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Friday, March 30, 2012

clean tacos and a step back



This week was exhausting.  I painted a room black!  CRAZY!!  Torturous, but I'm loving how it turned out.  I'll share pics later when it's all put together.  So with that fun project and life in general I wish I could say I threw together several healthy meals for my family, but it just didn't happen.  I did however see this recipe on Beautifully Rooted.  It turned out to be a great thing to throw in the crock pot and then eat quick before we were out the door for soccer.




It's called Easy, Fresh and Clean TACOS!!

You combine chicken, garlic salt, sliced onion, frozen corn, can of diced or stewed tomatoes and taco seasoning all in a crock pot and let it cook 8 hours on low, or 4-5 hours on high.  Shred and then just pile the meat on some corn tortillas.  Add some cheese, cilantro, light sour cream and there you have it...a really easy and healthy meal.  FAST.



Before I announce the winner of the Beautiful Soul piece I just wanted to let you girls know I'm taking a little break.  I've been going through the motions lately.  I'm in a burnout rut and I've felt for a long time that I need to step back a bit.  I have a tendency to ignore that voice and keep on going because blogging is my favorite thing, but I need to be obedient.   


So for the next few weeks I'm going to turn off my computer...EKKK!  I'm going to take walks.  I'm going to jump on a plane, and fly several thousand miles away with my family, and do nothing but take pics and lay in the sun!!!!  And when I get back hopefully the creative bug will bite, and I'll get some things added to my Etsy store that I've had on my heart for awhile.  It should be good.  Really really good.  I'll miss you something awful.  I know I'll go through withdrawal from hearing from you...but I'll be back;)



The Winner of the give-away is:










So here's where you grab my button, link up and share what you've been feeding your family!!  Thanks girls.  Keep taking pictures of your meals.  You'll need some recipes to share when I get back;)





Have a blessed day.





530.  a chance to regroup
531.  soccer season begins
532.  quiet time
533.  rediscovery
534.  vacation with my sweet peeps

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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

shifting focus



I had a dream last night that I was in Paris with my mom and dad.  We were in the coolest store ever. When I got outside I noticed the Eiffel tower, and I went to reach in my purse to pull out my camera and I didn't have my purse.  I ran back into the uber crowded store and frantically looked everywhere for it without any luck.  I woke myself up crying.


My camera is by far my favorite earthly possession.  It's an extension of me.  It gives me the chance to timeline my life.  It captures, documents and tells our story.  I'll let you into a little secret...I actually like taking pictures more than I like painting.  I know!  Crazy!!





A few weeks ago I dropped my favorite lens.  I quickly swooped it up and put it on my camera to see if it was okay.  It took me a bit to get it on.  I had to kind of force it on.  Once it was on it worked.  Yay!  Fast forward a couple of days to when I tried to remove it...uh not happening:( My camera is now officially a fixed 50mm!  Dangit!!!  To have it fixed will ultimately be expensive and I'll be without my baby for 4-6 weeks.




In the scheme of things that's not a huge deal.  At least it's my cheapest lens...my favorite lens.  It could stay on forever and I would still take lovely photos, but I'm bummed.  Before I dropped my lens I was struggling with lens envy.  I had my eye on a new one, a very expensive, completely unnecessary lens that in my blurry eyed lens lust would have given me the perfect shots. 


I'm convinced God works in mysterious ways. Not sure if He allowed me to drop my lens to teach me a lesson, but it definitely did. Amazing how I no longer think about that shiny new lens. I'm just grateful to have a camera that works. I'm content with my fixed 50 mm shots. Something in me shifted to gratitude instead, and that's a very cool thing to have in focus. 





Have a blessed day.






525.  eyes being opened
526.  fresh paint
527.  antiquing with my joannie
528.  dairy queen dipped cone
529.  recognizing that i have more than enough





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Sunday, March 25, 2012

secret garden



Hello my sweet friends.  It seems this last week that every living thing in nature has finally awakened.  The birds are full of song.  The little buds have burst forth on most of the trees, and they are filled with blossoms, and now the leaves are starting to unfurl.  It's breathtaking.  Nature seems to be showing off and I'm it's biggest fan... practically clapping my hands with delight!


I was watching an episode recently of Yard Crashers on HGTV.  Have you seen that show?  Ahmed Hassan...master landscaper person, goes to various home improvement stores and ambushes people.  What I wouldn't give to be in one of those Lowe's or Home Improvement stores when he strolls up with the cameras and crew.  Seriously if you happen to work for the show and know where he'll be next let me know...wink, wink;)  My yard would be perfect for your show.  It would be like hitting the landscape lottery.  If you saw my backyard you would understand my excitement. 



