I challenged myself to try some new meals this past week, and came across some great crock pot meal options on the blog Mommy's Fabulous Finds! I was trepidatious at first, to try something new. We started out with Pork Carnitas, which went great - then onto Teriyaki Porkchops which were also really good, and finally ended the week up with Honey Bourbon Chicken - which also turned out… you guessed it, great!
Watch on YouTube to see how quick and easy these meals were - as well as the final outcome!
Pork Carnitas:
Teriyaki Porkchops:
Honey Bourbon Chicken:
All in all, it was a great experiment - and I'm looking forward to trying some new meals next week as well!
One of the perks of moving to our new house was the agreement that because my husband got his mondo sized garage, I could use a bedroom in the house for my "lady's nice things" room! I was very excited how this worked out, because having a room like this was something that I had only dreamt about in the past.
After we moved into the house in late October, it was a whirlwind of activity with the holidays and projects around the house. I didn't feel like I could truly focus on the purse room/dressing room until I had things take care of for the holidays. During December, I did get a good amount of momentum done on the room and I'm happy to finally be able to share the beginnings of my purse room!
Check out my video reveal on YouTube here:
I ordered a display cabinet from Home Decorators, the Essex Glass Door book case - and I'm using this to display a number of my handbags. Not all of them fit in the cabinet unfortunately - so I am looking for a secondary, likely smaller, cabinet to house extra purses and books…. However I love the styling of the Essex cabinet and the aesthetic it brings to the room.
The chair was a particular sticking point for the room. (And being able to finally share the room!) I wanted a chair that would pull out into a twin sleeping space, so that the room could function as additional guest sleeping space when we were hosting a number of people at our home. I originally was looking at a twin sleeper chair from Ballard Designs, the Tate Twin Sleeper Chair, and had settled on a fabric and design.
However at the last minute, I came across a chair at JCPenny, called the Twin Sleeper Chair, that was on *mega* sale - and it was a deal too good to pass up!! (Practically half of the price the Tate Chair was going to be.) In my hast in ordering from the few day sale going on, I missed that the fabric on the gray (my color of choice) chair was a microfiber… which because of fingerprint imprints would not be my first choice - overall I'm excited about the value and I think it will work great.
On the walls, I added a few prints by Lauren Maurer (check out her Etsy store!) - her gorgeous dress form watercolors have been some of my favorites to pin on Pinterest.
I also included a "charms wall" where I can add various wall pieces of interest as I find ones that speak to me.
All in all, I'm excited about the room and where it seems its headed. I think there is still a lot of work to be done, items to be ordered, and some more moving of things around… but I'm quite enjoying having my own space in our new home for my own passions and pursuits.
I'm looking forward to adding some finishing touches - changing out things like the chair at my vanity, adding a script print ottoman, and possibly a full size dress forum mannequin. It has been a lot of fun to be a bit "girlie" with a room in the house!
Do you have your own "lady's nice things" room? How have you chosen the decor for that room?
Well, life does get in the way from living sometimes - doesn't it?
We moved, craziness ensued... and I haven't managed to update Mom's Got a Brand New Bag in quite some time. Here are some highlights...
Big girl beds...
Birthdays...
Christmas trees...
Also, we had a lot of New Year's fun!
I'm debating where 2014 is going to take my blogging... should I jump to Word Press and try to take it up a notch? Or keep it the same with occasional updates here. I'm still in the decision stage but will be sure to post an announcement if I make the switch to Word Press under a new blog name!
Hope your 2014 is starting out great and I wish you all the best this upcoming year!
So, erhm - long time, no write? Long story short - we've been moving over the past few months and most everything else has gotten sidelined while we focused on packing, moving, and unpacking. We are currently still in the midst of getting settled in to our new house (same general location, just new house) - and I felt like it was time to revive my blog with an update.
Okay, I lied - I needed to pin a picture to my Pinterest page of a custom outfit that Natalie will probably wear for her upcoming 2nd birthday - and as it turns out, you can't pin from Facebook. I *have* been thinking I needed to do a blog check-in though!
