Update on Renovations

Another crazy day weather wise in Iowa!  We go from rain yesterday and in the high 40's to snow, sleet, and drizzle in the lower 30's today.  It serious is like a blizzard out there!  Oh..well, at least I made it home safe:)

I haven't posted anything recently on the reno of our basement.  It sure is coming along.  We don't really have any walls up yet, just studs, and our shower, but it sure has changed since the beginning of the year!

Walls are all up!  Plumbing is ready in the bathroom:)

Our Shower with 2 walls missing

Peacock Flower Wreath!

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying their Tuesday:)

I wanted to show you my newest project!  I have made a wreath for our front door!  I love peacock feathers and so that's why I added them to my wreath.  I hope you like it!

Closeup:)

A Little SPRING in my step:)

Hey Fellow Bloggers:)  Today the sun is shining and it is going to be a beautiful Iowa Winter day!!!  When the sun is shining bright it just puts an extra hop in my step:)

I wanted to share with you some of the items that I bought over the weekend.  I absolutely fell love with my new jean jacket that I bought this weekend.  The best part is that I can wear it with just about any top!!!  The outfit that you see below is actually ALL new:):):)

Brand Spanking new outfit!

Close-up:)

Best Gift:)

Hey Everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend and here we are again, the end of the weekend:(  It always goes by too fast!  I sure had a fabulous weekend because my friend and I went shopping out of town.  Boy, do we do some damage when we go:-o I ended up with waayy more than I needed and planned on spending, but I did find some great finds:)

I have to tell you, that I am one lucky girl!  For V-day the hubby planned on making me a full length mirror for our bedroom:) Since I was a busy bee shopping away yesterday, I'm just now posting about my mirror.

We decided that it would be lots cheaper if it was DIY mirror versus buying one in the store.  These mirrors can run anywhere from $100-$200.....EXPENSIVE!!!!  I believe the mirror that the hubby made was $50, so this was a really good deal:)

Here it is:)

Another Fabulous Flower!

Pretty much all of the afternoon yesterday, it was snowing and when I woke up I saw this, a winter wonderland!

My favorite part is the snow that's on the tree branches!

Something about snow is just so breathtaking!

Special Surprise

Even though I have quite some time until, I have to plan the bridal shower for both my lil sis, Mandy, and my best fran, Dana, I have been pinning things like crazy!  I want the brides to be surprised and delighted for their bridal shower.  So, I'm not planning on telling them their theme and they won't know about it until the day of the shower!  Of course I asked them to pick a couple different themes of what they wanted and then I would take over from there!

At first when I started my search just a broad search such as bridal shower, there wasn't much that I liked, but when I searched something specifically like "Alice in Wonderland", "Black and White", "Spa", "Wine", and etc I had a million choices!  YAY:):)  I'm super, super, super excited in case you haven't picked up on that yet!

*Special Note to Dana and Mandy* Please don't peak at this post, it's suppose to be a secret:)  Let's keep it that way and don't go any further!!!!

~Like the lace and color

Is it Spring Yet?

I don't know about all of you, but I'm so antsy for Spring to just pop up:)  I think it makes it worse when it's in the 40's in February, usually NEVER happens in Iowa!  The bummer of it all is that we may be hit by a possibly huge snow storm.  The weather prediction is any where from 1" to 8", they really don't know what part of Iowa it will be hitting.  Maybe it will stay in Northern Iowa, I would certainly be happy with that!

Since I'm in Spring mode, I have a another flower tutorial to share with you:)

Love the colors:)

Pretty, Purple Flower Tutorial

Yesterday since I had the day off, I decided to work on a Springy project, as it was snowing outside.  I haven't finished it quite yet, it's taken quite a bit longer than I thought it would have!  I did finish part of it that I wanted to share with you:)

I bet you can guess what it might be from the title of this post!  If you guess a fabulous felt flower you are correct!  I found a tutorial to make this flower on good ole Pinterest, my new, dearest love. 

Isn't it cute?

