26 Candles

For Ian's birthday last year we went to the hospital to have Max! Yippeieee...well not so much. Max decided he did not want the same birthday as Ian and came two LONG days later.

This year I wanted to make sure Ian had the best birthday dinner ever! He requested a steak dinner at his favorite steak house..and a homemade strawberry vanilla cake. Ladies..the saying, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach" is so true! He was one happy camper.

We both tried raw oysters for the first time. Slippery little suckers...but delicious!

Even though I couldn't get the cake out of the pan..woopsie forgot to grease it...he still loved it!...wax drippings and all ;)

26 candles!

At the moment my kitchen looks like a cupcake disaster zone! Max's first birthday party is tomorrow and I am doing every thing last minute..nothing new!

Thrifty Momma Thursday

A gold butterfly necklace.

A vintage fuchsia skirt.

Brown slouchy boots IN MY SIZE.

Thrifting Tip:
If you LOVE something ( I loved the skirt) and it is a great price ($3) but it is TOO big (or too long..) have it altered...and Ta-DA! If you have sewing skills I am jealous! I would be making much bolder purchases if I knew how to do my own alterations.

Sushi Hand Rolls

Most of the things I cook are pretty simple. If you are looking for a five layer cake recipe you will not find that here. I am pro blender. If you can stick a few ingredients in the blender and make a soup I'm sold!

During out last trip to the grocery store..I stopped and chatted with the sushi chef. I asked him how to make a sushi hand roll and he showed me. THIS IS SIMPLE people. The only "hard" part was cooking the rice. I kind of screwed this up...but SHHHH Ian did not notice.

How do you mess up cooking rice? Who knows but I did. It was all crispy and stuck to the pan. Maybe I did not add enough water....Any whoo..

What you will need:

• An assortment of fresh veggies
  
• Nori seaweed paper
  
• Brown rice
• Cooked shrimp
  

I bought way too much shrimp you only need a small handful. You cut them up into tiny pieces to use in your hand rolls.

Place a small amount of moist cooked rice on the sushi paper. Arrange veggies and shrimp on top. Roll it up like a little burrito and Wallla!

Such a simple easy dinner.

Skin Care Tip of the Week *Sunscreen*

Today I am going to tell you one of the most important skin care tips of them all. You should APPLY SUNSCREEN every day rain or shine. If you were to only apply one product before leaving your house this is what I suggest you don't go without. Protecting your skin from the suns harmful rays is so important.

Excessive exposure to sunlight without protecting your skin will:

• Accelerate the normal aging process. I believe this is something ALL women want to prolong as long as possible.
• Cause dark spots.
• Cause lines and wrinkles.
• Break down collagen in your skin which leads to sagging.
• Can cause skin cancer.

I recommend using a sunscreen/moisturizer of at least an SPF 15 or higher.

My top two favorite products are:

• Neutogena Oil-Free Moisture SPF 15. It is super light weight. It wont clog your pores and it is alcohol and fragrance free. Great product!
  

• Devita Solar Protective Moisturizer SPF 30. This leaves my skin feeling sooo soft. It a paraben free and uses all natural ingredients. It is also formulated for skin that is sensitive and prone to breakouts. LOVE this product.

If you have any questions relating to sunscreen you can leave them in the comment section and I will be happy to answer :)

a trip to the zoo

On Friday we took our first family trip to the zoo. Max was GLUED to the monkeys. He sat there staring and pointing for about 20 minutes.

Such beautiful animals. A part of me started to feel sad for them. Sad because wild animals really should be able to live in their natural habitat with room to roam and be wild. I wanted to free them and let them run back to Africa.

All zoo'ed out!

After leaving the zoo I am not 100% sure how I feel about keeping wild animals in captivity. What do you guys think? Do you think the zoo's main interest is conservation and protecting endangered animals or are they more interested in commercialization? I would love to hear your thoughts.


HAPPY 4TH of JULY!

things that make me say yeay

Sparky blue festive polish for the 4th!

Thrifted Levi's that I bought for $2. My plan was to do this awesome project with them. The project was a MAJOR FAIL. I looked inside and WooHOO they were my size. I am making them into cutoff shorts to wear on the 4th. So yeay!

My new favorite chapstick. I love how it says, "NO FAKE CRAP."

My addiction. Dark chocolate covered espresso beans.

I am a little bit of a germ freak AND an avid thrifter...SO this is my all time favorite hand sanitizer. Why does it make me say yeay? Because it is safe for kids, alcohol free and smells like an orange 50/50 bar...yeay!

Have a great fourth of July weekend everyone!!

thirfty momma thursday and *giveaway winner*

Thrifted plates and mugs $6

Max's FIRST birthday party is next weekend!! Am I all ready and organized? Nope. Does party planning stress me out? YEP. I would be the worst wedding planner...I would most likely give the bride a mini panic attack..

I finally decided I am going to be making cupcakes instead of a big giant cake. I wanted a cute stand but everything is so girly. I am not the type to search everywhere for the prefect stand so I decided to make one. IF YOU ARE NOT SUPER CRAFTY (I fit into this category) this is SOO SIMPLE.

The only thing you need other than plates and mugs is a glue gun...which I borrowed.

Line the bottom rim of the mug with glue.

Place the mug in the center of the plate and push down tightly so it adheres to the plate. Rim the top of the mug with glue and attach next plate...continue doing this until you reach the desired height of your cupcake stand.

All finished!

And now for the winner! Even though you most likely scrolled down here first...hey I do the same thing :)

Congrats to #38 Joanna! I will e-mail you this evening to get your info.


Linking up here