Friday

Friday!




Last night I went to my first blogger event! The KC Blogger Meet-up had an event at Off-5th with sangria and hors d'oeuvres and everyone got a $25 gift card shop with!

I got a cute shirt for free and met some awesome local bloggers!





Now for Friday's Letter!

Dear New Haircut, I am loving you in this 100 + degree heat! Thanks to Jamie at Oliver's Salon for knowing how to cut curly hair!

Dear Tone It Up workout, I am loving you! I'm really sore right now but feeling firm and fit!

Dear Costco frozen yogurt, you are so gooood! I love that my co-worker and I went and got some in the middle of our work day yesterday!

Dear Rabbits, get outta here! If you eat anything else out of my garden, I will be mad. Sorry for becoming the crazy rabbit lady that always reports how there are rabbits in my yard!
now there are 2!
 Have a happy Friday and fantastic weekend!!

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Thursday

Steamed Green Beans and Cheesy Squash

Thanks to our garden, I haven't had to go to the grocery store yet this week! I usually go 1-2 times a week for things but, this week, we've eaten off of the veggies and a rotisserie chicken ( I always make sure to have a whole roasted chicken in the fridge to add to salads, quesadillas, and many other things easily, quickly and cheaply!).
Cheesy Squash, Green Beans, Ravioli

Last night I made steamed green beans by boiling about an inch of water in a pan, adding the beans for 2-3 minutes, drain then let the beans cook in the same pan on low with about a tbls of olive oils, a clove of garlic chopped, some chopped onion, salt and pepper until everything else is done, about 8 minutes!




I also made roasted cheesy squash, this stuff is really really good! Set the oven to 425, slice your squash (I prefer long ways) and rub with olive oil. Lay out on a baking pan with some onion pieces (for flavor) add salt and pepper to taste. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes. I only cook it this long so that the squash is still a little firm and isn't cooked into oblivion so, if you want softer squash, cook it for 15-20 minutes, but you will need to flip it half way through cooking if you cook it longer.

When you take it out of the oven sprinkle a little cheese on top!



We also had chicken and mozzarella ravioli (I buy this at Costco!).

Good dinner with some of it coming from our garden!

Next, exercise. I've been running and lately I've tried to throw some strength training back into my routine. Side Note: After walking around Chicago for several days last week, I felt really healthy and firm, I wish I did more walking in my everyday life! I sit at my desk way too much!

Anyway, I love the Nike Training Club app and worked out to it one day this week (you should try it if you haven't already!) They have great strength training workouts.

But, yesterday I discovered the two cutest girls that run a business called, Tone it Up! They have workout videos on YouTube that they do on the beach! Yesterday I did the Malibooty workout, it was tough! Check out some of their fun videos if you're looking for new workout moves.

I struggled this week to get motivated to work out I think because it's been 90 plus degrees everyday! But, as long as I just start working out, after about 20-30 minutes I feel good and like I can keep going, it's getting started that's the hard part. So, if you're feeling drained from the heat right now too, just make yourself workout and then you'll get your groove and will be able to get through a workout!

Tonight I'm going to my first blogger event! I'm so excited! Of course I'll tell you all about it and have photos tomorrow!

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Wednesday

Summer arrived and my garden started producing! I'm amazed, it seems like all these lovelies matured overnight! Check out my harvest from last night!

Carrots and squash!
Carrots and Squash
Green Beans!
One Lonely Onion
Then, there is a rabbit, I've blogged about it before. It keeps sneaking into my garden and feasting but, I guess there is enough to go around. I finally was able to get a photo of the rabbit when it was in the neighbors yard. Here is the thief that likes to eat things out of my garden!

that's right you better run

Kale with no leaves because rabbit ate them!
Here are some bell peppers still on the vine!
Now I'm hoping our tomatoes will start growing soon!

Here is a pic of what my hubby has been up to, polishing our Airstream! It is a slow process but the goal is to have a mirror finish when it's done.

Have a lovely Wednesday!!

Tuesday

Hello! Today I'm helping co-host a rockin blog hop! Join in the fun and link up your blog to help your blog get new followers and to find new blogs for you to read! Details below!

