Things I've been loving

I realize I haven't done a "Things I've been loving" post lately... or really any post at all! So I thought I would share a couple of things that well...I have been loving. Both are things I would  not have expected to show up in a post entitled things I've been loving, but they have so here they are!

Vitabath Body wash in Grapefruit Vanilla

Whenever I see Vitabath I think of my Grandma...  I always remember seeing a big bottle of Vitabath (think the original spring green) on her bathtub. I never thought of using it myself and then one day I was perusing Ulta and noticed they make more than just that particular scent....hmmmm....still I didn't think of buying it.  However as I walked past I noticed a few important words SULFATE & PARABEN FREE... OK Now it had my attention.  We are hearing sulfates are not good for our hair and parabens are not good for us in general so I've been trying to stay away from both as much as I can. In all honesty body wash is body wash in my book, but the smell of this is so head over heels yummy and the fact that it's sulfate and paraben free makes it a winner.  They have other scents I love too, but this is my fave.

Wen Cleansing Conditioner in Sweet Almond Mint

I've watched infomercial after infomercial on this stuff and I can't tell you how many times I've almost ordered it off of QVC.  But, I don't because why would you wash your hair with conditioner???  To me that just doesn't make sense. I didn't think it could 'clean' the hair. Well, my mom bought into the hype (she always does with anything beauty related and lucky for me she always shares)  She told me to take some home and try and I thought ok, I have been curious and figured I would just use it on a day that I didn't really mind if it didn't work as it claimed. Was I pleasantly surprised with the results! My hair really did feel clean after I used it and it looked really nice and shiny. I haven't been using it long enough to see if it will be a must have product but I am loving it right now!

That's all for now. What products are you loving?

*Disclaimer: I have not been paid or compensated otherwise to write this. These are my honest thoughts and opinions about the products and wanted to share them with you because I enjoy them and think you would too.

FLIPPITY FLOPS

My daughter and I have been making these flip flops this summer. They are super cute and something different to accessorize her outfits.  The only down side is they don't hold up well when she's running wild playing outside. But that's ok because they are so simple and cheap to make! And with all the different ribbons out there the designs are endless! 

You will need:

A pair of flip flops, 2 different ribbons (the 15' rolls work great)

scissors, ruler, lighter (optional)

 

Cut the ribbon in 6" lengths.

You can then heat treat the ends with the lighter if you'd like.

 

Tie and double knot the ribbon on the straps

of the flip flops, alternating ribbons.

 

How cute are these?!

 

Happy crafting!

BUSY BUSY BUSY

Hello friends! I apologize for being MIA.It's been a busy summer. I'm hoping to get back to blogging soon.  Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. I'm looking forward to Fall!! Are you?

Red Velvet Shake

As I've mentioned before I love me some red velvet so when I came across this recipe I couldn't wait to try it.  The original recipe comes from Hungry Girl (love her) so it's very figure friendly.  I did modify it a little so it's probably not as low fat/cal as Hungry Girl's, but it's still a healthier option than a regular red velvet milkshake would be. It turned out to be super yummy and surprisingly filling. Even the hubs said so!

Red Velvet Milkshake

What you need:
1 packet diet hot cocoa mix  (20 - 25 calories)
1 tbsp. French vanilla powdered creamer
1 tsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips plus additional for garnish if desired.
4 drops red food coloring (optional)
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk or skim milk
1/4 cup chocolate frozen yogurt
8 ice cubes
Reddi-Wip topping

What you do:
In a tall glass, combine cocoa mix, powdered creamer, and chocolate chips. Add 2 tbsp. very hot water and stir until mostly dissolved. Thoroughly stir in food coloring if desired.

Pour mixture to a blender. Add milk, frozen yogurt, and ice. Blend at high speed until smooth.

Pour into the tall glass, top with Reddi-wip and additional mini chocolate chips.

  Recipe adapted from:Hungry Girl

4th of July Nails

I've been extremely busy between work, kids, summer, etc so I haven't had much time to post lately but thought I'd share our 4th of July nails.  We love going all out for the holidays in my family right down to our nails. 

