Friday Favorites

I’m so happy we have a long weekend!! It’s been a looonnggg week. We have been so busy working on our house getting it ready for the baseball renters that come next week.  This weekend I’m going to a wedding reception and my dear friend Amy is having a Memorial Day party at the lake.  I’m glad I have those two fun  things because other than that I’ll be working on getting our house ready for our first baseball family.  Today I’m linking up with Andrea, Erika and Narci to share my Friday Favorites. 

1.  Last weekend I went with three friends to DC to watch the Dodgers play.  My friend Vicki’s nephew plays for the Dodgers.  We watched two baseball games while we were DC and we also went to the White House visitors center and the American History Museum.  It was a great trip.  The picture is of us before game 2 and I am wearing my favorite new summer sandals (see below!)  I hope to do a full post on it next week all about our trip!!

2.  I’m still plugging song with weight watchers. I have a weigh in today so hopefully I’ll lose another pound or two.  So far I have lost 14 lbs!  I have been eating a ton of salads and this OPA dressing is my favorite.  I love the dill and feta one the best-and it’s only 1 point per serving!

3.  Speaking of Weight Watchers my favorite breakfast is a weight watcher

2-ingredient bagel. I don't know where the recipe came from but if you do let me know.  I want to hug the person that created these bagels because they are delicious!   I make them all the time.    I made them and posted them in one of my Saturday Snack posts a few weeks ago.  I haven’t done a Saturday Snack post in a while but I have a few recipes I’m going to try in the next few weeks so stay tuned!

4.  I got some new waterproof Birkenstocks and I have been wearing them non-stop.  I loved my Birkenstocks in College and I was so happy when I found these.  They are just the right shade of silver and are so comfortable.  I know I will be wearing these a lot this summer! 

I had a super short post this week but honestly I’ve done nothing but clean and organize this whole week to get ready for our baseball renters. I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Xoxo

Crafty Wednesday {Sugar Scrubs}

Last Friday we had our monthly craft night for Branch and Bloom.  This month we made sugar scrubs.  They were a big hit and I'm going to show you step by step how to make your own organic sugar scrubs.  In our class we made 3 different kinds and we put our scrubs in 8 ounce canning jars.   My friend Rachael is the sugar scrub queen and she taught the class.  I helped her and took pictures for our Facebook page.  

We always like to set up the room before everyone gets there. We like each person to have their own supplies in front of them and an instruction list so they can do the craft at home.

Usually we have about 20 people at our Craft Nights however this one was a little smaller and we had 10 people come this month.  10 was perfect for our Sugar Scrubs though because they were messy!  People had the instructions when they sat down and they got right to work making their scrubs. 

Everyone had a great time working on their scrubs.  

We always take a picture after our class with our participants and their finished projects.  I love this little tradition of ours!

Ok here are the recipes for the three scrubs.  We made a...

Lavender and Rosemary Foot scrub
Coffee and Cinnamon cellulite reducing scrub
Lemon and Mint Body Polish

Lavender and Rosemary foot scrub
1.25 cup organic cane sugar
.25 cup avocado oil
8-10 drops lavender essential oil
1-2 drops rosemary oil
pinch of dried lavender
mix well  and store in mason jar

Coffee and Cinnamon cellulite reducing scrub
1 cup brown sugar
.25 cup coffee
.25 cup coconut oil
1 T cinnamon
mix well and store in mason jar

Lemon and Mint body polish
1.25 cup mix (organic cane sugar and ultra fine cane sugar)
1/4 cup avacado oil
8-10 drops lemon essential oil
1-2 drops mint essential oil
dash dried mint
dash lemon zest

If you try making these let me know which one is your favorite.  My personal favorite is the lemon and mint body polish.  A lot of people in our class like the coffee and cinnamon one.  

