New Blog and $90 Target Gift Card giveaway!

Hi everyone! Just a reminder that I am now blogging from a new blog which you can get to by clicking here , and over there you will also find a giveaway for a $90 Target gift card that I am co-hosting with some other awesome bloggers! I would love to see you over on my new blog!!

(plus, you'll get to see some cute post-blizzard fun!)

Where Am I Now? New Blog!

 

Not sure if anyone has noticed my absence in the blogging world,

but I wanted to let you all know you can find me over here from now on.

 

I took a step back, stopped blogging altogether, started again in too many different places, and now I've gotten myself straightened out and am blogging from 1 place.

I wanted to start fresh, going into this year. I feel like I'm becoming such a different person and I wanted my new blog to reflect that.

 

 

 

My new blog is called Konjo, a word that has a very special meaning to me which you can read about in my first post.
The blog is still very new but you'll also find a weekend update, some valentine's day inspiration, and my snowed-in favorites. And trust me, there is LOTS more to come.

 

So I'd love if you'd come follow me over there so we can stay in touch!

 

click here to go to my new blog!

chocolate covered mint-oreo cookie balls!

I made these last weekend and thought I'd share since they are a good, simple idea for a dessert to bring to a holiday party.

The best part? 

Only 3 ingredients. Well, 4 if you wanna count the sprinkles.

1 8oz package of cream cheese

36 Cool Mint oreo cookies, finely crushed

16 oz. meltable chocolate

& Christmas-themed sprinkles!

Directions:

1. Mix cream cheese and cookie crumbs until blended. 

2. Shape into 48 1-inch balls. Freeze for 10 minutes. Then dip the balls into the melted chocolate and place in single layers on a pan. (I put mine on top of plastic wrap so they wouldn't stick. Use that or wax paper!)

I put the sprinkles on right when it was done being covered in chocolate, since the chocolate hardens really quickly and then the sprinkles won't stay on.

3. Refrigerate for one hour.

my recipe was adapted from here 

I actually only had 29 oreos when I made mine and I still used the full amount of cream cheese and I thought they were delicious. I imagine they'd be slightly less creamy if you use all 48 oreos, but still really good.

Enjoy!

The Long Weekend!

I knew these last 4 days would go by way too quickly, but they were so so good.

Cranberry sauce and turkey pops my sister and I made to bring to Thanksgiving dinner

Steve and I on Thanksgiving

Playdate with my nephew and my friend's son at the playground

Lots of snuggles on the couch with Olympia

Saturday would have been Daisy's 13th birthday. I was scared of being depressed all day but Steve and I went to IKEA and shopping all day to keep my mind occupied. I finally got my coffee table too.

 source

I worked out a whole lot and I feel awesome! It's so good to be back into it regularly. And tonight I have hot yoga.

I've been running every time at the gym and registered for a 5k "Reindeer Run" on December 1st.

This might just be leading up to something bigger for next May if I can get the necessary training in... :-)

I'm just happy to be so motivated and ready for a full transformation!

How was your Thanksgiving weekend?

linking up here: 



Weekend Update / Meeting Brenda

 

this weekend...

 

-Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

-Football Rice Krispie treats for a football party on Sunday (recipe found on this blog)

-Baking apples pies with mom

 

Friday night I went to Orange Leaf, which is a frozen yogurt place where you get a HUGE cup and fill it yourself with whatever flavors of frozen yogurt you want (I got plain and peanut butter) and then you go around the bar dumping whatever toppings you want onto it.

Well Steve called mine a "bucket" because it was so large and my bucket was overflowing with so much frozen yogurt and toppings it was ridiculous. I wish I had a picture. Just know that I finished the whole entire bucket. And I have a new favorite frozen yogurt place.

 

 

And then on Saturday this happened...

 

 

 

That woman with Olympia is Brenda.

 

Background on Olympia, in case you haven't read about her yet: I got her from a local rescue who gets their dogs from the South (Burmingham, Alabama) where Brenda is from, and they take on very, very horrendous cases and rehabilitate the dogs and get them homes.
Olympia was found in the woods by a woman who happened to be walking with her dog and 4 year old daughter and she heard Olympia crying.. she found her off the path laying next to her dead mother, who someone had killed, and they had cut Olympia's paw off and left her there to suffer and die. (this is real).
The woman brought her to the emergency vet where Brenda found out about her and took her case on.
Olympia had surgery and had to have her leg amputated since infection had spread,

and then she spent the 4 months recovering living at Brenda's.

