Connecting with your Children: 30 Day Challenge! Week One!

 Click Here for your Week One Challenges!!!

I just want to note a few things about this challenge! First off, thanks to everyone for all your ideas and suggestions for our "challenges"! Especially my Mom & sister Alicia who were both a huge help! ♥

Next, about the challenges--do as much as you can, don't feel discouraged if you slip up on a day--this is why you see the week's "focus" above. If there is ever a time where you are frustrated or you can't do the challenge that day, just keep the overall focus in mind and stay positive. This week we are focusing on gratitude. I have told you all how I recently read the book the Magic. It is all about gratitude and honestly that simple concept can make such a huge difference in your life. When you are truly grateful you will see things around you in a truly different light. It's not about just saying yeah, I'm grateful, it's about really feeling it and really putting those thoughts into actions. Let's try to do that this week. Remind yourself each time you get frustrated with your children or find them testing your patience...how grateful you are for them.

Lastly, I want to note that a couple companies have been generous enough to send some prizes for those that are participating in this challenge. I am truly grateful for that and I hope that you all will be too! I was a little stumped when I thought...how am I going to know who is participating?! The only way I can really know if you are participating, is by your comments and you letting me know that you are. If you ever feel like doing that, will be taking away time from your children, don't take that time from them. Please! However, if you do have time, say when your children are napping, or after they are in bed for the night--do your best to take a quick moment to drop in letting me know that you did your daily challenge, your thoughts on it, or whatever you care to share! I think us all sharing our thoughts and experiences with this will only add to what we learn from it! So, please! If you get a moment, please take the time to let me know that you are here!

If you plan on participating please go ahead and "follow" my blog by clicking the blue "join this site" button over to the right (if you haven't yet) and then please leave a comment below letting me know you are here and participating, this counts an entry for the first prize being given away! Thanks everyone! ♥

Weekend Fun! ♥

We spent most of our weekend relaxing, we also got our pool all ready for summer  (yey!), and had a fun stop at the farmer's market too! I hope you all had a great weekend too! ♥

Things I'm ♥ing Friday!

1.ThatsHeart's Bracelet Storage! I love how she has these set up. She used Pottery Barn's Jewelry Cloches, gorgeous!

2. Modern Parents Messy Kids' Veggie Garden Sensory Box. I love this idea and this entire site is amazing, if you haven't checked it out yet go browse around a bit! Tons of great ideas!!!

3. CoCoStine Design's "What a Difference a Day Makes" Print. I love the idea of this!

4. Zigi The Insight Sandal in Coral. These are so gorgeous!

5. Anthropologie's Pinta Cuff!

I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend! ♥

30 day Connecting with your Children Challenge: Intro!

Well, I've been debating all week how to go about approaching this challenge! I've decided I'm not really going to say much at all about why I decided to start this...or why I think you should join.  What I will say, is that I read an inspiring quote, and from it, came this challenge! I think we've all read those articles that just make us feel....guilty? Or made us think wow, am I doing this wrong?  I'm not here to guilt trip anyone. This isn't going to be a challenge that you need to have a certain parenting style to join, it doesn't matter, we're all different but I think we all have the same goal in mind.  You are taking the time to read this because you are a great parent and genuinely interested in strengthening the connection you have with your child, or children! That is basically all that matters. I am too! So, why not do this together?! If you're interested, everyone is more than welcome to join!

Here's what we're going to do!  30 days of daily ideas/challenges that will bring us closer to our children!

But I'm going to need your help with this! I need to know when you want the challenges posted. Each evening? Each Sunday so you have the plans for the week laid out? Let me know what would work best for you in a comment below please!

Lastly, if you plan on joining in on the fun...make sure to become a follower of my blog because...YES! There will be some prizes too! This was a somewhat last minute thing, but I am doing what I can to make sure that we can all have some fun with this!

So, if you are interested in joining go ahead and comment below...let me know how old your kids are, and also--let me know when you would prefer challenges to be posted!! If you have any suggestions or ideas to contribute go ahead and leave those below too! Don't forget to share this with your friends--having a great support system always helps!

Thanks everyone! ♥

Enchilada Turkey & Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers! ♥

Holy yum. These were amazing!!! Head on over to Ambitious Kitchen for the recipe!

Things I'm ♥ing Friday!

1. Porcelain Elephant Jewelry Bowl from Zgallerie. L♥ this!

2. Target's Cropped Neon Denim! I ordered these in Neon Pink and cannot wait to get them! I don't like investing much money into "trendy" items so I was excited about the $23 price tag--and even more excited that they were pink!

3. BlaBla Kids released some ADORABLE costumes for their dolls! As if their dolls weren't already cute enough, they went and added adorable costumes so we can dress them up as super heroes and princesses now! Ava would freak over these!

4. Oh Happy Day's Veggie Boats! I'm going to have to make these for the girls, adorable!

5. Mario Badescu's Rosewater Facial Spray. I have really been loving his skincare line lately, but especially this spray! It has a lovely price tag of only $7 as well! You can use this to set makeup, to just rehydrate your face, etc.! I love it!

