Weekend Recap and VMA talk

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! On Saturday I went to the location that I will be marrying the man of my dreams this next coming year.  The hotel had two weddings, and let me "spy" behind the scenes and see how they had it set up.  It is so crazy and feels more real every time! 

 

 

 

Sunday took the pups to dog beach. They had a blast.

 

On another note, did you see those VMAs?  The three words that come to mind are Yikes, Atrocious, and Dirty. And If you saw it, you know exactly who I am describing...Miley Cyrus.  Now I'm really not one to judge, but it scares me to think that this is what my future children will be watching, and if it is this risque, who knows what it will be like when I actually have kids. The world is a scary place, haha.

On other exciting news, you can now order the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, however it does not come out "publicly" until September 3rd.  But guess what, you can order it by using the code word PSL10.

Mini Buffalo Chicken Sandwich Recipe

I don't know about you, but I have cravings for "wing sauce" almost constantly.  However, I would always dine out to get that craving satisfied.  I wanted to learn how to do it myself at home, for those "at home" lazy dinner days, which is exactly what made me strive to cook this.
I wanted something easy and here it goes:

 
Recipe for two
2 chicken breasts
2 cups Franks Hot Sauce
1 tbl Spoon butter

Cole Slaw mix
Marie Calenders Cole Slaw Dressing

Mini hamburger buns or Kings Hawaiian Bread

Poke holes in chicken with a fork.  Place chicken in crock pot and pour franks hot sauce and butter.  Cook for about 2 hours (May be faster depending on how thin your chicken is.)

While the chickens cooking, mix your cole slaw package and your cole slaw dressing together. (Yes you can do homemade but I'm showing you a quick lazy gal way!)  Use as much dressing as you desire.  Let it sit in the fridge until chicken is cooked.

*DING* When the chicken is cooked, start shredding it in crock-pot.  I toast my hamburger buns in the oven for a few seconds then I add some chicken and some slaw on my sandwich and BAM!  Amazing exploding deliciousness in your mouth!  That's all it takes! Super duper easy peasy!
Enjoy!

xoxo
Lisa

How I asked my Ring Bearer and Flower Girl..

Wedding planning is in full swing in our household.  We just had a few DJ meetings to find the perfect DJ for our 2014 wedding, and we found one we LOVE!  & Come to find out he also DJs at Disneyland's California Adventure at the "Mad T Party," which if you haven't been it for sure is a party.  Now that I have many vendors checked off on my list of to-dos, I was able to ask my ring-bearer and flower girl.

My mother and cousin usually go on walks on Tuesday evenings, so we set it up that I arrive at my parents house to meet up with them.  I bought a cute toy truck filled with legos, bubbles, some teddy grahams and gold fish crackers and a cute note to put in the truck to ask my cousins son to be our ring bearer. I also gave my cousin a book that explains what tasks the ring bearer has-- of course it was a kid friendly version!

He absolutely loved the truck, however he doesn't quite understand the "ring bearer" tasks yet- but no biggie! I love how he enjoyed his gift! 

Since my flower girl is my fiance's cousins daughter and she lives in Nebraska, I had to mail out my gift to her.  I purchased a handmade name bracelet and had it customized with one of my wedding colors (Tiffany Blue) so that she can wear it on the day of our wedding.  I included a decorated note asking her to be our flower girl!  She should be receiving it in the mail today and I can't wait to hear the good news!

In addition, I have asked three girls to be my bridesmaids and have one more to ask (hoping I am able to ask her tomorrow evening!)  Then we can start shopping for some bridesmaid dresses! Whoo hoo!  I handmade a wineglass for each girl with their first initials on the glass, and designed a mini book explaining tasks they are responsible for, and fun ideas I have in mind.  I included what my wedding colors are and a cute chevron bag they can use.  Here are a few photos of my girls using social media to show the world how I asked them:

And yes my MOH name in my phone is "Burp Blonde."  I'm assuming you can guess how she got her name, but here's a little background story:  In high school at a track meet we were walking towards the finish line to cheer on our freshman runners.  Mind you, she is a short, 5 foot 1 gorgeous blonde girl. On the way, she lets out this ENORMOUS belch and the parents next to us says "Wow! Even my 18 year old sons can't burp that loud!!"  It was by far, the most hilarious thing! Since then, she has been labeled in my phone as Burp Blonde!  Classy, I know.

 

 
Wedding planning is so much fun! (and stressful) but hey! That's why I'm starting early!  I can't wait to start making things for my bridal shower, and showcasing them here on my blog! It's going to be too much fun!
To view the wedding planning and my life every step of the way, follow me on instagram.

What theme do you think I should do for my Bridal Shower? Any suggestions?

Pinterest Findings

Oh weddings, that wonderful time of year when literally all of your friends are getting married. Thankfully I am engaged, because I get to watch them first hand, get ideas, see what works and what doesn't.  For those not engaged, you for sure should take notes too!  I wish I would have started this years ago.  Luckily for us internet-obsessed folk we have this magically place called Pinterest.  The place to collect your ideas, what you like, what you want to have, what you want to incorporate not only in your wedding planning, but your entire life! From outfits to recipes this is your bible.  I literally have spent hours on this silly little but oh-so amazing site.  

