New Blog

I know its been awhile since I have been around but I have decided to give up this blog and start a new one fresh.

I hope you'll come along and follow me over there!

http://tifffortat.blogspot.com/

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

I Bought a Maid!

Well technically it is not a maid but it works pretty darn good.  I finally succumbed to the realization that I was never going to be able to keep up with the dog and cat hair.  I was so tired of dreading coming home from work every day and having to vacuum.  Soooo I bought a Roomba!  A robot vacuum! 

 

Now, while the Roomba does not cover every square inch of the house and/or behind items I still will have to vacuum with a regular vacuum but the Roomba is great for in between vacuums and will surely cut down on those annoying fur balls that get pushed to the corners of the house.  I am an OCD vacuumer so I need to know that every inch has been covered and everything has been pulled out and vacuumed behind in order for me to sleep at night so getting used to the Roomba was a little hard at first. But it definitely does help aid the process.

The hubbs says I have a vacuum collection and sadly he is right! The Roomba makes four, yes FOUR vacuums that we currently have in the house! 

My house is actually being vacuumed as I sit here and write this blog post, now talk about multitasking!!  How do you save time??  What are some of your time-saving methods?

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Salad Challenge: Spinach Grape Salad

This is the last day of the salad challenge! I know this was boring to follow along but I felt like I was held accountable by saying that I was going to do it so I had to post about it each day to complete the challenge.

Spinach Grape Salad
Mixed greens and spinach
Sliced grapes
Walnuts
Feta cheese
Baked breaded chicken
Creamy balsamic dressing

Thanks for bearing with me on this!!

Salad Challenge: Fruit Salad

I had a different salad planned for today, but since I had all the extra left over fruit from previous salads this week, I decided to make a fruit salad instead.

Fruit Salad
Strawberries
Apple
Pear
Grapes
Tangerine

Salad Challenge: Summer Berry Salad

Did some spring cleaning today so this was a nice and refreshing lunch treat.

Summer Berry Salad
Mixed greens
Strawberries
Blackberries
Feta cheese
Walnuts
London broil
Creamy balsamic dressing

Salad Challenge: Summer Salad

This was a new creation and boy was it yummy!! I had this along with London broil, broccoli, and a baked potato for dinner.

Summer Salad
Mixed greens
Sliced pears
Mandarin oranges
Walnuts
Feta cheese
Herb citrus dressing - I made my own and soo yummy!

Salad Challenge: Fiesta Fun

One of my all time fave salad creations is my version of the Fiesta Salad.  I make this one often because I love it so much!  I just recently started adding fresh cilantro to this salad and it makes a world of difference.  I just love the taste of fresh cilantro!

Fiesta Salad

Shredded Lettuce

Corn

Black Beans

Sliced Tomatoes

Sliced Cucumbers

Cilantro

Tortilla Chips

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing (Made from Hidden Valley Packet)

Can you tell I LOVE Buttermilk Ranch Dressing??

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Salad Challenge: Caprese Salad

Day two of the salad challenge was a Caprese salad for lunch. I made this at work so my supplies were a bit limited and the presentation is not as fancy but it got the job done.

Caprese Salad
Sliced Tomatoes
Fresh mozzarella cheese
Fresh basil
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

This was light and yummy for lunch!!

Salad Challenge

As a young adult (early to late 20s) I never really cared to eat salads, I just never craved them.  But as soon as I hit 30, that craving changed completely and I frequently opt to eat salads, and especially love to get creative with making them at home.  Although, I’d say it’s a toss up if the salads that I make are actually healthy or not once I add all the “extras” but to me they feel healthy and the fresh veggies and fruits provide me with a very cleansing and fresh feeling.

So having just returned from a 5 day vacation to Key West for a combined trip of witnessing two friends tie the knot and a one year anniversary celebration (YAY we made it to the one year mark!) where the last five days were spent drinking margaritas, eating really bad food, feeling swollen from the heat, salty food and drinks, and staying up till all hours of the night, my body was craving salads something BAD.

So my salad challenge will be to eat a yummy-riffic SUMMER themed salad for one meal a day for the next 7 days and I will document each salad and the makings along the way!!  This will be FUN!

Day one – Summer Salad

Mixed Greens

Craisins

Sliced Apples

Walnuts

Grilled Chicken - I cheated and used cut up rotisserie chicken

Feta Cheese

Zesty Italian Dressing (Made from the Hidden Valley packet, much better than the bottle stuff)

Pre-Dressing

 Post-Dressing

D asked how long before I start putting Easter Chocolates and Swedish fish on my "creative" salads.  I have to say, I kinda wonder too!

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

eShakti Product Review

I was so excited when I was contacted to do another product review for eshakti as it had been awhile since I had done one.  I was able to select three of my top favorite items from the website and I was ecstatic when I received my top choice when the package arrived.  

