The Best Self Tanner Ever!

One of my dear friends is getting married this weekend, and I absolutely can't wait to see her walk down the isle! Since I haven't seen much of the outside world since my babies were born, I just realized that my skin has been pasty white for quite a while. I don't like to go out in the sun, but I do love me some self tanners! I've tried quite a few, but this one takes the cake! It's Sephora's brand and it's called "tinted self tanning body mist." You can find it here at sephora.com

Reasons why I love it:

1. It's paraben free
2. Doesn't leave you orange, but a beautiful bronze color
3. Not smelly like most self tanners
4. Easy to apply (it comes in am aerosol can) and no streaks!
5. A great price- only $14 for a 5 oz can

Try it out!

Curried Sweet Potato "fries"

It's been pretty warm lately, which got us in the mood for grilling tonight. I usually make sweet potato fries to go along with our turkey burgers. They are not really fried, but baked, and have a little bit of kick to them. Here is the recipe!

What you need:
3 sweet potatoes (try to find some skinny ones)
2 Tbsp. EVOO
3 Tbsp. agave nectar
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. cracked pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. curry powder


Preheat oven to 400 


Wash and peel sweet potatoes

Use a mandolin or knife to cut sweet potatoes to desired size and thickness. I like to cut mine pretty thin, and I use a mandolin.


Add cut sweet potatoes to a tupperware, or ziplock bag and add all ingredients to the potatoes. Shake the tupperware or bag until the potatoes are evenly coated. 


Spread potatoes across a cookie sheet so that there is no more than two layers of potatoes on the sheet. Cook for 30 minutes, or until desired crispiness. 

Enjoy!

Oh January where have you gone?

I'm still here! Since my last post my little buggies have become quite a handful. They turned 4 months old, and craziness ensued from there. They have become much more aware of their surroundings, started teething, went through a big growth spurt, learned to almost roll over, and play with toys.  They also think that nighttime is a great time to practice rolling and kicking which of course wakes them up. All this combined = not much sleep or time for mommy! Even though it is tough at times, we are having so much fun :)

Here are my little silly bugs...

Painter's Tape is fab!

While I was planning out the twins' nursery I knew I wanted an accent wall behind the cribs since it would be unsafe to hang anything there. I considered wallpaper (messy and expensive), and then stencils (there are some great ones at cuttingedgestencils.com), but then was inspired by a beautiful photo at The Vintage Laundress. It was exactly what I was looking for! It reminded me of the oh so unaffordable, yet oh so delicious Jonathan Adler Richard Nixon rug that I LOVE 

She used 3 inch painters tape to create a wall like the one we did. I was leery to take on this bold task ask my husband to take on this bold task with me, but he said yes to his preggo wife :) It takes a lot of tape (definitley use the 3 inch tape, you can find it at Lowe's), leveling, pencil markings, and patience, but it was worth the hard work! 

Making squares...

and more squares...

connecting the squares...

Working hard on the finishing touches...

The big reveal!

The end!

If you dare.... :)

 (Just kidding, it's not that hard!)

We first painted the wall in Benjamin Moore "Chantilly Lace." Then we measured the wall, and used the measurements to decide how many rows and columns of squares we wanted. Then we started with the top row and created each square going across from left to right. Each square was made by cutting an exact piece of tape with a rotary cutter and a cutting mat like to make sure it was straight.

After all the squares were complete, we went back and connected each square with a piece of tape on all sides (making sure each one was level). After each square is made it doesn't matter how big the connecting pieces are since you are just laying it over the squares you already made. After all that was done (and yes it will take you what seems like forever), it's time to paint! We used two coats of Benjamin Moore in "Innocence."

Try it out, or make your own pattern!

Spearmint Baby!

I'm so excited to be featured on Spearmint Baby!!! You can see the post about my twin's nursery here. Spearmint Baby is an awesome blog for mommy's, mommy's to be, and anyone interested in all things baby! Check it out, but beware you will be there scouring all the cute pictures for a while ;)

A few of my favorite things...

In the past couple of years I decided to take a more natural approach to beauty products (especially while I was pregnant). It took some trial and error to find the best products to replace the ones I had been using for years, but I finally found some worthy replacements. Here are some of my favorites!

