HAPPY SATURDAY

In this house we wear dishcloths for capes and love our pups! Happy Saturday!

TARGET BUYS - THREE OUTFITS UNDER $80

Fashion.... HA! The last thing I claim to be is fashion forward, so this isn't exactly something I typically hit on. What has inspired me to make this unusual post?  My Saturday morning routine, of course!

SATURDAY MORNING ROUTINE:

6AM - wake up, make coffee, read my blogs, and pin (this is what I consider 'ME" time)

8-9AM - Body Combat with Jodie (aka: my beautiful, blonde, Kirsten Dunst look-alike bestie) 

9-10AM - Starbucks and bumming around Target!!!

Jodie and I figure we always need something at Target. Whether it's mascara, toilet paper, or a greeting card, there is always something. It just so happens we also need things like giant bags of frosted animal crackers (my weakness), another pair of flip flops, nail polish and, of course, some trinket in the $1 bin at the front of the store. :) I mean who doesn't need coasters that look like burger condiments?!  

Below are a few of my recent Target clothing purchases. I am not the girl who can fill her closet with Anthropolie and J.Crew. I am the girl who shops the clearance section at Target and loves to dig through the racks at Marshalls and TJ Maxx. I know everyone is different, but why spend money on expensive clothes when that money can buy you things like plane tickets?

- 3 outfits all under $80 - 

 TOP | SKIRT | SANDALES | NECKLACE

TOP | JEANS | EARRINGS | SHOES (no longer for sale)

TANK | SCARF | PANTS | SANDALS | BRACELET

Side Note: American Eagle Jeggings are my favorite!
They are stretchy, flattering, fair priced AND they come in short.

HUMMUS, AVOCADO, & SPROUT SANDWICH

I am always looking for good, good for you and simple recipes. Here is one I made up for lunch this past weekend and it was a hit!

Whole wheat bread
Hummus (I make my own, but store bought is fine too)
Sprouts (such as alfalfa, radish, broccoli, or a combination)

Avocado (or cucumbers or both)

I served these as open top sandwiches.

- Toast the bread

- Spread on the the hummus

- Top with sprouts and Avocado (or cucumber or both)
ENJOY!

 

You can use any kind of sprout, but I used Broccoli sprouts grown right next door in Minnesota! 

I found these at woodman in the organic section on the produce section.

Ellis' lunch - I am not sure why it took me so long to realize that I can pretty much feed Ellis the same thing we are eating. When Ellis first started eating finger foods I thought I had to pre-make all kinds of "baby approved" foods for her, but then I realized she can eat pretty much exactly what we are eating, just cut up in small pieces. I know, I know... it isn't rocket science, but for some reason it took me a while to grasp this concept. :) 

ELLIS - 14 MONTHS

Oh Ellis! You are the most amazing little girl and your father and I love you to the moon and back. When I was pregnant with you and would try and imagine what your personality would be like and now that you are here and starting to grow into this fearless, sweet little girl, I couldn't image you any other way. When we bring you to the store you say "HI!" to everyone who passes and scream at the top of your lungs... just for fun. Even though I shhhhhush you, I secretly smile b/c I know you are going to be such a social and outgoing little lady and I love that. You give lots of kisses, even to our two dogs, Oliver and Emma. You are now walking like a pro, say ALL KINDS of words and have been to your first swim lesson. YOU. LOVE. YOUR. COUSINS. When I see you with them it makes my heart smile. I love that you will grow up so close to them and they will be your best friends.

When I look at you I remember how lucky I am to be your mama.
XOX
- K

RECENT MOMENTS IN LIFE - SUMMER SOLSTICE ROOFTOP YOGA

Last Friday marked the first day of summer, so Ashmita, Jodie and I celebrated with a little summer solstice rooftop yoga, followed by wine and Naples 15 pizza.
A few takeaways....

1. If I lived downtown, I would totally hit up 6am summer rooftop yoga. It is right up there with coffee on ways to start your day.

