Happy Dad’s Day

I have the best Dad.

Everyone says that but really I do have the Best Dad.

I spent Fathers Day morning on a 5 mile run with my dad. It’s kind of our thing, he’s the best running partner. Every early Sunday morning we meet halfway between our houses and go on a long run. anywhere from 6 to even 10 miles when we are training for our half marathons. I’ve always had  a love/hate relationship with running, somedays the last thing I want to do is get up early and put on my running shoes. Like really.. it would be soooo much easier to hit the snooze and get the extra hour of sleep.

But if it’s one thing that my Dad has taught me, that dedication and hard work pay off. I absolutely Love our long runs together. I look forward to them all week. We talk about anything and everything, from crazy traffic, to solving world problems. He listens to me ramble about my latest etsy order and I listen to him talk about his latest construction job. Totally different worlds but in some way we understand eachother. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing role model.

I love that we run.. but I also love that we run together. We have this special bond and running has brought us closer together. Constantly pushing eachother to be better and seeing who can sprint to the finish line first. I wouldn’t trade the early mornings and lack of sleep for anything. I am truly blessed with a great Dad!

“Through your eyes I’ve seen God’s love, in your words I’ve heard his wisdom and through your life I’ve found his grace”
- author unknown

I love that quote and it sums up my dad perfectly. He has taught me to be a better person, to never give up and to always put God first.

-At the St.Augustine 10K this past year

 

-One of my favorite runs with my dad, in a state park & my parents dog Rock. Hes our little running partner too!

 

-Our 9 mile run during the end of our training for the last half marathon we did. We talked about the 9 mile “bridge run” for 3 months… and we finally did it! OMG it was sooo intense! My legs were jello the next day, but it was so awesome when we finished. We ran all three bridges in st.augustine, a little over 9 miles. It felt great!

 

-My dad, and sister and I after finishing the Gate River Run (9 mile race) this past march.

 

-This picture was from a couple weeks ago after a 6 mile run my dad and I did together. It was a special run for two reasons,
1- It was the day after my birthday.. and the best present I got was a long run with my dad.
2- It was also the same day as my grandma’s memorial service. After months of struggling with cancer  and a week of being by her bedside in Hospice, when she passed it was surreal. In face its still surreal, its been a month and a half and I still feel like I can just pick up the phone and call her. She was an amazing woman and I think my dad and I both needed a long run together to process our emotions. It was a very hard day, but spending the morning with my dad and making new memories together was just what we needed. Losing a loved one is never easy, in fact it is the hardest thing I have ever had to go through. But seeing how it brought my family so much closer together, makes it slightly easier. Just slightly.. but somedays that’s what get me through.

 

-Okay I just have to show a pic of my amazing grandma too! Without her I wouldnt have my awesome family. She had 5 kids, 6 grandkids and 9 great grandchildren. She was an amazing woman who left behind an amazing legacy.

-This picture was taken just a couple months before my grandma passed, at our family picnic. All six of her grandchildren together at one time. We live in different states, but we all got together for this one picnic. When we took this picture I never thought it would be the last picture we all had of her together with the family. Its funny how that happens, you never really know your in a “moment” until its gone. But we have some pretty amazing pictures / memories from our big picnic.

I am truly blessed with a great family, and I thank God every day for that.

I never thought something as simple as running would bring my dad and I so close. But it makes us better, and makes us try harder, in everything not just running.

So go on.. slap those running shoes on and grab a partner! You never know where it will take you

Sunshine {Garden Party} Baby Shower

Well Hello there Summertime. It’s been a while.

FYI this post is VERY detailed with DIY party tips! Feel free to just skip to the pictures (thats what your guna do anyway )

So as you know, I am a HUGE believer in all things DIY (Do-It-Yourself) & absolutely LOVE throwing parties. It makes my heart so happy!

So when my cousin told me she was pregnant just 8 months ago.. I thought PERFECT! I can throw a summer baby shower.. & O ya Congrats on the baby! (in that order) But yes I am sooooo excited to have another {nephew}. With this being her third and a BOY this time.. I wanted to do something simple yet intimate with just close friends and family.

