Life Happenings: General Life Happenings

Life Happenings: General Life Happenings

LEARNING FRENCH!!!!!

So a while back, my mom and I agreed that we would learn languages and go to those countries when Traver is away on deployments. So our first language is FRENCH! We decided last summer we would start learning french and my mom went out and got all kinds of fun stuff for us. It was actually really fun. I got home from an evening out and my mom had this super cute bag full of little wrapped up gifts all having to do with France.
Including:




A french computer program, not Rosetta Stone, way way to expensive! But its called Instant Immersion and its got lots of awesome stuff in it including a mystery game you play when you are all done and have to solve all in French. Its a great program and WAY cheaper than rosetta stone!



A french book called "French in 10 minutes a day" which has little lessons and stickers to put all over your house and flash card and puzzles and games that help you learn, its a great book for learning!



A subscription to France Magazine which is really fun to look through, its not in French, but has all these sweet articles about places in France and just fun things, and it does have some french in it to help you learn and read in French!





She also got us each these books by Mireille Guiliano... "French Women Dont Get Fat" and "French Women For All Seasons" and although I havent fully read them yet, they are pretty good and funny! She also got us a book called " A Year in Provence" by Peter Mayle and Im looking forward to reading it!



And as a fun extra, she got me a copy of "Sex and Mrs. X", dont worry its not anything raunchy, its a movie, a comedy, about a woman who goes to France to write an article about a French woman who basically sets up well established french men with beautiful women.... ok ok it sounds bad, but its really not and its very funny, and very french!

All in all we have tons of fun French learning tools and are making progress towards really learning the language and making a trip to FRANCE! We are so excited and I think its going to be great! I cant wait for our actual trip to France where we can put our french to good use and sit by the Eiffel Tower and drink wine and eat cheese, haha! We even are thinking about doing a race while we are there, since we are currently training for a half-marathon, we figured why not just keep up with it and do a race while in France! But we shall see how that goes, haha!


Au Revoir!

Life Happenings: Entertaining Exercise

Life Happenings: Entertaining Exercise

Half-Marathons




As of the 1st of this month I started training for a half-marathon! My mom and I, and several of her friends and their daughters are training for a half-marathon later this year and its really exciting! I am no runner, like I literally dont run, but I am really excited to become a runner. The first thing I did was buy GOOD running shoes, that is one thing I knew, I could not run in bad shoes, and it makes all the difference. So if you are thinking about running you should make sure you go to a running store and have them fit your foot to the right shoe! There are so many different shoes out there and a running store will be able to find the one that fits your foot just right. For me, I got Mizuno's and they are awesome! I use the Mizuno Wave Rider and they are super light weight which is really important and they are really comfy!





Another good thing to get is a book that will give you a better idea of how to train for a half-marathon. I have "The Absolute Beginners Guide to Half-Marathon Training" and its really great. It goes through the whole process from start to finish, also through how to eat when in training, and it comes with stength training logs, food logs, and running logs. Its a great book and definitely worth the read! I also got a running watch that keeps track of your distance, speed, and even estimates calories burned! All these things are great resources when you start training for races.




Another awesome resource is Hal Higdon's website (HalHigdon.com) . He was a world class runner and has written several books and programs for runners, starting with beginners all the way through advanced runners. His website is a gold mine full of awesome information for runners. Whether you are running a 5K or a Marathon, or a triathalon, or if you live in the cold or the hot. He has a program for everyone and they are all editable so that you can make it work into your lifestyle and time frame!

Ill be keeping everyone posted on my progress through my training! Wish me luck!

GO! GO! GO!

Life Happenings: Excursions in the Kitchen

Life Happenings: Excursions in the Kitchen

Fun Football Party Dips!

In honor of football season being in full swing Im putting up a few favorite dip recipes that are great for football parties!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients
-1/2 cup Franks Red Hot Original Sauce
-1/2 cup Blue Cheese Dressing
-1/2 cup Blue Cheese Crumbles
-8 oz. of softened Cream Cheese
-2 cups of cooked, shredded chicken

Preparation
-Mix the hot sauce, dressing, crumbles, and cream cheese in an oven safe dish (I use my 8x8 pyrex dish) and then mix in the shredded chicken.
-Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake for appox. 20 minutes or until bubbly!
-Serve with your favorite crackers, Ritz are a good choice!


Seven Layer Dip

Ingredients
-1.5 lbs cooked ground beef
-16 oz. can refried beans
-4 cups shredded cheese
-8 oz. sour cream
-1 cup guacamole
-1 cup salsa
-1 small can chopped olives
-1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
-1/2 cup chopped green onions

Preparation
-Cook ground beef in large skillet and set aside until cooled
-Spread beans in a large 13x9 dish that is approx. 1.5-2 inches deep
-Sprinkle 2 cups of cheese over the beans
-Sprinkle beef on top of cheese, and then spread the sour cream slowly over the beef
-Spread guacamole over the sour cream and then pour the salsa on top of that and sprinkle with other 2 cups of cheese
-Sprinkle olives, tomatoes, and onions over the top of the dish
-You can either serve it at room temperature or you can refrigerate it overnight and then serve with tortilla chips.

Bon Appétit!

Divine Décor: Décor Tricks

Divine Décor: Décor Tricks

Vase Fillers

A recent favorite décor trick is the use of vase fillers as a table centerpiece. My main inspiration came from a friends wedding centerpieces which were filled with fresh sliced oranges, it was beautiful and the smell was wonderful! Lemons work the same way, and you can mix flowers in as well to make it a floral arrangement!



