The longest week of my life....

Have you ever had one of those weeks where it felt like it lasted forever but flew bye? But it was a super demanding week? Yes that was this past week. I had a big paper due for my doctorate program. I was having such a hard time writing it. Therefore, during class I was writing it, on Thursday I was writing. Then we went out for a tasty dinner. I worked on my citings on Thursday night. Friday I turned it in. I was over it. Friday I wore the outfit pictured below, with my headband from Groopdealz. Then Friday night we went over a friends house for a fire and some marshmallow roasting, yummy. Saturday we went down the shore to work on the yard. The hurricane really messed it up. It was a labor intensive day. Then at night we went on a double date with my dad and stepmom. Sunday I went to my friends bridal shower and wore this fun dress from LOFT. And our titanic picture was finished getting framed at Michaels (during their 75% off sale). Score! It's massive.

Groopdealz Headband (I get deliveries from Groopdealz daily!)

This is the print of the picture we saw when we went to the Titanic Exhibit.  I'm obsessed with the Titanic

and Leo, but I got it custom framed at Michael's during their 50%+25% off sale.  Saved so much money!  It came out great as you can see! Now it hangs above our couch and it's massive.

And this is my outfit for the Bridal Shower.  I got it at Ann Taylor LOFT, and it was 40% off of $79.99.  And it's in this photo where you can see that my face got some color from working outside down the shore on saturday, but my arms, not so much.  Ugh.  Hopefully it didn't look that bad in person.

Tuesday snooze day

Tuesday is my early day and it's so easy to rationalize sleeping longer when you're still in bed. I start by giving up doing my hair, giving up starting dinner in the crockpot, foregoing makeup, the list goes on and on.

Dinner is in the Crockpot!

Breakfast is all set as well.

Monday Monday...

A new work week is beginning and a new list of things to do.

Something's leftover from last week...
Finish sewing pillow covers
Paint chalkboard calendar for kitchen

This weeks menu...
Monday: chicken pesto paninis with tomatoes & mozzarella cheese
Original pin here.  I changed from turkey to chicken and axed the avocado and just stuck with the pesto.
Tuesday: shredded chicken tacos with black beans and Spanish rice
*this is a recipe my sister shared with me that I love and use frequently.
Thursday: spaghetti and homemade meatballs
*this one is all in my head of course.

This is my Monday outfit. Red skinnies from old navy, navy and white striped tee from tj maxx, navy scarf and brown metallic flats from target.

Dinner update: the chicken pesto paninis were DElicious! Highly suggest. I broke out my George Forman, whipped up a basil pesto sauce, on the ciabatta bread, spread pesto on top half, chicken (previously grilled), fresh mozzarella and tomato on top, let cheese melt a little, then BAM! Get in my mouth you are amazing!

Also, menu change already! Thursday night we are going out to dinner, so no cooking up here! I'm ok with it :)

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Saturday yard sale time

I'm so sore from Crossfit. Well not as sore as I imagined I'd be, but still sore. I went yard sale hopping again with my partner in crime Danielle. The finds weren't nearly as good as last week but, still good. I got a little side table for Kevin's side of the bed. Some books, for personal reading, counseling and a cool edition of The Last of the Mohicans (that's Kevin and I's fav movie). Then I got a lamp, forgoing the purchase of the shade. Some seat cushions for free that I will clean and use either in my bedroom or living room. Danielle got some really cool stuff too!

For lunch I had some caprese salad using the basil from my planter.

I wore my jeggings from express, free old navy long sleeve tee and flats. My hair has been drying naturally and not all wild woman like. So I've been able to wear it down.

Ugh it's Friday?

Well this week flew by! So I didn't really get into too much what my weeks usually look like. Cause boy are they hectic! I LIVE for the weekends!

