WooHoo! A Check Just Came In The Mail!! :D

Okay, Ladies. I am now a BIG Ebates fan!! I just got my first check in the mail from them!! I LOVE getting cash back for things I was going to purchase anyway!! I'm gushing, I know. But being a thrifty, coupon-clipping kinda gal, this was quite exciting. :D They just sent me money for buying return address labels through Vistaprint and dog collars and treats from Petco! 

If you haven't signed up yet, I highly recommend that you check them out. They have thousands of online retailers and it's another small way to save around an extra 5%+ on purchases you would be making for your home and family anyway. 

Let me know what you think! 

My Own Little Spot In the Etsy World

I finally did it! Coffee Cups And Crafts now officially has an Etsy shop! :D

I hope to add lots more in the future, but for now I'm making baby and toddler leggings. 

Aren't my little nieces so cute modeling theirs? 

Please check out the link HERE and let me know what you think. 

While you're browsing, feel free to do a little holiday shopping for all those little girls on your list! Use the code BlogFollower to receive a 10% discount! :)

(Offer valid 12/6/11-12/13/11)

The "I Told You So" Shelf

This project has been awhile in the making. I actually picked up this laminate board from the wet grass one morning while pacing the neighborhood trying to get my son (already a week late) to decide he'd actually like to come into this world. He's now over a year old. 

Yeah. It took me that long.

(Beautiful, isn't it? LOL.)

Long story short, the rest of that walk my husband did his dead-level best to convince me to put that piece of wood down. It was wet. It was dirty. It was junk. It wasn't even "real" wood. I would never do anything with it. Etc. etc. his reasons went on and on. The remainder of that walk was exhausting and I'm not even talking about hauling around that week overdue baby boy on swollen ankles. Lol. I kept telling my husband about all the potential projects I saw and he wasn't buying it.

I've heard about this shelf more than once since that walk. I can't say that I blame my husband much. Afterall, it did take me more than a year to get around to this little project. Sometimes I'm just a slow mover. :)

However, a couple of weeks ago my husband and I were organizing a bit in our little guy's room trying to make some space for the little sister who will be arriving before we know it. We needed a spot for all the Baby Einstein CDs and that's when it came to me! A little white paint left over from this project, a quick trip to Lowes for the metal shelf holder "thingies" and, VOILA! The perfect little shelf for our son's room. :)

The best part of the whole thing....

My husband loves it and has commented on how perfect it is more than once. He's even gone so far as to tell me to keep my eye out for more scraps like that when I'm out and about. Now THAT makes for one sweet shelf! :)

Since I Was Away....

I can't believe I haven't posted since September!! That is downright AWFUL!! How does one do all the things one wants?? Sigh. I really want to know. :) We've been crazy busy and will be even busier come March when our second little one comes along. We're super excited and super stressed. Lol. :) We have career changes, moves and another baby all scheduled to happen around the same timeframe. It's gonna be interesting to say the least. :) Now if I could just master the "duck technique" where I look calm, serene and totally in control while paddling like crazy beneath the surface. My "paddling" tends to show most days. :) 

Here are a few things that have happened since I last posted (ages ago):

We FINALLY came home from Mammoth Lakes! WooHoo!! This gal was so happy to get back and plug in with her girlfriends. :) We were home for 24 hours and promptly left for Santa Monica for a little family outing. 

Dan felt it imperative that he show our little guy his first arcade while we were there. :) 

Before coming home, we went to the beach in Malibu and had lunch together at Neptune's Net, the little cafe from the movie Point Break. 

Our little guy was totally fascinated by all the sand. :) Back to the ocean, sitting in one big sandbox.

About a week after getting home from this trip, we left for the east coast and went to Washington DC and Richmond, VA. Our little guy got to meet his cousin for the very first time....