Happy Wednesday!
Xoxo 

Garden Club Lunch

Yesterday was the annual Garden Club luncheon which is always so fun!  I love going and getting dressed up and seeing everyone from the club and having a fancy lunch with my friends at the Otesaga.   We also have a speaker every year come and tell us the latest trends in gardening and plants. It's always a great day!  Our speaker this year was from a local greenhouse.  She is fabulous and she brought her daughter who has an organic restaurant in the greenhouse.  They brought the most beautiful plants.  I will have to take a picture of the one I bought.  

Yesterday was a special day because I was elected President and we had the official swearing in ceremony at the luncheon.  Some of my friends were able to come to the lunch to celebrate with me.  It was so fun!!

I go to this luncheon every year.  For some reason I didn't think to take pictures last year but here is a post about the luncheon from 2016.  ]

I hope you have a great Tuesday.
Xoxo

Our weekend!

This weekend was the best!  It was a good mix of work and fun.  Those are my favorite kinds of weekends.  I managed to get a lot done at home (thank goodness because we move into our summer house on Tuesday!) and I had a craft night for Branch and Bloom and a fun family brunch with my dear friends for Mother’s Day❤️

Friday night Rachael and I hosted our monthly craft night for our business Branch and Bloom.  We host one craft night per month.  We provide all the supplies and people come and make the craft.  Our crafts take an hour or less to complete and they cost $25-$35 depending on what we make.  This month we made  three different Sugar Scrubs.   Rachael is the sugar scrub queen so she taught the class.  It was a great craft and the people that came loved it! I’ll post the recipes for the three scrubs we made this week on Crafty Wednesday. 

Saturday morning I was up bright and early to work at the graduation ceremonies at the College where G and I work.  Graduation is always such a happy day!  

Saturday afternoon and evening I was suppose to go to a birthday dinner for a dear friend but instead I decided to stay home and get some things done.  The next few weeks are so busy and I needed to get some things done.  I worked on cleaning and packing for our move next week.  I got SO much done and I feel so good about that!  Last summer I took so much stuff over to our summer house this summer I am  trying really hard to just take the essentials.

Sunday Rachael hosted us for brunch.  She is always the hostess with the mostest and brunch was perfect and lovely.  We had ham, potatoes, salad and wonderful desserts. 

My friend Amy made the most delicious 0 point weight watchers cheesecake.  I told her I want the recipe.  It was amazing!!

Ava and her little buddy Eliza.  These two love each other so much!

My three dear friends- Rachael, Sabrina and Amy with our kids.  Our husbands came to brunch too but they didn't want a picture.  We girls always want pictures-ha ha! 

I hope you had a great weekend!

Friday Favorites

Today is the best day of the week! It's Friday and I am joining with Andrea, Erika, and Narci to share my Friday favorites from this week.  This week FLEW by   Tonight I have my monthly craft class for Branch and Bloom and tomorrow is graduation at the College where G and I work!  We are both going to be working at the graduation ceremonies.  I just love seeing our graduates and their families.  It's such a happy day.   Saturday night I am going to a birthday dinner for my friend T and on Saturday G, Ava and I are going to Mother's Day brunch.  It should be a great weekend!

1.  I took Ava to the doctor's office yesterday and we stopped by the annual art show at the hospital. All of the artwork from the elementary schools and the high school are displayed for about a month at the hospital.  We always went every year to see B and A's artwork.  Since Ava is taking a ceramics class in high school her art work was there this year.  It was fun to see her piece.

2.  We have been working hard packing and cleaning this week because next week we move into our summer house.  It's not fancy it's just a little white ranch house that we bought last year but we love it!  During the school year we have college students that live there.  Our plan is to clean it out and move in next week.  Eventually G and I will move to our little white ranch house full time.  

3.  We are also in the process of buying this house to update/paint and we will use this house as a rental house.  This house has two-two bedroom apartments (one upstairs and one downstairs) .  This house looks like a wreck now but hopefully by the end of the summer we will have it in tip top shape to rent out.  Funny story-we owned this house and sold it in 2006. I wanted to get out of the rental house business when our kids were younger because we were so busy with them now that they are grown we are  getting back in it.