Monday: work normal job as guidance counselor 7:30-3 (stay later depending on workload), come home make dinner, RUN, relax, do some school work.
Tuesday: work 7-2:30, go right to local community college & teach Intro. to Psych. from 3:30-5, come home, make dinner, try to be productive and do schoolwork.
Wednesday: work 7:30-3:30, drive right to Delaware for my graduate classes (Doctorate in Educational Leadership program) from 5-10, usually don't get home till 11:15-11:30 and boy am i tired!
Thursday: work 7-2:30, go right to local community college & teach Intro. to Psych. from 3:30-5, come home, make dinner, try to be productive and do schoolwork.
Friday: work normal job as guidance counselor 7:30-3 (stay later depending on workload), come home and depending on my plans I relax and usually DRINK!

Phew.... That was exhausting just to type it! Finding time to do things Is tough and I find myself just coming home and doing nothing! I hate that, it's such a waste of time. I'll come home and sit on my phone or iPad and waste away the hours. I have to become more aware of how much time I'm wasting.

So today I had a workshop. I came home and was sooooo tired that I decided to take a nap and then be productive! So I was, got up did laundry made the bed, cleaned up the kitchen and hung up my welcome sign I bought at the yard sale last weekend. And thennnnnn at 6 I went to Crossfit!

Well this was my first time doing crossfit. It was insane. It is quite difficult to move my limbs right now. But I feel great! I'm totally going to do it! I just did the intro class and I will begin the foundations program which is three weeks, 2x a week. Then you get into the actual crossfit program from there.

As of May 9, I will be done teaching intro to psych until the fall and will have more time. I'm really excited about this journey and can't wait to get toned!

Dreary weeks make me sleep

This weather has been so dreary that it makes me sleepy.  Combined with a few other factors makes me even sleepier.  Therefore, my to do list is hanging around again.  Maybe Thursday I will be super productive.  Tuesday night I didn't get to try the Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki because I forgot to defrost the chicken. Ooops. Breakfast for dinner it was! We love breakfast in our house. Eggs over easy with some toast and BACON :) yum.  Tonight I have class till late so the bf is usually on his own for dinner Wednesday nights.  I will be cooking the flank steak on Thursday so we will see how that goes. 

My pants from Old Navy were a hit, but I had to attach a disclaimer since they made some people dizzy. Oops again.

Here's the entire look.  I paired the pants with a white button down and brown belt and brown flats and a chunk fun brown and gold necklace. 

Again, it's nasty outside.  I'm wearing my navy khaki skinny pants with gold flowered flats and a green long sleeved tee with scarf from Francesca's. I ripped my last pair of contacts! So Glasses it is!

 

Every night that I don't wash my hair, I put it in a bun on top of my head to help keep the curls intact and to keep it out of my face.  I think I looked like Cindy Lu from The Grinch!!

Old Navy was calling my name!

Ok, so I love shopping the clearance and sale sections at Old Navy! They have cute trendy pieces for super cheap that compare with j. crew for more than half the cost most of the time.

                                     I bought this button down on sale for $19. Normally $25.

These long sleeve cotton tees were.....wait for it.....$12......it gets better. Buy One Get One FREE!
So basically $6 each.

These ankle pants are the Diva style and were on sale. One pair was $13.99 and the other were $8.99.

These are J. Crew's version which are very similar except for the price tag. On sale these pants are still $49.99.

This is a close comparison with the Old Navy gingham shirt, it's Ralph Lauren and $54.

Another comparison is Theory cotton long sleeve pocket tee, $85.

So, I think that I did pretty well. Two pairs of ankle pants, two cotton tees and a button down for $55. Thanks Old Navy!

This weeks pin list is...

Recipe Pins...

