal including the turkey from AJ's Fine Foods (although I did attempt to make a second turkey on my own). This year, I am not having any of that! Now I need to do it on my own. Turkeys have already been bought and are just waiting for Thanksgiving! I may not be ordering in food but I did get a little help from my friends at Williams Sonoma! I love that they have meal plans already set to make, it helps newbies like me!

So here is my Thanksgiving menu so far:

Potato Ricer - When I first saw this I thought ricer had more to do with rice than Potatoes. Although there is another brand at Williams Sonoma, this one is larger and was recommended by one of the associates here. It is supposed to make the best mashed potatoes!

Brine Solution - Last year the turkey I did make came out dry. Part of that is due to my oven since it is a convection oven. Most items I make need less time than on the recipe due to this. This year we are going to brine the turkeys to see if that can help as well.

Pumpkin Pie -Lastly, my goal this year is to attempt to make a pie. We will likely create a back up pie from the store, but I am giving this one a try. I got the pie cutters to make it decorative, the pie mix, and the emile henry pie dish.

I am still thinking about making these cake pops from Bakerella as well if I can fit in the time!

I am still determining my place card holders, but here are a few ideas from Pinterest.

Source: bhg.com via Debbie on Pinterest

Source: centsationalgirl.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: centsationalgirl.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Source: blogs.babble.com via Aimee on Pinterest

Pottery Barn Classes-10% off and new dining decor

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:37:00 +0000

Have you ever taken one of the Pottery Barn free decorating classes? Did you know when you go you get a 10% coupon? I just went to one Sunday on holiday decorating and another a few weeks ago on Entertaining. There is likely one in your area so check it out! Next one for me is on Nov 27th. People either love or hate PB decor, I am one of this that like it but also like to adjust it to stay away from too much matching so mix in other elements. I really love their dining decor so that is what I concentrated on this time, although my dining room table is not from PB (it is from The Dump if you happen to have one in your area, and I am not talking about the trash heap!). I am once again hosting Thanksgiving for my family and was looking to get some ideas on how to set the table.

First, I feel in love with these chargers - they are the Tava collection at PB. I tried in vain to find something less expensive but have found that there is still nothing like PB. Some I found were larger or not the same quality so I just gave in and got the PB ones with my 10% off! Another PB tip - I also got the PB credit card, it can only be used there but you get $25 in store credit back after each $250 spent - so another 10% off in my head anyway (although I will just got back and spend it there).

The plates and bowls are also from PB from the caterer collection - I highly recommend as they are perfect for entertaining.

You will also notice that I added a couple of new table items for Thanksgiving also from the PB collection. Their fall items are on sale now for their candle pumpkins. I just added a nice touch to the bowls with the mini candles and a couple of the larger ones to the table.

Dr OZ Green drink- my new afternoon pick me up

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:15:00 +0000

Healthy Monday! I recently got a juicer from Breville featured in the documentary "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" if you have not see it, check it out for inspiration on getting healthy! It follows the story of a couple of men getting healthy from juicing (that would be veggies and fruit, not the other kind).

I do not want to live on juice but I have been trying to get more fruit/veggies in my diet by drinking rather than eating. Instead of that afternoon diet coke I have actually been trying to bring green drinks to work. I have tried juicing mixes - mostly carrots, apples and greens. Then I came across the Dr OZ green drink looking to try something different.

Dr OZ green drink

Ingredients
2 cups spinach
2 cups cucumber
1 head of celery
1/2 inch or teaspoon ginger root
1 bunch parsley
2 apples
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of 1/2 lemon

You may see this and think it is not for you - but give it a try! I find that I like to leave out the parsley and celery, and then sometimes add another apple for sweetness. I get the Spinach at Costco in a big bin with the apples and then just use lemon and lime from a jar. I use my vitamix to make this one - have I mentioned how much I love my vitamix?? It is the workhorse of my kitchen, my most used appliance, the microwave is even getting lonely.

Dr OZ helping out one of my idols Oprah. Go green juice!

