Chi Omega Reunion Weekend

I arrived home late last night after 4 days in the stunning mountains of North Carolina.

I spent a long weekend with eight of my Chi Omega sorority sisters from the University of Florida.

We laughed so hard I had a hoarse voice.

We talked for hours and hours... and hours.

We relived hysterical stories from college as we looked through old photos; shared funny and serious stories about our kids and marriage and work, and the constant struggle to balance it all.

And as everyone parted ways yesterday, I felt like I was not hugging goodbye my sorority sisters, but blood-related sisters. These girls have loved me through my "prodigal years" in college, stood next to me on my wedding day, cried with me over the loss of a pregnancy, and then celebrated with me through my journey to have children. Every step of the way, they've been right there supporting me. Loving me. They are so very, very special to me, and I want them all to know that.

So, to my "Toolshed" sisters, thank you for an incredible reunion weekend. I love you all so much and hope that we don't wait another 5 years to do it again!

Lately...

Sorry if you've been hearing "crickets" on my blog lately. Life has been a bit busy.

If you were to look at my wall calendar, you would see writing on almost every single day this month and next. Not all of it is super busy stuff, but it's "stuff." Things that have to be done, attended, scheduled, and made. So the blog tends to take a backseat when life picks up.

But for my dear family members who read this blog to keep up on our family's happenings, I thought I'd share a few photos of what's been doing on lately.

Our big news - which was also shared on FB, so most of you know - was that Payton was baptized on September 14th. It is a big deal in our church when someone makes the decision to be baptized. We "dedicate" a child when they are a baby stating to the church family that we will raise them with Godly principles and teach them about our faith and God's love for them. But when the child - or adult - decides that they are ready to outwardly declare their faith in Jesus Christ, that is when they get baptized. The symbolism of being completely dunked into the water as a sign of the death and burial of Christ and then being lifted back out of the water as a sign of the resurrection and eternal life, is so beautiful.

Words cannot express how it felt when Payton told us that he wanted to be baptized. It is so completely humbling to know that this child that God has entrusted us with is now old enough to know what it means to follow God and he wants to share that decision with everyone. It still takes my breath away.

The baptism took place in Tampa Bay, which I just loved because it reminded me of the stories of John the Baptist when he would baptize people in large bodies of water (Jesus included!). Our long-time Pastor and good friend encouraged us to both help dunk Payton under water and take part in the baptism of our oldest child.

It is a memory that I will never forget.

And yes, I cried. :)

I want to publicly thank our family members who attended, called, sent gifts and posted words of encouragement. Your support means so much to us and we love you all so very much! Thank you!

That same weekend my parents were in town and took the boys to their hotel one afternoon for lots of fun. They jumped on the beds, went swimming in the hotel pool and even went early Sunday morning for the free breakfast buffet. They were in hotel heaven! They even surprised the boys with new matching Halloween PJ's. How cute!

The following weekend, Brian had a work conference out by the beach, so his parents came into town to watch the kiddos for a night so I could sneak away and enjoy a relaxing day at the hotel and an evening out with all of Brian's co-workers. It was a gorgeous day!

The view from our hotel room

I was having too much fun to take pictures that evening when we went out on one of his co-worker's yacht. We watched a beautiful sunset as we cruised the bay waters. We laughed and shared stories and then enjoyed a great dinner together. Truly a perfect night.

The next morning I got to sleep in (a luxury for me), and then we went to breakfast and had the best pumpkin spice latte I've ever had (sorry Starbucks!). Delish!

Of course the kids had their own mini-stay-cation at home with Grandma & Grandpa. They got to go to McDonald's and pick out their favorite ice cream at Publix. They were showered with love & attention till mean ol Mom came home. Ha, ha. :)

So far this week, it's been raining, raining and raining some more. The lakes and ponds are so full, neighbor's pools are overflowing and we've actually had to drive Payton to school (oh, the horror!). But Parker looks so darn cute in his rain boots and umbrella, it almost makes it worth it.

