Today is my best friends birthday!! She turns the big 2-8!!! I am beyond excited that she came into my life 15+ years ago and I can't imagine life without her! [Go wish her a happy birthday over @ 'Lovin Life as a Mommy and Wife'!!!]
Here we are in school and so young!! I think we are 13 here.
A little more grown up :)
Since it's her birthday, I thought I would share with you all a poem I wrote about her in my 9th grade creative writing class and I read it has part of my MOH speech at her wedding this past September.
'My Best Friend'
Freckles you can see,
With her dark brown hair;
She is finally sixteen,
And she loves to care.
She is very gentle,
Has to been clean;
She is never dull
And never mean.
She loves to smile,
She is tight with money.
Her last name is McConnell;
I call her honey.
She is very skinny,
Hates to get hurt;
Very picky with her clothes,
And is disgusted with dirt.
She is fussy with boys,
Hates fatty foods;
Do not make a lot of noise,
she might get in a bad mood.
She is an emotional girl,
And is loved by all;
Her hair has a natural curl,
She is like a doll.
My best friend she will always be
Through thick and thin;
I care for her and she cares for me;
We will be best friends through eternity.
Amanda, you have a very special place in my heart. I am happy that all these years later, we are still close and best friends. We have been through many life happenings together and I am so glad to have you by my side for all of those. I am beyond excited to see what next 15+ years bring! Cheers!!!
If you remember, I posted earlier this month about my New Year resolutions and they were trying something new every month and be more organized and staying organized. Well...
I tried new things multiple times this month. Being that I got a new job and I met many new people (whom I love working with), I have been introduced to many new foods. I tried some sort of organic granola with dried strawberries and pieces of chocolate...I hated it! I tried gummy apple slices and dried peaches...hated them both! I tried flavored organic pita crackers...I LOVED THEM!! I loved them so much I tried to find them when I went grocery shopping this weekend...but didn't find them :( Hopefully I can find them @ Target this week!
I also tried a new kind of beer. We went out to dinner on a Sunday afternoon with some good friends and on the restaurants drink menu, they had $2 Mystery Beer. Tate decided to order it (he will try anything at least once). I decided to try it and it actually wasn't bad.
This was the beer
I felt like I tried many new things this month so I hope I can keep this going strong all year!!!
I also organized our office this month. I really want to paint and decorate our office, but I had to organize it before I even started designing what I wanted to do.
Please note before looking at these 'before' pictures is that this room was not only an office for the last couple years, it was also a wedding room, craft room, throw everything in here type of room [don't judge] :)
As you walk in
There is a desk under there somewhere
My wedding dress surrounded by this mess
And now we have an organized office to which I can start putting together ideas of ways to decorate and design it!
Look....a floor
An actual desk that we can use!
Closet doors that close
Organized inside
And I already have ideas of what I want to do with the room. I can't wait to get that done and showcase that to you all! Here are some ideas so far:
*Our old, sad excuse of a kitchen table will become our new desk as soon as I stain the top and paint the legs. I have also would like to change up the chairs. You can see this table in the pictures below (this is our 4th bedroom on the very bottom level of our home).
*We plan to paint the room a few colors.
*We would like to add fabric window treatments.
*I am undecided whether to paint all the trim and wood white...we will see!
*I would also like to spray paint the file cabinet a color to match everything else.
That is all I can think of now...and I am hoping this won't take too long!
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Tax season has officially started! Only about 12 weeks to go until tax filing deadline. It falls on April 17th since the 15th is on a Sunday and the 16th is considered a holiday in D.C. so they extend the deadline to the 17th which makes taxpayers happy, but it makes tax preparers annoyed! It makes it worse that it's a leap year which makes it another additional day!
I've been at the new job for a little over 3 weeks now and I am loving it. I feel like I am back to what I am good at and doing what I love. I really like the people I work with also. I am laughing and being my 'crazy' self again! I've even did a cartwheel yesterday in the office :)
What's also super nice is I only work 4 miles from home so I go home during lunch to let Mya out and get things done. I love it and it's nice to have a break from these long days! I know Mya loves it too!
