Smoothie Recipe

I am ashamed to admit that I had never actually made a smoothie at home until today. I think it turned out fantastic.

3/4 cup frozen fruit
1/4 cup frozen blueberries (because I had some on hand)
1/4 cup raw rolled oats
1 cup Dannon Lowfat Vanilla Yogurt (started with 1/2 cup but couldn't get the fruit to break down with that small an amount)

Blend it in a blender until smooth. I ended up needing to add just a splash of juice to thin it out.

 

 

Best Holiday Decorating Tool, ever!

These little clips are great. They are like Command hooks except they are made for hanging garland, lights, ribbon, etc. indoors. I use them to hang garland on my entertainment credenza. I would NEVER consider using tape or tacks on my favorite piece of living room furniture so these work great. I used them last year and they didn't leave any mark when I removed them after Christmas. And the adhesive back is replaceable. I have to go get more of the backs tomorrow so I can finish up my living room. Give these a try.

A conversation with myself...

I have been really sick twice in the last 3 months from cold and sinus infections. And I have been feeling like poop and tired a lot. So I sat myself down and had a stern 'come to Jesus' meeting with myself.  It went something like this:

My body: Look chick, this isn't working so well. You know better.
Me: Shut up. I don't feel good. My jeans are making me uncomfortable and I want a cookie.
My body: Are you flippin kidding me???? What do I gotta do to get your attention? You wanna feel bad all the time?? And don't you want to have a baby sometime soon? You gonna feed your kid crappy food???
Me: *paying attention* Your right, lets do this...

So I went grocery shopping last night and got lots of fruits and veggies. I found my bottle of vitamins that I bought but never opened several months ago. I located my running shoes in the back of the closet and laid out my exercise clothes for tomorrow morning (today being fast Sunday). Then I logged into www.livestrong.com after being gone for almost a year, entered my current weight, and saw this little beauty:

Terrific. Yeah, that is a widget I would want to add, right? So now I have to lose those 26 pounds to break even with the last good place. Doh!

So why am I sharing all of this? Well I guess for motivation for myself. I have put it out there in public. And also so you, my friends and family, will understand if I don't eat that yummy piece of pie at Christmas dinner. Or if I do eat the pie and then start running laps around your house, now you know  ;)

 

Anyone else had this struggle and want to offer advice? Leave me a comment below.

 

 

 

 



 

Easy Homemade Christmas Ornaments

Last year I was really needing more ornaments for my tree but hadn't budgeted for them so I needed to be creative and use something that I already had on hand. This is one of my ideas.

Old Christmas cards with beautiful pictures and canning lids

I painted the lids on both sides. Then I used the inside of a canning jar band as a template and traced  the part of the card that I wanted to use. I used the smallest diameter of the band so that I would have the painted lid as a sort of frame. I cut out the circles and glued them to the lid. I then hot glued a loop of ribbon onto the back so that it could be hung on the tree.

How easy is that? And I repurposed items that I already had so it was FREE :) 

Here are a few of my favorites:

 

These could be made with any picture or just decorated with paint and glitter. I like the home made Christmas feel of them and it was great to be able to use the Christmas cards that were sent to me in such a permanent and beautiful way. You could even mark who sent the card on the back of the ornament. I always date any new ornaments we put on our tree so we can remember when and how we aquired them. Let your creativity take over and make some of these for your tree.

 

Merry Christmas :)

The Reception Decorations

I can't take much credit for the reception decorations. I made most the the elements, but my awesome friends put it all together that morning. It turned out fantastic!!! I am so thankful for them!

The tables were covered with white table clothes. The centerpieces are more sunflower, mason jar, and burlap. The clear plates were set on top of sunflower yellow doilies.

The head table with these cute signs and yellow linen table clothes draped diagonally.

The guest book table: We put one of our engagement photos in a frame made of weathered barn wood. The Guest Book sign is wooden and made by a friend. The basket contains the bird seed packets that I made.

I stamped plain brown mini bags with sunflower and love bird stamps. I purchased the stamps and bags at Michael's. I used a tiny piece of tape to seal the back of the bag.

The gift table had a cute white basket for cards and had another engagement photo displayed. It also had a larger flower arrangement. This was placed one one side of the front door, opposite the guest book, so that our guest could unload the gifts without having to carry them across the room while greeting family and friends.

The cake table had the same yellow linen that was on the head dining table. We also served after dinner mints and chocolate mints along with the cakes. We displayed another engagement photo here. The toasting glasses were tied with jute and we toasted with sparkling apple cider.

The beautiful cake was so perfect for our wedding. I loved the detail on the cake and then the sunflower and burlap around the center section.  

