Hmmmmm…..Cooking, Crafting and Getting Fit. During my 5 month blog hiatus, did I do any of those things?
Well, let's see. I posted about my Valentine's Day Cooking Exchange HERE, and that definitely involved some cooking and a little bit of crafting! In, January I crafted some centerpieces for a church luncheon we had and made some chocolate covered fortune cookies (crafting or cooking?):
I also decorated my small white Christmas Tree for Valentine's Day:
I even decorated it for Easter, but didn't take any photos!
As far as Cooking goes, let's see? I've made some of my favorite meals:
Which include clockwise from top left: The Best Pizza Evah! , Grilled Salmon, (YUM!), Lemon Vodka Pasta (I add Shrimp) from the I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook, and the always delicious Funeral/Mormon/Company/Utah Potatoes (made for Easter).
I've got an injury that I am dealing with (more on that below), so I have also been trying to be much healthier in my cooking by eating more of a clean diet. We've also been trying to drink Green Smoothies every morning. So delicious and good for you. I've found most of my recipes HERE
Other clean eating recipes and cooking:
Clockwise from top left: Citrus Grilled Chicken (you must try this!), Clean Rice Saute (veggies and TJ's Organic Brown Rice), Salad with Salsa Chicken, and more Salsa Chicken with a salad made with chick peas, avocado, tomatoes, kidney beans and cilantro and lime. So good!
Now on to the Getting Fit: Well, about 2 years ago I set out to get fit and healthy. You can read about it HERE or HERE. I was doing my favorite Zumba and GPP classes faithfully. I was happy and healthy. I've always had some random back problems which were manageable, but a bit frustrating nontheless. Well back track to last November and I woke up one morning with my left hand numb. It was the weirdest thing. It progressivly got worse, and moved up my arm. I had no idea what was wrong. Then the upper back/neck pain started. I went to my Chiropractor for treatment and ended up seeing him 3-4 times a week for a few months. Finally, when I really wasn't improving, he ordered an MRI. After getting the results, he suggested I see a neurosurgeon. I had to wait two months for my appointment with the neurosurgeon (what?, I know crazy). Anyway, the neurosurgeon confirmed what everyone thought, and what my MRI results suggested: 4 bulging discs in my neck (two moderate, two severe), with one pinching a nerve (the cause of the numbness and pain in my arm/hand), bone spurs, and degenerative disc disease.
Jealous? š
So…..next week, May 22nd to be exact, I am going in for surgery. I believe the surgery is called: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. More informtion found HERE.
So, the Getting Fit part of my life has been seriously lacking the last 5-6 months. Cue sad music!
I'm not really a quitter….but I sure feel like it in the getting fit department! I should be back to regular activity soon, right?
I do get to have one last Getting Fit adventure before surgery next week! I'm heading to the BLEND Retreat this weekend and I couldn't be more excited! Who knows how much I will get to participate, but just being there will be awesome!
I can't wait!
Okay, well this post has been long enough. Just wanted to update on the Cooking, Crafting and Getting Fit party of my life! Happy Thursday y'all!
Back in February (yes, I'm still playing catch up!), my cute friend Traci and I hosted a Valentine's Day Cookie Exchange for all or our Zumba Friends!
We asked everyone to bring 2 dozen of their favorite Valentine's Day cookies, treats, candy or whatever! We made sure to specify that the items did NOT need to be homemade! We were absolutely fine with store bought treats! We didn't want anyone to feel overwhelmed to bake something!
Traci and I had so much fun planning the menu items and decorating for the night! She is one of the most creative people I know! Check out the flowers in the candy filled vase below. She had three different ones! So cute!
Some of the food items: Cheese with pretzel sticks, veggie cups, soft/warm pretzel bites, baked ravioli with marinara sauce and fruit salad! We also had meatballs and a few more yummy items.
