A new favorite look and a •GIVEAWAY•!!

Shopping. It's not my favorite thing to do and I will never claim to be a fashionista. I wear what's comfortable. Period. I also love a good deal and can admit I don't think that I have ever paid full price for anything, honestly. So, when I started to browse Instagram and discovered insta shopping, you can bet I was hooked. 

Recently, I partnered up with Kathryn from Lily and Thomas. This shop is so great to work with. Fast shipping, great prices and good content. 

I have been loving layering bracelets, so I knew the gemma cuff would be perfect to add to my collection. I opted for the mint/gold option and could not love it more. I have large wrists and it fits perfectly! 

While looking through the the shop I saw the 1980 faux leather leggings and was immediately intrigued. Could I pull them off? Would they fit? 

So I typed SOLD, along with my email and the next day they were on their way to me. They arrived and it took me a solid week to have an outing that I thought was appropriate for my new daring look. Insert day trip to downtown Tucson. I immediately fell in love with them! They were comfortable and I loved how they paired with my leopard print sneaks ($2.00 for these babies) and a comfortable sweater that I have had for years!

• Sweater, Similar  • Pants HERE • Clutch Similar • Shoes Similar •

Honestly, I feel like I could wear them to a play date or a night out on the town. I am hooked on them! Did I mention that Lily and Thomas also has free shipping? This is huge for me, and the fact that my items arrived within days of me ordering them is simply amazing. 

For reference, I am wearing a medium in the 1980 Faux Leggings.  

I love Lily and Thomas so much, I decided to bring you guys another Instagram giveaway! 

Head on over to my Instagram (CLOSED) for the details on how you can win one of these amazing cardigans from Lily and Thomas. These cardigans are super comfortable and will transition perfectly into spring. 

Happy shopping, 

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Thank you to Lily and Thomas for sponsoring this giveaway! 

Disclaimer// I received this product free of charge. This post also contains affiliate links.

the ultimate freezable breakfast bowl

Who else has loved Egg month? My freezer is loaded with yummy egg recipes, and honestly my husband has never been happier. He grabs something in the morning, heats it up at work and he is good to go. He has even had some people inquire as to where they can get some of those egg sandwiches he is eating! We are rounding up this extra long February with one of my favorite recipes!

Ultimate Breakfast Bowl!

Ingredients:

Recipe yields 5 bowls

8 eggs 

¼ cup milk 

4 potatoes, peeled and cubed

Coconut Oil 

Bacon or Sausage 

Summer Squash and Zucchini 

(or any vegetable you want to use)

Cheddar Cheese

Cajun Seasoning 

Salt and Pepper 

Directions:

Scramble the eggs and the milk, add in a dash of salt and pepper.

Heat up coconut oil in a saucepan and cook potatoes, on medium heat for 10 minutes or until soft to the touch. Season the potatoes with cajun seasoning and salt. 

Set aside. 

 Use the same saucepan, add coconut oil. Cook vegetables for 4-6 minutes or cooked through. Add in the scrambled eggs and cook until fluffy. 

Set aside. 

Cook the bacon or sausage per the package directions. We love to use this for cooking bacon, it works perfectly! 

Layer the ingredients:

Potatoes

Meat

Eggs and Vegetables

Top with Cheddar Cheese

Let cool completely and freeze for up to 3 months. 

Reheating:

Microwave the breakfast bowl for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. 

These freeze perfectly and are perfect for breakfast or lunch on the go. If you do not want to use plastic Tupperware, so ahead and use some of your Pyrex bowls or even a mason jar and have a layered breakfast.  My husband had the brilliant idea of dumping the contents into a microwave safe bowl and heating it up that way. The possibilities are endless! 

I am SO excited for next month's ingredient of the month! It is the perfect theme to take us into grilling season and I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the freezer friendly recipes. Stay tuned... 

Happy freezing, 

If you like this, you will love these past recipes!

Easy Egg Muffins

Breakfast Burritos 

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Blogging Ben the Bachelor - HOMETOWN week!

It is here! I am so sorry for the late post this week. Monday was a WILD day for me, and honestly I needed an early bedtime, but here we are the week of hometown dates on the Bachelor. I love this week, because I love to see how crazy the Dad's think this show is and why they do not think you can find love on national television. I can only imagine what KB² would have thought if I would've gone on the Bachelor and made it to hometown week! 

Amanda:

Ben heads to Orange County to see Amanda and the kids. Can I just say this is going to be a disaster? I don't see Ben being super comfortable around children. I can not imagine not seeing my kids for a month and than having to do a homecoming with someone that has never even meet them. 