So in my absence, I was able to continue sporadically posting on YouTube... here are the highlights of what you missed while I was "away":
I shopped at Sephora.
I'm putting together a purse display room.
I still had to get groceries.
So really... not too much. LOL! And I'm hoping to be back to a more regular posting schedule - both blog AND YouTube - in the coming weeks. Full details of Natalie's birthday party in blog & video form of course, and a blog check-in on our move is probably due as well!
With that mini update... I leave you with - the photo of the outfit Natalie will more than likely wear to her 2nd birthday party next weekend. ;)
National Handbag Day is tomorrow, October 10th! It is the first ever 'National Handbag Day' and was recently enacted by the Purse Blog as an official holiday! (They applied for it to be a holiday just for purse enthusiasts!)
I thought this was neat and wanted to spread the word, check out my video below to see what handbag I will be using for the inaugural Handbag Day and go to Purse Blog for more information on the new holiday!
* I am in no way affiliated with Purse Blog, I just thought this was a neat holiday and wanted to share! This is not a paid review. All opinions are my own.
For the first 26 weeks of Preschool at Home, we completed an alphabet letter craft for each letter of the alphabet! I came across the idea of these adorable things on Pinterest one night before starting our preschool at home endeavor, and decided we would do the coordinating craft letter to match the 'letter of the week' each week!
I thought it worked perfectly and it was a great way to reinforce the letter of the week, as well as an additional way to talk about things that started that letter. Some of Cupcake's favorites were the 'I is for Ice Cream' craft, 'L is for Lion', 'T is for Tree', and 'X is for Xylophone'! I helped with the cutting and some marker work for details, Cupcake was in charge of glueing the letters down to the page, picking out background paper colors, and arranging everything together. By the end of the first 26 weeks, she had become a pro at putting the letters together!
26 Letters in detail:
A is for Alligator
B is for Bear
C is for Cat
D is for Dog
E is for Elephant
F is for Fox
G is for Giraffe
H is for Horse
I is for Ice Cream
J is for Jaguar
K is for Kangaroo
L is for Lion
M is for Mouse
N is for Nest
O is Owl
P is for Parrot
Q is for Quail
R is for Rabbit
S is for Snail
T is for Tree
U is for Umbrella
V is for Vase
W is for Watermelon
X is for Xylophone
Y is for Yak
Z is for Zebra!
Check out our Preschool at Home project on YouTube, where we work on preschool projects at home to increase readiness for going to school!
I have been trying it out the past few weeks and have absolutely been loving it! I was sent the Pond's Luminous Finish BB+ Cream by Influenster to do a product test of it before it released in the United States and also post a product review of it, if I felt the product was worthy.
I've enjoyed using the BB+ Cream, and I have to say the timing was absolutely perfect - as I had been leaning towards wearing BB creams for the majority of the summer. I was happy to try another option, and the Luminous Finish BB+ Cream didn't disappoint!
It claims to improve your skin texture over a period of two weeks and also decrease dark spots on your skin as well, I do believe I've seen an improvement in my skin and I know my skin feels better... so that is an important part as well.
Also, it gives great coverage and I can "build" it in areas where I would like a little bit more coverage - but it doesn't cake up or look like I'm wearing a ton of makeup. BB creams are great to let your natural skin shine through, and this BB+ cream is no exception, in that it gives my skin a nice healthy glow when I'm wearing it.
The BB+ cream also works great as a moisturizer, so i'm looking forward to wearing this during the winter months when my skin tends to get a bit dry - and if I can put faith in any company to know its moisturizers, it would be Pond's. A company known for its moisturizer world wide for decades.
This item is currently available on mass retailer store shelves now, and retail price is approximately $9.99.
See the full review and explanation of the Pond's contest below:
See my 2 minute entry in the Pond's Facebook competition for who best displayed and represented the product in under 2 minutes!
Vote NOW on the Pond's Facebook page for the best representatives of the BB+ Cream! Voting goes through August 12, 2013.
** Items in this review were sent complimentary for purposes of completing a review. This is not a paid review. All opinions are my own.
