Running!

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I am headed to Charleston, South Carolina today for a much anticipated weekend away with a group of very special women who I love so much. We will be running in the Cooper River Bridge Run tomorrow along with about 46,000 other people!

I ran the race last year and it was so much fun we vowed to make it a yearly thing... 32 weeks pregnant or not. :) (Don't panic, my doctor gave me the ok!) You can check out some of these fun posts (here, here and here) about the race last year and the amazing restaurants that we had the pleasure of dining in.

If you happen to be running too and see a cute group of women rocking some 80s workout gear and one of them happens to be very pregnant, say hi! (...that would be us!)

Recipe: Strawberry Scones

 Recipe from Simple & Delicious

It's strawberry season! I love finding wonderful recipes for my strawberry addiction!

. . .

Strawberry Scones with Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

·       2 cups all-purpose flour

·       2 tablespoons sugar

·       1 tablespoon baking powder

·       1/2 teaspoon salt

·       5 tablespoons cold butter

·       1-1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, divided

·       1 cup frozen unsweetened strawberries, chopped

·       GLAZE:

·       2 cups confectioners' sugar

·       3 tablespoons lemon juice

·       1 tablespoon butter, melted

·       1 tablespoon 2% milk

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1-1/4 cups cream just until moistened. Fold in strawberries. Turn onto a floured surface; knead 10 times.

• Pat into a 9-in. x 7-in. rectangle. Cut in half horizontally. Cut each half into four rectangles; separate and place on a greased baking sheet. Brush with remaining cream.

• Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. For glaze, in a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, butter and milk; drizzle over warm scones. Serve warm. Yield: 8 scones.

. . . 

I made this recipe exactly as above (except for the rolling out the dough and cutting into rectangle shapes; I ran out of time and just formed the rectangles with my hands. Messy, but it worked just fine!) I took these delightful goodies to a playdate where they were all eaten up. A good sign of a great recipe!

Weekend Wardrobe: For Boys

 The Proffitt family had a great weekend! Due to our family entering a new season of life with Andrew starting t-ball (i.e. Saturday games) and then kindergarten in the fall we changed up our weekly schedule a bit and for the first time in 3 years, our day off was Saturday instead of Friday. It was glorious because we had a normal Friday evening and Saturday to spend as a family. (My husband is a pastor so his biggest and most challenging workday is Sunday.)

Andrew had his first t-ball game on Saturday where we spent an entire hour laughing at the hilarity that is 4 & 5 year olds trying to play an organized sport. We may have forgotten Andrew's baseball glove... which only added to the laughs. And we cannot forget to take note of the shoes of choice for the first game. We realized they may not be the best choice after he hit the ball, took off running and then slid face first into the dirt. Not to worry a sweet friend is donating a pair of cleats to save him from such tragedy in the future. :)

For this week's weekend wardrobe I thought it would be fun to show you a different side of my wardrobe planning... my boys! I did wear a super cute dress to church on Sunday (thanks to my mama and Old Navy, but you have already seen it!)

All the below pieces are from Target (except for the black skinny jeans that are from Old Navy, however I scored Drew's from Salvation Army for $0.50! Woohoo) where I love to find inexpensive but super cute pieces for the boys wardrobe. Layering is my favorite and makes even a typical piece look more put together.

What do you think? Would you dress your little guy in one of these outfits?

Projects For Your Weekend

 What are you up to this weekend?

I would love to finish a few little projects I have started for baby Adelee's room. And maybe a few Easter projects too!

Baby Room Inspiration

 Nursery featured on On To Baby

I adore the peaceful, airy feeling of this room. Adelee's room will very closely resemble this room. The wall colors and trim are the same. The color palette is neutrals, whites, creams, and tans with dark wood accents. There are hints of blush pink as well, but its soft and subtle, working well with the effortless beauty of the room.

Baby Room Inspiration

Nursery featured on On To Baby

 Again, a beautiful neutral nursery that is still very soft and feminine with lots of handmade details.

 Inspiration from DecorPad via Project Nursery

I love the cluster of poms and will most definitely be including something along those lines in Adelee's room!

Projects

 

DIY Pom Poms (frabric) from A Simple Kind Of Life

 

Tissue Paper Pom Poms  from the Busy Budgeting Mama

(I am planning on clustering a variety of poms together)

 Button Monogram by Letter Perfect Designs

I plan on making my own, only because I have all the supplies already.

Easter Projects

You can find a wonderful round-up of the sweetest Easter & Spring projects over at The Creative Place. Thanks Ashley for finding such great inspiration!

 ...

Happy weekend to you all!

Inspired: Color

I am furiously working on new collections for Ashlee Proffitt.

These new collections will be a continued reveal of the new and improved Ashlee Proffitt. I hope to be introducing new collections for the different areas of my stationery business such as Everyday, Celebrations, Inspired (for the home) as well as the AadenSage line.

I am furiously working because as you know I have a pretty tight deadline to meet in about 8-10 weeks. Her name is Adelee Elizabeth and she will need mommy's undivided attention for awhile. :)

I have been on the hunt for color inspiration for the Inspired Home collection. Which color palette is your favorite? Which palettes fit your home the best?

All color palettes are from Design Seeds. I am continuously inspired by this amazing site!
(If you check out my Pinterest color board and click on the actual image it will take you to the original post as created by Design Seeds.)

 

  

 

 ...

Be on the lookout for new designs featuring all of these amazing colors very soon!

Recipe: New Orleans Gumbo

Recipe from Taste of Simple

This yummy recipe has become a regular in our home over the past few months! 

Try it out and let me know what you think!

