DIY Summer Sandals

In the summer, I have an obsession with open toe pumps, flip flops, sandals and WEDGES!!!  LOOOOVE THEM ALL. Besides laying out in the sun by the pool, I think these are my favorite part of summer.  This is what I made....

Don't mind my nail polish...I am waiting one more week before I get them done for my brothers wedding. :-)

Here is the reason why I decided to make them.....

Brody and I went to the mall one day last month in Cape.  I walked into this store and on the table was the most adorable pair of sandals. They were adorable.  I picked them up and when I looked at the price tag, I dropped them....NO LIE!  I could not believe they wanted $39.00 for these cute sandals.

I put them back on table and continued to shop around the store.  I couldn't stop thinking about these cute sandals as I shopped.  I decided to go back and look at them.  As I looked at them I was trying to figure out why they were so high. I finally decided I can make these for half the price!  So I took a picture of them and went to Hobby Lobby. HA!  They all know me and Brody by name in there.  I bought a spool of black and white zebra ribbon.  They didn't have black and white cheetah ribbon.  It was $4.99 for the spool, but was 50% off so I paid $2.50.  I then went and bought 2 packs of black iron on rhinestones.  They were 2.99 a pack.  The sandals were plain black and I bought them at wet seal for $6.99.  I got 10% off of them.  The pair in the above picture are silver sandals but I wanted black.  Wet Seal had silver but if you know me then you know I love black.  All together these sandals cost me approx. $15.50.  How cool is that?  That store was charging more than double for the same thing.  I am very pleased with them and got to wear them last night.  Josh had an appointment to show one of his apartments so we decided to drive to Marion since we don't make it there very often.  We went to Walt's Pizza.  YUMMY!!!  We sat outside on the covered patio...B E A U T I F U L !!!!  Josh's mom watched Brody.  He also took me to Chill over by Shoe Carnival in Carbondale.  That place is a gold mine.  I still like Dairy Queen for the price we had to pay at Chill. YIKES! :-(

I just love looking at them and knowing in my head that I didn't spend $39.00 makes me smile even bigger!!! YEA!!!!  One last photo just because I am so happy with them!

Let me know what you think?  Would you like me to make you a pair?  I have extra ribbon! :-)

XOXOXOX

Brianne

Lake Time with CAT DADDY

Josh has got the Cat Daddy ready and we hope to be enjoying the lake soon. Memorial Day is just around the corner and I can't tell you how excited I am!!!!

I was looking at pictures this morning while Brody was napping and came across some of Josh and I before Brody came into our lives.

This was summer of 2010.  Last year Brody was so little and we were to scared to take him on such a fast boat so maybe this year he will get to take a ride on daddy's fast boat.  Brody's eyes got so big the other day when Josh pulled the boat out of the pole barn.

I am however a little disappointed.....I have always been the one to back the boat in the water and back the trailer in the water to load it back to take home....not this year.  Josh sold my favorite truck ever this winter.  :-(  I was going to post a picture but it makes me cry.  I miss it so much!  Josh bought a new truck and guess what.....IT'S STICK SHIFT! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr  I can't drive stick and Josh has tried to teach me but I can't do it. I feel like I have no control and it has a mind of it's own.  I keep hoping he comes home one day and will have a different truck......ANYTHING but stick!!!! So this year Josh will be doing ALLLLL the work.  Sorry babe.  I even had a night mare the other night that I tried to back the boat in and the truck rolled back into the water and I sank the truck. 

On a good note, I can't wait to see how Brody does on it and to see this.....

I hope everybody has a safe and fun lake and boating season!!

Love, 

Brianne  xoxoxox

MOMS....check this out!

Calling all MOMS !!!!!!!

Does anybody else hate it when you are trying to give your baby/child a bath and water gets in their eyes and they HATE it!  They cry, scream and sometimes it's just not worth the tears! :-( I have tried to tilt his head back....use a rag....pour a cup of water a little bit at a time, but babies don't really hold their head the way we want them to so while browsing on Pinterest one day I found this niffy item.  

 

I don't even know what to call it or how to find it so I decided to make my own.  Well after a trip to Hobby Lobby 3 times last week for my Kentucky Derby Hat...I found this similar item that I am very happy about!

Can we say cheap.....  .99 cents is all I paid.  It's styrofoam and I love it! Brody isn't a big fan but as soon as it's time for water to come over his head he leaves it alone.  

Sorry the pic is blurry...He is pretty quick and I couldn't snap the picture quick enough of him when he was looking up.  The baby in the picture above is obviously a lot younger. :-(  When did Brody grow up?  I can't believe he is almost 14 months old!!!!!!!!!!