Waiting for Payton to get home from school

Actually, this rain makes it feel a little more like fall, so I'm not complaining. I wore jeans today and didn't break a sweat, so that's saying a LOT.

I'm going on vacation this weekend to visit 8 of my sorority sisters up in the mountains of NC. I cannot wait! It's been too many years since we've all been together, so we're like little kids on Christmas Eve right now, all hopped up on excitement.

All of that to say, I probably won't be posting again until I return next week. So, enjoy your week, weekend and the first days of fall!

P.S. We've decided that Mocha is definitely a permanent member of the Heckman family. She gets spayed next Wednesday. Praying that it goes smoothly as everyone is quite attached to her now.

Mouthwatering Mahi Mahi {A Recipe}

Popping in quickly today to share a "Whoops! recipe" with you today.

Why is it a "Whoops recipe?" Well, when I went grocery shopping this week, I had planned to buy some salmon for dinner one night. But when I went to the fish counter, the salmon that I wanted was way too expensive.

Then I glanced at the frozen fish section - conveniently located adjacent to the fresh fish section - and I saw that Mahi Mahi filets were on sale this week. I love Mahi Mahi, so I grabbed 2 bags (4 filets total).

But when it was time to prepare the Mahi, I realized I had no ingredients to make Mahi, but rather had all the ingredients to make salmon. "Whoops!"

Time to improvise.

I searched the internet for an easy recipe for which I already had the ingredients. I found none.

Then I went to my spice rack and saw a bottle of McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Chicken. I checked the label: garlic, salt, onion, parsley, red pepper, orange peel, paprika, green pepper. Sounded perfect for fish too!

Then I grabbed my trusty Lawry's Lemon Pepper, a bit of butter, and off I went!

Here's how to make it:

1. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and place the thawed or fresh Mahi filets in the dish.

2. Generously sprinkle the filets with both seasonings, and then place 1 Tbsp. of butter on top of each filet (cut the butter into two pieces for each filet).

3. Place in a preheated 400 degree oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Couldn't possibly be easier than that!

And let me tell you... my extremely picky beautiful boys ate up every single bite!

I'm sure there are a million ways to make this recipe... add a splash of white wine, add fresh parsley, add lemon slices, etc. Of course I had none of these, so the moral of the story is... plan ahead if you want fancy fish...improvise with what you have when you don't! :)

FREE Fall Printables

It's been all of what...3 days since I last posted a list of free printables (just kidding). But I couldn't resist sharing some of the amazing free fall printables that have posted recently out in blog land. Here are a few of my current favs...

Howbeautiful is this sign from Tom Kat Studios? So simple and clean. I love it!

(Courtesy Tom Kat Studios)

There are several other adorable fall craft ideas and printables on the same blog post. So click on the link above and it will take you to all the goodies!

And how about this creative label that is the perfect size to wrap around a loaf of bread.

 (Courtesy My Sister's Suitcase) 

You can download it here for free from the talented bloggers over at My Sister's Suitcase. They also have coordinating circle labels for smaller gifts. So adorbs!

I think this printable just may become my mantra this fall. Because with all the hustle and bustle that goes on during the fall months, I need to remind myself to STOP and enjoy this beautiful season.

 You can download it here for free from the great blog, On Sutton Place.

There are lots of other great printables on that blog as well!

And if you know anything about me, you know I'm a sucker for chevron. How precious is this?!?

You can download it here thanks to the artistic folks over at Two Twenty One. (P.S. It's available in all sorts of colors!)

I'm off to find a great frame for one of these little beauties. Hope you have found something you like as well! Happy fall decorating everyone.

Pumpkin Crunch Cake {A Recipe for Fall}

If you have a hankering to bake the minute fall hits, then be sure to print out this recipe for the coming weeks! It's so easy and captures all the flavors of fall.

Fall Pennant Banner {A Tutorial}

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know I'm a sucker for the "mbers." Ya know, September, October, November and December.

So the minute September hits, I start decorating.

