Project Life: Week 6

It is so hard to believe that February is only is almost over and March 1st will be here in just a few short days. Where is the time going? It makes me sad thinking how fast time is flying, but I must say I am ready for Winter and the cold weather to move!!! C'mon Springtime!!!

I am still loving everything about project life!! I love that I am able to capture our daily life through photos and journaling and that I can document it all so easily through Project Life. Each week I can choose to keep it rather simple with just photos and journaling if I'm super busy or I can do all this plus add all the fun embellishments. Project Life is so versatile and works perfectly in my life!!! Can you tell I'm obsessed???!!!

Anyways... I am slightly behind in posting some of my completed layouts. So with that, here is the completed layout for week 6.

I am still mostly using the seafoam kit, but I have some great add ons and fun embellishments from my local scrapbook store that go great with this kit!! One thing that I have kept consistent from week to week is using my date stamp showing the days of the week for that layout.

Left side:  I love that I saved the scrap paper Patrick used to keep score of our Rummy game!  It went great with this weeks layout and pic of our card game!

Right side:

 

 

I am linking up today over at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday

 

 

 

Chicken Ranch Tacos

It is official.... my crock-pot has become my best friend!!  What did I ever do without it?  I know crock-pot meals are nothing new, but I really just started using mine.  And all I can say is.... Boy have I been missing out!

On the menu for dinner last night was Chicken Ranch Tacos. 

They turned out so yummy and once again the hubby was wow'ed by my cooking.  I found the recipe from Pinterest (of course) and you can check it out here.  I deviated from this recipe some, because I worked a 12 hour shift yesterday and I needed a faster version.  So instead of cooking my chicken in a skillet on the stove I used the crock-pot.

Ingredients for Chicken Ranch Tacos:

3-4 chicken breasts (thawed, not frozen)

1 packet taco seasoning

1 pack ranch seasoning

1 jar of salsa (I used black bean and corn salsa and it was yummy)

1/2 cup chicken broth

Taco shells

Optional toppings:

  -Shredded cheese

  -Pico

  -Taco sauce, sour cream, ranch dressing

In your crock pot mix the chicken broth with taco seasoning and ranch seasoning.  Mix real good until all ingredients have mixed well.  Then put in the chicken breasts and top the chicken breasts with the jar of salsa.  Cook this in the crock-pot on low for 6-7 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.  Once it is cooked, take a fork a shredded the chicken.  The chicken will be so moist it will shred mostly on its own.  And now you are ready to eat.

Serve the chicken in taco shells with all the fixings you love.  I have never actually put ranch on my tacos so I tried a little squirt and it was to die for!!  I probably should have never tried it, because now I will be wanting ranch every time I eat chicken tacos!!!

Valentine Cake Balls

My hubby loves cake balls so of course I had to make some for him for Valentine's Day!! I am working till 8pm today so we are not celebrating today, but I wanted to make sure I had some treats for him today so I made all the goodies on Tuesday when I was off.

If you have never made cake balls... you HAVE to try it!! They are so easy and so yummy!  I am not a fan of cake, but these are amazing and I can assure you they are the BOMB!!!

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix (any flavor of your choice) + ingredients required to make the cake.  I get strawberry   
        because it's Patricks favorite!
1 can of icing (once again any will do, but I prefer cream cheese)
1 package of bark chocolate (vanilla or chocolate)

Directions:  Combine cake mix with ingredients to make cake.  Bake cake according to package.  Once the cake is done, let it cool for a few mintues.  Then using a fork, crumble the cake up in a large bowl and mix with the entire container of icing.

Now you are ready to form the actual cake ball. I use a little scoop that I got at Kroger to help form the cake balls.  I have done it without the scoop and it is very difficult and messy.  This is the second time I have made the cakes balls using the scoop and I highly recommend using the scoop.... much easier!!!

Next, form the cake balls and then place each ball on wax paper on a cookie sheet.  After you have finished making the balls, put the cookie sheet in the freezer for 3-4 hours.  This helps the cake balls cool and they harden just a bit.  This makes it very easy when you go to dip them in the chocolate.  Once you get the cake balls out of the freezer you are ready to dip in the melted chocolate.  After dipping them, place the cake ball back on the wax paper and let chocolate cool and harden.

And it is as simple as that!  Sometimes, I add sprinkles for fun or if it's for a holiday!!!

For Valentines this year I made the strawberry cakes balls with vanilla icing and I made brownie cake pops too.  Instead of cake I used brownies.... oh they were sooo yummy!!! 

Next time you need a quick, fun, dessert try these... and you will be VERY glad you did!!

My cooking spree continues!

My goal to cook more in 2013 is going well. I can honestly say that I am cooking 4 nights a week and some weeks 5 nights. I have been able to accomplish this with lots of meal planning on Sunday nights, Pinterest recipes, and my friend, the crock pot!!!!

