Five on Friday!

It's Friday and I'm beyond excited for the weekend to begin!

We're heading out to dinner tonight to eat some yummy Mexican and the idea of somebody else cooking for me and bringing me my scrumptious meal is thrilling to think about!  I'm tired today - I mean suuuuper tired.  It's the kind of tired I don't even think coffee can fix, so, if you ask me, it's the perfect day to eat out for dinner!  I deserve it, darn it!

Anyhooo...Let's get to the party and let's get to the good stuff!

{one}

This mug.  I need it.  You need it.  We all need it.

Hey Shabby Me has THE best mugs!  Go check them out.  You'll thank me later. ;)

Source

{two}

I never go shopping for clothes.  Like...never.  It's more like I'm in the middle of the grocery store and I'm all, "Hey, look at those yoga pants and that comfy shirt ...oooohhh and they're only five bucks.  What a deal...Where's the milk?!"  Oh, yeah, and I never try anything on!  Yikes!

Since we're leaving soon for our vay-cay, I thought why not NOT wear yoga pants/leggings every day.  

No worries, I'll still be sporting the look here and there, I just need to add a little oomph to my look, you.know.what.i.mean?

So, last Friday, off to Gap I went (with Jon and the kids in tow)!

I'm all about comfort.  This cardigan, these boyfriend jeans and these cute deck shoes all came home with me!

Oh, and Eliza totally got those cute brown boots, too!

{three}

Our Disney shirts have arrived!   

I used this Etsy shop.

Emily was great and super speedy with my order.  We couldn't be happier!

{four}

Okay, then there's this.  

Loooong story short, I've been wanting an entertainment unit forever!  Fooooorever.  

Well, Jon finally gave me the thumbs up to go ahead and move forward with purchasing one.  I thought I knew what I wanted...

I've always loved this unit from Pottery Barn...

Source

...as well as this one from IKEA.

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A friend of mine has a lot of her furniture made by the Amish and had mentioned perhaps having them build something for me.  They say they can build the same Pottery Barn style unit for half the price...

I gave it some thought, drew up a sketch, a designer I am not, and I loved what came out of my head!

I then took it to a cute little local shop in our downtown that deals with these type of interactions/purchases.

I seriously can't wait for it to come together!  EEK!

{five}

Last, but certainly not least, go check out the fun my little Princess and I had last weekend at our annual Princess Tea Party!  :)

That's it over here!  T-minus 2 hours until dinner time!

Marie :)

I'm linking up with April, Natasha, and Christina for the Five on Friday link-up Paaaaarty!

I'm linking up with A Little Bit of Everything, Momfessionals, and Grace and Love for my Friday Favorites!

I'm linking up with September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for the Oh Hey Friday linky party!

Edamame Salad Recipe

Hey guys!

I was recently approached by Nuts.com to join in on the 1st Annual Healthy Snack Bowl!  This post is all about finding a healthy snack alternative to the usual greasy and fried food served at most Super Bowl parties.

Nuts.com has an awesome healthy snacks page full of delicious and nutritious snack options for kids, vegans, and for those of us on-the-go.  You'll be sure to find a yummy snack over at Nuts.com.

Want to hear about my healthy snack that I'm sharing with Nuts.com?

When you think about the Super Bowl, why not think about beans?  

Yes.  I said beans.

Give beans a chance!

Perhaps you want a healthier option than all that fried food, perhaps you're doing great at the gym and you don't want to ruin your progress, perhaps you don't want a day filled with indigestion.

Beans.

Because...well...beans.

Enter: Edamame Salad.

The ingredients for this recipe are simple and fresh, not to mention healthy and delicious.

The ingredients also look super pretty, and that's always a plus in my book.

Super ingredients for a Super Bowl!  Ha!  See what I did there? ;)

I mean... come on... look at all that color!

You can serve this dish in a large bowl or you can use cute little serving dishes, like these adorable green ones below.

Go ahead.  Give it a try.  Your body will thank you.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today and be sure to head over to Nuts.com for more healthy recipes!



Best Wishes,
Marie :)

*I was not paid or sponsored for this post.  All content and opinions are my own.  This post is affiliated with Nuts.com to simply provide healthy snack alternatives for the 1st Annual Healthy Snack Bowl/Super Bowl.

I'm also linking up here for the DIY Sunday Showcase!

