Finally Feeling Better

Hello everyone!

It has been a long time since I have blogged! I am sorry! I was so super duper sick and it was not fun at all.

I am finally getting over a really serious upper respiratory infection (worst thing in the world, I would not wish that on my worst enemy!) and for everyone who knows me knows I NEVER get sick! I battled with migraines, fever, cold chills, uncontrollable coughing, and more ugh I am thanking god every few minutes for letting me feel better ha ha ha


But OH MY GOSH on valentines day when I was still feeling like dog poop and probably looked like dog poop, Fred proposed to me!!! It was the sweetest thing ever and I love him so much! These are the beautiful roses he brought home for me!

I loveeee it! :]  I am feeling a little overwhelmed with planning the wedding...it is a lot of work but still exciting work ha ha ha

We also welcomed a new member to our family. I just love how our little family is growing. Everyone meet Bentley. She is a monster 4 month old. ha ha ha

We rescued her. She was terrified of people when we first got her. She wouldn't make eye contact with you or let you touch her with out her either yelping or just shutting down. It was so sad...my heart ached and I knew I had to take her in. So now she has 2 older sisters to show her the way and to show her we are only going to love on her, not beat her.

I hope everyone is as high off life like I am, and if your not, or having a bad day just remember if god shuts a door in your life its just because he has opened a window for you or wants you to go out the back door.  There is a reason for every thing, put your trust in him :]

Hearts&cute-4month-old-huskies - Amber

Smoothie Attack

Hello my loves,

Today was Day 1 of my new eating plan. I don't know how it is for all of you but changing something as big as my eating habits all of a sudden is a bit much for me. I like my positive changes to last into the far future and I want to be successful with the positive changes!  So, my first step is making a nutritious smoothie EVERY SINGLE morning. 

It is a little building block that I will build onto :] ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU WANT TO SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS, NOT FAILURE!

I want to share my smoothie with you guys so that if you want to start setting yourself up for success this can be an easy way to start.

What you will need:

• 1 Banana (I used organic frozen banana)
• 1 scoop natural peanut butter
• 2 scoops yogurt (I used fage greek yogurt)
• 1/2 cup almond milk (you can also use coconut, soy, or cows milk)
• 1 hand full spinach (you can also use kale)
• blender/food processor (I use my Ninja)

Pop all those ingrediants into your blender and blend away! If you would like your smoothie thicker in consistancy add some ice to the mixture.

This smoothie was A-MAZING! I was full until 3pm. I am definitly going to keep doing this every morning, and the best part is you can never get tired of them. There are SO many different variations of smoothies you are bound to find one that suites your taste buds!

"The body is the soul's house. Shouldn't we therefore take care of our house so that it doesn't fall into ruin?" - Philo

Hearts&yummy-green-smoothies - Amber

Easy Way To Eat A Pomegranate

Hello my friends,

I remember when I was teeny tiny at my grandma's house loving when the Pomegranates on her trees were ripe! My little sisters and I would go crazy over them! (and still do ha ha ha)

Our mother absolutely hated when we would eat them because the red juice - that we would undoubtedly get on our clothes every single time - did not come out all that easily. ha ha (sorry mom!)

We were young and grandma said if we wanted to eat them we could only eat them outside in the backyard so us girls would go hunker down on the hammock and pick our way into those messy, delicious, absolutely beautiful pomegranates.

Well, now that I am much older I still have a soft spot for that juicy fruit, but now I have a much more efficient, less messy way to eat and enjoy these beauties.

Step 1 - You will need

• sharp knife
• strainer
• towel
• large cutting board
• slotted spoon or mini hand strainer
• bowl of water

Step 2 - Rinse off your Pomegranate

Step 3 - Slice off the crown. The crown is the part that it was connected to the tree from.

Step 4 - Slightly cut the pomegranate in about five places. It should look like a peeled orange does with light wedges cut into it. 

Step 5 - Open Pomegranate and begin to separate the juicy seeds from the rind. Put seeds in your bowl of water. All the white flesh (that you don't eat) that is separating the seeds inside will float to the top of the water.

Step 6 - Once you have removed all the seeds use the slotted spoon or mini strainer to skim the white flesh out of the bowl.

Step 7 - Poor bowl of water and seeds into big strainer

Step 8 - ENJOY!

I hope that helped out all you fellow pomegranate lovers! If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Please always remember:

Hearts&beautiful-jewel-like-fruit - Amber

Love That Ladder Shelf

Hey my loves!

I got a ton of house stuff accomplished over the weekend! It feels so good to finally be getting my house together. It takes so much time and is so dang expensive! ha ha ha

Thanks to my good friend Ry, that I stole for a day, we got everything hung on the walls!  Also, thanks to my amazing boyfriend we did a deep clean on the whole spankin house!! Nothing says Happy Wife=Happy Life like a clean house!!

My grandparents came over for dinner last night and let me tell you I was so nervous for them to come over and eat the dinner I made and show them the thing that Fred and I are most proud of in life - our new home. They LOVED everything about the house and the dinner and were very proud of us...it was a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders ha ha ha

This is my living room...it's not done yet but it's coming along!

A peek at our living room...love my shag rug! ha ha ha 

Our front door! Welcome family and friends! 

Enjoy the simple things <3 

Spare bedroom #1 FINALLY done! 

Our shelf in the master bedroom and the fun family tree Fred's mom got us for Christmas!



I hope everyone has an amazing, blessed day!