The beach proves to be the kid's happy place, and Ben is ridiculously cute with the girls. On the way home, there is crying and toddler chit chatting, and Ben describes the car ride as rough. Welcome to parenthood, Ben. It's rough. Amanda's dad says that Ben looks like a deer in headlights when they get back to the house. Amanda says that she is in love with Ben, and she can see him making a great husband and father to her kids. Honestly, this is what I was thinking was going to happen. Not too eventful. 

Lauren:

Ben heads to Portland! They visit the food trucks in Portland, be still my heart. They head to the whiskey library, my husband immediately wants to visit Portland after seeing that venue. On a side note has anyone seen that Subaru commercial with the dogs in the car, I love that commercial! Ok, back to Portland. 

Ben meets Lauren's family. That dinner looks AMAZING, and Ben is pulled away from it by Lolo's sister. The guy can't catch a break. She announces her skepticisn and asks Ben what stands out about Lauren. I love that question, but instead of answering it, Ben starts to cry. My husband said, "Dude, he can cry on demand?" Always nice to have a guy's point of view bring you down to earth from swooning over an emotional guy. 

Lauren's sister makes Lauren cry and it is obvious that Lolo's sister may be on a future Bachelor. 
Lauren ends up not telling Ben she loves him, which is bizarre. 

Caila:

Ben heads to OH-IO ! Caila admitted that she doesn't really have a home since she moved a lot growing up, but Hudson was the first place she felt at home. They head to the toy company that Caila's dad runs, just a small company called Step2 (kidding, it is a large company), and they design their very own playhouse. What a cute idea! Caila is really growing on me, and hey the fact that their kids would have all the Step2 toys that their heart desires, doesn't hurt! 

Caila's family is super cute and super honest with Ben. I love Caila's dad, he is so sweet to her and I love that he trusts his daughter when she says she is in love. Caila calls her parents, Mommy and Daddy, which is slightly uncomfortable. And she decides to not tell him that she loves him, either. No wonder Ben is getting frustrated with this process. I feel like these girls are definately not making it easy on him! 

Jojo:

Lastly we head to Dallas, TX to see JoJo's hometown. She starts reading a letter, all smiley and happy, and realizes that the letter is from her EX. This is classic and I love it. Finally, some drama that is much needed in this season. Listen girls, out of sight out of mind will make them all come back.  Jojo decides to call her EX, and let him know that he succeeded in getting his five minutes of fame. Back to the Bachelor, Ben arrives at Jojo's house. Ben gets the jealous look, which suits him I must say. 

I don't think I have ever brought a bottle of wine to my parent's? Typically, their stock is pretty good by the time I show up! Do we think that is from her or from Ben? This is a Texas house, ya'll! Her dad pretty much says that their is no where else to live besides Texas, and Ben seems to disagree. Obviously, her brothers don't watch this show and may not even know that he has 3 other ladies involved. Maybe her mom and dad too, they all seem confused and want answers that he can't give. Did anyone notice Jojo's mom? A lady after my own heart..

Is Jojo's older brother a TV pastor? I am sure they are coming from a somewhat genuine place, but lord have mercy give Ben a break! There is always one hometown that goes completely crazy. Let me be the first to remind everyone, you marry the family too, so make sure you love them just as much!

Rose Ceremony:

Lauren
Caila
Jojo

Amanda does not receive a rose. She is classy up until the end, good for her! 
We are almost to the final rose, ya'll! I can't even believe it! Make sure to check the linkup to get their opinions on last night's episode!

Happy watching, 

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An InLinkz Link-up

21 Days Runners Reset Review

I have been in a runner's rut, lately! I am not sure what is causing it. I think it may be the fact that I have had a lingering cold for going on two months, or the fact that the trail half marathon I did in December was really hard on my mental game. I set a goal of running 10 miles every week this year, and while I am completing that I think I have had 1 run where I get that runner's high and feel really good throughout the run. I have also been working on my strength training and that takes it out of your legs, I notice such a difference in my runs after a hard leg day. 

After the new year I was looking for a reset of some kind, to get back into my healthy eating and recharge my body. It is going on 2 years now that I have lived a healthy lifestyle, lost all my baby weight and have made working out a daily goal of mine. I was ready for something to revitalize me. Enter, The Runner's Reset. 

