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

:)

THE WINNING CUPCAKE

The company I work for just celebrated its 50 year anniversary with an employee cupcake war. (I know! I know! We are just SO fun!!!) With nearly 30 entries and over 300 taste testers, the recipe below took the cake... literally! I about died when the girl told us it was from a box.  (shhhh... we aren't telling a lot of people that since I am pretty sure the rest of the contestants stayed up late the night before making them from scratch.)  Part of me was like "That is total crap!" but the more sensible part of me was like "Smart girl! Give me that recipe!"

WHITE CHOCOLATE LEMON CUPCAKES

(Photo credit: Gena Larson Photography)

Ingredients:

Betty Crocker Lemon Poppyseed Muffin Mix
Lemon Creme (I used Duncan Heins)
Whipped Cream (or cool whip)
White Chocolate (I buy the bars in the baking section)

Directions:
1. Bake muffins as directed.  Let cool.
2. Carve out a piece in the center.  (I used a potato peeler.)
3. Fill center with lemon creme.  (I filled a frosting bag and cut the tip off to fill them.)
4. Spread whipped cream on top.
5. Shave chocolate.  (I used a cheese grater.)
6. Dip and roll cupcake in the chocolate shavings.
7. Enjoy the cupcake and all its simplicity.

BABY BOOKS

Remember when I said I would dream about the day that I got to bake and decorate my child's first birthday cake? Well, I was equally as excited about making a baby book. Because I am weird and usually refuse to buy things like this from a store, I made my own in shutterfly. Her "baby book" is actually made up of two books {0-6 months} and {6-12 months}.  I am just about done with the 6-12 month book, but decided to give you a peek at the 0-6 month book that was finished, printed and delivered months ago. I absolutely love it. (Once the book loads, click "Full Screen" on the top right to view the book larger.)

Click here to view this photo book larger 

THINKING...

You can't be good at everything. The other day I was thinking about all of the the things I enjoy doing (you know, my interests) and it turns out I have A LOT of them. Then it started to give me a slight bit on anxiety b/c I know I will never (at least any time in the near future) have time for them all. The problem is (and always has been) I want to be good at everything and I mean EVERYTHING. And I don't just want to be good at everything, I want to be great at it. I want to be a great mother, a caring and supportive wife, a go-getter, a creative designer, a money maker, a furniture reupholsterer, a photographer, a gardener, a chef, a baker, a runner, a fitness freak, a blogger, a crafter, a seamstress, a buyer of all things organic and healthy and the list goes on and on. And yes, this does actually give me anxiety. That might be weird, but that is me. And Pinterest - you do not help my cause. After a nice long pinning session, my mind is even more jam packed with all the crafts I want to create and all the healthy meals I want to make. That is when I decided I just needed to pick the things I want to be good at at this moment in my life and just focus in on them. Right now I am going to be the best mother and wife I can be, focus on my design career, feeding my family good, healthy food and for the next four months or so, I will try and find the inner gardener in me. Oh, and I will always be a fitness freak and a go-getter. ;) My days of repurposing old furniture, being a seamstress and photographer are still to come, just not quite yet.

Now that feels a little better.  Sometimes I just need declutter my head.

On that note... here is an awesome new healthy recipe I tried yesterday. Onward with the eating healthy! ;)

Greek Yogurt and Honey Dijon Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast (cooked, cooled and cubed)
⅓ cup sliced almonds (or nut of your choice)
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 green onion, sliced
Handful fresh parsley, finely chopped
⅓ cup Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon real mayo
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
Salt
Black pepper
¼ cup dried cherries (raisins or cranberries work well, too)

Directions: 
Mix the greek yogurt, mayo and mustard together first, then mix in everything else.  
Eat in a sandwich or with crackers.

(Original recipe from The Best Recipes Online.)

POWER MUFFINS

Blueberries, greek yogurt and oatmeal Power Muffins!

I found these on pinterest and finally got around to making them today.  They are delish! Only thing I changed from the original recipe was the flour - switched the white flour to whole wheat of course! ;)

makes 21 regular muffins 

• no-stick cooking spray
• 2 cups wheat flour
• 1 cup oats–quick or regular oats, plain
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces honey nonfat greek yogurt or 1 1/2 cups (Chobani)
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

1. Heat oven to 350°.
2. Coat muffin tin with cooking spray or liners.
3. Combine flour, sugar, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
4. Combine yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla in a second bowl.
5. Fold yogurt mixture into dry mixture; stir to combine completely.
6. Gently fold in blueberries.
7. Spoon into muffin tins.
8. Bake until top is golden and springs back when you gently touch it, 20-25 minutes.