Elizabeth dress from eshakti.com

Of course I immediately tried it on when the package arrived and modeled it for the dog as he was the only one home (you will even see him in some photos that I used my timer for on the camera).  Again I was impressed by the quality of the fabric of the dress and I just loved the blue color of the dress.  I had ordered the dress in a size four as that was the same size dress I had ordered the last time and it fit perfectly.  I also love the fact that eShakti allows their customers the opportunity to customize their clothing to their needs.

                                                             Clearly Jack is saying "Mom, you are cuckoo for cocoa puffs."

I loved the way the dress fit around my waist and my bust.  The simple bow around the waist accentuated my small waist.  I did feel that the dress was a little too long for my liking.  I usually like my dresses to fall just above the knee but this dress falls just below the knee, so I may opt to have it hemmed at one of my local dress shops.

Best part, I always love a dress with pockets!  YAY!

All in all I think this dress is a success.  I now have a dress to wear to that wedding we have coming up!!  What do you think? 

eShakti has offered my readers 20% off their orders through March 10, 2013 by using code BRDENCLES at checkout.

Also check them out on Facebook!

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

What I've Been up to: DIY Jewelry Board

I desperately needed something to display my jewelry because I kept forgetting what I had buried in my jewelry box.  I took to Pinterest and this is what I came up with.  This project was super easy and I am extremely happy with the results!

My Inspiration

hellobeauty! Gives a full tutorial for those interested

And here are a few pictures of what it took to get my version!!

I covered a cork board with linen and added the ribbon as pictured in the above inspiration photo.

The only thing I did different was add a fun flower to spice it up a bit!

I put the upholstery pins in which was the hardest part, my thumbs were very sore after this step

I then hung it on our bedroom wall

This was the tangled mess I had to sort through and organize

And some of this which was overflow storage

Finished Project!!

How do you display your jewelry??

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

What I've Been Up To..Knocking off ideas.

Saw these adorable "Love" blocks via a blogger/instagrammer that I have been following for a few years.  I loved them so much that I knocked them off and made a pair for myself this weekend!!

Inspiration

Wifestyles

Actual finished Product

Then I just couldn't stop and continued to paint some blocks for Valentines Day decorations.

I got my blocks cut at Lowes.  The hubs said the guy cutting the wood for me probably was not too happy with with my small pieces of wood request, I just played dumb, ok I didn't really play dumb I really had no idea what I was doing/asking for..was my first time in the wood section at Lowes...and truly, he didn't seem to mind. :)

I've got the craft bug again, especially after D said my craft room had become relic.  The nerve!

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Amazing Weekend Re-cap

We had such a fun and fantastic weekend of action packed events.

Saturday we were up early and did some stuff around the house and then got ready for the Duck Race at the JW Marriott.  We were so excited for this!!  This was the cutest event EVER!  It was a fundraiser for the Children’s Miracle Network and D was in charge of organizing and selling Ducks (tickets).

We watched 2,000+ ducks race down the lazy river and the top ten won some pretty amazing prizes.  And guess what!!!??  One of BFF Kiki’s ducks won 4^th place!!  When we heard duck number 197 called out, both D and I looked at each other and D said that’s one of ours!!  BFF Kiki won a 7 night stay at a Marriott Vacation Club worldwide!!  So happy for her!!

Sunday I had planned to surprise D with a day trip to St. Augustine since we were not able to celebrate his birthday due to his Vegas trip the week before.

All week I was able to keep it a surprise through all of D’s constant badgering of where we were going, that is, up until we got in the car and I put the papers I had printed out into the car door console and Inspector Gadget and his Go-Go eyes saw it from the passenger seat

I have been to St. Augustine before but D has not.  I love St. Augustine, I love how the minute you arrive you can feel the spirit of the city in the air.  We walked around and saw the Castillo de San Marcos, some little shops and cute restaurant/pubs.

We stopped in at Scarlett O’Hara’s and started the day off with a few mimosas.

 We then continued to bar hop and had a drink at the Mi Casa Café where some live music was playing

We went and had lunch on the bay at the Mill Top Tavern

 We stopped for amazing ice cream!

Ok they were enourmous ice creams!  I had a scoop of red velvet and a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough on a waffle cone.  D had a plain vanilla cone..(boring?)

We found the Marriott Autograph Collection so we can stay the night next time we go 

We ended the day at J.P. Henley’s, a bar that had like 1,000 beers on tap and D was happy because we got to sit at the bar and watch the beginning of the Eagles game.

 We headed on our way home but not before we stopped and stocked up on sweet treats and candy for the ride home!  YUM!

D had a blast and so did I.  Jack was happy to see us too when got home J

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com