Review: The Vintage Pearl

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago how I had ordered a necklace from this shop online.  I got it in the mail last week and was SO pleased with what I found when I opened it!

We got this necklace for our sister-in-law, Ashley as a very belated birthday/early Mother's day gift.  If you can't see what the charms say, they have her 2 kid's names on them and then have their birthstones next to them.  Also, I was so impressed with how shiney and beautiful the chain was.  When I saw it online, I was a little skeptical because of the look of it, however when I opened the package and saw it, I was pleasantly surprised!  

The order took awhile to get, although it was totally worth the wait!  I would definitely order from the vintage pearl again!

p.s. I did this review on my own without any prompting or requests from the vintage pearl.

Working to Accomplish A Goal

Do you remember my New Years Resolutions?  Let me remind you of 2 of my resolutions, learn to sew and to buy a new sewing machine.  Let me tell you, I am excitedly working towards this!  I got my sewing machine last week (YA-HOO!) and I can't wait to use it!  The only problem is that I don't know what I'm doing!  I sit in class at night and think about all the things that I want to make and do with my sewing machine...I must be proactive about this or else that machine will sit unused and I won't learn anything in class.  My sister, Melissa was here and she helped me research where I could take sewing lessons.  We found a few places but then she found gold!  Joann's offers sewing classes for $35 for a 2.5 hour session(which is cheap compared to other prices here) and if I register this Saturday during their "Open House" I save 50% on the class.  Let's do the math together...that's $17.50!  YESSSSSSSSS!
I really am excited to learn to use my machine so that I can continue to make things without having to have my mom help me :).  Over the Easter weekend, I had her help me make a birthday gift for my nephew, Jacob.  I was inspired by Meg at whatever to make an age t-shirt for him.  I purchased the fabric off etsy for super cheap and the t-shirt from walmart for (of course) super cheap.

The idea is that when this shirt is washed, the fabric will kinda curl and fringe up to where the stitch is which will (hopefully) add to the charm of the t-shirt.  Here's the back of the t-shirt:

I hope he likes it!  I cannot wait to make more! :)

Happy Belated Easter!

Sorry for my absence from blogland lately...we've had lots of visitors (FUN!) and a trip to Louisville for Easter which has really kept me from spending time doing something that I really enjoy doing (blogging, duh!)!  However, my sister just left this morning (after a fun few days, if I do say so myself) and so now I'm back to me, myself and I during the days :).  I have a lot to catch you up on, but for now we'll stick to this past Easter weekend.  This was Stephen and mine's first Easter together which basically means that we get to be together all the time, as opposed to only getting to see Stephen once a month before he ventures back to Chicago and me back to Lexington, so that is fun!

And might I add that the weather was beautiful!  Here is a picture of us on our first Easter - Stephen insisted we get a picture (which is funny to me).  It was a great weekend!  Stephen had off work on Friday so we headed to Louisville on Friday morning and arrived by 3:30 (nasty traffic on 65south - thanks Indiana!).  That night, we got to spend some time with our nephew Jacob and niece Halle while we babysat for Nathan and Ashley - we had a ton of fun!  We don't get to see these cuties that often so we really enjoyed being able to hang out with them just us and them.

Later that night we headed over to Stephen's parents house to dye Easter Eggs with Stephen's sister and her husband - all in all, a great day!

On Saturday we spent the day running errands and then went out to dinner with my parents and sister and her husband to celebrate her birthday - we enjoyed delicious Cuban cuisine - YUMMY!

Sunday was a wonderful day filled with church, family and great food!

Sunday afternoon was filled with relaxation and this:

Who doesn't love a great Sunday nap with your favorite canine companion?!

The weekend ended on Monday (Stephen took work off on Monday) and so we got to sleep in and peacefully head back to Chicago with my sister, Melissa.

I hated leaving Louisville, but at least I had Melissa to keep me company for a few days :)

Magnificent Mondays: Magnificent Blogs 7

Okay, I know that many of you have already been to this magnificent blog, but I couldn't help but include her in the role.  I found myself on her blog after visiting one of my favorite blogs (whatever - it was previously featured) and MAN did my taste buds start to tingle out of the longing to taste what my eyes were seeing.  You must go to her blog and try some of the recipes that she shares - and who knows, maybe you'll be inspired to purchase her cookbook!

Oh my stars - this is where I started to lose it!

My husband loves sweets and cinnamon, so of course you're seeing a repeat of this recipe that you previously saw me swoon over on Sunday Baker.

Who doesn't love this dish?  Simple, fancy, slow, quick, long, short I'll take it anyway I can get it (I'm talking about this recipe people, stay in the right frame of mind!) ;)

And last but not least: this; because I always struggle with good salad ideas.

Enough is enough - go plan out your weekly meals (only after visiting The Pioneer Woman first!)

Happy Blogging!