We set up a large table in my family room for all of the treats:
Oh my goodness! Can you even believe all the deliciousness on that table? And this was just the beginning! By the end of the night the table was overflowing and we were out of room!
We had wedding cookies, mini cheesecake, mini cupcakes, several GIANT Mrs. Field's cookies, rootbeer cookies, YUMMY desserts from Kneaders, eclaires and so much more!
I picked up some plain white cake boxes at JoAnn's and lined them with tissue paper, giving everyone a box to fill with goodies to take home with them!
Are you drooling, yet?
It was really one of the funnest parties I have ever hosted! And hosting with Traci, was even better!
Traci and I.
Seriously, some of the most fabulous people I know! We work out hard, so we can eat yummy treats!
The whole group! (minus me, the photographer!)
I think it would be fun to make this an annual tradition!
And look what Traci even left for me after the party:
I've tried to write this post several times over the last 5 months and just haven't been able to do it. The inability to write this post, is what brought on my blog break as well. I just didn't feel like I could continue on blogging as if all was well. Does that make sense?
Anyway, I mentioned in this post about my 25 Random Acts of Kindness, that we had to cut our day short and finish the rest of our acts a few weeks later. Well, we received a call that my cute Dad had just passed away. It was very unexpected. My dad had been suffering from lung cancer for just over a year, and although we knew he was terminal, we were not prepared for how sudden it all happened. It was just a few days before Christmas. We expected him to be around for at least a few more months. Unfortunately, God had other plans for my Dad, and needed him sooner. We were fortunate that he seemed to pass away very comfortably. He was here one moment, and literally gone the next.
Although, my dad wasn't perfect, he was my Dad and I loved him so much! I know how much he always love me too! Not a day goes by that I don't think about him!
Some random things about my dad:
He loved NASCAR and the LA Rams, Utah Jazz and the University of Utah UTES
Loved Coor's and Keystone Beer
Hated Pasta of any kind
Drove at one time or another: '57 Thunderbird, Old Blue Falcon, 2 different El Caminos
LOVED to watch his boys play football, baseball, race BMX/MX and anything else they did
Suppported me in all of my activities, including gymnastics and dance
LOVED to kid around and have fun! He was always good for a corny (or dirty!) joke
Once bought new motorcycles for my brothers and hid it from my Mom for weeks!
LOVED his grandkids and developed a very special relationship with Madison in last years
Worked in the grocery business, specifically as a Produce Manager for many years
Would buy my Mom great Christmas gifts
One of the things that really stands out most about my dad, is the fact that he always seemed pretty happy to me, and upbeat. His face would light up whenever his kids or grandkids were around. He just wanted us all to be happy! That is what made him happiest!
I am going back to December with this post, so you are going to have to humor me and my 5 month delay in posting about this!
I first heard about doing Random Acts of Kindness a few years ago, when I stumbled upon this blog post, and fell in love with the idea of doing something similar. I thought it would be fun to do 25 Random Acts of Kindness a week or so before Christmas, since that time of year can be so busy and chaotic, and surprising people with an Act of Kindness, would be fun for everyone!
Unfortunately, it took me a few years to get my act together and finally do it! On the last Saturday before Christmas, my family (Carl, Tyson, Madison & her boyfriend George) joined up with my brother and his family to spread some holiday cheer!
