If you are getting married or have a major event requiring decorations or centerpieces coming up and you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area you HAVE to check out High Fire Designs.
High Fire Designs is owned by one of my favorite people and co-author of my other blog 2 by 2. Amanda is a very talented artist that has branched out into the world of wedding decor. The coolest thing about High Fire Designs is that they help you decide what kind of decor to use based on your color scheme and ideas and then they come up with a personalized centerpiece which you can rent from them. You give them your thoughts and they make it happen beautifully, they do all the work for you! No worrying about buying more stuff or breaking the budget for centerpieces.
You can see some great pictures of their work if you check out High Fire Designs on Facebook or you can head on over to their new blog for inspiration and money saving tips on decor.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
I Won!!
I'm so excited! I finally won my first giveaway...not only that I actually won two different giveaways in two weeks. A lot of times I'll enter giveaways and forget about them or I'll enter one for something like an Ipad and be really sad when I lose. But, both of these giveaways were super cool.
The first one was over at Sand and Starfish. Stephanie was doing a "Random Giveaway" and I love random stuff! Here is a picture of the fun stuff she sent me.
There was a really cool hummingbird feeder that I'm going to make my husband hang on our one tree in our back yard. Also, four really cute cards that Stephanie made herself...I immediately used two of them as thank you cards. Definitely stop by and check her out, right now she's doing an awesome Smoothie a Day series....yumm!
The other cool giveaway I won was part of Quirky Momma's Toy Guide giveaway. I love Quirky Momma's blog she has all kinds of activities to do with your kids that promote learning. I was so excited about winning toys for C that I made my husband open the package while I was out of town. Here is a picture of the bee puppet and the Cahootie that I won.
C loves the puppet already and the Cahootie will go in our closet of games and gifts until he is a little bigger.
You should definitely stop by both of these ladies' blogs and check them out!
The first one was over at Sand and Starfish. Stephanie was doing a "Random Giveaway" and I love random stuff! Here is a picture of the fun stuff she sent me.
There was a really cool hummingbird feeder that I'm going to make my husband hang on our one tree in our back yard. Also, four really cute cards that Stephanie made herself...I immediately used two of them as thank you cards. Definitely stop by and check her out, right now she's doing an awesome Smoothie a Day series....yumm!The other cool giveaway I won was part of Quirky Momma's Toy Guide giveaway. I love Quirky Momma's blog she has all kinds of activities to do with your kids that promote learning. I was so excited about winning toys for C that I made my husband open the package while I was out of town. Here is a picture of the bee puppet and the Cahootie that I won.
C loves the puppet already and the Cahootie will go in our closet of games and gifts until he is a little bigger.
You should definitely stop by both of these ladies' blogs and check them out!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
How to Make Money Blogging Series
There are millions of bloggers out there today. Most of them are doing it for friends and family but, there are tons out there with a niche...crafting, couponing, cooking and so on. A lot of people have questions about how to make money from their blogs...I have them too!
This morning I was looking through my blog reader and I stumbled across Little People Wealth's How to Make Money Blogging Series. She will be doing a 5 week series about how to make money blogging. She also has, my favorite, prizes! Head on over there to check her out and you can also link up your blog to get some advertising and win fun things!
This morning I was looking through my blog reader and I stumbled across Little People Wealth's How to Make Money Blogging Series. She will be doing a 5 week series about how to make money blogging. She also has, my favorite, prizes! Head on over there to check her out and you can also link up your blog to get some advertising and win fun things!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Quickie
My friend and old roommate from the best apartment ever has started a new blog. She is a born and bred Texas girl living in DFW with her new Aggie husband. She loves to make food and I think she might have a Twitter obsession. She also hits the gym so often you might hate her a little bit but, I owe her some cupcakes for finally starting her blog so, maybe that will throw her off a bit :-) Go visit her at A Certain Shade of Crazy as she overshares her crazy life with us!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Menu Plan Monday...sort of
This week I am out of town spending time with my mom and attending my little brother's graduation from Optometry School. My little brother is a doctor!! Anyway, I won't be making a menu this week for my family since I'm on "vacation" but, I thought I'd share the recipe for the AWESOME spaghetti casserole I made last week. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures because I'm on my mom's computer but, I'll update those next week. I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!
Spaghetti Casserole
This is a great recipe because you can basically add or change whatever you want in it and it will still be awesome!
1 lb ground beef (this past time I used ground Italian Turkey Sausage)
24 oz tomato sauce
1/2 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Pkg spaghetti noodles
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
Preheat oven to 350
In a medium skillet heat olive oil and sautee chopped onions and minced garlic for about 10 minutes. Start water boiling for spaghetti noodles. Add meat to skillet and cook until brown.
Once water is boiling, add spaghetti noodles and let boil for 8 minutes.
After meat is browned add 16 ounces of your tomato sauce and stir, add salt and pepper to taste I also like to add garlic powder and basil
Drain spaghetti noodles and spread half in the bottom of a casserole dish. Layer with meat sauce and cheese. Then layer with the rest of the spaghetti noodles. Top with diced tomatoes, the rest of your tomato sauce and cheese.
Place in oven for 20-25 minutes until cheese is melted.
Serve with a yummy green salad and garlic bread.
