Everyday Simple

How to Cut a Melon

2013-05-30T17:32:00.000-07:00

There are a few different ways to cut melons. Your typical, standard, large slices method is probably my favorite. A delicious sliced piece of juicy canteloupe (lightly salted) takes me right back to my childhood summer days, eating out on the back porch with my ten other dark-haired, lightly tanned, freckle-faced cousins. Juice dripping off our chins, swinging our bare feet over the edge and skimming our toes in the grass. Today, though, I'm talking about the way you "chop" a canteloupe or honeydew to allow for some easy storage and quick snacking in the fridge. We've already talked about how you find the perfect melon here, so now let's get on to the slicing and dicing.

First, take your chosen melon and slice off the very ends.

Then, taking a sharp knife, start slicing off the edges. Be sure to get as close to the edge as possible! You don't want to slice away any juicy, sweet goodness by cutting in too thick.

Once all the edges have been taken off, slice your melon in half.

Scoop out all of the insides with a spoon, like you would a pumpkin.

Then, slice the melon into long, even pieces, down the whole side.

Go back and slice the melon again, this time against the slices you've already made.

And voila! Perfectly delicious, amazingly sweet canteloupe pieces just ready and begging to be plucked out of the fridge for some easy snacking. Enjoy your summer goodness!

Picking the Perfect Melon

2013-05-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

Grocery stores have started rolling in the summer fruits, my friends. The cherries, the watermelon, the mangoes... oh the deliciousness of them all. I especially get excited for the melons - there's nothing I love more than a good cantaloupe or honeydew.

I'll admit, though, that I've never really had a rhyme or reason to picking out a good melon. I'd just grab the closest one I could reach. Grab it and take it home and cross my fingers that it would be a good one. Most of the time, I'd luck out and get a pretty darn delicious one. But every now and then I'd always manage to pick up a dud - one that tasted like nothing but water. Absolutely zero flavor to it. After coming across a particularly not-so-good cantaloupe the other day (so disappointing), I finally decided to educate myself on what a good melon should look/feel/smell like.

I'm just going into cantaloupes and honeydew melons today. Maybe we'll talk watermelons later. Although I feel like those are easier to pick out.

CANTALOUPE

First, look for color. You want a cantaloupe that is golden all the way around. If it's green, it's not ripe. Put it back, or take it home and let it ripen on the counter to a golden yellow before you cut it open.

Check the stem end. It should be an "innie," not an "outie."

Gently press the stem end. If it slightly gives way with little pressure, it's ready. If you can't push it in at all, it's under ripe. If it gives way too fast and too deep, it's over ripe.

Smell it. The best way to really tell how ripe a cantaloupe is by smelling it. It will smell like a cantaloupe. Smell the "flowering" end (the end opposite the stem end). If there's no smell, there probably won't be a good flavor to it. If it smells sour, put it back. A cantaloupe should give off that musky cantaloupe scent (fun tip: they're actually commonly referred to as "musk melons").

HONEYDEW

Again, look for color. You want a very creamy, beige/yellow color. Don't get one that still looks green.

Feel the skin. You want to find one that has a waxy feel to it.

Just like the cantaloupe, gently press one end. You want a slight give with little pressure.

Smell it! If it smells delicious like a honeydew, chances are it's going to be delicious. If there is no smell, or if it smells too ripe, put it back.

When you're choosing the perfect melon, don't forget - if it's bruised or mushy in some parts, put it back. Make sure to choose one one that feels heavy for its size. You'll up your odds of bringing home a delicious, sweet, perfect melon every time.

I'm happy to say that these tips have worked for me! After our dud of a cantaloupe, we went back to the store and used these tips to pick out another one, and this time it was spot on. Delicious, sweet, delightful cantaloupe goodness.

Road Trips | Escaping the Boredom

2013-05-28T16:59:00.002-07:00

source via Kate Spade's 2010 spring ad campaign

Over the past 6 years, Danny and I have done a lot of road tripping together. We've taken the shorter 5-hour drive stints to LA, Las Vegas, and Zion's National Park; we've crossed Nevada and it's never ending desert a hundred times for the 12-hour trek to Danny's hometown in California; we've driven up and down the lower half of the eastern coast; and we've even made the 30+ hour trek all the way from Georgia to Utah a few days after we were married (second time I've made that trip myself).

With summer approaching, I'm getting that itch for a nice road trip. A chance to hop in the car and just drive. Leave the city and the jobs and the worries behind for a few days. See a few new sights, drive through a few new towns, and experience life somewhere else in the country. The excitement of leaving to go somewhere, anywhere, is always enough to keep me going that first hour or so. Then, depending on how long it's going to take to get to that somewhere-anywhere place, the boredom starts setting in. That "how on earth am I going to just sit in one place and stare out a window for the next 10+ hours and not go crazy" feeling. Oh, I always bring a book. And a journal. And there's music. Sometimes a video on my iPod. But come on - we've all dealt with that ridiculous boredom that bears down on us after so many hours of sitting in the same spot and seeing the exact same thing out your window for miles and miles on end (I'm looking at you, Nevada).

image via

So what do you do when the boredom gets too much? How do you stave-off the road trip boredom? Here are my top 3 favorite ways to enjoying the car trip as much as the end destination:

Audio Books

We discovered our love for audio books the day I took my last final for college. Tired, hungry, and exhausted from a week's worth of exams, we made a quick stop at a Cracker Barrel that bordered the interstate we'd be on for the next 11 hours. As we were perusing their little store that leads into the restaurant, we found a stack of rental audio books. Meaning, we could rent them for as long as we'd be on the road, then return them as soon as we got back into town. We found the first few Percy Jackson books and decided, hey - why not? Let me tell you, those books saved our lives that trip. We just sat there, listened, laughed at a few voice-acting moments (ok, a lot of them), and had a great time. Those books kept us awake and alert until 4am when we finally pulled into the hotel our family was staying at. Ever since then, we've rarely taken a road trip without an audio book at our side. I don't know what they do to us, but the time passes like magic. The next road trip we take we'll be starting up book 5 of the Harry Potter series. I'd forgotten how much we love us some good ol' J.K.

Taking Pit Stops

As long as we're not in a hurry, I love dragging out a road trip and taking pit stops. Finding that town's hidden little Ma and Pa restaurant on the side of the road that only locals frequent; discovering a hiking trail that leads up to one pretty incredible view; walking down a new city's Main St; exploring a town's version of a River Walk. Pit stops where you step outside your car and get a tiny glimpse of what it'd be like to live in that part of the country... in that little town, down that little neighborhood, on that side of the street. One thing I've learned, from living on the East Coast, moving to the West Coast, and traveling almost everywhere in between, is that everyone loves where they live. Everyone's proud of where they come from. Pit stops are a chance to see what's to love about that place you've stopped in. A chance to step out of your world and experience someone else's for a bit.

Writing

I always bring my journal with me, every time I'm leaving home for a few days. I'll write in the car, on a plane, in a tent, or even on a boathouse somewhere out on the middle of a lake. I like to remember the things I noticed, the way I felt, the new things experienced. My typical journal is a small account of the everyday - what I did, what I thought, etc. But I also like to jot down story notes in a notebook. One day, I'd like to publish some sort of story. Imagination is fantastic, but there's nothing like the inspiration that comes from traveling and the new ideas, feelings, and thoughts that tend to accompany it.

