Watermelon And Other Mixed Fruit Smoothie

Summer is almost over...hard to believe...and before we know it, fall will be here! Ack! I can't wait! :)

I made a quick run to the grocery store this morning with my favorite girl and bought tons of fruit and ice cream, among other things, to make a delicious fruit smoothie you have to try.

Source

Ingredients you will need:

1/2 cup of watermelon

1/4 cup of blueberries

1 banana

1/4 cup of milk

1/2 cup of vanilla icecream or yogurt

A few ice cubes

Blend together all ingredients for a delicious and soothing smoothie you will love!

I also love that this recipe can be done with almost any type of fruit. I believe this is my first time trying to make a smoothie with watermelon, but it is soooooo good I should've done it sooner.

Hope you try it out!

Thanks for stopping by!  :)



Weekend Updates!

Hi everyone!

Good morning to you!

This weekend was a little busy, in a great way, for us.

On Saturday, we volunteered with the homeless to talk with them and serve them breakfast. It is something we enjoy doing with our church family because we get to see God work in many different places. I talked with one lady named Gwen who loved spending time at the library during the week reading. I thought that was so cool that she enjoyed doing that. We also shared some other stories with each other and it was just amazing to sit down and talk with her. :) Our church volunteers once a month so hopefully we will see her again next month to catch up.

After that, we got to go home for a little bit before heading out to a picnic at the park in our area. We wanted to celebrate our daughter turning 1 so we invited a few friends out for some pizza, chips, drinks, and dessert. It was so fun watching all of the kiddos play together and letting the adults talk and catch up.

Sunday we went to church service and worship and met up with a friends of Chris' (my hubby) that he has known since college. Man, that seems like long ago!

We went to grab some lunch at Red Robin (YUMMM!!!) before heading to the beach for some ice cream and conversation. It was good to have a busy and planned weekend but it goes by so fast.

Our beach at night!  :)

So how was your weekend? Was it fun? :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Family Room- Moving Things Around

Good afternoon, friends!

My daughter and I spent a good morning at the beach with some friends we know and we had an awesome time. :) Tess has been to the beach a few times before, but it is always neat to see the new things she is learning when we go. She loves to play in the sand and by the water, and today we actually used a shovel and a bucket a little bit. YAY for new learning experiences!

So today, I wanted to post more about our family room. Things are changing with it constantly until I find the right fit for everything we have, but I manage to snap some photos for you.

Please ignore the "messiness" of the house- I didn't get a big chance to clean up because we have been busy, but these photos will give you a good idea of my plans for our room.

So we had an L-shaped black leather couch that took up a lot of space in our family room and it wasn't really practical. So, we are giving it away to a thrift store and I replaced it with these two armchairs and a sofa.

I made this striped pillow and the fabric is from Fabric.com.

Another pillow I made. :)

A quick picture of our unfinished mantle. I can never figure out how to decorate this thing year-round so it is always changing.

This picture cracked me up when I uploaded it. The lady on TV looks hilarious with her expression. I just captured that at the right time- and it wasn't planned F.Y.I.

Here you can see all of our daughter's toys. They have a place once she is napping or in bed so it doesn't always look like this, don't worry.  ;)

I just wanted to give you an idea of how our room is coming along.

There is still much to do, but I am taking my time on it- no rush. :)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked our very "mini" room tour.



Family Room Plans

Hi there! So we still haven't been able to get the family room changed up because, like I said in my last post, we have to get our old couch out of the family room in order to set all of the seating up. I tried to copy and paste a picture of what I am going to do with our family room so you get an idea, but couldn't get the program I was using to do that....bummer!!

I am trying to work on getting some kind of plan up on the blog so you can see what I am thinking about doing. Hopefully by later today I can do that so it is ready to post tomorrow.

But another quick recap- we do have a corner fireplace, which is great and all, but it makes it a little hard to position furniture in a room because of it. We want the fireplace to be a focal point, and not just the TV, so I have a few ideas of how to move our new furniture around so everything works around that idea.

So after searching, and searching, and searching for pictures that look like what our family room set up is like, this is the closest I came and I tell ya, it is pretty close to how our room is shaped! Yay for pictures on the internet!!