This was our list of 25 Random Acts of Kindness:
Leave a treat in your mailbox for mail carrier
Drop off a few random Notes of Kindness and Candy Canes in random mailboxes wishing people a Happy Holiday
Drop off coloring books, crayons, activity pads, and small games to the waiting room of Primary Childrenās Medical Center Urgent Care Facility
Tape quarters to Vending Machines
Tape quarters to washers and dryers a the Laundromat
Return grocery carts and help people load their groceries at a local grocery store
Tape quarters to gumball machines
Leave notes/candy canes on cars wishing people Happy Holidays
Hand out a $50 Visa Gift Card to someone in the grocery store wishing them a Merry Christmas
Handy out balloons and candy canes to children coming out of the store
Empty all of our spare change (from coin jars, couch cushions, car seats) in to the red Salvation Army buckets
Drop off a Chiliās gift card to a family already eating at the restaurant, wishing them a Happy Holiday
Pay for the person behind us in the Starbucks drive thru line
Drop off donuts and hot chocolate to construction workers or anyone else working outside in the cold
Hand out car wash coupons to cars in line at the car wash
Take Donuts to the local fire station
Hand out McDonalds coupons to cars in the drive thru lane at McDonalds and wish them a Merry Christmas
Drop off a few $5 pizzas to the homeless at Pioneer Park
Drop off blankets to the homeless at Pioneer Park or the Homeless Shelter
Hand out Starbucks gift cards to shoppers at the outdoor Gateway Mall
Hand out $2 bills at the Dollar Store
Tape Candy Canes with Happy Holiday notes to ATMās
Drop off coats and and warm clothes to The Road Home
Drop off pet food and pet toys to The Human Society of Utah
Put $2 bills in random childrenās books at Barnes & Noble
We knew that we would have to be flexible with some of our acts, depending on logistics, etc.
Our first stop was Primary Children's Hospital. We dropped off big bags of coloring books, crayons, art supplies, activity set and a few stuffed animals. Photo fail! I didn't take a picture of all of this. Mostly because the waiting room was crazy, busy with kids and parents. Right off the urgent car waiting area was an alcove with a bunch of vending machines. We taped lots of quarters and notes to them!
To save this post from getting super long, I will just let the photos do most of the talking!
George, Tyson & Madison outside of Primary Children's Hospital
Quarters at the Laundromat
Madison ready to hand out balloons and candy canes to kids exiting the grocery store
The firemen doing rope drills, just before we dropped off donuts. They were so grateful!
Handing out $2 bills at the Dollar Store. We got a few tears from people here and many, many grateful THANK YOU's!
Tyson emptying a large bag of coins in the Salvation Army bucket. It took a long time!
Quarters on gumball/candy machines
Visa gift card and Chili's gift card (printable found HERE)
We really had such a FABULOUS time doing this! Just doing a Random Act of Kindness for someone who doesn't expect it, made our day so much brighter! Hopefully, we were able to make the holiday season brighter for some people that day, and inspired them to Pay it Forward.
Unfortunately, our day was cut a little bit short and we didn't quite finish on that day. More about the reason for that in my next post. We were able to finish a few weeks later, however.
Thanks for reading and letting my post about something my family did…WAY back in December!
Well……here I am again…..months after the last blog post. What can I say, life hit me upside the head in a big way last December. I think I'm finally ready to blog and to talk about what happened.
I couldn't resist….that Natalie Dee, cracks me up! Anyway, I will be back later with some posts. A fun post regarding the 25 Random Acts of Kindness my family did right before Christmas, along with some super fun trips and projects that have happened the past few months. And I will also be blogging about my cute, cute Dad who lost his battle with lung cancer, just a few days before Christmas. Like I said….life hit me upside the head pretty hard!
If anyone is still out there reading…..thanks for hanging in there with me! If nobody is out there reading, well then, no big deal!
Wow! Itās been a while since Iāve done a weekend wrap up post!
This past weekend was full of all the craziness that happens in the last few weekends leading up to Christmas! All the hustle and bustle, trying to get so much done, but still trying to enjoy the season!
The weekend started a bit earlier than usual, as we had our office Christmas Party on Friday afternoon. We closed the office at 1:00 and we all headed to the Little America hotel just a few blocks away from our office. We had a really nice lunch, some pretty funny entertainment by a few of the attorneys in the office. During the entertainment A LOT of cash envelopes were given out via a drawing ā which was awesome! The firm also gave away several iPads! Even cooler! The big drawing at the end of the event were for 2 40ā Samsung Smart TVāsā¦.and guess who won one? Shut the front door! I never win anything like that! And I mentioned in THIS POST that we were in desperate need of a new TV, since we were the last people on earth without a flat screen!