I thought that I would share with you what I did to make this lovely flower!

Chicken Tetrazzini

Hey Everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful Monday:)  I had the day off today for President's Day and I accomplished quite a bit.  All day today, I was thinking I can't wait for Spring, can't wait for Spring.  About 2 hours ago I look outside and the grass is covered in SNOW!  We are getting more snow:(  BOOO to snow!

Last night, I made the hubby and I a delicious and healthy supper!  We both thought it was pretty tasty, so I'm going to share it with you:)

S'more Fun:)

I'm still not finished with my posts for my fondue recipes that I have been finding on the wonderful Internet!  A couple of days ago, I posted about the cheese fondue dip, a day after that the Court Bullion Broth, and now today, Chocolate S'mores Fondue!!!!

The dessert fondue has to be my all time favorite, so what I'm about to share with you kinda makes me sad all over again!  The hubby and I had our appetizer, salad, and main entree, so it was on to dessert!

I sliced up some strawberries, rice crispy's, marshmallows, and brownies to enjoy dipping in our chocolate dip.

Half eaten:o

You have to be extra careful when you are making this dip because it didn't work out how we wanted to to:*(

These are the ingredients that are needed to make Chocolate S'mores Fondue:

- 8 ozs of milk chocolate finely chopped
- 2 tsp of marshmallow creme
- 2 tbsp. 151 rum
- 1/4 c of graham cracker crumbs

First, melt your chocolate in the microwave before you put in the fondue pot!*we kinda skipped this step and just put it into the pot which made it burn:(  *  Make sure you do this first!  Then you take out of the microwave and put into warm fondue pot, around medium low.  Put the marshallow creme in the center of the chocolate, don't stir at this point.  Add the rum to the pot and ignite carefully.  Allow the flame to burn out and stir gently to combine.  Then add your graham crackers.  Enjoy it!!!

Until next time!

I've linked up to:  Blue Cricket Design, 

How "Honored"

Within the next year and a half, it will be wedding central for this girl.  I'm going to be in three weddings and in 2 of the weddings I will be the Maid of Honor!  I am very honored to be able to be apart of their special day!  I guess I should tell you about who asked me to be apart of their day.

My very best friend, whom I've been friends with ever since we were in the 5th grade, Dana asked me to be her Maid of Honor!

Dana and I!

Scrumptious Fondue Dinner!

In my post yesterday, I told you all how to make a cheesy dipping sauce made by the Melting Pot.  I wanted to continue today with what you could serve for your main course.  I found this recipe at Tastebook.

I made the Melting Pot's Court Bullion Broth which added quite a bit of flavor to our meats that we cooked!

Chicken and Shrimp

Say Cheese!!

Have you ever been to the Melting Pot and thought man this food is awesome, but it's just one expensive meal?  My husband and I have that's for sure!  We only made it to the Melting Pot, once mainly because the closest one we have is about 2.5 hours away and it is so expensive!

This past Christmas, specifically asked for a fondue pot, just because I was planning to surprise the hubby with fondue supper!  It was hard to keep that from him, but I managed:)

Cuisinart Fondue Set

Cranberry Almond Spinach Salad

YAY for the weekend and it's a 3 day weekend for this girl:)  I get off President's Day...woohoo!!!  This week seemed to take forever to get to the end.

On Vday, I tried a recipe for a new salad that I have never made before and it is yummy!  It's pretty simple to whip together and doesn't take much time either:)

Cranberry, Almond Spinach Salad

~Basket of Love~

I hope you've liked all the different posts about V-Day!  I wanted to share with you my "Basket of Love" and what I did to put it altogether:)

Yes, this is it!  The best part about this basket is that it is truly from the heart and what better gift can you give than that?  In the V-Day Date post, I talked about what it all included and it includes: 

V-Day Date Night!