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There are other things that I love to do during a road trip. Talking is always my favorite. Danny and I like to imagine where we'll end up living in the next few years after we leave Arizona, where we might settle down, how many kids we'll have, what they'll be like, where we could travel if we could go anywhere, etc. Traveling with a group of people, sing-a-longs and games are always top of the list. And eating... eating is my absolute favorite. Nothing like road trip snacks, yum.

So, friends - what do you do to stave off the boredom of a long road trip? How do you pass the time?

ps: The last two photos are from singer-songwriter Orba Square's road trip tour across the US; it's a visual diary scroll of photos, thoughts, people, and places. Well worth a look. Check it out here (and enjoy some pretty great music at the same time).

Shredding Personal Documents | Where to Go for Shredding Services

2013-05-20T09:39:00.002-07:00

Back in March, I decided to do some spring cleaning in our office. After sorting through and organizing our bookshelves, closet, and desk, I was left with several hefty binders full of documents and papers that still needed to be cleaned out. Even though we're pretty much paperless now, we had a ton of old documents, receipts, pay stubs, etc. stashed and filed away. After going through everything and deciding what we needed to keep and what we need to toss, we were left with this:

Two gigantic piles of paper, every bit of which could be thrown away. In comparison, the pile of things we needed to keep was tiny; everything important now fits nicely in one small accordion file folder. It's so much better than having six huge notebooks stuffed with paper.

For a while, this pile of paper just sat in a bag in our office closet. A lot of it contained personal information and needed to be shredded, but we didn't have our own shredder at home. And then I read this blog post from IHeart Organizing where Jen mentioned that she took her papers somewhere to have them shredded. And a light went off. Of course there would be stores that would have shredding services! After a quick Google search, I found out that most home office stores - like Staples and Office Depot - offer shredding services for a small fee.

Staples is closest to us, so that's where we decided to go. According to their website, any Staples with a Copy & Print Location will offer shredding services. We called ahead and were told that they charge by the pound (79 cents/lb of paper). We went through our two big piles of "to-be-shredded" paper and pulled out anything that didn't have personal information in it. That was tossed into our regular recycling bin at home. The rest we hauled to Staples.

After weighing our bag at the store, we came in around 8 lbs, which cost us about $6.50. Not bad for the huge stack that we had.

The biggest thing I was worried about was how secure the whole process would be. Identity theft isn't exactly my favorite thing in the world. But - good news! The process is entirely secure. The employees take your paper and put it into an already-locked trash bin that they can't get into. And they do it right in front of you so you can see for yourself that all of the paper goes into the bin.

Staples partners with a secure shredding company to perform their shredding services. This company will come in during regularly scheduled times to shred all of the paper in the bin. The offices I've worked in have partnered with similar companies to shred documents and materials, so I'm pretty confident in the privacy and security offered with this method.

So - handy tip in case you've got a bunch of paper you need to have shredded and you are short one personal shredder at home! I was this close to throwing a bonfire... I'd get rid of the paper and have a party all at the same time. It was a win-win scenario in my mind.

Packing List

2013-05-17T11:45:00.002-07:00

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Let's add another post to our May traveling series! Today I wanted to talk about packing lists. When I was younger, my best friend and niece (who is my same age. I have a big family, and my mom and older sister were pregnant at the same time. Father of the Bride, anyone?) came down to stay with me for a few weeks. Her mother (my sister) had sent her with a list of everything she packed so she could check it off and make sure she hadn't left anything when it was time to go home. Even back then, little youngster though I was, I was remember wanting to immediately be that organized and write down my own packing list.

Although today I don't make my own personalized list of every item I pack, what I do like to have is a generalized list of everything that I need to pack. This is because I will always - always - forget to pack something if it's not written down. It's just what happens. I'll have to buy something at the store when we land, then lug it back home and add it to the growing collection of "things I already have but had to buy again because I forgot it" pile. Though I do always make sure to bring my bathing suit even if there isn't the slightest promise of a pool because, without fail, the one time I don't bring it will be the one time a hot tub/pool/natural water spring/or whatever is nearby. I've tested this theory - it's never failed. No bathing suit = everyone goes swimming but you.

Back to lists! I found this pad at World Market and I've used it every single time we've left for vacation:

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It's from Knock Knock, so if you can't find it at your local World Market, you can purchase it online. My "What to Eat" pad is from the same company and I love them both. Underneath the BASICS tab, right at the very top of the packing list on the far right, I've added a few items personalized items that aren't included, but other than that this baby has it covered. It even has a checkbox for sleeping mask!! At the end of our trip, I quickly scan through the list to make sure I've got everything I packed, and I almost (almost) never leave anything at the hotel.

What do you do when it comes time to pack for a trip? I like to throw in enough shirts and pants to get me through the week, but I know a few people who pack specific outfits - including accessories. Do you make a list of everything you need, or are you confident you'll remember it all? Have anything you always make sure to pack, no matter where you're going? Like I said - for me, it's always a bathing suit. And my Rainbows. I never leave home without them.

3 Green Smoothie Recipes

2013-05-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

I've become a little obsessed with smoothies. I have one almost every morning with breakfast. They're great for getting those servings of fruits and vegetables that you might otherwise miss out on during the day. I've had fun experimenting with different concotions - and I'll be the first to admit that not all of them have turned out tasty. But here are 3 recipes that I love, and bonus - they are ones that the husband has approved of. He's a little less inclined to drink something with blended up spinach in it.

ps: I don't have exact measurements for you (sorry). I just throw stuff in the blender until it looks like enough. I've gotten pretty talented at it; I can fill one of our cups up to the very brim with the very last drop, or fill two mason jars for me and the husband without having any extra left over.

And one more thing: The best smoothie tip I could give you is to use frozen spinach cubes and frozen banana slices (see post here). My smoothies always come out cold, thick, and perfect. If I use too many fresh ingredients, the smoothie turns out frothy and I gag trying to get it down. Adding ice cubes isn't my cup of tea, either - they never seem to bring out the right consistency. But using my frozen spinach and frozen bananas works like a charm every-single-time.

From left to right:

Blackberry + Raspberry Smoothie

Handful of blackberries

Half a handful of raspberries

Frozen banana slices, about 3/4 of a whole banana

One frozen spinach cube (or a handful of fresh spinach)

Almond milk

Splash of pineapple juice

Apple + Pineapple Smoothie

1 whole apple, sliced and cored

Handful of pineapple chunks

Frozen banana slices, about 3/4 of a whole banana

One frozen spinach cube (or a handful of fresh spinach)

Orange juice

Splash of pineapple juice

Strawberry + Kiwi Smoothie

Handul of fresh strawberries (4 or 5)

1 kiwi, peeled

1/2 of an avocado

Frozen banana slices, about 3/4 of a whole banana

Almond milk

(I didn't add spinach to this one, but feel free to plop in a frozen cube)

*I used the new A Beautiful Mess app to create the picture above.

How to Remove Soap Scum and Hard Water Stains from Shower Glass Doors

2013-05-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

In an ideal world, I would scrub down and clean my bathroom and keep it spotless and shiny every day of the week. As it happens, our bathroom is often a war zone. Makeup, dirty laundry, and towels that don't always end up on the rack are the usual suspects that keep our bathroom from staying organized. Mondays are typically my day of the week I schedule out to clean them. This Monday, with a little bit of free time on my hands, I decided to give our master bath a major scrub down. I cleaned the light fixtures, organized the closet, rearranged our cabinet drawers, and finally (finally!) got down to cleaning the one thing in this bathroom I've never been able to fully get to before - our shower doors.

