TGIF! Julia is coming!!

What a fast week! I was busy at work creating certificates and doing the layout for April's Digest. Today I will be signing the lease to my own one bedroom!!! So excited to move to downtown Palatine. And the best part my college bestie is driving down from Eau Claire, Wisconsin with her fiance to spend the weekend with me! We are FINALLY looking at bridesmaid dresses. (I will post photos on Monday!) My roomies are throwing a little fiesta party Saturday which will be a lot of fun and then Sunday I believe I am seeing "Hunger Games" with Jennifer. Another busy busy weekend! I love it!

This picture was from the last time Julia came down to see me in Chicago. I love the colors of the tulips behind us. Note to self: Don't cut your hair that short again!

Tyler, Julia, and I in Madison for a Badgers Game!

A Love For Purple

I love the color purple. I have since I was little. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisngly, I don't really have anything with the color purple. While googling the meaning of the color purple I found this: Purple has been used to symbolize magic and mystery, as well as royalty. Being the combination of red and blue, the warmest and coolest colors, purple is believed to be the ideal color. Most children love the color purple. Purple is the color most favored by artists. Violet is a combination of blue and red. Red is a focusing, dynamic and active energy while blue is cooling, calming and expansive. Violet brings a new dynamic to the expansion of blue and the activity of red. Red brings practicality to the undirected expansiveness of the blue, and allows more creative energy to emerge. For this reason, violet is associated with imagination and inspiration. (Source: Crystal-Cure)

I had no idea the color purple was so special and balanced the warmest and coolest color. Sure it makes sense with red and blue making purple, but I never thought of it in that way.

Etsy

Etsy

Etsy

Flickr

Pinterest

Creative Living

Wish

Etsy

Design Seeds

What is your favorite color?

Recipes: Make Ahead Casserole

Today's full meal recipe is thanks to Momma Tate! My roomie wanted to expand her cooking ablilities so her mom said she would email her a recipe a week. She has fallen a little behind (don't tell Momma Tate!) so she sent me the recipe to share with all of you. Please post a picture if you make this recipe or please share your recipe if your mom makes something similar!

MAKE AHEAD CASSEROLE
2 cups uncooked macaroni
1 can cr. chicken soup
1 can cr. celery soup
1/2 lb. velveeta cheese
chopped onion or flakes (optional)
2 cups milk
2 1/2 c. cooked chicken (you can either boil a couple chicken breasts till tender~then shred, or buy a rotiserrie chicken and pick off meat).

Mix together. No need to cook the macoroni. Put in buttered casserole dish and refrigerate overnite. Next day bake at 350 for about one hour. I like to put croutons on top also.


ITALIAN GREEN BEANS

Melt a couple tablespoons butter in saucepan or skillet. Stir in green beans (I use 2 cans) and some Italian dressing. Simmer awhile.


EASY PEACH CRISP
1 Large can peaches
1 box butter pecan cake mix
1 stick butter

Pour peaches and juice into cake pan. Sprinkle cake mix on top. Drizzle with melted butter. Bake 1 hr @ 350. Serve w/ ice cream or cool whip.

What I Really Do

We Know Memes

Have you seen these images? “What People Think I Do / What I Really Do” is a series of visual charts depicting a range of preconceptions associated with a particular field of occupation or expertise.

The images are funny and most of the time pretty true. But they are also really hard to find. I saw a great one on Wisconsin on Facebook and now I can't find it. If you have it or have seen it could you post a comment! Or leave me a comment with ones that you have found and have made you laugh.

We Know Memes

Know Your Meme

Know Your Meme

You can make your own here: www.whatireally.com

Weekend Recap: Bloody Mary Tour

Happy Monday lovely followers! Who had a great weekend? For not being sure of my plans my weekend was wonderful. Friday I went to Bandito Barney's in East Dundee with a friend and her co-workers and then went home and watched movies. Saturday I woke up early and painted a painting for my friend Erica. Saturday night I went into the city for Angela's Benefit Cosmetics House Party. Sunday morning I woke up super early to drive to Kenosha and then went out in Milwaukee for a little Bloody Mary pubcrawl/tour.

Captain Mike's

Kenosha, WI

Our first Bloody Mary for the morning. It had string cheese, jumbo shrimp, pearl onion, mushroom, lemon, pickle, asparagus, and olive. This one had the largest shrimp.

Wicked Hop

Milwaukee, WI

This one wins my vote for presentation! I love the curly cheese on top!

Benelux

Milwaukee, WI

If I remember correctly we all liked the flavor of this one the best. It came with a pickle, lemon, asparagus, olive, cheese curd, and lime. Because the bartender liked me the most he added a beef stick to mine! :)

Such a great weekend! I love Milwaukee and the Third Ward area. I hope to go back soon with friends and maybe make a weekend of it and explore the Third Ward area more. We walked past quite a few shops!

Can anyone top my weekend? Are you a fan of Bloody Mary's? Which bar/restaurant has the Best Bloody Mary?

TGIF!

