The  styles are classic and fit great.  They have just the right “give” and just the right snugness in all the right places.
I’m actually a little excited to go to the pool.

Albion Fit also has a fantastic line of workout clothing.
My plan was to just get a new swimming suit but I couldn’t leave without that light blue hoodie which is so unbelievably soft.
My boys think the little holes in the cuffs where you can loop your thumb through is the coolest thing ever. I actually caught my 5 year old attempting to cut thumb holes in his sweatshirt cuffs the other day. Rrgghhh.

Some exciting news! You can win a $100. gift card to Albionfit.com (or their store in the City Creek Mall, SLC, UT).
To enter you need to like Albion Fit on Facebook and pin your favorite image from their site on to on of your Pinterest boards.
Just fill out the form below and you’ll be swimming (or working out) in style this summer!

If you’ve found that perfect piece that you just have to have you can get $15.00 off any purchase of $50.00 or more by using promo code: 4men1lady15.
Code is good until 5/24/13.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*I was given store credit to try out merchandise of my choosing for review.*

It was fairytale wedding full of glam and surprise around every corner. Very Leilani-esque.  I fell in love with Virginia.  We stayed in the quaint town of Fredericksburg.  I called my Mr. and told him to pack his bags because I had made an executive decision that we were moving there.  Then we all ascended upon the town of Tappahannock, VA for the reception.  Lani’s beau has a  100 year old home full of charm right on the river.  I then called the Mr. again and told him we were moving in with them (I’ll tell my cuz when they return from they’re honeymoon).

My men went South for a boys camping trip to Cathedral Gorge and had the time of their lives.  They came back very stinky with red sand coating their clothes and sleeping bags.  From the pics they did boy things that mom would have had forbade had I been there.  I guess boys need that every now and again.

We all missed each other terribly and were glad to be reunited.

What I love about it is that it uses steam to cook your food instead a pot of boiling water.  Cooking your food in a pot full of boiling water boils all the vitamins and minerals out of them.  Plus veggies turn out limp and tasteless.  I use a steamer for cooking all my veggies such as corn, broccoli, asparagus, and green beans, just to name a few.

In the morning I also use my steamer to make the perfect size bowl of steal cut oatmeal and hard boiled (I mean steamed) eggs for breakfast.  It takes me 1 minute to throw it all in, I set the timer for 30 minutes then go about getting the boys ready.  Plus I don’t have to stand there and constantly stir a pot of oatmeal, not to mention the sticky cleaning of the pot afterwards.

My boys won’t touch oatmeal but they love hard boiled (steamed) eggs (hold the yolks).
I’ve started making a whole carton of eggs at a time and putting them in the fridge.  I have to limit them otherwise they could easily go through a dozen between the three of them in one sitting.  Steaming them is so much easier then babysitting a pot of boiling water and trying to guess when they’re done.  I can stick them in the steamer, set the timer for 30 minutes and walk away.

The other meal that I love to steam is fish.  It comes out perfectly moist and flaky.  I buy frozen filets of Halibut, Mahi-Mahi, Salmon and Tilapia, take them right out of the freezer and put them in the steamer.  Then I shake a little seasoning on the frozen filet or even put lemon slices on it, steam it and in 30 minutes it’s de-lish.  Sometimes I’ll even put some corn or veggies in with it to make a complete and healthy meal.

Do you have a steamer? What do you use it for?

What is your all time favorite kitchen appliance?

Complaining?
Just a tad.
Okay, a lot about the Vertigo.
But honestly, it could have been worse. Like Hurricane Catrina worse.
Nah, this was peanuts comparatively speaking.
When something you depend on goes out like your health or the lights it makes you that much more motivated to take care and get prepared.
I have a new desire to really take care of my health because being stuck in bed just bites.
And having the lights go out made me realized how unprepared I am for a disaster.  Couldn’t find one working flashlight.  Had no clue where any matches were for candles.  Thank goodness toilets don’t run on electricity.

I’m surprised how dependant we are on electricity.  No lights, no power and no internet.  One day has really thrown off my entire week so bear with me as we get our act back together and I’ll be back with some more posts.  Off to collect all my groceries around the neighborhood from those who had generators.

Peace!

What I loved most about their site was reading the reviews from actual customers.    It’s so hard to know if a service is good and read some really positive (and not so positive) reviews which really helped me narrow down who to hire.

To have my window’s cleaned I went with Fish Window Cleaning.