We have a corner fireplace just like the one here (except for all the pretty moulding) and a TV that sits on a white dresser like the one pictured below.

After seeing this photo and the size of the room, it made me excited because I'd like to do something similar with our family room. Ahhh!! The choices to make! :)

Hopefully I will be back with more pictures tomorrow for you.

Thanks for stopping by!



Updates to Our Home

Hi there! I hope you are all doing well. I haven't posted in a few days and am sorry about that, but over the weekend I got the hives and was not feeling well. Have you ever had the hives before? It is not a pleasant experience, especially when you have a little one who loves to run around everywhere and requires a lot of attention. Thankfully, my husband was able to take a few days off from work to help out around the house and he took good care of me. After taking some medicine, I am feeling so much better and hope to get caught up on some things around the house.

I don't have pictures to post today because we are in the process of rearranging our family room up a bit. I have a few different things I want to try out before revealing anything on the blog and it may take a while. But for a quick recap, we are getting rid of an old leather couch we have had for years and replacing it with a new sofa we got for free from a friend (I am slipcovering it) and we are also going to have 2 armchairs in our family room that we didn't have room for before. I bought the two armchairs months ago at a ReStore in the area and made dropcloth slipcovers for them. 

I am excited to get the family room finally done, but movers won't come until Friday to get our old couch so it has to wait until then. Boo!!

I also bought new paint for the dining room which will finally go with the colors of rest of the house. Sherwin Williams was having a paint sale, which ends today, 40% off paints and 30% off supplies. YAY for great sales! Check them out if you need to purchase any paint and/or supplies.

Well, that is a quick run-down of some of our plans and I hope to get some pictures posted soon of the progress.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Monday! 

Braised Cod with Orange and Soy

Hello there! How are you doing this fine morning?

Sorry for not posting yesterday, but my family and I have been under the weather the past few days but we are now getting much better- praise God! We have been thankful for rest and recovery. :)

Today's post is about a delicious meal you can make right in your own home and it doesn't take too long to cook.

Here are the ingredients you need for this meal:

(FYI- I tweaked this meal to make it my own from a recipe magazine and it still turned out fabulous!)

*1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

*Cod fish (or your favorite fish to cook)

*1 tablespoon minced ginger

*1-2 tablespoons minced onions (or 1 fresh onion)

*1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning or Oregano

*3-4 tablespoons of orange juice

*2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

*1/4 cup of water

*cooked rice, for serving

*green beans, for serving

Directions:

Cook cod until done. What I did was heat our oven to 350 degrees and cooked it in the oven for 10-12 minutes and completed the rest of the cook time in the skillet (more on that soon).

In a large skillet, heat oil and add ginger, onions, and Italian Seasoning until the onions soften. Next, add orange juice, soy sauce, and 1/4 cup of water. Bring to a simmer and add green beans and cod fish to skillet and cook until the fish is opaque throughout.

Serve with rice and add cheese to rice if you'd like- we did! :)

Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Passover

Last night, my husband and I were reading through a few chapters in Exodus and we also read Psalm 23. As we read through these chapters together, I saw things brought to mind that either I had easily forgotten or had never noticed before. Sometimes when we read scripture, I think that what we are about to read is going to be something I already know about, but then something new jumps out to me that I had never noticed before and it gets pretty exciting when that happens! I guess that can happen to anyone who reads a favorite book through more than once or watches a movie a few times. Maybe this isn't the greatest example, but I have seen the movie Dumb and Dumber about 11 times (and still laugh at every scene)! I know that sounds a little crazy, and maybe it is, but every time I watch Dumb and Dumber, there are new things I see and lines I pick up on that I didn't before.

To be more specific, as we were reading through Exodus 12, the Passover, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron to tell the people of Israel to take a male lamb that is without blemish and offer it up and take some of the blood to put up on the two doorposts of their houses. The blood on the doorposts of each home was to be a sign so that when the Lord passed over them that night, no plague would strike them (The plague of death I am talking of can be found in chapter 11 of Exodus and Chapter 12:29-32).

What became more clear to me this time as we read these verses was that this lamb that the Israelites were offering up was a symbol of the perfect and blameless lamb that was to come years later. That perfect lamb is Jesus Christ who was sacrificed on the cross in our place for our sins.

