Backsplashing this Summer!

I really wish this was a post of the finish product of our kitchen, but we will get there probably later this fall.  It has taken us longer than we expected.  So this is what our kitchen originally looked like here.  Thanks to our friend Mike and Lowes Hardware.  This is where we are at now.

Before/After Today:  You can see our new countertops - which by the way we love!

 

















Here is today in action:




There ya have it!  We love how it turned out and are so glad it was Lowes doing it and not us!  Originally they said it would take 3 hours and it ended up taking almost 7 hours.  Ouch!

What we have left to do:

August/September:

-Paint Cabinets (picking up stuff this weekend to start prepping cabinets) - turquoise and white
-New lighting - we've picked out what we like
- Buy hardware for the cabinets


October:

- Purchase a new microwave
-Sheet rock the ceiling above the vent hood
- Add some molding around the vent hood and tiling by the bar.


November:

-Texture/Paint walls - They will most likely be a light gray color

Get your beauty on

So I have a lot to share with you today.  Get ready to go shopping after you read this because there are some amazing things out right now that you just need now.  And for those that are on a budget I promise you you're saving lots of money so just buy it.

This past weekend I went to Dallas to visit my sister and her husband.  We ended up going to the Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale.  This is a sale that everyone needs to put in their calendar.  The prices are awesome and if you are like me who needs to stock up on some work clothes before work starts in oh- so- not- excited- about- this- few- weeks this is where you should go.  I could of dropped way more money but of course I was on a budget.

So let me back up a little bit.  My sister is a fashion queen!  Always has been and always will be - duh her major is even in fashion and she does it for a living.  So it is always a must to go shopping with her when I want honest opinions.  I don't have an eye for this thing, but do have a taste for nice things.  So her letting me know what truly looks good on me when I try it on is key.  Check out her website for some amazing style advice and beauty essentials.  Oh and she is a book fanatic too, so she always post good reviews of her current reads.

I knew I was going to need some money when I went to buy a bunch of work clothes and since we are on a budget I needed a way to come up with this money.  Guess what it is!?  I sell Rodan + Fields and bam! every month I have money for my childcare and money for my clothes allowance.  How sweet is that!?  It doesn't hurt our budget and I get to get some nice things.  Check it out ====> I will give the next person who signs up as a consultant with me $100 towards one of the top two kits.

Ok back to the Nordstrom sale!  We went in with a mission because we didn't know how crowded it would be and we had miss C with us and was unsure how long she would last.  Abby mapped out the floor plan and we have already taken pictures or viewed pictures of the items we were looking for.  Are we crazy or what!?  Lets just call it  - we are planners and wanted to make sure we got what we wanted.

So here is what we eyeballed and of course purchased a few of these items.  Obviously I can't put everything on here - that would be crazy, but these were some fun and amazing finds.

Pants/Jeans

 Abby looked super cute in these!

 We both purchased these boyfriend jeans!  Super amazing and comfortable - go get some now!

Abby bought these - and they have stretch in them.  Love the way they fit on!

Everyone needs a pair of faux leather leggings - need to go get me a pair.  You can wear with a cute top or long T.

Jackets

There was one other jacket but I'm not finding anymore on their website - maybe they are sold out but it was a army green quilted jacket with contrast of brown and it was awesome, but more for winter states

 Pretty amazing jacket!!!

I'm going back to get this knitted blazer.  But I think in red - you can dress it up or down.

I bought this jacket and its the perfect anytime jacket dressed up or down.  Love the peeks of leather with the tweed.  It is sold out right now but hopefully will come back in stock.

Skirts

I bought this MK skirt and love it.  Love the way you can put any color with it.

Shoes

 So I've been wanting these for months and finally bought them.  The perfect wedge!  The most comfortable wedge!  You need them or two.

 Super cute flats!  Abby bought these - but definitely will need some working in on the feet

I really love this boot and I'm thinking of going back and trying it on again.  I would then only need to buy one boot for the season because of the two tone.

Tops/Dresses

 I wanted to try this on soo bad!  Real leather and gorgeous!

Saw this blouse and it is super cute and comes in three colors.  Might have to get this one - need a white blouse!

Isn't this shirt just super cute!?

Abby purchased this fun piece and look awesome in it.  I'm telling you leather is totally in!

