hmmmm.....

So I heard my husband coming down the hall saying "lets go show mamma"

I look to my right

and around the corner comes my poor little pup.

Lieutenant Whitey - at your service.

My husband thought it was the funniest thing ever

which I do agree.

But look at his face

He was so confused!

Ohhh he is so adorable......

Hope you have a day full of smiles!

Today is the last day to enter the GiveAway! so don't forget to enter :)

-Steph

Fruit Shoot?

There is something magically intriguing about fruit.... [to me at least]

Most of them are so fun and colorful it makes you want to eat them!

So then you do.....

But my sister and I like fruit shoots

Here is one we did not too long ago.

Don't hate on the pumella......its beautiful! hahahaaha

Don't forget to enter my Giveaway!!! below :)

Have a wonderful day!

-Steph

G is for Giveaway.....

and garbage picking

garage sales

gummy bears

and gator boots....

Oh hey there friends....

Today I'm pretty excited because Im going to do my very first giveaway..

[Sweet]

So here's what on the table, literally.

1] These magical owls that I painted unnatural colors because its the cool thing to do...

(this girl is a creep, all she does is paint owls)

thats fair

2] This colorful bunting that I made last night. I was on a caffeine kick.

(i cant handle caffeine)

This will pretty much jazz up anything....

Never mind the stitching on the back, my machine is out the door soon.

3] This sweet ring from my Shop. I love them.

The picture is blurry but you can get the idea..

I think im getting grandma hands....

4] This 'just because' card. I will be adding these to my shop soon.

I am what you would call a procrastinator. (blank inside)

5] Lastly, this cute little espresso mug.

So here is how to win all these lovelies............

1) You must be a follower :)

2) Tell me your favorite rainy day activity ;)

You can add extra entries by......

1) blogging about the giveaway

2) Tweet about it!

I will pick a winner at random on Saturday!

-Steph

For a rainy day.....

Today my hubby and I made Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Pancakes.....

[Delicious]

If you love Brown Sugar, you should probably start making them now

Just make your batter and add

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

2tbs brown sugar

[translation: 1/2 tsp cinnamon / as much brown sugar as possible!!!!!]

They were amazing.......

and I forgot to take a picture, but thats ok because Im thinking of making them for dinner tonight...

Make them for a rainy day...............

I will be back tonight with a real post.

I leave you with a picture of my husband eating my face

and a wannabe pig-tailer with extremely crapped lips.

Enjoy the rest of your sunday!

-Steph

Weekend Lovelies....

I had a loooonngg weekend. Consisting of painting and painting. So when Sunday came I wanted to anything but painting. I got to sleep in until 10:00 am!!!!

That never happens. So I was very well rested.

I promised Lieutenant Whitey that I would take him to the lake last week and I bailed on him,

[what a bad mother she is]

I know, but don't worry I made it up to him :)

We went and brought Brandon lunch at work and then headed to the lake.

We brought a blanket, laid by the lake and read a good book.

[Lt. Whitey chased birds]

He is just so adorable :)

Later that day my mini sister came over with her friend Kyle.

we made fruit salad and baked cookies!!

Then we went on a little adventure to the quarry.

In my subdivision is one of the biggest "holes in the ground" in the world!!

Its actually quite beautiful, and there is a pretty blue green body of water in it as well.

The lookout was locked but it was still beautiful.

This is the baseball field right next to the quarry.

So pretty

Then we walked over the the I-80 overpass. I don't know if you find this strange or not, but we like to come here and freak ourselves out!!! We are on top of the bridge so we are clearly not going to get hurt, but we run to stand in front of the lane when the semi trucks pass and it feels like they are going to hit you. It is such a rush and we love it!!!

--------------------------------------------------

Yesterday I played hookie from work.

The hubbs and I went for a little trip to the city.

We hit up the museum and then went for some treats!

Mmmmm so delish.... Lemon and raspberry

Brandon tried the orange.....i think he liked it.

Then we ventured over to Ginos East for some good old Chicago style Deep Dish.

If you have never had Ginos East, please do...

After that we made our way over to Mollys Cupcakes.

Oh dear goodness..... they were beautiful

-Red Velvet

-Ch. Chip Cookie

-Cookies and Creme

-Peanut butter Nutella

How could one person love cupcakes so much?

