Happy 4th of July!

Hey everyone!! Happy 4th of July to all of my US readers :) If you are not in the US, then happy Monday to you! I hope you have all had a great weekend and that you are all having a fun and safe holiday. Today has been a quiet day but in a really great way. My mom and I spent some time together running some errands this morning and I've just been cleaning and relaxing this afternoon. I also enjoyed a delicious dinner which I'll be sharing with you in this post.

First, I just wanted to show you a small Trader Joe's haul from yesterday. I'm trying really hard to save money where I can so I'm going to be using up what I have in the freezer and pantry as much as I can so I kept my grocery list short. Here's what I got:

So for the haul I got some Strawberries, shredded hash browns, almond milk, my favorite raspberry, lemon and strawberry popsicles (I'm obsessed with popsicles right now!!), the Mango Coconut Pudding recommended by Vegan Peace, shredded carrots, a large cucumber, and a giant sweet potato.

This is the amazing dinner I had tonight!! I had some of the Trader Joe's chick'n tenders with some corn and a delicious salad with the Just Ranch dressing. You guys, this dressing is AMAZING!! I love it! I only ate about half of the corn, it was way too much and I don't know how I didn't realize it would be before I made it. If I were a little smarter I would have just thrown the corn and the tenders in the salad and eaten it like that but I guess that'll just have to wait for next time!

This is my beautiful, glittery planner spread for this week! I love how festive it is. And how glittery it is. So fun! I'm going to try a different style of planning next week and I've very excited to try it.

Finally, this little guy is going to be spending the night with us tonight. He gets really freaked out by fireworks and my brother and the family will be out late tonight so he is staying here tonight. TJ is fine with fireworks so he is home but they didn't want Tyler to be home with no humans to comfort him so I get to hang out with this sweet boy tonight :)

That's all for today! How did you guys celebrate the holiday? What is your favorite 4th of July meal or snack (or beverage if you are so inclined!). Let me know!

I'll be back in a few days with some yummy meals to show you. Lots of summer produce happening here! See you soon! <3

Summer Bucket List

Hey you guys! I hope that you have all been well! I'm still getting things back in order after spending a long weekend and my brother's house but the routine is finally getting back to normal. I work today and have a normal weekend for the 4th of July weekend. I still don't know what my plans are for Monday but honestly I'm hoping to just relax and have a craft day. I've been quite tired lately so I try to get some quality relaxation time when I can.

Summer is finally officially here and I thought today would be a good day to share a little summer bucket list that I have for the year! It's just a few things but they are definitely things I would like to accomplish over the next few months :)

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I don't know why I chose this image to represent having craft days but it makes me laugh so hard. Mainly because I'm not even really a fan of his but the whole thing is just so silly. Anyway, I'm sure you can tell by my last post that I'm on a craft kick and I want to make sure that I have some craft days planned for the summer. It is a great way for me to relax and create and I'm really excited about it!

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The second thing I really want to do is hold a giveaway for you guys!! I really appreciate you for sticking with me during a time where I was feeling crappy and posting sporadically so I really wanted to do a fun giveaway. I will probably combine it with my crafting and I'm excited about it! I haven't decided when it will happen just yet but I will obviously keep you guys posted!

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Something I have really been missing from my life for a long time is a regular yoga practice. I've lost everything I gained from that practice in terms of flexibility, balance, etc. and I really want to regain it. I also miss the calm and peace I feel after a practice. I am really going to make it a goal to get back into the habit of practicing yoga at least 3 days a week for 30 minutes (at least).

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This is not a fun one but I am hoping to really iron out a strict budget to start saving a little more. It's really important, especially now that I had that issue with the craft fair and am out some of my investment. I've been working on it and I feel really good about it so I just need to be careful! Luckily since the weather is so nice I will be able to do things outside for free during the summer :)

And finally… I don't have a picture for this but I do want to get back into the kitchen and start coming up with more recipes again! I really miss being creative in the kitchen so I think it would be fun to take advantage of all of the summer produce and make some fun new dishes. It would also be good to come up with some delicious dishes perfect for those on a strict budget. I can't wait to share them with you!

So that's all I have for today! What is on your summer bucket list?

Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday with a grocery haul and some 4th of July eats!

Back to Reality

Hey everyone! I know it has been a while but that was to be expected since I was on staycation at my brother's house since Thursday night with no computer. I took off Saturday for a three day weekend and it was really nice! I really needed a break and some time to recharge my batteries. I have a few pictures to share from the weekend and I will be back with some food photos later in the week. Today we have puppies and crafting stuff!

The pups were not cooperative with taking pictures but I managed to get a few. Here is Tyler looking totally annoyed that I'm in his face.

And here is TJ with his sad little puppy face. He always looks sad but is actually the biggest goofball ever.

This is basically the epitome of their personalities. Tyler gives zero F**cks about everything and TJ is just a total goof. This picture makes me laugh so hard.