Five on Friday!

It's Friday and I have a million-and-one things to do today, but my Friday wouldn't be complete without a Five on Friday blog post.

Let's get to it!

{one}

This week I shared with ya'll our Disney Paper Chain Link Countdown.  

You guys, the kids are looooving this.  I highly recommend making one for every occasion!

{two}

A couple of changes.

I got my hair did (no worries, my car was parked while taking this hair selfie).

Aaaaaaaaaand...

I finally, fiiiiiiinally bought new glasses.  My last ones were over six years old!  It was a tough choice, but I ended up going with these ones...

They're great for kiss attacking my little guy!

{three}

This shirt just arrived in the mail for our upcoming Disney trip and I kind of love it (find it here on Etsy).

In fact, I'm wearing it right now.

{four}

This girl.

Matilda Jane.

Also, might I add that the same day Eliza wore this dress, Mrs. Joanna Gaines' daughter was wearing the same dress while visiting her Mama on Fixer Upper!

I mean, that practically makes Joanna and I BFFs, right?!  RIGHT?!

{five}

Speaking of Fixer Upper...

Please tell me you watched this week's episode.  If not, feast your eyes on this, "Barndominium."

This house...this house...It makes my heart skip a beat.

Beautiful, eh?

Thanks for stopping by my little blog!  Happy Friday, all!

Marie :)

I'm linking up with April, Natasha, and Christina for the Five on Friday link-up Paaaaarty!

I'm linking up with A Little Bit of Everything, Momfessionals, and Grace and Love for my Friday Favorites!

I'm linking up with September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for the Oh Hey Friday linky party!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Disney Paper Chain Link Countdown

We're going to Disney World!

We've known for quite some time (about 7 months) that we'd be venturing to the "Happiest Place on Earth."  It's now officially "go time" with all things Disney and what better way to start than with a Disney Paper Chain Link Countdown!

I don't know who's more excited - me or the kids...hmm...probably me!

Seriously, I should've made my own countdown!

Okay, here's how I did it and it's soooo easy.

I purchased some 12x12 paper from the craft store (red and white striped for Mickey and pink and white polka dots for Minnie).

I then used the length of the paper and the ruler as my guide for straight lines as well as the width of the ruler for the width of the chain link.

Easy.

I found a little toy lying around and thought, "Hmmm...perfect Mickey Mouse ear," I know...straight up engineering skills, right?!  Ha!

I then traced it and cut it out.  Remember, these puppies aren't going to stay in tact, so no use in attempting perfection with this project.  Seriously, the kids are literally going to rip them to shreds- no worries.

Next, I made a fold to be able to glue down the "ear" to the link itself.  Hot glue was the way to go, because it was immediate and it allowed for the "ear" to not slide/fall off the link.

I then made cute bows for Minnie by simply cutting skinny lengths of paper, I folded the paper together without creasing the edges, sort of in an oval shape, and then stapled them in the middle.  

Next, I cut a small rectangular piece of paper and glued it to the bow.

Bam!  We have a bow!

The kids have been love, love, loving ripping off a chain link every day and it gets them involved in knowing how much longer until we leave.

A chain link can also apparently be used as a headband...  

This was such a fun and easy project.  Yes, it took some time, but it was totally worth it!

Thanks for stopping by my little blog...

Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggity Dog!  ;)

Marie :)

I'm linking up here:  DIY Sunday Showcase

Organizing like it's 20-16!

That doesn't exactly have the same ring to it as, "Party Like It's 1999," does it?

Anyway, Happy Monday...?  Wait.  That doesn't sound right.  Happy and Monday should never be in the same sentence, right?  To be perfectly honest, as much as I've enjoyed every minute of these last couple of weeks, I must say that I'm craving our lost routine.  We've been going to bed late, waking up late and naps are non-existent and while it's been awesome-sauce, I can tell we're all thrown off a bit...this whole two week routine...it's just not us.  I think we're ready to get back into the thick of things, clean ourselves up and get some stuff accomplished!  It is after all, a new year!

Now, I don't want to overwhelm myself with unattainable goals right off the bat, so to get the week/month/year started, here are just a few ways in which I plan to get this little family of mine back on track!

Emily Ley is putting on #simplicitychallenge2016 over on her IG account.  I thought this could be a fun way of taking charge of the mess! 

