Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Just a Few of my Favorite Things

…from Anthropologie and $30 or under.
The Nester is hosting a fun link party where she wants to see our favorite things under $30.
Here are some of mine that I love and that I may give as gifts!
Anthro recipe bookAnthro DishesAnthro Juice Glasses
Record Cherished Recipes         ‘Piecrust’ Dishes             Juice just tastes better        

Anthro PotholdersAnthro CandleAnthro Hand Cream
Pretty Potholders                 Love Everything bout it      ‘Wish’ Hand cream

Anthro soapAnthro BookAnthro Towels
Delicious little soaps        A Must for home decorator      Just plain gorgeous

What finds have you discovered this year that you love to share?


And, of course I LOVE Shaklee’s products for keeping me healthy!
Shaklee Hand on Grass


All of us are trying to make positive changes in our lives, whether it is creating a cleaner, safer home for our families, getting healthier, losing weight and/or staying as youthful and vibrant as we can! I can help you with any of that. Shaklee provides a HEALTHIER LIFE for everyone and a BETTER LIFE for anyone!



I would love to speak with you on how Shaklee's products can make a difference in your life!
Email Me: greenwaylifeandhome@gmail.com


EASY Holiday Art

Grumble…do you ever have those days where you just feel like your creative mind is blocked? I just can’t think today. Maybe because I have been taxing it too much the last couple weeks, but I am at a  standstill with Christmas decorating. I think frankly I decorate too much and have TOO MUCH STUFF, but this is one area where I just can’t help myself. 

So, to feel like I at least accomplished something, I threw together and I mean “threw” in like 10-15 minutes including taking the pictures, some Holiday Art. Remember those botanical pictures I did for my powder room? Well, with all the red I am bringing in, the spring/summer-ness of them looked ‘not good’. I am no scrapbook-er…but I am a sucker for pretty papers and can always find something to use them for. I had some sheets that I loved, but the pattern was too big for the projects I had initially bought the pads of paper for. So, I thought, “let’s just frame them”. Not original I know, but I still like the look nonetheless. 

To do the original botanical art, I had new mats cut to accommodate the larger prints. I saved the original ones that came with the Ikea Ribba frame-I just knew I would need them sometime.

Powder Room Christmas Pics 022.JPG



Shaklee Hand on Grass
All of us are trying to make positive changes in our lives, whether it is creating a cleaner, safer home for our families, getting healthier, losing weight and/or staying as youthful and vibrant as we can! I can help you with any of that. Shaklee provides a HEALTHIER LIFE for everyone and a BETTER LIFE for anyone!


I would love to speak with you on how Shaklee's products can make a difference in your life!
Email Me: greenwaylifeandhome@gmail.com

Monday, November 28, 2011

Holiday Cards in the making

So,  I started my annual Holiday card making…I have been creating them the last several years on my own. I really enjoy coming up with new ideas every year. Yet, each November I start wondering how could I possibly be inspired for another card idea and just when time starts to run out…something just comes to me. This year is no exception. I had an idea for months and months and then realized without having a certain camera lens, I just couldn’t make it happen the way I was invisioning it. Maybe next year… But, I think I like my new idea even better. And what has me even more excited is that my "idea" actually came to fruition! When it involves a toddler posing just a certain way, you never know what you will get. I did bribe him a little though…I told him if he posed and smiled good for the camera he could have french fries (really they are baked potato wedges with Wildtree’s Rancher seasoning-but they are yummy nonetheless)with his lunch. He was VERY excited!!! Maybe that’s what did it, or he just likes to pose-but I took 10 shots right before lunch(I am a crazy Mom, I know) and I had 2 that turned out really good. I can’t even believe my luck!!! I am a little delirious about it actually turning out. Now, I am playing around with the logistics of the card. 