Nice green propane lid.



Oh wait you CAN see my backyard!  Here it is in all it's glory...ha!  One giant mudpit.  We have someday dreams of a patio, curvy edges, firepit...GREEN grass!  It will happen, but for now we are in waiting.  It takes some major moolah and/or know how to pull of a beautiful yard.  Unfortunately we don't have either right now, BUT we can dream and who knows maybe Ahmed could help a girl out;)


Speaking of dreaming.  Remember my sweet new friend Tammy??  THIS is her backyard!  Uh I think if I lived here I'd never go inside.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Her honey is all about gardening.  That's his passion and it showed.

She was so sweet to take me on a little yard tour.  We talked veggies.  We talked herbs.



I took pictures of every little thing.  Cause that's what I do.  The sky was so pretty through the blooms.


They had a sweet little path that led to this...


enchanted area.


They had sweet little flowers here


and there.



Nothing really speaks to me or makes me see God's beauty more than nature.   It's His gift to us.  Too bad the land has to be toiled!  Wouldn't it be great to just walk outside and throw some seeds into the air and magically have yourself a secret garden??  Dang that Adam and Eve!  They really messed it up for the rest of us;)  



Here's to a bright new week ahead.  I'm curious do you have a secret garden??



Have a blessed day.





**OH and it's not too late to link up to last Friday's post. One linked reader will win my beautiful soul giveaway. If for some reason the linky thing is not working, just link to your post in a comment, or give the recipe. 




520.  buds and blooms
521.  the promise of a new season
522.  breakfast today with my sugar sistas
523.  making it to 5,000 meters rowing



524.  big chick's first slumber party


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Friday, March 23, 2012

the smoothie that rocks my world...and a GIVE-AWAY!



Good morning friends.  We finally made it to Friday!  I'm going to share one of my favorite recipes with you this morning.  I kind of made it up myself or tweaked it from various sources.  It's my mango smoothie.  It's also a really great snack for your kiddos when they get home from school.  It's the perfect blend of healthy and yummy:)



When I'm on the wagon and doing really good, it's usually because I started out the day drinking this!  Not having bread in the morning somehow wires me to watch carbs the rest of the day.  If I eat toast, or waffles or whatever then that's all I crave.  Weird.  For instance ya'll know I'm pmsing.  Yesterday I had 2 pieces of toast for breakfast, a package of Ritz crackers for lunch...with swiss cheese and then before dinner I ate 3 scones!  Oh yeah and before bed I made more toast!  What in the WORLD??  Anyway that no bread thing isn't working for me as of late. 



When I make my smoothie I load up the blender with tons of spinach...or a mixture of kale and spinach.  We are talking two giant handfuls.  I add approximately 1 cup of water, or you could add milk or a little orange juice if you wanted.  Then add one scoop of protein whey powder...or  half a scoop if you are watching calories.  For me this step is super important because the protein keeps me from getting hungry in an hour.


I finish it off with one teaspoon of local honey, a few chunks of mango (but you can use any fruit) and two heaping spoonfuls of Greek yogurt.  Again the Greek yogurt adds protein!  Mix until smooth and creamy.  SO GOOD!  I also make variations of this with peanut butter, and bananas or raspberries.  You really can't go wrong.  If you know of a great green drink make sure to share your recipe with us.




I'm attempting to grow the Feed my Family Friday posts.  I think alot of you lurk on Fridays;)  Recipe posts tend to be a little boring in my book, but it's keeping me accountable with my goals for the year of feeding my sweet family.  AND according to my linky page views the links are receiving between 6,000-7,500 hits.  Who knew?  That's so that's amazing!  So link up friends:)


Okay so this week I'm offering a smaller version of my beautiful soul to one of my linked up readers.  Don't worry if you don't have a blog, you can still be thrown in the pot if you leave a recipe in the comment section.  So grab my button pretty please and link to your recipe post...not to your blog url.  I'll leave the linky thing open until next Friday and announce the winner then.  Can't wait to see what you've been feeding your families.





feed my family friday







Have a blessed weekend.




514.  sweet mango...makes me feel like i'm in hawaii
515.  a new playlist
516.  the hunger games movie comes out!
517.  second chances
518.  phone calls with long distance friends...brings me out of the pit
519.  happy little songbirds


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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

beautiful soul...give-away!



Good morning girlies.  I'm linking with my friend Alicia today for her new Happy Day project.  Wish I was feeling it.  I hate PMS.  It seriously distorts everything doesn't it??  Life is sweet, but PMS sucks.  Anyhoo...her assignment was to visit a nursery.  Luckily that was on my to-do list anyway.