We are eating healthier, saving money, and my hubby is loving all the new recipes and even the traditional ones!

Tonight I made chicken, spinach, bell peeper, and cheese quesadillas. The hubby said, they were the best quesadillas he has ever had! SCORE!!!!!

This is a simple, fast meal for when you don't have a lot of time or for any occasion.

Ingredients:
1 cup shredded chicken (1 cup per quesadilla)
1 sliced red pepper
1 sliced green pepper
Few spinach leaves per quesadilla
Shredded Colby jack cheese
Tortilla shells

 

I sprayed the skillet with non-stick spray, then placed a shell in the skillet and then topped with chicken, peppers, spinach, and cheese. Then place another shell on top. Let the shell brown and crispen and then flip. And there you have it... Dinner in 15 mins!!!

 

I added a little salsa to my plate to dip my quesadilla. I am not a huge fan of sour cram, but the hubby is so he used salsa and sour cream!!!

We will be having this easy and delicious meal again soon!! 

Project Life: Week 5

I am a little behind this week on getting last weeks Project Life layout done and I didn't finish in time to link up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.... But that's ok because the layout is now complete. We had a lot of things going on in week 5. I ended up having my weekly layout and then added 2 extra inserts this week.

I incorporated lots of fun embellishments and fun paper products this week. I am sticking with the Seafoam kit mostly, but these week I used a lot of other products too.

Here is the left side of the layout...

 

I am trying to coordinate the color schemes more instead of always using so many colors in one layout.  I love how the red and black turned out.... looks great together!  The Amy Tangerine typewriter sticker went great with this page along with the polka dot washi tape from Target.  I purchased my first Amy Tangerine products a few weeks ago... all I can say is... "I am in LOVE with her stuff."  And I love the journaling on the black and white 3x4 card from the seafoam kit.  Forgot what page I stole this idea from, but it was from a link up over at The Mom Creative.

First insert is the page protector Design I by Becky Higgins.  The protector works great for those instagram pics.  This week, I downloaded the app "Printicular" and uploaded my instagram pics there and then printed them at my local Walgreens.  I love how they turned out!!! It was my first time printing to the actual 4x4 instagram size.  I will definatley be doing this more now that I have the app.   

Front:

Back:

The second insert is the page protector Design F.  I cut off the bottom part of the protector and used the remaining to document Allie's 12th Birthday celebration.  I love using Design F, because you can include so many pictures on one page.

Front:

 

 

Back:

 

 

And here is the right side of the layout...

 

 

For this page I used paper products from Echo Park Paper Co.  I found this at our local scrapbook store and fell in love with the colors!  And I found this great Superbowl 3x4 printable..once again I can not have credit for it... I found it from one of the blogs I follow.  I am going to try and be better and remeber where I find all these great products so I can give credit to who deserves it!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!  I am busy working on Week 6 layout, so I can link up with all my Project Life friends!

Wordless Wednesday

These pics say it ALL!!!  Never in a million years did I think I could love a dog as much as I do.  My LOVE for my furbaby Lily is more than words!!  And I know she loves me the same!  If this is any indication on how I will be with my kids... LOOK OUT!!!

A weekend for birthdays!

This weekend we celebrated lots of birthday fun!!

Friday night we celebrated Patrick's birthday with his mom, brother, sister-in-law, and nephews. Patrick was in the mood for some italian cuisine, so we went to The Old Spaghetti Factory in the heart of Downtown Louisville. This restaurant is so fun!!! It's in an old building with chandeliers, neat siting areas, and they even have part of a train inside the restaurant that you can eat in. Super cool if you ask me!

This is my super cute nephew, Pierce in the train....

Then on Saturday night we celebrated my littlest sister Allie's 12th birthday! Hard to believe she will be a teenager next year. I was in the 8th grade when Allie was born and we have been inseparable ever since. Allie doesn't stand a chance as she gets older, because me and my other sister, Kathleen (23) can be a little over protecting!!

Here are some pics from Allie's lake/farm party at our family farm....

                                                                The birthday girl

Patrick and I

 

 

Allie and I

 

Transporation for the day

 

 

All the girls with my mom and dad

 



Mom and I

Makeovers!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!!!

I love Sundays, but dread the start to another work week.. Especially when it's my long week and this week I have 2 extra meetings. Blah!!!

Currently!

I just love these Currently posts that I am seeing from all the blogs I follow.  Great way to capture what your "currently" doing in life.  I plan to use these "currently lists" in my PL, great way to look back and see what you were in to at this time!  So without further ado.....

Loving: that the weekend is almost here and that we have a fun weekend planned!

Listening to:  Give Your Heart a Break, by Demi Lovato.  I just love her!

Reading:  Lots of fun blogs!

Needing:  a cut and color at the salon (check that off the list, have an appt tomorrow at 2pm)!