Brenda loves this dog. She poured her heart and soul into her.
She would have kept her but in order to keep Sweet Paws running she has to let the dogs come here to get homes so she can take more in that need care until they're ready to go home.

 

Brenda was here in Mass from Alabama this weekend so her and Olympia got to reunite.

It was sad and amazing. Brenda said she didn't feel sad because this feels so right to her.

She knows how I am about dogs and how my relationship was with Daisy and I think we both feel blessed that it ended up this way.

 

Before we left she was laying on the couch with Olympia saying bye and telling her how much she loves her and thinks about her every day, and then she grabbed her Ipad and said she had to do one more thing.

 

She said in all her years of doing this for a living, she's never had "a song" with a dog.

Well she had a song with Olympia and she put it on to play for her and it was the song,

"Ooh Child"

Ooh child things are gonna get easier

just you wait and see

things will get brighter

 

She said she played this song on repeat to Olympia the whole way to transport for her to be brought to Massachusetts.

She told her things would get better and that this is her "right now" - the now she was promised she would get, when things would be better and easier.

 

I.was.a.mess.

But meeting Brenda was life-changing and I know her and I will continue to be great friends.

We both share a great love for this miracle dog and I'm so thankful for her and the heart-breaking work she does every day to save these dogs lives.

 

linking up:

 

 



 

Don't forget to enter my giveaway- it ends tomorrow!

Gift card for amazing Blue Bird Bride jewelry :)
just click here!

Healthy 3-Ingredient Cookies

 

I love these "cookies" because they're easy, healthy, and have protein. I eat them for breakfast, or as a snack in place of a granola bar. They also serve as a vegan cookie option if you're looking to cut out dairy or animal products and still have a treat.

This recipe is from Tone it Up so all credit goes to them.

 

 

Ingredients

 

2 medium-ripe bananas

1 Cup of Oats

1 Scoop protein powder

(I also sometimes add a tablespoon of pumpkin puree to make them pumpkin-flavored! They're versatile so you could really add anything you want to)

 

 

Directions

 

Mash up your bananas with a fork really well. Once mashed, add your scoop of protein powder and mix all together. Then, mix in the oats.

 

Coat a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and drop the dough onto the pan with a spoon. For me this mixture usually makes about 7 cookies.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes (I have done 20 minutes every time)/until golden brown.

 

That's it! A "cookie" with protein, fruit, and oats!

 

Happy Friday! And don't forget to enter the giveaway I posted yesterday to win some amazing jewelry!

The Happy Day Project: A Recap!

This weekend I decided to try to do as many of the prompts from the Life Rearranged blog’s “The Happy Day Project” as I could. I really enjoyed this, and honestly wish it went on even longer than a week. It required me to go out of my comfort zone and grow on a personal level, as well as to think more about others and their circumstances and ways to brighten their lives

 

Prompt: Appreciate those in service.

My sister and I baked some really good cookies for someone I used to work with. When I saw this prompt I immediately thought of him. He finished a really long tour in Afghanistan recently and just got back from NY after the hurricane, and is one of the most genuine, wonderful people I know. His wife and children are so strong too. We gave him a card with the cookies and I was able to bring them to his house and spend some time with him and his family.

Prompt: Handwritten Note/ Treat Someone

I combined these two. Steve had been having kind of a rough day so I wrote him a note and got one of his favorite kinds of cupcakes.

The printables for the project



Treat Someone:

Operation Christmas Child shoebox collection week is coming up, so on the “treat someone” theme my sister and I went shopping for things to fill our shoeboxes with for children who would not get any Christmas gifts otherwise. This is always one of my favorite parts of the holiday season.

 

The two prompts I didn’t get to are giftcard for the homeless and blessing bags for the homeless. I still intend on doing these since there is a large homeless population around my office and school, and it’s especially upsetting now that it’s getting so cold out.

I also plan to carry this theme of brightening someone’s day beyond the week of this project. I think it’s a great way to live and you can learn so much from it... and for someone like me who is constantly trying to overcome my shyness it is a great way to be pushed out of my comfort zone.