Monogram DIY Projects

Being recently married, I have this ridiculous desire to monogram everything with my new initials. I was giddy over the monogrammed hot pads that a family friend knit us for our kitchen and I have enjoyed rocking my "M" necklace that was a gift from my fiance shortly before the wedding. I recently posted my monogram cork project but wanted to also explore a couple other ways to bask in the simple beauty of one's initials.

Monogram Clothing:

These days, you can get cute monogrammed t-shirts, tank tops and countless other accessories from Etsy. I decided to go a different route and have my mom use her nifty sewing machine for monogrammed tank tops for my bridesmaids and attendants for the morning of my wedding.

It was easy to find some comfortable, dry-fit tanks in a bright, blushing pink online. I laid out all of the tanks with the corresponding initials and we picked out a nice gray color for the stitching. We decided to keep the font on the medium setting so that the monograms were subtle and classy.

The end result was adorable and all the girls looked great! I purchased a matching style tank in gray and my mom sewed "Mrs" onto it so that I complimented the other ladies. It made for the perfect thank you gift to the girls and it is something that they can wear again and again!

Helping with Marie's makeup on my wedding day!

Monogram Letters:

There are probably a hundred different options but these two are my recent favs. These would be especially cute in a little girl's bedroom.

Flower Letter: Your local craft store should have hollow cardboard letters. Use a sharp knife to cut the top off and fill with flower foam. Fill with silk flowers for a dramatic and colorful effect.

Fabric Letter: If you are ambitious, you could cover a cardboard letter with fabric yourself. I purchased a pre-covered letter from the craft store. I used paper flowers to create a sweet and simple decor on the letter. You could add a matching ribbon to make it wall-hanging friendly.

Fabric Letter with Paper Flowers for my Niece's Baptism

Grilled Veggie Burritos

Gotta love burritos! Especially the burritos that are delicious with just veggies or can be upped a step with grilled chicken.  We made the making of this dinner a family affair.  It was soooo tasty, just requires a lot of different components to make it. But since it's impossible to eat Chipotle every night, this was a great substitute. 

If you have the time to make it like the Pioneer Woman does, more power to you.  But we found it pretty tasty with a few short cuts. We made rice from one of those steamer rice bags, nice and quick then added the lime and cilantro to perk it up.  Also, we sauted canned corn on the stove to still give it that grill flavor, without needing to grill it and go through the process of stripping it off the cobs. 

The aspect we were all surprised on was how excellent the grilled squash and zucchini tasted on the burrito. The veggies weren't overpowering and added some great texture to the burrito, definitely a must try recipe. Our table was silent...that doesn't happen often, as we devoured these heavy duty burritos.  Chipotle you got some competition.

Grilled Veggie Burritos (with or without chicken!)
Ree Drummond Recipe

Prep Time: 20 minutes (takes a bit longer if you're slower at chopping...like in our case)
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients:
Grilled chicken, cut up (skip if veggie version)
1 tbsp olive oil & for brushing
2 cups long grain rice
4 cups low sodium chicken broth (don't need if use per-packaged rice)
2 whole limes, juiced & zested
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 whole zucchini, cut in slices lengthwise
1 whole yellow squash, cut in slices lengthwise
2 ear corn, leaves & silk removed
salt for sprinkling
1 can (15 oz) seasoned black beans
6 burrito-sized flour tortillas
1 whole small onion, finely chopped
2 whole Roma tomatoes, diced
1 cup grated monterey jack cheese

Optional: Salsa, Sour Cream, Guacamole, cilantro, hot sauce

Directions:

1) Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over MEDIUM heat.  Add rice and stir around for 2 min. Pour in chicken broth and the juice and zest of 1 lime.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20-25 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.  Stir in the juice and zest from the remaining lime, then stir in the cilantro. Set aside.
OR
Steam the rice based on the bag directions.  Then mix in the lime juice and cilantro to add some flavor to the plain rice (just like Chipotles).

2) Brush zucchini and squash slices, along with the ears of corn, with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt. Grill them on a grill pan, a charcoal grill or saute them in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, turning them halfway through. Remove when the veggies have great color on the outside.  Set aside to cool, then dice them.

3) Meanwhile heat the beans in a small saucepan until hot. Warm the tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds.

4) To assemble the burritos, lay out each tortilla on your work surface.  Spoon on rice, beans, spoon a heaping helping of grilled veggies.  Top with onion, tomato, cheese, and other ingredients to your liking.

5) Time to wrap that burrito up, beware of over stuffing!!! Tuck in the sides, roll up as tightly as you can. Time to enjoy your creation.