Christmas came early for Carl and I! We spent Friday night getting it all set up! Carl was in heaven!
I spent most the day Saturday in my craft room wrapping presents, and getting these out in the mail:
Why does it always take so long to get them all addressed and out the door?
I had a fun night Saturday with some of my Zumba friends. We got together for dinner at Trio. If you are in Utah, you must try this place. Iāve eaten here quite a few times and I donāt think Iāve ever had anything I didnāt like!
Always delish!
Such a great time with these guys! Soooo many laughs!
After going to Mass with Carl on Sunday we delivered Christmas ornaments to my nieces and nephew. A tradition Iāve been doing with my own kids and my niece Erin since they were born (I buy them each a new Christmas ornament every year), and this year I got to add my brotherās new wife Heidiās kids too! Hopefully, they donāt think itās too corny/cheesy!
This picture was actually taken in the car with the ornaments on the dashboard. Iām classy, like that!
Carl and I then power shopped for the next few hours! We got a ton accomplished, but I feel like there is still so much to do! We shopped at our local outdoor mall (the one that is open on Sundays!) and we froze! The wind was sooo cold! We did get to see our 2002 Winter Olympic Bricks, which my parents bought for all of us as a donation to the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Itās always fun to see our bricks!
Sunday night was topped off by dinner with Madison at Texas Roadhouse, and some cute Zumba girls dropped off the yummiest treats they had made! Wow! Look at this plate of goodness!
Sooooo good! But Iāll be doing Zumba for days and days and days to work off the calories on that plate!
Even though I had a very heavy heart this weekend with the events in Connecticut, it was really nice to spend time with friends and family, and remember that I truly am blessed, and to remember also, that life can change in an instant!.
I hope you had a great weekend!
What did you do? What was the BEST part of your weekend? Let me know!
Hello! Shocker, I know! My second week in a row posting! š
One of my favorite holiday traditions, is to get all of my Christmas decorations out the day after Thanksgiving, and try and get them all up that weekend. I rarely get all the decorations and tree(s) up in one day, but I usually make it in two. It truly is my favorite time of year. I think there is something magical about the twinkling lights, and I think my house never looks better than it does at Christmas. Do you want a quick holiday tour? Well, even if you don't want one…..you're gonna get one!
Welcome to our home!
The front porch in the daylight. At night the swag around the door and on the railing is full of twinkling white lights. A few years ago, I grabbed bunches (and bunches) of red and silver ornaments from various stores for cheap, cheap, cheap! You will see a very common theme in my decorating! The wreath on the front door was a plain silver jingle bell wreath that I won at Bonco many years ago. Last year I broke out the glue gun and added red and silver ornaments to glam it up a bit more. Love the way it turned out, and so simple to do!
As you walk in the front door, the formal (?) living room is directly on the left. This room has been many things over the years (including scrapbook/craft room), and we never really spend any time in it, and we've never had really nice living room furniture for the room. The only time the room really looks good, is at Christmas. And thatās not saying much! LOL!
This above photo is a view from the stairs looking down in to the formal living room. The white armoire used to be in Madisonās room. Even though it sits in the formal living room now, if you were to open the doors, you would find a ton of crafting and sewing supplies. Gotta use storage where you can, right?
You can see our fat, cat Jax in the bottom right of this photo. Heās rarely around for photos!
The photo above is a āJoy to the Worldā card that I ordered from Katie Daisy. Love it!
This is the view going from the front door towards the breakfast nook. The stairs going UP to the bedrooms are to the right, as well as the stairs going DOWN to the family room. The kitchen is to the right of the breakfast nook. One of my favorite Christmas decorations has to be my dollar store wreaths in my bay windows. I bought them probably 10 years ago, and they have held up great. I love the cottage feel they add to our home.