Roasted Corn Salad
Link here

Honey Garlic Pork Chops (Monday night dinner)
Link here

Crockpot Chicken teriyaki (Tuesday night dinner)

Grilled balsamic flank Steak (Thursday night dinner)
Link here

Other Weekly Goals...
Run twice this week (Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday are my free nights, hopefully weather permits)
Finish sewing pillow covers for living room & bedroom
Paint/Antique Window Pane Mirror for bedroom
Hang Welcome sign
Paint Chalkboard calendar and hang in kitchen
Then do all my school work and finish my paper (ya know all the regular stuff)

Party full of Pins and some yard sale finds

Ok so on Saturday I had an Origami Owl Jewelry party. I had some family members and friends over for some tasty apps, drinks and fun jewelry. Every loved all the Pinterest recipes used. Everyone kept saying, "I NEED THAT RECIPE!"

White peach sangria with strawberries Link here Super easy and tasty! However, I couldn't find Strawberry Schnapps so I opted for Peach and it was delicious.

Reese's peanut butter cookie dough dip Link here This one was tasty and obviously NOT good for you, but I used more cream cheese than the recipe called for. I stuck with the suggested items for dipping, graham crackers, animal crackers and pretzels.

Baked cheesy artichoke dip Link here I got artichoke hearts that were quartered but I think next time that I will blend them up a little more. Delicious!

Chicken pesto tart Link here I ran out of Mozzarella cheese so I just loaded on the parmesan instead. Still delicious! I love me some basil pesto!

Also, Saturday morning my picker sister Danielle and I went to the Audubon town wide yard sale and it was crazy how whatever I said I wanted or needed appeared. Literally! Even hot dogs! Stinks as soon as I said, "I'd like a million dollars," the yard sale gods were not on my side! We are going to the Haddonfield town wide this Saturday! This is the GREAT thing about Spring Time!
Yard sale finds:
corner shelf $5
Window pane mirror $1
Chalkboard calendar $1
Welcome sign $2
Sequence game $1

This is the corner shelf I acquired for $5, i'm still trying to decide what color to paint or stain it.

This is a welcome sign I got for $2 and will be hanging above the sink in the kitchen.

Even though it is sideways, this is the chalkboard calendar i got for $1 and will be repainting the trim and hanging in the kitchen as well.

This is the six pane window mirror, I will be cleaning it up and painting it the same teal/aqua color that one of the letters is in the bedroom and antiquing it.  I will hang it lengthwise above our dresser.

This is my Monday dreary outfit day. Its cool and rainy outside today. Purple ankle pants, black top and premier necklace. Simple and comfy.

Here's Danielle and I out pickin'!

The rest of my to do list complete :)

Ok, so my crazy and overzealous to do list. I completed my...Spring wreath for the door, the Cheddar Jalapeno(less) Chicken Burgers, made the curtains for our bedroom, started our herb planter on the balcony, washed by car and got all my reading done for class.

Here's my Spring Wreath, find the pin here from The Cards We Drew Blog.

Here's before my burger were done and mixing up the ground chicken with all the ingredients.
The pin is here from What' Gaby Cooking blog.

Here's my laid back friday work outfit. Have a great weekend. 

Until I pin again...

Pinterest Fail #1

Well it was doomed to happen. I don't take it too hard when recipes or crafts don't look exactly like the original pin. That happens. I don't have the best camera, most of the time I use my iPhone and I'm not a professional chef or crafter (even tho I think I'm pretty impressive). I shouldn't have believed this pin tho. I was tricked.

Dried Strawberries Pin

I started with awesome strawberries. And I said to myself, this better work bc I don't wanna throw away all these tasty strawberries!

So this is a picture of all my tasty strawberries, cut up on the cookie sheet and seasoned with salt and pepper.

 

 This is the after. Dried out beyond belief and stuck to the cookie sheet. as a matter of fact, it's STIlLL soaking in my sink! 

This stink especially becausfor the first two hours my house smelled delicious. I was super excited about the possibility of a strawberry treat like fruit snacks?!     

So mine definitely didn't look anything close to this....

First Pin Fail :( It happens, but until I pin again...

Well my To Do List is hanging around

It's Wednesday already! So, when I made my To Do List for the week, I may have been a little too gung-ho. However, I've made practically all the recipes I planned for the week so far!