Grand Cayman Scuba Diving

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:22:00 +0000

This is actually from awhile ago but I realized I never placed it on the blog! Part of my life to make moments matter is scuba diving. There is still nothing like the peace and calm that happens when under the water.

B and I had been to Grand Cayman before and it is still one of my favorite places. When we thought to have a trip this great island came to mind. Grand Cayman has the perfect mix of great diving and fun on land - 7 mile beach always comes up as one of the best beaches in the world!

But now to diving!

First the critters of the sea.

Lobster. Too bad I see so many of them and then the first thing I want when I get back on dry land is to eat it! I never eat lobster at home but when on a scuba trip is to eat only

Lion Fish - luckily did not see to many of them as they are not native and have been eating the native fish.

Beautiful Coral

And now for fun with scuba poses - feeling weightless allows for fun poses!

I'm walking like an egyptian!

Learning how to ride a bike again!

This is the latest purposely sunk boat in Grand Cayman - trying our hand at steering it!

And the world famous swimming with the sting rays. You have the opportunity to feed them octupus but a couple of year ago I tried that and instead one of them decided to suck on my leg - yes I said suck. They inhale food like vacuum. Instead this time I just kept putting it in the sand for them to eat.

B Staring down the ray...I think the ray is winning.

Psycho the resident sting ray came out - you have to hide your hands as they can smell the food on your hands.

Thanks to my frequent travel we were able to get the flights taken care of and due to hurricane season get a great deal on the room again at Sunset House - if you are a scuba diver this is a great place, if not stay somewhere else on the island! The benefit of staying at Sunset House is unlimited shore diving. Right off the dock there is a mermaid statue.

Strike a Pose

Cannot wait for my next scuba trip!

Getting Organized at Home - free cleaning list!

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:58:00 +0000

Life just seems to be getting busier! Between work commitments (which is most of the time, what can I say love the job!), volunteer, fun with the BF, and other things I seem to lose track of time and getting things done. Life has started to go back into forgetting to clean the place and eating out way too much. So, I gained some inspiration from Honey We're Home and worked on creating a home organization book. I aimed to not spend much money, so the only out of pocket cost for me was a hole puncher which I seemed to not own anymore since the trapper keeper is no longer in style. Other items I just had on hand included a binder and file folders.

I created a quick intro page just with a pic of the house:

So my categories are right now:

Meals
Chores
Finance
Projects
Health

I actually use a Franklin Covey planner for my day to day activities, so unlike the one on Honey We're Home I do not have a daily list to do in this binder.

For Meals, I use Emealz to help get ideas. Since I am limited since I do not eat dairy, I pick and choose from this. When I am being really organized I cut and paste the meals I like from there, then I have a master list in excel of all the meals. To make the week I cut and paste into a document. In this case I just printed the mealz document for the week.

For Chores, I found a template on microsoft site and just changed it for the areas I want.

Here is the document I created for chores - feel free to customize it yourself!
Month Cleaning List

I am currently attempting to use the Dave Ramsey method for budgeting, so those documents are on the next tab. I have a big goal to pay off the house as soon as possible!

Finally, I made a list of projects for the house - wow it is big! Hopefully this will help me stay on track! I need to spend some time over the holidays building stuff

Home Projects

Bathrooms

Recover stools for bathroom

Bedroom

Slipcover for thrift store chair

Slipcover for side chairs

Build desk for spare bedroom

DIY curtains for big room

Build shelves

Build headboard for extra king bed

Laundry room

Beadboard for back wall

DIY curtains

Hanging rank (from Centsational Girl)

Living room

Build another console table for living room

Build TV console for living room

Dining room

Rug for formal dining

Build buffet apothecary from ana white

Tracy Anderson - new workout

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 01:44:00 +0000

I have come to realize that the best exercise is the exercise that you do - no matter what you do. As long as you move several hour a week if you run, bike, swim, lift, classes, hike etc..... it all counts. I think the key for me is variety. I have done a half marathon, marathon, and triathlon. While I have not given up on these, I did come across a new workout that I am really liking for variety from Tracy Anderson. Tracy's claim to fame is training some of the Hollywood elite including Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna.

