goodbye winter: hello spring

with the arrival of spring comes warmer temps and greater energy, sure.  it also means hearty grilling, cleansing showers, comfortable outdoor runs, bright nail colors, spring florals, and flip flops.  these are a few of my favorites! let's just say i'm always eager to welcome nature's season of renew.

spring often finds me more convicted to eating healthy and deep cleaning than others as we prepare for the busy summer months ahead.  'cause who doesn't want to look good in a bikini and have an organized closet?!?!  this year though i've lacked such motivation.  between long days at work, working out, and jam packed weekends i've struggled to achieve any kind of balance to do either well.  so, naturally, i've spent 'spare' hours scouring Pinterest for recipes and quick organizational tips to make life more manageable.  (can we say time suck?  I should have focused my search on time management....)

needless to say i came across this recipe and it has changed my perspective! it's healthy, quick, and Cody will eat it!  i make it once a week for dinner and eat it twice for lunch.  it's so good I had to share.

chicken & asparagus penne

ingredients 

10 oz. penne pasta (cooked)

1 lb. chicken breast (cooked and cubed)

6-8 stalks asparagus

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese 

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

pepper

directions

give yourself 25-30 minutes, start to finish.

1) place thawed, raw chicken breasts in a skillet coated with non-stick cooking spray and cover.

2) saute chicken 15-20 minutes, flipping often, until tender and fully cooked. 

3) while chicken is cooking, rinse asparagus and cut into 1-2 inch chunks.

4) steam asparagus until tender. 

5) cook pasta (I use whole wheat) according to directions, drain.

6) cube chicken.

7) in a large bowl or pot toss pasta with cubed chicken, steamed asparagus, olive oil, garlic, parmesan, and pepper to taste.

8) viola!  serve and enjoy! 

pinterest inspired: cody created

since we bought our home last year I have maintained a to-do list of updates and wants that would spruce it up and make it our own.  the list is long; not that our home is in bad shape but, I simply have a unique style that I’d like to bring to life, eventually.  most recently I decided that we should start our bedroom remodel.  our bedroom is huge – obnoxiously large in fact – and changes made in there would have a big impact. 

the problem was that I wasn’t sure where to start.  so I settled on a corner.  I’d start there and work my way into the rest of the room, tackling my biggest challenge first.

the challenge:

given that our home was built in the late 1990s there was a cable jack and plug-in strategically mounted nearly 5 feet up the wall, in the corner above an oak corner shelf.  perfect for a tube television!  fast forward to the 2000s and this unique feature was dated.  the shelf and outlets had bothered me for months.  I knew I wanted to get rid of/or hide them but, I also knew I didn’t want an armoire. I stumbled upon this:

clearly we needed to make it.  after some convincing Cody agreed to take on the project.  here’s the result of our (mostly his) hard work:

 my husband is amazing! thanks babe! 

my fix: stitch fix review

one of my favorite monthly activities is visiting my hairstylist, Tiffany.  each time I go I learn some new handy hair trick, recipe, workout, or clothing fad.  we typically spend the whole time talking! 

at my march appointment Tiffany mentioned, very enthusiastically, that she had registered to try a new online shopping service: Stitch Fix.  (a name, no doubt intended to set the expectation that the service could be addicting.)  I was instantly intrigued.  that night I arranged for my fix.    

what an genius concept!  for just $20 per fix a personal shopper will assess your style preferences, shop for items specific to your style and ship them your way for arrival on a designated date of your choice.  at that point you have 5 days to decide what items you want to keep or ship back.  as a bonus a $20 credit, the $20 you paid to arrange for the fix, will be applied to your order’s total. pure genius! if only I had the entrepreneurial spirit to think this up. 

to get started I logged onto the site and completed my personal style profiler.  according to the site [the] Style Profile helps to get a sense of where your style is now and where you would like it to be. with questions like: how do you prefer your bottoms to fit; what’s your primary occupational dress; how would you characterize your preferred style; what do you prefer to flaunt – how could you not get excited?!  those who know me know I have a hard time making wise clothing purchases (I mean, I once bought neon shoes.  I don't go to the club...who does that? WHO DOES THAT?!?!) so delegating that to a pro sounded good to me.  once your profile’s complete, schedule your fix’s arrival date and submit your payment information.  done.

April 1^st was my fix date.  without fail the package arrived and I dug in.

here’s the loot!

check out this style tip card. it provides options for pairing each item with those you'd likely purchase or own.

here’s what I kept – love it!

check it out!  my only words of caution: this could get addicting.