My new hobby

The lack of posts lately is quite reflective of my current state. When it comes to our house, I've been uninspired, lazy, and have no motivation to take on any projects. Lord knows there's plenty to do! I've been focused on myself lately. Daily workouts and staying on top of my eating habits have been eating up all of my time...pun intended :)

Though I haven't done much in the house, I've still been a bit crafty. I had an idea that I wanted to make felt flowers. Sometimes a girl just has a need to use a glue gun. After research and finding some tutorials and inspiration here, here, and here, I was ready to make some flowers of my own. I decided to put them on a little girl's headband and give them to my neighbor (who is also student in my class). After an hour, and a 2nd degree glue gun burn- oops, here is my final product. Please disregard the Droid pics that were taken in my classroom:

And there they are! They're fun, cute and super easy to make. I just wish I was young enough to pull them off :)

Puppy love

 Check out my sweet puppies this morning.

This just warms my heart. Wishing you a fabulous Sunday!

What's Cookin' Wednesday'? Skinny Girl Edition

Hello Friends and a happy Groundhog's Day to you all! Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow today so here's to an early spring arrival. Can I get a heck yeah?

It's my favorite time of the week again and I can't wait to see what you're all cooking up, so with no further ado...

http://enjoythislifeofours.blogspot.com/

What's Cookin' Wednesday is my blog hop that mixes two of my favorite things: Cooking and gaining new followers. I get so tired of making the same recipes over and over again and I am looking to you, bloggy friends, to help spice up my kitchen. Here's how it works:

1) Must be a "This Life of Ours" follower to join
 

2) Blog about what's for dinner in your house or share an old post with a recipe that you love!

3) Scroll down to the bottom of this blog post and click on the link to enter.

4) Post your recipe (with the title of your blog) and you're ready to go!

5) Every Sunday night I will (try to) make one of the entered recipes and blog about it.
(entries must be in by 12:00pm on Saturday)

And here's what I'm cooking up this week:

California Style Scallop Quesadilla

(serves 1 really hungry girl)

This is a recipe that I made up this week that stays in program with Weight Watchers (remember my muffin top?). I started the program about two weeks ago and I can't tell you enough about how much I LOVE it! I hardly feel as if I'm dieting at all. This recipe is 10 points but is super filling, tasty and easy to make!

Ingredients:

1/4 red bell pepper chopped

1/3 small avocado chopped

1/8 red onion chopped

1 small mango chopped

2 tbs cilantro chopped

1 la tortilla factory tortilla

1/4lb scallops

lime juice (to taste)

1tbsp fat free sour cream

How to:

1. Put all veggies and fruit (minus avocado) and lime juice in a pan and cook until heated through

2. Cook scallops on a skillet (about 2 minutes per side

3. Put tortilla on pan and cook until slightly golden, flip and put cheese on top

4. Add scallops cooked veggies and avocado to tortilla. Close and cut

5. Use remaining veggie mix for the side dish.

6. Top with sour cream

Delicious and easy!

So, what are you cooking up this week?

Ready for rest, relaxation and romance

I have probably shared that the hubs will deploy for seven months later this year. Before he goes, we want to take a vacation. We love to travel and think vacations are very important for a marriage. In August we vacationed down the California coast, and while it was an incredible trip , it wasn't relaxing. This time around, we want to go the all inclusive route and trade our sightseeing shoes for flip flops and bathing suits. We want to eat, drink, relax, and spend quality time until our hearts and bellies swell. Kinda like this...

 

All photos via weheartit

I can feel the sun already. 

We're not quite sure where we want to travel this time around, so I'm asking for help from you, my lovely blog friends. Costa Rica seems to be calling my name, but we are open to other destinations. We've already visited The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Aruba, and Mexico so we would like to travel somewhere new. My only requirement is that the hotel is an incredible all inclusive resort, with amazing food, beaches, rooms, and pools. Please, please, please, share all of you wonderful vacation knowledge- we need it!

PS- Don't forget to visit my girl Meg over at Life of Meg and join in on her Mingle Monday. You won't be sorry!

What a find!

I've never won the lottery, or any major prize for that matter, but, after this weekend, I think I know how those lucky ducks feel.

Ever since we bought our Sumner table a few months back, I've been vying for a white bench in lieu of two chairs. I love the concept of a dining table with a bench. It tones down the whole "formal" eating vibe and brings a casual, welcoming feel to the table. The problem with benches is that they're expensive. I'd had no lucking finding anything I remotely liked for under $500 smackaroos.

Prior to this weekend, our seating situation consisted of  curbside treasures and local thrift shop finds for $10 and $15 a piece. They are all ladder back chairs and are white and different shades of natural wood. I love the idea of chairs that go together, but aren't part of a set. The eclectic look adds interest, texture and variety to what can be just a "blah" table set. Never mind the fact that the chairs that go with our table are over $300 a pop! No, thank you.

I mentioned last week that I was looking for new throw pillows to match my new living room shades. I headed over to TJ Maxx (have I mentioned how much I LOVE that store?) in the search of some pillows but, came up with nothing. As I was walking out of the store, in the corner of my eye I spotted something. When I realized what it was, my jaw dropped.