 I think it's safe to say he liked her. :)

Grandma flew to see us in California the same day that the little guy and I flew back home. We had two days to plan his birthday party. Instead of The Very Hungry Caterpillar theme I'd been planning for MONTHS, we went to Party City and picked out a theme and ready-made party. What's a girl to do when she's under the gun and has so little time?! Sigh. I now have a container up in the closet entitled "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." That will be our 2nd year birthday party apparently. :D

Here's the little birthday boy with Grandma.

With Mom and Dad

I think his impressions of his first birthday party can be summed up with this...

He liked the cake....

But he LOVED the girls. :)

In other news....

Our little guy experienced his first trip to a pumpkin patch,

was a Dalmation for Halloween

and joined Gymboree classes, which he LOVES.

That is just a little bit that has gone on since I last posted. I could ramble on and on, but I figure if I'd wanted to ramble that much, I should have blogged more. :) I'll do my best not to be such a stranger. I miss blogging and I miss reading blogs. Must try to stay awake after my little guys finally crashes at the end of the day to fit in these things. :) 

Curried Chicken Salad

Yikes! I've been gone awhile. So sorry. Life gets busy at times. :)
Today I want to share one of my husband's all-time favorite recipes. He requests it all the time and has told me more than once that I can make it once a week if I want to. LOL. If you like curry and you eat chicken, you'll love this recipe.

Ingredients you'll need: 

3 cups cooked and cubed chicken breasts

1 medium apple, finely chopped

1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

2 T. golden raisins

2 T. dried cranberries

1/2 fat-free plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup apricot preserves

2 T. curry powder

1 T. Dijon mustard

1/2 t. salt

1/4 to 1/2 t. pepper

lettuce leaves OR rice (whichever one you'd like to serve the curried salad on)

Directions and Ramblings:

In a small bowl, combine the first five ingredients. 

(This particular day, I was getting lunch ready early and in stages around my little guy's play time, nap time, etc. I put the ingredients together, covered the container and stuck it in the fridge til later. I saved the apple to chop just shortly before I was ready for the final prep so that it wouldn't turn brown.)

While my little guy was sleeping, I pre-mixed the spices and set out the non-refrigerated items I would need.

After the little guy's nap and shortly before the bigger guys got home from their workout, I finally got around to mixing those first five ingredients. :) Everything happens in short increments these days. LOL. Any other moms out there relating to this? 

Add the yogurt, preserves, curry mustard, salt and pepper; toss to coat. 

Serve on lettuce leaves or rice. 

One of these days, if I ever get to my own home again (sigh), I'm going to have to re-take all these final pictures so they look prettier. The rented condo dishes just aren't doing it for me. :)

Hope you like the recipe! It's so fast and easy to make and so, so tasty! This recipe serves 4. However, I normally double it because it makes awesome leftovers and my husband goes through it so fast. :)

Let me know how you like it if you try it! 

Friday Feature: Naptime Crafters Does It Again! :)

Oh my goodness! Have you seen this little dream kitchen for a little girl over at Naptime Crafters?? 

You have to check out her post for all the details. This little kitchen even has running water!! This makes me kinda hope this baby-on-the-way is a girl just so we can do something like this! :) Of course...if my boys show an interest in being a little chef, we could always do a manly kitchen. :D 

Hope you have a great Labor Day weekend! I'll be back on Monday. :D 

A Beautiful Walk and The Day of the Mammoth Lakes Bears

On Monday my little guy and I walked up at Lake Mary while my husband went for his run. We did a little over four miles and, while my little guy napped at least half of the way, I enjoyed the gorgeous scenery. 

Part of the walk is really wooded. 

There are a couple of little streams along the way.

Sign that made me smile.

Isn't the lake gorgeous?

Ironically, as I was walking along pushing the little guy in his stroller, I thought about the fact that this was probably the first spring or summer that I had been to Mammoth and NOT seen bears. There have been years where I've seen lots of them. This year, I hadn't seen a single one. 

About 15 or 20 minutes later, a momma and two cubs crossed the street right in front of me. So what did I do?? I pulled out the camera, of course. :D 

See the second cub lagging behind? :) The one right behind the momma was brown. The one lagging was black and was exploring and getting into EVERYTHING. It was so cute.