Hearts&homes-coming-together - Amber

School Bell

Hello my friends,

Yesterday was back to school... ha ha ha Political science - doesn't that sound like a blast??

My class is 5:20pm till 9:30pm...classes this long should be against the law ha ha ha I am just excited to get it started so I can get it finished!

Unfortunately I am having a bad day! I hate when I have those! A little thing I try and do is once something goes wrong in life I pick myself up right away and move on with life. I ALWAYS TRY AND MAKE THE BEST OUT OF EVERYTHING! :]

This quote really helped me this morning:

Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. Live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you!
–Christian D. Larson

On a good note, look at a few things I found that I adore:

This makes me WISH I had an attic. I would make it my hide-away princess chambers

This bathroom is simply amazing. It is so natural and so me.

I am in love with this look. It is so vintage and I want to put them as center pieces on every table I see!

How freaking adorable??? One of my friends took this picture in a Louis Vuitton window. I fell instantly in love.

Hearts&keeping-our-spirits-up - Amber

It's Not Fun Being Sick

Hey loves!

My boyfriend has been sick all weekend. Boo...so I wanted to share some natural home remedies with you guys. Hopefully they will help if you are feeling like poop as well ha ha ha

Headache-

• Drink a BIG ol glass of H2O 
• Give yourself or get someone to give you a neck/head massage
• There is a pressure point in your hand between your thumb and pointer finger - hold that down on each hand for 15 seconds.
• After a little while if those do not help take a hour power nap.

Sore Throat-

• Lemon honey drink - 1cup warm water, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1tbsp honey/agave sweetener 

Acne-

• Chamomile tea works great. Just brew a tea bag and dip a cotton ball into tea swipe over face once a day.

Blackheads-

• Witch Hazel (I use this every day!) wipe over face morning and night.
• Lemon Juice & Cinnamon rub - 1tsp lemon juice, 1tsp ground cinnamon. Rub on face. leave on 5 minutes. Rinse. 

Anxiety-

• Breathing Treatments. You would be amazed at how a person can control the way they are feeling by just they way they control their breathing. Deep, slow, steady breaths work every single time. 
• I recommend yoga. I have been doing yoga for years now and a lot of it is your breathing. If you do it correctly yoga is an amazing stress reducer. 
• Vitamin B is well known to have a calming effect on the nervous system. 

Cold/Sniffles

• AVOID DAIRY!
• Load up on Vitamin C
• Echinacea & Ginseng

Fever-

• Drink lots of water. Many people do not realize fevers can easily make you dehydrated. 
• Take a cool bath.
• Typically a fever is your body trying to fight off a sickness. It is usually OK to let a fever "ride" as long as it does not get too high. In that case you need to cool your head down immediately and get to a doctor.   

I hope you guys learned something about kicking a colds butt! Also remember eating healthy and exercising helps keep your body in good working order and makes it easier to fight nasty colds. Help keep your body in shape so it can fight off sickness easier!

Perfectly Put!!



Hearts&sick-boyfriends -  Amber

Master Bedroom

Good morning!

My wonderful boyfriend and good friend Dustin spent hours last night putting together all our new furniture! Yay! Thanks guys ha ha ha It looks SO good, I am in love :]

 I am super excited. I put this whole look together for under $400. Can you say I am the queen of bargain shopping! Plus I have a huge love for decorating :]

For above the headboard I think I am going to go for this kind of design :] I really love the black and white look but I was maybe thinking of going with red frames??? Not sure yet ha ha ha

 So, the bf and I are a little obsessed with this food dish from Buca di beppo. Every single time we go there we do not even think twice before ordering it...yes it is THAT good. Well my friends I FOUND THE RECIPE! I will paste it below :] I found it on Tastebook.com.

The only thing I do differently is substitute the chicken for shrimp and I leave out the crushed red pepper(If you leave it in it is a verrrrrrry spicy dinner) and I just put the crushed red pepper on the table if anyone wants to add it to their own plate.

Spicy Chicken Rigatoni

This is a recipe from the menu at Buca Di Beppo. It is very spicy, but you can cut the crushed red pepper in half to cut down on the hot.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 Tbs crushed red pepper
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 Tbs chopped garlic
• 6 oz chicken, sliced
• 3/4 cup. Marinara sauce
• 1/2 cup Alfredo sauce
• 2 tsp butter
• 1/4 cup peas
• 1 lb Rigatoni pasta, cooked according to package directions
• additional 1/2 t crushed red pepper (for garnish)

Directions

1) In a sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add crushed red pepper, salt, black pepper and garlic and sauté just long enough for garlic to caramelize and red pepper to release flavor into the oil(I USE OLIVE OIL). Add sliced chicken (I USE SHRIMP) and sauté briefly to coat in spices and garlic.

2)Add Marinara Sauce first and then Alfredo Sauce and bring to a simmer. Cook until sauce thickens slightly and chicken(OR SHRIMP) has reached an internal temperature of 165°. Turn off flame, add butter(I DO NOT USE BUTTER) and peas and incorporate into sauce.

3)Drop cooked pasta in boiling water for 3 seconds. Let drain for 15 seconds. Toss with the sauce. Place pasta and sauce in pasta bowl, reserving the majority of the chicken to be placed on top of the pasta. Using a rubber spatula, scrape any remaining sauce from the pan to the pasta. Garnish with crushed red pepper and serve.

I hope you enjoy!

Please dont forget...

 Hearts&master-bedrooms - Amber