As though it was sent from the decorating gods themselves, there, in the middle of the furniture section, was a bench that was EXACTLY what I'd been looking for over the last four months. Rush top, white, distressed, seats two. Literally, the most perfect bench that anyone I had ever seen. The pricetag? $130. I could not believe it and used all of my might to quickly carry the bench to the cashier.

Don't you just love those finds where you don't even have to hesitate to purchase because it's so perfectly and exactly what you need? It doesn't happen often, but when it does...sweet, sweet victory.

I brought my glorious find home and placed her at the dining room table. She is perfect, gorgeous, and everything I ever wanted. Kinda what the hubs thinks of me :)

And here she is:

What do you think? Have you ever had a purchase that was so perfectly perfect that you just couldn't believe it? I'd love to hear!

The Real Slim Shadey

A few months back, the hubs and I decided that our living room needed an update. It was a bit too neutral and needed a new hue. Ever since the addition of H2Ahhh (dontcha just love that name?) to our living room, something has just been off. For a while, I couldn't quite put my finger on it, and then it hit me. The curtains that had once complimented our oh so neutral living room, were now detracting from the new color and the new windows that were installed back in November.

For the last two months, I lived with the curtains, but they were slowly wearing me down. They needed to go. I wasn't quite sure  exactly what I was looking for, but just like I found my sweet husband, I knew that when I stumbled upon "the one" I would just know. Can you tell I'm missing him these days?

Last weekend, in search of the perfect fabric, I headed to the local fabric shop to peruse the aisles and came up with zilch. I was feeling defeated until I headed to the rear of the store to the higher end fabric that I can't really afford. And this is where I got lucky. I nearly squealed with excitement when I found "the one" for $22.99/yard and found that it was 50% off. I was sold. Hook, line and sinker. Sure $11 a yard was still a little more than I wanted to spend, but I was too head over heals in love with this fabric, I just had to have it.

I'm such a sucker for florals...

At the register checking out, Lady Luck struck again. When the cashier rang up my five yards of floral gorgeousness, I thought the total seemed a little low. What should have been around a $65 purchase was $33. I figured everything was just on super sale. It wasn't until later that I realized the cashier had only charged me for two of my five yards of fabric. Score!

Sidenote, when this happens to you, do you speak up, or just get super excited inside and pray they don't notice? My rule of thumb is:

If it's a big chain store, I get super excited inside. If it's a mom and pop shop, I speak up. 

Don't judge.

Anywho, I got the fabric home and quickly began to iron my new shades...

Yes you heard me, iron. I'm a girl that owns a sewing machine but I don't know how to sew. At all. Here is the tutorial on how to make them, and the inspiration is from Thrifty Decor Chick.

It took about three episodes of Dexter hours to make and hang my new window treatments, but I now have three gorgeous shades in our living room that cost a mere $6.20 each. Amazing! What do you think?

And for those of you that like the side by side before and after, this is for you:

Now that these shades are up, I realize how heavy looking the old curtains were. I had no idea that they were pulling down the whole room! These new shades are just what I needed to brighten up and give the living room a face lift. I just love the open and airy feel. I can't wait to accessorize the room to match the new curtains! I'm on the hunt for a new throw, and throw pillows.

What do you think? Are you a fan of shades or did your prefer the old curtains? Have you ever gotten free merchandise due to cashier error? Did you speak up or take the money and run?.

Bathroom Renovation Part Four: Womp, Womp, Womp

Well hey there strangers! It's been nearly a week since I've posted anything. Please excuse me. With report cards due Friday, my new workout routine plus Macie's dog training class (we'll touch on those another day) and the fact that I'm hosting nearly 20 people for our monthly OSC (Officer's Spouse Club) meeting on Saturday, I'm wiped. Oh yeah, I've also taken on making new shades for the living room, felting headbands, and some other general redecorating and crafts. I'm exhausted just typing it all...

But, my dear bloggy friends, I have some bad news... 

Our bathroom is not yet complete. And the hubs is gone for a month. I could cry. Cue the violins.

Due to a last minute broken tile saw, and the wrong sized nipple (the faucet's not mine thankyouverymuch!) we've been delayed. I could probably finish it alone but I want to do it with the hubs. We started this together, and will finish it together. Plus, I think I'm just a smidge over this project. However, I do have some updates to show you. Care to see?

The last time I showed you the bathroom, it looked a little something like this. No lighting besides our floor lamp, no sink, and, most importantly, no commode.

These days, we have a mostly functional restroom and a complete floor. I have to tell you, I am LOVING it. The vanity is about 6 inches narrower than the one we took out and it makes our teeny tiny bathroom feel so much larger. A wise choice on our parts, if I do say so myself.

As for the shower, we have two of the three walls tiled. They're simple and classic. We're very happy with the results. If you take a look at our unfinished third wall, here's what's holding up our entire bathroom remodel.

The pipe that sticks out of the wall and into the faucet is called a nipple. This stinkin' nipple has made it very difficult for us as our faucet will not fit onto it. We have to get some expert help to advise us and, luckily, I have a friend coming over tomorrow to help. Once this problem is solved, we will be able to tile around it. Don't you just hate uncooperative nipples?

So there you have it, the progress that's been made in the bathroom. Luckily, we have two showers so our out of commission shower has not been too big of an issue. 

Next update you get will be the final reveal. Let's hope it's much sooner than later!