Oh I clean our shower doors often. We have a squeegee that we run over them after every shower. But we've had soap scum and hard water stains collected on the edges of those doors since we moved in. And no matter how much I scrubbed, no matter what I took to them, those stains just wouldn't go away. Here's a little dramatization for you:

This is a little worse for wear (most of it is just dried water that splashed up earlier), but see the water/soap stain line that runs right down the edge? That line never goes away and it's always bugged me. A while back, I'd pinned a cleaning tip on Pinterest that suggested using a fabric softener on glass shower doors. I went back to my pin, but the link had expired. So I googled a bit and came across this article on Apartment Therapy. I read through the comments and one person mentioned wetting the fabric softener before using it. So I went down to our laundry room, grabbed a couple of dryer sheets, wet them, then took them back upstairs and went to town on those shower doors.

Let me tell you this - it works. And it works well. You get a lot of residue, so you'll need to really make sure to rinse your doors afterwards (and then rinse them again), but I am one happy girl with how clear and how clean my shower doors look.

After my first scrub down and rinse, though, the stains on the edges of the door were still faintly there. I lightly scrubbed over those spots with another wet dryer sheet, then took took a green Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scour Pad to it (these green scrubbers are my secret cleaning weapon - I use them for everything. My parents have always used them; they do an amazing job without being too harsh).

I lightly scrubbed over the stains and bam! Spotless perfection. I'd tried using these green scrubbers before, both alone and with other products, but for some reason combining them with the fabric sheet did the trick.

I also used the fabric sheets to scrub underneath the door handle that sits inside the shower. I didn't realize there was a build-up of soap and residue down there. I forgot to take a before picture (it probably would have been gross anyways), but the fabric sheet cleaned everything right up! No more filthy residue underneath.

Last but not least, I used the sheets on our sink faucets per another suggestion on Pinterest. This particular faucet is in our guest bath. The sheet cleaned it up pretty nicely - it's so sparkly now.

Using fabric softeners to clean your shower doors or faucets isn't something I would necessarily recommend using on a regular basis. A lot of people might be worried about the chemicals contained in them. For me, it worked great on getting rid of very tough, set-in stains. If you have a problem like that, give it a go. For more greener, more natural home cleaners, check out this post by How Does She. They give you a list of all-natural cleaners and disinfecting solutions you can to clean each room in your house.

A Few Videos to Start Off Your Weekday

2013-05-13T09:18:00.002-07:00

Welcome back from the weekend! I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day. In case you haven't seen these videos yet, I wanted to pop on over and share them with you. There's nothing I need more at the start of another Monday morning than a good, deep-down laugh. This couple is hilarious; I wish I was at that gas station to personally watch them sing. I would have promptly gone up to them and invited them for dinner afterwards. Don't you just want to be friends with these people?! They are upbeat, happy, and entertaining - you've got to watch them. And seriously, Jay Leno, if you have their phone number, I really do want to invite them to dinner.

Easy Spinach Omelette (plus, a fundraiser event this Saturday, May 11th, for local Phoenix friends!)

2013-05-10T20:01:00.001-07:00

I think I've had an omelette for breakfast every day this week. Sometimes when you crave something, that craving just doesn't want to go away. I'm okay with it - I love omelettes. I love all breakfast food. And I especially love this spinach omelette with fresh avocado and sauteed onions. So, so tasty. I don't measure ingredients for something as simple as this, so I don't have exact amounts for you, but it's super easy to eyeball what you need and adjust it to how you like.

Craving your own omelette? Adding spinach leaves really makes it oh so delicious. The trick, though, to this particular omelette is sauteing the onions, browning the lunch meat, and wilting the spinach leaves in a separate pan before you ever add it to the egg mixture. The flavor is delicious! I love raw onions, but some recipes just need that sauteed/slightly caramelized goodness.

ps: If you're local to Arizona, check out the flyer at the end of this post. My friend, Katie, is throwing a fundraiser for breast cancer tomorrow down in Mesa. She's put a lot of heart and soul into it and it's going to be a fantastic event. Check it out and help support her wonderful cause!

Easy Spinach Omelette

Ingredients:
Olive oil
Yellow onion, chopped
Baby spinach leaves, chopped
Choice of lunch meat (I used deli turkey)

Butter
2-3 eggs
Milk
Salt and pepper (to taste)

Mexican-blend cheese, shredded

Tomato, chopped

Avocado, chopped

Directions:

1. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add onions and saute, 5-7 minutes. Add lunch meat and baby spinach leaves. Saute until lunch meat begins to lightly brown on the edges and spinach leaves wilt.

2. Add a small amount of butter to a non-stick pan and melt till it coats the bottom. In a small bowl, beat 2-3 eggs (I use two for a thinner omelette), a splash of milk, and salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture into buttered pan and cook on medium-high heat until the edges of the omelette can be pulled away from the sides.

3. Lift one side of the omelette and tilt pan until all liquid on top runs underneath the omelette and begins to cook. You may have to do this all around the edges of the omelette until no more liquid remains.

4. Very carefully, flip omelette over. As it is cooking on the bottom, add sauteed onion, spinach leaves, and lunch meat down the center. Also add a desired amount of shredded cheese and chopped tomato. Fold omelette in half.

5. Slide omelette onto plate. Top with chopped avocado, chopped tomato, and wilted-over-heat spinach leaves. Enjoy!

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Tutus for Tatas

In the words of my friend, Katie:

This Saturday we are holding our First Annual Fundraiser, a Dance Carnival partnered with Campbell's Dance Studio. There will be a carnival atmosphere with cotton candy, snow cones, face painting, popcorn, 3 bounce houses, and 13 vendors and boutiques. We will have 3 yes THREE straight hours of benefit dance performances by Campbell's Award Winning Competition Team as well as a DJ and raffle prizes such as scholarships to dance conventions, restaurant gift cards up to $50, gift certificates for 1 free month of Taekwondo and more!

Our mission is to help raise funds and awareness for local families suffering the financial and emotional burden of cancer and to celebrate life through the gift of dance!

Check out our WEBSITE and like our FACEBOOK PAGE to learn more!
Remember to check instagram at #tutusfortatas13 for picture updates and event flyers!

Pre-packed Toiletry Bag

2013-05-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

May is here! Is it just me, or is this year flying by? At the end of next week, my husband will officially be done with his first year of medical school! We are particularly excited about this because it means we have a whole entire summer to enjoy! This is the only free summer we get during med school, so we are packing our bags and going out and enjoying as much of our free time as we can. Granted, between work and a research position Danny picked up on campus, we won't be able to drop everything and spend the summer in New Zealand or Spain (a girl can dream, right?), but we're just excited that we're going to have our evenings free. And we'll have the chance to take a few road trips, visit family, and just get away a few times over the next several months.

Do you guys have your summer trips all planned out? Road trips and summer vacations have been a hot topic of discussion lately. The majority of our friends are fellow med school couples and we are all giddy about summer. With all of the talk about traveling and taking vacations, I have decided to host a little series here on the blog. During the month of May, I will be posting a few travel ideas, tips/tricks for the road, and other fun topics associated with traveling! So let's get this series started!

First up - packing toiletries. I mentioned in this post that there are a few things I refer to as the "bane of my existence." Packing toiletries is one of them. I have yet to find the perfect toiletry bag. Roll-up toiletry bags seem perfect, but once you stack everything in them, they are usually so fat you can't even roll it up. Big, open bags just jumble everything together and they are a mess without enough organization. Toiletry bags are either too small, or too big, they don't have enough compartments, or they have fabric on the inside so if something spills it's an absolute nightmare to clean up. Sigh. I just want the perfect toiletry bag. Is that too hard to ask?