I thrifted these cuties the other day. They were plain white and I gave em some pretty color so they can be of use as bathroom decor once we paint it. :) I love them!

Have a good night everyone!!!

-Steph

Paint Paint Paint!

My mom and I started painting my living room Friday night at 8pm and ended with the coat of primer at 5am.

The people that owned this house before me were crazy!! and I am sure they got a laugh after we signed for the house thinking, 'they are going to have a hell of a time trying to fix anything in that house!'

When we bought the house my living room (brace yourselves) had BLUE wood paneling on three walls. the last wall was fake rock panels. The carpet is BLUE. You cant even imagine.

Well, I guess you can, here is a picture.

It is so dark and depressing in there. And the room has a crazy boxed in feel. So my mom and I decided to go at it.

We tore down the rock wall.

The rock wall was nailed and glued to the WALLPAPER behind it.

I dont even want to talk about this wall because I hate it so much. he-he

Instead of re-drywalling the whole room we decided that painting the paneling would give it a beautiful 'thrifty chic' look. We primed and added 2 coats.

Had to go through each divot in the paneling.

I never thought it would be that much work.

Oh boy, we were hurting.

We finally went to bed at 5am/ woke up at 9am and started again. We wanted to finish before my husband got home from work but we ended up working until 10:30 last night.

My mom is just amazing. She gave up her whole weekend to help me. And she is the only reason we finished. We did not stop at all aside from eating and a trip to Menards.

But we did decide to trade in our lunch break for a little treat!

We found this adorable little shop up the road and I am in love.

Cunis Candies-

You sit in the beautiful red booths next to the black and white checkered floors and they wait on you for your ice cream order!

Ah I love it!!!!

They most Amazing turtle sundae We have ever had! hands-down. My mom and I could not stop talking about it. i think this will become a regular place ;)

I will post pictures after I get the living room back in order. I woke up this morning and there was so much sun shinning into that room and it was so bright, I still have a huge smile on my face!

I've got so much to do today and I promised Lieutenant Whitey I would take him to the lake. So im off. Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!!!

-Steph

What a crazy day!!!

I was at work today and a few patients at the front desk were talking about 'escaped convicts and lockdowns' and I was like ehhh..ok

Then one of my co-workers said something about Mokena being on Lockdown. My house (parents house, I still call it my house) is in Mokena. My mom dad sisters and brothers live there. So I kind of freaked out. The story was, 6 convicts escaped from jail and had robbed a house in Tinley, everything in Tinley and Mokena was on lockdown.

So Im calling my dad, he is at work 2 blocks from the robbing. Mom, sister, and brother are at work, could not get a hold of my mini sister but later found out she was at school. I was calling everyone like 'Oh geezz stay inside!' I get so paranoid when things like this happen. And having a big family means more people to worry about and keep track of.

My brothers girlfriend was at her salon, alone! She had to turn off the lights and lock the doors and sit there by herself.

So later after everyone is freaking out, we find out that is was just a robbery from 4 criminals. The hubbs met up with our cop friend who was flying the search helicopter [thats how extreme it got] and all that for really nothing.

I guess that after the Lane Bryant happenings last year they wanted to make sure nothing like that was related because it was so close. But thankfully it was just another everyday robbery [sad] and no one was hurt.

But it sure did freak everyone out!

So I finally calmed down and finished my work day.......draggg.

But when I got home I was excited to make these pretties. I love them so much because they are so simple yet so cute!!! and they taste amazing!!

Eggs and Bacon!!!!

and green eggs and ham :) I ran out of yellow

So these little ones are just so simple.....

What you need:

pretzel sticks

white chocolate [morsels or almond bark]

yellow or green m&ms

wax paper

1. Lay a sheet of wax paper over a baking sheet

2. Place 2 pretzel sticks next to each other on wax paper

3. Melt chocolate, see package for directions, But be careful, It is easy to burn!!

trust me, I know :)

4. Drop a dollop of chocolate over the two strips of bacon [pretzels]

5. Add a yellow M&M to the middle of the chocolate to create the egg yolk.

6. Put in freezer for 5-10 minutes until hardened.

7. Enjoy!!!

Oh before I forget, Lieutenant Whitey wanted to say good night.