I started with just playing around with some of her You Tube videos, so check those out just to see what they are like! What I love about this workout is that I can do it on the road when I travel for work. It used more body weight and specific movements to get the toning and cardio in. What I really like about it is that afterward I really do feel smaller - currently I just started her metamorphosis workouts after doing her 30 day workout plan from her book. I do not follow the diet, but since I already eat pretty healthy I just wanted to find out if her toning really works - and so far it is!

Here is a link to some of her best videos

I love her motto too -

Here is the video that started it for me - the arm workout that she made for Gwyneth. A warning to you - it make look easy at first but as you keep going be prepared to feel the burn!

A workout from her would not be complete without legs, what she is really known for!

Superstition Adventure - Tony Ranch

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:40:00 +0000

My brother is awesome - if you knew us when we were younger you would never know we would hang out this much. So for those that have siblings that just do not get along, there is hope later! Maybe it is being so close in age or being in the same house, all I can say now it how great it is I have a built in buddy to go on any adventure with.

In this case, we may have had too much adventure for the day. Neil had been really wanting to go check out Tony Cabin in the Superstition mountains. Mind you it was Halloween weekend, and we were taking a road called Haunted Canyon. That should have been a sign, but not to us! We had been down in this area a few weeks before but not to the trailhead.

It started out gorgeous, meandering through the superstitions it started going up over a ridge then down in a creek bed we saw beautiful leaves changing - it was actually fall in Arizona! The trail crossed over the creek bed several times. We did no intend to be out long that day, but we saw several hikers on the way there, all saying just a little farther. What they forgot to say is that just a little turned out to be an hour and a half longer! We did finally make it there to the cabin and it was worth it. It is an old cabin for a homestead that used to be there. Hikers and backpackers still leave supplies inside for others that may come by.

So happy we finally made it!

All told we think we did over 12 miles that day, next time I'll bring my gps.

By this time it was past 2 pm, and knowing that the sun goes down at 6 pm we had to get out of there! It was an adventure getting back finding the trail over the creek - we did have one spot where it was a challenge to find the trail back up the canyon eventually we made it - the last pic says it all, we were so tired after this hike but very worth it!

And speaking of Halloween, yes I saw bats on the way out as it was dusk.

Flagstaff hiking

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000

These are actually from earlier this summer, but since I was behind on blogging figured why not put it up? I had this idea to hike through all of the hikes in an arizona magazine that came out. This weekend we went I intended to to do hikes up in Flagstaff AZ, but the monsoon changed that and it was muddy! We ended up hiking on trails that were more like roads, but it worked for me!

Lake Mary Wildflowers

Fall decorations - and new Trivoli PB console!

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:00:00 +0000

I started to get out my halloween decorations but just was not feeling it - the spiders, webs, blah blah blah. All black stuff - Loved it last year but wanted more of a fall theme this year. Maybe I will get it out the weekend of Halloween to put outside, but until then I wanted to pretend it was fall in AZ even if the leaves stay outside the same color. I could make it fall on the inside of the house.

Joann's provided the decor here - all the fall looking items and the fall fruit. A few things I had from last year. Also....you will notice something new - I got the Trivoli console table from Pottery Barn! It just came out in the chestnut color. I had been having such a hard time finding a table for this wall (the trivoli table is 84.5 inches long if you can believe it, still does not fill the wall in my place)

Here is the pottery barn's take on it -

And here is how it turned out on my wall -

The pottery barn drink dispenser stand being put to use!

Take a close look at this runner....I did not feel like sewing today so it is just fabric from Joann's folded up to look like it was a sewn runner!

The table behind the dining table got the fall treatment as well - I saw some pics on Pinterest that had these pottery barn lanterns with pumpkins in them - brilliant!

Williams Sonoma Pumpkin Loaf

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 23:21:00 +0000

I love pumpkin bread. Something about it just signals the beginning of fall. It is my weakness, my kyptonite. In fact as I write this I just made a loaf yesterday and between B and I it is already gone. What can I say, it is yummy! I also have a weakness for Williams Sonoma and when the two go together it is magic. Hence this beauty below - sure it is pricey, but I figured that it would be used for years to come and can be used all through fall.

