Deliciousness on a Spoon

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pudding Fudge... To die for and allowed on Phase Two of South Beach :) Bryan and I devoured this dessert tonight!! Even people not on South Beach will LOVE this if you are a die hard rich chocolate and peanut butter fan! Great out of a bowl or maybe even to dip strawberries in guilt free :) The consistency is thick and almost like a liquid fudge if you can imagine that. Yum... I've got to stop talking about it or else I will be making a run to the store for another box of pudding and whipping up another batch before you know it.

1 large box sugar free/fat free chocolate pudding
2 tsp peanut butter ( creamy )
1 1/2 cups skim milk

Mix the pudding pack with 1 1/2 cups skim milk. Add 2 tsp peanut butter ( creamy ) and mix until smooth. Chill 5-10 minutes and enjoy... it is breath taking and you cannot even tell that it is low fat or sugar free... heavenly :) Try it.. you'll LOVE it :)

Tray Chic!

My sweet friend Becky is about to have her baby girl in a few days. This is a picture of a monogrammed door plaque for her little girl Natalie that I made to hang up on her door :) Check out my Etsy shop www.traychicdesigns.etsy.com. There are several whimsical hanging wall trays to personalize any room of the house with!

Beauty Bargains on a Budget

10 Favorite Beauty Buys That I Cannot Live Without!

1. Aveeno Active Naturals Clear Complexion Cream Cleanser 5 oz ( $7.99 at CVS )

This is the BEST facial cleanser that I have ever used! It makes my face feel so clean and doesn't dry it out! My complexion has a rosy glow ever since I started using this. I can't tell you the last time that I have had a serious break out since I started using this product 6 months ago. I refuse to go back to any other face wash... I would make a midnight run to the store for this for sure!

2. Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer SPF 30 ( $14.99 at Target )

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this... a moisturizer + sunscreen all wrapped up in one. This moisturizer is oil free and leaves your skin feeling silky and smooth. Sometimes the whole bed time routine can be a pain. I used to skip the moisturizing just because it was one more thing I HAD to do. Now I look forward to using this moisturizer because my face feels so refreshed and rejuvinated after a long day. It also lasts a while because you just need a couple of pea sized squirts to cover your entire face.


3. MAC Tinted Lip Glass in Nymphette ($14.00 at MAC Cosmetics)

4. OPI polish Lincoln Park After Dark: Where Midnight Meets Purple ($8.50 at ULTA )

I have always wanted to try out some black nail polish but have never had the guts. For those of you who were or are in the same boat as me will love this color because it appears to be black but has purple tones in it. It looks really good on toes!! Very cool color if you are feeling bold and daring!


5. Loreal HIP concentrated shadow duo in Gilded 806 ( $7.99 at CVS )

Such a high quality shadow for such a small price! These shadows are long lasting and not your typical shadow colors. MAC quality eye shadows minus the price!

6. Maybelline Shine Seduction Glossy Lip Color in Champagne Fizz ($7.49 at ULTA)

This lip gloss goes great with any complexion! So, your pasty white self can wear it in the winter and your nice and bronzed summer self can also sport this light lip gloss in the summer. So natural and pretty with a bit of a sparkle. What a price!

7. Esencia White Lotus Barley and Nettle Organic Shampoo by SAMY ( $7.99 at Kroger or Walgreens )

This smells DELICIOUS! My showers have become increasingly longer ever since I started using this shampoo. It's deep breath worthy for sure! The smell stays with you throughout the day and is so different than any other shampoo scent I have ever tried. I think they also sell this shampoo in an orange scent as well, but I have yet to try it out.


8. Lollia Inspire Hand Cream 4.25 oz ( $24.00 at Amazon.com )

This seems like ALOT of money for such a small amount of hand cream, but it is SO SO worth it! You only need a pea sized amount. I got my tube last July for my birthday and still have 1/4 tube left. It really does go a long way... Think of this as a sweet smelling long term investment that your hands and your senses will thank you for throughout the year!

9. Bare Minerals Rose Radiance All Over Face Color ($18.00 at Sephora )

I love Bare Minerals shimmery face colors but this one is the best! It leaves your skin with a sparkling glow that is simply beautiful! It comes in a pot and you only need a sprinkle on your makeup brush to brighten up your face with a healthy glow. It doesn't clog pores either! Definite plus :)

10.Ped Egg ($9.99 at CVS )

This product is a god send for all of you who love their pedicures! It makes your feet so smooth! It's so much more gentle than I thought it would be. If your ticklish feet can't take the salon foot rub down, this is your horse! I am so ticklish but not with the ped egg! Love it! A little creeped out by the foot shavings that it produces, but disposal of those dead cells is always a quick and soon forgotten process.

Toddler Talk

Top 10 Decodable Noah Words:

1. Me Dee= I want that
2. Dare da ee= There it is
3. Pees= Please
4. Dee, Dee, Dee= Dance, Dance, Dance... yes we have a dancer on our hands :o0
5. Big B= Big Bird
6. Melmo= Elmo, of course ;)
7. T.D.= T.V.
8. ShahShaw= Paci? Do not know where that came from
9. FrahFrah= French Fries
10. Apee= Apple

My sweet Noah is becoming very verbal... even if what he says doesn't make sense to Bryan or myself, it sure does seem to make some kind of sense to him. He is constantly carrying on a conversation with any pretend person who will listen on his many toy and hand me down cell phones. Sometimes his own palm does the trick. Dead serious... he pretends his hand and our hands are phones and talks and laughs as he babbles and nods his head smashing them to the side of his face. It is hilarious... so very dramatic and includes hilarious faces. It is so much fun seeing him learn and grow and develop into such a funny little guy.