Abby also purchased this top and there are matching pants, but the top is way cuter!  You could wear it with jeans or pants.

Then some other great things out there you should look into:

Target: - great prices when you don't want to spend the money

Great dress for work or for play.  Plus its on sale!!!

Faux Leather peplum top.  How cute is this!?  And the price is awesome as well.  Just needs the right jewelry and you can rock this top

Zara:  The most get skort - I need to purchase because it is on all the fashion blogs!!!  And sooo cute on and versatile.  Yes my sister has it and she looks great in it!

 My sister has it in white and thats what everyone is getting it in, but the black is super cute too!  The price is just right too!

So there ya have it!  A lot of fashion in one blog!  Go grab your wallet now and go shopping for these cute finds.  I'm hitting up Nordstroms again this Sunday before the sale is over and might even go get that skort from Zara!  Oh and before you leave go check out my sister's blog on fashion and bookmark it - she will change your wardrobe and teach you how to rock your outfits with confidence!

Rodan and Fields Skincare

Today marks the day of a new adventure for my family and I.  I have been praying and researching and I have decided to become an Independent Consultant for Rodan and Fields skincare.  I am a major advocate for skincare and have always budgeted money so I can take care of the one face I have.  Here is my story......

Growing up I never had a huge acne problem, but of course those occasions did arise naturally.  I also have really sensitive skin, so I would get red cheeks often or itchy and dry skin from being a competitive swimmer and living in chlorinated water.  I was a big Clinique fan and used their system which worked at the time.  Going forward to my college years I was introduced to Proactiv and it really worked for my skin. On top of using birth control - I was regulated.  The pros on the product was that for once if I was consistently washing my face and using their product my skin was great.  The cons were that I received it too frequently and therefore ended up having a stock pile of the product and I was told by many not to use it when I was pregnant (I never found out the truth behind this).  When I got pregnant with my first baby I decided to not use the product and cancelled my membership and man did my face act out.  It was embarrassing and painful.  I had to pile on a lot of makeup to cover blemishes and it made it worse.  I am not a big makeup person to begin with.  Don't get me wrong I love makeup, but I don't like to spend the time putting it on or the money it cost.  Below is a picture of my face during this time!

 Lots of redness and scars.  Once I had my baby I got back on birth control and continued using my stockpile of Proactiv.  I knew the day would come when I would run out and was fearful of what I could find cheap at the grocery store to help out and I also knew one day I would have to stop birth control again because we wanted more children.  I never really found that product that has helped out my face and I have not found lotion that really soothes my sensitive skin (which is really bad after every child I've had and my hormones getting back into check).  UNTIL I found out about Rodan and Fields.  What an amazing company and model they follow.  Rodan and Fields created Proactiv, but what is cool about Rodan and Fields is that there isn't just one skincare product, there is skincare lines that match with whatever skin issues you may have.  A personalized skincare product for me!!!??  I'm sold!  And the beauty of it is that it works amazingly and fits right into my budget.  Also you can use the product for 60 days and if you end up not liking it you can send it all back and get a full refund.  How awesome is that!!!??
No risk - thats what I'm talking about.  I use the umblemish regimen, my husband uses the soothe regimen, and my mom uses the redefine regimen.  There is also one more regimen for sun spots and dullness.  We also offer sunscreen, and eye cream, and sunless tanning spray.  We all love it and have seen changes in our skin. I can not express how passionate I am about these products and how I know you will also love them as well.  The price is affordable, you can try it out at no risk, if you are a preferred customer you can get free shipping and 10% off your products.  And if you want to make money - become a consultant on my team!!!

Nick and I are going to post our before and after pictures soon, so be on the look out for it.  We are also about to try the new Macro Exfoliator tool - super excited about it.   I will post reviews on this product too. 

Check out my website and in the words of my 4 yr old Connor - "try it you just might like it."  Whats the risk!?

https://aprilbryan.myrandf.com/

What's Cookin For Dinner......

I have really been budgeting our food lately and planning weekly meals for us to try.  I am a very picky eater so it is very hard for me to cook things for other people that I do not like.  I'm doing better at it and really trying out flavors and learning to try new things.  In the long run I am saving us a lot more money and we are eating healthier because it is not boxed or processed foods.  Of course I've gotten a lot of them from Pinterest and then another fave site of mine is The Six Sisters Stuff.