2. Jodie and I are cheap dates. Two glasses of wine is all it takes.

3. Naples 15 Pizza is super yummy. It is right up there with Pizza Brutta and GreenBush Bar. 

4. Girls nights out are the best.

HEALTHY HOMEMADE GRANOLA BARS

Why make your own granola bars vs. buying them in the store? Because you can actually pronounce all of the ingredients in these and they are not full of preservatives. Better yet, these granola bars are, for the most part, healthy for you! They use whole grains and natural sweeteners. 

I have been trying for months to make the perfect homemade granola bar. I have tried different recipes, different ingredients, different combinations and amounts of ingredients and now, I think I have it... the perfect homemade chewy granola bar!  Enjoy! 

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 ground flaxseed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup honey

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 coconut oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Add ins: ANYTHING you want - chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, nuts, etc. (I used dark chocolate morsels for these) 

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

- In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, flaxseed and salt. 

- In a smaller bowl combine the honey, egg, canola oil, coconut oil and vanilla. 
- Mix wet and dry mixtures together well using your hands. 

- Pat the mixture evenly into a pan. I use the pampered chef stoneware medium bar pan.

- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. 

- Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.

Lay the cut bars (not touching) on a wax paper lined baking sheet in the freezer for at least 20 minutes. Once they are frozen, throw them together in a tupperware container or ziplock bag in the freezer. Let thaw before eating or throw them in the microwave for a few seconds.

RECENT MOMENTS IN LIFE - DINNER WITH N&P

Last week Nora Pat invited us over to their house to a DELICIOUS dinner that consisted of salad, beer can chicken pasta with homemade noodles and THE BEST EVER strawberry shakes made with homemade ice cream and farmers' market berries.  Pat just amazes me.  He cooks for a living and on his days off he makes amazing meals at home. He has such love what he does and I love that about him. 

I have been making an effort to use my camera more so I, hopefully, get better at using it. They were my models for the night.

(oh, and Logan and I "iced" Pat with a Mike's Hard Lemonade TWICE. When Logan tried it with whiskey, Pat was a bit more excited. ;)

 

ELLIS' BABY BOOK: 6 THROUGH 12 MONTHS

Like I said in this post, I split Ellis' baby book into two parts - {0-6 months} and {6-12 months}
This time I tried Mixbook instead of shutterfly to see what company I liked better. I found they are both incredibly similar in quality, price, and usability. If I HAD to pick one I like better, I would pick Shutterfly b/c they have a few more layout styles that I like. Here is her book 6-12 months.

| Start your own Photo Books 

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY LOGAN!

The back story....
Logan and I met my senior year at UWW Whitewater. He was pursuing his bachelors in business and I was pursuing an art degree with a focus on graphic design and multimedia. One semester I took a painting course and would spend hours in the lab late at night working on this huge painting.  Logan would often come visit me in the lab while I was woking on the painting and we would just hang out and talk. Him and I had quite a few hours invested in this painting. :)  Anyways, Logan LOVES oreos (I promise this will make sense at the end) and told me this story of how when he was little his mom had a glass cookie jar of oreos and after dinner he was allowed to take as many oreos as he was old.  For his 22nd birthday I decided to surprise him with a very special gift.  I took a picture of my painting, cut it up into little squares, wrote 22 reason why I loved him on the back of each piece of paper and then wrapped each reason with an oreo. (kind of like a fortune cookie.) I, then, found the exact same glass cookie jar that his mom had when he was little and put them all in it.  He was supposed to open one each day, but he was so excited that he opened them all at once. To this day, he says it was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for him.  Today, on his second Father's Day and almost 8 years later, I am attempting to trump that surprise.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love to take pictures and since Ellis has been born, I have taken a fair amount of video as well.  I decided to put them all to good use for this special day. I looked through all of my Instagram pictures and picked my 10 favorite ones of Logan and Ellis.  I then had them printed 3x3" through Kanvess for 25¢ a piece.  I wrote down the top ten reasons why Logan is an amazing father, attached each reason to a picture and taped them up all over the house with washi tape. I made sure everything was in place when I left for my workout class early this morning so he would wake up and find all the reasons as he went through his morning routine. Reason #10 included a card instructing him to open my laptop sitting on the kitchen island. Below you will see the video I made him.