I have yet to find the perfect solution to toiletries, but until then, I have this pretty little bag from Target that I scooped up a month ago. After reading Jen's post at I Heart Organizing, I decided that pre-packing a toiletry bag was a genius way to prep for future vacations.

Toiletries always take me the longest to pack. I have to mentally go through everything I do in the morning to remember what I need. And even then I still forget stuff! Every time, people. It happens every time. But with planning ahead, I can grab everything I need, just double check it before I put it in my suitcase, and voila! Should save a lot of time and a lot of frustration.

I also followed Jen and picked up some of these toiletry bottles from Target. I like to downsize as much as possible when it comes to packing. I use to pick up sample bottles from the store, but I like this so much better. And bonus for Target - these bottles come with labels!! Yes!! I used to write on my bottles with a sharpie so I could tell my conditioner from my lotion, but then, after one fateful trip to Lake Powell a few years ago, it was so hot that the sharpie melted off the bottle and all over my brand new toiletry bag. It still hasn't come off. I don't use that toiletry bag any more, but it makes me sad that it was ruined in just one trip.

So what do you think? Pre-packing toiletries - genius idea? Or will you wait to pack them until right before you leave? I like being prepared so I don't have to make any last minute trips to the store. And pre-packing means I can also include things I might normally forget to pack, like ear plugs (great for those times when you have to cram into a hotel and you've got a snorer) and a sleeping mask (I can't sleep if there's even the tiniest bit of light inside a room).

What's on your toiletry packing list? What can you absolutely not do without while you're on the road? I always pack my Neutrogena make-up wipes, and I always carry a tiny bottle of perfume/body spray with me, but I forgo my usual skincare routine (I use Proactiv) for a simple, one-bottle face scrub in the shower. And these oil absorbing sheets never leave my side nowadays. I even carry a pack around in my purse.

So let's hear it! What do you always pack? Have you found the perfect toiletry bag? What about jewelry and make-up - how do you pack those? I tend to be a "medium" packer - I don't pack heavy, but I haven't quite figured out how to pack light, either. Sometimes I wish I could just roll up my bathroom and take it on the road with me. It'd make things easier.

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

2013-05-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12

Hello friends! Mother's Day is right around the corner - ah! It always seems to sneak up on me every year. Okay, okay - so every holiday/birthday/big event tends to sneak up on me. As much of a planner as I am in some areas, keeping up with a calendar and making sure I get cards and gifts in the mail is not a strong suit of mine (I'm working on it). Here is a round-up of some lovely Mother's Day ideas. Whether you're looking to pamper your mother, DIY something as a special gift, or just send out a lovely card, here are a few simple ideas to get you started.

Organizing Mail

2013-04-29T16:03:00.001-07:00

Let's talk mail. Junk mail, letters, bills, newspapers, coupons, subscribed magazines... how do you organize it? Do you throw the unwanted mail away as soon as you get it, or does it get mixed in with all of the other envelopes and paper packages? For the past few years, our mail has mainly resided on our kitchen counter. We'd check our mailbox when we got home from work, quickly sort through everything to make sure there wasn't anything we needed to immediately address, and then we'd drop it all on the kitchen counter. And it'd stay there. For a while. Until one of us would finally decide sort through the junk, trash most of it, and file the rest.

After getting tired of a messy kitchen counter, I started looking for a real mail sorter. I came across this little cutie at TJ Maxx and it's done a (somewhat) better job at keeping the clutter at bay.

I'll be honest - most of the time, our mail sorter is a bit more crowded than this. Ideally, we would go through it once a week and sort through all the junk. The last time I cleaned it out, though, it probably had 3 weeks worth on mail in there. But the gist of what goes where stays the same. Big coupons and newspapers/magazines go in the back slot. The middle slot is for anything that needs to be taken care of and/or mailed. The bottom left slot is for tags - I like to hold onto them for a week in case something needs to be returned. And the bottom right is for receipts - I hold onto them for a week or so, too, just in case.

Eventually I'd like to get a different mail sorter. Once that's pretty and functional at the same time. I've recently had my eye on a rustic type-of coil:

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Gorgeous, right? It's so pretty. I think this plastic sorter, though, would work out just as well. It doesn't have as much character, but I like that it's clear. Sometimes organization means having things hidden and stored away. Other times, you need to be able to clearly see what it is you're trying to keep organized.

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One day, though, if I could have a lovely kitchen with a pretty desk and a built-in mail organizer, I wouldn't complain.

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So what do you do to organize your mail? Have any good methods you can pass on? I think I just need to start organizing my mail the second I walk in the door with it. That and get a hidden recycler that I could hang on the back of our under-the-sink kitchen cupboard. I've seen them at Target. I should really pick one up - I think it'd do wonders for our counter top paper clutter.

Crock-pot Chicken Chili

2013-04-26T11:39:00.001-07:00

Let's finish off this food/meal planning week with a recipe! As you can see in this post, I love my crock-pot. You throw everything into a pot, cook it for 8+ hours, and bam - you've got dinner. My slow cooker gives me wonderful, delicious dinners with very little effort on my part. It really is a beautiful relationship.

This chicken chili has a spicy kick to it. It's a perfect "leftover" meal, too - at the end of the week, I'll usually end up with some leftover chopped onions and bell peppers in the fridge. I throw them into the crock-pot with the rest of the ingredients and dinner is done. You can add kidney beans if you want a more chili-like feel. And the spices are guess-timates - I usually add whatever sounds good. Feel free to adjust according to personal taste.

Crock-pot Chicken Chili

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

3 uncooked chicken breasts

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1/2 orange (or yellow) bell pepper, chopped

1 can black beans

1 can corn

1 can diced tomatoes with chilies

15-20 oz. V8 'Spicy Hot' Vegetable Juice

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 Tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp oregano

Pepper to taste

Directions:

Place all ingredients into crock-pot. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. Thirty minutes prior to serving, pull out chicken breasts and shred. Return to crock-pot and cook for remaining time. Serve with desired toppings such as fresh chopped cilantro, sour cream, green onions, shredded cheese, and tortilla chips.

Do You Coupon Shop?

2013-04-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

Do you coupon shop when it comes to groceries? I don't. But I know some people swear by it. For me, it's all about opportunity cost. We have a great grocery budget that works for us, we never go over it (we never need to), and I'm not very keen on spending even a small amount of time going through ads and newspapers and online couponing sources.

I've decided, though, that I do want to be knowledge-savvy when it comes to grocery prices. For some items, I know what the usual price is - or should be - and I can tell if I'm getting a good deal. For other items, I don't have a clue what the price should be and where I might get it cheaper. I've decided in order to develop this grocery knowledge, I should start trying out one very low-key method of coupon shopping: price matching.

I shop at Wal-Mart. Hate it or love it (and I know some people hate it), Wal-Mart is one of my favorite stores. I can get 99% of everything I need there. And the great thing about Wal-Mart is that they price match. You just let the cashier know what items are cheaper at another store, and they will ring it up at the discounted price. One time, a cashier actually told me that a few other customers had pointed out that milk was cheaper at Albertson's that day, so he went ahead and rang mine up at the Albertson's price. Boom. I saved a little bit of money. Enough to buy me a Hershey's bar. :)

I've decided to start going through local ads that come in the mail and circle anything that I'm planning on buying that week. I'll write down the prices, then go to Wal-Mart and see how they compare. I don't really have any desire to go online and download coupons or do any other form of couponing besides price matching. Maybe in the future, once we have kids and our budget changes, I'll sing another tune. But right now I think this is as far as I'm going to go.