Laura is a running coach, a mom and a nutrition expert! Her website name, MommyRunFast, came about because of her daughter saying that phrase to her while running with her in the jogger. Now you know my love for throwing Luke into the jogger and hitting the pavement, so I knew I would love her approach. 

http://www.laurapeifer.com/ 

The 21 Day Runner Reset focused on nutrition, strength training and trying different methods of running. I am relatively new to this running game, so I learned so much! For instance the Maffetone method of running, which focuses on keeping your heart rate low while running, I liked this a lot and I found it was nice to take things a bit slower and look at the world around me. I also really enjoyed the fasted runs, also known as Glycogen depleted runs. I would wake up in the morning and just run, without anything to eat or drink. It made my runs quite a bit faster, since I was running quickly to get back to the house for breakfast! 

Nutrition wise it was very similar to other resets, cut out sugar and processed food and focus on a 40/30/30 diet (carbs to protein to fat). My family is pretty good about not eating processed foods, so that was not a change for me. I did try to cut out sugars most days, and 100% cut out my love for wine throughout the time, but if I must be honest there were still days I had some sugar. Laura included a bunch of recipes that were easy and within the guidelines of the reset. My favorites were the pumpkin spice smoothie (of course) and the Crock Pot Greek Peppers! 

I loved the weight training throughout the 21 days! Like I said up top, I have been working on strength training and it was so nice to see some new workouts and try them out. The workouts ranged from HIIT workouts, to ab workouts to even some tricep work. They were all easy to include in my daily workout and I loved how quick most of them were. I incorporated running as much I could throughout the 21 days, though running with a stuffy nose is a nightmare. I would have liked to run a bit more, but was happy with what I was able to do. 

All in all, I learned so much throughout the time. Mainly, I learned that having group support is huge and cutting sugar does in fact make you feel stronger and more energized. Laura is extremely easy to work with, and she communicated to us throughout the entire time. It was nice to wake up and have an email waiting for me, with motivation and encouragement to get it done. 

Laura offers private nutrition coaching, specifically for runners and don't forget to follow Laura on Instagram! Stay connected and be on the lookout for her next reset, I highly recommend it!

Happy running, 

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loaded veggie egg casserole

Recently, I hosted 17 women in an AirBNB house for my baby sister's Bachelorette Party! Check out all the details here, and don't forget to enter the giveaway on my Instagram page! 

I love AirBNB! Mainly, because you have full access to a kitchen. I like to eat out, but honestly it gets expensive and it messes with my stomach. So, I thought it would be nice to have a few mornings of breakfast prepared and ready to go. I knew I didn't want to be slaving away in the kitchen all morning, so I thought a freezable egg casserole would be perfect. 

Are you hosting a large group anytime soon? Today's #freezerlovefriday is perfect for you! 

Veggie Loaded Freezer Egg Casserole 

Yields 2 casseroles

Ingredients:

4 cups 2% milk

2 cups heavy cream

16 large eggs

2 heaping teaspoons dry mustard powder

½ tbsp paprika
½ tbsp garlic powder

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 loaves of bread (I use sheepherders bread), cubed

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 sweet onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 pound mushrooms, sliced or chopped 

1 large head broccoli, chopped

1 yellow squash, peeled and chopped

1 zucchini peeled and chopped

1 pound (16 ounces) sharp cheddar cheese, grated

2 pounds bulk breakfast sausage 

Directions:

In a large saucepan add in your coconut oil and cook all vegetables for 4-6 minutes. Add in the sausage and cook until brown. 

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk and heavy whipping cream. Add in the mustard powder, salt, black pepper and paprika. Mix well.

Add in the bread cubes to the egg mixture and make sure they are completely submerged. 

Separate the egg mixture into 2 well greased 9X12 baking pans, (I like to use the foil ones, less to clean up the morning of)! 

Add in the vegetable and sausage, mix well and top with cheese. 

Cover and place both in the refrigerator. 

The longer you let this sit in the refrigerator, the better. I would recommend letting it sit overnight in order for the eggs to soak into the bread. 

Cooking and Freezing Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375º. 

Cook one of the casseroles, covered for 1 hour. Uncover and cook for 15 more minutes to make sure all cheese is melted. Serve warm!

Top the second casserole with foil and wrap well with clear plastic wrap. Make sure to label and include directions for cooking. When reheating, it is a good idea to remove from the freezer 1-2 days and place in refrigerator before you will be cooking, so it is completely thawed. 

This was such a hit at the party. It is also very easy to make this into a vegetarian dish, simply omit the meat. I can not tell you how nice it is to have a breakfast ready to go when entertaining! Also, this would be a wonderful dish to deliver to a friend after having a baby, during a rough time or just because. 