Hey All!!  My previous posts I have written about a Valentine's gift that I was making and planning for the hubby:)  It was extra hard to get all of it finished because we are always together, but I was lucky because he is a morning person and I am a night owl! So, I worked on my projects for him after he went to bed.  I even stayed up until 12:30/1:00 the night before V-Day and I was super tired the next morning at work.  I think that's why I'm getting sick now:(

I wanted to share with you the date that I planned because this would be fun for any time during the year and the best part is that it's less expensive than going out.  Plus, it all comes from the heart!

Make a Candy Gram for your hubby and place it somewhere close to the door, so he sees it right when he walks in!

Candy Gram(click here to see what you need)

On the Hunt for Love!

Hi Fellow Bloggers!  I sure hope you are enjoying your Valentine's Day:)  

A couple days ago, I shared with you all that I was planning a very special date for the hubby and I on V-day!  Yesterday, I blogged about the Fondue supper and today I wanted to show you the idea that I had found from The Dating Divas.  I saw one of the dates included a "Love Hunt"!  I thought it would be fun, and different to try!  Plus, it will definitely set the mood for the rest of the night and lead him to his "basket of love" that I made for him:)

I was going to start the "Love Hunt" before we had our dessert course because I included eating dessert in the "Love Hunt".  This "Love Hunt" is a little different from your average treasure hunts because once your hubby finds the clue then he will have to do a task to go onto the next clue!  How fun, right?  Here is a pic of my cards that I had made up for him:

Love Cards

I made 8 clue cards and 8 task cards for the "Love Hunt"!  It should be fun doing the tasks as he goes along!  The very last clue card will lead him to his "Basket of Love" which is a gift basket filled with all sorts of fun and sentimental things that I think he will love:) 

That's all for now, until next time!!

I've linked up:  The 36th Avenue, 

I Fondue You!!!

Hey All!!!  I hope your having a fantastic beginning to your week:)  In my last post, I blogged about what surprise I had planned for the hubby!  This post is a continuation of the first one.

We are both HUGE fans of the Melting Pot, in fact for our mini-moon that is where we ate at....yum, yum!!!  I thought it would be an awesome idea to find similar recipes for Melting Pot online and make them for him:)  We will be having a 4 course meal, yes you heard that right, for someone who doesn't do a whole lotta cooking that is quite a bit!  I went to Hy-Vee today, and I have to say for a stay at home meal it was pretty pricy!  I bought quite a bit of different types of food for each course.  I wanted to make the experience as close to the Melting Pot as I could:)  I even found some recipes online that said it was very close to the Melting Pot recipes!!!

Here's to hoping that it will all turn out. I even made a menu for him that way he will know what is being served for the night. I made the menu in Microsoft Word and I just used one of the templates they had for a menu!  I was pretty simple:)

I decided that I should add something extra to the menu....

Personalized Valentine's Card!!

I know that I just posted something already tonight, but I'm soo excited about this:)  I couldn't wait to tell you all!

I'm a HUGE fan of Shutterfly!  If you haven't checked it out for yourself then you should definitely go and click away because they really do have some neat things and they do run great deals!  Speaking of deals that's just how I came about this fan-tab-ulous card!  I always get emails from Shutterfly telling me about the deals that they are running which is wonderful.  A couple weeks ago they sent me a code for free personalized card at Tiny Prints.  Whenever I'm offered something for free, I jump at the chance to get it!  Why not it's free, right?!?!?

They had soo many different choices...it was difficult to choose.

SSHHH!!! Top Secret

Valentine's Day is just a knockin' on the door and I'm still working on the hubby's gift, but I'm getting VERY close to finishing it:)  It's hard to work on it without him knowing about it!  I've just been staying up pretty late every night to work on it little by little.  I hope he enjoys it, especially for how much time was spent in putting it altogether:)

Well, I explained in an earlier post what I was possibly planning on putting together for him, but I didn't quite have my mind made up at that point.  I have planned an exciting night of surprises:)  What guy wouldn't like that?   I took bits and pieces of different ideas from another blog The Dating Divas to make his Vday gift and our Vday date:)

These are the different things I have planned for the night:

1. Candy-o-gram

2. Bubble bath for the hubby
3. Fondue supper (Knock-off of Melting Pot)
4.  "Love Hunt"
5. Gift basket full of love
6. Just "Us" time

The first thing I made for my hunny was a candy-o-gram.  I found the idea from The Dating Divas.  I bought a poster from Walmart for 30 cents and the candy to go along with it.  The candy was the hardest to find!  I ended up going to 5 different stores and I still can't find a Nutrageous candy bar, yet:(

Materials I used for my candy-o-gram

Found this heart print out online and it worked for several different sizes of hearts:)

Sneak Peak of Gift!