Knowing this will help me realize the importance of Easter- not just as a holiday to eat and gather with family, but for its main importance and that is the Risen Lamb, Christ, from the dead after he was crucified.


Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Monday!

Inspirational Entryway Photos

We have a pretty open entryway with no storage space whatsoever so we have had to make due with it. I have been thinking about how to add more storage space downstairs for many things such as books, toys, blankets, coats, shoes, etc! Right now these are just pictures that have me dreaming, but hopefully one day we can build something like it in our home for more storage.

Here are some of the inspirational photos I found on Houzz.com's website. It's a great site to check out.

Traditional Entry design by Minneapolis Architect Ron Brenner Architects

I love the simplicity of this picture and the amount of storage these built-ins provide.

Eclectic Entry design by Portland Architect Emerick Architects

Okay, so this one isn't about storage in an entryway, but I thought it was a really neat way to dress up a dining room.

Modern Dining Room design by Photographer Elad Gonen & Zeev Beech

I love the color patterns in this picture and the light fixture. Plus, the storage here is pretty nice too!

Traditional Entry design by Portland Interior Designer Garrison Hullinger Interior Design Inc.

This one is just plain gorgeous. I love everything about this space.

Traditional Entry design by Atlanta Kitchen And Bath Teri Turan

Another pretty simple storage solution to an otherwise empty and straight wall.

Modern Laundry Room design by San Francisco Architect yamamar design

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Well, that is all I got for today. I hope you enjoyed more pictures of storage solutions and hopefully these images inspire you like they have for me.

Have you been able to add any built-ins to your home?

Really Neat & Inspiring Living Areas

Good morning! Today I just wanted to write up a quick post about inspiring living rooms which I love. I found the following pictures on Houzz.com and hope to get some good ideas for us to use in our home.

Enjoy!

I love this picture below because if we ever change our dining room into a library/conversation room, this would be what we are looking for to do in our home. We still need our dining table so it would get moved to another area in our home, but it hasn't been done permanently just yet (that is if we really decide to do it).

Traditional Living Room design by Atlanta Interior Designer Janie K. Hirsch, ASID


I love this next picture because of the cubed storage that is being used as a room divider. Definitely something we may need in our living room.

Eclectic Living Room design by Charlotte Interior Designer Jane Ann Maxwell


This room is great because of the plethora of seating you get with this space. The room is neutral too and I love it!

Contemporary Living Room design by New York Interior Designer MuseInteriors


Love this room so much!! I really like the circular table in the middle of the room along with the chairs and table by the window. The layout of the living room is not too shabby either. If only I can do something like this in our house!

Traditional Living Room design by Charleston Interior Designer Margaret Donaldson Interiors


Not so much a fan of the decor, but the seating arrangements with the corner fireplace is genius! We have a corner fireplace, so this is something we might be able to do as far as the seating arrangements go.

Contemporary Living Room design by Chicago Interior Designer jamesthomas, LLC

I am still on the look-out for more inspiring photos of living spaces because we have a corner fireplace, which we do love, but it has been a little hard trying to arrange our furniture to make it more of a focal point.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed seeing these photos too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Navy Striped Pillow {New Addition}

Hi there and good morning! I hope everyone has a wonderful and happy Tuesday today.

After 2 weeks of family and friends visiting around here, things are starting to slow down a bit so I can finally get a few small projects done. :)

Today, I want to post about a pillow update I recently made for one of our chairs. I figure pillows can add a pop of color to a room and personality and they are easy to make if you have the right fabric on hand. Plus, you can always switch out the older fabric with something newer if you so choose so that is why I didn't hesitate much to make this.

So without further ado, here are some pictures of our new navy pin-striped pillow.

I slipcovered 2 armchairs that were purchased at a ReStore using some dropcloth fabric a while back. I followed an easy tutorial online and sewed away to make these slipcovers. They may not be perfect, but we love them anyways and they are super comfy to sit in. But you can see that one of our armchairs is lacking a little but of color.

Our armchair had a plain pillow laying on it and I wanted to add some navy in the mix so I purchased this pin-striped fabric online.

I really love the pin-stripes next to our floral pillow. :)

I have been a fan of stripes ever since I was a little girl, so it made sense to add it to one of our pillows.