*Check out the step by step process with pictures by clicking on the recipe name to be directed to the Pioneer Woman's Website.

September Birchbox

 
I have reviewed Birchbox already on our blog but I am in LOVE with this last month's box and have to share these beauties with you all.

To start, it was BB's anniversary month and so the box itself was gorgeous. I believe their title was "It's time for a fresh coat of paint."

If you have not heard about Birchbox, it is an innovative way to try new makeup, perfume, lotion and other useful beauty product samples. Boxes are fulfilled through a subscription and sent once a month. They usually have at least five samples inside.

There have been a few products that I have purchased in full size after using my sample... anything from vitamins to eyeliner to BB cream. It is like a little Christmas present once a month and who doesn't like surprises?!




My last month's box included the following:

• Pixi by Petra Shea Butter Lip Balm
• Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint Sunscreen
• Davines Absolute Beautifying Shampoo
• Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Starter Kit
• Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy Gold

Viva La Juicy is one of my all time favorite perfumes. Their "Gold" perfume is a yummy variation!

If you are a little timid about spending money to try new products, this is the prefect route for you. BB sends both name brands and some more lesser known brands for you to try. It is affordable, stylish and you're guaranteed to find a new beauty winner in the bunch!

Disclosure: I am not a Birchbox representative nor do they send me anything for writing about their product. I am just a fan of their stellar business model and the amazing products!!

Personalize Your Wedding: Guest Favors

There are soooo many ideas out there to personalize your wedding and give your guests a favor that is so you two.  The idea of giving guests favors has developed more recently and continued to gain in popularity.  Although it's a thoughtful expression of your thanks to your friends and family, you don't want to get favors that are going to add to your already increasing wedding expenditures. So here are some ideas that are simple, cute and don't break the bank to send your thanks to your guests.

Candy / Mints



At my wedding since I LOVE candy more than I love dessert I thought it was fitting to offer these as favors.  The plastic cups were for people to use during the reception and the small tuxes and wedding dress boxes scattered around the candy bar were for guests to fill with their favorite treats and take home.  Great for the kids and adults!


Another option besides letting your guests choose their own candy is to fill a small box or bag with some and place it at their table setting.

A recent trend has been to tie in that the couple is "Mint To Be" by putting mints in the packaging.  You can choose from hard candied mints, butter mints, york peppermints, thin mint girl scout cookies, Hershey mint kisses, mint M&Ms etc.

Cake Pops:

A perfect favor are cake pops; decorated to symbolize the bride and groom with each having their favorite flavor represented.


The groom's cake pops are decorated to mimic a tux with a little heart for a boutonniere.  And the bride is swirls of white on an ivory backdrop.  Attach a small tag to each cake pop thanking the guest for being a part of your special day.


Beer:

If the groom has a hobby of beer brewing giving some specially brewed beer to the wedding guests is just the ticket.  Something made especially from the groom can be a thoughtful way to have your groom's stamp on the wedding.

What is more personalized then homemade beer and custom made labels for the bottle.  Include the couple's names and the wedding date on the custom label to make it a possible keepsake item.

Although an adult favor, for those beer drinkers they couldn't ask for anything better.



Coloring Books for Kids:
Parents will appreciate the entertainment for the little ones

The coloring books can be cute pages custom made by the bride and groom. Some ideas: color the bride's bouquet, draw the bride and groom, decorate the couple's married name, add color to the couple's get away car. 


Golf Pencils

Perfect favors from the golfing couple.

The pencils were perfect to use for completing the couple's crossword. Plus, everyone got a kick out of the golfing pencils labeled with the wedding date and couples names, since the groom was a big lover of golf.

Couple's Wedding Crossword:

We featured a crossword at our wedding reception. Thought it was a great way for everyone to discover some interesting things about us. Fun to make, fun to play.

My husband's dad and his wife at their wedding also had a crossword, fitting since the two of them enjoy completing crosswords. How cute to find out about the couple in an activity modeled after what they enjoy.

                                                    
Dancing Shoes:
If you don't want your guests dancing in their bare feet, especially if at a nicer reception space offering them the option of flip flops is a great idea.  Plus, in case of debris from a dropped glass not being cleaned up completely, shoes are the safer way to go.

Other Ideas:
mini pumpkins, for a fall wedding
plant seedlings, for "helping your love grow"
canned jam, for you canners out there
ornaments, for a wedding around Christmas season
candles, monogram with couple's names
sunglasses, "don't get blinded by our love"
fans, perfect for outdoor ceremonies
bubbles, to send off the couple

There's lots of ideas out there for wedding favors. Just find something that is special to you and your groom, your guests are sure to love it!!!