Now for the next 12 weeks...I hope to still blog on a regular basis, but some days I am at the office for 12+ hours so the last thing I want to do is come home and get back on the computer. I plan to still work on projects at home (with my limited time) and blog about those. So please bare with me for the next 12 weeks as I get through this busy season...I promise I am coming back if I end up not blogging for a bit!
I hope you all are having a wonderful Thursday!! XOXO
When it comes to teaching our baby girl tricks...Tate is the one to do so. I don't have the patience for it. Once she has it down...then I start to do it with her. Tate only teaches her 'standard' tricks...nothing that will end up on the Ellen show :) Oh how I wish!!!!
Anyways...I took a couple videos of her doing one of her tricks [sorry if the videos are crappy...it's off my phone]
She loves loves loves carrots!!
And to let you see the side where she is always not the best at her tricks and is notperfect doesn't always listen...
After I yell her name...she usually stops eating the treat to 're-do' it! I couldn't stop laughing after this video because she just kept chomping along like it was no big deal ;)
I love my baby girl so much!!! She brings so much joy in my life!!! During wrestling season...Tate's gone a lot coaching...so Mya and I have great 1 on 1 time! We have so much fun :)
Another super yummy receipe from the very awesome website...pinterest. I seriously think that I would be eating the same thing every week if it wasn't for pinterest. I love love love all the different recipes I find and I know Tate does also. He loves trying new things...so even though he thinks I spend too much time on there, he is thankful for the fabulous food I make that I get from there.
You really can make fajitas any way you want...but the marinade for the chicken and veggies is what makes the fajitas so good. I am a super picky eater, so I am always tweaking recipes I find to make them so I know I will like them. The marinade on this one though, I did not mess with and I am not sure any tweaking is needed...ever!
Marinade ingredients:
Juice of 2 limes
2 tablespoons of rice vinegar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
2 teaspoons of cumin
I started out by cutting up my chicken into little pieces. I also cute up the veggies (peppers & onion) into strips. I put all the chicken in a zip lock bag and all the veggies in a different zip lock bag.
Mix together all the marinade ingredients in a small bowl. After you stir, pour 1/2 the marinade in the chicken bag and the other 1/2 in the veggie bag. Let them marinade for a good 30 minutes.
After it's all marinaded, I put the chicken in a stove top pan to cook. After the chicken was cooked, I added in the peppers and onions. Once that is all cooked together...you are ready to build your fajitas.
Everyone likes different things on their fajitas. I usually cook some rice so I can put that in mine along with sour cream, cheese, lettuce and salsa. So yummy and I am drooling just thinking about theses. We have made this recipe 3 times now and it is definitely on the dinner calendar every other week now!!!
Amazing, breathtaking, awesome, inspiring, cool, beautiful, stunning...I could go on and on!!! My mom and I went to 'The Lion King' on Saturday and I can't get it out of mind!
I actually cried during the opening act of 'Circle of Life' because I was so happy that I was finally going to see this musical. If money grew on any of the trees in our yard...I would be going to this show every night while it was here!!
My mom came up and we first watched the movie 'Bridesmaids'. I had already seen it but my mom hadn't and I knew she would just be laughing the whole time. Watching very funny movies with my mom is the best because her laugh is so contagious!
After the movie ended, we got ready and headed downtown for some dinner @ Crave. I had never been there and I wanted to treat my mom to a very nice dinner. It was very beautiful and very good.
I started with a cucumber & cream cheese roll
Mom started out with a side salad
We shared a very delicious grilled chicken and baked penne pasta with cheese...but I forgot to take a picture before we stuffed our faces with it :)
After dinner, we headed over to The Capital Grille for some drinks before the show. The show wasn't until 8 and it was only 6, so we had some time to kill. My mom of course made friends with everyone sitting next to us @ the bar and even the bartender!!!
Finally at the show :)
Ran into a good friend...Miller
My mom and I...all giddy!!!
This was my first musical and my first time @ the Orpheum Theatre. My mom and I thought the inside was beautiful. Our favorite thing was this gorgeous chandelier.
This is the only picture I got inside...then I got yelled @ because you can't take pictures inside the theatre!
