31 Days and My 16th Year Wedding Anniversary

Happy Tuesday guys and gals!  Hope you're having a great week so far.  How was your weekend?  Ours was busy to say the least (aren't they always - hee hee hee).  Anyway, I just wanted to do a quick post and wish the love of my life a very happy and wonderful 16th year anniversary.  

Hard to believe we only knew each other a little over 2 months before we decided to run off to the courthouse one day at lunch and elope! (No, I was NOT pregnant- LOL).  A year later we actually had a real church wedding because it was very important to his mom since she wanted to be at the wedding too.  :) We had both had horrible first marriages and we just knew it was right and what we wanted and were looking for.  He had a son from his previous marriage who was 3 yo old, and I had a daughter from mine who was also 3 years old.  My daughter is 3 months older than his son.  It was like having twins all of these years! :)  See..... aren't they cute! :)  

Anyway, Happy anniversary my darling groom.  You are and always will be the Love of my Life and I love you more than anything in this world.  I look forward to another 16+ years with you and can't wait to see what the future holds.

Lots of love and hugs,

31 days - 1000th Post and a Giveaway!!

Happy Saturday my peeps!  How is your weekend going so far?  Great, I hope!  I am super excited!  Today was a GREAT and FUN mail day so I thought I would share my new stash with you:

Yes, ALL of these came in the mail today and I was SUPER excited! :)

 I'm LURVING this new tassel necklace and can't WAIT to wear it! :)

 I thought this was such a pretty black necklace.  

 And as you can tell from the pictures above, I ordered this in almost every color they had! :)

So... for the Giveaway - I was thinking about giving away a really cute necklace similar to one of these and maybe a scarf.  Something in Fall colors perhaps?  There are only TWO requirements:

1.  Leave me a comment telling me what your favorite thing about Fall is; and

2. Share this giveaway on your blogs (with a link back to my blog), twitter, Facebook and/or Instagram accounts then come back here and post with your blog names, user names, etc. and your email address so I can send you a note letting you know if you win.

Each place you share counts as an extra entry.  I will hold it open until next Friday, November 1st.  That will give you plenty of time to share and post on your blogs and get the word out.  Good luck!!! 

Have a great rest of the weekend and thanks for stopping by! :)

Lots of Love and Hugs,

31 days - Mug Swap!

Happy TGIF peeps!  I don't know about you but I am SO happy today is finally Friday!  This week has been completely exhausting to me.  How has your week been?  Great, I hope!  I know I'm behind a week in the 31 day series but I just haven't had time to blog at all due to work. Anyway, I joined in with the a few other girls in The Java Mama's Fall Mug Swap and it was really fun!  I had 2 swap partners because there weren't an even number of swappers, so I swapped with Becky, the host too.  Here is the one from Becky and I LURV it!  Whatcha think?! 

Isn't it CCCUUUTTEEEE??!! :)  And she also sent along a $5 gift card and a cute tag to Starbucks for a cup of coffee to go with it!  I wish I had thought of doing that same thing - usually I'm really thoughtful that way as well.  I told you it was a rough week. *sigh*

Here is the one from my other partner, Miranda:  It has sharks and surf boards all around it.  It is SO SO CUTE and I LUV it!  She also sent me a cute note and some coffee smelling scentsy bars that made my son want to eat them (he's 19 and a coffeaholic like me) - LOL  Again, a big fat FAIL from me on the extra gift thing, though I did through a small something in each of their mugs.

So what's on your agenda for the weekend?  Anything fun?  We aren't going to do too much because my husband has to work overnight for inventory on Saturday night.  We are planning to go to dinner tonight, but that's about it.  Also, I'm not sure what I've done to my back but it's been bothering me terribly all of this week so I will probably spend a lot of time laying around relaxing and trying to get it to heal up.  

Also,  be sure to stop by tomorrow.  It is my 1000th post and I've decided to give something away if I get enough of a response.  :)  I haven't decided what it will be yet, but it will probably be Holiday related since we are getting ready to go into the best time of the year! :)

Well, have a wonderful weekend lovies and thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to let me know you were here!  