I will share it with you once it’s sent out. Smile

Here are the last two years’ cards

2010
Christmas Crafts 005

2009
Christmas Card 003

Can you tell I like glitter? Hmm, do I need to add glitter to this year’s card???? he he



Shaklee Hand on Grass

All of us are trying to make positive changes in our lives, whether it is creating a cleaner, safer home for our families, getting healthier, losing weight and/or staying as youthful and vibrant as we can!  I can help you with any of that. Shaklee provides a HEALTHIER LIFE for everyone and a BETTER LIFE for anyone!



I would love to speak with you on how Shaklee's products can make a difference in your life!
Email Me: greenwaylifeandhome@gmail.com

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Homemade Gift Part II

Hi, how was your weekend? Have you started holiday shopping? 
Friday it was in the 50's here so we did some outside decorating and Saturday I took all the fall decorations down inside and started on the Christmas decorating. I finished our more "formal" living room tree and am almost done with the exterior decorations. I will share pictures soon!  Today, I did venture out to the stores to pick up a few more decorations and some craft supplies. I have a few craft projects I am wanting to make this year. I think we are going to put up our "family" tree up next weekend. We like to make an event out of it while the 3 of us decorate it. I think I am going to make cookies & hot cocoa for a treat while we are listening to Christmas music as we decorate. 
When do you put up your tree?
This morning we "installed" the rest of my mom's birthday present I posted about a couple weeks ago. To go along with the pillows, I was able to finish the curtains the week before Thanksgiving. Since I was  hosting the holiday, today was the first time I could get over there to hang them and make sure everything looked okay, plus I needed to take pictures to show you. :)
My mom has been itching to make some changes to her home so I offered to make her some new pillows & curtains to "spruce up" the living room for her birthday.

Here are some pictures:



I'm Linking up to:





All of us are trying to make positive changes in our lives, whether it is creating a cleaner, safer home for our families, getting healthier, losing weight, and/or staying as youthful and vibrant as we can!  I can help you with any of that. Shaklee provides a HEALTHIER LIFE for everyone and a BETTER LIFE for anyone!


I would love to speak with you on how Shaklee's products can make a difference in your life!
Email Me: greenwaylifeandhome@gmail.com


Friday, November 25, 2011

Our Thanksgiving

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones! We sure did. We truly are so grateful for all we have been blessed with. We shared it with my mom, good friends and their kids. I was much more prepared than at Reed's birthday party so I was able to actually able to enjoy our guests instead of being tied to the kitchen cooking. It was so much more enjoyable. It only has taken me 37 years to figure it out how to plan better....
Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to get my ideas in one place and plan out how I was going to decorate the table and what I was making all in one spot about a week ahead of time I made a game plan. While I was digging for what napkins I was going to use on Thanksgiving, I ended up organizing my china cabinet and was inspired by all the slightly tarnished silver pieces I had and the warm wood of the bread board to create this year's tablescape. I just loved the juxtaposition of the combination to create a warm and welcoming feel. Isn't that what we all want to create in our home, especially this time of year?
When the guests arrived, we had crackers, cheese, meats, nuts and dried fruit displayed on my new bread board while we dinner was finishing up.  I had it on the center of the kitchen table, but it was making us too nervous with Reed's dairy allergies so we had to put it up on the breakfast bar so he couldn't get into anything. Jeff moved it before I realized I still needed a picture. Not ideal to have it hanging off the counter, but have to be safe, right?


I created the tablescape with items I already had and just added burlap I bought to make into a runner...I was going to make this one, HERE for Thanksgiving, but realized that since we were using both leaves in the table for the holiday-it would be too long for an everyday runner which I wanted it to be so I will sew it to the right length after the holidays. I think it will give a nice clean freshness come January when I crave things simple, simple, simple.

I made the napkin holder & placecard all in one using Faux Bois Paper to contrast with the more elegant china and then used these oil rubbed bronze metal chargers I found at Target 5 years ago to ground each placesetting. I still love them!

For the kids, I wanted to give them something to get a little excited about as we were all getting our food together and to occupy them at a lengthy meal. I saw this template in Martha Stewart's Living November issue to print out online and printed it on  rustic paper and tied up a few crayons with raffia. It was a HIT! 

