best french toast ever!

I love to cook, I love to bake. I absolutely love to make people happy with their taste buds!

I haven't always been the chef that I am today...I am actually embarrassed to say that when I first got married at the ripe age of 19 I had no idea how to even get water to boil. If it wasn't Stouffers microwaveable mac and cheese I couldn't cook it. The first few years of marriage were rough when it came to food. We ate alot of boxed dinners, hamburger helper, chicken helper...things like that. My husband got so tired of it he bought me a cook book and off I went. After I was confident in cooking the sky became the limit and now even though we have our staple meals I make alot of stuff from scratch. I know my spices and flavors and what my family loves to eat. I enjoy cooking.

One staple that is so quick and easy is french toast. I love it and we love to eat it. When my boys have friends over I make it and usually the mom calls me and asks for my recipe because her son told her it was the best. My besties kids even told her mine is better than hers...sorry bestie! So while racking my brain for something to post about, I thought it would be fun to share this.

{Worlds Greatest French Toast EVER!}

to make 6-10 slices of french toast you will need:

4 eggs

1 cup of milk

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon pumpkin spice

wisk it all together and generously dip the bread in. cook on skillet at 350 degrees till slightly brown then flip. Top with loads of butter and syrup and sprinkle with powdered sugar. This breakfast will take about 15-17 minutes from start to ready to eat. then bask in delight as your kids eat the best french toast ever!

I linked up to:



Baby Shower Ideas

Over the summer I had the opportunity to plan and host my best cousins baby shower. She is more like a sister than a cousin so I really wanted to get creative and make this the best experience for her ever! She lives about an hour away and her friends and family are scattered around so we knew that there would be no good place to have the shower. To make it easy on her (it is her day after all) I called Macaroni Grill, a local upscale restaurant and reserved a room there.

They were so kind and allowed me to bring in decorations and cake.

Because I hosted the shower in a restaurant I was limited on what I could do for decoration.I chose the less is more

moto and used items such as the cake and gifts, plates and appetizers to help set the style. She picked the colors hot pink and lime green and let me run with the rest.

I love doing these kind of things! I get to be crafty and serve others which are the two things I love to do most!

{Decorations & Inspiration}

I created place settings using newborn diapers, ribbon and handmade name tags.

And everyone got a delicious handmade onzie sugar cookie!

YUMMY

The blogger famous tissue balls got used on the fireplace which was the backdrop for my cousin.

on the left To keep it simple for the restaurant I had cupcakes made that matched her "mommy cake"

on the right Her mom made the super cute diaper cake!

The picture does NOT do it justice this is seriously the cutest thing ever!

The "mommy cake"

The cake company captured exactly what I wanted!

Simple, but classy which is what she is all about!

Macaroni Grill allows you to write on the paper table liner, because we were so sweet they let us keep it too! So I used it as a sign in and had all the guests write kind notes to mommy and baby.

More tissue balls, such an easy decoration that gave such a big impact!

Mommy to be and Gramma to be

 I wanted them both to feel special and set apart (having a baby isn't enough) so I made them mums to make sure the whole restaurant knew who they were!

As the hostess I felt I needed to match the decorations...

I totally did not plan that, I got there and she said "hey you blend!"

{Games}

How big do you think she is? Why do we feel the need to embarrass people?

After you read all those baby mags you get from the time your day 1 prego,

use them to have the guests "design" your baby!

This is probably the funniest game EVER! Fill diapers with various melted chocolate bars and let the guests smell the "poo" to determine what candy bar it is!

I do not have any tutorials on the items I made, however if you would like to know just ask and I can send you a tut!

I linked up at:

award mania & a restoration hardware duplicate

My oldest son has tons of awards, field day awards, football awards, 5k awards...

awards and trophies line any available shelf in his room. Now that he is in middle school I am trying to get him to dwindle down the awards so that he can start over. He picked his 10 favorite trophies and they are on the window sill, he also picked his favorite ribbon awards and they got a special place too! 

I originally saw this idea in the Restoration Hardware baby and child catalog (summer edition) and wanted to duplicate it for him.I tried to find it on their website to get a picture of what I was copying but I cant find it...sorry guys!

This is how my version turned out! 

I got two black frames from Wal Mart for $3 each and sanded the edges to give them a weathered look

inserted the ribbons and voila!

 

Linking up to:

new series intro: {momma fashion 101}

I am so excited to announce the new series

 {momma fashion 101}

 coming September 5th!

As moms, myself particularly, we struggle with being young, wanting to feel young, maybe unsure what is age appropriate because we still fit into the junior section, chores or even being inside for days on end. I am writing this series for you as much as I am writing it for me.

I want to share with you a few of my struggles and through this series hopefully help us all break free and be able to be well dressed, chic mommas.

