what I'm lovin in april

So it's that time of the month again, time to reveal my monthly favorite, and I must say I am enjoying this new little project. Anyway, let's get right to it shall we?Jason Natural 98% Aloe Vera
At the beginning of this month I was covered in a reddish pink color from head to toe due to our Mexico trip. The previous month I had ordered some of this all natural almost pure aloe vera and I am so thankful that I did. While other aloe products will do fine, most of them have other added ingredients such as alcohol or extra scents. I am so in love with this product and sure I will be orderign it again. I say order because I haven't been able to find it in any stores around here, but if you know of a store that carries it let me know!

Off The Map
There are few shows that I will stick with and watch faithfully these days. If there is any sort of medical show I am instantly intrigue, but this one has other qualities that drew me it. It is set in the jungle of South America where a team of doctors practice tropical medicine in a 3rd world country. So good!

Aromatherapy Stress Relief Candle
If I am having a stressful day this is my go to relaxer along with my book of choice. I have the scent Eucalyptus Spearmint and while that may sound a little strange, it is amazing. This is included in a while stress relieving line from Bath and Body works.

Gilmore Girls
Now I know I have probably already mentioned this show a dozen times, but I have started watching this series again from the beginning for probably the 5th time. I have seen all of these episodes too many times to count but it never seems to get old. Every episode has me laughing out loud with a craving for coffee.

Yes to Carrots Body Butter
This brand is an all natural skin care line that has a full range of products for nourishing your skin. I heard about it from a few of the beauty Vlogs that I follow and ran out to target to try them. This body butter is a little bit on the pricey side, but in my opinion totally worth it. It not only nourishes your skin amazingly without leaving it greasy, but it smells like summer. With a fresh almost sun cream smell I am always looking forward to putting this on every day.

A Great and Terrible Beauty
I said in my last What I'm Lovin post that I might be putting this on the monthly favorite for April and I was right. I haven't had as much time as I would like to read book for pleasure but I am really enjoying it. And knowing that there are 2 more books to follow is exciting.

Whopper Robbin Eggs
These are it. Probably my favorite candy and are only around once a year. I limited myself to only one bag, but enjoyed them down to the last egg. Don't know it anyone else did this, but as a kid my and my friend used to rub the outside across our lips and use them as a sort of lipstick. Yes a little embarrassing, but we've all done things like that....I hope.

Apples
I have been obsessed with these this month. While pink lady apples are my favorite just about any apple will be {except the red delicious ones}. With a little almond butter they make the best snack!

Eco Tools
I love make-up as some of you may know and these are some of my favorite tools for using make-up. These tools are earth-friendly and known for the amazingly soft brushes. They are all natural and give 1% of the sales to For The Planet^®, a businesses committed to creating a healthier planet. I have really been into natural products as you can see by the other 2 products for this month and eco tools is no different!

fill in the blank friday #4

1. I am looking forward to....being done with school. Don't get me wrong, I am loving it but can't wait to start a a job in my field.

2. Something kind of embarrassing that I still love anyway is....I love watching the Bachelor/Bachelorette shows. Yes they are stupid and filled with drama, but it makes me realize how much I don't want drama in my own life.

3. My favorite car is....an eclipse.

4. If I could pick one type of weather to live with for the rest of my life it would be....mild summer weather about 80-85 degrees with clear blue skies.

5. My favorite thing to do after a bad/stressful day is....call a friend or grab a snack and watch a movie.

6. This weekend....is crazy busy. Just got done babysitting, then tomorrow it's all about the homework till the afternoon when I am going to a banquet for my sister, then Sunday consists of church, working, homework, and a very cute little girl's 2nd birthday party! Here are the pics from her first birthday bash!

7. If I were a color I'd be....yellow....because.... I love the bright and cheery and that is what the color yellow screams! Bright, happy, and full of life!

colors of spring

So ladies, with the new spring weather comes a new outfit, don't you think??

While my wallet didn't like the weight lifted from it, my closet welcomed a few new spring pieces and I justified it by getting pieces on sale. The first stop I made was to the store Vanity and there I picked up this adorable Rosette Pearl Trim Tank-Top and a few lace cinch tube-tops {perfect for fitting under shirts where you don't want those pesky straps showing}. I also picked up a new pair of sunglasses, and some other spring accessories.
There are a few pieces I have been looking for and hope to find with all the new spring lines out. For one, I am on the lookout for some brown springy ballet flats, something like the styles below. I have searched through a few stores, but haven't found the perfect ones yet. Have any suggestions?