As I mentioned in my last post, I got together with my friend on Sunday and we did some shopping. We spent a long time in Michael's as I was looking to stock up on crafting supplies and pocket letter supplies and I got so much great stuff! Thanks to sales and the generous Michael's coupons I got everything at a great price as well. Check out what I got!

All the way to the left I have little Floss Bobbins that I'm going to use to make Washi Tape samples. Next to it is the word washi I have been searching for! I've been looking for months and I finally got my hands on it. I thought the little tags were super cute and I'm going to make a thread bracelet with that gorgeous color combo. The cornflower to the far right is my power color I think ;)

Here we have a ton of stickers and some sequins. Again, we had some great sales and I had to take advantage.

Finally we have a book of watermelon (!!!) themed paper that was on sale big time and a pack of white card stock. I'm going to split the watermelon paper with a planner friend because I'll never use all of it.

Here is my July monthly spread!! I really love this spread because it is the red, white and blue but it doesn't look like the 4th of July exploded on the page. I will do a weekly spread that is festive but this is so perfect for the monthly. I got this kit from Creating & Co. which is one of my favorite shops as I've mentioned before.

Here is this week's spread! I am OBSESSED. I am all about under the sea anything so this beautiful kit is just everything. I love it. Decorating really makes me use my planner more and I just love looking at it! This is the Summer Daze kit from a shop called Nicole Alexia Designs. I've decided to start linking to my favorite shops because I know a few of you expressed interest in decorative planning so I figured I'd let you know which shops I love!

That's all for today!! Once I get settled back into my routine I'll be able to do a food post. I hope that you are all well and had a great weekend! <3

Another Monday Haul

Hey everyone! I hope that you all enjoyed your weekend. I'm not going to lie, I'm really glad that last week is over. It was a really tough week between the horrible events that occurred in Orlando (three majorly publicized events and who knows how many more), the disaster of a street fair experience and getting sick with a sinus infection. Luckily this week is shaping up to be a better week. I've finished my antibiotics and am feeling better, I am fur baby sitting for the weekend and I decided that I wanted to make it a three day weekend for myself so I took Saturday off because lets face it... I deserve it! The best part is that my friend will be in town and we will be spending some time together shopping and lunching on Sunday! I'm really looking forward to it.

I did drag my butt out of bed early this morning to beat the rush at Trader Joe's and have a bit of a haul to show you. I am also going to share my planner layout for this week. I am in love with how it came out! Starting in July I'll have two layouts to show you! I got a planner in Michael's on deep discount (the total was between $10-$15) and it is an 18 month planner starting in July 2016. I'll be doing a different style of planning which is essentially a scrapbook style of planning since lets face it... there is typically a departure in what I planned in the beginning of the week to what I really do. Plus, I think it is just a great way to document memories and also to use up random stickers that I have left over from my weekly planning. I'm looking forward to sharing that with you as well!

Anyway, enough of my yapping, here is the haul and the spread!

First up is the produce. Shredded carrots, persian cucumbers, grape tomatoes, corn on the cob, russet potatoes, baby carrots, avocado and spring mix.

Some random grocery items as well. Inner Beans and Peas, some Crispy Chick'n Tenders and the vegan marshmallows!! I don't know what I'll do with them yet but I'm glad I found them. 

Here is this week's spread! It is so beautiful, I am in love with it! The colors are gorgeous and just looking at it makes me happy! My favorite colors have drastically changed recently. I'm loving navy blue, copper, cornflower blue (this may be my new power color) and mint... I used to love more warm toned colors but these colors have been inspiring to me lately.

What are your favorite colors? Do you love neutrals, brights, pastels? Let me know in the comments below!

Have a great week everyone! <3

Summer Craft Projects!

Hey you guys! I know, long time no post, I'm so sorry! This week has been crazy with all of the sadness in the beginning and then I came down with a sinus infection in the middle of the week. I am on antibiotics and between being sick and being on these meds my appetite has been wiped out so I haven't had much food to post. I did want to come in and do a post though so I decided to share my two summer craft projects that I'm looking to get into!

Ever since I started planning and making my jewelry my desire to create and craft has been really intense. I've been looking for some fun projects to do that are within my capability and being sick I had some time to binge watch some YouTube videos and I'm so excited because I found some projects that I'm so excited about! The first one is something called a Pocket Letter and the other is a Flipbook!

