Happy Birthday Baby Boy.

4 years ago today, God blessed me with you little one.

8lbs 2oz of pure joy.
I love you more than words could ever say and am so very thankful that God has entrusted you to your daddy and me.
May you know today, and every day, that you are loved by so many and most importantly,
by God who wants so much for you to love Him in return and to put your trust in Him.

So, today we celebrate the day you were born...

Happy Birthday Andrew David Proffitt!

Here is a little peak into Andrew's birthday celebration that took place earlier this week.
Welcome to the Scooter Party!

I pretty much used every idea (including 'sweet scooters' and a 'scooter parade') from this post,
putting my own twist on the printed materials.

{Billy's Vanilla, Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Icing via Martha Stewart}

The birthday boy riding his birthday scooter, leading the little parade around the block to the pool.

. . .

ON THE MENU
Hot Dogs with Chili, Chicken Salad (for those who may not be too excited about hot dogs,) French Fries, Chips, and Fruit Salad

DRINKS
Lemonade, Water, 100% juice Capri Suns.

DESSERT TABLE
For dessert, I made the vanilla cake with vanilla frosting pictured above and served vanilla fudge ripple ice cream as well.

ACTIVITIES

1. Eat & play.

2. “Make your own sweet scooter” as see from this post. We used mini Oreos, Vienna Fingers, mini pretzel rods, mini pretzel sticks, and icing as the glue. (Beware to get a thick icing... my homemade icing was too thin and the 'handlebars' kept falling down.)

3. We decorated everyone's bikes and scooters with ribbon, streamers, and balloons. Then we all went on a “Birthday Parade” through the neighborhood to the pool.

PARTY FAVORS
Squirt guns to use later at the pool!

. . .

The party was an absolute blast! The kids had so much fun, especially the birthday boy! Huge success.

Thank you so much Hostess With the Mostess for the great idea!

Weekend Wardrobe: Bright & Cheery

This weekend included a lot of fun and even more manual labor. I have blisters to prove it. ha.

Friday (our family day off... kind of like your Saturday) included a 9 mile bike ride (yes, my husband pulled the trailer of kiddos for 9 miles... and on the hardest gear nonetheless) and a birthday party.

Saturday included an overhaul of my front yard flower beds. Much too big of a project for a novice like myself, but it now looks beautiful so I guess it was worth the blisters. Maybe I'll post a picture later this week....

Sunday is our favorite day of the week. :) It's the day we get to worship and serve our Savior at our local church. (By the way if you are on the hunt for some great worship music, our network of churches just released a full live album. You can purchase it here for only $5.00 and all proceeds go to planting more churches! Great cause and great music... it's a win-win.)

So the best wardrobe I had this weekend would have to be my Sunday attire. You can see it below in our most recent family photo. :) Pretty cute family huh?

+ yellow shirt thrifted (but originally from Merona from Target) from Salvation Army - $1.00.
+ pink belt from Plato's Closet - $1.00
+ jeggings from Forever 21 - $12.00
+ yellow wedges from Payless (yearssss ago) - $10.00
+ fun black ring from Forever 21 - $2.00

I love this outfit. ha. I tend to wear it all the time... maybe because it's so cheery. :)

. . .

Happy Monday to you all!

Ideas For Your Weekend & Closet Makeover

I love solving problems....

PROBLEM: Lack of organized and systematic storage in office closet. Lack of actual workspace (i.e. a place to assemble orders) in office.

You may remember this post where I show my old way of assembling any order, whether a set of 12 note cards or an entire order of wedding invitations that need cutting, gluing, ribbon tying, etc. Let's just say the floor was not getting it done (not to mention that my office was becoming a hazard to my little guys who want to pick up everything in sight.)

