FYI….

 I'm still here!!!! I have had a few people comment on my IG and ask when I will have a new post!! I wasn't feeling right for about two weeks! I have been extremely extremely tired with stomach pain and I pretty much used all of the little energy I had taking care of the girls and making sure my house didn't fall apart!!
 So after weeks of going to the doctor, having blood labs done, ultrasounds,sonograms and everything else, it turns out I have a large ovarian cyst. (which is better than what I thought, I was fearing it was my gallbladder!) Now…..most things I read say ovarian cysts are "painless" and "symptom free", well NOT in my case!! This thing has been messing with my life for weeks now! Fatigue, nausea and intense pain, frequent and URGENT trips to the ladies room to pee…I'm talking like every ten minutes.  I am basically never listening to google again. Ovarian cysts CAN be painful guys!!
 I go back to the doctor in a few weeks to see if the size of it is changing or anything, but I have started to feel a little better the past few days! So do not fear! I will be posting again this week! I have a lot to catch up on!!!!!

Jhirmack Silver Shampoo

While I am always on the hunt for good beauty products, they often tend to be more on the expensive side so I thought I would review a very very cheap product!
 So there I was browsing the isles of CVS sans children one morning. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE browsing pharmacy isles alone?? I don't know exactly what it is, but I LOVE aimlessly wandering around CVS. I get lost in there, I pick random as seen on TV products up and read the descriptions convincing myself that #1: what ever it is is the BEST idea ever and #2. That I probably NEED it. I spend about fifteen minutes at each cosmetic brands section looking to see if there is anything new. The irony is that I never even buy pharmacy makeup, but I always look.
 So while I was on this journey through CVS I decided to spend about thirty minutes in the shampoo isle, and there was this beaut!

This song instantly played in my head the second I picked the bottle up. (and who am I kidding, it played in there for the rest of the day!)


 (this is totally showing my age, ha!)

Anyway, I used it and I actually really liked it! The smell wasn't to die for or anything but it did what it's supposed to!! When my hair is at this very light purple/silver stage the silver starts to look a little yellow. It definitely took the yellow out! So for all of you purple or silver ladies, even pastel blonds, it's worth a shot for $3.99!!!

I am soooo glad my hair is back to being a silver purple!! Even if it will only last another week or so before I have to redo it!! (sad face)

BBQ Seitan Pizza

 A few weeks ago, a friend of mine (who btw, NEEDS her own blog…ehem, Jessica!) made BBQ chicken pizza and it was incredible! Cooking only meatless food for all of us, I often feel like I am running out of things to make!! I had some extra seitan left over from making homemade coconut curry (which was a disaster, I do not even want to talk about that) so I thought I would replace the chicken for seitan and it was still amazing!

You need:
Pizza crust (I just used pre made grocery store brand crust)
BBQ sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Gouda cheese
Parmesan cheese
Red onion
Cilantro
Seitan (or chicken)

I started by heating my seitan in a pan with BBQ sauce. I don't know how much I used, if I had to guess I would say 1/2 of a cup.
While that was cooking I spread the BBQ sauce onto the pre rolled pizza crust. (1 to 2/3 of a cup)
I then added the three cheeses, onion and seitan.
I left a small amount of cheese to add to the top of the seitan.
Cook for the amount of time the pizza crust instructs. In my case, I baked for 13 minutes.
Take it out of the oven, spindle with cilantro and serve!

Enjoy!

Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

 These are AMAZING! Can you tell I like pretty much anything that includes coconut, oats and chocolate chips?? Apparently that's "my thing" (a really really delicious "thing"!)
  Not only are they awesome, but they are super fast to make and I had everything I needed except for chocolate chips already in my pantry. You can add raisins.. I eat so healthy 99% of the time so I always opt for the chocolate chips when I am making treats, I deserve it! Haa! 

You need:
-1 cup of butter

-1 cup of brown sugar

-1 cup of sugar

-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

-2 eggs 

-1 1/4 cup of flour

-1/2 tsp of baking soda

-2 cups oats

-2 cups flakes coconut 

-1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (or raisins) 

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Cream the sugars and butter together, add vanilla.
-Add first egg, mix, add second.
-While you are mixing your egg in, in a separate bowl mix the flour and baking soda.
-Add the flour mix to the wet in 2 to 3 rounds.
-Add coconut and oats,mix.
-Last, stir in the chocolate chips or raisins 

-Put them in the oven for ten minutes!!

