Four Years

Four years ago today was my favourite day ever... cause everyone had to follow my schedule and my to do lists and I love knowing exactly what's meant to be happening.  Husband is awesome because he knows that I loved that about our wedding day.  He gets me. 

When I announced we NEEDED purple cravats in the EXACT colour of our bridesmaids dresses he never once asked if that was crazy.  He went to every store in the world and then when that didn't work we ordered them specially made by the company who made our dresses.  He didn't know it was because I wanted him to match my dress but I'm a perfectionist anyway so it made complete sense to him.  He gets me.

When I'm ticked off about something or at someone he knows why I'm really wound up even if I don't.  He gets me.

He knows that I'm not good with surprises and need a certain level of warning and certain details so that I can enjoy surprises.  He gets me.

He makes me laugh even when I want to be annoyed.  I now find things funny that I never would have found funny before. I make him laugh even when he's stressed out.  Like during our wedding ceremony.  We get each other.

Slow Cooker Lasagna with Amanda

Happy Not-Friday once again.  Good luck to those Americans getting back to work after the Fourth of July yesterday.  To those who somehow managed to roll that into a crazily extended weekend... the rest of us hate you... I was going to say "not really" but we kind of do.  Excited today to have one of my lovely July Sponsors guest posting today Amanda from Tales from a FAR .  She's also talking about lasagna which is my favourite food. 

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Hey guys! I'm Amanda & I blog over @ tales from a FAR, where I mainly talk about myself

 

My hubby RB

and our little guy FAR. 

FAR= Fletcher Andrew Rodewig... He's our 1 year old who is already fixing his own meals...

Doing his own laundry...

 

& he's even DRIVING! 

Ok ok I kid. He's not doing any of that. But he is a walking talking crazy kiddo who we adore with our whole heart. 

I want to Thank Leigh Ellen for letting me have the opportunity to blog today about one of my favorite things to eat. When I know i'm going to be busy all day and I want something yummy to eat for dinner I throw together a Crock Pot Lasagna . It's super simple! 

(Source - I forgot to take a picture last time I made it!)

Here's the recipe: 
1lb Ground Turkey/Beef/Pork (Whichever you prefer)
1 tsp. Italian seasoning 

1 jar Spaghetti sauce 

1/3 cup water 

UNCOOKED lasagna noodles 

1 cartion ricotta cheese

2 cups shredded mozzerella cheese 

Brown meat and seasoning, drain

Mix spaghetti sauce and water. (Water cooks the noodles in crock pot) 

Layer like you would a regular lasagna in a GREASED crock pot ( I always put a little sauce on bottom and then do noodles sauce meat cheese) 

Cover, cook on high for 1 hour 

Reduce heat to low and cook on low for 4-5 hours.

I promise - you will love it! 

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Cross Country Tour with Paige

It`s another Not-Friday and I`m lucky enough to have another guest post.  Paige should be starting to look familiar to some of you. It`s not her first time posting here and she`s had a nice spot over in the sponsor area for awhile now.  Without futher ado... here`s Paige.

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Hello my friends north of the US Border?! My name is Paige, over at Artsy Anthropology, and I am from the Great (Not White) South? Is that what you call us up there in Canadia? Anywhoo... the theme between myself and Miss Leigh-Ellen tends to be that we share information on trips, or our countries...

As a student, I have spent several (15-20) days driving cross country from Undergrad to Grad to home... so I have lots of beautiful pictures of what I have seen!  Hope you enjoy them.

The Pacific Northwest! Isn't it absolutely beautiful! I think this is probably one of the prettiest places ever, Baker Mountain, Washington.

The Southwest... Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico (parts of Texas) all look like same... these states are home to: Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Painted Forest, Petrified Forest, Roswell, Santa Fe... etc.

This photo, totally not Photoshopped, the ground is really that many different colors of dirt and the sky is really that shade of blue. This is from the Painted Forest in Arizona.

The Grand Canyon

This is terrifying, it's a 1 mile fall... if you happen to slip

Somewhere in New Mexico... down south of Albuquerque and Roswell... there is the Carlsbad Caverns, which are slightly more terrifying than the Grand Canyon - because you are like 100 feet and a terrifying elevator ride down into the ground...

Then there is the South... for those of you who don't know, the Mississippi is really just the worlds largest muddy river - the water is brown... but the trees in Louisiana are giant and beautiful, and we have plantations...

In Baton Rouge, there is also a WWII ship, just chilling on the Mississippi - it's fun to go and hang out on, play with the big guns ;)

Hope you all enjoyed these snap-shots into my life and travels around the country!  

Crafting with Cork- Jeni from Two Shades of Lovely

Once again it's Not-Friday.  At least Not-Friday means it's almost Friday.  Plus this is a good Not-Friday since I have a fun new friend guest posting on the blog! I love having guest bloggers who are crafty or culinary types because I am not! Not even a little! So without further ado, here's the fabulous Jeni. 

 

Hi Everyone!

I'm Jeni - the girl behind the blog - Two Shades of Lovely

It started with a small idea my friend Kendel and I had...we loved making headbands out of re-purposed materials, and vintage laces and evolved into Two.Shades.Of.Lovely. I fell in love with the blogging portion of our little venture and have made it into a place where I can share some of my fun DIY ideas, talk about life as a mom and a wife, and connect with all of you lovelies!