I have always prided myself in my cloths and the labels on them. When I worked I could afford to shop at the super snazzy stores, you know the ones I'm talking about...White House Black Market, Ann Taylor, Francesca's Collections...and now that I am a stay at home mom, I daydream about the days I could go in there and shop. I have found myself over the last 4 years going through a series of changes in the way I dress. At first I was so excited to be at home I worked out all the time so I was always in tennis skirts and workout cloths, then after awhile that got old, so I wore the flowy loose fitting skirts and tanks, then we moved out to the country where the biggest store is Wal Mart and it is likely you will see some one bare foot and in their pj's. I was in culture shock! I vowed to NEVER EVER do that, I found myself getting way to dressed up to run errands just to show the people of this small town I was not like them. Then that too got old. I bought a pair of boots and some great fitting jeans and now I find myself in jeans and boots during the winter and flip flops and shorts during the summer. I even realized I took and posted a picture of my on this blog with out makeup, that is how seldom I wear it these days.

I am tired of it. Tired of feeling blah, tired of dressing blah. I am only 30! I am young, I want to be comfortable but well dressed, I have a closet full of stuff, but more often then not I find myself in shorts, tanks and flip flops! Instead of shopping at the ritzy stores I shop at Marshalls, Ross and JCPenny. My heels have been traded for boots and flip flops.

So my quest is this: to regain ME but a different and fun ME and to help you regain you! I want to show y'all that cleaning can be done in jeans not sweatpants, that makeup can be fast and fun, hair is simple and accessorizes take an outfit SO much further. But with all that said I also want to keep it age appropriate! Lets remember our age ladies, the days of booty shorts and bra straps ended when we turned 24 or had kids (which ever happened first) There is nothing that takes away from our beauty like our unmentionables hanging out. I was shocked when I walked into my 5th graders parent/teacher orientation and saw how some of the moms dressed. I can only imagine as horrified as I was to see it, the kids (especially boys) were even more horrified to be with their moms, the girls are growing up learning that their body is what matters most.

Let's change that!

Welcome to {momma fashion 101} a fun series that will rejuvenate and teach us all how to be chic mommas (who don't embarrass our kids)!

coffee is my best friend

Can I say I LOVE coffee? I know the side effects can be bad for your health, but I love coffee. I love it when it is 5am in the morning and I love it when it is super cold outside. Without coffee I would be a walking zombie most of the time. I drink probably 2-4 cups a day...sometimes more...sometimes less...but usually more. Just saying, I love it!

                 random thoughts by:                 

the new and improved scarfalace

I have jumped on the upcycled bandwagon!

I was bored this morning and wanted to do something that wouldn't take long, so I grabbed an old orange

t-shirt, a pair of scissors and began cutting. And now I have this!

  What you need:

old stretchy but not ribbed t-shirt

scissors

20 minutes

Cut the shirt horizontal in different sizes until you reach the armpit, collect a few pieces at a time and begin stretching. Stretch some real far and some just a quick stretch. They will roll up and hid any imperfections from the scissors. After you are done stretching, gather them all together and tie with one of the spare pieces.

The result is a fantastically chic scarfalace!

Pair with a necklace and tank top for a casual but fun look! 

Has anyone else made one of these fab scarfalaces yet? Leave your link to share your ideas!



school is back in session & lunch packing tips

I popped up out of bed this morning full of joy and excitement because school started today!

Although, now that my kids are in school, I am a little sad. Really sad actually. I miss them terribly! As I am sitting here typing this I am laughing at myself, because for the last week I have been eagerly awaiting today and now that today is here I am not at all feeling the way I thought I would be feeling.
Oh well…on with the day we go!

I would like to share the newest organizational tool I am trying out in my house, I actually got the idea from this post at Iheart Organizing, she is so full of great ideas!

I revamped my already snack bucket that I keep in my pantry.

Now it has one side for deserts and one side for snacks. In my fridge I have two plastic containers, one for fruit and veggie snacks and one for lunch stuff, everything in the containers is prepackaged by me and ready for a quick grab.

I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS!

I knew that this year was going to be a bit crazy in the mornings since my kids are now in different schools and we have to leave 45 minutes earlier than last year, so this idea makes the task of making lunches about 6 minutes faster and allows the kids to pick their own lunch goodies. Instead of having to drag each individual item out to make the lunches all I have to do is grab the basket. After I make the sandwiches I put them in the lunchboxes and let the kids grab their own desert, fruit or veggie, snack and drink.