Care to join?

I'm all about snail mail.  Seriously, I love it.  Hopefully other people love it, too, because as much as I like receiving mail, I enjoy sending it.

I purchased this pretty little greeting card organizer from Amazon.

We're immediately hit with two January birthdays in the New Year - a January 3rd birthday (My Mom) and a January 5th birthday (My Mother-In-Law).  The birthdays just keep coming after that.  I thought it'd be fun and efficient to have a place for everyone's birthday dates, as well as a place for those perfect cards that you just have to purchase for that someone special.

Organizing Henry's school papers.  

This.has.to.happen.  

It's getting cray cray over here with all these papers!  I realize that we're half-way through the school year (I also recall mentioning preparing for this last September - never happened), but I must create a way to organize his adorable papers before the end of the year...no...wait...by the end of this week! 

 Abby, from Just A Girl and Her Blog, has a great system that I plan to implement ASAP.

That's it!  See?  Not too crazy?  I think it's realistic and doable!

I feel like these little things will add up.  What do you think?

How are you organzing/putting your life back together this week?  I'd love to hear it!

Thanks for stopping by, friendship!  ;)

Marie :)

New Year's Resolutions and The Monthly Meet Up!

Happy 2016!



We practically chased and danced our way into the New Year.  These kids, I tell ya!  They're hilarious!



On New Year's Eve, Jon and I took the kids to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner.  I won a gift card at my family's Christmas party and we thought we'd make use of it on New Year's Eve.

It was delicious.

I had previously purchased hats, light-up glasses, silly string and poppers for our own little par-tay with the kiddos.  The kids got a kick out of everything.  In fact, Henry and Eliza wore their hats out to dinner and Henry also walked into the restaurant wearing his awesome light-up glasses.  It was awesome.  I really didn't think they'd care for all the stuff, but they loooooved everything and they owned it.....oooooohh....did they own it!

After dinner, we picked up some ice cream from the drive-thru for dessert...because...well, gluttony.

Once home, we then had a dance party and chased each other around the house.

The kids were in bed by 9:00 p.m. and then Jon and I sat on the couch, enjoyed a few adult beverages and clicked the channel back and forth from football to multiple New Year's Eve celebrations.

As for New Year's Day, we were super lazy.  We watched more football.  Michigan won!  Yay for that.  Go Blue!  I took down all the Christmas decor *sigh* and I never put in my contacts or put on makeup.  #winning

As for right now, I'm finally sitting down to write this post that I was supposed to have done on New Year's Eve.  Yikes!  So much for a punctual resolution, eh?

Soooo...as you may or may not know...

It's the first of the month and that means it's time for The Monthly Meet Up.  I thought it'd be a perfect time to tell all ya'll my goals/resolutions for the year.  Normally, I'd tell you just my monthly goals, but apparently my brain can only focused on long-term goals at the moment.

My girl, Sara, from The Hayes Homestead, and I host a monthly link up every month (which I'm sure will take off in 2016 *wink*) centered around your monthly goals.  It can be about anything.  Any kind of goal.  Join us, I promise you'll have a blast!

First thing is first.  Just like anything fun, we've gotta have some rules.  Ours are short and sweet:

1.  Link back to us - copy and paste our linky button on your post - we want your friends to join in on the fun, too.
2.  Follow us!  We'd love to connect with you, and you to connect with each other.
3.  We challenge you - visit, comment and follow at least four other partiers.  Are you up for the challenge?
4.  By posting, you give us permission to feature an image or post on our blog(s).  We'll always give you credit and post links back, don't you worry!

Time to par-tay!



Here we go!  Grab a water, if your resolution is to drink more water, or grab some vino if you've already given up on your water resolution and please join us!

*Prepare yourself, some of this may sound cheesy, but it's really how I want this year to unfold.

You've been warned!  ;)

{one}

Be more intentional with my time.

{two}

Be more patient.

{three}

Give back.

{four}

Step it up on my fitness.

{five}

Eat healthier.

{six}

Organize.  Organize.  Organize.

{seven}

Be a more loving, listening and understanding wife.

{eight}

Restoration of my faith.

Welp, there you have it (see, a bit of cheese in there?)!  I'm ready for this year!

Let's do it!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year, people!

Marie :)

An InLinkz Link-up