4.  Next weekend I am going on a trip to Washington DC with my girlfriends to see the LA Dodgers play the Nationals.  My friend V's nephew is on the Dodgers team and I am so excited to watch him play again.  We went last year to Cleveland to watch him play.  This year we are going to watch two games and do some sightseeing in DC.  I can't wait!!

5.  Tonight is our May craft night for Branch and Bloom.  We are going to be making three DIY sugar scrubs!  My friend Rachael is a sugar scrub queen so she is teaching the class.  I am looking forward to learning how to make them. 

6.  Last year I got this chalkboard letter kit and I really want to get it out and start learning how do draw on all my chalkboards.  I usually have my friend Stephanie write on my chalkboards for me but I want to learn how to do it myself.

That's my Friday favorites for this week.  I hope you have a great weekend!
xoxo

Book review {April}

I am a few days late posting this but I read two fabulous books in April and I wanted to share them with you.  I love reading and I love when I can spend a little time each day reading.  Some days are super hectic and I don't always get to read but every day I try.  I usually read right before bed.

You can read my other book reviews from this year at the links below

January 

February

March

Last night I had Book Club and we had a great discussion on our April book club book Everything you Ever Wanted by Jillian Lauren.  Last month I read Jillian's first book Some Girls.  You can read about that book in my March book review which is linked above.  This book is a memoir and tells the story of Jillian's life, her marriage to her husband Scott (the bassist from the band Weezer) and their struggle to have a baby.  I laughed and cried a lot when I read this book there were so many emotional moments and Jillian does a fantastic job of writing so you feel like you are right there with her.  She is brutally honest in this book and I could not put it down. I highly recommend this book.

The next book I read this month was actually an audible book that I listed to for two weeks while getting ready for work. Killers of the Flower Moon The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI is a non-fiction book about The Osage Indians.  In the 1920's the Osage Indians discovered oil on their land.  Because of this oil a lot of them became very rich.  Many of them started dying in unusual ways.  This book explains the history of that time, the corruption of the US government (for example-The Osage Indians had to have white men to  oversee their money and they had to ask these men when they wanted to spend it.  The men were appointed by the government)  and the cover up and final investigation of the murders.  This book was very well researched and is currently being turned into a movie.  This is an important story and I had no idea any of this happened until I read this book.  

I have a couple of good books lined up to read in May.  What have you been reading lately?  If you have any good book suggestions please leave them in the comments.

Happy Tuesday!
xoxo

Our weekend!

We had a fun filled first weekend in May!  It was busy because  Ava was in a basketball tournament both Saturday and Sunday (she played in 6 games between the two days), G was a referee in the tournament so he was so busy as well We also managed to squeeze in some fun too.  I love weekends like that!  

Friday night my friend Sabrina invited a few girls over for a Cinco de Mayo party.  It was low key and we just hung around her kitchen island and talked and laughed.  I love casual Friday night parties. I made my weight watcher lemon cupcakes and they were a big hit!

Saturday night G and I went to a Cinco de Derby party.  It was a fun mix of a Cinco de Mayo party and a Kentucky Derby party.  It was a lot of fun!  Our friend K from work hosted the party at her house.  She is amazing cook and also made the most delicious jalapeno margaritas.  We had a blast! 

Sunday afternoon I went to an afternoon tea/fundraiser for a community serivce organization that I am in.  I was on the committee that planned the tea and I am so thankful it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon!!  

I went to the Tea early to help set up and put our programs and note cards. One of our new initiatives for this year is to make homemade soup for chemotherapy patients.  We left note cards at each place setting so people attending the tea could write out a note that we will deliver to chemotherapy patients with a fresh batch of soup.

I also helped put the centerpieces on each of the tables.  Aren't the flowers goregous?  I love the mixed colors in these arrangements.  They were so festive and fun!

I wore a magenta colored dress to the party that I've had for a few years.  I thought it was appropriate to wear a spring-y color since this was a spring event.  I love my black but I didn't think black was appropriate for this occasion.  