Hey everyone!  I'm soo glad that it's the weekend!!!  This week we've been doing state testing with the kiddos and the testing is draining on the kids...I'm just really glad that we're wrapping the tests up:)

I have to say that I'm not much of a decorator for Valentine's Day, but I do LOVE putting something together for my hubby and showing him how much I absolutely adore him:)  There are so many different things that I was debating about whether or not I should do, but I have figured it out and I am just working away at his gift!

I finished part of decoration for his basket and I wanted to share that with you because I thought the heart garland was perfect!  It was super easy to make and didn't cost me a thing:)  I'm pretty proud of that!

Best Book Series of 2012!!!

Lately, I have been picking up a book more and more.  It could possibly be because it is winter and isn't quite as nice out as the rest of the seasons.  Don't get me wrong, this winter is by far the mildest Iowa has seen in 5+ years!  So, yay for us, but it's still winter and kinda blah outside.  I have been curling up on the couch with a book or two.

I heard from my hair dresser that "The Hunger Games" is a MUST read and that is the best series that she has read in a while.  Right after my hair appointment, I ran into Barnes and Noble and snatched up the first 2 books of the series.  I was kind of a little leary to buy both of them right away, but she said it was sooo good.

Wikipedia

PInterest = Basement Inspiration:)

Well, just like many of you, I am addicted to Pinterest whether I'm looking for different crafts, recipes, or just inspiration.  I have been finding and pinning a lot of different inspiration on my Pinterest boards:)  Some of the pins I have found on Pinterest while the other ones have been from random blogs, websites, or HGTV(gotta love it).

I just wanted to take this time to share with you some of the fabulous inspirations I have been finding out there on this wonderful web!!!

Take for instance this lovely color on the wall:

House of Smith

I Heart You!

Valentine's Day is fast approaching and it isn't the same without something sentimental or romantical!  So, I've been searching high and low for some website or craft idea that would be worthy for the hubby, and I found this fabulous blog!!!  It is called The Dating Divas:)  I must say there are soo many neat ideas on here for your hubby or significant other for V-Day!  It even has some pretty neat ideas for date night with the hubby!  You should definitely go on over and check it out, it is pretty amazing.  This site is a must see!!!

Here are some of the many unique and fun ideas:

The Dating Divas

Superbowl Chicken Quesdilla Dip

Hey All!!  It was one busy, busy weekend for this girl!  Friday was pretty relaxed and just watched a couple movies, but Saturday did a lil shopping, and had supper a delish resturant with hubby and wonderful friend.  Then Sunday, since my lil sis is getting married in about a year, we went to a bridal show in the late morning.  She was pretty disappointed because she didn't win anything:(  Then I raced home, to get ready for our semi-superbowl party.  I say "semi" because we had a good couple friend of ours:)

The hubby made some of his yummy chili, I made chicken quesdilla dip, and they brought quite a few snacky dishes.  Needless to say, it was a terrible day for my diet!  The sad thing is that we didn't even put a dent in the food that we had...we have soo many leftovers it's crazy!!!  We just need to get rid of them because otherwise it's too much temptation or it'll go to waste...either way it's not a good situation!

So all day long, I was thinking of making something quick, fast, easy, and tasty.  So I searched the good ole' internet to see what I could find!  I found the recipe on All Recipes I changed it up a bit to make it go just that much quicker and a touch healthier.  I had 1 hour to clean the house plus make dip and that doesn't give me too much time!