More Ways to Personalize

Part of our focus on personalizing your wedding is sharing what we did to personalize our own weddings.  Both of us knew that adding our own touches was what would make our weddings ours, and stand out as a very us wedding amongst the many weddings that occur every year.

A few personalization ideas of Lisa's can be found under Little Wedding Details.  Little Wedding Details: Part 2 features a few of my favorite parts in my own wedding.

Showing your unity during the wedding ceremony can be done a number of ways, one new trend is through the Sand Unity Ceremony.

See our choices in Our Bride and Bridesmaid Bouquets.

Photos are a timeless and easy way to add the you, into your wedding.  Whether it's in photos of the couple, of family/ancestors, a photobooth for guests, there are many opportunities to Personalize Your Wedding: with Photos.

And ideas on how to Personalize Your Wedding: Drinks and Desserts to please your guests and add your own delectable favorites.

Avocado Corn Salad

A fresh summer mixture, this salad will mix up your typical guacamole.  With ingredients that appear throughout the summer months, this is a great side to add to grilled dishes or healthy appetizer to have in the kitchen for the family to snack on. A lot of these ingredients are perfect right now in the August and September months so seize the opportunity and make this dish before we head into the cool weather.

Corn and Avocado Salad
Ina Garten

Prep time: 30 min  Cook time: 5 min
Servings 12

Ingredients
Salt
4 ears of corn, shucked (2 lrg cans of corn)
4 ripe avocados, seeded, peeled & 1/2 inch diced
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 pints grape tomatoes, sliced in 1/2 lengthwise
2 red bell pepper (skip if not a fan)
1 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup jalapeno peppers, seeded & minced
1 lime, zested
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Directions
1) In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the corn for 3 minutes until the starchiness is gone. Drain, and place the corn in ice water to stop the cooking process.

2) When the corn is cool, cut the kernels off the cob, cutting close to the cob, and place in a large bowl. * Easy way to bi-pass the first 2 steps...use canned corn. Still delicious and no effort!

3) Toss the avocados with the lemon juice and add to the bowl with the corn.

4) Add the tomatoes, red peppers, onion, jalapeno peppers and lime zest to your bowl.

5) Whisk the lime juice, olive oil, 2 tsp salt, pepper, garlic and cayenne pepper together in a small bowl and pour over the vegetables.

6) Toss well. Keep it refrigerated until ready to serve.

Other great salads to whet your summer appetite:
Strawberry Chicken Salad
Watermelon Arugula Salad 
Broccoli Salad 
Pioneer Pasta Salad
Buffalo Chicken Salad

Check out our Market Inspirations for Summer

Happy Honeymoon : Turks and Caicos Islands

It is too bad no one has invented teleportation or time travel yet... I want to be back on my honeymoon!

Joe and I decided back in February to book a week in the Turks and Caicos Islands for our honeymoon. I am thankful that we thought ahead in that we wanted to be somewhere quiet, relaxing and with some fun things to do. We initially found TCI when I received an email with the top 25 most beautiful beaches in the world. We did a little more research and were sold!

One thing to note, August is very much off-season for the Caribbean. We did have a slight delay in our travel plans due to a tropical storm but once we were there, it was wonderful. The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny and 82 degrees most days. Many resorts looked empty, sun chairs all lined up with no one to sit in them. But we loved how quiet it was. We never had a problem getting an umbrella, chair at the pool, seat at the swim up bar or a dinner reservation.

The water was breath-taking, unlike anything I have ever seen. A local told us on the flight that TCI ocean has six difference shades of color. We sat for hours throughout the week just looking at and swimming in the ocean.

Our favorite little spot in TCI

Our resort had paddle boards, kayaks and snorkeling gear. We enjoyed using these during the day. We took the snorkeling gear twice over to Brief Reef in the Princess Alexandra Nature Reserve, one of the reefs that you can swim to from the beach.  It was my first time snorkeling and it felt like swimming in a vast aquarium. The fish were gorgeous and plentiful, the coral was stunning and the last snorkeling trip, we even saw a sea turtle!! My greatest wish while in the water was to see a turtle while snorkeling so the mouth full of salt water inhaled in excitement was totally worth it.

