Creating a Fun DIY Chalkboard Herb Planter

May 24, 2013 by

This DIY chalkboard herb planter turns regular clay pots into beautiful and fun places to grow your herbs! Use smaller pots for an indoor garden and larger for outside! Don’t forget to get the kids involved! 

I love to garden. I love being outdoors, enjoying the weather, and getting my hands dirty. I also love the sense of accomplishment I feel when I see the results of my hard work.

But sometimes gardening and landscaping doesn’t have to be difficult or hard. With this fun DIY Chalkboard Herb Planter I’m able to plant the herbs I love in cute decorative pots and don’t really have to worry much about them.

Plus, you can make this project with simple materials that you might already have in your home!

DIY Chalkboard Herb Planter
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Filed Under: Crafts/DIY, For the Home, Gardening, Outdoor Crafts and Activities Tagged With: , , , , ,

Root Beer Pulled Pork Slow Cooker Recipe

May 21, 2013 by

My absolute favorite way to make pulled pork is in the crock pot. With a can of rootbeer.

Yup! You heard that right. I absolutely love that I can realize that I forgot to pull meat out of the freezer the night before, grab a pork loin, put it in the crock pot with a can of root beer and just let it simmer all day for a delicious and tasty meal in the evening.

What makes them even better? Some amazingly fresh and yeasty homemade hamburger buns!

If you haven’t already tried this way of cooking your pulled pork then you need to! It’s the perfect dish for the coming summer months.

Root Beer Pulled Pork

Root Beer Pulled Pork

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Filed Under: In the Kitchen, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Minnie Mouse Fun with Glidden Disney Paint #DisneyPaintMom

May 19, 2013 by

Minnie Mouse Fun with Glidden Disney Paint - final

With my daughter and son sharing a room in our small home it’s hard to find a balance between the girly, princess world my daughter is living in and the bug-filled, dino crazy world my son loves. I thought I found a great balance when I transformed their room into a woodsy Forrest Friends theme but it wasn’t enough for my daughter.

Luckily Glidden had reached out to ask if I could head to Walmart and try out the new Glidden Disney Paint line. I happily accepted as our family loves Disney and was excited to find something that would work with our existing design but be girly enough for my daughter.

Who knew that a little paint, some sparkle, and Minnie decals would change my daughter’s side of the room into the perfect Minnie Mouse playhouse.

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Filed Under: Crafts/DIY, Disney, For the Home, Room Makeovers, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Money Management Tips: How to Prepare For an Emergency

May 17, 2013 by

Since taking over the family’s finances when I became a work at home mom and attempting to reign in on our spending and pay off our debt I’ve come to realize just how important it is to prepare for the unexpected.

As important as it is to recognize the day-to-day expenses, it’s also very important to set aside funds for things that just happen. A few months ago my daughter was bit by the family dog. All is fine with her now but at the time I had no idea what our bills were going to look like after our ambulance trip and ER visit.

Lucky for us we put aside funds for emergencies like this and are prepared. And while it was a very scary thing to go through, not having to worry about paying the bills afterwards was a relief.

money management tips emergency

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Filed Under: Organization, Parenting, Technology, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Enjoying a Fun Date Night In San Diego with National Comedy Theater

May 16, 2013 by

NCT - Fun Date Night in San Diego

The one thing my husband and I have been pretty diligent about even after having kids is making sure we have at least one night a month dedicated to date night. I was even writing a monthly post for Date Night 411 (before the site was closed) and loved sharing my date night ideas with others who are looking for things to do.

So I’m going to start sharing the things we do on our date nights again. And this time it’ll be on my blog so I don’t lose all of the photos and the content when the websites I write for are gone (sorry… a little vent… but I’m done now!).

One place we LOVE to go to at least every few months is National Comedy Theater on India Street. I first heard about this show after being asked to check it out as a blogger. Now I love going even when I’m paying for tickets! Not only is it an awesome improv show that changes nightly, it’s also next to some fabulous restaurants!

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Filed Under: Date Night, Entertainment, In the Kitchen, Parenting, San Diego, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

Delightfully Diet Ginger Ale Lemon Cake

May 13, 2013 by

Ginger Ale Lemon Cake

Sometimes I dread going to birthday celebrations. I always know there are going to be really delicious but entirely too calorie laden foods, drinks galore and – of course – birthday cake.

So whenever I can, I try and take control. I am the one hosting the party and I have control of the menu. So when we celebrated my dad’s birthday last week I made sure that everyone came over to my house and I served all of the foods I felt good about eating.

Including cake!