I made a menu and sentiment sign for the food buffet.

I had hoped to get a picture of all the food displayed, but it all happened so quickly and everyone just started digging in. It was all yummy. I love when it's a group effort.

Here's a family picture we were able to capture...turns out 2 year olds don't like to sit still too long...he he

I linked up to:



All of us are trying to make positive changes in our lives, whether it is creating a cleaner, safer home for our families, getting healthier, losing weight, and/or staying as youthful and vibrant as we can!  I can help you with any of that. Shaklee provides a HEALTHIER LIFE for everyone and a BETTER LIFE for anyone!


I would love to speak with you on how Shaklee's products can make a difference in your life!
Email Me: greenwaylifeandhome@gmail.com










Thursday, November 17, 2011

Handmade Gift

Hi. Sorry for the lack of posts...I have been busy sewing trying to finish up my mom's birthday gift before I get wrapped up in the holidays. 

Here is a sneak peak of part of the gift....

What do you think? 





All of us are trying to make positive changes in our lives, whether it is creating a cleaner, safer home for our families, getting healthier, losing weight, and/or staying as youthful and vibrant as we can!  I can help you with any of that. Shaklee provides a HEALTHIER LIFE for everyone and a BETTER LIFE for anyone!


I would love to speak with you on how Shaklee's products can make a difference in your life!
Email Me: greenwaylifeandhome@gmail.com



Monday, November 14, 2011

Dining Room

Hi! Hope you had a great weekend. We were busy still working on making our basement "habitable" for an indoor playground for the winter months for Reed to burn some energy. We aren't finishing it or anything, but cleaned it up, and hung white drapes from Ikea on cable rods to hide the storage/furnace areas. That alone brightens it up down there.
With Thanksgiving fast approaching...I thought I would share our dining room with you where we will be giving thanks with family & friends this year.
I would like to make some changes to it this year...my style has definitely evolved since I bought the "set" 8 years ago so I am thinking about what inexpensive, high impact changes in 2012 I can make to it to reflect my style now and to "mix" things up. :)






Join me for more dining room inspiration at:






All of us are trying to make positive changes in our lives, whether it is creating a cleaner, safer home for our families, getting healthier, losing weight, and/or staying as youthful and vibrant as we can!  I can help you with any of that. Shaklee provides a HEALTHIER LIFE for everyone and a BETTER LIFE for anyone!


I would love to speak with you on how Shaklee's products can make a difference in your life!
Email Me: greenwaylifeandhome@gmail.com





Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Gallery Wall

Hi-it is sooooooooo disgusting out today! When I left the house it was about 50 degrees and 2 hours later it dropped to upper 30’s, windy and rainy. Brrrrr…when we got home, Reed ran into the house and climbed up on a chair in the family room to snuggle in the down throw(this kid is a human furnace like his dad-so if he’s cold…).
Remember I showed you the yarn letter I made, HERE. Well, it is part of a gallery wall I have been wanting to do FOREVER….
Here it is, I am pretty pleased, not to say I won’t tweak it…that’s just what I do, but for my first attempt, I am happy. I am always my hardest critic. Smile

blog pics 050
Please ignore the paint mis-match spot….ugh(so much for computerized paint matching-don’t get me started)!!!


Shaklee Hand on Grass


All of us are trying to make positive changes in our lives, whether it is creating a cleaner, safer home for our families, getting healthier, losing weight, and/or staying as youthful and vibrant as we can!  I can help you with any of that. Shaklee provides a HEALTHIER LIFE for everyone and a BETTER LIFE for anyone!



I would love to speak with you on how Shaklee's products can make a difference in your life!
Email Me: greenwaylifeandhome@gmail.com

Thursday, November 3, 2011

It's what's for dinner...


