holiday porch

Its continuing to be a busy month for us!  The porch is a little light on creativeness but 1. its decorated and 2. for cheap!  The only item I purchase was the poinsettia, everything else was owned or upcycled.

And yes, that is the same wreath I made for our wedding.  I just removed the burlap bow and added a holiday themed one.

And the best part of this post today is my craft FAIL!  I thought I could pull off a hybrid of these two pins.  

be different act normal

&

lucys designs

You see those trees in the post above?  Those are garland wrapped tomato cages!  Yup this smart cookie thought why not just wrap tomato cages with lights, it should look like the wreath above right?  Um no...

Ha!  The mr. and I were cracking up at how ugly it was.  Oh well, at least it didn't cost me a thing! merry Christmas everyone, the roundys

fall photo recap

I have about 5 uncompleted projects in the craft room and just as many back logged posts for this blog.  I'm about to take the easy way out and up date you all at once...here's what the mr. and I have been up to this fall.

I accepted a promotion, which meant leaving views like this...

and sweet dance sessions like these...

the mr. and I traveled to Vegas for some adult time...

then headed off to Yosemite for our anniversary get away...

as well as enjoyed a slice of our wedding cake, 1 year later.  Nice wrap job mom, it tasted great!

I enjoyed watching the mr. learn how to rock climb!

we hosted a backyard movie night that included a s'more bar...

and we fully embraced Halloween...

used a power tool to carve a pumpkin...

I hosted my first event at the new job and the mr. took amazing photos of it...

filmed my nephews first steps!

crafted and decorated our porch for fall and completely forgot to post about it...

enjoyed a short stay in San Francisco for a conference...

and caught mr. and mrs. claus having a moment (another work event)

sweet potato burger

This is not my recipe. but I made them. and they are good! There are a lot of really beneficial ingredients in this recipe and although there may be a ton of steps I promise it's worth it.  Another added benefit is they freeze well, so enjoy all that hard work over and over again.

the edible perspective

{sweet potato black bean burger}

ingredients
15oz black beans, drained and rinsed
3 cup cubed sweet tater, cooked and skin on
1/2 cup corn
2/3 cup finely chopped onion
2 large garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
6 tablespoons rolled oats, partially ground
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne 
1 tablespoon olive oil


steps
1. preheat oven to 375 once you finish cooking the quinoa and potato
2. mash half of the beans in a bowl until paste-like
3. add in the rest of the beans and give a very light stir/mash to combine
4. in a large bowl, mash the sweet tater.  Each cube should be mashed, but you don’t want it creamy
5. stir in the salt, pepper, oregano, coriander, chili powder, cayenne and olive oil, until combined
6. mix in the onion, garlic, corn, black beans, quinoa, sunflower seeds, and ground oats, until just combined
7. form into balls, between your hands and flatten into 1/2”-3/4” thick patties.  This should make 8 patties
8. Place on a pan lined with parchment paper [or lightly greased pan] and bake on each side for 15min, flipping once, half-way through


tips
To make the ground oats – Pulse your blender on and off, until you have the consistency about half way to flour. Instead of ground oats, feel free to sub – millet flour, oat flour, quinoa flour, whole wheat flour, etc.

halloween porch

I have another decorated front porch for ya'all.  If fact this has become my recent obsession and I already have the "fall" porch supplies ready to go when halloween is over.  In true diy fashion there were a few other crafts I wanted to add to this themed porch, but no time to do them!

Here we have the upcycled rag wreath.  I really enjoy making these as you can see this in my second one; my first was the valentines version.

This time I used my husbands old black jersey t-shirts and black cotton pants, cut into strips.  Score! No trip to the fabric store; only to Michaels for the box wire wreath frame.

The craft pumpkins were also upcyled.  I rescued them from a thrift store pile, sprayed them, and then used acrylic paint to decorate.

This lantern and the chandelier you see in the other photo were decorations from our wedding.  Love that I get to reuse them all year long! {Steamer trunk was free in the alley, see this post}

And my favorite craft for this themed porch... the upcylced pennant flag banner! Again I used old clothing, hemp twine and the zig zag setting on my sewing to create this customizable banner.  

Oh and all this inspiration found on Pinterest of course!

pink sugar

halloween s'mores

Pin'd it and Did it!  First holiday at my new job, time to reward the team with a little spooky treat.  Thank you Pinterest for the inspiration photo you see here.

southern vogue via pinterest  

1. To start be sure to get the Honey Maid Fresh Stacks!  They are wrapped in smaller packages and it will save you the hassle of breaking the bars in two.

2. Next up you need your marshmallow ghosts made by Peeps.

3. Lastly don't forget those mini Hershey's bars.

4. Place them in your cellophane bag like so.

And there you go, a cute spooky treat with a creative twist.  Trust me the reaction is worth the effort, I was even asked if I made the marshmallow ghost! uh no.

p.s. Target was my one stop shop for the ingredients in this post, including the polka dot cellophane bags.  The ribbon was however upcycled.

paula's choice

Once in awhile I think I will do these posts on things I buy regularly only because I know a good recommendation is always appreciated!

I hate to bring up this particular part of my past, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who struggled with acne well beyond my teenage years.  My dear mother tried so hard to help me; knowing the blemishes really put an damper on my self-esteem.  I made countless visits to the dermatologist, tried every single thing on the market and never really experienced truly clear skin until I tried Paula's Choice. I discovered her products on a very cool website called makeupalley.  The reviews were so overwhelming I had to give it a try.  

I've tried some of the makeup, not very impressed.  It's the skincare that I have fallen in love with.  I use all of these products regularly and I would consider the first few as essential.

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my am cleanser

clear normalizing cleanser
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must have toner

skin balancing toner
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the best daily lotion i have ever used

skin balancing daily mattifying lotion
spf 15 & antioxidants
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this bottle will last you awhile

gentle touch makeup remover
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a nice treat to your routine

skin balancing super antioxidant
mattifying concentrate

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perfect for the bikini line ;)

skin relief treatment
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great product for controlling oil

skin balancing carbon mask
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extra moisture that won't leave you greasy

skin recovery hydrating treatment mask
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my pm cleanser

hydralight one step facial cleanser
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if i have really dry skin i use this

skin recovery moisturizer
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Here's the thing and I need to say it... the beauty of this product line is the ability to customize to meet your skincare needs.  Read the descriptions and experiment, you can return items if they don't work for you.  Enjoy and let me know how it goes!