How I make it work:On your grocery day, prepackage in small zip lock bags individual serving sizes of the goodies your kids like to eat. Fill small plastic containers with your condiments, I filled mine with ranch, mayo, mustard and cream cheese. In one basket place all your fruit and veggie snacks with side dressings in the small containers for easy grabbing. Fill the other basket with all your sandwich stuff and containers filled with the condiments. And then in the pantry basket fill it with the individually packaged dry goodies and deserts your kids like to snack on. It took me about 30 minutes on Friday (my grocery day) to get everything packaged and in the bins. I can happily spare 30 minutes once a week if it saves me 6 minutes at 5am in the morning! Just fill your baskets every time you go to the grocery store and this should be a huge success!

Do you have any early morning lunch tips or tricks to share?

organize your life: {back to school edition 2}

Tax Free Weekend, it sends shivers down my back! I have a love/hate relationship with this weekend...on one hand I love it because everything is on sale and tax free...but...and a big but it is...a JLo sized but...everyone in the state of Texas is thinking it is the best weekend to shop too! So with the added stress that this weekend brings me I thought why not make sure I am organized going into it,

and that leads me into

organize your life: {b2s edition}surviving tax free weeekend 

he most important thing I can say is know what is and is not tax free. Each state is different, check out THIS link to get the information for your state. Once you know what you can get tax free, inventory what you already have to avoid spending extra money you could really be saving!

Go in the store with a list, 6 t-shirts, 2 collar shirts, 6 jeans, 1 pair boots, 1 pair running shoes, and so on. I know this may seem a bit over the top, but with everyone and their dog shopping this weekend I promise it will save you valuable time if you know what you need. On a weekend like this if I can get what I want quickly then standing in the long lines is not sooo bad.

However, before you can even venture out to the stores I highly recommend scowering the internet, looking in the newspaper, find the stores that have the best deals and go to only those.

 Let me break it down  like this: I know that Old Navy never has any clothes worth buying this late in the summer that are in my kids sizes so I know I am NOT going there. I also know that my kids only wear Arizona brand jeans and the best place to buy them is JC Penny, so that is where I am going for the jeans. I know that Aeropostale has amazing deals all the time so to tack on tax free...

cha chin...definatly worth my time!

At Aeropostale I am only going to get t-shirts so that is what we do, we go straight to the tshirt table, grab what we need and to the check out we go! Now, for shoes...the fun part! Every year we all get new boots so we wait and go to Cavendars this weekend and save a ton of money! To bad that's not all the shoes we get, Footlocker has always been a good place to go because of their buy one get one half off so that is usually what we do, only this year I messed my self all up in the name of a good deal. Last week I found a pair of shoes for my youngest at Marshalls for $15 and it was the last in his size so I snatched them up. So I guess we may just get shoes at JC Penny for my other son. They usually have good deals on shoes too.

See there, I have it all planned out and it will only take me 3 stores and a couple hours to be done with.

The thing about tax free weekend that makes me love it so much is that it is not just for clothes, shoes and school supplies. For example, Texas you can get appliances tax free up to $2,000. In Louisiana, hunting and firearms are tax free. Make sure you know what you can get, evaluate what you have and what you need, and if you have the money by all means go buy you a washer and dryer! Bottom line, take advantage of this amazing weekend and shop till you drop...but not till your broke!

organizing your life: {back to school edition}

We all know it's coming soon, we all know we need it, so here it is ladies...

organizing your life: {back to school edition}

Are you ready? Really ready! In a few short days or weeks, Monday the 22nd to be exact, are kids will all be headed back to school and our lives will resume to some sort of normalcy...in my case hectic-crazy-why me-normalcy.

In order for me to make sure that my school year starts off with a bang there are a few things I like to do the week prior to school starting. These simple things make my days easier, and after all isn't that what we are all seeking...easier!

First things first, I take advantage of the back to school supplies being on sale. I buy extra boxes of crayons and markers or map pencils, pencils and scissors for my kids. Each of my kids have a crayon box filled with their own supplies for homework and each year the supplies get re upped and I use the old supplies for my personal crafting needs. I make sure the kids supply/craft area is cleaned and stocked with paper of all kinds and anything they may need to grab during the school year.

After that is done I move on to the command center!

(click HERE for full tutorial)

I clean out their pouches and get them new folders. We each have a pocket and bulletin board in the command center that houses our folders and misc other info. For the various activities I am involved in I have a folder so that I can grab and go, and the boys each have a folder that keeps the homework or study sheets for the week.

Now that I have that all organized, I move on to the infamous storage hooks.

Yes we all have them, during the summer they hold beach towels and bags, hats and dog leashes...and during school they display the backpacks and baseball caps with ease. So since summer is almost over, away go the beach bags and towels and in come the freshly washed backpacks waiting to become dirty again!

With that, I am ready! Now how many more days till the 22nd??.....

Jen