So let's hear it! Coupon shopping pros, what are your tips? Do you love it? Do you hate it? Does it save you money in the long run? Do you use everything that you buy? Do you coupon shop for certain items, or do you only buy the best deals? I'm interested to hear what you like to do when it comes to saving money on your grocery budget.

Meal Planning with Pinterest

2013-04-23T15:55:00.001-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that Pinterest is my new favorite tool when it comes to meal planning. The ease of pinning a recipe and having the instructions right there on my phone when I'm ready to cook is amazing.

Do you use Pinterest as a virtual cookbook? Last year, after pinning everything and anything I saw that looked remotely delicious or pretty or DIY-able, I decided to actually use Pinterest as a real tool instead of turning it into an online version of hoarding. So I spent a few days cleaning out my boards. I checked every single pin to see if it went back to the link I wanted it to. I categorized and organized and deleted a good chunk of what I'd saved up. Probably 1/2 of the recipes I had didn't even click over to the original link with directions or ingredients. Now, I'm ridiculously selective about what goes on my Pinterest page. And I'm pretty crazy with keeping it organized.

My food boards are set up in the way that works best for me. I've organized them into categories and when one board gets too full, I'll split it up (example: my desserts board was too big, so I created separate boards for cookies, cupcakes, and cakes, etc). Almost every new meal we make or new recipe we try comes from Pinterest. We've tried some pretty delicious dinners and side dishes and sweet treats from here. I keep the ones we like and delete the others if we don't think we'll make that particular meal again.

Do you use Pinterest to meal plan? Or do you stick to cookbooks? Maybe have your own notebook or recipe card box?

Here are some of our favorite recipes. We've tried them, we've loved them, and we've made them more than once. They don't disappoint. For easy repinning, I've linked them to my personal pins. Each pin will redirect you to the original source. You can see the rest of my pins here.

Breakfast

Puffed Pancakes

Main Dish

Coconut Grilled Chicken with Mango Salsa

Cayenne Chicken with Avocado Salsa

Pineapple Meatloaf

Crockpot

Taco Chicken Bowls

Taco Chicken Chili

Mexican Food

Chunky Salsa (Please, please, please make this. It is the best salsa in the world. We've made it so many times that people actually request it at parties and get-togethers).

Side Dishes

Crash Hot Potatoes

Hasselback Potatoes

Desserts

Cinnamon Cheescake Dessert (Best desert. Ever. Also the unhealthiest. But we still love it. We like to top it with some yummy canned peaches).

Meal Planning

2013-04-22T08:31:00.001-07:00

Let's talk food and meal planning this week. Any other fellow meal planners out there? Do you plan for a whole month, just one week, or maybe every other week? When we were newlyweds, I planned out and shopped for all of our meals just once a month. Now I go the "once per week" route. I like it much better. It works great for our little family because:

1) It helps us stay within our set grocery budget

2) We get a nice variety of food throughout the week

3) It helps guarantee that our fresh veggies and fruits don't spoil by holding onto them for too long

4) We don't shop for what we don't need or won't eat because we have it all planned out

5) I enjoy grocery shopping once a week. It's like a Saturday morning ritual

Meal planning is something that threw me for a loop - I found it very stressful in the beginning. I had no idea how to cook and plan for just two people, I was worried about having different things to eat, I was trying to make sure we were being healthy, I desperately struggled to make sure we weren't wasting food, and I was constantly trying to figure out how to stay within our grocery budget. Of all things to adjust to as a newlywed, meal planning just overwhelmed me. Sometimes it still overwhelms me. But after close to 4 years, I can definitely say it's become a more comfortable, manageable system.

I typically plan out and grocery shop for our weekly meals each Saturday. Here's what our schedule looks like this week. You can tell I've been all about the crock-pot lately.

I plan out all of our dinners, including leftovers. Most of the recipes I make serve 4-6 people; we only have to cook a maximum of four times per week because each meal will last us at least 2-3 days. Pair that with the fact that we love leftovers (we really love them), and this has become the perfect system for us.

In order to experiment with recipes and try new foods, I've recently started including 3 set lunches and 3 set breakfasts for each week. The other 4 days of the week are for our typical breakfasts (oatmeal, eggs, cereal, etc) and our typical lunches (sandwiches, salads, fruit, etc). It helps me add a few new things to our menu without feeling like I have to plan every day out. Lately I've been adding smoothies to the list, too - I've found a ton of delicious looking creations on Pinterest. For the rest of the week, I usually go for a spinach/banana/whatever-fruit-is-in-my-fridge concotion.

So do you guys meal plan? Is it something you are still trying to figure out? Or maybe you've got some great tips to share? I'd love to hear your questions and meal planning methods!

FYI: My "What to Eat" pad is from World Market. I love it and highly recommend it. And if some of these meals sound good, check out the links below. Pinterest is my favorite tool when it comes to trying out new recipes.

Dinners
Crockpot Chicken Chili (my own recipe that I'll share later this week)
Slow Cooker Chicken Gyros
Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Breakfasts
Breakfast Quesadilla
Arugula and Feta Omelette
Baked Peach Parfait (I actually might be trading this out for the Baked Grapefruit on the same page)

Lunches
Hummus and Chopped Pepper Sandwich (if you know of the original link, please let me know)
Olive and Mozzarella Salad
Tangelo and Avocado Salad

Smoothies
Pineapple Orange Carrot Smoothie
Blueberry Almond Smoothie
Cure All Green Smoothie

- To see the rest of the recipes I've saved up on Pinterest, click HERE -

Bathroom Basket Caddy

2013-04-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

Have a bunch of hair products lying around? Are they stuffed in a drawer? Sitting on top of the bathroom counter? I've always had a problem with storing my hair products and tools. In our first apartment, we had zero bathroom storage and barely any counter space. I didn't have room to store anything. So I went on a search for the perfect bathroom container and found this pretty little basket at Michael's (they have the best basket selection). It fits my products, my tools, and bonus - it sat right on top of the back of our toilet. And it kind of looked cute up there.

The house we're living in now has TONS of storage all over the place. We have a closet in the bathroom, plus three large drawers and two under the sink cabinets. But I still use this basket caddy for the majority of my products. My hair straightener and hair dryer sit in a drawer, but that's pretty much it. Everything else stays in the caddy. Here's what sits in there now:

It holds a lot. And there's room to spare. My Hana Air Dryer and diffuser take up most of the space - I got them in exchange for doing a review of the product on a different blog. The dryer works amazing... but I broke it. So now I have a $15 one from Target that tends to fry my hair. I really need to send the Hana in to get fixed.

What do you use to store all of your bathroom products? Have a method that you love? What about hair bows and headbands and bobby pins? I'd love to hear how you tackle your bathroom space!

Linking with: Crafty Texas Girls - The Scoop Link Party

How To: Using Vinegar to Remove Water Stains From Concrete

2013-04-17T15:02:00.002-07:00

Remember the lovely flower pot I talked about in this post? Before we moved in, it used to sit right by the front door, on the concrete walkway. However, after a few years of water and soil drainage, the concrete started to look like this:

So the pot was moved over to the side. But the damage was done.

I finally decided to try and tackle this ugly problem area. I Googled, and the first suggestion was to wash with dish soap and hot water. Didn't work. I tried it 3 different times. I even boiled the water to make it extra hot. But the stain had been set for too long - way too long. So I went with suggestion two: vinegar.

I poured the vinegar, let it sit for a few hours, then scrubbed it before I rinsed it off. At first, I didn't think it worked. And then I spotted something.