Last week was the first we we did this GFC Blog Hop and I was just overwhelmed with the response! WE HAD A TOTAL OF 267 LINK UPS!
Absolutely insane!
I have decided to go ahead and make this a weekly link up, it will be so much fun to have you all back here every week. There will also be different co-hosts each week so make sure and follow them!
When I want to follow a blog the first thing I look for is GFC (Google Friend Connect), it's so easy and it's nice to be able to go and see all of the blogs you follow in one spot. When I first started a blog I had no clue what GFC was but later found out it was great tool to have. 
One side note- Did you know you can follow through GFC using your Twitter Account? TRUE, it's definitely an option!
If you are interested in co-hosting the next GFC Blog Hop send me an email at melissaenault@yahoo.com
Ok, so let's get to the party, shall we?
RULES are simple:
1. Follow your host via GFC
The First link below
2. Follow your co-hosts via GFC
The Next 6 links below
3. Link up below using your main blog page not a specific post.
4. Make sure to visit some of the blogs in the link up and follow them via GFC 
and if you want to leave them a comment, I'm sure they'd appreciate that as well.
5. Tweet about this blog hop
6. Share about this blog hop by grabbing a button and putting it on your sidebar! 


Post Sponsor for June:

Thursday

A Few Photos From Chicago So Far

In the photos you will see- Me at the top of Willis Tower 103rd floor, eating Garrett popcorn, touring in in the rain, and eating Chicago dogs!

I am in Chicago with my parents!

Have a fantastic Thursday! I'll tell you more about our trip next week!

Wednesday

Purses and Headbands

Stretchy headbands, I love them. I wear them with my hair down and with my favorite hair on top of my head hairdo I go to when I get home in the evening. It helps me look like I'm trying a little harder to be cute and stylish but it really takes no effort.

I made this one with a ribbon that was in my craft supplies and the stretchy black part that goes around my head, well for that I used old tights that I don't wear anymore!

The tights are comfy as a headband, I can barely feel them on my head at all, plus it is a good way to reuse old tights and make a free headband! (I've used the waistband to make headbands but also just cut a strip of the tights and sewn it together, both ways work well.)

I also found this purse in my closet over the weekend. I was ready to donate it because I didn't like it anymore.


So, I decided to try to give it new life before I tossed it.


I took off the pocket flaps with my seam ripper.


And recovered them with fabric I like!

Now I like this purse again and will use for the summer.

I'm on the road to Chicago today! I'll post some photos of my trip tomorrow! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Tuesday

Summer Dress

This past weekend I made this little dress! I wanted to make a skirt out of the pretty stripped fabric but, after 2 failed attempts, I went with the dress tutorial I talked about in this blog post because I knew it would work for me and be cute (and I wouldn't waste the cute fabric either!).

The purple shirt is an old favorite that I didn't need to be wearing anymore due to the hole and stains on it. Now that over half the shirt was cut off in the making of this dress, I can continue wearing it!

That's right, I'm on a ladder


Hope you like my posing abilities
I asked Matt to take above photos for this blog post and when I went through the ones he took I was like, wow, I look weird in all these photos, so, I'll try to work on my posing skills but, until then, feel free to laugh at my inability to pose for outfit shots.

If you are at all interested in making something wearable, this is a great dress to start with, there are lots of ways to cover up mistakes and it doesn't have to be perfect. Go here for an awesome tutorial!

Tonight I'll be packing for my Chicago trip that I leave on in the morning!

Linking up here and-





Monday

Home is Where the Airstream is


How was your weekend?? Ours was busy and great! I'm most excited about our Airstream now being parked in our backyard! We can work on it so much more now that it's here and we will never forget a tool again (like we did when we had to drive 30 minutes to get to it)! We towed it home Saturday morning and all went well.

You can barely see it peaking over the fence!

Parked in our backyard

Matt enjoying his Airstream
This weekend we taped off (you can see in the above photo) where we will put our furniture! I'm really happy with the layout.

Besides Airstream excitement here's what else we did this weekend-
First Bell Pepper out of our garden!



A rabbit (the one I blogged about on Friday!) ate the leaves off all my sweet potato plants! Rude.
A family of Geese leisurely crossing a busy road

That's me up on the roof painting


Turning to seed
I hope Monday treats you well, see you tomorrow!
Covered in Grace