Maybe closer to Halloween I will try to make a pumpkin bread on my own from scratch, but today it was quick and easy just to purchase Williams Sonoma pumpkin bread. Yummy..... I also highly recommend the pumpkin butter there.

Fall cleaning

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 23:08:00 +0000

Instead of spring cleaning it takes me until fall to get into cleaning mode! After doing a 7 mile run yesterday (still training for a half-marathon) all I wanted to do was be home. So cleaning it was! My junk room is looking more like an organized junk room and my garage even got a few areas cleaner.

I still need to label them, but at least all of my building supplies are organized. Thank you dollar store! I got 9 buckets - so this was under $10! Now that its becoming fall (well still pushing 100 here in AZ but the weatherman swears it is going to cool down this week) I am really looking forward to building in my garage items from Ana White's website.

Before

After

Kayaking Blue Ridge Reservoir

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 03:56:00 +0000

Its official....I now want to add kayaks to my collection of outdoors gear! Several weeks ago I went up to the Blue Ridge Reservoir up above Strawberry AZ and found this great place where so many people were kayaking. There are miles of winding canyons where people camp, fish, and just kayak around. Since it will cool off hopefully soon (at least up North of the city) I needed to get this adventure in a weekend soon. Although I came in late the night before from work traveling I still got up with my brother to go rent these kayaks. It was up in the 60's u(considering it was almost 100 in town that is a big difference!), very worth it!

Note to self.....remember sunscreen everywhere - my legs took a beating! Also going to place the kayaks on top of my car, I just had them out the back tied down. The inside of my car was covered in a nice layer of dust after going down the dirt road to get there.

Sewing Sunday - fold up bag

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 03:52:00 +0000

I was home for the weekend and wanting to recover from all my travel. I started to get a couple of my home items completed and done!

First off, I had never sewn with a pattern so last night when I was out at Joann's picking up some supplies for other projects I decided to grab one that looked simple enough. A yard of fabric, some double fold bias tape, and velco, how hard can it be? I did sign up for some sewing classes at Joann's as it was half off class day, but since they were a few weeks out thought why not try now!

I googled a you tube video how to transfer patterns, using pins and the floor seemed to work with the supplies I had.

But....then I came out with this - epic fail! I had the folded fabric the wrong way. Just keeping it real on this blog. Bummer I liked that fabric!

I had some other fabric on hand from when I recovered the thrift store chair, so I went with that as a back up and tried again. Note the fabric is opposite in this one so it actually works!

Great success! I cut out all the pieces and went to work making the pocket. Just in case any of you try to make this one, it took awhile for me to figure out that pattern so here is how it looked from both sides.

After a couple hours of cutting, then recutting, trying to keep the cat off of the pattern (why does paper always attract cats??), becoming familiar with my sewing machine again, ta-da! It actually worked!

Here is what the pocket and velcro is for, it folds up nicely to fit anywhere!

Portland

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 22:01:00 +0000

Now that I am catching up on my pics......and now blog...here are a few of what I have been up to. My sis lives in Portland, and as it is 100+ in AZ that sounded like a better idea for a few days to escape the heat and get some hikes in. My partner in crime was my brother Neil, who is always up for any adventure.

We went to the usual places that most would - but just maybe hiked a little more. I love that when you are young, your siblings drive you crazy and then you get older and you really want to spend time with them.

I am no longer a PC....

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:48:00 +0000

Well technically I am a PC and a MAC as I still need to use PC's at work. I got a Macbook Pro laptop about a month ago to start using. I went through several stages. 1. excitement 2. getting really annoyed by the design....3. started to like the thing when my PC got a virus 4. ok, fun to surf the web 5. annoyed again that I did not know how to organize my files and use iPhoto 6. sold, but I need to figure out out to use this thing

Love the mac feel but there were so many things I did not know how to do things like say.......post pictures to my blog. oops....hence the delay in anything from my recent adventures this past month. This morning due to a "staycation" day I spent a couple of hours at the mac store and tadah! Posting again! I will say they are fabulous at helping to figure things out, but they did not have late hours for classes so I waited to today to take the class. If you get one and transferring from PC to Mac - take the classes, do not delay!