We also set up a photo booth area so people could take pictures there.  This is everyone from my table plus a few extra people from the organization that sponsored the tea :)

At the tea we had three food courses (all bite sized of course because it was a tea!)

The first course was finger sandwiches, they were delicious and I had four of them, the second course was scones served with lemon curd and three types of butter and the last course was my favorite-bite sized desserts.  

\

It was a great weekend!!  

Xoxo

Saturday Snack {WW Lemon Cupcakes}

Last night I went to my friend Sabrina's for a girls night.  I always love to get together with my girl friends and catch up.  Since we are all on Weight Watchers I made these delicious lemon cupcakes.  They were tasty and low in points only 2 points each!!  

{Weight Watchers Lemon Cupcakes}
1 box lemon cake mix 
10 ounces diet 7-up
2 ounces freshed squeezed lemon juice
zest from two lemons

Mix cake mix, diet 7-up, zest from one lemon and  fresh squeezed lemon juice and mix with a mixer for two minutes.  Add cake mix to cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes.  Cool completely and ice the cupcakes  with low fat cool whip and a pinch of lemon zest on each one.   Enjoy!!

Happy Saturday!!
Xoxo

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday friends!!  I am SO happy it's Friday it has been a looonnnngggggg week!  Today I am teaming up with Erika, Andrea and Narci to share my Friday favorites.  This weekend I am going out with friends tonight, tomorrow G and I are doing stuff around the house and Sunday Ava is in a basketball tournament.  So this weekend will be a good mix of work and fun.  I LOVE weekends like that.  

1.  Ava started a new job last week.  She is going to work at a barbecue restaurant in our town.  Right now she is working on food prep. Last night she heated up the bread and filled up water and ice tea pitchers.  She works a few days a week and she has already received her first paycheck.  She is really liking it so far!

2.  I got Joanna's new cookbook last week and it is fabulous.  It's a beautiful book filled to the brim with beautiful pictures and  delicious recipes.  I want to make all of the recipes.  I am going to start with the chicken pot pie and homemade biscuits.  Seriously everything in this cookbook looks so good!!  

3.  Brock finished up his finals as ASU this week and Ava wore her ASU shirt to school to support her brother.  He is still working at State Farm so he will spend the summer in Arizona and he's coming home for a long visit in August.  I can't wait to see him!!

4.  I teach aqua aerobics at the Y two times per week.  Most of the ladies that come to my class are older and I have such a fun time with them.  They are so faithful about coming to classes each week.  I thought it would be fun for us to have a spring potluck after class.  So last Thursday we had a potluck dinner.  I made a ham and everyone else brought side dishes.  It was so great to be able to catch up with these ladies outside of class.  It was a favorite of my week for sure.

5.  Wednesday night was our monthly Bunco night.  This month my friend Vicki hosted.  I always love being with my friends!!

6.  Three weeks ago I started weight watchers.  My friend Faith has been really successful with weight watchers and now she's a leader.  Her meeting is on Monday evenings so I have been going to her meetings and so far I love the program... I have lost 11 lbs so far and I really enjoy making weight watchers recipes.  There are so many good recipes online I don't feel deprived at all!  I got a three month pass to weight watchers and I hope to continue on the program throughout the summer.

7.  It's finally nice weather in NY and last week my friend Sabrina and I went to our favorite farm stand to look at flowers (sadly it's too early to plant flowers outside yet) but we both got beautiful succulent baskets filled to the brim with big, beautiful succulents.  I put my basket in our sunroom where it can get a lot of light.  I just love it!

That's it for me this week!  Tonight I'm going to have a girls night with my friends, tomorrow night G and I are going to a Cinco de Mayo party and Sunday I am going to an afternoon tea party/fundraiser which should be a lot of fun!  Ava also has basketball games on Saturday and Sunday so it will be a busy weekend for us!  I hope that you've had a great week.
Xoxo