And I'm always on the lookout for casual spring dresses. This season I can't seem get enough of the amazing coral, turquoise, and yellow colors. Whether it's accessories, make-up or pretty little dresses, I have been drawn to those refreshing colors. These dresses are from the lovely ModCloth website.

flowering update

So a few weeks ago I promised an update on my new little additions and here they are. This was taken last week on day 12, so they have grown a little since then, but no blossoms have been spotted yet.I decided the start small and early this year due to the random winter type storms we have been getting here. My mom is practically chomping at the bit to get out in her garden, and while I don't have as big of a 'green thumb' as she does I certainly enjoy the growth of spring.

Ever since we moved here {almost 10 years ago}, my mom has been working hard in our backyard. It used to be a jumble of weeds, over-sized bushes, and a very neglected pathway that since over grew into a twisted mess. A few years into us living here we gave our house a much needed makeover that took about a year to complete. We redid the kitchen, family room, painted, added a new roof, redid the siding, and last of all recreated the backyard. It was a long but extremely rewarding process and we have been left with a backyard ready for volleyball, basketball, sun bathing, relaxing in the shade, admiring the flowers and so on.

It can't seem to wait till our atmosphere really kicks into spring and we can started nurturing those flowers. I always do my own little herbal garden and who known maybe we'll try a few new edible plants this year.

How about you, what do you garden?

Easter weekend

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!

Our weekend was jam-packed, from the time school ended on Thursday to the last movie we watched on Sunday night it was a crazy weekend filled with family fun. Here are just a few shots from our Sunday celebrations. We {my mom, dad , sister, and cousins} took a hike at Hoffman Hills and enjoyed the wonderful weather, perfect hiking weather.
We grilled our own shish-kabobs along with appetizer kabobs filled with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil. It was our first time with these new recipes, including a delicious dessert pizza and I must say, it was amazing. There's nothing like a cook-out to enjoy the wonderful weather. Wouldn't you agree that everything tastes better on the barbecue?

welcome friday

1. Fridays are.... pizza nights in our home! They are meant to be a relaxing sort of stay-in-night with a good movie and some fuzzy PJs.

2. Traveling {and packing for it}....make me terribly happy.

3. Something that inspires me is.... seeing a courageous movie or listening to a motivating song.

4. If I had the day off today I would....probably be doing homework, I know that sounds lame, but it is piling on! If I had a day free from school in general I would sleep in till about 8, hit the gym, make an amazing breakfast, spend a few hours on the computer doing blog/vlog/picture type stuff, and spend the rest of the afternoon in my crafting corner with Gilmore Girls on in the background. That sounds splendid!

5. If I had to put a label on my home decor style, I would say my style is....fresh and clean, crafty and cozy, elegant but casual. I love one-of-a-kind pieces that fit together with the theme of the room. I am a huge fan of fresh clean colors with a warm and comfortable feel.

6. Concerning politics I would say I'm....pretty conservative in most respects. I don't normally touch too much on politics on my blog, but I will say one thing: if there is someone who thinks it's acceptable to kill innocent babies {abortion} I will not be in support of them.

7. I'd like to go to....Ireland....so I could....explore, travel, eat some amazing food, see some amazing scenery and take pictures until my heart's content!!

spring shopping

Just because it may be snowing here, doesn't mean we can't dream of spring weather! I went on a little spring shopping trip and picked up a few hair accessories. Among them were my 2 new spring headbands. I just couldn't resist!

Have you done any spring shopping?

23

1. She's by big sister and today is her 23rd birthday
2. She plays rugby
3. Her favorite color is green
4. She analyzes everything
5. She's a crazy overachiever
6. Her birthday date was predicted by my Grandpa Ryan weeks before she was even born
7. She is an amazing person to vent to
8. She has great taste in music
9. She loves bacon
10. We are pretty much opposites in personality
11. She knowns how to cheer me up even on my darkest days
12. <-- that's her favorite number
13. She gets really crazy at night
14. Caffeine is a necessity in her life
15. I can't even count the number of books in her room
16. We are 28 months apart
17. She hates it when I 'hover'
18. She can speak and write Elvish
19. She marches to her own drum
20. She has an adorable little kitty named Jackson
21. If she chooses to have kids, she will make an amazing mom
22. Without her, I would be a very different person
23. She's the best sister a girl could ask for!

happy friday

1. My favorite daily responsibility is....cooking. I love to cook, bake, broil, saute whenever I have the time!

2. My least favorite daily responsibility is....doing the dishes when I'm not in the mood for it. I don't mind doing the dishes by hand when I have some problems that I need to sort out, but when it's a necessity I'm not a huge fan.

3. My favorite cuisine to eat when going out is....seafood. Being from the west coast I can't help but love just about any sort of seafood, except Lobster {not a fan}.