Keep in mind I’m reviewing the HomeAdvisor website experience and not the actual services I received but I just have to throw in that I can’t say enough good things about Fish.  They came out and gave me a formal written bid, the person who cleaned my windows was very professional (and not some sketchy person off the street like you sometimes get), they did a phenomenal job, and they gave me a guarantee that they’d come back and clean anything that they may have missed.  (I was tempted to call them after my son smeared his sticky yogurt hands all down my sliding glass door, but, no).  It took the woman about  1 1/2 hours to do all the windows, inside and out as well as the window tracks.  Now let’s be honest, I can clean a window and do a fairly decent job but 1 1/2 hours of uninterrupted time is what I don’t have.  For under $100. she cleaned everything and even crawled in to the basement window wells under a bay window that has about 18 inches of clearance.  You couldn’t pay me to do that.  I will be having them out twice a year in the spring and fall for sure!

The other service I hired was a maid service to deep clean my entire home.  I went with Damestiques and they did a fine job.  I really wanted them to focus on the nitty gritty things such as my oven, stove, baseboards, tubs and showers, light fixtures.  Things you don’t get to on a daily basis.  A crew of three woman came and worked away.  After they left I noticed that they had missed a number of things that I had discussed on the phone with the owner.  She was delightful and sent them right back out the next day to rectify the situation.  If I were going to do it again I would for sure make a checklist of things I needed done and have them check it off…and that goes for any service person you hire to do a job.

All in all I was really pleased with the services I received.  HomeAdvisor is great because they stay in touch with you along the way to see how your project is coming and offer any assistance if you are running in to trouble.  I like that.

Now that I’ve convinced you that you’re ready to get started click the button below.

Some other exciting news! Want a chance to win 3 months of free maid service?

All you have to do is use HomeAdvisor’s Cost Guide tool to find out the average cost of a maid service in your city. Submit that cost on our entry form found on HomeAdvisor’s Facebook page May 6^th-16^th to be eligible to win 3 months of free maid service.

SA-WEET…and Happy Mother’s Day!

Kimberly is fairly new to blogging but has already created some seriously lovely projects.
She’ll be bringing us some fresh new projects for the next few months that we’ll all go goo-goo over!
Let’s show her lots of love!
The first project she recently embarked on was her son’s 1st birthday party which was inspired from the classic book, Where the Wild Things Are.

Photos by Betsy: Snap Lovely Photography.

You can see more of the party and Kimberly’s other projects on her blog, The Days of Dawn…make sure and add her to your blog readers!

I just received the lovely Nutmeg Tote (shown in the bottom corner) which I’m in love with!
They’ve got great gifts for her that can still make it in time if you hurry and order now.
Plus you can take 15% off your order with promo code GIVE15RED.

All photos taken from RedEnvelope.
I was given a Tote but not required to post about it. All thoughts and opinions are 100% mine.

While I was on my roller coaster from He%* my sweet husband did a little landscaping project.

 This long patch of dirt is always a constant mud puddle because the spicket is right there.

 He first put down some weed barrier, then cut a hole out for the plant.

 After the row of “Sweet Flag Variegatus” grass were planted he filled everything in with rocks.

 This flagstone stepping stone is another upcycle from our 1970′s fireplace project.

Looks great honey.

I was recently introduced to a new website called HomeAdvisor. 

What’s neat-eriffic about it is that it’s a one-stop-shop to finding home improvement pros.  Anything from house cleaners to handymen.  The other thing I love is that it has reviews from actual home owners who have used them and given honest reviews (wish I would have known about them when I was renovating my house).

Along with being introduced to the site I was given the opportunity of picking a couple of services to try through the site (lucky me)!  Did you know the top 10 spring cleaning projects are:

1. Give your home a good spring cleaning.
2. Clear gutters & downspouts.
3. Duct & vent cleaning.
4. Get your carpets cleaned.
5. Yard and lawn clean up.
6. Wash all the windows (inside & out).
7. Disinfect grout & tile.
8. Air conditioner service and tune up.
9. Weather proof your home.
10. Power wash the winter away.

 From this list I decided to find a service professional to have my home cleaned and have all the windows cleaned.

Um, yeah.

The other awesome feature it the site offers is a cost guide that will help you estimate how much your home project is going to cost you.  That would have also been helpful during our planning stage of renovation.  Maybe we wouldn’t have gone over our original budget by more than half…frown.

The website is really quite easy to navigate. You simply click on the type of service you need…

Enter in a bit of information, then a professional in that field will call you or you can call them to set up an appointment or estimate.  I interviewed 3 house cleaning professionals right over the phone and checked their references.  Then I had two window cleaning professionals come and give me bids.  I’ll give you a full report on how my experience went next week.  Until then,click on the button below to try out HomeAdvisor.

I was compensated in the form of reimbursement for services rendered.  This did not influence my opinions or thoughts about HomeAdvisor or service in any way.

The yearly field trip was this past week.  All kids are required to bring a lunch in a paper bag that could be thrown away.
I took this one opportunity to put all my saved up lunch making TLC in this one meal and presentation.

Came complete with a little love from mamma.

I was afraid he’d turn up his nose but on the contrary…

it was “coo”.

What a mother does for one child, she must do for all.

Picnic anyone?