Here are some of our favorites so far:

Crock Pot Meals: (they are awesome for our family and our busy schedules)

Crock Pot Chicken Soft Tacos - this is what I'm making tonight

Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan

Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken

Ham and Potato Casserole - (Codi's Favorite)

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Pesto & Cheese Stuffed Chicken

Baked Spaghetti with Cream Cheese

Roasted Garlic Lemon Shrimp (Mommy's Favorite)

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf (The Boy's Favorite)

Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta (Nick' Favorite) - can't find the recipe right now but here is how I made it:

Cook bowtie pasta - 8oz
Cook chicken in garlic and olive oil and then pour in about 1/4 chicken broth
In a mixing bowl add 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, 3/4 cup sundried tomatoes in oil, 1/4 milk, parsley, basil, pepper to taste, Classico Alfredo Sauce Jar
Then add in chicken mixture and pasta
Pour into 2qt dish and sprinkle with parmesan
Bake at 350 for 15 min in a 2qt dish covered and another 10 min uncovered

Ham and Cheese Sliders

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken

They are all great recipes!  Have fun trying them out - I promise you won't go wrong.

Sneak Peak - Kitchen Remodel

When we bought our house we knew right away that we would eventually need to update the kitchen.  Not only for resale purposes but for our own sanity.  Our home is a 1970s home, so we have this not so pretty floral wallpaper with brass, laminate and old school appliances.  The original owners use to have dark wood cabinets and eventually painted them white.  Smart on their part!  About 2 years ago our dishwasher was causing us some problems so we began the updating our appliances adventure.  All our appliances are white and we decided we wanted to get stainless steel.  So we replaced our dishwasher with a stainless steel one.  Then about a year ago our refrigerator went out and we replaced that with an updated stainless steel one.  Within the past few months we decided to take the plunge and finish up the kitchen.

Checklist:
Repaint cabinets
Change hardware
Take down wallpaper and paint walls/or paint over wallpaper
Update sink
Update microwave
Update stove top
Update oven
Update venthood
New lights
Get rid of fan in eat-in area
Get rid of laminate
New countertops
Backsplash

Our good friend Mike who is knowledgeable in the kitchen remodeling came over to help Nick and away they went.

First task was taking down the old vent hood and removing the upper cabinets around the venthood.  Then we removed the wall to open up the kitchen more. 

   




Since our current oven was too small for a regular size cooking pan we took the oven out of the built in wall cabinets and cut out space in our semi-island where the current cooktop is for an cooktop oven range.  Then we took a break for awhile while we purchases a new cooktop oven range and a venthood.  Nick had to do some electrical work and rewire.  We hooked up our cooktop oven range!






 





Last weekend we finally put the venthood up which was probably the hardest task with the kitchen remodel.





Nick and I spent one evening trying to decide what we wanted to do for the countertops.  I thought we should go neutral because we want to be able to sell the house to anybody.  After looking at all our options we decided to go with a quartz countertop.  The price was right, it does not have to be sealed or resealed and it is just the smart way to go with kids and cooking.  We scheduled our estimator to come out to see how much we needed and we waited.  Well Nick started to pick my brain and I guess he really does know what I like, because he popped a thought into my head on a different countertop idea that I would normally go with and is becoming popular and I was like SOLD!  So back to Lowes we went and changed our countertops - still quartz, but different color.



 A new estimator came out and now we are just waiting for our countertops to be installed.  Oh and the cool thing is we got a free sink with our countertops.  So we just had to purchase a faucet and the drains - which we did last weekend!



So here is our checklist now:
Repaint cabinets
Change hardware
Take down wallpaper and paint walls/or paint over wallpaper
Update sink - check
Update microwave
Update stove top - check
Update oven - check
Update venthood - check
New lights
Get rid of fan in eat-in area
Get rid of laminate - check
New countertops - check
Backsplash

So we are about halfway done!  Once the countertops are installed we will go pick out backsplash and get that done.  Probably buy a new microwave and fix cabinets that need fixing. Then I will start painting away.  Lights will probably be the last thing to happen.

So this is what we are looking at our cabinets in our kitchen to look like.  White on top and turquoise/aqua on bottom. 

I will update more as we progress!