Lots of love and hugs,

31 Days - Gifts from Work

Happy Thursday everyone.  Just a quick note to show off my gifts from my bosses who went out of the country.  One of my bosses went to Taiwan and Bali and she brought me back this WONDERFUL smelling lotion.  It is called Jasmine Lime and has a very clean smell to it and is NOT greasy at all, which is always a nice bonus.  I've not found hardly any type of lotion that isn't greasy - have you?  If you have any favorite lotions that smell nice and aren't greasy that you'd like to share, please do so! :)

The other item I was given was from another boss who went to China.  She brought me and some of the other girls in the office back these GORGEOUS and OH SO SOFT black 100% Cashmere Pashmina scarves.  For some reason my picture won't upload at all.  I've tried it 3 or 4 times. So here is a stock photo from yahoo.  It looks like this but in a deep dark beautiful Black color:

It is finally starting to cool down here and I'm SO happy!  It's beginning to feel like Fall and the perfect temperatures to start wearing this scarf among my other ones.  On another note, do you have any big or exciting weekend plans?  My poor hubby has to work this weekend so we won't be doing much.  I will probably play around with some Christmas Cards to find an idea for my cards this year.  

Well, thanks for stopping by.  Hope you have a great weekend!

Lots of love and hugs,

31 Days - Boss' Day

Happy Thursdays guys and dolls. Hope you've been having a great week. I know I've missed a few days in the 31 day series, but needless to say, work has been CRAZY lately!  Blah.  Anyway, yesterday was National Boss's Day so the other secretary in my department and I pitched in together and gave our bosses a nice breakfast. They seemed to really enjoy it. Here are a few of the pictures from the morning, although, I'm not really sure why I can't get my cookie picture to turn right side up, but you get the idea:  :)

This was only part of our bosses - we were still missing 3 more!  We have 10 between the 2 of us (5 each). They are a great Finance group thankfully and are great to work for.  They really appreciated the breakfast and cookie cake too!  We also bought them 3 different kinds of breakfast tacos too that were really yummy! HA!

Did you celebrate Boss' Day yesterday?  If so, what did you do for your bosses or what were you given (if you were the boss?)  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!  Please be sure to let me know you were here!

Lots of love and hugs,

31 days - Days 8 and 9 (Hog Bracelet and Mug Swap)

Good morning and happy Thursday my friends!  Due to a very crazy week, I have fallen behind on my posts.  However, due to my crazy week, I have to cut this short but wanted to share a couple of items:

A friend of mines son was having a fundraiser for his baseball team or something like that and they were selling these cute little bracelets, so naturally, I had to have one!  Whatcha think? 

Why yes, of course it's a HOG bracelet! DUH!  LOL   It was a win/win in my book - I got a HOG bracelet and helped a friend's son with his fundraiser at the same time! :)  

And then the other day, my friend, Becky, over at The Java Mama decided to do a Fall Mug Swap and I'm SO excited!  I can always use another mug and I get to meet new people too! :)  

My partner in the Mug Swap is Miranda over at Our Nesting Place and I am looking forward to getting to know her over the next week or two.  SO... if you get a chance, go and check out both of these blogs and meet some new peeps!  I promise you won't be disappointed! :)  

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.  Please let me know you were here so I can return the favor! :)



Lots of love and hugs,

31 Days - Day 7 - Fall Dessert Recipe

Happy Monday my friends!  How are you?  How was your weekend?  Great, I hope!  Ours was nice and relaxing like I told you yesterday.  Anyway, I have another GREAT recipe to share with you today.  It's a fall dessert recipe and one I think you will LOVE.  It's not only Paleo but healthy for you as well.  Oh and delicious - did I mention delicious?! :)  It is from a new Paleo blog that I just came across last week and was SO happy because she has a lot of great food on her blog that is so good! The blog is called The Paleo Cupboard - go check her out! :)

 

PALEO PUMPKIN BARS WITH VANILLA FROSTING

 

Prep time:  10                      

Cook time:  35 mins            

Yield: 9 bars

 

Ingredients:
PUMPKIN BARS- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
- 3/4 cup raw honey, warmed
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder

FROSTING
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 4 Tbsp. raw honey
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- Dash sea salt
 

Equipment:- 2 medium sized mixing bowls
- Stirring spoon
- Fork
- Hand mixer
- 8x8 glass baking pan
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cups

Directions:
TO MAKE THE BARS:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Combine the eggs, pumpkin puree, raw honey, coconut oil and vanilla extract in a medium sized mixing bowl and beat on low with a hand mixer until combined.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the almond flour, arrowroot powder, pumpkin pie spice, sea salt and baking powder and stir with a fork until well combined. Slowly add the almond flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture, using the hand mixer on low speed, until well combined.
3. Pour the mixture into the baking pan and set in the preheated oven on the center rack. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the center it set. Remove and allow to cool completely before serving.

TO MAKE THE FROSTING:
1. Combine all ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixer on medium speed until combined. Place the frosting in the fridge for a few minutes if it is too runny and needs to set.

Yum - don't those look delicious!!  Well, thanks for stopping by to say hello.  I hope you have a fantastic Monday!  See you tomorrow.

