Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Day Date with My Guys and Irish Bread


I am all about the day dates with my guys. And when carbohydrates are involved, that's an offer I can't refuse. Can I just tell you, Great Harvest Bread Company is the champion of free samples. You can pick from a selection of delicious breads and they cut you a huge slice and lather it in butter. I selected Irish Mint Chocolate bread and am ruined for life. No other bread will ever bring me that kind of joy ;).


Sadly I had to wave goodbye to the Irish Mint Chocolate bread when I waved goodbye to St. Patrick's Day. Until next year! Day dates with Husband and Nugget, however, will continue full swing. They are literally the best.


Monday, March 25, 2013

The Perfect Party Favor for Pennies: And Then We Saved

I may have gone a bit overboard on my 1-year-old's birthday. This became somewhat clear when I was hand crafting 2-centimeter-tall gold party hats for miniature woodland animals at 1:30 AM. But this is what I do people. I overachieve to a fault (at least when crafting is involved). Can I just tell you I am dying with excitement that a piece of my little Liam's party is featured on AND THEN WE SAVED today! I created the perfect little party favor for party guests and there are 3 reasons why they rock:
1. They cost under $0.60 each. (Holy buckets that's affordable)
2. They are versatile and, with changing only a couple things, can work for all kinds of events.
3. They are cute. The first rule of party favoring.

As an embellishment or accessory to the favors I created these little glitter-dipped paper feathers (tutorial below)...

To check out the rest of my party favor fun, check out THIS BLOG POST.

Supplies

Glitter (gold was my choice)

Glue (Just your basic Elmer's Glue)

Paper


Steps


First, poor some glue onto a plate...oh yeah. 


Second,  paint on the feather where you want the glitter. I cut out a bunch of feathers by hand and just eyeballed it. I didn't really have a pattern to follow, but you are more than welcome to copy my silhouette.



Third, make it rain (glitter) on that feather!


Fourth, dump the glitter off! Tada!


 Check more out HERE!




Friday, March 22, 2013

4 on Friday!

Folks it's Friday already! Usually I am jumping for joy for the weekend but to be honest this week went a little too fast for my liking. I think this is partly due to the fact that I am very busy with projects for my own blog and for the other 2 blogs I contribute to now!  Did you hear I am blogging for The Neighborhood? Did you know that Saturday (tomorrow!) my first post for And Then We Saved goes live (eek!)?

And let me just say...I LOVE my job. I love what I do every day. How many people can really say that? Not a ton, which makes me feel un-deserve-ably (just made that word up now) blessed.

Now for my 4 pins and insta-pics of the week...

Favorite Pins

 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

 Favorite Insta-pics

Are we friends on Instagram and Pinterest? If not, be my friend here and here and see what I am doing when I'm not on facebook, aruffledlife.com, or folding clothes.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

A Day in the Life: Liam

Everybody knows that being a 1-year-old is exciting and serious business. There are many responsibilities that a 1-year-old holds.
For example a 1-year-old must eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and take on the additional task of eating snacks.
Also, 1-year-olds are busy playing with blocks, tearing pages out of books, and tasting everything within reach.
Our little 1-year-old takes his job very seriously.
What does that job look like? You may ask.
Well I present to you a day in the life of the busy and sassy Liam:

If you were Liam, you would wake up between 8:45 am and 9:30 am. And while mom gets started on the laundry you would either help fold (a.k.a. unfold) clothes or sit quietly doing business (the only time Liam ever sits quietly is when doing #2).


After some laundry business you would demand breakfast immediately. It is very important that you cover your face in Nutella during breakfast because it's all about the pageantry of breakfast.

Time to take care of Jada. Liam always make sure that Jada gets outside and releases some energy. He also keeps tabs on a darling neighbor bulldog.
When dog watching has slowed down, it is very important to Liam to get stuck in the dresser drawers. You see, this is a task overlooked by many grown ups, but 1-year-olds know that if you want to do the job right, getting stuck in stuff is a must.
Now all that eating and laundry and dog stuff does wear a little Liam out. So when its 12:00 pm sharp, this 1-year-old nurses down into a nap. And if mom's lucky, she gets a couple hours to do her other job. And if she's the luckiest mom ever, she gets to hold that little 1-year-old for his whole nap!

Wake up! Nap time is over and we are back to work. Vacuuming is a very important job for Liam. He follows momma everywhere she goes, making sure she's doing a good job. Sometimes he even climbs on the vacuum to give it a little look-over.

And while a 1-year-old is intent on helping out...he makes sure to fit in a little self-love every day.




Whew the day has flown by and it's about time for dad to come home. A speed crawl to the door and window watching for dad...

More Nutella at dinner...
 And a family hike with mom and dad!

So before you think about becoming a 1-year-old, remember its kind of a lot of work and important stuff!



Monday, March 18, 2013

Go Mighty: My Life Goal List


At Alt Summit I had the privilege of meeting some fabulous ladies from a little project called Go Mighty. In an Alt class with the Go Mighty folks we laughed, we cried, we ate cupcakes. It was epic. And 2 months post-Alt I finally got around to starting my goal list. The thing with Go Mighty is they want you to live life. And sometimes living life entails making goal lists, sharing them publicly, and lets be honest-doing both those things takes some guts. It's cooler than just lists though (I know, I know...what in the hell could be cooler than lists?!). Go Mighty is also a social network where other people can help/sponsor you crossing things off your list, and you can help/sponsor them. What?! Very very cool. Hipster cool. That's cool.

And I did it.
I started my life goal list.
And as a goal I am adding 10 things to my list every week for the next 10 weeks.
I think 100 things ought to keep my busy!

Here are a few I started with:

- Take my husband to a Dallas Cowboy's game in Dallas for his birthday
- Roast a Thanksgiving Turkey without burning down the house or having it taste like crap
- Sip hot chocolate in my fanciest clothes at Angelina in Paris
- Sneak into an airplane bathroom with my husband ;)



read the rest of my life list goals (so far) here...

Friday, March 15, 2013

St. Patrick's Day Mocktails (times 3!)



Needing a little last minute St. Patty's day festives? I have just the thing for you.
Mocktails! In green, no less.
You see, after overdoing it the last couple weeks I probably could use a real cocktail. But we Mormons settle for mocktials, which I think is actually code for dessert in a liquid form. And guys, these mocktails actually turned out delicious and refreshing. They are lime-y and mint-y and yum-y. 
And they are of course all green. 

Mocktail #1: Mint Mania

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 cups club soda
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves (optional)
1 scoop lime sherbert

-mix everything but the sherbert together and pour into glasses, then add a scoop of sherbert for more sweetness

makes 6 drinks









Mocktail #2: Sherbert Sucker

3 ounces fresh squeezed lime juice
3 ounces carbonate lemonaid
1 scoop lime sherbert

- Mix lime juice and lemonade and add to glass. Finish off with a scoop of sherbert. Serve that sucker with a spoon!

makes 1 drink











Mocktail #3: Fancy Limeade

1/2 squeezed fresh lime juice
6 ounces carbonate lemonade
shaved ice

- Fill individual glasses with shaved ice. In separate container mix lime juice and lemonade. Add mixture to ice. 

makes 1 drink