Do you see the TWO square stains on the left side? Well, after the scrubbing and rinsing and drying, there was only ONE square left. I was so excited! The vinegar was actually working! So I kept at it and did a few more rounds. And lo and behold, I'd say about 93% of that stain is now gone.

So if you have water stains that have been sitting around for a while and dish soap + hot water won't take it out, here's a play-by-play on how to use vinegar to treat it.

Step 1: Soak entire stain with vinegar. Let sit for 1-2 hours (I let it sit for 2 hours each time). Add extra vinegar if the sun begins to dry it out. You can lightly scrub it into the concrete if the stain is particularly bad.

Step 2: Add a little bit of water (preferably hot water) and scrub vigourously over the entire stain. Keep scrubbing - use some elbow grease and really dig into the concrete. I actually used a stiff-bristled pool brush. It was the best thing I could find. Totally worked like a charm.

Step 3: Use an outdoor sprayer hose to rinse off the vinegar. Scrub a little bit more for good measure.

Step 4: Let water dry. There may be some white spots where the vinegar wasn't scrubbed and/or rinsed off properly. Use a brush and some additional water to scrub it away. Rinse the area off and let dry again.

Step 5: Repeat steps 1-4 until desired effect is achieved.

Here are my personal results with the vinegar:

Not too shabby, eh? I was pretty amazed at how well it worked. There are a few stubborn spots that haven't faded as much as I'd like, but it's so much better than where we started. The square spot where the planting pot sat is the most affected area; I doubt it will ever go away unless I use some hard stuff on it. But I do eventually want to move the pot back by the front door again. This time I think I'll use a cork mat or something that will hopefully help soak up most of the drainage. And obviously, not letting a stain sit for a few years will make the clean-up a lot easier if we do start to see some spots again.

So there you have it! Cleaning water/soil stains from concrete. Vinegar will, most likely, do the trick. But honestly, if your stain hasn't been there all that long, try liquid dish soap and some hot water first. It should work. On the flip side, if it's been there for a while (i.e. a few years or so), check out this article for some more powerful options.

And now I leave you with a closer, up-front shot of our flower pot. It just makes me so gosh darn happy to see those bright colors out there everyday.

Linking with: Crafty Texas Girls - The Scoop Link Party, 504 Main, Craftberry Bush - The Inspiration Gallery, Home Stories A to Z

The Hunt for the Perfect Notebook

2013-04-16T14:41:00.004-07:00

Our hearts are breaking as yet another tragedy has rocked our nation, this time in Boston during the Boston Marathon. So many families and individuals need our love, support, and compassion during this time. If you are looking for a way to help, either locally or from a distance, please visit this article posted by USA today, and remember to keep Boston in your prayers. The world needs more kindness, more love, and more helping hands at this time.

Ah, the hunt for the ever elusive perfect notebook. Am I the only one who gets giddy over paper products? Notebooks are my absolute favorite. I just can't pass up a pretty notebook or journal if I spot it in the store. This time around, though, I just couldn't find the right one. So after hitting up a few different places, I decided to turn my attention to Etsy and see if I could find something there. And I did. I found this pretty little number I included as part of a round-up on Instagram:

Do you see that quote? Did I mention I'm also quite in love with perfect quotes? So pairing a notebook I love with a quote I love = swoon-worthy goodness. I ordered it on Friday and it came in on Monday and I haven't put it down since.

Are you currently on the hunt for a new notebook? I decided to put together a list of a few other lovelies I came across on Etsy. Turns out I have a certain kind of preference when it comes to cover art...

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9

5 Tips for a Better Night's Rest

2013-04-15T10:08:00.001-07:00

Graphic via Domo. First seen on Design Mom.

When new things come into my life, it's always an adjustment figuring out how to incorporate them into my daily, typical schedule. After getting an iPhone 5 for Christmas, it took a few weeks before anyone could pry it from my fingers. I was too busy trying to figure it out, learning what different apps would benefit me the most, and rejoicing in the fact that someone could call me while I was texting and my phone wouldn't freeze up and die (like my old Samsung flip-phone). Now, it's a part of my everyday schedule to check Instagram and check-off my "to do" list right there on the screen. But, the problem is that I usually do this in bed. Right before I go to sleep. And that's a huge problem for me.

Check out the graphic created by Domo above. Do you see those statistics? Crazy, right? Data truly never sleeps. The Internet never sleeps. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter never sleep. And I started realizing that with an iPhone that could access Wifi, I wasn't sleeping much either.

I'd check everything as soon as I woke up. Then I'd check everything again as I was laying in bed. If I was laying in bed but wasn't feeling very tired, I'd browse blogs or news pages. And then again if I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep.

It didn't take me long to realize that this was a problem. I love my sleep, and I don't want to lose sleep. Sleep is so important to health and (in my case) a positive attitude. So in order to get back my restful nights, I thought I'd share sleep habits I've used before and ones I'm going to start using now to help me take back my nights. Here are 5 tips that will hopefully help you and I get a better night's rest.

I'll get to turning off cell phones and screens in a minute. First let's talk sleeping schedules. In my mind, this is the most important. If you want a good night's rest, your body needs to have a schedule - it craves one. The perfect schedule for me is going to bed at 10pm and waking up at 6am. Every morning. Including weekends. I don't like sleeping in, so this schedule is ideal for me. I prefer 8 hours; my husband prefers 7. To figure out what schedule your body craves and needs, go to bed at the exact same time every single night. If you don't need to be somewhere at a certain time in the morning, see when your body naturally wakes up. This isn't practical for most of us, though, so you'll have to gauge and see how your body responds after getting certain amounts of sleep. You might thrive on 6 hours, or you might feel your best after 9. The key is to finding your optimal sleeping schedule and sticking to it. Your body will eventually start to regulate itself according to your schedule; you'll get drowsy when it's your typical bedtime and you'll naturally wake up once your body has had it's rest.

This has been the most successful item for me in getting my body ready for bed. Around 9 o'clock every night, I turn off most of the lights in the house. I light a few candles for a soft glow and a nice feel, then I go around and pick up the house. I put away clothes that have been tossed on the bed, fold laundry, and wipe down the kitchen counters. Afterwards, I'll change into my pajamas, wash my face, climb into bed, then write in my journal and read scriptures with Danny. By 10pm, I'm fully relaxed and ready to lay my head down on my pillow and snooze away. Setting the mood and doing those things I do every night before I go to bed helps me recognize it's time to wind down. Everyone's schedule will be different. My Mom likes putting on her favorite TV show. Danny likes to study one more lecture slide and read a book. I've had roommates who listened to music right before bedtime. My siblings will read bedtime stories to their children. Whatever works for you, do it. Set a routine. Let your body know it's time to get ready for bed. After a while, you'll feel yourself naturally winding down.

Here's where we talk about no screens. I've decided to completely eliminate using my cell phone while I'm laying in bed. I can't touch it. Not in the morning, not at night. I have to be out of bed, up and ready, before I'll use it. In order to get ready for bed, you have to have the right atmosphere. Beds should be used for sleeping. Your bedroom should be a calming, relaxing environment. As with every tip, you have to determine what the right kind atmosphere for your bedroom is. For me, my bedroom has to be dark. Absolutely pitch black. And I have to have some kind of noise (my preferences are either a ceiling fan or a box fan). When I'm away from home, I've learned to recreate that atmosphere in order to help my body fall asleep - I will wear a sleeping mask and listen to my White Noise app I talked about in this post. Make your bedroom a place to fall asleep - make it a dark room with no distractions. And that includes turning off cell phones and screens.

