What's On....My Bucket List (s)

So excited to share my bucket list today!  Or more accurately, my bucket lists.  I don't know about you but I seem to have a couple variations of bucket lists.  Some are big and a little far fetched.  Others are small, everyday type items. 

First up:

I love, love, love to travel and have been lucky enough to see some amazing places.  Matt and I honeymooned in Kauai, Hawaii and also took the time to travel to Oahu and see Pearl Harbor which had been on my bucket list.  I have white water rafted in Tennessee and traveled to Spain on a high school trip.  I crossed Las Vegas off my list with 2 different trips.  I have kayaked in the Pacific Ocean and ventured into Tijuana.  I have seen Niagara Falls and walked along the base of the American side of the Falls. 
I am blessed to have been able to travel and I look forward to being able to share my love of travel with my family.  The world is an amazing place and I can't wait to see more of it.

Next Up:

There are 2 final items on my bucket list:
- I want to make time to volunteer and my children's schools as they get older.  I also would love to find a volunteer program that I can truly invest my time in. 
- When I go back to work, I want to find a job that I love.  One that feeds my passion and my heart, not just my bank account. 

I'm sure there are even more places I want to visit and things I want to do that I am not thinking of right now.  However, I believe bucket lists are a living document that grow and change as we find new passions or learn of new things.  Or as we cross items off the list.

What's on your bucket list??
Linking up with Andrea at Momfessionals for her What's On Series!

What's on...My Menu

I don't know about you but I kind of love meal planning.  My OCD tendencies loves organizing the details.  Searching Pinterest for recipes, coordinating ingredients among the recipes, and making the grocery list.  I even have my own format to make it super easy when it comes time to make dinner.  Seriously the whole process can be super easy and enjoyable.

The one thing I still struggle with is over planning.  I tend to overestimate my desire to cook all week.  I am working on being more realistic with the amount of days in a week that I will truly cook from scratch.  Normally it is about 4 or 5 times.  I just need to accept that there are days when leftovers or frozen pizza or something else that I already have on hand is considerably easier than a full blown meal that requires ingredient purchasing at the grocery store.

Here is a snapshot of my old planning method.  It worked for awhile but after a few weeks I realized that we don't stick to a daily plan all that well.  Inevitably, we didn't want enchiladas on Tuesday or the hubby didn't feel like BBQ-ing, or whatever.

So I started changing it up by just coming up with various options to choose from during the week.  This format also allowed me to better plan the protein variety in our meals.  I try my best to make sure we are not eating all chicken or beef or pasta or whatever it happens to be during any given week.

I almost always meal plan on Tuesday or Wednesday since I grocery shop mid week.  I check over the calendar to see what day works best into our schedule to go to the grocery store, what we have planned for the week so I know how many evenings we will be home and decide how many nights I need to preplan for dinners. 

The ingredients in blue are items I need to purchase to make the meal.  I try to be conservative and ensure I am using a good mix of food I already have on hand or can be used in multiple meals.

The best part about my sheet?  I just print it out and keep it on the fridge.  When it is time to start dinner, I just scan it over, grab my ingredients and check the recipe right on the paper.  No need to grab a cookbook or run over to the computer to check the directions.

Easy Peasy!  :)

As for breakfast during the week, I just make sure I have cereal, frozen pancakes and yogurt on hand.  Most of our dinner leftovers get sent with the hubby for lunch the day after.  Occasionally, we don't end up with leftovers or the meal just doesn't heat up all that well after the fact so I make sure I keep at least a small amount of lunch meat in the house.

Here are the links to the recipes I am making this week....
Chicken & Avocado Enchiladas
Slow Cooker Beef
Lemon - Dill Chicken

Linking up with Andrea at Momfessionals for her What's On Series!

What's on....Your Walls

Hmm, has it really been 3 weeks since I last posted?!  Where has the time gone?  We have been crazy busy enjoying the Spring weather, celebrating Memorial Day and of course, enjoying some much needed relaxation in Mexico!  Do you ever feel like you have so much to blog about that you don't know where to start....and therefore, do nothing?!  No, just me?  Ha! 

Well, anyway, today I am linking up with one of my very favorite bloggers, Andrea to share what is on our walls.  While taking pictures I definitely noticed I have some 'go to' decorating themes.  Oops!  We still have some bare walls and there are some current décor items that I am ready to change up so I can't wait to see what everyone has on their walls!

Here goes....

So apparently I LOVE hanging letters on my walls!  Ever since we got married I have loved my new last initial.  :)  Not so much the letter...P's are great and all but it isn't like they are that much cooler than H's.  (Though I do have to say that hanging a P is much easier!)  I just like what it symbolizes.  Our marriage and our family....we share a last name and I love that simple thing.  :)  That is a little too corny/cheesy for a Monday isn't it? 

I have a large distressed P in our living room.  I stumbled on this one at Hobby Lobby on clearance.  I originally thought I would paint it but it ended up fitting in perfectly. 

 

 

There is a P in our command center collage....