New Orleans Gumbo

Ingredients

• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup uncooked converted rice
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/2 pound smoked kielbasa or Polish sausage, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1 pound uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 large green pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Directions

• In a large saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Stir in the rice, celery, onion and garlic. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, combine the tomatoes, chicken, kielbasa, thyme, pepper, bay leaves and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Combine flour and water until smooth; gradually stir into chicken mixture. Stir in shrimp and green pepper. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat for 4-6 minutes or until shrimp turn pink and gumbo is thickened. Discard bay leaves.
• Remove rice from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes; stir in parsley. Serve with gumbo. Yield: 8 servings.

Spring Break In Pictures!

 

 

 (My sweet mother-in-law, aka 'Nana' played with the boys on Thursday so I could make jam and rest.

 (Insert: mommy not feeling too great. Super thankful for nana!!!)

The week was wonderful and I so enjoyed having this special time with the boys. 

Weekend Wardrobe: Pregnant Little Black Dress

A little black dress made complete with
+ skinny leather double wrap belt for a defined waistline
+ leather slouchy boots (to hide those veiny legs I currently have from baby #4)
+ black rosette stud earrings
+ black rosette hair pins (with side braid)
+ black beaded bangles

Super comfy and super cute = success for this pregnant mama!

Baby Girl Has A Name.

She has had a name for awhile. 

And although her name has not been a secret I have not yet shared it with you. 

(probably because I waiting for the perfect photo op as seen in the above photo. :))

Adelee 

((ah deh lee))

meaning: noble & happy

Elizabeth

meaning: consecrated to God or worshiper of God

...

We absolutely love her and her sweet name. 

Now if the next 10 or so weeks would just pass by quickly so we can kiss her little face!

Spring Break With My Boys!

This is Spring Break week and that means mommy is in action, planning fun activities and spending super quality time with her boys!

Today we went strawberry picking (again!) and had so much fun!

I am loving this time with them and am seeing glimpses into what our summer days will look like... with the addition of a sweet baby girl of course.

I am thankful for the time and hard work I have put in to this business over the past few months as I finally created better and more efficient workflow systems and organizational tactics that allow me to take time every day to be a mommy and entire weeks like this to invest in my boys while still developing a business. I have by no means mastered this but looking back at myself even just a few months ago I am thankful for the changes that haven taken place.

I hope you are having a great week! And I look forward to our regularly scheduled posts next week. (Although stay tuned here because I do have some other posts planned for this week too!)

Asher Turns 2!

 We celebrated Asher's 2nd birthday with a candy themed party. 

Much to my demise his most favorite of things includes anything with sugar. 

The invitations were so much fun to create and I loved how they turned out.

 

Guests were welcomed with a few balloons and a Happy Birthday message!

At the front door a bowl of smarties and a large wooden 2 gave hints as to what was waiting inside.

 I am kind of obsessed with how adorable this little cake turned out. I made Martha Stewart's Vanilla Vanilla cupcakes and used the remaining batter to make a two layer cake. I added a teeny bit of food coloring to have the layers be orange and green. Inspiration for the cake found here.

I am also slightly obsessed with how adorable the dessert table turned out as well as those sweet little marshmallow treats. Not only are they super sweet but they are cute decorations as well (and so easy to make! Dip marshmallow in melted candy coating and then dip in sprinkles.)

String lanterns hung from the ceiling for an extra bit of color and fun. (Tutorial found here.) I loved how they turned out and think they would be a whimsical addition to any little one's room. My nephew now has these hanging in his room. :)

 

Little treat bags for the guests to fill with candy! 

Our original plan for the party was to have games in the backyard for all the little ones, but a few days before the party, the weather was hinting at a possibility of rain so I had the task of coming up with some entertaining ideas that could take place indoors. I found this inspiration for the table and thought it was such a cute idea (scan down through the party photos to see how they set up their eating space.) So, I lined our large dining room table with white paper, painted 'place settings' and added a centerpiece of balloons. 

I purchased a digital coloring book from a fellow etsy seller, Emmi Grace Kids and printed it for all of our little guests. For easy binding, I added a solid coverstock page for the cover, hole punched the corners and used a D-ring to keep together. The little guests loved this activity and were excited to take them home too. I would recommend this for any party! So easy!

 

 Menu

Hot Dogs + Chili

Chicken Salad Wraps

Greek Pasta Salad

Veggie Sticks (as seen here) 

Drinks

Lemonade

Sweet Tea

Juice Boxes

 

 The Birthday Boy!!! 

How cute is that picture of him with the bat?! He was so excited!

(P.S. The homemade pinata turned out great except on the outside... it kind of looked like a dinasaur egg! haha. I ran out of time to actually decorate the thing as planned when we realized I had forgotten to put a hook in it to actually hang it. We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how in the world we were going to hang a billion pound pinata. Nonetheless, it was a huge hit and the kids loved taking their swing at it... not to mention the amount of candy that came pouring from it!)

Overall the most amazing thing about this little birthday party was watching my little guys have so much fun. I was able to see Andrew interact with his buddies in a new way as he would drop whatever he was doing at the moment and show compassion to the one that was sad. He has the biggest the heart! And as we sat coloring together I thought to myself how blessed I truly am to have been given such a wonderful and sweet little boy.

And Asher was more excited than I have ever seen him! He gripped his treat bag with such fervor that even opening his presents would not convince him to let go. At one point he went running through the house with two bags of candy in his hands screeching sheer happiness! I about died laughing.

 This party is truly one of my most favorite of family memories and I will treasure it forever. 

(And hopefully you found some fun inspiration for your next party too. :)