Overnight Oats *in my spiffy salsa jar*

So, as usual, I'm behind on what is trending.

In an effort to become more health concious and "cleaner" eating- I started browsing the interwebs and social media for some easy recipes to help ease my way into my new lifestyle.

Oats seem to be a popular commodity amongst health gurus so I started focusing most on that. 

Overnight Oats seems to be a huge hit, with no cooking involved.  No cooking?! That's my kind of meal.

I picked myself up a container of Quaker Oats (not the quick kind).  I'm not an Oats aficionado, so to be honest, I just grabbed what I thought sounded good off the shelf.

 After a long day of my full time job AND part time job, I strolled through the door around 10:30pm  and decided to get started on the next days meals.  Tossed some chicken sausage on the stove, sliced up some cantaloupe and searched for some cute mason jars to house my oats.  I have none.  What?! Stop right there. I have no mason jars with lids?  How can this be? I'm a blogger of wedding decor, house decor and some occasional (which may happen more) food posts...and I don't have an abundance of mason jars?  I need to rectify this.

Anyhoo, I grabbed the first thing I saw that would work.  A freshly emptied jar of salsa. Hey now, it's clean. Don't pick on me, ;)

I didn't follow an official recipe but kind of made my own numbers up based loosely on some recipes that I did see.

This is what I came up with:

1/2 cup oats
1 scoop of chocolate protein powder
1 TSP Peanut Butter
1/2 cup of Milk

Mix it up real well (that peanut butter is a pain!) and put it in the fridge.
Voila.  Breakfast is already waiting.  (A little higher in calories than I expected)

In the morning, I mixed it up some more, tossed in the microwave for 45 seconds and added some banana. 

Halfway through, I realize how satisfied I am (trying to avoid the 'stuffed' feeling)
This is great! It's half the calories I calculated, since I only ate half- and now I have breakfast for tomorrow too!

My next concoction will be pumpkin related.  Nutmeg, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, pumpkin puree maybe?

What are you favorite Overnight Oats variations?

I also saw ways to make Oats pancakes, can't wait to try those babies out!

My 'found' treasure- my lovely bouquet

We had a long engagement. Longer than most.  We got engaged May 28th 2011.  We got married June 1, 2013. We were engaged 2 years and 2 days.

2 whole years to plan a wedding!   I entered every dang wedding blog giveaway possible, and believe it or not, I won quite a few!

On June 14th 2012, I won my bouquet.  I never would have dreamed it would come out as gorgeous as it did.  You can see the winning post here.   It wouldn't have been possible without Big Day for 10K hosting the giveaway and EightTreeStreet offering up a free bouquet in the giveaway!

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Loved. It.

I seriously don't even have the words for how awesome and perfect this bouquet was.  Maribel from EightTreeStreet was so great to work with (even with it being a giveaway)  She asked what I envisioned and she followed it to a 'T'.  The vibrant reds and yellows, burlap and get this...firefighter flair!  

See for yourself.

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How utterly perfect are those firefighter charms?

Maribel loved it so much as well, she submitted it to a few publications. 

Here is the bouquet featured on the blog The DC Ladies 

Here is the follow up post over at Big Day for 10k

Here is the bouquet featured on Pretty Pear Bride

Do yourself a favor and if you see a giveaway: enter enter enter! Any giveaway you see that you like, enter it.  You just never know! It might be your most favorite thing you've ever won! 

Thanks again to EightTreeStreet and Big Day for 10k for the opportunity to win this!

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Bubbles, Rice...YAY!

Throw rice at us, it wishes us a prosperous marriage and future.

Huh? 

Tradition or not, I never really liked the rice idea.  Maybe it's because I know the twisted humor of my friends and family.  No, the rice would not daintily be tossed in the air in a fit of joy.  The rice would most likely be pelted at us with wicked and evil laughs, (all in fun of course) get stuck in my eye, or better yet, my ear.  Yeahhh, let's pass on the rice shall we?

(It also helps that rice is banned in most places.  More namely, the state park we got married at.  Whew.)

Lots of brides do bubbles.  Yes! Let's get soapy before our reception.  I decided to pass on that too.

Being a DIY bride, I wanted something fun and different.  I came across some pennant signs like these for proclaiming excitement after the ceremony.

 Source: etsy

Source: Project Wedding

These are adorable!  I had to do them.  

A couple packs of dowels, multi color cardstock, mom's printer and we were in business.

I won't mention the glue gun injuries that occurred.   Oh, who I am kidding, I have serious issues with glue guns whenever I use one.  Yep. I'm special. Don't hate.

 

I found this rusty old milk jug in mom's house.  She was using as as decor in her living room.  Snatchies!  I stuffed it with some raffia and it was love at first sight.  

 Photo Credit: Ulitmate Party Central

My friends had a blast handing them out!

Photo Credit: Ultimate Party Central

My guests loved the sentiment and I loved the photo op!   I thought my husband was going to crouch down too.  We are both on the tall side and you couldn't see the guests directly behind us.  I guess I was wrong, so I just look silly here.  Silly is fun though!