I bought the cutest little red chicken feeder awhile back when I was in Illinois, and I knew just what I wanted to do with it.  Last year when I visited my friend Lissa she bought one and it was filled with succulents.  So me with my limited brown thumb thought maybe...just maybe, I could try that for myself.



It turned out really cute.


Speaking of cute;)

(heart banner is from Alicia's shop)

They are going on my fireplace mantle, but today they are adjusting.  I've got them freshly planted and sitting on my deck soaking in some light and love.  Once a week I'm going to sit them outside, so they can get a healthy dose of sunshine.  I'm hoping that will do it.  There are a few cactus mixed in and the lady said they need lots of light.  EEEK!  Who knows how long they'll live, so my project might fail, but at least I tried;)


Speaking of projects...I'm going to be adding some new art to my shop soon.  I'm loving the painted beachy wood look right now.  This beautiful soul is my newest piece.  It just looks like it was made for that spot doesn't it??  To celebrate SPRING and just life in general I'm going to give-away a smaller version of my beautiful soul. 


To enter you'll need to link up to the Feed my Family Friday post this week...I'll leave the link open until NEXT FRIDAY and that's when I'll announce the winner.  
Good luck ladies:)




Have a blessed day.










510.  my red chicken feeder
511.  a new creative direction
512.  my fergie love
513.  a day to get things done



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Sunday, March 18, 2012

eye candy with tammy



Hello my friends.  Hope you all had a beautiful weekend.  We wore shorts...IN MARCH!  Can you believe this weather??  I was looking back over some pictures recently and found these tucked in my Photoshop files. 


One of the moms I met at Mulan turned out to be an absolute sweetheart...actually several of them were:)  From the second I met her I instantly loved her spunk.  You know some people just have that spark...that thing that draws you to them.  That was Tammy.  Recently she invited me into her home, and then we spent the day going to all her favorite stores.  What an amazing treat. 





Doesn't she kind of look like Beth Moore??  She's a little spitfire too.  When I told her that she resembled Beth she didn't  know who I was talking about.  I need to introduce them.  Everybody needs to know Beth.  You know we are tight right??...ha! 



I got this picture of her last year at a conference.  I think anyone who sits under her teaching feels a connection...like you know her and would love for her to live across the street.  Anyway when I stand next to Tammy I tower her.  Oh how I love to tower;)  I'm only 5'4" so that feeling doesn't happen very often.





Her home was lovely.  It was rich, elegant and eclectic.  She uses lots of greens and oranges in her decor.  Did you know those are my two favorite colors?  I don't use them to decorate with though.  Hmmmm wonder what that means?




She had a wine room in her house!  Uh can you say that with me...she had a wine room IN HER HOUSE!  It was chilled to the perfect temperature and everything.  I've never seen anything like that before.  Of course I don't drink wine, so it was a little lost on me, but I can appreciate that it's a cool thing!

 



Her daughter Chelsea's room.  I met Chelsea backstage at Mulan...sweet girl.  She's 17.  I can't imagine having my girls be that age.  I know it's coming, but it slightly terrifies me.  Anyway this is a self portrait Chelsea did.  I think she's amazing.  I am really bad at drawing faces, so I can thoroughly appreciate how this girl rocked it!  Love the freckles. 






Okay so after a little coffee break and tour of her home we hit the town.  Wouldn't it freak you out to have me come over?  Me with my big camera in tow.  Snapping pics here and there.  She was such a sweetheart and didn't care at all!  Love that.




We hit some of her favorite shops and can I just say shopping here is the one thing that makes me really miss the Midwest.  It's expensive!  The consignment stores she took me to were more than I would have paid for brand new.  Like WAY more!  I'm pretty thrifty.  If I see a little coffee table I like, if it's coming home with me from a consignment store it better be less than a $100...way less.  I found one I loved for like $450.  WHAT IN THE WORLD?  What is that about?


She introduced me to a very upscale shop called Williams & Sherrill.  Over my budget, but worth the trip.  It was eye candy everywhere you looked.  They specialize in fabrics and wall paper, and the whole front section was home decor.  I bought one little thing.  A heavy metal home sign...black and white.  I think it might find its place on our red front door.   



I wanted to take pictures of everything in there, but I was afraid I would get scolded.  I hate getting scolded, so this is all you get.  Sorry.  Thanks for tagging along with us.  Are there any stores in your town that just inspire you?  Tell me all about it;)





Have a blessed day.





505.  an adventure day
506.  shorts in march
507.  dark chocolate pomegranate seeds
508.  roasted plantain chips
509.  my new nude sandals

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