Everyone have a great weekend! ♥

Shrimp Bowtie Pasta & No Knead Bread! Yum!

So yummy! Next time I make the shrimp pasta I will try to remember to take measurements for you all!

& yes, I am slowly catching up on blog posts so bear with me today! I just finished updating a few and will get through the rest later tonight! I took a little break from blogging last week....which I will have more on later as well!

My loves! ♥

Bendel, some new perfumes & a sneak peek!

Lots of you have been asking to see an update of makeup & jewelry storage! As for now, here is a sneak peek at the top with my most "treasured" and most used items!!! Front and center are my Henri Bendel Rose Gold Bangles. I'm still wearing and loving these almost daily! Next, my two newest & favorite at the moment perfumes...Coco Mademoiselle and Dolce & Gabbanna Rose The One! They both were gifts from my loves and smell SO good and the gorgeous packaging doesn't hurt either! I love how they look sitting on top of my dressing area & I can't wait to get it all finished and show it to you all! But for now, there's your sneak peek!

Happy Mother's Day! ♥

My loves knew just what I wanted...a nice relaxing day of some good food and shopping! And we did just that! It is always so nice to be able to get out of the house with nothing that needs to be done and no errands to be run! I hope you all had a great day too! ♥

oh, and there were cupcakes too. Whoops! :)


excuse all my instagram photos lately! I'm addicted. and I can do my posts from my phone, which helps a ton!

Saturday at the movies!

Today we spent our afternoon at a friend's birthday party! They rented out a theatre and we were able to sit and enjoy a movie with the girlies while celebrating! And seriously, how amazing are those popcorn cupcakes?! They tasted just as amazing as they look too! Such a fun day! ♥ and I couldn't resist taking a picture of Ava's "jeweled" wrist as we ran errands after!

Things I'm ♥ing Friday!

1. Ciate Caviar Manicure in Mother of Pearl! You can find it at Sephora! A hefty price tag but definitely something unique! (Photo Credit.)

2. I believe I have mentioned Lily & Laura bracelets before. But I fell especially in love with these that were featured over on Dallas Shaw,  which were purchased from Mae Movement. So, I went ahead and placed my order, I can't wait to receive them!!

3. Kate Spade's "Lights Out" Pillow! I love the hint of pink this would add to our bedroom!

4. Essie's Eternal Optimist. I know, another polish?! But I have never been able to find a good "nude" nail polish because most of them are too light for my skin tone and don't look right. But this one actually works on me as a nude/pink--perfect! The name is cute too :)

5. Kate Spade Show Me Your Spots Studs! How fun are these?!


Have a great weekend everyone! & Happy Mother's Day on Sunday to all you lovely moms out there! ♥

Stuffed Strawberries: with Greek Yogurt & Granola! Great healthy snack!

Well, I was looking online and saw lotsss of stuffed strawberries, stuffed with cream cheese filling and topped with graham crackers, yummm! But since I am trying out the Tone It Up Bikini Series, I knew it wasn't necessarily "tone it up" approved so I got inspired to do a quick little make over!

I substituted cream cheese filling for greek yogurt, to me it has the similar "tang" to it. Then I topped it with Tone it Up approved cereal- Kashi Go Lean Crunch, which has a granola consistency! It's so quick and simple, fill a strawberry with greek yogurt, top it with your favorite granola and you're good to go! My daughters LOVE this too!

so yummy! Hope you're all having a great week! ♥

Dance. ♥

Weekend Road Trips via Instagram

for a car show & some shopping! ♥ Nice relaxing weekend!

Things I'm ♥ing Friday!

1. Nars Luster Blush! Isn't the glow on this so pretty?! This is all I have been wearing lately! I can't even imagine how gorgeous it will be this summer with a tan! It almost feels like a blush/bronzer/highlight all in one. Love it! (Photo Credit)

2. Kate Spade "Diagonal" Phone Cover! So cute!

3. Zara for Baby Girls! Yeah, pretty much just all of it! I have been going crazy on pinterest "pinning" all the things I love for the girls, lol.

4. Color Club Blue Ming! It is really bright and pretty mint blue! I find color club both on base and also at Rite Aid and the price is definitely way lower than the price listed online too! :)

5. Enough said! ♥

Hope you all have a great weekend! ♥

Dressing Area Update & Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Well, I am making some progress on my girly dressing area! Here is my first project...some gold chevron drawer liners! Love them so far!



and...like mother, like daughter! ♥ Ava loves what she refers to as "mommy's jewels" and is always begging to wear them, so we caved and got her some little goodies of her own today! She has some nicer things that she gets to wear on special occasions but I wanted to find her a few things she could put on when she wanted! They look so similar to the ones I was wearing the other day...except hers are SO tiny and precious! :)

Pretend City!

Oh my goodness, this place was SO much fun! If you are in the area I highly recommend it! We have taken the girls to quite a few children's museums but this was the type I had been searching  for (the type my parents always took us to as kids)! It was literally just an entire "mini" town for kids to pretend in!  They had everything from the atm, a library, banks, farms, doctor offices, grocery stores, post office, even a sushi restaurant! The girls had a blast! I am loving all this family time with my loves! ♥