I turned to my handy dandy Pinterest and starting pinning away.. for about 6 months. I know Im obsessed.. I thought about every detail, the flower arrangements, the color, the theme, the decorations, the invitation. Speaking of the invitation, I started with designing that first and based the whole party around it! Yellow & grey were the perfect summer colors and gender neutral. I knew I didnt want to do the typical boy baby shower decor, and with her due date in July, I thought a Garden Party would be the perfect theme! I later thought about the fact that its Florida… In June… & really really really HOT, (unimportant details)
Thank God for air conditioning.. right?!  P.S. the week before the party there was totally a tropical storm in Florida (AH FREAK OUT). But thankfully the day of the party was absolutely beautiful!

 

Next I focused on the decorations. First things first, throwing a baby shower doesn’t have to be EXPENSIVE, I repeat.. it does NOT have to be expensive. From someone who has thrown her fair share of baby showers, I always say O Im not going to spend that much?! But then I get sucked in at Target and next thing you know I just had to have the matching placements and cute baby toys for decorations.. and im out a whopping couple hundred bucks! O Target, we have such a Love/Hate relationship.

It was my goal this time to stick to my guns, and do it myself, as much as possible (I later caved in and bought a cake from Costco.. which was TOTALLY against my plan, but my logical thinking sister knew I just wouldn’t be able to do it all.. and guess what.. Sister knows best! She was right, and no one even cared that I didn’t bake the cake… thats another story! Back to the decorations. So for three months I went to every thrift store on Saturday morning, and looked for any party decor I could find, which was basically just the table cloths and fabric, but hey I saved some major moolah! I bought 3 curtains from Goodwill, a yellow tablecoth, and 3 table runners for all around $10.00!

In the interest of saving money, I also created a welcome wreath with pops of yellow. I’ve had this white wreath from a previous party, so I just repurposed it by making burlap/felt flowers.. and a little paper banner! Easy peasy and it set a great tone for the party.

I also LOVED having the tables outside. It was so great and really felt like a garden party! My original plan was to have the food table in the grass as well.. but the patio was really the only shaded area and again in Florida.. Its HOT.. like all the time! I moved the buffet table from my dining room outside to the patio and put the main food on there. I used the third curtain I got from goodwill, as a tablecoth over the buffet table, and I had some left over chevron fabric (purchased from Hobby Lobby) from the flag banner I made.

P.S. a bag of lemons at costco is under $5.00 and adds some SERIOUS color and class to the decor.

I used sliced lemons to line the inside of the vases to create a more dramatic flower arrangement.
TIP: Use a large vase and place a smaller cup/glass inside filled with water for the flowers.
Slice your fruit (lemons, limes, oranges) thinly and place them in between the outter edge of the vase and the smaller glass.
You will have to layer them until they reach the top of the vase.
Next place your boquet in the small glass thats filled with water (you dont want the flowers sitting in acidic water) And your done!
Optional: Tie the vase with burlap or ribbon for a finishing touch!

So aside from the flowers, my next favorite part of the shower was the COFFEE BAR!! OMG I dont know about you but I absolutely LOVE coffee. I seriously go to bed at night just thinking about how excited I am to get up in the morning so I can have coffee.. O you dont do that?!.. Okay maybe thats just me! Regardless I knew I wanted coffee at the shower. And because this was a “Brunch” I knew coffee would be the perfect fit!

Heres another Party Tip, if your a perfectionist / contreal freak like me … Be Flexible!
Originally I wanted ALL the food and the coffee bar outside, I had this vision in my head of exactly the way everything was going to look and I wasn’t budging. But the night before, that voice of reason A.K.A my sister, made me realize that noone is going to want to drink HOT coffee outside. HA what great insight! And I knew once again (Man this being wrong all the time is getting old!) that she was right. This is where the “being flexible/ adaptable” comes in handy. Normally I would be okay sure no problem, but my lack of sleep that day and months of planning was making me stress over every detail. But Alas, I knew it would be better if the drinks were inside.  So we set up the coffee bar / beverage station inside. Which was actually perfect, because once everyone ate, we were sweating anyway so we all mingled inside.