To applique or not to applique...

I LOVE, love, love, creating things. When I was teaching I was all about planning interactive activities and fun projects to get my students excited about what we were learning. Now, my creative urge has turned it's head in the direction of our house. Every few months I get the itch to revamp something around the house. Here are a few things that have been keeping me busy the past 6 months ( other than my little man and his two baby friends that stay with me during the day):

1.Refinishing two sets of ends tables for both living rooms... black of course! Black is such a classy and sassy color. Timeless.

2. Revamping our entertainment center after we couldn't get rid of it on Craigslist... black paint with some sand papering to give it the forever and a day worn kind of look. It's amazing what a little paint can do to 30+ year old end tables!

3. Creating and hand stitching ( ouch ) layered green and brown paisley applique designs to my bright red curtains. So FUN and took forever, but totally worth it. I just stitched the two paisley layers together and then used fusible interfacing to attach them to the actual curtains. 26 years old and have no idea how to operate a sewing machine. I think learning how to sew on an actual sewing machine skipped my generation because I can count on one hand how many people my age that I know that can work a sewing machine. I see sewing classes at Michael's in my future :)

4. Recovering dining room chairs with an adorable interlocking green on white floral pattern and whipping up a buffet runner to match with the fabric scraps.

I love, love, LOVE decorating our house and can't get enough of the whole "cottage chic" look. If I actually had the free time, I would be at HomeGoods at least 3 times a week. I am not sure if it is just an East Coast kind of thing or not, but those of you that are not familiar with it check out this link.( HomeGoods) I might just have the tee tiniest bit of an unhealthy addiction to the store. It has helped being at home with the two babies and Noah because we don't make it out past our driveway. I could spend hours in HomeGoods. In fact, I could live in that store. It is beyond heavenly and has absolutely everything you could ever need for your house and for yourself for really affordable prices!
(Maybe a little too affordable to some of the hubbies out there.. haha)

It's been a few weeks since the creative juices were flowing, but tonight I remembered that I have some extra fabric tucked in my craft box and I suddenly had the unstoppable urge to make some appliques to attach to my pillows on our couch. The pillows are a gorgeous red that match the curtains, but they look so plain compared to my Pottery Barn Seraphina patterend pillows... ADORE that pattern and can't get enough of the vibrant colors. I cut out the fabric shapes and attached them to the pillows with straight pins so I could look at them and make up my mind without the commitment that comes along with fusing them to the pillows. So here's the question... to applique or not to applique? Check out the pics (with and without) and tell me what you think :)

South Beach Diet-Day 10!!!

I am so desperate to lose the last little bit of the baby bulge... It has been a year and half now since I had Noah so there is just absolutely no reason for me to be using the excuse " I just had a baby" anymore! It has to go.. that's the bottom line. I'm not ready to wear a "mom" bathing suit for the rest of my life.... It would be nice to fit back into my pre-baby two piece suit, at least one more time... I also have about 15 pairs of cute, cute, cute pre-Noah jeans that I am dying to get back into... So, because I have gone on South Beach, Bryan has also :) He doesn't mind though... we have made it a competition... like our own personal version of Biggest Loser. ( He's winning right now by the way and makes sure he let's me know about it daily) When I first started this crazy diet 10 days ago, I thought I was going to die... our first night of it we were eating dinner at my parent's house and dinner was taco salad.... of course for Bryan and I it was just salad with a bit of taco meat and some salsa... Mom was piling doritos on hers... painful, just painful! The second day I almost quit at several points in the day, especially as I was walking through the grocery store grabbing a few things and feeling as if the whole world was spinning... It was almost like an out of body experience... Not good, not good... I guess that was what they call "carb crashing". It's now day 10, and it's not so bad... I've had to get pretty creative with our dinners and lunches but have come up with some pretty yummy healthy things!! Here's a recipe for some South Beach friendly chicken lettuce wraps that turned out to be absolutely scrumptious!

1 TB Trader Joes Soyaki Sauce
1 TB Soy Sauce
1 TB EVOO
2 tsp honey dijon ( or more if necessary to thicken up sauce)
2 chicken breasts, cut into little pieces
2 cloves of garlic, choppped finely
1/2 med sweet onion chopped finely
4-5 lettuce cups
-garlic powder, salt, pepper, and ginger powder (pinch of each )


Heat EVOO on med high with garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and garlic powder
Add chicken and cook evenly in mixture over medium heat until cooked through
Add dijon mustard and ginger powder ( add more for stronger flavor)
Cook for 5 more minutes on medium/low heat untl the flavors are all mixed together and yummy :)

Serve in lettuce cups... :) Enjoy!!!

Every Day is a Winding Road

This verse has been on my heart lately as I navigate the valleys of life. It fits perfectly with the theme of this season of our life. In the past, my mentality towards tough times has always been, "why me and why now?" God never puts more than you can handle on your plate, right? My plate's pretty full, but he must know what he is doing. I am so much more thankful for the testing and challenging times now, because that's where the growth is... that is where God has refined me and taught me more than I would have ever known. I want to enjoy the fullness of life, the ups and downs, the happy, the sad... all of it and if I have to go through some valleys, I'll appreciate coming out of them even that much stronger!

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." James 1:2-4