Thus far, I've had a 9-year old ask me why I had my Halloween decorations out already, and I've had an adult male ask me why I had my "Thanksgiving stuff" out. Har...har... it's neither, thank you very much. It's just my stash of fall decorations. The jack-o-lanterns and ghosts don't come out until October first.

Now that my little guy is in preschool, I have a few more hours to myself during the week, which has allowed me to get back to some fun crafting. My first project, is this easy fall pennant banner.

I promise you, if you have a computer, a pair of scissors, some scrapbook paper, and ribbon, you can make this banner.

Here's how ya do it...

Step one:
Decide what you want your banner to say. "Happy Fall Y'all," "Autumn," "Happy Harvest," or just simply "Fall" which is what I chose. If you're going to hang your banner across a doorway or a wide window, you may want a longer word than just "Fall" so that it looks balanced.

Step two:
Print off the letters you are going to use.
I used these free monogram letters from the Martha Stewart web site. They print off 6 letters to a page and each letter has a fun little border around them, which I thought would add some character to the banner. Here is the link to the Martha Stewart free alphabet printables.
I would recommend using cardstock instead of regular computer paper for the letters if you have some.Of course, you could just print off letters using Microsoft Word or any other computer program you have.

Here are the letters I chose.

Now, because I'm totally and completely anal, I wanted the letters to be uniform, I used a compass to draw circles around each letter so that I would know where to cut.

 Which resulted in fairly uniform letters.

Step 3:
Now it's time to move to the pennant pieces. You can either measure them with a ruler, or download this free Pennant banner printable from the blog, Martin Family Living.Then use it to trace the pennant pieces on scrapbook paper.

Clearly I had used this scrapbook previously for another project.

Step 4:
Then, using an X-acto knife, cut small slits into the corner of each pennant piece so you can string a ribbon through them.

Then I used good ol double-sided tape to stick the letters on to the pennant pieces. And then strung a grosgrain ribbon through the slits.

I decided I wanted a little bit more color, so I also added an orange grosgrain ribbon to the ends and then strung it across my entertainment center.

And now that I have a banner that clearly states that these are "Fall" decorations, maybe it will help clear up any further confusion about which holiday I'm celebrating. :)

Crockpot Mexican Chicken {A Recipe}

When I'm looking for a new recipe to try, I have a few criteria:

1. Does it involve only a few, easy-to-find ingredients?
2. Does it have minimal last-minute prep?
3. Can it be made in a Crockpot?

That last criteria may seem silly, but let me tell you... by 5:30 p.m. my boys are HUNGRY and they're usually asking me "When's dinner gonna be ready?" So if I can already have the main course cooked and ready to go, it makes the dinnertime craziness a lot less hectic.

Recently, I was looking for a new Crockpot recipe that was Mexican inspired, and I stumbled across a few that sounded really good. So, I combined several of them and came up with this:

The best part about this recipe is that it's a "dump recipe." You simply dump all the ingredients in the Crockpot and let it do it's thing! Here's how you make it:

Step 1:
Place 3-4 frozen or fresh chicken breasts into bottom of Crockpot that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Step 2:
Sprinkle chicken with one envelope of taco seasoning. Then dump a can of drained black beans, a can of drained corn, and a jar of your favorite salsa on top.

Then mix together and place lid on top. Let cook 6-8 hours or until chicken is easily pulled apart with a fork.

Step 3:
Dump a block of plain cream cheese on top and push down so that it is slightly submerged in chicken mixture. Let it cook on low for another 20 minutes or until you can easily incorporate the cream cheese into the chicken mixture. Stir thoroughly.

Step 4:
Serve it over yellow rice with diced avocado and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese. Of course for people who like a little spice in their meal, a few dashes of Tabasco make it have a little more kick!

Enjoy!

Let's Talk Makeup

Ahhhhhh...long holiday weekends. They're my fav.

Add to it our wedding anniversary, and the fact that my parents took the kiddos for a couple days...it was pretty much a perfect stay-cation.

