Monday, August 20, 2012

life as we know it, plus craft tutorials/recipes

ohio summers are full of lightning bugs, and i love them. remind me of my childhood when we lived in kentucky/tennessee.
these are the fields right by our house. so beautiful !
i love having this little produce stand right by our house. it's so fresh and yummy.
i made a watermelon/lime refreshing drink.
my mom sent me her vitamix. i feel so spoiled. i use it everyday. we had friends over and made oreo shakes, then when they left.. we had seconds :)


this is one of my favorite breakfast treat smoothie. i made it up. give it a try! 1/2 packet of brown sugar oatmeal packet, 1 banana, 1/4 cup soy milk, 1 scoop of peanut butter & a handful of ice. so yummy and filling!

hair trick. put your hair in a side pony, start fishtailing and then when you get lower, clip an extension in and then keep braiding and you get a longer braid.. :) my goal is to grow my hair out this long.. just a couple more inches.
oh how i love skyping my cute grandparents while they are on their mission in the philepeans. aren't they the cutest? 
took our good friends to the aiport and got to see this little cutie. oh how i love her!
jill and bella came over. she is at such a fun stage. sure made me baby crazy once again.:)
laurel was offered a better position for her situation, we sure will miss her as our manager. we went to dinner to celebrate! 
justin's childhood friend, billy and his wife came to visit from d.c. we had so much fun with them! we took them to kirtland for their first time! they loved it. how can you not? so spiritual and historical! go here to learn more.


we also took them to the west side market. our favorite place to get nutella crepes and get some fresh produce. they were impressed and loved it! in the middle picture.. can you spy billy/ justin?
i won pureology shampoo and conditioner for selling the most retail in june/july. i was so excited because this stuff is EXPENSIVE. 60 bucks for both. boy do i love how it makes my hair feel. 
me showing off my silky hair after using the stuff made out of gold ^
i'm back to using my fitness pal/ working out. it totally works, it's free and i don't have food restrictions.. just a healthy calorie limit. if you're interested. go here. the thing i love about it is it's sustainable. it basically teaches you how much you should consume every day. i went off it for two months and didn't gain a pound, cause i learned! yay for a healthy lifestyle!
made homemade kale: here & homemade almond milk here . and you know how much how i love a good steamed artichoke .. mm.
     made the best veggie pasta: here and the most yummy parmesan roasted potatoes here 
                       the simplest dinner, perfect for a relaxing sunday dinner here  j loved it!
another smoothie, a jamba recipe. boy it was a hit at this house!
am i the only one that steals the husbands shoes to take the garbage out/get the mail.. cause they're always handy..
one of j's presentation.. yes. i almost fainted .. these are real situations. he added humor to it of course. so glad he's the doctor in the family.
went to a garage sale and got avon make up/nail polish for $3. i ended up loving it all so much. who knew? the nail polish stayed on for over a week. and love the vintage earrings :)

we made chocolate chip cookies and had a game night. j doesn't love games, but he sure loves me enough to play !
we went to our corn festival in our little town. we had fun walking around. i got a carmel apple and it was delicious.
one morning before his first night shift, we both slept in til 10:30. it was bliss.
i have been busy with turban orders. so much fun to make ! thanks to all who purchased them!
love how comfy they are!
am now selling peter pan collars. if you're interested. go here

this week while j pulled a 95 hour work week of nights.. i crafted into the wee hours of the night.
cut out a plain white t into a diamond design.

spiced up our wreath with things i had around the house!
made this sunburst out of plastic spoons .inspiration: here i already had a mirror in this room, so i didn't add the mirror.. i also only wanted to buy one pack of spoons instead of the suggested, six. it says you need to buy a backing.. i just used one of our extra moving boxes. so there you go. a cheaper way, and i already had the paint!
made this for our room. used an old bookshelf shelf. used one of my vintage redbooks. can't tell but the tan is pieces of words. looks cool with the colored, and adds dimension. all you do is modge podge the paper.. use vinyl stickers from walmart, paint on top (can get paint for 50 cents at walmart), and peel off!
after work i picked up my favorite, panera and watched PLL all night. love the suspense/girly shows. what else is a kid-less wife to do while her husband works?
the tree in our front yard is already starting to change! oh boy!! i do love fall though!
love the fields!
and the huge trees that surround you everywhere!
pretty full moon.
we realized we had instant tv on our computer, so we watched a show to try it out!
as always, we enjoy our time together. this particular time was a rainy, cuddly summer morning.
well my lovely readers, that's life as we know it. it sure is a good one.
xoxo 
j+j

Saturday, August 18, 2012

reuinted after ten years

we were neighbors in tennessee and decided to reunite since we are neighboring states now!

hannah and i. yes, i'm on my tip-toes. don't know how the younger sister's (hannah & laurisa) out-grew us!


we went to cheesecake with j. boy it was good. i had my first cheesecake that i can remember (sister claims i've had one) it was cookie dough and it was heavenly! i love sitting outside at restaurants!
we grabbed sushi at the mall, before my shift. so yum:)
they entertained themselves while i worked. cutest masks!
we went on a stroll around the neighborhood. oh how mighty fine my man is :)
j captured this on the first try, pretty impressive! .. yes, it looks like i have a gnarly beard..but i don't! 

pretty much every night we stayed up til 2-4 am crafting, laughing and bringing up memories! my kind of girl time! (the craft room is by our bedroom, so while j was sleeping, we brought the sewing machine downstairs.. who knew you could sew on a bed?
the 3 am giggles! they now know how crazy silly i get in the middle of the night!
an up close of our necklaces we made . they are for sale here 
we went to lake erie after church. had quite the photoshoot:)
all of our matching necklaces !
toes in the sand, my favorite.
cutest girls!



here we are so long ago. yes, mitch and hannah got married.. i was such a lovely preacher.. don't you think? haha. it was so much fun seeing them, they are the same in most ways :)
hannah is doing the cosmetology route also, she painted my toesies. love them!
this is our hair chain we made.. 
our last craft..we made vests, by stenciling our favorite animal !
love how they turned out!

when i got home from work, they had cleaned the house and left me goodies. so stinking adorable. 
love me some girl time, come back soon!