One thing that I always try to do when planning a party is to think about every detail, so a guest can walk in and not have to ask for one thing. That every item that they could possibly need has already been thought about and is easily accessible to them. For example the “Self Serve” coffee bar, I put all the cups, creamer, coffee, and even biscotti’s out on the bar for easy access for guests. You want them to feel at home and comfortable at the party, and not have to ask “O do you have a glass I can use.. OR Do you have silverware” As a host, I want to be able to enjoy the party, and as much as I can get done the night before, it allows me for more time to relax and socialize with the guests.

The Iced Coffe was a hit! I made a pot of coffee the night before and put it in the fridge, about an hour before the guests arrived I placed it in my super cute mason jar drink dispenser (which I got on sale for $10.00 at Kirkland’s), I added about half a cup of milk and a little bit of flavored creamer.

Now heres a neat trick: I love iced coffee but when the ice melts my coffee gets all watered down UGH.. NO FEAR!!
Take your leftover coffee and place in ice cube trays overnight, thus creating “ice coffee cubes” .
That way when the ice melts it adds more coffee NOT water, genius! Thank you Pinterest.

I also had lemonade, orange juice and water if everyone didn’t share my love of coffee. I bought this adorable sunflower aluminum tin, that doubled as a drink station as well as a take home gift for the Mom to be! I have to take a second to just write about my obsession with Hobby Lobby! Not only is it A-M-Azing!! But they have the best deals and they are always having sales. I bought these glass drink containers (3 large and 3 small) for originally $22.50 for ONLY $11.50! There glasswares go on sale about every three weeks so I snagged these jars, perfect for the drinks. I had to bling them out of course! My sister wrapped them in burlap and made the felt flowers. Then we tied on the drink labels with twine. I’m in LOVE.

I also created these drink flags for the mason jars. It’s really convenient that I am a graphic designer and have an etsy store with party decorations .

Okay so moving on to the food.. shall we? And this was really the main reason I was up till 3 am the night before. I wanted everthing homemade. I have a problem I know.. It would have been easier to just buy premade pancakes, or premade quiche, but I do LOVE cooking so I thought well its not that much work.. I just kind of forgot about the part where I had to clean my entire house and put up decorations and the party was at 11AM. I do it to myself, I know.. but I just love being involved in every detail.. and I truly enjoy it (I do! even though I totally complain about it, the process really is enjoyable) For the menu I had: spinach & mushroom quiche, mini pancakes, yogurt parfaits, baked bri pastry, watermelon pops & cake.

And now for the cake. Usually I am a BIG fan of cupcakes for parties, but for some reason I just really envisioned a cake at the party. My plan was to make a lemon cake the night before but as you know there was alot of other things to do too! So I bought this premade Chocolate Cake from Costco.. and I have to say OMG SOOOO GOOD! It was probably better than anything I could have made anyway. I did however make the burlap & felt mini flag banner as well as the “washi tape” flags that were on top of the cake. So that counts for something, right?!

Overall the party was amazing! Everything turned out perfect and with the beautiful Momma and all our friends it really was a great day! I always enjoy some girl time, but add some coffee and talk about babies and Im in Heaven ..

Mason Jars & watermelon on a stick.. talk about Southern Ya’ll!!

Game Time! Im usually not a fan of cheesy baby shower games, but these really fit! The first one, was just voting for the cutest Big Hat.. which was quite hilarious seeing everyones hats.


And the second game was a simple “matching game”.. but it gets quite entertaining when you hear everyones answers!


Yay! My Aunt won for cutest Hat! The gift: redneck wine glass of course!

My amazing sister with my adorable nephew Cadeyn!

The only man among these women..such a cutie pie!

I knew I wanted to give her more than just baby clothes so I made this custom nursery art, printed on Burlap, to match Baby Easton’s nursery. I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out.

I absolutely LOVE these ladies.. each and every one of them! They are all amazing and sooooo great to have in my life! I am so blessed to have friends NEW & OLD.. Love celebrating a NEW baby with great women.

Three beautiful Prego Mommas!

My amazing sister, and cousins (who are.. lets be honest, practically my sisters)

The beautiful Guest of Honor with her Momma! Love these ladies so much!

Me with my beautiful Momma and amazing sister WHO SERIOUSLY HELPED me pull off this party!! THANK YOU!!

