Hydrangeas

One of my favorite flowers is back in bloom.

They looked like this a few months ago.

Just a hint of things to come.

Filling in a little bit more...

Then they started popping!

I've been cutting them to make bouquets all over the house.

 You may remember them from my summer mantel post.

Or from my post about her promotion to middle school.

 If they get a little wilted, I just trim the stems again and add fresh water. They perk right back up!

Inside or out, they make beautiful, long lasting bouquets.

Do you love hydrangeas too?

Here's how mine looked last year.

Linking up with:

Feature Yourself Friday

I Heart Faces - A Touch of Whimsy

My girl, getting twirly with her pretty dress on 'promotion' day from elementary school.

Linking up with:

I Heart Faces

Welcome Wednesday

Alphabe-Thursday

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I am never wasn't really prepared for Scavenger Hunt Sunday this week, luckily my older daughter had taken my old camera and shot a bunch of photos. I'm using some of them today.

Windows and Doors

This was hers. It's our dining room window and valance (still haven't replaced the curtains in there!)

Eyelashes

I've posted this one before of younger daughter's amazing lashes.

Paint

Another one taken by my daughter. It's actually her painting of Venice on a tile. LOVE!

Leaf Veins

This was one of my favorite shots that she took, I loved the contrast of the green holly leaves (with veins!) against the red brick and shutter.

Faceless Portrait

I took this one my youngest on her "promotion"day. Her French mani looked oh so sweet.

Linking up with:

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Summer Mantel

I still haven't tired of the creamy whites and neutrals on my mantel since I changed out the mirror way back when.

To give it a little summer style I added in some star fish, a seashell birdhouse(both purchased on this adventure last summer) and

some of my kids' artwork..this sailboat painting on wood fit the theme

 and so did this pretty mermaid.

I popped the bee skep onto my thrifted pedestal and added another starfish up there.

For a pop of color I cut some of my hydrangeas and put them in the mirror vase ( I love the reflection of my blue family room in the vase).

I still have this spray painted birdcage on the mantel too.  I'm not sure if it needs some seashells or maybe a little bird in there. What do you think? Have you changed up your mantel for summer?

Linking up with:

Tabletop Tuesday

Pay It Forward Tuesday

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
Twice Owned Tuesday
Club G.W.

Filling {and SNEAKY} Fruit Salad

Have you caught the Hungry Girl tv show yet?  It's been on the Cooking Channel and sometimes on Food Network too.  I love all of her sneaky calorie/fat cutting tricks and ideas.  

 Her Ginormous Fruit Salad Surprise sounded worth a try and it was!

The recipe can be found here.

Do you still print recipes out or do you use your computer, tablet or smart phone right in the kitchen? I do print some recipes out but this one was easy to follow on the screen.

Start out with strawberries, blueberries and a Fuji apple.

Gratuitous fruit shots...oooh and ahhh now, will ya?

The recipe calls for 1 cup of blueberries and 1 cup of diced strawberries. I doubled it.

Pop 'em in a bowl.

 

Now comes the sneaky part..cucumbers!  Add 2 cups of diced and peeled cukes.  Have I lost you yet? Does it sound gross? Trust me...

Chop up the Fuji apple (skin on) and add that too.

Now it's time to make the dressing.  Whisk up 1/4 cup of orange juice, 1 TBS of sugar and 1 TBS of Rice Wine Vinegar in a bowl.

Pour the dressing over the fruit/cuke combo and gently stir to distribute it evenly.

Cover and refrigerate a few hours (overnight is best).

Stir gently just before serving and garnish with mint if you like.

A serving size is 3 cups!

 Only 169 calories and 

1 Point Plus value if you follow Weight Watchers.

My kids are loving it too, the cucumber is really a great addition.

Linking up with:

Feature Yourself Friday

Show & Tell Friday

Sweets for Saturday

Find New Friends

Weekend Wrap Up

Just Something I Whipped Up

Recipe Swap

Wordless Wednesday - I have a Middle Schooler!!

This one just got promoted to middle school.  How quickly they change.

Her first day of kindergarten vs. her last day of elementary school.

Linking up with:

The Wordless Wednesday Linky

Wordless Wednesday (With Linky)

Thirst Quenching Teacher Gift

While wasting way too much time  perusing my new obsession, Pinterest (check out my boards here!), I found this super cute Teacher's Gift idea.

source

I usually do a summer themed gift for the teachers. For the last few years, we've made these beverage dispensers filled with drink mixes.

We also made this for a very special teacher.

I loved the idea of the cool insulated cups filled with individual drink mixes and topped off with those cute little flags.

The whole process was pretty simple and fun. We started out with some insulted cups. 

Then printed out the flags from the tutorial.  We made some copies. We only used the top one.

"thank you for quenching my thirst for knowledge"

We bought a variety of instant drinks: iced coffee, lemonade, iced tea and Crystal Light.

My daughter wrote personalized messages for each teacher on the back of the flags.

She filled up the cups and attached the flags with tape.

 They really looked cute.

 Her teachers loved them.

One even commented that it was like "summer in a cup".

Linking up with:

Alphabe-Thursday

Just Something I Whipped Up

Tutorials & Tips Link

The Pinterest Challenge - Summer Edition