That same night around one in the morning, I heard a bear in the dumpster outside our condo. My pictures didn't turn out so well, but Brian (the runner we're sharing the condo with) went outside and got some great ones!

This bear was B-I-G.

It hit the jackpot too. He was at this for a good hour. 

Check out the white markings on its chest. So pretty....from a distance.

This one is my favorite. It shows you how big this guy was. 

I thought it was funny how the very day I'm musing about the fact that this is my first spring or summer trip out to Mammoth that I haven't seen any bears....I ended up seeing four. :) 

Meet Courtney from Life These Days

I'm so excited to introduce you to my friend Courtney this morning. She and I met years ago when we were both foot-loose, fancy-free gals living on the east coast. We've both moved, married and started little families since that time. The wonderful thing about blogger is that you're able to still keep in touch with each other's lives. 

I was so excited when she agreed to be Coffee Cups and Crafts very first guest blogger. She has an amazing tutorial to share with you this morning that I'm sure you're going to love! :D 

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My name is Courtney & I stay home with my 2 year old son, Berkley and I work part-time for a ministry called Passport.  I have a blog about Berkley, a blog of easy & quick recipes, and a blog about my own life (including any fun crafts I've run across)!  All of my blogs can be accessed from my original blog.

One of my favorite crafts to make is a ribbon wreath, and I was thrilled when Cristan asked me to post a guest blog with instructions on how to make this simple, yet versatile craft! 

Notes Before You Begin:

Buy more ribbon than you think you'll need.  It takes a lot of ribbon.  I'd say to plan on about 10-12 spools of ribbons (including at least 4-5 spools of the widest ribbon).  

It's possible to do this by sewing, but since I can't sew, I use hot glue.  

What You Need:

* Styrofoam wreath form (the larger the form, the more ribbon you'll need)  I've discovered that I like a wreath form that is flat on the front versus a complete cylinder.  It's just a bit easier to work with, but any type will work.

* One spool of wide ribbon for wrapping the wreath form

* 10+ spools of grosgrain ribbon for decorating

* Hot glue gun & lots of glue

* Scissors

* Ruler

* Pencil

Instructions:

Wrap the wreath form in wide ribbon.  This doesn't have to look good since it will mostly be covered by the other ribbons.  But, it makes for a good platform for the glue & ribbons and covers up any stray styrofoam.

I simply wrapped the ribbon and then secured it with a couple of pins at the end (I'm sure hot glue would work just as well.)

Cut ribbons into 4.5-5 inch strips.  I measured the first few of each spool of ribbon and then eye-balled the rest.  They definitely don't have to be exact.

 Place a bit of hot glue on one end of each strip- leaving about 1/2 inch at the bottom. (I found that I could put glue across 3 or 4 strips and still have time to deal with them before the glue got cold.)

Fold each strip over onto itself, creating a loop of ribbon.

Do this with every spool of ribbon until you have piles of ribbon loops.

Now the fun begins!  Spread open the bottom of each loop.  Put a little glue on that part and stick it down on the wreath form!

I started with the wider ribbons and made my way around the wreath.  That way, I could fill in later with smaller ribbons.

On the inside and outside of the wreath forms, just glue down the loops along the sides.

If you look closely you can see that I glued the bulk of the ribbon facing in one direction.

Then I added some more of the smaller ribbons going all different directions.  And I also glued some of the smaller ribbons on the inside and outside of the wreath.  I've discovered that the more ribbon I used, the better the wreath looks.  

I made the above wreath for a baby shower, and the wreath below for my son's 2nd birthday.  I plan on making these for all major events/holidays in corresponding colors! 

So, pick a few colors you like, buy a bunch of ribbon and have fun crafting!

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Are those wreaths not AMAZING!!! 

Thanks so much, Courtney, for sharing this tutorial. I want to make a jillion of these! :D