Isn't he just adorable!!

-Steph

How wonderful!

I'm so excited to have been given a beautiful Blogger award from the adorable Cordelia from Being A Lady! Thank you Cordelia!

Go check out her blog it is so cute and Fun!!

As part of the award I must share seven facts about me.

1. My freshman year in high school my friends and I joined the Badminton team as a joke. It ended up loving it. I was on varsity all four years and my senior year at state I took 6th place. You never know until you try!

2. When I was 12 I dislocated my pinky finger playing football. I went to catch the ball and it went through my fingers. My pinky stuck out at a 90 degree angle. The Dr. put it back in place using a Chinese handcuff and a pencil eraser.

3. My husband was my youth pastor. He-he, I still think this is funny. :)

4. I want to road trip around the entire US. I am currently working on it ;)

5. My natural hair is curlier than any curly hair you have ever seen. When I was young it was bleach blonde ringlets that formed an afro. I hated it. My biggest regret in life: I got it chemically straightened in high school. and its never been the same. :(

6. My childhood dream was to be in the WNBA. But after high school I was so tired of it. Coaches screaming in your face and the pressure to be perfect was stressful. Looking back now, I can't believe how serious I took it. But basketball will always be my love.

7. I think I am addicted to buying things online. Sometimes I just browse the internet and to see if I can find something to buy and then make up an excuse as to why I would need such a thing. [shh..don't tell my husband] :)

Now to pass the Beautiful Blogger award on to 10 wonderful bloggers. Will you accept?

rebecca anne from Consider My Dear...

Renea Hanna from Penny Threads

Justine from The Greatest Show on Earth

Chelsea from Triumphs and Blunders of a Kooky Gal

Crissy from Crissybells Musings

Jane from Does Notes

Suzy from Suzyville

Kristi from Visible Voice

Marta from Marta Writes

Carrie from Carries Little World

If you choose to accept the award you must:

- Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.

- Copy the award and paste it to your blog.

- Tell us seven interesting facts about yourself.

- Pass this award on to 10 fantastic bloggers you have discovered.

- Contact your nominations and let them know they’ve won.

Have a wonderful day Loves!!!

Sisters in the hood......

Not really, but my town is pretty gangster.

My sisters and I have decided to make a movie.

Nothing in particular

Just a random, goofy movie. You can't imagine how fun it is.

I have edited about half of it, and I was literally lol-ing [<-I just said that]

We are going to shoot some more clips for it next weekend.

When it is done, I will post :)

We started the day out by Thrifting up the wonderful south side.

I picked out a floral-skorts-one piece? something like that

My mini sister looked like a follower of moses in chuck taylors

and my little sister was half cowgirl.

Needless to say we looked like a bunch of creeps, and it was sweet.

While we were out filming our 'movie' we took some cute shots.

We had a blast. My sister are two of the most amazing people I have ever known. The great thing is is that we are all so different. But we get along like we are the same people.

After our little shoot we went home to throw together some food.

We threw together my fav. little dish. So simple, so amazing

Raw broccoli, cauliflower, and cucumbers.

1 can black beans

crumbled feta

olive oil

red wine vinegar

salt and peppa

refrigerate

mmmmmmmmmmm

Then we attempted to make Dad's salsa. We didn't do half bad.

So that night my Husband had to sleep at the firehouse so all of us girls cuddled up in our bed! It was so much fun because I don't remember the last time we all shared a bed. We have shared a little tiny room our entire lives and I am so thankful for that. I know that is what helped us become so close!

Tonight I baked a few cuppy-cakes. My sister had to make some for her friends birthday, so I baked these minis with the left over batter. I love them! But they are going to work with me tomorrow so I don't eat them all :)

My sister made Pokemon cupcakes for her friend. And he will be 22 not 12. I guess there is no age limit there. They turned out super cute. She also made a few cuties for her bf.