We had a leisurely dinner out one night; I say leisurely because there was no reason to rush home to pay the $12/hour babysitter. The kids weren't there! I got to get all dressed up (which for me means no flip flops or shorts) and wear my favorite dress that my sis-in-law got me. We enjoyed a delicious meal, had a really lively conversation with the couple sitting next to us (that's a whole 'nutha story), and then ended the evening with a little live music. Perfection.

We also took advantage of the quiet mornings in the house. There was no "laboring" going on during this Labor Day. Just sipping coffee, reading the paper and enjoying the slow pace of things.

And while I'm sure you want to hear more about my lazy weekend, I will move on to the real topic at hand... makeup!

I'm not that into makeup, but as I've confessed before, I don't ever really leave the house without at least a little face powder and lip gloss (and mascara). But I do have some tried and true products that I will never stray from. And recently, I've discovered a few new products, thanks to Birchbox.

Have you heard of Birchbox? It's a great concept if you like to try new products. Basically, you fill out a questionnaire about your skin type, hair type, etc. and then you pay a $20/month subscription fee and they send you a beautiful little box filled with all sorts of goodies each month. It's like a mini Christmas present every time it arrives.

I digress... where I was going with this, is that I've discovered some new products through Birchbox that I LOVE and wanted to share them with you in case you are looking for some new items to add to your skincare and makeup repertoire this fall.

Here are all the items I am going to "talk about." They are all available online, and most are available at either Sephora or mall department stores.

Up first, my "tried and true" won't-leave-home-without-it face powder plus foundation, MAC Studio Fix.

It's wonderful by itself, it works great as a touch-up powder throughout the day, and it does a great job controlling shine, which is my worst enemy. I've used this product for over 10 years now and although I've tried others, I have not found any other pressed powders that compare.

Next up, another basic, but one that I am glad I discovered. Sephora Full Action Extreme Effect Mascara.
It's a bit more pricey that drugstore brands, but it works so much better. It doesn't clump, which is a necessity when it comes to mascara. But I also love how it looks really natural with one coat, but if you're headed out for the evening, a couple of coats really makes your lashes look dramatic and full.

The next few items are fairly new to my makeup bag. I had been hearing and reading about the importance of using a primer when applying foundation, but since I rarely wore foundation I didn't see the need to purchase any. But, time marches on then it marches right across your face! (Anyone else remember that line from the movie Steel Magnolias?!?) Anyhow, as fine lines and other nasties haves started to appear, I have found that foundation is now a really great addition to my makeup routine if I'm going out, or just want to look nice.

But, instead of a plain foundation, there is now the gem of a product called "BB cream" (which is short for Beauty Balm or Blemish Balm). It's an all-in-one powerhouse that delivers moisturizer, sunscreen, foundation and anti-aging elements all in one!

I received a sample of this Marcelle BB cream in my Birchbox a couple months ago and now I'm hording the final few bits left in the tube. It's so smooth and easy to apply! I just wipe a thin layer of this over my face and then set it with some translucent powder and voila! Flawless skin!

And as for all the hype surrounding the makeup

primer... it's TRUE! A primer truly does allow your makeup to last at least twice as long! It's a miracle product, I tell ya. And this tiny .4 oz tube of Smashbox Photo Finish Oil Free Primer is THE BOMB! Again, I don't use it every day, but when I do want to look nice (for a date or church or something) it makes such a difference when I apply it before the BB cream. Highly recommend it.

And finally, another product that I got in my Birchbox this month is an organic facial peel.
It's called "Juice Beauty Green Apple Sensitive Peel." Both Brian and I used it last weekend (don't tell him that I shared that secret!!!) and it left our faces feeling so soft and smooth. It tingles when you put it on, so you know it's working, and then 10 minutes later you wash it off and enjoy your baby-smooth skin.


Okay, that's all I've got for today. I hope you'll try out one of these products and let me know how you like it. In the meantime, I'll continue testing new products in my Birchbox every month and share any new "must have's" that I find.