Soooo good! 

Yeah, I took a bite. I HAD TO. 

Fabric Tassels

 I have wanted to do fabric tassels for some time now. I have done paper tassels but I like the longevity aspect of the fabric ones. While staring at the gold faux wood grain wall in the playroom, I decided that fabric tassels would be the finishing touch. They are super easy and I finished them in two days during Priscilla's nap.

You will need:
Scissors
Fabric
Twine (rope or string)

That's all! If you wanted to get super fancy you could use a cutting mat and a rotary cutter, I didn't. Although, that does remind me that I DO need a rotary cutter asap!

I bought a yard of four different fabrics. You definitely want to get fabric that is the same on both sides, or at least not too different. The one fabric I bought was not, and those do not look as good as the rest of them. Lightweight to medium weight work the best for this one.

-Start off by cutting the fabric 18x24 (I got about three tassels per yard, but I am super wasteful and sloppy. You could probably get 4, haa!)

-Once the fabric pieces are cut, fold the fabric in half.

-Start cutting the fringe. Cut almost to the top, leave 1 to 2 inches uncut.

-Once you are finished cutting the fringe, open the fabric up and untangle any tangled fringe.

-Start rolling the fabric.

-Once it is rolled, fold in half.
-Once it is folded in half tie fabric around the loop. I used scrapes of fabric, and I'm not going to lie, for about two I just cut a fringe off of the tassel and used it.

-Do this about 10 times! I found it to be quite tedious. so I split it up over two days during Priscilla's nap.

Chipotle Bowl

 I am so so so excited about this one! We DO have a Chipotle here, the problem is whenever I am thinking about how much I want to eat it I am alone with two kids and it's on the other side of town. No, we don't live in a huge town with tons of traffic but when you are hungry with two small kids, the LAST thing you want to do is drive with said children. When I am hungry I am grumpy. The thought of me being grumpy, with two kids that could also get grumpy at anytime while waiting line to eat is a nightmare for me...sooo, yeah, the only thing I eat there are the bowls. So I am thinking to myself, ummm, it's not that intense, just buy the same stuff and make your own!

I make the vegetarian bowl and I use:

-Cilantro Lime Rice (I used archer farms from target)
-Pinto Beans
-Black Beans
-Pico de gallo
-Shredded cheese
-Sour Cream
-Lettuce
-Corn
-Guacamole
-Scallion

 If you want to make your own cilantro/lime rice, be my guest!!! Here is a recipe. I had every intention of doing so until I saw that heavenly box at Target. While we are on topic, if you want to get all zany and make your own pico de gallo, go ahead!! Here is a recipe for that! I chose to just buy it organic and fresh from the food store this time!!

The directions are super super easy, you pretty much just heat it up and throw it together.

-Start by cooking rice
-Strain,rinse and warm the canned beans
-Cook your corn (I use frozen corn)
-While the rice is cooking and the beans are warming start chopping your lettuce and scallions.
-At this point I make a quick guacamole. The guacamole I make for this isn't my super fancy guac. For this I just mash an avocado, add a clove or two of garlic, a few pieces of onion,cilantro and a squeeze of lime. You can use this quick one or make your own favorite recipe!
-And that's about it! Add your rice,beans,pico de gallo,corn,lettuce,sour cream,shredded cheese,guacamole and scallions!

I always enjoy it with a Mexican Coke and tortilla chips of course!

Last Valentine's Day

Just some cute pics I found on my Instagram from last year!! I love love love Valentine's Day <3

This Valentine's Day box was everything. It came back from school demolished but it went to school cute!! 

Mustache You To Be Mine

 Back to me procrastinating on Valentine's Day….last Vday, we started our Valentine's almost three weeks early. Mostly because of Annabella's attention span, we would do a couple a day but also because I like to get stuff done! This year just rushed over here! So here is a last minute homemade card idea for any of you procrastinating, busy moms.
 I had to do over 20, and it didn't take a lot of time at all!