SOLUTION: Add additional shelving to office closet that can double as work space.
By adding one more shelf I created an entire new workspace where I can now assemble away. I added the shelf at bar height so I can use a bar stool for those lengthy and intensive orders. I added a 1/4" piece of mdf board on top of the wire shelf to make it a smooth and sturdy surface area. I reorganized the closet so that the most important things to my business were most accessible with plenty of room to grow. Everything I need for packaging an order is at arms reach, like the string I tie around the orders as well as the scissors I need to cut the string. I actually made up a 'mock' order while organizing to make sure I did not forget one material or step in my assembly process. I hung a belt/tie holder to the left of the workspace to hang tools on, scissors, rulers, hole punches, string, tape, etc. eventually I will hang my collection of ribbon on there as well. (I found a super cute inspiration for that but can't seem to find it again to show you. oops!) I like this too for keeping twine and string organized and untangled. (Thanks Martha!){tags that I tie around orders are now organized by category with tiny dividers in a small box and are perfectly within arms reach}

There are now four cubbies for envelopes sorted by size and color. At the beginning of this year I began to buy in bulk which is a great business move if you have the place to store everything (i.e. hundreds of bubble mailers and thousands of envelopes.) This new closet overhaul has given everything a home. Stock paper hangs above the printer, bubble mailers and packaging sleeves are directly under the work table.

So what do you think?
It was not very hard to install (the reorganizing, cleaning out, etc. was the hardest part!) and only cost about $30.00.

. . .

Look at my little helper!

I told you the office had become hazardous....

. . .

{Make Your Own Rosette Necklace}

{Make Your Own Vintage Rosette Earrings}

{Make Your Own Dominoes Set!}

Recipe: Marinated Pork Medallions

Marinated Pork Medallions (from Taste of Home's Simple & Delicious)

We tried this recipe the other night and it was hit. I forgot to marinate the pork overnight, so it only marinated for the day, but it was still wonderful (and super easy!) I served the pork with corn on the cob and rolls. There probably should have been a green vegetable in there somewhere... maybe next time. :)

{Recipe}

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
• 1/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 pork tenderloins (1 pound each), cut into 3/4-inch slices

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, salad dressing, pineapple juice and soy sauce. Pour 1/2 cup marinade into a large resealable plastic bag. Add the pork; seal bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate overnight. Cover and refrigerate remaining marinade.
• Drain and discard marinade. Using long-handled tongs, moisten a paper towel with cooking oil and lightly coat the grill rack.
• Grill pork, covered, over medium heat or broil 4 in. from the heat for 5-7 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 160°, basting occasionally with reserved marinade. Yield: 5 servings.

(We currently do not have a grill so I baked the pork medallions in the oven for about 40 minutes, basting with the reserved marinade every few minutes.)

Inside Look: Congratulations Graduates!

CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES!
A few custom designs I did a few months back. Excited to sell these next year. :)

{Winsome}

{Sophisticated Whimsy}
{Classic}The above announcement is a great example of how all invitations and announcements are customizable with your specific color choices (i.e. school colors!). The 'Classic' graduation announcement takes on a completely different look just by changing the color scheme.

{Lovely}

Again, same basic design as the purple above but the incorporation of blue and red really change the entire look.
(I love this one, my high school colors were blue & white with a hint of red.)

. . .

Do you have a favorite?
What were your graduation announcements like?

Weekend Wardrobe: Poolside

In case you were wondering, it has been hot here in Florida. So, on hot days (i.e. everyday) we spend some time at the pool to cool off. Due to this little daily activity it is not uncommon for Floridians to have a gazillion bathing suits. I got a cute new black and white polka dot swimsuit for Mother's Day and that one quickly took first place over all my faded ones from last season.

+ My bathing suit was from TJ Maxx but the one pictured is very similar from this one at Target (Top & Bottom).
+ The cover-up was also a gift from my sweet husband for Easter (he has great taste and likes to buy presents for his wifey:)) It is from Target.
+ The little rosette earrings pictured are from Forever 21. Mine are identical but from WalMart (I could not find them online.)

. . .

What did you do this weekend?
Did you work on any crafty projects or read any good books? Spend time at the pool?

I spent a good portion of the weekend working on solving a couple workflow problems in my office....
More on that later this week!

Weekend Projects

A few sweet little projects for your weekend!

Have a special initial or date/number in your family? If so, this would be super cute to try.
{photo from Young House Love}

This is absolutely genius! I always want fun vase fillers but am never willing to spend the money.
Problem solved.
{Photo from Landee See Landee Do}

This would be super cute for Father's Day right?

And just to make you smile, Asher wanted you to see his strawberries. :)