The surprise wasn't over quite yet though! I had one more surprise for him. (Another quick backstory... Logan worked at the Tommy Bartlett Ski Show every summer of college.  He has so many great memories from Bartlett's and talks about them all of the time.) Last weekend we were driving in the car and he was telling me that the staff had really cool sweatshirts this year and they were grey and looked vintage. I was like "Oh, well maybe we can buy one this summer when we go see the show" and he then informed me they were only for the staff.  "Dang. That's too bad" I said.  Little did he know that the very next day I called the owners to get my hands on one of those sweatshirts! They shipped it to my work right away. 

I was so happy I spent the time to put together this surprise for Logan. He is an amazing father to little Miss Ellis and she loves him like crazy! I wish I had the time to surprise him like this more often. It sure is fun to surprise someone you love. :)

On the closet door...

On the Bathroom mirror...

The last reason :)

The video:

(CLICK HERE TO VIEW LARGER)

Logan and his sweatshirt!

BALANCE

Logan and I are more than guilty of getting caught up in the rat race of life. We could be at work for hours, the house could be cleaner, the lawn needs mowing, food needs to be made, my freelance projects are never ending, and there could always be more money in the bank. Sometimes we get so caught up in getting things checked off our 'to do' lists that we forget to just slow down and have a little fun.  Life is all about balance and we need a little less work and a little more fun in our lives. This past weekend we took a little time out from our 'to dos' and had a little fun. On Friday I took Ellis and my Mom to the horse barn to meet Nora's horse, Sunny. Then on Saturday Logan had a bachelor party and I went hiking at Devil's Lake with some friends. On Sunday we took a long walk downtown around the Willy Street neighborhoods and then had some friends over for burgers and homemade pizza. It was a nice change of pace.

Besides meeting Sunny the horse, she also got to meet a llama and a donkey. She called them all "puppy". Sunny was very sweet and let Ellis stick her finger up his big horsey nose. :)

I was a little nervous about taking Ellis hiking without Logan b/c I didn't know if I could carry her on my back the entire time and I didn't really want anyone else carrying her. If he came, I knew we could switch her back and forth. Turns out our baby hiking pack rocks and I had no problem at all!  It puts all the weight on your hips instead of your back/shoulders. I LOVE it!  AND Ellis was a perfect angel! She loved it and actually fell asleep in the pack for the last 15 minutes or so.  We hiked for about an hour and then had a picnic.  I had a wonderful day with some great friends!

I think my favorite part of the entire weekend was walking around the Willy Street neighborhoods. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to live there by the lake.  It always makes me so happy.  All the cute little houses that are actually different from one another (not cookie cutters like where we live) and people are outside playing music and just enjoying life.  The trees canopy over the streets and it just makes my heart smile. Someday maybe... someday....
(back in the pack Ellis went!)

A MUCH NEEDED GIRLS DAY OUT

Kate was in town from Ohio and that right there is a GREAT excuse to play hookie from work for a day. :)  At first I felt a little guilty having Ellis go to daycare on a day I had off of work, but then I realized that is just plain silly. Not only should I take the time away to be with my friends, but I NEED that time away. It was so nice to actually give my full attention to an adult conversation and be a little care free for a day. Jodie, Kate and I spent the whole day together downtown and it was pure bliss. We ate lunch at D LUX, went for manis and pedis at the AVEDA school ($10 Tuesdays...YAY!), did a little shopping on State Street, grabbed some Starbucks and ended the day with happy hour at Merchant with some friends. I feel truly lucky to have these ladies in my life. I love them to the moon and back! Life is beyond busy for me these days and I made a decision a few months back to only make time for people who truly matter. Aint nobody got time for friends that don't leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside! ;)

The theme to pretty much every one of our Monday night dinners. Even though we might get a little less weird now that Kate no longer attends. No wait, it still gets weird when we skype. :)

My friend Raija is obsessed with unicorns, so I like to take pictures of things with unicorns on them and send them to her. 

Is that weird? I think not!

Happy Hour at Merchant

:)