Let's start with the  Frozen Bananas with Greek Yogurt and Almonds
You can find the link to my Pin here, Frozen Banana Bites

I'm not a huge yogurt person, I could never stomach the taste or after-taste. But I want to like it so bad!
I remember my cousins always eating it, and they always had good flavors, like Cotton Candy. I was jealous of their liking of yogurt, but wanted to vomit every time I tried it.  So Greek Yogurt, is a little easier for me to handle.  Either that OR my taste buds are changing.  I can't eat Greek yogurt alone.  There's gotta be a bunch of stuff mixed in. I didn't have Popsicle sticks so I made them bite-size and stuck some toothpicks in them. Delicious.  Mixed the greek yogurt with cinnamon and a dash of vanilla extract, then spread that on the banana.  Then I rolled the banana in the almonds, stuck a toothpick in them and put them in the freezer.  Super easy and tasty treat.  I eat them in the morning now.  And it's been ridiculously hot here so it helps cool me off.

Next pin that I have under my belt is...Tastykitchen.com's White Cheese & Chicken Lasagna

I was a fan of this dinner.  The bf said it was good but he wouldn't be interested in having it again.  However, he felt like his opinion was biased because when I told him we were having lasagna of some sort he thought there would be a red sauce involved.  Oops.  Sorry to disappoint.  I was a fan, however, should have used a little more salt and pepper when seasoning it.  There were lots of steps and you are like a mad scientist in the kitchen while making this because you are doing step after step initially.  I will be more than happy to eat the leftovers tonight while at class.  And as my first time making a homemade lasagna I don't think I did too shabby :)

Finally, I also made the Biggest Loser Salad that I found on Pinterest.  It was super easy to make.  There isn't much to it and I am eating it for lunch today.  The dressing is definitely tasty and could see myself maybe using it as a marinade in the future or salad dressing on another salad.


If you haven't be able to tell I've been a busy girl.  I ran another 4 miles on Monday night.  Maybe a little later than I should have.  It was creepy dark out.  But I'm proud of myself for being able to up my distance.  The 5k's I will be running in will be no problem, hopefully! Also, as I mentioned it's been ridiculously hot here this week.  Like 80 something degrees in April in New Jersey is NOT normal.  I have crazy curly frizzy hair so today I opted for the bun.


Enjoy the rest of your day & until I pin again...

Frozen Banana Bites

                                                     White Cheese & Chicken Lasagna
 

   
                                                             The Biggest Loser Salad

                                                        My 85 degree work outfit
   

               
                                                                        My sad bun

Running too late

Weekend recap, parties and more parties

My weekend was exhausting! On Saturday, I finished up some stuff in the bedroom redo. Then it was my bf's surprise dinner party and basketball extravaganza. He was very excited to see his brother came in from Boston for his 30th. We had a delicious Spanish meal and sangria at a restaurant not too far away with a group of 14 of his closest friends and family members. It was great! Then everyone came back to our place for some fun times and the basketball game. Kevin is a huge Michigan fan so he was excited to see them win.

We played Left, Right, Center and I drank champagne. Champagne morning headaches are not fun. Then on Sunday I had a christening for my friends baby. I told Kevin he could stay home, nurse his hangover and spend some time with his brother before he had to leave.

Once I got home, I was pooped. I napped then woke up to be super productive! I made egg salad for lunch this week and some potato salad. I was in the mood for it. I also got some reading done for school. I'm reading Redesigning Leadership by John Maeda. So far so good.

So back to my awesome and tasty potato salad. I had 4 red skinned potatoes leftover. So I cut them into chunks, and boiled them until they were soft enough to mix up. I then added a heaping tablespoon of mayo, salt, pepper to taste, some celery seed, a hard boiled egg chopped up and then crumbled some bacon on top. Mmmmmmm. It was kind of like a loaded baked potato. I could even add cheddar cheese if I want now that I think about it. The bf loved it. Super easy and quick.