I also have stumbled across many amazing blogs because of Pinterest, one particularly that caught my eye is Fash Boulevard. Mostly, because of this photo:

 

Fash Boulevard is the Style Columnist for Lauren Conrad and Giuliana Rancic.  Plus, I just love how adorable this photo is.  Everything about it.  Plus it helps when the couple is attractive.  Anyways, what caught my eye was obviously the fact that she had a wedding, and not only did she have one, but she blogged every step of the way.  It helps other bridezillas like myself not feel alone in the planning process. 
Another thing I loved about Fash Boulevard was that she too is a graphic designer.  Girl has got some more things in common with myself!  My favorite quote I can take away from Fash Boulevard is:

"It's not about how quickly you succeed, it's about how much heart you put into it. "

This couldn't be more true to a "T."  Anyways, check this girl out, you won't be disappointed.   I love love love finding inspirational bloggers like herself.

Who are some of your favorite bloggers?  Name your top 3 in my comments.

Till next time,
Lisa




All Greeting Cards Only $1.99!

Weekend Recap- Best Friends Wedding

This past weekend I had one of my best girlfriends weddings.  Everything leading up to the wedding was quite stressful, thankfully when it came to the day of only a few things went wrong-- one being her dress underneath ripped! Luckily it was underneath, and we were able to cut it off and sew it back on.

We started off the weekend before heading to the location by getting our nails done at this cute salon near our house.  They served us snacks and champagne.  It was so cute!  Originally the florist was in the hospital getting a blood transfusion and we thought all the girls would have to get together after we got our nails done to put the floral arrangements and bouquets together.  Come to find out, she checked herself out of the hospital that morning and was able to make the arrangements, so all the girls went out to lunch. When we went back to her house to put her wedding dress in the car, a lady back up into the car, and came out yelling at us!?  Thankfully she didn't do damage to the car and we left to head to Dana Point for her wedding weekend successfully without too many more issues!

Here are some photos from this past weekend: 

 Bride getting ready

My hairdo 

                                   On the Bridal Suite balcony

 

Dinner the night before the wedding with the bridal party!

 

Precious Flower girl

 Bridesmaids!

 

Gorgeous Bride and her Groom 

 Brides accessories! Glamorous!

 Entrance to the reception!

Hair colorist - Jewel // Hair up-do stylist-Kristi  // Makeup artist -

Bridesmaids Dresses- Alfred Angelo $85

Bridesmaids Shoes- Cathy Jean (no longer available) $15

 Professional Photographer - Sposto Photography

 Absolutely stunning and fun wedding, 

I'll post more photos when I upload! Ta-ta for now!

Daily Find: Pleated Dress

My current obsession: pleated dresses.  I feel they compliment every body type.  They make thin girls have a figure, and curvy girls appear thinner.  They compliment every shape and size.  Here are a few of my favorite picks:

Forever 21 Pleated Dresses

Real vs. Steal

We all know and love designer items, yet we don't always have the budget for them.  Here are a few of my FAVORITE designer items that I wish I could have, however, planning a wedding and saving for a house is my #1 priority. So I listed some look-likes for a HUGE fraction of the designer cost.

Chanel Quilted Purse vs. ASOS // Reiss Brina vs. ZARA Court Shoe //  Michael Kors Watch vs. Charlotte Russe Valentino vs. Shoedazzle

Thank goodness for designer inspired items to help us ladies on a budget save some cash!

xox hope you have a wonderful day!

-L

Operation Gardening : The Ladybug Experiment

I have been growing my own vegetables for the past 4 months, and let me tell you-- it is such an excitement when your own vegetables spring up!  But when all of a sudden your precious plants become infested with aphids.. all hell breaks loose!  I didn't want to buy pesticides because I am trying to stay as organic as I can, since I will be consuming the vegetables myself.  I did my research and came to find out that ladybugs were a great way to get rid of those plant eating devils!  I purchased my own lady bugs and boy was that a thrill!  Here are some photos of my experiment:

Crawling around the pot

 

The result: No more plant eating aphids! It worked!

However, yes those pretty little ladies will soon fly off and venture into another garden, so you will need a backup plan:

Another method you can do if ladybugs aren't your forte, is 1/2 cup distilled vinegar with 1/2 cup water, mix it and put it in a spray bottle container. This will kill the aphids and larvae on contact.  Be careful- Some plants may react horribly with vinegar.

Hope that helps, friends!

P.S. While watching over my ladybug friends, I caught a bee on my basil flowers and had to snap a shot:


 
& here's a few of my garden plants, they are growing so fast!
I get so excited when I get to harvest more veggies!

Tomatoes

Cucumber

Basil

Jalapeno

Serrano Pepper

Lemon Tree

Bell Pepper

Little baby basil leaves

Do you have a garden? What is your favorite vegetable or fruit to grow?

xo- Lisa