Sunshine Garden Party Baby Shower Invite: Baby Shower Invite
Drink Flags: Etsy Listing Drink Flags
Party Decorations: Myself and a HUGE help from my amazing sister!

Carmelized Onion, Sausage & Pesto Pizza

Happy Wednesday Night!

I can not tell you the last time I made pizza for dinner. I mean once maybe six months ago I tried a cauliflower crust pizza and that was a complete flop. It tasted delicious, but crumbled instantly

So here goes nothin..

I decided to try a new version and forget the cauliflower crust this time & opt for premade Publix dough, I mean I did run 6 miles last night so it all evens out right?

Okay first things first, prebake your dough about 8 minutes.

While your pizza dough is baking sautee your onions until they start to carmelize (about 20 minutes on medium heat).
Then add your sausage and sautee until cooked through.

I have to say at this point my house smelled AMAZING! Like an onion, garlic sausage deliciousness!

Set your onion & sausage mixture aside. Your pizza dough should already be baked and ready to go.

Spread the pesto on the pizza evenly (or unevenly.. you know, this is a its okay-to-color-outside-the-lines-kinda-dish)
Add your sliced tomato.

Honestly, I could stop right here, but alas my carniverous nature comes out.

Next add the onion and sausage mixture & top with the cheeses. NOW for the secret ingredient! SHHHH don’t tell anyone,
TOP with PANKO Breadcrumbs. So I’ve never cooked with these before, I wasn’t sure what all the hype was about, but seriously it makes a huge difference, trust me.  The texture and flavor it adds to the pizza is amazing!

Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 more minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Once it’s cooked perfectly, I broiled the pizza on low for about 2 minutes. And VOILA, OMG get ready for yummyness! You can thank me later.

Carmelized Onion, Sausage & Pesto Pizza
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
-Premade pizza dough (I used the Publix brand) (Or you can make your own, if your an overacheiver )
-1 large tomato
-1/4 cup of pesto
- feta cheese (enough to be sprinkled on top)
-parmesan cheese (4 tablespoons)
-2 large onions
-1/4th of  lb of sausage
-panko bread crumbs

-Okay first things first, prebake your dough about 8 minutes. While your pizza dough is baking sautee your onions until they start to carmelize (about 20 minutes on medium heat). Then add your sausage and sautee until cooked through. Set your onion & sausage mixture aside. Your pizza dough should already be baked and ready to go. Spread the pesto on the pizza evenly (or unevenly.. you know, this is a its okay-to-color-outside-the-lines-kinda-dish) Next add the onion and sausage mixture & top with the cheeses. NOW for the secret ingredient! SHHHH don’t tell anyone, TOP with PANKO Breadcrumbs. So I’ve never cooked with these before, I wasn’t sure what all the hype was about, but seriously it makes a huge difference, trust me.  The texture and flavor it adds to the pizza is amazing! Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 more minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Once it’s cooked perfectly, I broiled the pizza on low for about 2 minutes.

And VOILA, OMG get ready for yummyness!

You can thank me later.

Happy Birthday.. now eat some fruit

This past weekend was my neices birthday party. I wanted to bring an appetizer but the idea of adding more cupcakes to the already-hopped-up-on-sugar children, seemed like a bad idea. I thought fruit would be a good snack and if it was “cute” maybe the kids would want it more than the cupcakes.. Okay who am I kidding.. what child doesn’t want cupcakes. BUT the fruit boquet was a hit! And was ALL gone by the end of the party. I guess kid’s liked it afterall.

I have to say I was really intimidated of this idea at first and thought it was going to be SUPER hard. It wasn’t necessarily “easy” but once you get the hang of it, its smooth sailing. And I do apologize I didn’t take any pictures of the “in progress” action.

AND see that adorable mermaid cake in the picture.. her Dad made it. YES her dad, it came out sooo cute and all the kids loved it!