They have a great number of excursions available. We took a half day snorkeling excursion which took us out to the barrier reef, the third largest in the world! We had a blast, so much to see. We then took off to watch our guide dive for conch, which he easily pulled up five or six on his first dive. While we waited, we witnessed a huge eagle ray gliding through the water. We stopped on Iguana Island to de-shell the conch and look for iguanas. This was our favorite spot. We found this adorable little hidden beach and Joe was tickled with all of the iguanas that we spotted. We were having so much fun, we realized that we had lost track of time and that everyone was back on the boat and waiting for us!

If you have a rainy day or need a break from the sun, there is always the Downtown area. This has Cuban Cigar shops, souvenir shops, art galleries, boutiques and the famous Potcakes. Potcakes rents out puppies for the day and sells them as well. We saw a number of people who had purchased puppies and brought them home with them due to how inexpensive they are to buy in TCI, not to mention how cute they are. We thought about it but decided that we could come back on an anniversary trip someday and re-evaluate the puppy decision. 

Our resort had a gorgeous pool with a nice swim up bar. We loved grabbing drinks or island juices from here during the day. At night, the resort restaurant, Mango Reef, has some of the best food on the island. We had dinner on the beach the first night that we were there, Joe had the mahi mahi and I had lobster pasta. Delicious! We also tried Coco Bistro, a lovely outdoor restaurant surrounded by palm trees. Since it was lobster season, we indulged in the most delectable lobster tacos, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. We also tried the yellowfin tuna and some homemade pina colada sorbet. It was a perfect dinner for our last night on the island.

We may be a little biased but we loved Turks and Caicos. We are excited that it will be such a lovely place to visit for anniversaries to come and it was the perfect "happymoon" spot. 

Everyone is greeted on arrival with classic TCI Rum Punch

Snapping some pictures of the locals on Iguana Island

Just a couple Potcakes puppies!

Trip Keepsakes and Well Kept Memories

When traveling, sometimes it is hard to think about something memorable to bring back with you that won't just collect dust on a far away shelf. Speaking from experience here! I love souvenirs and used to indulge in the dumb, useless kind. My friend Meghan and I used to get one another shot glasses when going on trips.. definitely dust collectors. We have long since stopped buying those. Don't give up hope if this is you, I recently found a beautiful holder at Michaels for shot glasses and a few on Amazon as well. But I have a few suggestions for those of you still pining for souvenir ideas for trips that you will be taking!

A couple of years ago, a family friend gave me a new suggestion: ornaments. Every year that she gets her Christmas tree and pulls out her decorations, she is able to reminisce on each wonderful place that she has traveled to. Talk about two amazing activities rolled up into one! Joe and I adopted this tradition and have slowly started to build up our ornaments from trips, no matter how small. The best part about this is that something as simple as a key chain can be turned into an ornament by taking off the ring and adding a stylish ribbon!

The other keepsake that I now enjoy is a piece of art. I have found that buying a small print or photograph gets more attention and appreciation in the home than a t-shirt. When I was in China a few years ago, I splurged and bought a couple of professional photography prints in different sizes. I am now able to switch the prints around when I get tired of seeing the same thing and they are great conversation starters. Another frame-worthy wall piece is a map of the place that you visit. I recently bought one in the Caribbean when there with my husband on our honeymoon. It is fun to have the map hanging on the wall so that you can remember where you traveled to.

The last suggestion that I have for a trip keepsake is a shadowbox. While large shadow boxes can be expensive, it is possible to find inexpensive plastic boxes. A coworker of mine has a whole wall of these, each trip gets its own box. The boxes are the same size and the souvenirs have to fit inside. Typically she includes a plane ticket, show stub or city brochure. If it was an international trip, it could include trinkets and currency from the country. If it was a beach trip, it could include sand and shells. The boxes then go on matching shelves to make a unique display of their own!

Whether you collect Starbucks "You are Here" mugs or save your money to enlarge a photo or print a canvas, there are many unique ways to help your travels stay alive in your memories!

The Help

I know that I am a bit behind the times on this one but I was able to read The Help while sitting by the beach and pool during my honeymoon with my husband this past week. I was borrowing my mom's kindle and was happy to see that she had the book downloaded already. I had seen the movie shortly after it came out in 2011 but much of story was hazy.

The Help is written from the viewpoint of three women, two who are black housemaids and one who is an educated white woman in the 1960s. They ban together to write a book about maids in the south during the heated time of civil rights. There are times that you can love a character and the next chapter, hate them. It tells the incredible story of women and how even with great differences, there is always some common ground.

The book is an easy read and beautiful in so many ways. It helped to put such a rough but amazing time into a realistic light. I loved this book, couldn't put it down!

"Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, we are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I'd thought."
-Kathryn Stockett, The Help