Today's weather is just soooo cold....it was in the 40's but rainy and soooo windy so it felt like it was in the 30's. After running a few errands this morning, I though nothing would be better than some hot soup and homemade bread  for dinner. I can't wait to surprise Jeff with such a comforting dinner after coming in from the cold. :)
Here's the recipe...I think I am going to add some strips of parmesan cheese on top of each bowl. YUM!
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/white-bean-sausage-stew-10000001875451/




All of us are trying to make positive changes in our lives, whether it is creating a cleaner, safer home for our families, getting healthier, losing weight, and/or staying as youthful and vibrant as we can!  Shaklee provides a HEALTHIER LIFE for everyone and a BETTER LIFE for anyone! 

I would love to speak with you on how Shaklee's products can make a difference in your life!
Email Me: greenwaylifeandhome@gmail.com



Wednesday, November 2, 2011

My favorite mail day!!!!

Last night Jeff tossed the mail on the table when he got home from work as I was preparing dinner and I couldn't almost contain myself when I saw the new Pottery Barn Holiday catalog peaking out of the stack. I get so stupid excited when the season's new issue comes out, especially the holiday one. I took a couple quick peaks before dinner and as soon as Reed was in bed, I made myself a cup of coffee, grabbed my down throw, the PB catalog and cozied up in a chair to pour over every detail and dog ear pages that I wanted to go back to. I can't be the only one this crazy for this darn store, right????  I love to shop there and  I try to get as much as I can on sale or use a MyPoints giftcard or PB rewards, but these days, I am really finding I get soooo much inspiration to create something similar from them. I guess I am in a MAJOR crafting mode these days! Maybe this past year of living more frugally has changed me to be more creative.
As much as I love looking at the catalog and online images, to me nothing beats going to the store-I think you get so much more from seeing their product and displays in person.
Reed's nose has still been runny (not sure if it's a cold or allergies) so I thought I should keep him out of the childcare center where I work out one more day just to make sure he isn't sick (oh darn, wink wink).
It was a beautiful fall day so why not head over to the Commons where the local PB is and walk around and get some much needed exercise since I was ditching the gym and check out all the new stuff in person.  So, this morning we got ourselves ready, drove through Starbucks for an Eggnogg Latte and an apple juice box for a treat to start us off this morning.  Ohhhhh we had so much fun; I got so many ideas and added so many things to my 'wish list'. Thankfully, Reed is VERY well behaved 99% of the time and loves to "shop" so it makes it an enjoyable experience to take him shopping. I think it helps that I involve him with seeing stuff in the store. It's exciting for him too.

This was his favorite:
He wanted to look at each of them as if they were different. It was too cute. 


Enough with my rambling, right...here are some of my favorites:

This was my find today! I have loved this round bread board since I first saw it this fall, and I was finally leaning toward just getting it and much to my surprise, it was ON SALE. I snatched it up so FAST! Can't wait to use it on Thanksgiving to display a hot dip with a cut up baquette for dipping. YUM.


Pretty much love anything in the Pollie Bird collection

These are much more scrumptious in person(see why it's bad good to go to the store to see in person)

It's nice to something besides a wreath on the front door. Not sure I will spring for it, but I sure do LOVE it!

Leaning toward the round lamp. I hope Santa is reading this post...

Mercury "Glass" Candles-they are beautiful in person


Icy Trees-not new this year, but I still covet them. Maybe I will get lucky this year and get them on sale.


Here are a couple pillow inspirations I saw for interpreting myself:

Burlap & Stencil???? It wouldn't be this elaborate...


"Life is but a dream"
Colors are all wrong for my bedroom, so I would just tweak the colors and I know a fantastic embroider (Kelly @ Tidbits) that I could hire :),  but I just love the saying. I really feel like I am living a wonderful dream and this would remind me how blessed I am each and every day!

So, do you love PB as much as me? What have they inspired you to make? Where else do you get inspiration from?




All of us are trying to make positive changes in our lives, whether it is creating a cleaner, safer home for our families, getting healthier, losing weight, and/or staying as youthful and vibrant as we can!  Shaklee provides a HEALTHIER LIFE for everyone and a BETTER LIFE for anyone! 


I would love to speak with you on how Shaklee's products can make a difference in your life!
Email Me: greenwaylifeandhome@gmail.com