Supplies Needed:
-Fruit ( I used one large cantalope & a bag of grapes)
-vase or container for your boquet
-ribbon for accent
-dipping sticks
-styrofoam base to stick your fruit into (I used a 4″ one from Micheals”
-kale or lettuce to “fill the vase”
-cookie cutters – I used flower shaped ones

So all you have to do is slice flat peices of your fruit. Honestly cantalope was hard to  work with, trying to get the slices to have enough “flesh” to fill the cookie cutter was annoying, I might use watermelon next time. But just cut your shapes out, then use grapes to stick either in the middle or on top of them. Push with the stick and insert into the styrofoam base. Now do this about a hundred times..haha maybe not a hundred but at least 30. I also added chocolate dipped marshmellows too.. because come on, you have to have a little chocolate in the mix! Once you fill your entire vase just insert small peices of kale or lettuce into the base to hide your styrofoam. I tied a pink ribbon to finish it off. And there you have it! I’m definitly going to be doing this one again.. maybe I’ll take more pictures next time

Did someone say Chocolate?

Um can you say easiest dessert ever?! Seriously this is super easy. Literally just combine one can of coconut milk PLUS coco powder and VOILA = BEST Chocolate Mousse Ever!

I’ve tried a couple different brands and the “Thai Kitchen” unsweetened, coconut milk, seems to work best for me.

This is what it looks like all mixed up, beautiful right? It should mix really easily and you will barely have to stir the ingredients together.

Ingredients:
-One can of Coconut Milk
-1 tablespoon of coco powder
-OPTIONAL:
-sprinkle of coconut
-sprinkle of dark chocolate chips
Okay are you ready for this… Its intense! Just take one can of coconut milk and refrigerate overnight. It will thicken, dispose the extra liquid. Combine the “coconut paste” with the coco powder. Sprinkle with coconut and chocolate chips. And VOILA thats it! SUPER EASY and delicious!

And now for my love of Chevron…

On my 18th birthday David bought me a sewing machine.. which I had asked for.. and was absolutely elated that I got my dream gift!

For the past 6 years I have “self-taught” myself to sew. Granted I can only sew a straight line and that is really only due to the fact that I spent hours on youtube trying to figure out how to thread the stinkin bobbin. WOW.. was that WAY more difficult than I thought it was going to be.. Have people never heard of zoom feature on their video camera’s.. “I can’t see how your threading your bobbin when its 5ft away from the camera” OMG I thought I was going to freak when I finally found a video with a simple tutorial and a zoomed -in feature.. Um YAY! small feat for me.. but It finally made using my sewing machine an actual option.. I no longer have to sew my pillows by hand (who would do that.. its takes SOOOO long.. & it doesnt look good.. ha did I just rat myself out?! needless to say my house is happier with my new fancy schmancy sewing skillllzz!!

Until all my hopes & dreams came to a crashing hault TWO YEARS ago when I lost my bobbin case.. What’s a bobbin case you ask.. O the little -itty-bitty metal case which holds your thread to do the actual sewing. When I contacted the manufacturer “O we don’t make that model anymore.. UGH” So for two years my precious little sewing machine has sat in my craft closet, just taunting me.. I never thought I could actually find the mysterious bobbin case. Well a couple weeks ago I went online casually seeing if I could find a universal bobbin case… OMG I FOUND ONE! And guess what, it wasn’t a million dollars, a measly $4.99. Did I seriously waist countless craft projects on a $5 dollar bobbin case?! SOOOOOO I bought it and 2 days later my missing craft peice was in the mailbox.. “AAAAHHHH” let the craftin resume.. Can you tell I’m excited? Its the little things in life, right? My world felt complete, okay I’m a bit dramatic, but thats why you love me, right?! I bought this red chevron fabric from Hobby Lobby 6 months ago, thinking it was way too much but maybe I could use it for some scrap project. And then on a rainy Sunday I decided I needed a dining room makeover, you know, because thats a normal thought. I broke out my trusty dusty sewing machine and made a new table runner, placemats and some super cute pillows!

Okay so I bought a plain red table runner from Marshalls for $5.99. And added the chevron fabric to it. So Maybe it wasn’t from scratch but I LOVE it. It looks so cute in our dining room and it adds a special splash of something  

I may or may not have gone a little overboard and sewn 6.. okay maybe 8 pillows for our living room. But they look cute right?! I am now so excited that I can actually use my sewing machine and conquer my project list I’ve been putting off. 
  

Mmmm Brussels Sprouts… did I just say that?!