What a week! I'm trying to find a new place to live. So Stressfull! The Badgers lost last night and are now out of the NCAA tournament. :(  Our nine day record high temperatures has ended. Rainy weekend ahead of us. Have a great weekend! I'm not sure what my plans are yet.

Totally Innocent Etsy Shop

Fabulous Find: Chevron

Back in February my friend Alison posted about Coral Chevrons on her blog Ruffles & Ramblings. Alison and her sister have a very cute blog. Definitely go check it out. I really love the top header photo. Her post got me thinking about how I have been seeing chevron images a lot lately.

These are the ones I have liked:

Pinterest

Etsy

This is stunning! I love it. And it is made out of paint chips!

Designing By Numbers

Oooooh gradient chevron!!! :)

The Haystack Needle

I like the one band of a different color

Third Floor Design Studio

Chevron Earrings

Etsy

Etsy

Etsy

Rule The Room

Good Morning! Another gorgeous day in Chicago. It is supposed to be a high of 80's today! Same weather as Florida- in March!! I don't enjoy speaking in front of a large group. I took the bare minimum in college as far as public speaking. I get nervous, talk to quiet, start to speed up and blur the words together to get done quicker. I would say I have made a little progress since college, but not nearly as much as I should have.

My mom told me about her co-worker Jim and how him and his brother are writing books about public speaking. They are both from the Madison, Wisconsin area. Jim's brother Jason has been traveling all over teaching people how to be better public speakers.

Rule The Room: How to do a Presentation

Like Rule the Room on Facebook 

Follow Rule the Room on Twitter @ruletheroom 



Website: http://www.ruletheroom.com/

From the website: Jason Teteak "My response is you SHOULDN’T believe it without TRYING it first.  That’s why my programs are offered with a 100% free trial so you can try any video or workbook you like, read through it, watch it, learn from it and actually EXPERIENCE the difference with YOUR audience or in YOUR classroom BEFORE you decide if you want to keep it.  If you don’t get results RIGHT AWAY, then you simply won’t pay…no questions asked."

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Jason is very talented at what he does and I think anyone could benefit from watching his videos, following along through social media and soon reading his books. Check them out and spread the word!



The First Day of Spring!

Wow, I first have to say that I am ten months into blogging and I almost have 90,000 page views! That is absolutely crazy. I had no idea when I started that 1. anyone would read it, and 2. that I would get people other than my family and friends to stop by more than once!

Today is the first day of Spring. Which means flowers will start blooming. On my way to work this morning I saw five beautiful cherry blossom trees blooming already.

I would love to see the cherry blossom trees in Washington, DC. This year is the 100th year. You can view the blooming trees today until April 27th. National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Atlas

Pocca

Kate Aspen

Mc A Williams

Hidden Travel Treasures

National Geographic

ChanStyle

Washington Post

What do you love about Spring?

Warmer temperatures.

Tulips.

Rainy days.

The start of baseball season.



Weekend Recap: St. Patty's Day

Happy Monday! Two questions: Who had a great St. Patty's Weekend? And who thought Duke would go all the way? I did.

Friday night was a way to eventful night for just taking the train into the city to prepare for Saturday's fun. I won't even get into the story. It's too sad. You can read about it here: Chicago Sun Times.

Saturday we woke up super early and made our way to the river to watch the dyeing of the river. We unfortunately were too far down and missed most of the dyeing. We then bar-hopped until 8pm, got dinner and called her quits!

Sunday we slept in, got lunch at Blackies (terrible service, mediocore burger) and then participated in a painting class at Bar Louie from our Living Social deal. The very cool company is called Colors and Bottles. Colors & Bottles is the hip new way to take an art class! We plan three-hour painting classes with cocktails for all ages and skill levels. Classes are staged in local bars, wineries, restaurants and art galleries--including several BYOB variations. To support your local art community, each class is taught step-by-step how to paint by different local emerging professional artists. We only hire local artists!

I forgot my camera cord this morning so plese stop by later tonight/tomorrow to see our paintings!

Amanda, the Artist, and her painting we were trying to recreate.

We each had a canvas, easel, two paint brushes, a cup of water, and a plate of paints.

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The finished pieces:



Luck of the Irish

TGIF! I am very excited to party in Chicago tomorrow. A couple birthdays, group t-shirts, green beer, crazyness, and probably going to bed really early!

As many of my friends know I don't like to paint my fingernails any color besides light pink or clear. Well this morning I painted them green to get into the St. Patty's mood! I'm having a hard time typing right now as I am distracted by my neon green nails!

China Glaze "In the Lime Light"

Will you be getting into the Irish spirit and doing your nails and possibly sporting green eyeshadow?

Here are some images to give you inspiration:

Nails Magazine

Deez Nails

All Lacqured Up

Tina Marie Online

Serendipics

Makeup Geek

NBZ

Youjo Tube

Have a great St. Patty's Weekend Everyone! :)

I would love to see pictures if you are dressing up for St. Patty's and getting your nails done!