 

The groom's cake. We are both huge Walking Dead fans so we both liked this. Jason's comment to everyone was, "We are married until one of us turns to dust. Luckily I married a clean freak!" :)

Our menu featured beans and cornbread, mini corn dogs, cheese balls and crackers, veggie platters with dip, and little cocktail wieners. Jason made the beans and they were the best I have ever had. He got many compliments on them.



We made favor bags with tulle and candy corn. I thought that was cute for a fall wedding. These were put into small metal buckets and placed on each table.


 

I am so happy with how beautifully the reception hall turned out. It was a great time to visit with our family and friends and celebrate our marriage. 

Wedding Decorations

We got our wedding pictures back and they are fantastic! I wanted to do a post about some of the decorations that I made. Maybe this will spark ideas for other brides to be who are working on a very limited budget and want to DIY the decorations.
Our theme was sunflowers and burlap. We wanted to do a rustic, simple, country wedding but didn't want it to go to far into the rednecky country way.
Here is how it turned out:

This was the setting for the ceremony, to give you some perspective. It is a little wooden chapel on land owned by Mr. Bob Abbot in Rison, Arkansas. He was kind enough to let us use it for our wedding. The chapel is surrounded by trees and has a lake behind it.

I made the wreath above the door by hot gluing sunflowers onto a vine wreath and hanging the letter with jute. The B is my new last name initial :) Looking back I should have wired them on so I could change them out easier for other flowers for different seasons. The idea was to use things that could then be reused in our home decor.

We used sunflowers arranged in mason jars and hung them on shepherds hooks along the brick walkway and on the picket fence. A friend of mine made some of these for her daughter's wedding and was kind enough to share with me.

 

 The groom wanted to showcase his "ostrich of love" in the courtyard of the chapel. So I added a cheap veil and bow tie to them. It added a touch of whimsy :)

 

 

For the inside of the chapel I kept it very very simple and minimalist. The rustic chapel was such a naturally beautiful place to me. And the view of the lake through the picture window at the front was amazing! Since the chapel has no electricity, the window and the double doors being opened provided natural sunlight on the chilly October morning.

This is a stunning view.

The wooden pews were fabulous so I just alterenated a candle arrangement and a flower arrangement on the floor at the end of each pew along the center.

The candle arrangement is a quart mason jar, wrapped with a piece of burlap and a sunflower. The candle stick holder is an antique design and fits onto the mason jar. The sunflower arrangement is just a pint mason jar with burlap gathered around it and tied with twine.

 

 

I made this sunflower ball by low temp hot gluing sunflowers to an 18 inch Styrofoam ball.This was probably the single most expensive thing I made due to the cost of the Styrofoam and the flowers.  I glued a small loop of twine to the top and we hung it with more twine around the rafter right above where we stood to say our vows. It added a beautiful pop of color. It was almost like standing under mistletoe when we kissed :)

 

We used a simple white isle runner and the flower girl tossed yellow flowers. I bought cheap yellow flowers and took them apart to make her petals because I could not find yellow petals anywhere! Turns out this way was much cheaper and they fell really well.

 

Our unity candle was another thing that I made because I could not find what I wanted. I bought an inexpensive candle set and decorated them to the theme of the wedding. I wrapped each taper candle with a strip of burlap and then wrapped the unity candle in burlap. I glued a wooden heart to the burlap. Voila! I also made the stand the unity candle is sitting on by taking the same type of taper candle holder and using E6000 glue to attach a glass pillar candle plate. I think it turned out cute!

 

 

The bouquets were sunflowers with greenery and tied with burlap bows. The beautiful young lady next to me in my baby sister and Matron of Honor. You will see more of her in another post about our wedding later on...

 

 

I hope our ceremony decorations helped to spark some creative ideas for you. I will be doing a separate post on the reception decorations soon!

My Aunt Kathy is still missing. Please help.

This is my Aunt Kathy. She is my mother's sister.  She hasn't been seen or heard from since February. She went missing from the home she shared with her boyfriend in Houston. She is orginally from Clovis, New Mexico. Houston Police Department Homicide Division is actively investigating her disappearance but haven't yet made any arrest. Please help us spread the word by sharing this poster or a link to this webpage. My grandparents, Buddy and Joyce Wasson, live in New Mexico. My grandpa is in ill health and I know this stress is making his condition worse. Mamaw Joyce is very worried and upset about her daughter. Kathy's 7 brothers and sisters, her children, and many many friends are praying for her return. Please Please take a look carefully at her picture and see if anything looks familar to you. Perhaps someone saw something and didn't realize the significance at the time. 
There is a YouTube video with more pictures of Aunt Kathy. Please view and share it as well. Kathy Lawson Arrendondo Video

Thank for you taking the time to read this. All prayers are welcome on behalf of Kathy and the family.