I am still figuring out this thing out but really sold on it! Now to understand all it can do....... off to take more classes.... ;)

Now that I have at least figured out how to post to my blog again I will be catching up photos and projects in the next couple of weeks!

Outdoor decor

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:38:00 +0000

I love my backyard....really love it. I love the view, I love how much room there is, and I love the trees.

I thought to share a few pics of what the backyard currently looks like. The pool cover just got fixed - It had been broken all year and just happened to get fixed the day after the haboob that happened in Phoenix. DOH. So after a week of cleaning the pool it now it swimmable again (love the trees, but it really does make a mess!). The cover has really helped stop the future dust storms from making a real mess of it! Though, when the cover is left on it makes the pool really warm so it has to be timed right to leave it on when storms come.

For those that did not see the haboob (really just a BIG dust storm) here is a peek.

Pillows from Target!

The pool is 40 feet by 16 feet - big enough to do laps in!

Updated Dining rooms!

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 03:26:00 +0000

There is something about a set dining room table that makes me happy. Not that I have been cooking much....but it makes it look like I could cook and sit down to a nice dinner. It makes it look like a model home, and I like to keep that look while I can. I know with kids something that will all be thrown out the window. So until then I get to keep them pretty.

I got the catering white collection from Pottery Barn awhile ago. It is perfect for parties or just for making the table look like this! This is the formal dining room - which after a year and a half has only been used for two events - my tea party and Thanksgiving dinner.

And then there is the Breakfast nook - which is the table I always use. It has been updated with placemats from Pottery Barn and decor napkins from Target!

I started sewing!!

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:54:00 +0000

I have been wanting to sew....really....but somehow something just keeps getting in the way. Actually it is that I had no idea what I was doing and tended to get frustrated after the first hour to figure out how the whole process works! My friend Kelly had her husband out of town and decided to have a girls crafty day which was the perfect opportunity for me to finally figure out how to use the sewing machine I got back in January.

Its not like I was trying to make something complicated - just pillow covers - but since I never took home ec the biggest learning process was just trying to figure out how to thread the machine and get it started! I also broke the needle so had to learn how to re-do that too! I did not take any pictures, but lets just say that I got there at 1 pm and between talking, snacking and sewing finally for two done by 6 pm.

I had a couple of pillows from my old decor color (red) that I discovered had zippers to take off the old covers. I then just created knife edge pillow covers (like these ones on Martha Stewart) but I actually used a pattern in the singer sewing book I had. The fabric is from Hobby Lobby. :)

40 under 40

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:40:00 +0000

I have a fabulous job that keeps me busy most of the time between my travels, adventure, volunteering and working on the house! I somehow was lucky enough recently to get an award based on my professional life and what I do in the community. The Business Journal in my area like many cities has a nomination process to determine the "40 under 40". Here are a few pics from that event!

Me and another friend that was honored, Nicole!

Updated Family and Living room Pics

noreply@blogger.com (Shelly {makingthemomentmatter}) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 02:24:00 +0000

About time I placed up some updated home pics! I just realized I had pictures on my side bar that had xmas items in them - oops. Since I had a weekday off for a staycation I decided to take a few update pics of the house. I have been working alot the last month with a new position, so not working incredibly much on the home but I do have a few new editions!

The big change is a new sofa! I watch craigslist regularly and happened upon this beauty a couple of weeks ago. The couple got married and ordered a new sofa. However, so did the inlaws for the wedding and neither sofa's were returnable so up went one of the brand new sofas on craigslist! Here is the sofa, it is the JcPenney Linden street sectional- got it, extra slipcovers, and the ottoman as well all for half price! It still needs some new pillows....made some new ones this weekend so that post to come!

Did you notice the new garden seat as well? Just got it from Ballard Designs!

Since a new sofa went in the family room, so the furniture that was there went into the formal living room. This room needs some more color, but at least it now looks less empty!

Another new piece from Ballard Designs!

How the entry way currently looks.