4. My favorite cuisine to prepare at home is....Italian/pasta dishes. I love Italian food and it's a blast to make.

5. Andy Warhol said that everyone is famous for 15 minutes. My claim to fame is....that I met Sean Austen from Lord of the Rings {Samwise Gamgee}. Does that count?

6. If I could have 3 wishes I would wish to....travel the world, find the love of my life and have an amazing family, and never loose the people I love.

7. My biggest pet peeve is....when people make noise when they eat. There is nothing more aggravating than hearing someone chew their food. Gives me the hebe gebees just thinking about it!

new additions

So if you didn't see these yesterday in my ten on ten, I have a few new additions to my room. Last year I spent a little too much on an adorable flower pot for my room, but this year I went the more thrifty/crafty way. I saw this idea in a magazine and instantly fell in love with the idea.

I collected 3 cans from a soup that I was making, took off the labels, and soaked them in water to get the excess glue off them from the paper. It doesn't really matter which kinds, I just chose some that were easy to wash out {meaning I decided to avoid them smelly dog food cans}. I wrapped them in some decorative paper, tied some ribbon around them and filled them with potting soil.

Now I never knew this but my mom told me that you should never bring outside dirt into the house, and while that may be common knowledge to some people I didn't know. So I picked out some organic potting soil and two packages of seeds: watermelon heaven california poppies and blue bird forget-me-nots. I can't wait to watch them bud and thrive on top of my sun filled desk. I will do periodic updates so we can watch them grow together!

ten on ten {april}

The 10th is here again, and with it's warm weather and flower buds. The theme for this month's ten on ten seems to be growth, which makes sense since the flowers around here are trying to bud even though it's still a little early yet. It was a total flip-flop/tank-top sort of day and it was my first day in these shoes. If you didn't guess already, they are one of my many pairs from old navy!
I spent a few hours today at our local Sport Center at a kids fair where many different companies promotted their kids programs/school/activities.... I was there for my work and it was pretty fun. A little crazy with all the people packed in, but you could tell the kids were having a blast. These are the newest additions to my room, but I'll do a whole post on them tomorrow. Yes that says 70 degrees, but ti was even higher in the earlier hours of the morning. I just love spring!

yes, it's time for....

- taking a day trip to the beach
- fruity popsicles on hot humid summer days
- watching the colorful flowers poke up through the dirt {I have a great picture of that that I'll be taking tomorrow for my ten on ten}
- taking long bike rides to different destinations around town
- running through the sprinklers like a little kid
- seeing all the magnificent colors fill the world around us
- making pitchers of lemonade and sitting out on the porch basking in the sun
- waking up to the chirping of birds
- suntanning in the warm rays of golden sun
- don't you just love summer

my last 1st day of school

Yesterday was a historical day in my academic life. It was the last 1st day of school that I will ever have. Call me crazy if you you wish, but I always enjoy the 1st day of school with all the new books, a clean slate of grades, and reading over all the schedules for the classes to come. I'm sure some of you out there can agree with me on this strange satisfaction.

If you didn't know I am attending Globe University to become a Medical Assistant and after this quarter I will be done with my schooling and so excited to move on to my clinical internship. Wow, done with school, it sounds so good to say that! I'll be putting the things I have learned from my associate degree to use in a clinical setting. I am both scared out of my mind and so excited I almost want to jump up and down.

So in celebration of our family all being back under one roof and back in school my lil sis, mom and I pulled our talent together and made some homemade pizza. We got the crust recipe from our Chicago deep dish pizza book and after a few hours had some pretty amazing pizza. Next time we will know better about it taking 2 hours of separate rise time, and we'll start the preparation a little sooner. Hope you all are having a fabulous week so far!

spring cleaning

It may sound crazy but I love to clean. With a little inspiration, a goal in mind, some good music or in the case of today my favorite TV show {if you guessed Gilmore Girls you would be right} I can pretty much move mountains. Well that may be exaggerated a little, but my upstairs certainly looks different. My closets are filled with vibrant colors and happy to have their spring clothes from the big box of storage in the basement. With the spell of cleaning products still lingering and the sun still out for a few more hours, I loving my day of spring cleaning.

new friday post project

1. The best prank I ever pulled was....putting inadament objects in my sister's bed? Does that count? Not a big prankster if you couldn't tell.

2. The best prank ever pulled on me was....when my mom told me some news about a close friend being pregnant and I had a total jump-up-and-down freak out in the middle of a department store.

3. A day without....laughter....is a day wasted.

4. The most important things in life are....faith, family, and friends.

5. I dream of....having a family someday, with kids and a yellow house that.

6. I dread....the dark, and I know it sound 'little-kidish' but I am not a fan of the dark.

7. A discovery I made this week was....the sun in Mexico really is worse that the sun here. I am still recovering from an all over sun burn that I got last Saturday.