Staycation

For our 2 year anniversary that hubby of mine and I wanted to get away, but didn't quite have the funds or the time to plan a trip so instead we did a Staycation.

• Stay-cation: A vacation in which you do not travel outside of your city limits.

This turned out to be a fabulous idea. We stayed at a historic Cincinnati hotel, The Hilton Netherlands where Elvis once stayed. The hotel was beautiful and full of interesting history.

Our hotel was part of the Carew Tower so we went all the way to the 49th floor to get a view of the city from above. For our exploration of the city I chose to remix one of my outfits for the occasion. See below. Top: Limited, Shorts: White House Black Market, Shoes: Dillards, Belt: Maurices

We had gift certificates from one of my work parties to a place called the Cricket Lounge, which I would highly recommend.

We ate to our hearts content and then walked around Fountain square to snap a few more pictures and listen to a band.

It was fun to "get away" from dishes, laundry and cooking for an evening and just relax with my man. Have you ever done a Staycation?

A cozy night in with Calzones

At our house home made pizza night is a common thing, but the other night we decided to spice it up and try calzones. These were so easy and fun to make.
Here are some of the ingredients we used:

We were both tired so instead of making our own dough, which we have done before, we went for the pre-made Pillsbury stuff. We divided the dough in half and made our own creations.

Here comes the fun part or at least I thought it was fun. You take a pair of kitchen scissors and cut slits in both sides of your calzone.

After you cut up each side you braid the dough together across each Calzone so it looks like a little mummy baby.

Cook the Calzones and enjoy!

Yum!

A bridal tea

On Saturday I hosted a bridal tea for my soon to be married sister! We had a wonderful time! I found a place called the Tea Parlor and knew as soon as I walked in it was where I should hold the shower.  My sister loves tea and I knew it would be a fun theme to work with.

I'm always looking for shower ideas so I thought I would share a few of my ideas with you! Since many of the people invited were from all different stages of my sister's life I started with introductions and asked each person to share how they knew the bride. Then I had some question cards in a bag all about Alyssa and her fiance. Each person got to pick a card and read it aloud. My grandma obviously got a kick out of one of the questions...

Here are some of the kinds of questions I had typed out on cards. If you were a Disney couple which would you be and why? Who is messier? Most romantic date? Do you have a song? How did you meet? I loved watching my sister answer the questions and talk about how she and David met. She is so in love and I'm so happy for her.

We snacked on cheese, crackers, fruit and delicious cherry and cream scones while sipping on an amazing blend of raspberry, white and blueberry tea. Then we played a silly game, which everyone LOVED. I call it the Plate game. You need a plate and pen for each person and you explain that they are going to be drawing what they think the bride's wedding dress is going to look like. Then you explain the twist...everyone has to draw the dress on the plate while the plate is on top of their heads. It was hilarious. My sister was the "judge" and I gave prizes out to her favorite two.

Opening presents can be a little awkward so I had everyone fill out a bingo card with gifts they thought Alyssa would receive then they had something to look forward to as she opened each gift. Everyone went home happy and with a favor of loose leaf blueberry tea. Yum!
It was so wonderful to celebrate my sister this weekend with friends and family we've known throughout the years. 21 days until my little sister becomes a MRS!

Eye candy

Just to be clear, I am not the eye candy of this post...I'm posting about real candy! My husband has a huge sweet tooth and anytime we wander into a new part of town we look for two things: 1.) A candy store and 2.) A toy store. That hubby of mine is such a kid at heart and I love it!

At Dylan's candy bar in NYC last spring...someone's happy.

We recently explored downtown Loveland and found this adorable candy shop complete with home made ice cream. If you live around the area you should check out Loveland Sweets.

And since you were dying to know what Remix outfit I wore to the candy shop...here you go!

Outfit #7- Shirt-Gap, Pants-Limited, Belt-Limited, Shoes-TJ Maxx, Scarf-Charming Charlie

Even though it's 100 degrees out we are heading to the fair to see hubby's cousin show pigs...I'm going to be a hot, sweaty mess, but at least I will get to enjoy some fabulous fair food!

Hope you all have an amazing Friday!!!

What I Made Wednesday!

I've been seeing these cute crate seats in many classrooms and I decided I just had to have some in my own classroom. Not only are these crates practical for extra storage they are adorable and I just know the kids are going to love sitting on them.  My plan is to put them around my guided reading table.
Here is a tutorial of how to make them yourself and I promise they are easy to re-create!

Items you will need:
*Crate with lip (I got mine at Walmart for $3.47!)
*Roll of 1 inch foam (about 15 bucks at Walmart)
*Spray adhesive
*Fabric to cover your seats
*Ribbon
*Wood to fit inside each crate (I took my crate to Home Depot and asked them to cut pieces to fit inside my crate. We tested it out to make sure they fit!)
*Staple gun

I started out getting my wood cut by a nice gentleman at Home Depot. After I had that finished the rest was easy!

Cut foam to cover the wood pieces and then use spray adhesive to stick the foam to the wood.

 Measure your board and add a few inches to the length and width then use those measurements to measure out how much fabric you will need. My boards were 12 1/2 by 15 1/2 so I added 3 inches to both and that's how I figured out how much fabric I'd need.

After I had enough fabric I covered the board and foam and then used a staple gun to secure it to the back.

I then stapled a piece of ribbon to the back so I could use it as a handle!

I made 5 crate seats...2 orange, 2 yellow and 1 red for the middle. I think the ribbon added a nice touch.

I'm so anxious to just get in and set up my classroom next week! I'll be sure to share pictures along the way.