1. Yes to Cucumbers Shampoo and Conditioner, $8.99 at Target stores 

*this shampoo and conditioner leaves my hair soft, smooth, and moisturized

2. Pacifica Body Butter to Go, $18 at Sephora

*I love this scent, and love that it's free of yucky chemicals!

3. Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Facial Cleanser, $6.39 at Drugstore.com

*I've been using Neutrogena for years, so when they came out with a paraben free formula, I was ecstatic! It is wonderful at cleaning, especially removing make-up after a long day. 

4. Burt's Bee's Body Bar in Mango and Orange, $4.99 at Drugstore.com

*Love Burt's Bee's, and this one doesn't disappoint

5. Lavanilla deodorant in Vanilla Coconut, $18 at Sephora

*This is THE BEST natural deodorant I have tried (and I tried a ton)

6. Zoya Nailpolish in Harley, $8 at Zoya.com

*Zoya has over 300 colors without some nasty chemicals that are in other nail polish brands

7. Alba Passion Fruit Nectar Lip balm, 2.97 at Walmart

*Love how smooth and moisturized this lip balm leaves you lips

Happy 2012!

My new year life resolution

and blog more!

I love this necklace. You can find at here at Becoming Jewelry on Etsy.

Good Morning Apple Butter!

I've had a jar of apple butter sitting in my refrigerator for a few weeks now, and just couldn't think of what to do with it. I love oatmeal in the morning, and thought of spicing it up with a scoop of apple butter. It was delicious! The perfect breakfast for a chilly morning. I also like making my oatmeal with almond milk. If you are looking for a lower calorie breakfast, make your oatmeal with water then add a splash of almond milk for some richness after it's cooked. 

Mason Jar with Boxwood

I love boxwood cuttings! We have a few bushes in front of our house, and I am always heading to them to clip some of their beautiful branches. The color green is so lush and brings an earthy feeling to a room. I borrowed the idea of the jute-wrapped mason jars from a bridal shower I attended a few months ago. This is a super simple craft that looks oh-so-good with some freshly cut Boxwood. Tutorial below.

I was looking for something to fill a blank space on my kitchen counters, and voila! 

Materials Needed:

Hot glue gun

Jute twine (mine is purchased from Hobby Lobby)

Scissors

Mason Jar

Start with a dab of hot glue a the base of the mason jar. Adhere the end of the twine to the dab of glue and hold firmly. 

Wrap the twine around the mason jar, and after a few wraps around the jar add another dab of hot glue. Continue gluing and wrapping until you reach about the middle of the jar. Cut the twine and finish with a final dab of hot glue. Add some Boxwood cuttings, or any other greenery you wish. Don't forget to add water!

All done!

Do You Polyvore?

I stumbled upon Polyvore about a year ago. It's a website dedicated mainly to fashion where users pull together looks with images from Polyvore's user added photos or by uploading or "clipping" their own. I've found it most useful for gathering my decorating ideas. I am much better at planning out a space if I can see the ideas on paper or in this case, on Polyvore. I used Polyvore for gathering ideas and designing my twin's nursery, and it turned out much like what I designed on Polyvore! Here is the Polyvore design

Click here to see how my twin's nursery turned out!

 It's a whole lot of fun to play around with, and very helpful if you are like me and have a slight problem with buying things only to find out it doesn't look exactly perfect in the space like you imagined it would :)

Create an account and make sure to download the clipper. It goes into your toolbar in your web browser, and anytime you like an image (it works for most websties) you click on "clip to Polyvore" and it will add it to your saved images in your Polyvore account. You can also search for images like "grey rug" or "silver lamp" in their database. Polyvore will also tag the store where the item can be purchased.

You can see other designs I've done at my polyvore, madihart.polyvore.com

Have fun!

Simply Clean Counters

In the past couple of years I have become more conscious about the cleaning products I use in my house, and how they affect my family and the environment. My mentality is the less chemicals, the better. If it's all natural, even better! We have granite counters in our kitchen, and if any of you have them as well you know that they are prone to a streaky residue if you don't clean them just right. I have the BEST cleaner for a shiny, streak free, all natural clean counter. It's so simple!