I am open for suggestions on other ways you have found it easy to give your little one a bath with no or little water in the eyes.  This right now is working GREAT!  Thanks Hobby Lobby for not making me upset during bath time and making it easy on Brody's eyes! :-)

xoxoxo

Brianne

Talk "DERBY" to me! 2012 Kentucky Derby

I was a busy girl last week trying to create my Kentucky Derby Hat.  I was stressed between decorating my hat, finding a dress in my closet to match, and Brody teething.  Blue Sky Winery was having a hat contest and "the girls" had a weekend together because "the boys" were doing their Rugby thing!  My sister and her friends were going as well.  My sister and I both went to TJ Maxx and bought our hats for super cheap.  Then we went to Hobby and Lobby and got stuff to decorate them.  She wasn't feeling well and asked if I would make her hat for her.  I did hers first....that way if it looked bad I wouldn't make the same mistake on mine.  HA :-)  She wanted brown and peach. I wanted black and pink with white.  My friend Julie already had her hat.  She then had her husband Timmy spray paint her hat blue and then he spray painted white clouds on it.  She also went to Hobby Lobby and bought flowers to put on her hat and felt to make a kite.  She also added a special touch to her hat and printed off Blue Sky labels to add to the tail.  VERY CUTE!!! And she had a cute pink butterfly she hot glued on it.  Our other friends we went with bought theirs.  Julie received 3rd place and got $50.00 giftcard.  My sister and I got runner up and each got a free bottle of wine.  Julie also won the horse race and won another $15.00!!!! I didn't make the hat to win, I did it because I wanted my hat to be unique and I had fun doing it.  After going to Hobby Lobby 3 times, I called Josh's mom over to help me decide what to do.  (Remember I am not at making a decision)  I showed her what I wanted and she gave me some ideas and helped me hot glue everything on.  We also had to figure out how to support the huge gerber daisy on my head so it wouldn't fall over! :-)  Hope you enjoy the pictures.  I didn't get very many because my phone died....SHOCKER!  If I can find somebody who took more pictures I will post the pictures of the two older women who won 1st and 2nd.  The lady who won 1st had her hat for over 50 years I think if I remember correctly.  The second place winner went to a lady who bought her hat in New Orleans.  I will try my best to get their pics for you.

Happy Kentucky Derby Day!

My Hat!

Julie's Hat

My sister and I

Kelli, Amy and I

Julie, Kelli, Amy and I

Lanae and I....I use to babysit her when she was little. :-( makes me feel old!!!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza....yUmMy!!!

It's time for a recipe right???? A sweet friend of mine "Redbird" Amy was emailing me the other day and I asked if she had any good Buffalo Chicken Pizza Recipes because I have been craving one.  She sent me three links to some GREAT websites and I narrowed it down to one.  She is a recipe crazy women!  If you ever need an idea for something to cook, she is your girl!  This is the one I made and below is the link to it.

Taste of Home-Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Sorry my camera isn't very good on my phone but I PROMISE this pizza is AAAAAMAZING!

I will tell you below what I will do next time to change it up.

Ingredients

• 1 tube (13.8 ounces) refrigerated pizza crust
• 1 cup buffalo wing sauce, divided
• 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
• 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1/2 teaspoon each garlic salt, pepper and chili powder
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• Celery sticks and blue cheese salad dressing

Directions

• Unroll pizza crust into a lightly greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan; flatten dough and build up edges slightly. Bake at 400° for 7 minutes. Brush dough with 3 tablespoons buffalo wing sauce. Combine cheddar and mozzarella cheeses; sprinkle a third over the crust. Set aside.
• In a large skillet, cook the chicken, garlic salt, pepper and chili powder in butter until chicken is no longer pink. Add the remaining wing sauce; cook and stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink. Spoon over cheese. Sprinkle with oregano and remaining cheese.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. Serve with celery and blue cheese dressing. Yield: 8 slices, 4 servings.
  
  Editor's Note: This recipe was tested with Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce.

I highly suggest Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce.  It is very good. If you know of another Buffalo Wing Sauce please comment below.  I would love to try another one but I just love Frank's so much I don't think it can be beat. :-)  They sell one that says HOT on it but I just buy the regular Buffalo Wing Sauce.

The next time I make this pizza I will add blue cheese on the bottom of the crust with the wing sauce.

I used thin crust and it was a great choice but it was a little doughy so next time I will bake the crust a little longer the first time you bake it.

Next time I will cut back on the oregano seasoning.  It was a little strong for me.

This time I added extra cheese.  Great move because it made it extra cheesy. It calls for 1 1/2 cups of each and I put 2 cups of each. If you know Josh then you know he adds cheese to every dish I cook. Let me say it one more time.....JOSH LOVES IS OBSESSED WITH CHEESE!  He will even add cheese to my broccoli and cheese !!! Ha Ha!

Some buffalo chicken recipes call for thin sliced chicken but I really liked the cubed.  

Let me know if you make it and what you think of it. ENJOY!

I NEED YOUR HELP! 

I don't buy Blue Cheese dressing very much because it's not the best for you.  I need everybody that reads this to tell me what brand they buy.  I bought Ken's Steak House Blue Cheese and it was just okay!  Please let me know.  I plan on making this great recipe again so I need to know what kind to buy.

Brianne xoxox


**Everything in Red at the top came straight from Taste of Home website.  You can also go to their website and check out more recipes! :-)