You need:
Cards/envelopes
Card Stock
Mustache punch/or stencil
Popsicle sticks
Glue gun
Paint pen/sharpies/stamps/sticker letters
Razor blade

I bought some of the cards at Michael's and some in the dollar section at Target. When I first started this I was going to use a stencil. You can just google stencil and go from there. Then I saw a mustache punch in the scrapbooking isle at Target and snatched that bad boy up! (it saved me soooooo much time!) I used glitter card stock. It's my favorite. It's thick and who doesn't love glitter! I bought turquoise,purple,black,red and pink so they could be for girls or boys. I had planned on stamping the "you a ?" part, but the cards were too glossy and the ink wouldn't dry right, so I just used a sharpie and wrote it on. The inside I used a "be mine" stamp from Michael's. You could hand write any of this, use stamps, or foam letters.

-I started by opening the card and slicing two small slits into the front of the cards.

-I then punched all of the mustache's out.
-Put a dot of hot glue at the top of the popsicle stick and attached the mustache's.
-When that is dry, insert the popsicle sticks into the slits.
-At this point you can really do what you want. Again, I did the "be mine"stamp inside and added some stickers, then had Annabella sign her name at the bottom of them!!
-Put cards inside of the envelopes and then let your little one draw pictures on the envelopes and add Valentine's Day stickers.

Urbanwalls Giveaway

Urbanwalls and I have teamed up for a giveaway!!! Head over to Instagram and join in the fun!!

Good luck!!!

Heart Paint Chip Canvas

 Wow, the past two weeks have been something over here!! I had all sorts of fun Valentine's Day crafts and treats that I wanted to blog well before the week OF Valentine's Day. Between us having a bat in the house for a few days…yeah, a BAT and then me not feeling well for a few days, Valentine's Day crafts had to be put on hold. Now that I am feeling better I am frantically trying to finish all of the things I had planned!
 I ripped this one right off of Pinterest. It is a pretty popular one, so if you have already done this craft, I understand! But it is just too cute! It has been reblogged so many times I cannot seem to find the original poster to link. So, sorry about that!
 It is an incredibly easy AND cheap craft because the paint chips are free. You should have seen me at Home Depot with the biggest stack of paint chips known to man. I actually felt guilty, so I mentioned to an employee that I had a craft to do because I felt like a criminal taking so many! Haha!

You need:
-Lots of paint chips
-Foam Mounting Dots (I ised 3 1/2 pkgs)
-Canvas (I used 11x14)
-Heart Punch

-Start by punching the paint chip hearts.
-Arrange the hearts on canvas from light to dark before adding the sticky foam mount. This is where the perfectionist in me had a REAL problem. In my mind it was going to be the most perfect ombre you have ever seen. In reality, I had taken so many paint chips that the tones were not quite the "perfect" ombre but I ended up liking it in the end!
-Once you have the color scheme you like, start adding the foam mounting dots to the back of the hearts and attach.

-That's it!! Quick, easy and cheap crafting right here!

Urbanwalls Decals

 I was super excited for my mail day yesterday!! I ended up picking the flower decal for my bedroom. I REALLY wanted the heart decals, I am not going to lie….but, we have a ton of heart stuff going on around here. I also really wanted a decal for Annabella's room, but her walls are awkward. We are moving in a few months, so I will definitely get them for the girl's new room!!! Eek!!

I have these decals.

Check our some of there other designs on their Etsy store!

Here are some of my favorites:

Quinoa Patties

 So, my picture is not doing these patties justice. AT ALL. The thing here in Erie, is that the ball of light in the sky is not always around and cooperating on the days I want to blog ;)
 Last time we went to visit my family in Austin, my sister made these and they are so so so good! You know something is good when every single person in the house will eat them!! I usually prepare them over spinach lettuce with a poached or fried egg. You can also put them in a roll and eat as a delicious "burger", and honestly, I just eat them plain sometimes!!

Ingredients:
*2 1/2 cups of quinoa (cooked as directed on package)
*4 beaten eggs
*1/2 cup chopped chives
*1 chopped onion
*1/2 tsp sea salt
*1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
*3 to 4 cloves of garlic
*1 cup panko
*extra virgin olive oil


Directions:
-Cook quinoa as directed on package and cool.
-Combine the quinoa, eggs, salt, onion,chives,garlic and cheese.
-Add the panko
(I usually refrigerate for about 15 minutes so they firm up a bit)
-Form mixture in patties about an inch or so thick
-Heat oil in pan and add patties.
-Heat each side until brown (about 5 to 10 minutes depending on heat)

If mixture is too wet, add more panko.

I usually get about ten patties out of this. And I also add a bit more cheese because I love me some cheese :)