The shelf above is usually decorated for whichever season is coming up. I have Santa's on the shelf for Christmas, and I will switch them out for snowmen in January.
A close up of the Santa shelf.
More red and silver ornaments in a glass jar on the kitchen table. Those ornaments are everywhere!
My kitchen box window. The JOY letters are the ones I made at Craft Weekend and the āMerry & Brightā sign was party of the cool swag we got.
The above photo is of the stairs heading down to the recently renovated family room. This room recently got a new paint job, carpet, window framing and we also painted the fireplace mantle. Oh, and all the furniture is newā¦.or new to me. Not sure if we are keeping it or if it will be going to California with Tyson, when he moves in to a permanent place. We will see.
Chloeās favorite place is in front of the cozy fire!
Close up of the painted fireplace mantle. The mantle is pretty low key ā just garland and silver reindeer stocking holders. I just wasnāt sure what to do this year. So much has changed with our house. Itās like a blank slate, and Iām not sure what to do with it. Notice the silver and red balls on the wreathā¦ā¦once again!
The tree behind the chairs is the ākids treeā. We give Tyson and Madison an ornament every year for Christmas (and sometimes during the year, if we have traveled somewhere special)ā¦ā¦those ornaments go on this tree, and is decorated by them. Tyson was home for Thanksgiving this year, and he and Madi decorated the tree the night before he flew home to California.
Close up of the Kids Tree
Temporary TV/media cabinet. Not sure what is going to happen here. Rumor has it that Santa is finally going to bring the Moll family into the 21st century and bring a flat screen TVā¦.but we will see. Can you imagine it? LOL! Something other than the monstrosity pictured above? *wink*
Trying to get a photo of both treesā¦ā¦
Well, that is itā¦.so far anyway. I hope you enjoyed the tiny glimpse in to our Christmas home. Itās not much, but itās comfy!
Happy Monday, friends! Have you decorated for Christmas? If so, do you go all out? Or do you keep it simple? Do you have more than one tree? Iād love to hear from you!
Well, hello there! I know, I know…..it's been a minute (or a million) since I last blogged, but life got Ca-Razy there! But, it's time I got back at it. I've got a ton of things to blog about, but the first thing I have to tell you about is the FABULOUS weekend I had in Kansas in November! I first blogged about going to Craft Weekend back here in August. Well, the weekend finally arrived and I had the time of my life! Seriously, I really did! So much fun! This post may get a bit long winded, with tons of pics, so please bear with me! First of all…..the hostess with the mostess:
Meg Duerksen is awesome. So nice, spiritual, down to earth, creative, funny, etc. Just FUN!
We were picked up at the airport by these two girls (the helpers for the weekend):
Megan from Contented Sparrow and Becky from Farmgirl Paints, two of the hippest, funnest and coolest girls I've met! They had never met in person (only through their blogs) and they were seriously soul sisters! Loved their connection!
When we drove up to the house, I about died. Look at this beauty? Gorgeous, yes?
We stayed up late, late, late…..into the wee hours of the night. Taking a break on Friday night to head to the local donut shop around midnight for fresh, out of the oven donuts! And on Saturday night it was cheesecake!
Oh my. Soooo many treasures to be found. My main goal was to find a nice, hand stitched quilt. And find one I did!
Here it is on my bed back home. I need to try and get a better photo. The yellow is more of a creamy butter yellow, not at all neon or bright. I love it!
We made a quick stop at Sonic on the way back to the Craft House, before getting back to Crafting. Sunday was spent taking photos, and saying our good byes. It was so much fun getting to know such fun girls! My roommates, Joanna and Jill and I:
All the girls with our aprons on:
I really did have the time of my life! It was the experience of a lifetime and I am so thankful that I was able to attend!
Go read Meg's post HERE about the weekend to see even more photos and get more fabulous information!
Also, I think YOU should sign up to attend Craft Weekend! Do it! NOW! Go READ THIS and sign up! You won't regret it!