Monday is back to work. Boo. Spring break flew by, but I feel like it was a very productive break. I did the bedroom. Got the second bedroom/office somewhat organized. And had an awesome bday celebration for Kevin.

This weeks to do list:

Get plants/ flowers for outside, herb garden
Make curtains for bedroom
Find mirror for above dresser in bedroom
Read, read and read some more
Grade papers
Wash my car (oops, it's really dirty)
Having origami jewelry party on Saturday

Pinterest recipes to be made this week:
White cheese & chicken lasagna
The Biggest Loser Salad
Cheddar jalapeño chicken burgers with guacamole
Frozen bananas with Greek yogurt almonds and cinnamon

These are the photos of the leftover mess of his 30th at our place!

Rotisserie chicken in crockpot and some more bedroom DIY

Last night I made a rotisserie chicken in the crockpot, following this recipe from Busy Mommy.Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken here! Took some of my own photos too.  I had made this before when we first moved in a few months ago when my Dad and Stepmom came over for dinner.  It was super easy and a fan favorite then.  Needless to say, it didn't disappoint this time.

So, here are all the spice you need.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  Busy Mommy also calls for some additional/optional seasonings to make it spicier, but that's not my thing. So I stick to these.

I sprayed my crockpot with PAM.

My whole chicken was defrosted, I pulled out the little bag of goodies inside. Tossed that out. Doing this does not gross me out, at first, I had an awful picture in my head of what cleaning out a chicken or turkey would be like. But it's not as gross as imagined. However, maybe people mean it's gross when it's not in the convenient little bag. Because then it might be a little more disgusting.

My seasonings are all ready to go, you add water to make it a paste. Which looking back I could've added a little more.

Smear the paste all over the chicken, inside and out. Place the chicken in the crockpot, breast side up, and put on low for 6-7 hours. Once I hit my 6.5 hours I placed it on warm, so it didn't dry out. I also basted the chicken with the juice inside the crockpot throughout the day. Again, it was a delicious and super easy dish. And the other good thing is leftovers for salads or chicken salad!

Now, onto the crafts!

Ok, as you can tell I'm a pinterest fein. I also look in home decor magazines, see all the cute stuff they're doing and say, I can't pull that off. So I bought these letters for our bedroom, K (Kevin) and C (Chelsea). I also bought a '&' which when placed looked silly. I primed them with white paint because they were that brown cardboard color.

I originally placed them above the bed. Which sounded like a great idea 'K & C' above the bed. Looked silly. So, then I chucked the '&' and used the K and C in a collage, which I won't object to ever! I also had crafted the chalkboard in this picture. I was going to write a quote on it, "Every love story is beautiful, but mine is our favorite." I asked Kevin, do you have a quote you want to put up on the board? This was after showing him what I had done...which I always start with "I'm just playin' around with some stuff, it may be changed by the time you come home tomorrow." Well he said, how about we write messages to each other on it. Cute! So, that's what it will be. Maybe I'll share some of them.

So here is the wall collage, and underneath it is my hope chest from when I was little. I have to refinish it. I'm not quite sure the color route I want to go on this one. I was thinking a fun bright turquoise color with some antiquing? But then I thought a nice clean white wouldn't be bad either. I don't know, jury is still out on that one.

Ok, so this area is still a work in progress. Currently looking for fun bright curtains. I'll probably end up making them. I want to add in some other throw pillows. I am also trying to think of some things to place above the bed. Since 'K & C' will no longer go up there, it's back to the drawing board. I got the new lamp at Homegoods and the down comforter there as well. Lamp and throw pillow were on clearance. ($18 lamp & $12 throw pillow) The throw pillow has every color I could imagine for this room and great to pull from to accent this crap outta this place!

And here's my shopping and lunch with the girls outfit of the day. I also realized while I was driving I forgot to put my blush on. Eeeeek! So, I made due with some of my pinkish chapstick. It worked for the day.

Until I pin again...