Live for Pink!

Downeast Outfitters has always been one of my favorite places to shop. When I was in high school, the one in town sold lucky jeans and silver jeans at super discounted prices, and they always made me look a million times better than any other jeans. I LOVED THEM!
As I got older and the store shut down I went to others when I was near them, mostly in Utah. They are amazing. Their undershirts are long and give great coverage. I can always find something fashionable and modest. I am obsessed with downeast outfitters. In fact, I wear something from them almost daily. All my undershirts are from them, along with some of my favorite dresses. I also love their other shirts and well, everything.
Besides this fact, I have a newfound respect for them. They have always been a good company, but they have a new thing going on. It's called Live For Pink.
For those of you that don't know me well, I have many people in my life that have been touched with cancer. My sister was diagnosed as a nineteen year old, and has luckily never had a recurrence of it. She did not have breast cancer, it was another kind. My grandfather died when I was three due to complications following his fight with cancer, his was also not breast cancer. In 2000 my other grandfather (who has become one of the most important parts of my life ever), had an extremely close call during his long fight with prostate cancer. My aunt lost her fight a few years following this from complications with breast cancer. My grandpa's wife, my grandma, (who is also one of the most amazing and important women I have ever known), had a fight with breast cancer a few years ago. She found a reoccurance a couple years ago, and she recently finished chemo. I am so thankful for the medicine we have and the ability to overcome things like this. I don't think I could survive without them.
Needless to say, I am a huge advocate for breast cancer prevention, and all kinds of cancer research. Well, this is what LIVE FOR PINK is all about. Not everyone can contribute in the way they would wish, but Downeast Outfitters has created a way to get a cute pink shirt, with options of which you want, and 50% of the proceeds go to the cause of breast cancer research. You can also try hooking up with the Susan B Komen foundation. Just be thankful for those you have, and try and support the cause by wearing a super cute pink shirt from Downeast!!


Cristina

http://www.downeastbasics.com

Macaroni with chicken and spinach in creamy bacon sauce

Tonight I made pan seared parmesan crusted chicken, and it was tempting to ready but I withheld....

I then made some macaroni because I had no rotini or corkscrew pasta. Then I fried bacon and crumbled it... And removed it from the drippings where I made the chicken. I added a little water and half a bag of fresh spinach. I cooked it until slightly wilted and threw in some garlic. After simmering I added some heavy cream, milk, italian seasoning, sadly and pepper, and about a third if the bacon. I simmered it for about ten minutes. Then I sprayed a casserole dish, put in the macaroni, topped with the chicken, and then poured the sauce over the top of it all. I put the rest of  the bacon on top and then added some shredded mozzarella. I covered the pan with aluminum foil and baked it for forty minutes. Yum!

Four things to do with your kids!

This is one of our favorite memories and one of our favorite things to do ruth our kids as grown ups... Today is.... (drum roll please)... Ba da da da da, baking cookies together!

This is a time honored tradition we all love, and theres nothing better to destroy  a good diet like a fresh from the oven cookie or two with a cold glass of milk to make your day better!

Today we made homemade snicker doodles. Our recipe is just a basic sugar cookie with some extra cinnamon. My kids love to roll the balls of dough, roll them in sugar mixture, and flatten them up (maybe with a bit too much force)! So basically, they just love making these cookies.

Here are some pictures to make you all a bit jealous! And to add to the greatness, they only include ingredients we always have on hand! Bon appetit!

Six and FiveThings to Do With Your Kids

What else can I do in my town?

There's so much!
But for this post I am going a few hours outside of my town. (THIS IS ACTUALLY FOR TWO POSTS!)

Recently we went to my step-sister's volleyball tournament to kick off her senior year season. She was awesome, as were the rest of her team. It got me thinking about how we so often take advantage of all the free or inexpensive events that take place in our own hometowns.

She lives really far from us, and we obviously can't drive six hours to go to a volleball game or watch her dance in drill team, and I don't have any family that does those things where I live. What I do have is an insanely loud voice and too much passion when watching sports. (YES, I am one of those crazy people that you stare at and pray you aren't there with) (and so is my husband, one of the oodles of reasons I love him)

There are many games and events you can go to to cheer on your home team. TOWN PRIDE! You need practice for when your kids are old enough to play and to get them excited about sports and wanting to engage in physical activity. (Which in and of itself is amazingly good for their health and self esteem) So, next time you are "bored" and there's "nothing to do where I live", look up to see if there's any tournaments of your local schools, or games. Go cheer! Teach your kids to be good sports, and wahoo, there's popcorn and hot dogs! AWESOME!

