Shop Crush ~ Em & Sprout

I've been admiring Lindsay's work for awhile now.  I follow her on Instagram and she seems so lovely, which makes me like her work even more.  I think a pair of her adorable shoes have been on my wishlist for some time, but all of her stuff is adorable!  You can find the goodies from this post and more cute items here.  Check it out!

Birthday Thrift Finds

I made plans with Heidi to go to the far away thrift shops for my birthday.  I had some birthday cash to spend, so what better time to go!  Heidi picked me up in the morning and we stopped for breakfast before heading out.  Unfortunately, only one shop was actually open.  The others were all closed for the holiday.  We did hit up a Goodwill and Salvation Army on the way home, but they weren't as good as our local ones.  The one store that was open, though, was pretty good and we found a lot of great things!

I've been finding lots of the pattern on the right recently.

Fun Pyrex!

 

Our best finds!  Heidi ended up with the matching stove.  I'm pretty sure she only let me have the fridge because it was my birthday!  Thanks!

There's a lot of random cuteness here!

Afternoon Nature Walk

We are really fortunate to live in an area that is surrounded by parks and state forests.  There are many points on the Appalachian Trail that are only a short distance away.  We love taking walks when the weather is nice and the nearby trails are perfect.  Now walking with two toddlers isn't always the most productive thing.  They stop to pick up every rock and stick, need mommy and daddy to carry them, and always have to pee!  We still manage to have fun, though, and appreciate the beauty around us!

Happy birthday to me!

Hello!  I've had a busy long weekend celebrating my birthday, which fell on Memorial Day this year.  I don't usually have a party, but this year I decided I wanted to have a small backyard barbecue where everyone could build their own s'mores and kabobs.  It was a lot of fun and I felt so lucky to spend the evening with a few of my lovely friends!

There were lots of veggies for kabobs.  We had some shrimp and chicken sausage too.  Yum!

 Here's the good stuff!  Loads of goodies for s'mores!

I made up this little menu of suggestions.

So in addition to the kabobs, we had chicken chili, carrots, pita & potato chips, dip, hummus, and some yummy zucchini wraps that Jessica brought.

 Here are all the s'mores ingredients spread out.  There were so many possibilities!

 It ended up getting chilly in the evening, so we were glad for the fire and I think my guests were happy that we have a lot of quilts and afghans!

Here's one of my s'mores- granola thins, strawberries, milk chocolate, and a regular marshmallow.

My messiest (and one of the cutest) party guest!

 Page brought me these delicious German chocolate cupcakes.  She asked ahead of time what my favorite cake was, because she is the sweetest damn thing ever!

Look at all these amazing gifts from friends!!  I feel so spoiled!

I'm a lucky gal!

I got to spend Saturday with two of the funniest, most handsome, and sweetest guys I've ever met. We ate lunch outside, took a drive through the country, walked around a lovely park, and stopped at yard sales and a thrift shop. There may have also been some accidents related to a swallowed penny and a mysterious puddle on the floor of The Goodwill, but overall, it was a really great day!

Chicken Fajita Salad

Warmer weather means lighter dinners. Lately that's meant salads for me. It's difficult for me to actually share a recipe for the salads I make, because I typically just throw them together with whatever's on hand.  I used leftover cooked veggies from the previous night's mushroom cheesesteaks, for instance.  That's the great thing about salads, they're pretty versatile.  I thought I'd share the ingredients for this one and let you figure out how much of each to add, because it ended up being a pretty delicious meal. I recommend eating it with a chipotle or southwest dressing!

Chicken Fajita Salad

•mixed greens

•grilled chicken

•shredded cheese

•avocado

•sautéed peppers & onions 

•black beans

•corn

•crushed tortilla chips

Enjoy!

For The Birds

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Exploring ~ Part Two

This house was probably my favorite.  I think that because I could get a really clear view of the inside, I could imagine it in its former glory.  It was probably a really lovely house.  There were at least two fireplaces and look at the built in shelves! 

I pass this house almost every day and have wanted to stop for ages.  Like all the other houses, I want to know this house's story.  I'm sure the reasons these houses are empty are much less romantic than the stories I imagine about them.  This house is pretty well boarded up, but there is one window that I could look in.  I'm sure others have done more than just look, but I certainly wasn't climbing in there alone!  It's hard to tell from the picture, but this is the house where I think there's a piano.  It's right inside the window, to the left.

Exploring ~ Part One

On Mother's Day I got the chance to photograph some of the old abandoned houses we've passed on our drives.  I took a lot of photos, so I'm going to break them up into a few posts.  I think there's something so sad and so lovely about these decaying buildings littered with the former inhabitants' belongings and the trash of people who have passed through.  I always wonder how the house ended up in that state and how people could just leave things behind.  I'm almost certain there was a piano inside of the houses!  Some of these houses have been vacant for as long as I can remember and the first one I'm going to share was really just a shell.  This is the only house that I actually went inside of and the only one safe enough for Oscar to come along, but I don't think it really counts since there isn't even a floor or roof!  I'm kind of getting the itch to go back to some of the other houses and actually venture inside, but that is technically breaking the law (no trespassing signs are posted on most of the houses) and I'm scared of things like crazy squatters and ghosts!