 

 

 

 

I have to say Im not a fan of the word “brussels sprouts” .. is it just me or does it sound gross?? I have this weird “O I don’t like that word so therefore I’m not trying that food” thing.. kinda weird.. I know.. which made me resist hummus for years, which I now LOVE.. but thats a completely different story.. OKAY so It might be the childhood memories of being forced to eat scary vegetables that didn’t taste good.. but in my old age I’d like to think I’ve matured.

Or at least my taste buds have matured.. thats good right? Anyway so we get a “veggie box” from a local farm every other week with yummy organic vegetables delivered straight to our doorstop. Which is pretty amazing & convenient, its great but I don’t always know how to cook these new unknown veggies.. like for example brussels sprouts. What in the world do you do with them? Well pinterest it is! Roast them seems to be the most common form.. and so I tried it. Yes mom I made brussels sprouts for dinner! And I hate to admit it, but they were delicious! Like little mini adorable cabbages. 

Combine with olive oil, cranberries, walnuts and feta.. um Yes Please!!! My scary veggie friend has now turned into my new favorite! I’m definitly going to be making these little yummies more often.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients:
- one poud of brussels sprouts
-2 tablespoons of olive oil
-handful of cranberries
-handful of walnuts
-sprinkle of feta cheese
(Im not exactly a “measuring” type of cook)
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Trim the ends off of your brussels sprouts, lay out the brussels and walnuts in a large cooking pan. Drizzle with the olive oil, Bake for 20 minutes or until slightly golden. Remove from oven and in a large bowl combine with cranberries and feta. Serve as a side dish or your entire dinner like I did.. Or am I the only one who does that? Thats not weird right? Enjoy

Run girl Run

Okay so I have to admit that alot of my posts lately have been about food & recipes.. haha can you tell I LOVE cooking?! But theres’s also been another hobby of mine that has been making my life more interesting too!! And that is RUNNING!! So this post is actually a little late, I should have posted a while ago BUT you know better late than never, right?! I am creating a new “page” on my blog “Run Girl Run” … which is dedicated to my love of running. And by love, I mean my love/hate relationship with running. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy it.. but theres def days I don’t want to do it, and then I do it anyway and end up feeling so much better! Not only is it a great stress relief but I have been able to do my training with my dad! Which is awesome. My parents only live 45 minutes away, but between working full time and running my etsy store on the nights and weekends, my spare time is pretty full with activites. So my dad and I have made it a point to have our long runs on Saturday mornings. For the past couple of months we’ve met once a week and ran anywhere from 4-9 miles in training for the Donna Hicken Half Marathon.

And then on February 17th, we DID IT!! After working so hard and spending my Saturday mornings getting up at 6 am and driving to St.Augustine and running with my dad, we finally completed the Donna Half Marathon!! This was my fourth half marathon (Ive done the Disney Half marathon twice and did the Donna Half last year too) and I have to say I think it was my favorite Half so far! That could be partially to the fact that I loved being able to spend one on one time with my dad (did I mention I’m a daddy’s girl?!) and he listened to me talk about graphic design, natural life, all about the ups and downs of my etsy store, my latest pinterest project & my adventures with cooking, hes so great! 

Insert Instagram caption “4:45 am wake up call, 30 minute delay start & crazy traffic.. getting ready to run my fourth half marathon with my dad.. PRICELESS!!” And even in Florida it was FREEZING!! OMG the whole race was sooo cold, okay yes I sound like a brat seeing that the average temperatures in Florida are 90 degrees, BUT it just happened to be SOOOOO cold the day of the race! But we sucked it up


The start line!! Finally.. I was so excited & freezing, but mostly excited!

this was my Favorite part of the run.. the beach!!

Only 3 more miles! Honestly I felt really good at this point, except for the bottom of my feet. I started to realize that maybe I need to retire my running shoes and get new ones. They have been very loyal BUT I could really tell after 2 years I need a new pair. BUT I was happy that for the most part I really didn’t feel tired or anything, overall I felt really good! Which made me so happy that my 4 months of training really paid off! I followed the Hal Higdon Training Schedule, which was great! It was alot of hardwork but I could tell my endurance was really up.