Ah, exercise. That seemingly cure-all tip that seems to pop up in every "do this better" list. The simple fact, though, is that it's true. Exercise can solve and/or help a lot of life's problems, sleep included. Sometimes Danny and I have found ourselves exhausted. We've stuck to a sleeping schedule, we're getting enough sleep, we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, and yet we just can't shake out of the drowsy fog that means we're not getting the rest we need throughout the night. The one thing that has helped us the most? Exercise. It's given us that full, deep, relaxing sleep our bodies have needed and craved. If you're not able to go to the gym or devote a lot of time to exercising each day, try going for a walk around the block. Or playing catch with your dog. Or throwing the ball around with the kids. I promise you, it will do wonders.

Yep, this one, too. Right up there with exercising. I've learned that when you hear things over and over and over again, it's usually because they mean something kind of important. Eating right (and not eating late) hasn't really helped me sleep through the night, but it's helped me get up in the morning feeling great, which is a big part of having a healthy sleep schedule. I remember being a teenager in high school and a young adult in college, eating at Waffle House or Denny's at 2am and feeling fine when I woke up at 7 the next morning, ready to go to class. That phase of my life has now passed. Eating anything past 9pm now makes me feel full and weighed down the next morning. I like to wake up on a somewhat-empty stomach and eat a healthy breakfast right away. It works much better in helping me feel like I can conquer the day. Try setting a "stop eating" time an hour or two before you go to bed. You might be amazed at the difference it'll make in your mornings.

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So those are my 5 tips for getting a better night's sleep! Creating a nighttime routine and setting the atmosphere are my top 2 if I want to have a healthy sleeping schedule. Exercising and not eating late will almost always guarantee I get that deep sleep that I need. And I'm excited to put away the cell phone and not touch it while I'm in bed. I'm ready to get my nights back!

What about you guys? Any nighttime sleep habits you'd care to share? What do you do to make sure you get a good night's rest?

Keeping Strawberries Fresh in the Fridge

2013-04-11T00:06:00.000-07:00

Has your grocery store started to stock up on strawberries? Oh my goodness - they are everywhere! Which makes this household a happy place to be; we love a few good, fresh strawberries to snack on throughout the day. However, with it just being the two of us, sometimes we can't get to all of them before they spoil. Strawberries are just one of those fruits that tend to go bad within the first few days of purchasing them. So, in a desperate attempt to figure out how to make them last longer, I did some research. And found a delightful solution. Glass jars.

Just throw your freshly bought strawberries into some wide mason jars and seal them up! Make sure, though, that you do NOT wash them first (moisture is the main enemy when it comes to strawberries) and that you pluck out any bad/bruised ones from the bunch. I've had these babies over a week in the fridge and they are still delicious. The green tops have started to wilt a little bit, but they are oh so tasty on the inside. Here's a link to one of the forums I read that provided me with this awesome little piece of information.

If you tend to do your grocery shopping on the weekend like I do, don't forget to pick up a delicious carton of fresh strawberries and a few new mason jars to store them in! You'll be glad you did.

DIY Bathtub Caddy

2013-04-10T11:01:00.002-07:00

I found this pretty little bathtub caddy on Pinterest over a year ago and I've been smitten with it ever since. I had always planned on making one, but then Valentine's Day came around and I started hinting to the husband that maybe if he made it for me, I'd really like it as a Valentine's Day gift. I even mentioned it in this post as part of a round-up for missus DIY gifts. And then Kenz over at Interiors by Kenz made one (see here). The hints got a little bit thicker after that.

Luckily, that darling husband of mine made me one. And it was perfect, because he made it while I was carpooling with five other girls on a two day, one night relay race. After 30+ collective hours of running and being on the road, I wanted nothing more than to just pull up a bath, soak, and not move for the next few hours. So I walked in the door and he whipped out this lovely beauty and gifted it to me. Swoon. He's a keeper.

Want to make your own? There are no pictures of the process, but here's a little visualization to help you out. It's really super simple.

You will need:

Three *hardwood 2x4's (measured and cut to the width of the outside of your bathtub)

Two hardwood 1x1's (measured and cut to the size of the three 2x4's pushed together, approximately 12")

6 rust-resistant wood screws

Wood stain of your choice

Polyurethane

*Hardwood is less porous than softwood, thereby being a better fit for wood that is often subjected to water (examples include redwood, oak, etc.)

Directions:

1. Measure the width of your bathtub and cut three pieces of hardwood to length.

2. Cut two pieces of 1x1's to the width of the three 2x4's pushed together (see picture above for reference).

3. Determine the placement of the 1x1's by measuring the inside width of your bathtub (this allows the bath caddy to stay in place while resting on the edges of the tub).

4. Attach the 1x1's to the 2x4's with six rust-resistant wood screws. Three screws per crossbar - one in the middle and one at each end, attaching all 2x4's to the 1x1's.

5. Stain entire bath caddy according to directions provided on the stain can.

6. Apply several coats of polyurethane, letting it dry between coasts and following directions on the polyurethane can.

This is what you're finished product should resemble. You can always customize it by adding space in between the 2x4's, staining it a different color, or adding some other different kind of design element.

If you end up making one, I'd love to see it! They really are quite dreamy. The perfect little spot to sit back and relax and soak up some suds after a long day.

Linking with: Design, Dining, and Diapers - Inspiration Gallery, Thrifty Decor Chick, 504 Main

Smoothie Prepping + a Recipe

2013-04-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

In an effort to eat healthier, Danny and I have started to embrace green smoothies. It feels like in the past year or so, smoothies and juicing have just gone through the roof. People are using it for diets and cleanses, to add some power food to their daily intake and to just get healthy servings of fruits and vegetables. I've been trying to add a green smoothie to our breakfast every morning. The other day I decided to do a little bit of prepping to make the smoothie-making go a little bit faster.

In since bananas spoil so quickly, I'd already decided to freeze them for future smoothies. But when I saw this post over at The Rowdy Stroudy's, I knew I had to start freezing spinach into cubes, too.

It took a while to blend it all up - I had to add leaves and water, blend for a minute, then use a spatula to mix everything together as I added more spinach so the blender would catch the leaves. And watch out - it's a little messy. But now I've got lovely little spinach cubes that I can pop into the blender for my smoothies! Two 6 oz. bags of pre-washed baby spinach leaves gave me 27 ice cubes. I only add a handful or so of spinach per smoothie, which for me is about 1-2 spinach cubes, so these will last me a while.

There are lots of different ways to freeze bananas - you can freeze them whole, mash them up, or slice them. I took the slicing method. And I added some lemon juice for good measure - it's supposed to help with browning. Make sure if you slice them that you lay them on a cookie sheet or something with some parchment paper and that each slice has its own space - you don't want them freezing together. For both the spinach cubes and the bananas, once they were frozen I threw them into a ziplock bag, dated them, then put them back in the freezer. They'll hold up for months.

Alright, ready for a smoothie recipe? I tried out my spinach cubes and bananas yesterday on a recipe I adapted from the back of a Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt lid. I'm already loving it! Danny's not really a fan of leafy greens in a drink that is supposed to be sweet and sugary, but he admitted that this one wasn't that bad. And he's tried out all of my concoctions (good and not so good) so far. You can always add some agave or honey, or even vanilla extract to sweeten it up if you'd like.