Lots of love and hugs,

Day 31 - Day 6 - Beastley BBQ Sauce

Happy Sunday, guys and dolls!  How are you?  Great, I hope!  How was your weekend?  Ours was good - but our Hogs didn't do a good job on their game yesterday, so it kinda sucked - LOL  Other than that we did a LOT of relaxing, which was really nice.  I didn't wake up this morning until 10:00! WOW - that's LATE for me, but it felt SOO GOOD! :)

 

I've been trying to get back on track and back in shape lately.  Seems I keep falling off the wagon - what can I say - I love my beer and hot wings on the weekends and any other time for that matter - HA!

 

So... since I've been up this morning, I've started creating a few things for me to take for breakfast and lunch this week and also to have prepared already for the week ahead for dinner.  About a year ago I started trying to eat as much in the way of the Paleo diet as possible.  It's a lot of clean eating and actually good tasting food - it's just simply grain free, etc.  If you want more information, feel free to leave me a comment - I'd love to share with you. 

 

One of my favorite Paleo blogs is The Civilized Caveman.  I follow him on twitter, instagram and on his blog.  Today I am in the process of making a few of his dinner items, along with his Beastly BBQ Sauce.  I have included the recipe for you below.  Not only is it GOOD - but it is HEALTHY and doesn't contain all of those ingredients your body doesn't need like what's included in the bottles you buy at Walmart or your local grocery store.  Anyway, without further adieu:

Beasty BBQ Sauce

 

 

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

60 mins

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

Serves: 4 cups

Ingredients

• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 1 white onion, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 6 ounce can of tomato paste
• 1 cup beef stock
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1 can of diced pineapple (8 ounces for not to sweet, 20 ounce for sweeter)

 

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients above in a sauce pan and place on stove over medium heat stirring frequently
2. Once your sauce starts to boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 60 minutes
3. Once your sauce has simmered, turn off the heat and pour your sauce into a blender or food processor and run until you get a nice smooth sauce consistency
4. Return to the pan to keep warm or place on the food of your choice
5. Store in the refrigerator
6. Enjoy

 

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy the rest of your weekend! 

 

 

Love and hugs,

31 Days - Day 5

It's Game Day baby!!!

Happy weekend!!


Love and hugs,

31 Days (Day 4) - It's FOOTBALL time again

Happy TGIF y'all!  Got any big weekend plans?  We are sticking around the house and relaxing this weekend. Of course, depending on how my HOGS play against Florida will determine just how much relaxing I'll actually do. You may here me screaming at the tv all the way at your house! HA!

 VS.

How about you?  What are your weekend plans?  Anything fun and exciting happening your way?  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by to say hello! :)

Lots of love and hugs,

31 days of Randomness - Day 3

Hey there my friends!  Hope your week is going good so far - we are on the downhill side thankfully!   So today is day 3 of the 31 days at The Nester.  For the last year I have been trying to eat clean and exercise as much as possible, but I do good for so long and then go back to eating bad and not working out.   Anyway, I came across a website a few days ago that I am so excited about!  It's called,  The Betty Rocker.Com. And luckily for me, she started an October Challenge called "the Rocktober Challenge". She presents workout challenges each week and has clean eating tips, etc. if you get a chance - go check her page out. You won't be disappointed! :)

I know this is short and sweet today, but I'm pretty tired and can't really think clearly right now to focus more on the subject matter. I hope you all have a wonderful day and please let me know you stopped by! :)

Lots of love and hugs,

31 Days of Randomness - Day 2

Hello there my friends!  How are you?  Guess what day it is??  Guess what day it is??  C'mon, C'mon - guess what day it is!!! That's right.... it's HUMMMMPPPP DAYYYYY!!!!!  Sorry, I couldn't resist - I love that stupid commercial - HA!  

Anyway, as you know, we are on Day 2 of the 31 days that the Nester is hosting this month.  I'm not sure about you and your hobbies - but one of my favorite things to do in my "free time" is to restore old furniture and make it new again.  There is one place that is about 20 minutes from our house that my husband and I love to go to each.and.every.weekend - it's what we like to refer to as our "pickin place".

On one of our normal Saturday trips, we went to our regular lady that we normally purchase our furniture from, and she had this one piece that I just fell in LOVE with and had to have.  The best part was that it was only $30!  (Maybe you think I over paid for it, but I don't - it was a great price in my book)  Anyway, here is the "before" and "after" of my new little table:

What do you think?  Like I said, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it and couldn't be happier!  Now, I'm working on another "old" piece for my bedroom and will show that to you another day.  Thanks for stopping by to say hello and please let me know you were here!  Have a great day! :)

Lots of love and hugs,