Do you have striped pillows anywhere in your home?

I hope you like our new pillow!

Thanks for stopping by!

Reflection

Good morning, everyone!!

I hope that you all had a nice and relaxing weekend recently. We had family in town for 2 weeks and it was really great to see them all. Whenever family and friends visit, it is a good reminder to us of how much we are loved and cared for. Our daugther also enjoyed her time with family. It was great for us because she really tired herself out with all of the activities we did the last 2 weeks, which means she slept so well at night!

Well, today I just wanted to quickly pop in to let you know that I should be back with another project tomorrow. I am excited about this project because I recently ordered some beautiful fabric for this quick project and was super happy when it was delivered to us last week. Actually, I ordered 2 types of fabric, but I will show you the one tomorrow and the other fabric on Wednesday!

Stay tuned!  :)

Here are just a few pictures of our week while family visited. Enjoy!

Thanks so much for stopping by!



Smoked Salmon Quesadillas

Good morning, everyone!

I am back today on this Friday to share with you one of the recipes I made for my daugther's birthday. I made 3 main dishes and we had lots of sides to go with it, but this recipe was by far one of my favorites.

It is called smoke salmon quesadillas and is pretty simple to make.

Here is what you need:

4 ounces of lite cheddar cheese

3 ounces of cream cheese

1/4 cup of sour cream

green onions, chopped

1-2 teaspoons dill, minced

4  8-inch flour tortillas

4-5 smoked salmons, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

Okay! Are you ready for the directions? Here we go!

Blend cheddar cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, onion, and dill in a small bowl. Spread your cheese mixture evenly over two tortillas. Divide cooked salmon over the cheese mixture and place remaining tortillas on top of salmon. Press down gently.

Then, you will want to heat up your skillet and brush olive oil onto your skillet. Once pan is heated, place 1 quesadilla to the pan and cook until brown spots appear on the bottom of your tortilla. This will take about 1-2 minutes. Flip quesadilla to brown the other side.

Once these are cooked, cut quesadillas into wedges and serve immediately!  :)

It is delicious!! Everyone loved it so I will be making it again for guests in the future.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoy your weekend!!

Part II of the Party

Good morning, friends!

I am here with another post about our daughter's birthday party.

We kept things pretty simple this year with decorations and such but still had a wonderful time celebrating our daughter's first birthday!!

Here are some more pictures for you to enjoy!

For dinner, I decided to go a little coastal with the food and made 3 main dishes with sides as well.

First up, I made a black bean salad with avacados.

Delicious!!

I also made some salmon quesadillas with a cream cheese filling.

Yummy!!

And lastly, I made a chicken and salsa dish with diced tomatoes and corn.

So goooood!!!

I plan on posting tomorrow for the salmon quesadilla recipe.

You have to try it out, especially if you love salmon and cream cheese.

These dishes were a hit at the party and I would definitely make them again!

Thanks for stopping by!



Birthday Party and Birthday Princess

Hi everyone!! Sorry I have been missing from the blog for a few days, but we have had family and friends in town and it has been pretty crazy (in a good way) busy for us, but I finally have some time to blog about the birthday party.

I didn't go overboard in setting up for our daughter's birthday party since she is turning 1, but I did do some things around the house so I will be taking today and tomorrow to show you some pictures of the set-up. :)

So this was the overall look of the dining room for the party (minus the pictures of all of the presents on the floor).  :)

I hung some puff balls from the ceiling (which were made out of coffee filters and Dollar Tree tissue paper), added some greenery to the table, and some fresh flowers.

To make the puff balls, I used tissue paper from the Dollar Tree and rolled them into a ball.

These were going to become the base of the ball for the coffee filters.

My hubby (yes, he totally helped me make these) and I made some flowers out of these coffee filters. We put two of them together and then hot glued them onto the tissue paper.

Then we hung them up with some string and some yarn (for extra sturdiness).

I still really love our painted tree mural and the idea of placing family pictures onto it. :)

It adds a little bit of a personal touch to our room!

And here is our little princess beauty with her first pair of pink sunglasses!! What a lady!

Stay tuned for more updates and pictures tomorrow!

So how do you decorate for your child's birthday?

Thanks for stopping by!