You can find so many different things to use for fillers. Stores like Pottery Barn carry several different kinds of fillers like Acorns and Cranberries (both great for Thanksgiving) They also have fake fruits, like lemons, apples, and pomegranates (however, I prefer the use of real fruit).





There are also none food types of fillers like leaves, seashells, rocks, sand, fake snow... So many options and so many different opportunities to use them! Holidays are great times to use this trick for your table centerpieces. I already mentioned several good Thanksgiving ones, you can also use small pumpkins for Halloween, fake snow or snowflakes for Christmas, sand and seashells during the summer, leaves for fall...




Decorating with fillers is fun and gives you the flexibility to have a new fun centerpiece for each season, holiday, or event that you have!

HAPPY DECORATING!!!

Life Happenings: Entertaining Exercise

Life Happenings: Entertaining Exercise

SPINNING!!!




A few months ago a friend of mine convinced me to start going to the 6am spin class that they offer on the base on tues/thurs. I was kind of wary, first Im not a morning person, second I had done spin before and I knew it could be a butt-kickin workout. Anyways, I went and it was so much better than I remembered, and getting up early wasnt that bad! So for the last few months Ive gone twice a week and I love it!

Spin is a great form of exercise because even though its a class you can set your own resistance level and pace. Our instructor uses a 5 level system and we get to figure out what are level 1 is and so on up to 5 (which is the hardest), but my level 5 doesnt have to be as hard as everyone else... In order to have a good idea of your pace, the instuctor will tell you a RPM (rotations per minute) that you should be keeping up with, and it changes depending on your level... its super easy to understand and allows you to push yourself but not too hard!

A few of the great benefits of spinning is that it works your legs (ALOT) and your butt too, it can also work your abs if you are holding them in the whole time to hold up your upper body, as opposed to using your arms the whole time. Its a great cardio workout, which I love and after a few sessions you start to notice that it takes alot more to get your heart rate up really high! Another great thing is that there are so many options while spinning (sprints; intervals- slow, fast, slow, fast; jumps- standing, sitting, standing; pyramids- moving up and down levels 1,2,3,2,1...; no hands; being on your elbows...) there are so many different ways to mix up the workout and it keeps things new and changing! Also, an female of average height and weight can burn between 400-600 calories depending on hard you are spinning and your actual size, but thats pretty good for an hour workout!

The only thing I would recommend is getting a pair of bike shorts, if you plan on actually making a habit of it, because those seats are mighty uncomfortable and pair of padded bike shorts makes it about a billion times better, you can also buy a padded bike seat that just slips on over the regular seat! Other than that water and towel and you will be ready to go!

If you have never taken a spin class, its something that I highly recommend, I have also learned that having a fitness class that I go to keeps me going becuase I feel like its more of a commitment to my friends and to the instructor that I be there every class, its highly motivating!


GO! GO! GO!

Distinctive Designs: Fierce Fashions

Distinctive Designs: Fierce Fashions

"They're my 'I dont need a job, I dont need my parents, I've got great boots' boots!"
-Rachel from Friends

Whether tall or short, black or fuchsia, low or high heeled, boots are a fashion statement no matter how you wear them! Every woman needs a great pair of boots! Luckily for me I have several, haha!

I love boots, though sadly I rarely have the opportunity to wear them!

Chinese Laundry

Chinese Laundry has some awesome boots (and shoes in general)! I was lucky enough to get a great deal on a pair of their boots at DSW (if you havent been in a DSW, you are required to find one right now and go at your soonest opportunity!
These are my favorite boots! Im not usually a short boot kind of person, but I bought these to go with my "going away" outfit for after mywedding and they were the best purchase!



Steve Madden

I've never bought Steve Madden boots, but I have other shoes of theirs, and they are amazing and super comfy!


Jimmy Choo

Way expensive, but super fashionable! Dont I wish I could even think for a second about buying those zebra print ones!




Charlotte Russe

You can get great boots for good prices, I have an amazing pair of tan boots from Charlotte Russe and the rasberry boots below were a near purchase, but my mom talked me out of them (I have no idea where I planned to wear them, but they are so fun!) Even rainboots are fashionable these days!






HAPPY SHOPPING!

Divine Décor: Ornate Offices

Divine Décor: Ornate Offices

Pottery Barn's Bedford "Build Your Own" Office System

While flipping through a Pottery Barn catalog that I picked up while shopping with my mom, I came across this picture; I was stunned, what a perfect way to set up an office for two! We hardly have room in our office for one desk, let alone two, so I will have to wait to redecorate, but I love this idea!


Pottery Barn's Bedford "Build Your Own" Office System allows you to select from any of the above components and fit them together into your perfect office, whether its for one person or two, or if you need bookshelves or file cabinets, more or less desk space! The desk tops fit onto any of the cabinets, so you can organize it any way you like!


Here is another way of setting up two desks and best utilizing the space given to you!



Or if you are creating an office just for yourself there are several ways to use this system to best accomdate your organizational needs!

I love that the system can be both feminine and masculine, it comes in white, black, and espresso! There are so many options for how to mix and match the pieces that everyone can find a way to make the perfect office set out of it!


Pottery Barn's Daily System for Organization



There are tons of options with the Daily System to set up calanders and anything else you could possibly need to organize your life! I hope that someday Ill have enough space and money to set up a beautiful office that will be as organized as these pictures (but lets be honest, who is that organized?)

HAPPY DECORATING!