 What I did was paint a red stripe, white stripe and blue stripe and while the polish was still wet I took a toothpick to create a zig zag through my nail. Now you could leave that as is but I decided to put a coat of silver and blue glitter polish over it. I actually preferred it without the glitter but didn't feel like redoing the nail. 

I did my daughters nails using this technique with red and blue polish and used the white shatter.

I didn't feel the white shatter turned out quite as nice as the black but she was happy and that's all the matters right?

If we have the time my daughter wants me to do a post about her 4th of July hairdo we did.  So maybe look for that in the next few days!  Hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July!

I Drank the Kool-Aid

Well I succumbed to the peer pressure and read the 50 shades trilogy.  While it did take awhile for me to get "hooked" once I was there was no turning back. I did feel that it was the adult version of Twilight and was constantly waiting for Mr. Grey to out himself as being part of the Cullen family, but it was a great read nonetheless, and I'm am looking forward to the movie. I'd like to see how they're going to pull it off and be able to show it in the theaters versus having to buy it in a brick building along the interstate with the lit up XXX lights. I'm also curious to see who they're going to cast to play Christian and Ana (please movie gods not Robert Pattinson and/or Kristen Stewart)  If you haven't read it, I suggest you do.  It's a fun summer read.  Just remember it takes awhile to get hooked I was told about 100 pages into the first book and I think I'd have to agree.

Meal Planning

Ever since I've lived on my own I've done weekly meal planning.  Actually, that's not true, there was a brief period where I didn't. Then my son's god mother introduced me to weekly meal planning and I haven't looked back since. As a matter of fact when I hear that people don't do it I think (no offense) surely there must be something wrong with their home keeping skills... and then I remember back to a day when I too was clueless.  For a long long time I've done this one way, but lately I've been changing it up a bit.

In this post I will show you a couple different ways I do meal planning and if you don't already do this, give it a try.

The original way or should I say the way I was taught was simple. I would sit down each week, and come up with a list of meals for each day and write them down.  I would write each night's dinner on the calendar for that week (i.e.  Monday- tacos, Tuesday- lasagna, etc, etc).  Then I would make my grocery shopping list according to what I needed for each meal. Then I was making just one weekly trip to the grocery store.  Easy. Peasy. This was nice because I knew exactly what I needed from the store and I knew what we were having for dinner each night.

This way works extremely well don't get me wrong but when you have an adorable 2 year old little boy who's not real fond of grocery shopping you have to find a way to make something easy even easier.  So I came up with this:

This way takes a little more prep time but so worth it in the long run specially if you have little ones who don't exactly make grocery shopping a fun time.

I now make menus out for 2 or 3 week stretches.  You could probably go for a whole month, but you will need to go again in about 2 weeks for fresh produce and such. So 2 weeks is what really works best for me.

So if I'm planning meals for 2 weeks I write down 14 different dinner ideas, complete with sides. Then I write down 2 weeks worth of breakfasts and lunch ideas.  I then go through my meals and make my grocery list based on what I just wrote down (checking my list against what I already have  my pantry so I don't end up with 10 boxes of spaghetti noodles!)

I keep this list in my file I have on my counter top and each day I look at the list and pick out what I feel like making from the list.  After I make a dinner I check the meal off the list so I know it's been made. (yes you could forget you made something over a two week period and I keep the list so I don't forget what all I had planned to make)

I also keep all my recipes for the dishes I'm making for that week or 2 in that file folder so I'm not trying to hunt them down each night before making dinner.  Once I make a dish the recipe comes out of the folder and goes back into my recipe box, folder, or book.

Now sometimes I do get lazy because planning 2 or 3 weeks worth of meals isn't always easy or my idea of a fun time so I'll only do a menu for one week. I do it exactly the same as for my 2 weeks only instead of coming up with 14 dinners I'll come up with 7. 

Also if you notice I have letters under breakfast and lunch. These are our initials.  Since we all tend to eat different things for breakfast and lunch it's just easier for me to list those out this way.  I also have a spot at the bottom where I list any dessert or special snacky type thing I might wanna make that week.

If you don't already do menu planning give it a try.  I'm sure one of these ways could work for you.  It will save you time, money, and your sanity at the grocery store and help end the "What am I gonna make for dinner?!" panic.