Wanting:  new sunglasses before summer gets here (already have them picked out and gave plenty of hints to the hubby)!

Feeling:  happy, motivated, and grateful!

Planning:  my layout for week 5 of Project Life!


Happy Thursday!!

Project Life Tuesday: Week 4

So it's that time again... Project Life Tuesday and I am linking up today over at The Mom Creative.  This week was a fun layout to work with... we had lots of fun things that happened this week.  And I even used some of the cool paper and embellishments that I picked up at the scrapbook store, Archivers.  You can see all about that in this post!!!  I must say that I am LOVING the seafoam kit.  The colors and design are just amazing, I am so glad that I went with this kit.

So on to this weeks layout...

Left side

This week I used the "who, what, where, when, and why" card.  I just love this 3x4 card and it worked perfectly to journal about my recent dentist appt.  And of course I had to throw some washi tape onto the page.

Also, this week we celebrated Patrick's 28th birthday so I added 2 inserts for this birthday.

The first insert... I used a 6x12 page protector.  I put in all of the birthday cards Patirck received
 and then trimmed the page protector down and then used washi tape to seal the top.  The tape can easily be removed in case we ever want to pull the cards out to read again.

The second insert... I used Design F page protector.  I used a 4x6 journaling card to journal about the events of the day and then collaged 6 pictures to fit in each pocket.  I collaged (6) pics into (3) 4x6 photo and then cut the 4x6 in half to make (6) 3x4 photos.  I found these super cute tabs with the cutest sayings on them... the one I used this week says "moments."  I will definately be using these a lot through out the album. 

To fill the back of this insert I used some of the paper from Archivers and filled the rest with paper from the seamfoam line.

Right side

I used collages in the 4 main picture slots, because I had multiple pics for each item I wanted to document.  I love using these collages so I can fit more pics into each layout.

I love how this layout turned out and can't wait to get started on next weeks pages.

Happy Birthday to my love!

Yesterday we celebrated my hubbys 28th birthday.  Hard to believe we are in our last half of the 20's and that 30's will be here before we know it.  I was off work yesterday so I got up at 4am to make blueberry/strawberry muffins for Patirck before he left for work... (yes that is early, but hey he is worth it!)

I was so excited for him to get home from work so I could surprise him with his gifts.  He has been wanting a new pair of Oakley sunglasses, because the nose piece fell off his other ones. Needless to say when he opened them he grinned from ear to ear!!! He was so excited that it melted my heart... I love getting gifts people LOVE!!

Check him out in his new shades.... lookin good I might add!!

And here is a pic of us with Lily girl after he was done opening presents

We went to dinner to one of his favorite restaurants, Cheddars!! We love that place.... great food, large amts, and ridiculously cheap!  And we couldn't pass up their famous cookie monster for dessert.  Doesn't it look to die for???!!!

I think he had a good day!  We have celebrated many, many birthdays together and I hope we have many more to come!!

 

Fabulous finds this week

On my days off during the week I usually dedicate one day to run errands and even though I try not to I usually make a trip to Target. This week was no different. My hubby took an unexpected day off yesterday and he offered to run errands with me and before he knew it we were in Target. He knows my obsession with Target, but he simply can't understand my joy of BROWSING! C'mon now... Target is always getting new products and with spring on the way.... There was plenty to look at.

I did come away with a few cute bins to organize some things in the office closet and a super cute decorative jar by Nate Berkus to put on top of the kitchen cabinets. But some my favorite purchase yesterday were from the dollar bins. I just love those $1 dollars bins at Target. Of course there is a lot of junk in there, but sometimes they really have some cute things especially for upcoming holidays!

I just love this super cute tissue paper and cards that I plan to use for Valentines day!

 

And aren't these little notepads cute??!! I am always looking for things to jot notes down on and to keep my organized. I use my Erin Condren planner ALL the time to make notes in, but I thought these would be fun to use for daily tasks and to make lists of things that need to get done.

 

 

And I have to share some really cool things I picked up today to use for my Project Life album. My friend asked me the other day if I had been to Archivers? (huge scrapbook store in our mall) I had been to this store before, but it has been forever. So, needless to say I knew I had to make a trip soon and today I was able to make it happen. Ughhhhh, can you say heaven? I have always been a scrapbooker... I loved doing it in high school and college. But, since I started Project Life my love for it has gone to a whole new level. Anyways..... Here is some cool things I picked up today. 


Washi tape....

Paper I fell in love with and had to have....  it is going to go great with my seafoam kit!

I was so happy when I found the following paper products.  They are designed to fit right into the 3x4 and 4x6 page protector... just have to do a little cutting.  The colors and design are so bright and fun, I just can't wait to use them.

 

Starting in May/June, the Archivers store is planning to carry the full line of Becky Higgins Project Life + an exclusive project line from Becky Higgins.  I am so excited for the this and can't wait to actually buy the physical products in store instead of online.