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The first project that I found and that I am SO EXCITED about is called a pocket letter. You can read more about it by clicking the link above (just click where it says Pocket Letter) but a quick explanation is that you take a baseball card sleeve that has nine pockets. You decorate nine cards and you slide one into each sleeve. Each of those decorative cards hides a small treat or gift that you slide in behind the card. I love this idea because you can be really creative in decorating the cards and you get to include little goodies for the recipient! You also include a letter in one of the pockets. It was created with the idea of pen pals in mind so you would swap pocket letters with a pen pal. I would love to do swaps down the road but I think this is the cutest way to give a gift or tell someone that you are thinking about them. The goodies are small tokens typically but I really love how thoughtful the whole thing is. You can exercise your creativity by using a color theme or some other theme for your pocket letter like the one above (by Creawitch). I'm so excited to try this and who knows, maybe one of you will win a pocket letter in an upcoming giveaway ;)

I am having a hard time finding a good picture of a flip book but if you click here you can check out the video I watched that got me into the idea of making a flip book! A flip book is essentially a small DIY scrapbook that you can decorate for any occasion or to capture the memories of a specific event, holiday, vacation, etc. They also really allow you to explore your creativity and I think they are really wonderful gifts to make. It's hard for me to explain but check out Paige's video above. She is amazing and really talented, she owns one of my favorite sticker shops and as soon as I saw this video I knew I had to give it a try!

Are you guys crafty at all? Do you enjoy craft projects? If so what kind of craft projects are you looking to get into this summer? Let me know below!

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far <3 I hope to be back soon with some meals!

A New Day

Hey everyone. Thank you so much for your kind words and your support. It always means so much to me to read your comments and I really appreciate it. I hope that all of you have been ok in this time and taking care of yourselves and everyone that you love. I've been supporting my friend as he is still understandably quite shaken. He has said it will take a long time to heal from this and it is still very raw and real. A good friend of his who has become a good friend of mine knows someone that passed in the hospital so it's all hitting close to home for them. I wish I could be there with them but unfortunately the best I can do is support them from here and send them as much love as possible.

I've accepted the street fair debacle and I'll start to figure out a new game plan to get my jewelry out there. Whether it is a different fair (which I can't really imagine at the moment) or an Etsy shop I'll figure it out.

I didn't really know what to do with myself today so I decided to get my butt in the kitchen and bake. I made another loaf of Chocolate Covered Katie's Fat Free Banana Bread. I used mini chocolate chips this time. It made my whole house smell amazing. I don't know what is more comforting... eating the comfort food or making the comfort food. I haven't eaten it yet but making it certainly was calming for me.

I saw that Bianca had reviewed this book (here) and I immediately had to check it out. It is called N'Ice Cream and as you can imagine, it contains all vegan ice cream recipes. I decided to treat myself and I ordered it and my copy came today! I haven't really had a chance to check it out yet but the thing that sold me was that there were so many different options and that they teach you how to make it without an ice cream maker. I also really love that they have ice cream cakes in there because what is more fun than an Ice Cream Cake? I'm really excited to try some recipes because I could use some healthy vegan ice cream in my life.

So that's all I have for today. Just laying low and trying to relax before another work week. I hope that you are all doing well <3

A Difficult Day

Hey everyone. I'm sure by now all of you know what is going on in Orlando. I don't normally do posts like this when a tragedy occurs because what can I possibly say. This time it is a little more personal. This happened in a city I love to a community that I love. As you all know, I go down to Orlando several times a year to visit my best friend. My gay best friend. Who has taken me to this club before. Who I had to frantically text this morning to make sure he was ok. And I am so incredibly lucky to say that everyone I know is ok. My heart breaks for everyone who was not that lucky.

I don't understand how someone can have this much hate in their heart. It is crazy. All I know is that I will hold everyone a little tighter and let everyone know how much they mean to me. And I want you all to know that you mean a lot to me. All of the support and time you have given to me over the past few years have meant the world to me and I thank you all so much.

A lot of tears were shed today for so many reasons (more below). I'm typically not one to pray but today I pray for those that lost their lives and those that lost someone they love due to a senseless act of violence. And I pray that we can all find a way to tap into the goodness of our hearts and treat each other with kindness and respect. We are all human and that should be all that matters. 

On another note, for those of you who are curious to know about the street fair I was participating in today unfortunately it is more bad news. While it is clearly not a tragedy in any way it was a very disappointing morning... I had my display pretty much set up when the unweighted tent of the vendor next to me flew into my tent and display. The jewelry that I had spent so much time on went flying and my displays (which I also hand made) broke. Some of the jewelry was damaged, the necklaces were in large clumps and knots and there are still about 15 rings laying in the street somewhere. I was clearly really upset because there was no recovery from it since my displays were destroyed and my stock tangled and damaged so I had to pack it up as the fair was starting. It was really upsetting because of the time and money that I had put into it. And also because the vendor didn't even care to apologize for basically causing me to close up shop before it even opened. I know that it clearly is not a big deal in comparison to the other events of the day but it was still a really difficult situation for me. I struggle with my decision to pack it up but I got really overwhelmed looking at my hard work laying all over the street and I just couldn't see any way to recover it and get the usable stock out there in any sort of timely manner, especially since my displays were also destroyed. I feel stupid even complaining or being upset about this when there is so much else going on but I figured I'd give you the update on this as well... especially considering I should still be there right now.

I'm sorry for such a sad post but I just felt like I had to say something because I just can't understand it. I hope that you are all doing ok and that all of your loved ones are safe. I am hoping to be back mid next week with a regular post. 

<3