Strawberry Banana Green Smoothie

Makes approximately two 10 oz. servings

Ingredients:

3 large strawberries

Approximately 1/2 banana in frozen banana slices

1 frozen spinach cube (or a small handful of fresh spinach)

1/2 cup of almond milk

1 cup of vanilla yogurt (I used Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt)

Healthy sweetener of choice (optional)

Blend until smooth and enjoy!

My Top 6 Favorite Smart Phone Apps

2013-04-08T16:56:00.001-07:00

I've had my iPhone for all 4 months now. As a person who used to swear off such fancy, new-fangled contraptions (my tiny flip phone that texted and called - but froze if someone called me while I was texting - was all I thought I ever wanted), I have to admit - I'm a little in love. And it's not about having Facebook or Pinterest at my fingertips, either. I reserve those for the desktop when I'm checking my email and other things. It's the wonderful, incredible apps. It's having Google maps on my phone that reads out directions so I don't have to print them off of the computer or set up the GPS. It's having a list of all of the women in our church, along with their contact info, so when I'm helping set up an activity I don't have to scramble around to find phone numbers and email addresses. It's having my shopping and to-do items organized in one place so I can just whip out my phone instead of writing a messy, unreadable list on the back of a receipt.

I've come to the conclusion that smart phones, if used wisely, are extremely practical and efficient. Have you made the leap over to a smart phone yet? Do you use them to organize and prioritize part of your day? Are you more choosy about what goes on your phone? I'm definitely more choosy. I'll download an app to try it out, but if it doesn't work or meet some need that I have, I get rid of it. Right now, I've got a select few that I use and love. So without further ado, here are my top 6 favorite iPhone apps.

1. Wunderlist

I feel like I tried out a million "to-do" apps before I found Wunderlist. Before that, nothing was ever the right fit. Wunderlist, however, has been the app I use almost every single day. I have every list I need in one place, including my shopping and grocery lists. Any time I need to remember something, I just whip out my phone and pop it in there. Everything is consolidated into one spot and that is so incredibly nice. And the best part? I can sync one or all of my lists with the husband's phone. Now when he's at the grocery store and wants to know what to pick up, he can just go into the app and check off anything he gets. It's awesome.

2. Nike Training Club

I had a friend post about this one. Sometimes when you go the gym, you don't know what workout to do. I never knew what muscle groups to work out, how many sets or reps I should do, how I was supposed to target my "core," etc. It was overwhelming. And then - Nike Training Club. Specifically geared for women. Gives you 30-45 minute workouts and tells you what areas you are targeting. It tracks your workout, gives you rewards, has you using your body along with free weights and medicine balls, lets you listen to your own music, and it tells you exactly what to do. This is what I've needed all these years. It's a brilliant app. Props to Nike - I'm sold on this one.

ps: If you're big into running, another great Nike app is Nike+ Running. It maps out your run, calculates your pace, calories burned, and keeps an average log of all your activity. I used it during - and to prep for - Ragnar and I loved it.

3. Blog Lovin'

I prefer reading my blogs on the desktop, but there are just times that pop up when you're stuck waiting in a line somewhere, or you're on a long bus ride, or you're waiting on your husband to finish talking to someone about med school stuff so you can go on your date night. The Blog Lovin' app puts all of my blogs into one place. It shows me the newest posts I haven't read, gives me short little snippets so I can browse through them, and checks off the blogs I've read so when I go back to reading them on my desktop, everything's updated. I'll admit, I'm actually kind-of glad that Google Reader is going away. It forced me to check out Blog Lovin' and I can totally see what I've been missing out on all these years. This is so much better.

4. White Noise Ambience Lite

Raise your hand if you're one of those lucky people that can't sleep without a fan or some sort of noise on. Yep, that's me. I actually love sleeping in hotel rooms because those barely-working A/C fans are just so loud - they lull me off faster than my head can hit the pillow. I used to carry a travel-sized mini fan with me whenever we went on a vacation or spent the night at someone's house so I could have noise to fall asleep to. Now, I have it on my phone. And it is wonderful. This White Noise App is my favorite so far. It has the traditional floor fan that's enough to get me to sleep. But it also has other I-love-to-fall-asleep-to sounds, like a thunderstorm (one of my favorites), rain on a rooftop, and the crackling of a campfire.

5 & 6. Flashlight/Period Tracker

These are what I call my "practical" apps. I use the flashlight almost every night when I need to navigate my way to the bathroom or run downstairs to grab a glass of water. That light is insanely bright. And bonus - it tracks what direction your phone is pointing and will blink out an SOS signal in morse code if you're lost and trying to be found . The Period Tracker is just what it is - it helps you track that wonderful time of the month. Kinda weird, but I hate going to the doctor and being asked (every single time) when the last date of my period was. I always get a blank look on my face because I never remember. Seriously. I have no idea. And then they ask me if I could be pregnant and I usually reply with a "Well... I am married." This little awkward app keeps tabs on that for me. It also has a lot of other info, including fertile days and when you're ovulating, but I just use it so I won't have a little surprise sneak up on me. Awkward? You betcha. Totally practical? Definitely.

Well - those are my favorite apps! What about you? Have any apps that help you be a little more organized and on top of it?

Put an Egg in It

2013-04-03T16:29:00.004-07:00

I am a big fan of breakfast. It is my favorite meal of the day. The eggs and fruit and toast and ham and yogurt and french toast and jelly and biscuits and pancakes... There's such a wide variety to breakfast foods, each just as delicious as the other.

Lately, though, I've been craving eggs. Ever since I first made this Baked Egg Cup from The Simple Delights a few weeks ago, I've been hooked on incorporating over-easy eggs into other breakfast foods. The Baked Egg Cup is by far my favorite, but I've tried out a few other egg combos recently and I can't get enough. I've gotten some great ideas for sunny side up eggs from Apron Strings and there are a few more I want to try out soon (like these eggs in shaved asparagus nests!).

Let's start with the egg in ham cups. You may need to adjust the bake time accordingly depending on if your oven tends to cook slightly hotter or cooler and how runny you like your yolk.

Ham and Egg Cups (adapted from The Simple Delights recipe)

Ingredients:

Two slices of deli sliced Black Forest Smoked Ham (you can use your favorite ham for this, but I've tried other varieties and the black forest is - by far - the most delicious)

Salt & pepper to taste

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2) Spritz a small amount of non-stick cooking spray into an oven-safe, muffin-tin sized ramekin. Layer two slices of Black Forest ham together and line the ramekin with it.

3) Crack an egg into the middle of the ham. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

4) Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese. Let cool before serving.

At first I was using my muffin tin to make them, but I hated cleaning the entire tin just after making one cup. It took me a while, but it finally dawned on me to use my ramekins from World Market. They totally solved my problem. They're less than $1 a piece and cute as all get out. I actually went out and bought a few more because I feel like I'm always using them.

The other egg combos I've tried are:

- Eggs in sliced bell pepper cups

- Eggs in toast

- Eggs in sweet onion rings

You can't beat red and orange bell peppers with eggs. They are just-so-flavorful! I like to saute them first to get a nice rich flavor. And I semi-caramelize the onions before adding the eggs. My eggs didn't exactly cook in the onion rings so much as they covered them, but oh man - biting into the egg and getting a taste of a sweet, semi-caramelized onion in the middle? So good.

Go ahead and try adding eggs to some of your other favorite breakfast foods! I mentioned it once, but I'll say it again - the ham cups are still my favorite. I especially like to pair them with a puffed pancake (complete with powdered sugar and strawberries) and split it with the husband for a delicious morning meal.

Linking with: Home Stories A to Z, Crafty Texas Girls - The Scoop