dinner by the river

I have spent all weekend being sick. :( It started last Monday and I think it is slowly starting to go away--a week later. I lost my voice for two days, but no worries it is back now! Ty thinks I probably have an upper respiratory infection.

I did suck it up and go to dinner with Ty Sunday night. We ate at a fun outdoor restaurant by the river.



Nuts was happy to get out and about.








I have lived in that dress this weekend. I am tempted to go back to Target and buy one in every color.

bedroom lighting options

I have been thinking about adding sconces on either side of our bed. My parents have them in their bedroom and it is a nice feature. While, I like lamps they can take up a lot of room on a night stand.

This is our current bedding.

I've found two lighting options so far.

I like the chrome, but it might be too shiny. I'm not sure yet...hmmmmm.


I think the last one is my favorite. Do you all have bedside lamps or wall sconces?

CSN & a yummy recipe

I will be doing a review of a CSN store product in the upcoming weeks and I'm so excited! They have absolutely everything on their site and a lot of the items have free shipping. I love websites that offer free shipping!

Now onto the recipe that you must make ASAP! (I'm the oldest child, hence the bossiness.)

Steak Fajitas

Not just any steak fajitas, the best steak fajitas.


Rachel from In No Simple Language has started a regular post entitled Menu Monday. She and her husband cook the most amazing meals, and yes I did say and her husband. He plans and cooks 2-3 meals a week. What a lucky woman!

She posted this fajita recipe a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't wait to try it.

Fajita Ingredients:
1 lb of steak flank
3 plum tomatoes
big bunch of cilantro
1 lime
2 small white onion
1 avocado
pinch of sea salt
flour tortillas
2 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Marinade Ingredients:
1/3 cup vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp oregano
2 limes, juiced
4-5 cloves garlic minced

Begin by marinating your steak. I marinated mine the night before and it was soooo good and it made cooking the recipe the next day so easy and quick.

Chop up all tomatoes, cilantro, and 1 onion and mix in bowl. This will be your pico de gallo . Squeeze half a lime over it and sprinkle with sea salt. Refrigerate until it's time to eat. ( I didn't make the pico de gallo, but wanted to include this from the original recipe in case others wanted to make it.)

Cut your other onion into strips. Brown in pan with olive oil. When they're brown, cover with foil to keep them warm.

Grill your steak to your liking. When it's done, let it cool for a few minutes, then cut in slices against the grain.

Slice your avocado.

Fill tortilla shells with 2-3 pieces of steak, pico de gallo, onions, a few slices of avocado, a few leaves of cilantro (if you didn't make the pico) and a squeeze of lime and eat!

enchanted forest baby shower

This was the sign on the first door (but not the front door) you come to when you approach my parents' house, but not the door I wanted people to use. Hence the sign.


I made this moss covered letter. I think they are going to use it in baby Mason's nursery.


Sorry for the blurry picture. It didn't look blurry on my camera screen. I wanted you all to see the jar the hydrangeas were in--a Mason Jar!




LeAnn sat on the fireplace to open her gifts. It was easier for her to bend over to unwrap presents and it was a great backdrop.


Sorry for the flash photo. It was so hard to get a good picture, because the poms blocked the light from the chandelier and the sun was streaming in behind.

I almost ordered the poms on etsy, because I couldn't find the colors of tissue paper I was looking for, but randomly came across some greens at the Origins booth in Dillards. They sold me their tissue paper and I made some fun poms. They are so easy to do.

Food labels


My mom's house was packed full of people and there were so many little boys there. I wish I would have gotten a picture of my cousins' little boys, but I did snap one of our nephew. I didn't say it was the best picture, but isn't his little outfit adorable?




more Mason jars


I had so much fun planning this shower! I made all of the decor myself and did it over several weeks. I even sewed some burp cloths, but somehow forgot to take a picture of them. I am going to need a new project now!

{see the invitation and idea board in the post below.}

baby shower sneak peek

This weekend is my sister's baby shower. I am beyond excited and have been planning it for months. I wanted to give you all a sneak peek.

Inspiration board:


I designed the invitations in photoshop and had them printed from overnightprints.com. I was soooo pleased with the quality. Well, except for a little mistake I made.

See that red box around the whole thing. Turns out I was supposed to hide that layer. Oops.
Thankfully, they have amazing customer service and reprinted them for me for free.


I wish I could capture the quality with my camera. They are thick and glossy.
If you look at that corner you can kind of see the gloss.


I will post a full recap next week. Have a good weekend!!

{overnight prints did not compensate me for this post, nor did they ask me to blog about this.}

I want this bathroom

I stumbled across this great home decor blog the other day, Brooklyn Limestone. She features the most amazing room makeovers. I fell in love with this bathroom. Ty even liked it. We hardly ever seem to agree on the same style of rooms. Although, it really doesn't matter at this point, because of that darn med school budget. But one day, I hope to have a bathroom as pretty as Rebekah's.





Do you all watch Cougar Town on ABC? Well, Jules (Courtney Cox-Arquette) just renovated her bathroom. She has a bathroom warming party and even after the party makes her friends hang out in the bathroom with her. She just loves her new bathroom that much. Well, if this was my bathroom I would do the same thing. I could live in here forever.












Oh, the colors, the tile, the mirrors, the chandy--it all makes my heart go pitter patter.

love

Happy Anniversary Ty! I can't believe it has been three years. (I will probably say this every year.) An even bigger number is the fact that we have been together for 10 years. A DECADE! Yes, we were young and it started as puppy love, but we have grown up together and our love grows every year. (I get to be sappy on my anniversary, right??)

Ty gets off from the ER at 7, so we will be enjoying a relaxing dinner at home and of course, watch our wedding video. I make him watch it every year. :)

Celebrating our 2nd anniversary last year.


Wedding day: May 19, 2007

Vintage Baby Shower

This weekend I was a hostess at a church baby shower. The theme was sock monkeys and vintage toys. So fun!

I made these cupcake toppers and added them to cupcakes brought by another hostess.

I made some fun poms.

The soon-to-be big sister!

Anna and our nephew Nathan are less than a week apart and both of their mommas are due with their second child within two weeks of each other. Apparently, they are on the same time line.

I made the cupcake toppers in powerpoint with their shape tools. It was super easy. I printed them on full page mailing labels.

Bought these craft sticks at Hobby Lobby:




Cut out brown paper scalloped circles and cut the labels out with a circle cutter:


Placed the sticker label on top of the scalloped circle and hot glued them to a stick:


See, super easy! If anyone is interested in the ppt I used, let me know & I will e-mail it to you.
sweetsimplicityblog@gmail.com

Don't forget to check out my blog sale!

Blog Sale!

All of the items have been worn less than a handful of times, which is why I'm getting rid of them. If you are interested in the item e-mail me at sweetsimplicityblog@gmail.com; first come.
I will send you a paypal invoice and get it shipped to you. Thanks!!

Mac&Jac sleeveless top--$20 shipped






SOLD J.Crew short sleeve cardigan, size Small--$20 shipped.





White, cotton blazer from Dillard's; size small--$12 shipped




SOLD Express shirt dress, size 4 (I think it fits more like a 2)--$12 shipped.
I did wear this once, but for whatever reason left the tag on it. :)

This picture shows the color better.


Big Star denim capris, size 26--$20 shipped.