Happy freezing, 

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the ultimate bachelorette final fiesta in scottsdale!

Recently, we celebrated my baby sister’s upcoming nuptials by spending a long weekend in Scottsdale. The weekend was filled with friends, family and lots of laughs. Since Rachel recently moved out west, and we were holding the party in the wild wild west, we decided to name the weekend “Rachel’s Final Fiesta”! 



I wanted to make sure to let all the girls know that we so appreciated them making the trek out to celebrate Rachel, so I put together little gift bags. To decorate the outside of the bags I used a cookie cutter to trace a cacti and then glue and glitter to add some bedazzle. I found a fun stamp to add a cute saying to the bag as well. It was easy and went along with the theme. 

I filled the bags with advil, tums, chapstick and of course the staple to any weekend Bachelorette party, Bride Tribe Shirts! 

What's a weekend Bachelorette party without matching tanks? We wanted to have something for all the girls to wear not only for the weekend, but also for the day of the wedding. We went with a local company, FlashPointeInk. They were so easy to work with, and made it a simple process to send over 17 different sizes and 2 different styles. We were all so pleased with the quality! I have washed mine twice, and they have withheld the process, which is huge for these types of shirts. 

Don't they look great? This shows both the tank and the t-shirt option that we went with!

Looking to order a large group of shirts? Mention this blog post, or any of my Instagram posts where @flashpointeink is mentioned, and receive 10% off any bulk order of 12 or more shirts. They are a great husband and wife team, who made this process SO easy for me. Make sure to check them out! 

Friday morning we decided to get outdoors and since we were staying so close to Camelback Mountain, we thought that would be the best place to hike. If you have been to Phoenix, you have more than likely heard of or seen Camelback Mountain. It was so fun to see all the girl's reactions to our beautiful scenery. I still pinch myself on a daily basis, because this is what I can hike whenever I want! I think we may have even convinced a few of the girls to make the move out west! 

We catered a dinner Friday night from a local Mexican restaurant, which turned out to be super yummy and super fun. It was so worth the price to not be standing in the kitchen all day cooking and prepping for the dinner party. 

Remember the glitter trials post a few weeks back? Well, I was prepping to glitterify the party! I did simple vases along the bottoms of margarita glasses. I got the glasses from Dollar General, for $1 and had all of the other supplies on hand. So, it turned out to be a super simple and cheap party favor.

I opted to use the tape method for these and they turned out perfectly.
For a more detailed description on how to do apply glitter, check here. 

Instead of using the common margarita mix, I opted for a less sweet homemade version.  

Ingredients:

1 can of frozen limeade

Use empty can as measuring cup!

1 can of Gold Tequiila

1 Corona

1 can of 7-Up

Mix all together and serve chilled! 

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Who doesn't love photo booth props? They make every party have a solid theme and are so fun to see when they are posted all over social media. We went through the Etsy Shop, LeStudioRose, and were super pleased with everything. She did a fiesta theme and even threw in a few Bachelorette themes ones, which we were so happy with! 

Visit LeStudioRose and use code GET10OFF for 10% off your next order, you won't be disappointed! Also make sure to visit my Instagram for details on a Bachelorette Themed Giveaway!

It ended up being the perfect weekend, so I am so glad we planned an outdoor activity for Saturday. Old Town Scottsdale is such a fun place, and we wanted to find something that would take us around and let us have fun at the same time! Scottsdale Party Bike was exactly that for us! They accommodated our large group and let us have two bikes, that rode together throughout the afternoon. You are able to BYOB, which makes the day even more fun, and listen to whatever music you want to listen to!! Throughout the two hours you can make as many stops as you want around Old Town Scottsdale. It was nice to jump off the bike for a bit, and grab a drink inside a bar or even window shop a bit.

Not to mention we got a nice two hour workout, because yes it is powered by the riders, don't be fooled!

The drivers were fun and made sure to get everyone involved and having time! I would totally recommend this to large groups of people or even a couple looking for a fun date night. 

All in all it was a wonderful weekend! I loved hanging out with all the ladies, and it was fun planning the shindig. I am putting together a fail proof guide to planning the ultimate Bachelorette Weekend, so make sure you look for that upcoming post. 

Thank you to everyone who was involved with the weekend, we could not have pulled it off without you! 

Don't forget to check out my Instagram page for your chance to win this set of photo booth props! It is super easy to enter! Giveaway is now closed, thanks for participating!

Giveaway is now closed. 

Happy party planning, 

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