I had to leave some for my hubbs. He went to bed early all sad because we asked him to take the batch of cupcakes out for us and he fell asleep. They were black when we got home. He felt bad but I had to make it up to him. Turns out the timer doesn't work! Not your fault honey :)

Lastly, it was Beautiful outside the other night so B and I had a roof date. We sat on top the house, watched the stars, and had a lil chit-chat. It was perfect. So perfect that i almost slept up there. But thats because I couldn't get down. I was too afraid to put both my feet off onto the ladder! Ten minutes later I finally reached ground. It gave B quite a laugh since he is a roofer part time.!

Have a wonderful night Lovelies!!!

-Steph

the cure for Laziness!

I don't have one, I though maybe someone out there in Blog world would.....

please ?

I have been meaning to clean my craft room this entire month

[and maybe last month too]

But I just cant get motivated!!!

But during one of my attempts, I came across and old tin full of memories

and it made me so happy :)

Then I saw Chelsea's posts about memories!!! and how they make us so happy! So I though I would share one as well. And just doing so makes me even happier!!

Thanks Chelsea!!

So this little box I have was from when my husband and I first started dating....

Oh the wonders of first loves.....yes he was my first real Love...he-he

This particular box holds memories from when we were in church camp. By the time we started dating we were no longer campers so we were not allowed to let the little campers know we were dating.

This was really hard at first because I could not hold his hand or kiss him goodnight. :(

So we got all creative and found ways around it!

Each day we would write letters to each other.

we were smart and even had code names!

Ha-ha He wrote to Cinderella and I wrote to Prince Charming..

which is kind of perfect for him.

[ok I guess we could have gotten a bit more creative on the names]

Every night we would leave letters to each others on his bass amp in the chapel.

He was on the worship team so he would get the letters in the morning or after his campers went to sleep.

We had another 'couple' friends that were in the same situation as us. So at night we would all meet at the pavilion after everyone was asleep, just to chat and spend time together.

(That couple is happily married now as well :)

These letters mean so much to me, I keep them in my little box and will keep them there forever.

Signed: my prince charming :)

These are the necklaces we made that year and I still keep them in my little box.

They are made from pieces of rolled bandannas

and they have a nut hanging from them as the charm.

Can you guess it's meaning?

"Nuts for Jesus"

We wore these out until they could barely be worn anymore. I love my necklace.

Mine is red and B's is green.

I love the little things like these that bring back such happiness, almost

the same amount of happiness you felt

when you were there.

At the end of camp that year we had our usual dance. Throughout camp

everyone learned to swing dance

[if you ever see us at a wedding, my hubs and I will be swing dancing. it is our all time fav. And I always get a laugh when people ask where we learned: church camp!]

My husband is a medic so he was always helping in the nurses station at camp and the night of the dance he had to take a camper to the hospital.

Thankfully it was noting serious, but I was really bummed.

I watched the door all night hoping he would make it back in time for one dance.

He finally made it home at 11:30 after the dance was over.

But I was just happy to see him.

We headed back to our cabins and he stopped me, he told me to meet him by the flag pole at midnight.

My girlfriend and I were all giddy, and I didn't know what he was doing.

So at midnight i walked out to the flagpole and saw him standing there.

He took my hand and walked me into the Rec hall.

The lights were all dimmed and our friend Bob was standing behind a table.

Then the music came on, he took my hand and we danced.

He told me the sweetest things you could imagine and

I saw tears in his eyes.

[for shizzle]

After that, he pulled a picnic table onto the baseball field, and we watched the stars all night

Ohhhhhh memories................

Etsy Update!

I have been meaning to put up some new pretties into my etsy for the past month

but honestly, Ive been a little lazy :0

oops......

Hey it takes a lot of effort to put each item up and I would just rather be sleeping.

Ha-ha I am kidding

But I did finally get around to put in a few new things and I wanted to share them with you!

My new pretty Button Rings! I love them. I made a few last month, but recently I have been keeping all my new ones for myself!

They just make my outfit so much prettier and now I am coordinating them with my nail polish. Oh wow, I am lame. Oh well :)

"Take Me Away Love" Mug........

Mustache, enough said

Please let me know what you think I would love the feedback. :)

Click Here to see my Etsy Shop

Here is the new welcome sign I made for my house last week. It came out pretty good. Now I think I want to paint my front door yellow, I like the contrast. I think I'll see what my husband says. ha-ha.

Hope you all have a lovely night!!!

-Steph