Another successful DIY!

Whirlwind Wedding!

I can't believe I haven't posted since Valentines Day!

Subsequently, that was around the time I got a part time job on top of wedding planning so my free time was basically shot down to oblivion.

The wedding was beyond phenomenal.  All of my little DIY touches were recognized and fawned over. It was a great feeling for people to acknowledge them.  

I'm going to break everything up into smaller posts so as not to overwhelm- I had a lot of fun touches I want to share.

Probably my most favorite was my MR and MRS burlap banner for our sweetheart table and the LOVE IS SWEET burlap banner for our cake table.

Here they are just laying on the couch.
I'm still waiting on the photographer photos but here is a less than stellar one showcasing them in use.

Yes, I am aware we were sitting on the opposite sides as the Mr and Mrs- It makes me chuckle. :)

We've been married almost 2 weeks and I do not want to admit it's over already.  I keep looking at pictures.  It was honestly the best day of my life and I think my husband would agree.  *coughhebettercough* 

That is still so odd to say.
Husband. 
Huuuusband.
Husbaaaaand. 
It is going to take some getting used to.

Valentines Schmalentines

 ♥♥♥

Don't get me wrong, I love Valentine's Day and all the little cute sayings and mushy-ness and romantics.
 However, I think these gestures and flower deliveries should be done any other day other than Valentines day.

Show me you love me on a random day in March. 

Sprinkle me with affection on the third Saturday in September.

My boss buys his wife flowers every Friday on his way home from work.  EVERY.FRIDAY.
Yes.
Every Friday.

That's a bit excessive to me, but it's cute.

Pinterest has been loaded with Valentines day crafts, recipes and printables- and yes, I admit to pinning my share.  You can see my Valentines Day board here .

February is also the month for the mid season return of The Walking Dead. Um, I was so stoked for it to finally come back!

I wish I had kids, because what better way to send out Valentines?? Encorporate the love of Zombies of course.

Lolly Jane did just that.

I am so in love with this printable.
Go visit Lolly Jane and eat it up. ;)

Happy Valentine's Day! ♥

Jersey Strong

What a whirl wind few weeks we've had here in Jersey. 

Superstorm Sandy ripped though the area with a vengeance at the end of October.  Thankfully, I am not near the shore (I only lost power at my place) but seeing the photos of the devastation still breaks my heart.

So many people without homes.  So many lost so much.  I put together a donation drop off at our firehouse and was able to collect a lot of money and necessities for those in need.  It truly warmed my heart to be able to help so many of those that were affected.  

It isn't anywhere close to normal for a lot of people and won't be for quite some time.  I've donated money and time and will continue to do so until my help is no longer needed.

I had some downtime with my mom the other day and we decided to make some Salt Dough Ornaments.  I had ordered a NJ cookie cutter in hopes of making some cute ornaments.  I love the way they turned out and cannot decide if I should sell them or not. 

Excuse the dark photos, it was about 8pm by the time they were ready to hang, and the only available Christmas tree was the one outside on my parents porch.  (besides, I still have a crappy cell phone camera.  Santa, please bring me a nice camera for Christmas- please and Thank you.)

I love my NJ ornaments and plan on making some as gifts this year.   I love the Salt Dough in general.  It is  super easy to work with and the possibilities are endless. 

Cannot wait to get my hands into some other Christmas gift making shenanigans!

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Linking up to: Romance on a Dime- Take it on Tuesday 

Thanksgiving Mantel and Christmas Ornaments- Early or late?

Hey all.

I haven't been around much- sorry.  Things have been so hectic. I haven't had time to breathe.  Well, at least that is what is seems like.

When I get some more time, I will update on what I have been up to.

Fire department stuffs, Jersey Shore Restoring stuffs.  Fun Stuffs.

I finally had a day to myself this past Sunday and was able to take down my Halloween mantel.  Yes. I just took my Halloween decorations down on November 18th.

I never really decorated for Thanksgiving or Fall or Harvest-y stuff so this is what I was able to come up with.

Maybe next year it will better, and not so late being put up.


I was also excited to try my hand at some Salt Dough Ornaments. I kept the ingredients small since I just wanted to try them. The last thing I needed was some huge batch of glop I wasn't going to be able to use.

1c Flour (I used all purpose.  I can't imagine self rising would be a good choice for these)
1/2c Salt
1/2c Water

Mix together.  I used my hands- I don't have a fancy schmancy Kitchen Aid like a lot of pages said to use- my hands worked juuuust fine.

Roll it out and cut!  I used some cookie cutters I had (I can't believe I knew where they were!) and some other objects I found around the house to make imprints.  Use a straw to make the ornament hole.

Bake at 250* for 2 hours.  (I left mine in for about 2 hours and 10 minutes.)

Pre-baking!

I have not painted them yet-  Look for that new post soon. :)
I also ordered a few other cutters to make more fun ones! Cannot wait.

 It's a bit early for Christmas for me, but since I was late getting Turkey day decor up, it balances things out, right? ;)