Now onto the show. The opening act was my all time favorite...I mean, how could it not be. 'The Circle of Life' is such a great song and to see all the animals right there @ the beginning was so cool.
The costumes were so neat. I couldn't believe how detailed they were. The dancing and singing was awesome too.
Zazu and Rafiki were really funny. Got a good laugh every time they were in a scene.
Simba and Nala
Pumbaa and Timon...my fav!!!
I can not say enough good things about this show. I can't wait to see it again some day. I have loved The Lion King since Disney made the movie when I was in 7th grade. I collected everything I could and still have many of things to this day.
I was so happy to experience this with my mom. She loved it also. I am so excited to share it with my husband some day because I know he will love it as much as we both did.
I would definitely recommend anybody and everybody to go see this. You will not be disappointed one bit...I promise!!! If you are...there is something wrong with you :)
My sweet and witty Great Grandma Lofgren went to Heaven yesterday and I feel sad and happy at the same time. My GG lived life to the fullest and was a spit fire. You would have never guessed that she was 101 years old.
Here we all are at her 100th birthday party.
I have some of the fondest memories of her. She lived in CA since I was born, so even though we didn't see her often, we always made the time we did spend together very special. My sister and I went to CA 4 years ago to visit my brother and decided to spend one day with GG. I called her to find out her address and ask her how to get to her place. I was asking her a few questions about the directions and then I said, "Well you live in a assisted senior living home, right?"...boy did she set me straight. "I do not need assistance. I live in an apartment by myself and I do everything by myself" she responded. This was when she was 97...and she was still living in the same place and doing the same thing when she turned 100. I learned...DO NOT tell GG she needs assistance :)
I'm sad that she is gone...but happy that she lived such a wonderful and long life. I mean...how can you be sad when someone lived to be 101 and was as spunky and loving as she was. Her husband (my Great Grandpa Clarence) passed away in the mid-80's and she stayed alone and still lived life to the fullest.
Dear Great Grandma Lofgren, Words can't even describe how much I hope to be like you. I love the way you loved and lived. You always put a smile on every ones face and made us laugh every time we were together. I know you are in heaven with Great Grandpa and having so much fun seeing everyone again. I look forward to the day I get to see you again. For now, I will keep tight to all our memories and pray for you! You are a great inspiration and my hero. I love you so much and will miss you!!!
Andrea over @ Love is...was ever so kind to do a guest post today on the burlap wreath she has made multiple times!! Go check out her blog for many projects that she has done and start following!!! Thank you Andrea for the post!!!
Hi Life As Bridget Knows It... readers! I'm Andrea, from Love is...
Love is... is a place where I talk about my life & everything going on in it! & I like to post about a little bit of everything - DIY tutorials, clothes, makeup, books, fitness, family... You get the idea! Today I'll be sharing with you the burlap wreath I made for our wedding this past September! Let's get started, shall we?!
I found my inspiration for this wreath, pictured below, on this blog. There were no instructions there, so I had to figure out how to put it together on my own!
Supplies:
4-5 inch wide strips of burlap. Mine were 40 inches long. I'm not sure how many I had, I just filled up the wire until I got the shape & fullness I wanted.
12 gauge, (or higher) floral wire
Wire cutters
Wreath form
22 gauge floral wire
Start off by measuring out your 12 gauge floral wire. I just matched it to the size of my wreath form & then cut the wire.
To place the burlap on the wire, I just weaved the wire in & out of the burlap, to give it a layered look. I didn't do the weaving in a straight line either. I found it helped to have it in the middle & move to the left & right to get some more dimension. There really is no right or wrong way to do this though! = )
Once you get all of your burlap onto the wire, attach the wire to your wreath form. I simply found the "top" & wrapped it around the wreath form a few times to keep it secure.
This is where your 22 gauge floral wire comes in. Every few inches, take a small piece of the 22 gauge wire & attach it to your wreath form & your 12 gauge wire. Simply twist the ends of your 22 gauge wire together , as tight as you can, & that will hold the burlap to the wreath form.
And that's it! It's actually pretty simple & it looks great in your home! = )