1 cup of water
1 cup of rubbing alchol
1 Tbsp. of white distilled vinegar

That's it! Get yourself a good spray bottle (I made the mistake of buying my first one at the dollar store, and it just didn't work). I bought mine at Target. I also use this cleaner for most surfaces in my house, as well as mirrors and glass.

Happy cleaning! :)

Tofu Tuesday

Although we aren't vegetarian or vegan, we do enjoy meatless recipes quite frequently. Today I made an asian style veggie and tofu stir fry. My cooking style is less literal, and more "a little bit of this, a little bit of that."I don't have an exact recipe for this, but I'll give it a try! I cut up the veggies during the babies nap time and kept them in the fridge for less to do at dinner time (aka witching hour- you all know about that). 

Asian Peanut Sauce Stir Fry for  Two

Ingredients

2 zucchini's chopped 

2 yellow squash chopped 

1/2 yellow onion chopped

1 Tbsp. Agave nectar

1 Tbsp. Soy sauce

One package of tofu (I use extra firm)

1 Tbsp. Peanut butter

1 Tbsp. Sesame oil

1 cup Jasmine rice (optional)

1. Stir together sesame oil, peanut butter,  soy sauce, and agave nectar in a bowl and pour over tofu. Set aside.

2. Add about a Tbsp. of sesame oil in a skillet on medium low

3. Add onions and cook until slightly soft

4. Add zucchini and squash and cook on medium until slightly soft

5. Optional- add a little more soy sauce to the pan (maybe another tbsp. or two)

5. Mix tofu in peanut sauce into the skillet and continue to cook until everything is soft and sizzling (like my technical cooking terms?)

6. Serve over jasmine rice and enjoy!

Crafty Christmas Tree

I didn't have much time to think about and plan for a tree this year. I did know that I wanted to keep it simple and in neutral colors. I had some silver, sparkly ball ornaments that I bought on clearance from Target last year and used those as my base. I decided to make origami stars from book pages as another ornament. I found an easy tutorial for a five point star here: Orgami Star Instructions Whenever I'm working with book pages I use dollar store books to save money and spare a really good book (no offense dollar store authors). I used a tiny hole punch at the top of the star and ran a ribbon though it to hang on the tree. I also bedazzled some pinecones with a healthy dose of Martha Stewart glitter. That glitter is no joke. It will stick to anything. My babies had flecks of glitter on their heads the rest of the day. My final last minute ornament was a coffee filter pouf ball. I found a great tutorial here Jones Design Company Coffee Filter Foof Tutorial I finished it off with some extra burlap I had laying around, and gathered it as a tree skirt. Now we just need some presents!

Hope everyone is enjoying decorating for the holidays!

Sing away the Monday's

I've heard about how important it is to talk to your baby for language development. I recently read an article in the Dec/Jan issue of Parenting magazine about using descriptive words when speaking to your baby. Research showed that in doing so you are influencing how your baby understands the world around him.

Singing songs is also a fun way of introducing language. I love Pandora radio. There are endless possibilities of music to enjoy. Today we listened to the "Beach Boys" station. This is a great station to add to your Pandora list. I've always loved the Beach Boys, and all the wholesome, poppy 60's songs. My favorite songs from today: "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys and "Ain't No Mountain" by Diana Ross and the Temptations.

Here's a picture of their sweet little face while we were singing away!

What songs do you sing to your kids?

I Heart Craigslist

Craigslist has been the source of many of my DIY projects. I mostly search out furniture that I can sand and paint. I get so excited when I find the perfect piece- my husband not so much. He knows it means lugging him with me to a stranger's house (please never go alone), loading the heavy piece into the car, and because he loves me so much, helping me with the painting :) Here is the before and after picture. The after photo was part of our newborn photo session with our amazing photographers, Brooke Images. You can visit them at brookeimages.com

First wipe down the dresser and all the drawers. Then lightly sand all surfaces that are to be painted. Next it's time to prime and paint. Let the primer fully dry, I usually wait overnight for the final coat. I used Modern Masters metallic paint in Pewter for this dresser. Modern Masters is not a very thick paint, so it required 3 coats to get the look I wanted. We used a roller for the top of the dresser to get a smoother finish. I decided to keep the pulls as is for a vintage look.

Keep an eye out on your local Craigslist for a great catch like this one. A good tip is to search the word "french" or "french provincial." Happy hunting!