Substitutions and additions:
I like to add some chopped pepperoni, yumm! I have also used ground turkey instead of ground beef. I like to make my own spaghetti sauce but, if you are running short on time, you can substitute premade sauce instead of the tomato meat sauce. You can also add mushrooms, olives, whatever veggies you like to your sauce to sneak them in there!
Spaghetti Casserole
This is a great recipe because you can basically add or change whatever you want in it and it will still be awesome!
1 lb ground beef (this past time I used ground Italian Turkey Sausage)
24 oz tomato sauce
1/2 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Pkg spaghetti noodles
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
Preheat oven to 350
In a medium skillet heat olive oil and sautee chopped onions and minced garlic for about 10 minutes. Start water boiling for spaghetti noodles. Add meat to skillet and cook until brown.
Once water is boiling, add spaghetti noodles and let boil for 8 minutes.
After meat is browned add 16 ounces of your tomato sauce and stir, add salt and pepper to taste I also like to add garlic powder and basil
Drain spaghetti noodles and spread half in the bottom of a casserole dish. Layer with meat sauce and cheese. Then layer with the rest of the spaghetti noodles. Top with diced tomatoes, the rest of your tomato sauce and cheese.
Place in oven for 20-25 minutes until cheese is melted.
Serve with a yummy green salad and garlic bread.
Substitutions and additions:
I like to add some chopped pepperoni, yumm! I have also used ground turkey instead of ground beef. I like to make my own spaghetti sauce but, if you are running short on time, you can substitute premade sauce instead of the tomato meat sauce. You can also add mushrooms, olives, whatever veggies you like to your sauce to sneak them in there!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Quick Tip
I am OBSESSED with cereal. I love it. I eat it for breakfast, for dinner, for snacks. I am a cereal junkie. It's just so easy. Cereal is one of the things that I am crazy about stockpiling. If I find an awesome deal where cereal is under $1.50 I will stock up. Sometimes I'll have 10-12 boxes of cereal in my pantry. It kind of freaks out my husband.
So, this week I was super excited to see that Albertsons is having a great cereal deal. Now, I live in Dallas and Albertsons is known for having slightly different sales across the nation so, please check your local Albertsons ad before you go cereal crazy!
This week at Albertsons Kellogg's Rice Krispies, Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, and new Cinnabon cereals are $1.29 each with a 10 box limit. What isn't advertised is if you buy 3 boxes you get a $2.00 coupon for your next visit to Albertsons, if you buy 4 a $3.00 coupon, and if you buy 5 or more boxes you get a $4.00 coupon. I was so excited!
Also, right now if you spend $25.00 you can get a half gallon of Blue Bell ice cream for $2.98 instead of the usual $6.00 which is awesome for a pregnant lady!
I just wanted to share my exciting find. Feel free to share anything awesome you come across especially if it involves cereal or ice cream!
So, this week I was super excited to see that Albertsons is having a great cereal deal. Now, I live in Dallas and Albertsons is known for having slightly different sales across the nation so, please check your local Albertsons ad before you go cereal crazy!
This week at Albertsons Kellogg's Rice Krispies, Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, and new Cinnabon cereals are $1.29 each with a 10 box limit. What isn't advertised is if you buy 3 boxes you get a $2.00 coupon for your next visit to Albertsons, if you buy 4 a $3.00 coupon, and if you buy 5 or more boxes you get a $4.00 coupon. I was so excited!
Also, right now if you spend $25.00 you can get a half gallon of Blue Bell ice cream for $2.98 instead of the usual $6.00 which is awesome for a pregnant lady!
I just wanted to share my exciting find. Feel free to share anything awesome you come across especially if it involves cereal or ice cream!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Menu Plan Monday
I came across I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday about 6 months ago. When I was working and before C we would eat out at least 3 times a week. I look back now and I think "Oh my gosh! Think about how much money we wasted eating out!!" If you add that up, let's say 3 times a week at $25 a meal. That's $75 a week for 52 weeks... that's $3900!! Think about what you could do with an extra almost $4000. Crazy.
So, when we went down to one income we needed that extra money. I started looking for ways to save and one of the first things to go was eating out, insert sad face here. I started first by using Hamburger Helper meals and premade foods and realized that wasn't saving much money either. I had to come up with a food budget and stick with it. I had to find a way to make meals that are good too. I started searching recipes and blogs for ideas. Generally, I like to cook and I'm pretty good at it. I just hate to make things that take forever.
Then I stumbled across I'm an Organizing Junkie. She has great reasons for menu planning and it works, not only to save money but, to save time in the kitchen. Check out her 13 Reasons to Menu Plan. I started menu planning immediately after I came across this. I would plan out my meals a month in advance, make my list, cut my coupons and go shopping. I managed to keep my grocery budget at $250 a month. It was awesome but, I got burnt out. So, I started doing it in 2 week increments instead of 1 month. This helped a lot. I stuck to my budget and I have the freedom to move the meals around in the 2 week period if I need to.
Each Monday, I'll start posting my menus for the week and I'll start linking the related recipes.
Monday: Pork Chop Surprise
Tuesday: Chicken Breasts and Veggie Pasta
Wednesday: Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Thursday: Spaghetti Casserole
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Homemade Pizza and Breadsticks
Sunday: Leftovers
For more information and recipe ideas head over to I'm and Organizing Junkie to check Laura out!
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