That’s right… a cake that I can enjoy without guilt. Plus it’s super easy to make and very, very tasty! The guests had no idea and kept talking about how moist it was. How? By using a few simple ingredients…

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Filed Under: Party Ideas, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

The Ultimate First Street Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich Recipe

May 11, 2013 by

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Smart & Final.

First Street Ultimate Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich #ChooseSmart

Mother’s Day is all about mom’s favorite things, right? And I know that my mom – and mother in law – loves sweets. Since it’s been so warm lately I knew she’d appreciate something cool if she were down here (don’t worry mom, we can make these again!).

So when I headed out to Smart & Final to pick up some ingredients for an awesome dessert to serve on Mother’s Day, I knew that First Street ice cream would be the perfect base for any dish.

I thought bringing my husband along with me as we shopped would be a bad idea but he inspired this dish when he asked if he could pick up some chocolate chip cookies too. Genius!! Why not make ice cream sandwiches?

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Filed Under: In the Kitchen, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

5 Things to do in San Diego for Mother’s Day

May 9, 2013 by

5 Things to Do in San Diego for Mother's Day

I’m all for sticking with routine and hosting or going to brunch for Mother’s Day but sometimes doing something a little different is a nice change in pace. Especially when there are so many fun things to do around town!

We’re so lucky to not only live in a beautiful city but to live in a city full of culture, fun, and entertainment. Why not enjoy that with Mom this weekend and save the brunch for next weekend.

Whether you use these ideas as great gifts for Mom or if you actually do them this Mother’s Day weekend, Mom is still in for a treat.

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Filed Under: San Diego, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Nutrisystem Recipe Ideas: Baked French Toast Casserole

May 9, 2013 by

While on Nutrisystem I learned to really experiment and explore new possibilities when it comes to Nutrisystem food and started to really search for great Nutrisystem recipe ideas. Sometimes the food the way it’s packaged doesn’t taste the best to me or isn’t the most filling portion size for me. So I did a little doctoring up (within the plan!) and create new dishes from Nutrisystem foods.

One of my favorite recipes that I make at least once a week is this Baked French Toast Casserole. Not only is it very filling, it also reminds me of my favorite Overnight French Toast Casserole recipe that definitely isn’t Nutrisystem friendly. And I love that I can sub other Nutrisystem items like the blueberry muffin, cinnamon bun or cinnamon streusel muffin if I don’t have any frozen french toast on hand.

Now, you do not need to prepare this overnight if you don’t have the time. There have been many mornings where I wake up and realize I didn’t prep this the night before. But sometimes it tastes a bit better when all of the flavors can meld together before baking. Either way, it’s still going to be delicious and very filling.

Nutrisystem Recipe Ideas: Baked French Toast Casserole

Nutrisystem Recipe Ideas Baked French Toast Casserole

Nutrisystem Baked French Toast Casserole

  • Nutrisystem frozen french toast
  • 1/2 cup egg beaters or egg whites
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 turkey sausage link (cut small)
  1. Cut the frozen french toast into pieces and put it into a small baking dish sprayed with butter flavored PAM. I’ve found a small ramekin to be perfect.
  2. Mix 1/2 cup egg beaters, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and turkey sausage link together.
  3. Pour the mixture over the french toast pieces and squish it down until all pieces are covered. Place it, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator overnight.
  4. In the morning, take the dish from the fridge, remove cover, and bake at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes until cooked through. This bakes up REALLY high, and then it collapses a bit when it’s out of the oven – totally normal.

I love to serve this with a couple sprays of light spray butter, or Walden Farms (or equivalent) syrup. It counts as one Nutrisystem breakfast and a PowerFuel. I can even add a strawberry or two for a limted extra too!

What healthy dishes do you love to make?

Filed Under: In the Kitchen, Nutrisystem, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Frozen Fruit Skewers – The Perfect Summer Cookout Dessert

May 7, 2013 by

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Fruti #cbias #SocialFabric #FreshNFruti

Fruti Frozen Fruit Skewers

This past week has been HOT! Like in the 90s one day hot and 80s the rest. So we needed a snack that would cool us down and satisfy our sweet tooth without being too bad.

Well, we found an amazingly cool and refreshing treat that’s low-fat and quite good. Fruti frozen fruit bars have become my new obsession and boy are they tasty! Plus they’re low in calories and the strawberry bars have zero fat. Talk about a great find!

They’re conveniently located at Sam’s Club so  I can pick up a box to keep in our freezer so we can enjoy them any time we need a delicious frozen fruit pop. And they come in a convenient 4 pack inside the large box that I can break out to make more room in my freezer. Or so I can keep one box in my inside freezer and the others in the freezer in the garage. Easy access!

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Filed Under: In the Kitchen, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,


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