We did it!! Woop Woop!! Such an amazing feeling to complete my 4th half marathon with my dad! I think our official time was a little over 3 hours (about a 13-14 minute mile pace) which was pretty good… I will talk about my improved pace in a later post
Okay so now I have to brag a little bit.. my dad has seriously completed like a Jillion Half Marathons (okay maybe not a jillion, but at least 12 or more, hes also done his fair share of FULL marathons probably 10 or more, I dont know the exact number but he is TRULY my inspiration and is such an amazing man!! I’m so glad that he has inspired me to be a runner and encourages me to reach my goals too! Now I just have to pick my next half marathon to train for.. Disney Wine & Dine?! I’ll keep you posted.

For my half marathon training schedule I followed: Hal Higdon Half Marathon Training Schedule 
To learn more about the Donna Half Marathon: Finish Breast Cancer
*PS one of the reasons I LOVE the Donna Half Maraton is that 100% of proceeds go to finding a cure for breastcancer!! So awesome! Go get your RUN on!!

You can never have enough avocado’s

Hi Guys!
I haven’t posted in a while, Life has been super busy.. so this post is actually from last week but I thought I would share a couple recipes I creating using my latest obsession of avocado’s. Maybe because they were on sale at Publix or maybe because I absolutely LOVE them and will eat them on nearly anything, or maybe because they make me feel like it’s summertime (wishful thinking) not sure why I like them so much.. but I’m not complaining. So for breakfast on Sunday I decided I wanted something different than the usual scrambled eggs and bacon or quiche from the previous weekend. 

Baked Egg Avocado’s
Ingredients:
- avocado
- 1 to two eggs
- feta cheese for garnish
-lime
- green onions or scallions (for garnish)
- one small container of plain yogurt (6 oz. container)
Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut your avocado in half and scoop out just enough avocado to create a little bowl in each half. Crack one egg into each half of the avocado. Bake for 10-15 minutes (until the egg is fully cooked) While the avocado’s are in the oven, mix your greek yogurt with the scooped out avocado and half of the lime (to create a sauce) Once your eggs are done, remove from the oven and drizzle your yogurt sauce over the baked eggs and sprinkle with feta cheese and green onions. All done! And pretty delish, I have to say I will be making this a staple in the Haley Household!

This next recipe was a delicious dinner I made the other night. It is a great alternative to the typical alfredo sauce. I have to say I am usually skeptical of subsititues but this was amazing!
Pasta with Linguine Avocado Sauce
-one box of whole wheat linguine
-blender or food processor
- one avocado
- 3 TB of olive oil
- one lemon
- one garlic clove (minced)
-green onions or scallions for garnish
Cook your pasta according to directions. While pasta is cooking cut your avocado in half and scoop contents into blender.Cut lemon in half and squeeze one half into the blender, add in olive oil & miced garlic. Blend until it creates a thin sauce (you may need to add more olive oil / lemon juice) until you get to the desired consistency. Then top your pasta with the avocado sauce. Serve alone with a salad or as shown with sauteed green bans, baked zuchinni fries and carmelized onion & mushroom chicken. Happy Cooking… What’s your favorite avocado recipe?!

Hey there Cupcake!

So this past weekend was my two neices joint birthday party, the Oldest Emma was turning six and Alanna was turning 4. So I of course used this opportunity to design every aspect of the party with my Sister. I designed a Custom Party Pack for the birthday party and we spent every minute of Friday Night printing & cutting out the decor to make sure the party was Perfect!

The party was a success & so much fun. Although I have to be honest being around 30 children all day with paint and cupcakes made me sooo happy to go home to my quiet house with my husband and one dog (Can you tell I don’t have kids yet?!) haha I had fun though and LOVED watching the creativity of those little kids!

    

Here is a link to the Etsy Listing of the Invite: https://www.etsy.com/listing/124610772/owl-craft-birthday-party-invite-digital

and the Matching Party Pack: https://www.etsy.com/listing/124607520/joint-owl-themed-birthday-party?ref=v1_other_2

P.S. The CUTE owl mugs are conveniently from my job at Natural Life. http://www.naturallife.com/teal-owl-mug.html I guess I just can’t escape the popularness (is that even a word?!) of the owl!