Battle of the Enchilada Recipe #2

On to recipe #2 in my Battle of the Enchilada. I made Pioneer Woman's Sour Cream Enchiladas. I love sour cream so I chose this one to try out. The first enchilada recipe I made didn't have sour cream and when I think of Mexican food I usually correlate it with at least a dollop of sour cream. While the first recipe definitely did not disappoint I think I like these even better for a few reasons. 1.) They are easy 2.) They take less than an hour to make 3.) They are delicious and full of flavor 4. ) I love anything Pioneer Woman creates. It's a true story. In PW's original recipe there is no meat in these enchiladas. I knew my meat loving hubby might question the substance of the meal if there was no meat so I added chicken. I took some tips from Recipe #1 and nestled my chicken in some store bought Enchilada sauce. I used the brand Frontera from Whole Foods and loved it.
On to the pictures...

Add the sour cream, chives, ground cumin, cayenne pepper and cheese together

Nestle the chicken in your Enchilada sauce and let cook until shred-able

Fry up each corn tortilla in Canola oil and then dunk in enchilada sauce

Add the sour cream mixture to each tortilla, roll up and place in baking dish

If you are new to my blog you may not know that I'm kind of obsessed with Pioneer Woman. I am trying to cook my way through her cookbook and I was lucky enough to meet her back in February. Thank goodness this was another Pioneer Woman success! Next I will be trying out Annie's Benchiladas!

Our Wedding ABC Style

2 years ago today I married my best friend. I thank God everyday for bringing us together. He is my sunshine. Here is a recap of our wedding day ABC style. Enjoy!

Attendance: We had about 185 guests at our wedding. What an amazing feeling it was to have all of our friends and family from various stages of our lives there with us to celebrate!

Our DJ called everyone out on the dance floor for a group photo and then while everyone was on the dance floor the music began and the party got hoppin!

Bridesmaids: I had 8 fabulous bridesmaids. My sister was my Maid of Honor and I had my 3 sister in laws, 2 friends I had had since childhood and 2 college friends.

Catering: I barely got to eat anything, but I heard the food was great. We used Jack's catering and instead of traditional food we went for kabobs on the grill. It was perfect. Our cake was from Patricia's. MMMmmm.

Dress: I was (and still am) absolutely obsessed with my dress!

Engagement: Read about it here.
Flowers: I love daisies so the bridesmaid had colored daisies. I wanted my bouquet to be simple and elegant so I stuck with white flowers in my arrangement.

Groomsmen: What a great group of guys! My brother, cousin and brother in law are among those strapping, studly men.

Honeymoon: My husband is such a kid at heart and he had never in his life been to Disney World. When we were discussing honeymoon destinations I knew we had to go there! We spent a week near Sarasota as beach bums and then we headed to Disney for a week. It was amazing!

Invitations: I bought my invitations at Target and a friend helped me with the printing and design. I also had a family friend who did the calligraphy.
Justice of the Peace: Our pastor who had baptized both myself and that hubby of mine did our ceremony.

Keepsakes:We had a candy bar for our guests to divulge themselves in, which was a huge hit.

At each guest's seat was also a flowerpot filled with moss with a tag saying "Thanks for watching our love grow."
Ladies Night: Since everyone in our bridal party knew each other and were friends we decided instead of separate bachelor and bachelorette parties, that we would do a bridal party bash. I would not change it for the world. It is one of our most memorable nights with friends.

Music: I loved picking out meaningful music for my ceremony and reception. My friend's dad who is also our worship pastor sang "Glory in the Highest" by Chris Tomlin while we took communion, my bridesmaids walked down the aisle to "Anne's Song" from Anne of Green Gables, which was perfect because that movie has such a special place in my heart. Our first dance was to "Love Never Fails" by Brandon Heath.

 Newly Weds: I know we've been married two years now, but I still feel like a newly wed. My grandma said in her wedding advice to us to "always act like newly weds!"

Old, New, Borrowed, Blue:Old-my wedding band belonged to Drew's great, great grandmother from Germany!  New-my dress, shoes, jewelry...Borrowed- my grandma's bracelet Blue-my VS Bride panties had blue writing and a blue trim

 Photography: Since my dad is a wedding videographer with connections we had several photographers at our wedding who managed to cover any and every aspect. I was so happy with my pictures!

Question Popping: Isn't this the same as Engagement? Hm. Read about it again here.
Reception: Our reception was held at a lodge inside a park. We wanted our guests to be able to enjoy the outside patio and gazebo and the amenities inside has to offer on a summer evening.

Shoes: simple, adorable, so comfortable. I danced in them all night.

Trash the Dress: While I find this idea entertaining I just don't think I could do it! If I did I would want to jump off a dock into the ocean with my dress on!
Unique: When we exited the church all the guests threw lavender...it was beautiful and smelled amazing.

We also saw each other before the wedding. GASP. We wanted to have a special moment together alone and it was so special. We had a private rendezvous in the woods. Then we had all our pictures finished before the wedding and were able to head straight to the reception!

Vows: We said the traditional vows and I cried...this was such a special part of the day for me.
Wedding Woes: I wouldn't change a thing. I only wish Pinterest had been around when I was wedding planning and looking for ideas!!!!
X-rated: This is about as x-rated as you are going to get. I crack up every time I look at these pictures from our bridal party bash.

Young kids: We had Drew's cousin's adorable little girls as our flower girls! We got married the year after my 1st year teaching so I invited my kindergarten students to my wedding ceremony. A few had to leave before the picture, but I love this picture and have it framed in my classroom

ZZzzzzz:We stayed at the Embassy Suites near our house that night and were exhausted after such an amazing day. We headed to Sarasota the next day and talked about our wedding the entire drive there and back. We couldn't have imagined a better ending to our fairy tale wedding.