By day, I am a full time Judge's Assistant for our local Courts, wife to my very own sarcastic, faux-hawked Prince Charming, and mother to a little boy with a smile as big as the world and blue eyes that will melt anyone's heart! I love anything mint (color or flavor!), can probably outplay you at any of those nerdy video games (my hubs taught me well!), and can try and try, but am convinced I will never master painting my own nails.

I'm so excited to be guest posting with Leigh-Ellen (it's my first guest post!) 

We connected when she was the best blog swap buddy I could have asked for as part of the Secret Blogger Swap over at Framed Frosting!

I'm always looking for easy, cheap ways to spruce up the bare walls in my home. The great part about this DIY Cork Wall hanging is that part of the fun is drinking enough wine to collect the corks to design your wall hanging (you can also ask local restaurants for their corks, or solicit your friends like I did so you don't have to drink 80 bottles of wine!)

Supplies Needed

Corks 

(for the 12" x 8" size I made, I used about 80 corks, so this is subject to the size that you want to make!)

Hot Glue Gun

Scissors

Cardboard

(Cardstock is a tad too flimsy, and don't worry, the cardboard can be ugly (I used an old diaper box) after all you are covering it!

Step One: Designing your Base

Draw out your letter.

This is where you can be creative...you can freehand sketch your letter, any way you'd like or use fonts from your computer, print out an image large enough and use it as a stencil.

The "Q" I did for our last name was about 12" x 8" 

(I never  claimed to be an artist, but at least my sketch marks will be covered by corks!)

Step 2: Gluing the Corks Down

To ensure that the corks stick together and do not pull away from each other, gluing them requires a small dot on the bottom or base of the cork, and a line of glue down the side (or sides) that will be touching other corks.

You'll notice if you skip the line of glue down the side, your corks will start to split apart, especially after hanging.

Also, don't be worried if your corks are not the same size, or have chunks out of them, or don't quite match up - the finished product will look great with the differences.

Step 3: Display your work of art!

I displayed ours in our kitchen. The best part is, I put a nail in the wall and was able to hang the Q from a space between the corks!

Now, start drinking more wine - you have more of these to make for gifts!

*Tip: If you don't want to give away a cork letter with unfinished cardboard on the back, I've backed letters with both felt and pretty scrapbook paper, and both have worked out just fine, simply cut around the cardboard and glue to the back.*

Thanks for coming by! I hope to chat with all of you soon!

In honor of my first guest post, we're offering 15% off on everything in our etsy shop! It's summer, come spruce up your hair with a cute flower (or seven!)

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Tuesday Travels- Virginia is for Lovers

I am spending Tuesday morning flying from Toronto to Orlando so someone fabulous was kind enough to guest post for me today for a little Tuesday Travel.  Hope everyone's Tuesday is going well.... hope my flights are all on time! 

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Hello, loyal blog readers. You probably know me as “Bestie” from Leigh-Ellen’s blog. My name is Karen, and for those of you who have been following this blog, I recently moved to Ottawa for a new job. This new gig requires that I travel a fair bit for work, so in this edition of Travel Tuesdays, I wanted to share my recent trip to Virginia.

Richmond is a beautiful city and is the Virginia state capitol. The State Capitol building is lovely – I was particularly taken with the columns and the beautiful gardens surrounding the Capitol complex. 

 

There is also a fantastically huge statue of George Washington. True story: a few years ago, when this statue was under refurbishment, the entire statue was covered with a protective wooden box—all except for one small hole near the top, so that Washington could still see out over the city. 

 

One other monument of note is the Civil Rights Memorial, which depicts Barbara Johns historic student protest of the deplorable conditions in segregated schools in 1951. I was particularly taken with this monument and the details of the faces of the protestors. Johns’ protest actions became part of the historic 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v Board of Education, which ruled against the “separate but equal” laws and ultimately ended racial segregation in American public schools. 

 

Also in the Capitol complex is the home of the Virginia State Governor. I thought this building was a historic home, and was quite surprised to be greeted at the gate by a security guard who kindly informed me that the Governor was hosting a BBQ for his staff. Sadly, I was not invited.

 

Historically, the city of Richmond and the surrounding townships had great significance during the Revolutionary War, or the American Revolution in the late 1700s. Especially significant was Williamsburg; situated about an hour north of Richmond, it’s a large historical settlement that draws huge crowds of revolutionary war history buffs and tourists. There is also a cute modern-day town situated literally beside the historical settlement that is home to William and Mary University, as well as a really fantastic sushi restaurant.

Although I missed touring the buildings in Historic Williamsburg, I was able to walk around to take in some of the sights. I was truly impressed at the size of the settlement itself, and the beautifully maintained homes, buildings and properties. I also managed to befriend a flock of sheep grazing in a farmer’s field, and the baby lambs were so adorable. They were literally frolicking in the grass. What a delightful way to spend a Friday evening. Who knew that sheep could be so entertaining? 

 

There are several pub-type restaurants that operate within the historical portion of the city, featuring folks in traditional Revolutionary War clothing. Be forewarned, however: the wait times for dinner are staggering, so be prepared to either call ahead for reservations, or skip out and have dinner in the newer section of town as I did. Who could go wrong with Pink Panther sushi, complete with pink seaweed wrap?

All in all, I really enjoyed Richmond, but I really only had the chance to scratch the surface of all the area has to offer. I hope to visit again soon so I can check out many of the amazing restaurants, shops and wine bars along Cary Street. 

In BiCentennial Park wearing Jones New York Dress and Kenneth Cole Reaction Sunglasses