 

The other P is over a console table in our foyer.  The N, C, M and L are part of our gallery wall.  Our MASSIVE gallery wall.  :)  This wall is on the open staircase to our basement and is a huge space....I think we have about 35-40 pictures on that wall alone.  Eek!  However, it is the ONLY place in the house that I have family pictures hung (currently) so although we joke that it is 'a whole lot of us in one space', I love it.  I love going to that wall and seeing so many happy memories in one place.  We mixed professional pictures and candid shots.  We have wedding pictures from all my husband's brothers and sisters included.  We have pictures from when we were dating and pictures of our family of 4.  So much love on that wall....  :)

 

 

A few things about this wall....  First, I scoured Goodwill and our basement for frames.  It didn't matter what the color of the frame was because I was going to spray paint them all the same.  I was looking for different shapes, sizes and textures to add some interest.  The oval is my favorite frame of all!  I didn't just look for picture frames either.  Goodwill was fantastic for different frames with painting or décor pictures in them!  Not to mention I found some of the coolest textures on frames there. 

As for the pictures, it took me FOREVER to decide on pictures!  I wanted a good mix of the years together and I wanted to be sure our entire extended family was represented on the wall as well.  I love that we have Matt's brothers and sisters wedding pictures in the top corner (with ours) and that each one is similar in that we are looking at our new spouse.  So much love in that little corner of the big wall! 

 

Before hanging the pictures on the wall, I did two things that I believe made the whole process 10x's easier.  Plus it helped mix my OCD and my husband's tolerance for hanging 30+ picture frames (while using a ladder on stairs!).   First I laid out all the pictures on the floor.  I had measured the wall so I knew the layout and angles I needed to work within.  This step helped me ensure that I didn't have two similar pictures next to each other (2 honeymoon, 2 wedding, 2 of the kids, etc).  Yes, I was that particular about it.  Plus it helped me mix the shapes, sizes and layout of the pictures.  After getting a handle on the layout, I used craft paper and traced each picture and marked the paper with the hangers (where we would need to place the nails).  This step was HUGE for our sanity!  We taped up the paper in the layout, put the nails right thru the paper and then just traded out the paper for the pictures.  So easy!  Just be sure you know which paper goes with each picture.  ;)

 

Whew!  Okay, so I also love making my own canvases and utilizing my Cricut paper cutter.



The top left is in our main bathroom (the shower steam is starting to affect the stickiness on the vinyl....), the Cinderella quote is from Natalie's room (of course!) and the black and silver is currently hanging over our bed. 

 

One of my first DIY projects for our home was making these bad boys.  It was super simple and I love the uniqueness.  The frames and scrapbook paper were from Hobby Lobby and I cut the diagrams out in black paper using the From My Kitchen Cricut cartridge. 

These were inspired by Better Homes and Gardens. 

Chase's room has a sports them so I made these designs using the Team Spirit Cricut cartridge.

I also love mirrors....well, in my dining room, anyway.

 

Also in my dining room is one of my very favorite things currently hanging on our walls.

This is a pencil drawing of our first home.  The home where we lived when we got engaged, when we got married and the place we brought Natalie home.  I honestly could not love this picture any more!  It was a first anniversary gift to Matt and I am looking forward to adding a picture of our current home to the wall as well.  Now if only I could find the name of the company that did this picture!  Oops!

 

Continuing my apparent love for vinyl....

Part of the gallery wall.

In the kitchen...

In our bedroom...

This is a picture from our wedding that my Matron of Honor gave us.  During my wedding planning I found a beautiful blessing called the 'Blessing of the Hands'.  It made me tear up every (yes, EVERY and even to this day) I read it so I knew it had to be incorporated into our ceremony.  Our priest did an amazing job reading it and I love that we have the words and picture of the moment from the ceremony in our bedroom.

 

I couldn't find a link to the exact blessing we used though there are many versions online.  If you are curious here is the blessing as we used it....

These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and vibrant with love, that are holding your on your wedding day as you pledge your commitment to each other and promise to love each other all the days of your life. 

These are the hands that will work long hours for you and your new family. 

These are the hands that will work along side yours, as together you build your future, as you laugh and cry, as you share your secrets and dreams. 

These are the hands that will hold each child in tender love, soothing them through illness and hurt, supporting and encouraging along the way, and knowing when it is time to let go. 

These are the hands that will countless times wipe tears from your eyes, tears of sorrow and tears of joy.

These are the hands that will hold you tight as you struggle through difficult times, they will comfort you when you are sick , and console you when you are grieving.

These are the hands that will give you support as you encourage each other to chase down your dreams, together as a team, everything you wished for can be realized.

These are the hands that will love and cherish you through the years, for a lifetime of happiness.

And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.

God, bless these hands that you see before you this day.  May they always be held by one another.  Give them the strength to hold on during the storms of stress and the dark of disillusionment.

Keep them tender and gentle as they nurture each other in their wondrous love.  Help these hands to continue building a relationship founded in your grace, rich in caring and devoted in reaching for your perfection.

May Lauren and Matt always see their four hands as healer, protector, shelter and guide.  We ask this in your name.  Amen

 

I also had another DIY project in Natalie's room.  I made the princess pictures using canvases (cause duh, apparently!), pictures from an old calendar, some purple paint and a whole lot of modge podge. 

 

A few other items in Chase's room.  My favorite saying to the kiddos and another DIY project.  A canvas (yes, again!), wood letters, wood glue and paint.  Perfect addition to his room!

I scored (pun intended!) these pictures for $13 at Kirkland's.  They are really large too - about 24"x24".

Lastly, I have an odd wall in our living room that is currently housing a very large metal thing.  This wall is my next project.  I am thinking another gallery wall but one sans pictures of us (because, well you know we have that aspect covered in the other gallery wall) and focused on sayings and other things.  Help!

Thanks for stopping by!  Can't wait to see what everyone has on their walls!