So, now... #5
My sister's tournament was in this awesome little town I lived in for only one year as a kid. It was awesome to go back for a couple days, and the memories that came back. It was a kick for me. More importantly, this town, Saratoga, is known for it's natural hot springs. I know this is unique but, we just have to drive a couple hours and there are free hot springs, which are smelly but soothing, and a really cool natural occurance. Not many people can say they have sat in a God made hot tub that could fit all their relatives too! It was fun, and the resort there has the hotter little pools covered by teepees, which is a little cute and romantic too. So, what is a natural wonder in your area! I guarantee there are a few!! Which... will be part of tomorrow's post... GOTTA GET BACK TO HOMEWORK NOW!! Have a splendid day!

Cristina

 

 

 

Seven Things To Do With Your Kids

I have not had the fortune to be able to go many places in my life. I would love to travel, more than some. I even have a list of all the places I want to visit. I have a list that I have been making of the top destinations in all the fifty states of the USA that I want to visit, and I also have a planned itinerary and list of foreign places I want to visit and in what order.. this will be another post though!

As much as the idea of learning about other cultures(which fascinates me too) and being a world traveler compels me, it is obviously not an option at this point in my life! And it is not an option for many of us out there! What makes me sad is that so many of us complain that "there is nothing to do where we live". Our states or towns have a tendency to hold little of our attention. My question is how many of you have actually experienced the inexpensive wonder of a place around you? So, this is where my 7,6, and 5 things to do comes in!

#7

GO TO THE MUSEUM!

There is nothing as great as learning while you are playing, and getting to spend quality time together. Not to mention, everyone can gain some knowledge by going to a museum, whether you are three years, thirty years or just young at heart :)
The other great thing? There are museums everywhere in our great nation, some cost alot of moolah, and some are free! Your choice which you visit. One of my favorite museums cost a little, not alot, but it is in Denver Colorado. Luckily for me, I have learned ALOT and gained alot of knowledge and passion for learning throughout my entire life from visiting tiny museums in towns of 4,000 people or less. I have also experienced alot of this from large and amazing visits to really neat museums. My favorite field trip being a chaperone was to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, it's awesome to experience with a group of first graders who love to learn. But, I absolutely love going to the Wyoming State Museum. We can go as much as we want, everyone there is super nice, and best of all? It's free! They have a neat room where kids can learn and dress in period costumes, along with alot of other super cool educational activities. It's a great place to take an educational time out from your hectic life!



And museums are a great location to visit for educational activities. There are often readings or conferences or other such events at these great places.

Bun braids

My daughter wanted to have cute Braids in a pony tail today but get hair has lots of lengths and didn't look too cohesive, so we took a pony after doing all the individual braids and did it around and then pulled them half through and then pulled each stand until it was right before the elastic and then we took bobby pounds to secure them tightly... We didn't want it going crazy since she is a busy eight year old on the run! I love it! But most importantly it was exactly what she wanted!

Italian chicken and vegetables with cheesy au gratin potatoes

Sorry that I have been so far behind ! The beginning if a semester makes me a little panicked and crazy, and u trends to over stress and be scatter brained.. But now I am back!

so in penance I will be playing catch up over the weekend :-)

Tonight we do a simple and quick dish. Italian chicken and vegetables and cheesy potatoes. This is super good and super easy for a busy night.

Boneless skinless chicken breast lightly boiled in water and italian dressing(whatever kind you gave on hand our the packet kind works too). Just make sure it's super diluted... Cook it together for a few minutes turning your breasts twice... Then take the chicken and place it in a casserole dish lightly sprayed. Throw in some yummy veggies of your choice. I had done fresh cauliflower, brocoli and carrots from a snack I had while studying today so I threw those in (and I supplemented with some extra frozen brocoli because thats what my kids LOVE) and then sprinkle some parmesan cheese and pour the juice if dressing and water over the whole thing. Cook for about thirty minutes at 375°

Then I had some potatoes I sliced while the chicken was cooking. Make some white sauce, add some cheddar when it's complete and suite till it's thoroughly melted. Cover and place in oven for thirty minutes. Uncover when you remove the chicken from the oven, and sprinkle some cheese, salt and pepper over your taters. Let cook until cheese is melted. Scrumptious dinner in a breeze! * make sure you check that the potatoes are cooked through before adding the cheese, let cook a little more if they aren't. A quick cheat is to boil them for about ten to fifteen minutes while preparing the chicken and then putting it together!

Healthy and yummy dinner!!
I forgot to take a picture before serving the kids, sorry!