The Herrerra Family

Recently my boyfriend and I took a trip over to Bend and got to see my cousins Angel, Dax and Ella. She asked if I could take a few family photos of them. Of course I was thrilled but wished I would have had some time to prepare. I really haven't done any formal shoots. I have always loved taking photos but am now beginning to get more into it and have a DSLR camera. I  mostly shoot landscape photos so portraits was a new thing for me. Here are some of my favorite shots I captured!

Christmas card display

I saw a cute and easy way to display all your christmas cards somewhere on pinterest. So I grabbed some twine and wooden clothespins at the dollar store and got to work. I had the perfect blank wall going up the stairs where I put in two push pins and hung the twine. I used the clothespins to attach the greeting cards to the twine and evenly spread them out throughout the twine. That’s all it took!

DIY pen and pencil holder

I have a super quick and easy DIY for you guys! I have to thank Michaela from Michaela Noelle Designs for the inspiration! She has the cutest DIYs, designs and photography! First find a mason jar or an empty and clean glass jar, I used an old alfredo sauce jar. Then purchase some washi tape or glitter tape at the craft store. I found this kind for 99 cents each at Michaels before Christmas!


First I tried applying the glitter tape just to the top. Then I decided it needed a little something else so I added another strip down towards the bottom. The tape was very sticky and I didn’t have any problems with it staying on the glass.

Very quick, easy and cute! You could also use it for your makeup brushes!

Reindeer Beer

 

 

I am all about making gifts for people, so when I needed a little something else for my dad this Christmas, I decided he would love the reindeer beer I have seen on pinterest! All you need for the project is beer, googly eyes, black or brown pipe cleaners, red small pom poms, a hot glue gun and your hands! You glue the eyes and nose in place, as seen in the photo. Then you want to cut some pipe cleaners for making the antlers, I didn’t measure but I would guess I cut pieces around 4 inches. Then take a full length pipe cleaner and wrap it around the bottle cop. Next, take your smaller pieces of pipe cleaner and twist them around the tops of your pipe cleaner antlers. It’s a bit hard to clearly explain that but I think you can figure it out from my photos!

PS a friend of mine did this with wine and sparking cider and it was quite adorable!

Photos by Kristen Peterson

Time

 

I often find myself looking at blogs and thinking wow I wish I could have an organized closet (or whatever space) but I can’t because I don’t even have the space for everything I own and can’t neatly organize it {this kinda is true as I am in a small one bedroom with two of us living here and we have a lot of stuff}. On the other hand, I will admire these great interiors that look perfect and think I’m an interior designer I should have an amazing space, but I don’t have the extra funds to do really anything. As much as I love blogs, they can get me a bit depressed as I envy these bloggers who are able to do all these amazing things. We have to remind ourselves that many of these people are older and have more money and/or many of them our stay at home moms. Don’t take that wrong, I know how much work moms really do, but I also see how during the day they are able to spend time preparing meals, deep cleaning, meal planning, doing diy projects and caring for their home. I always find myself with a brain full of ideas and things I want to do, but not having time to accomplish all of them. With our lives being so busy, how does one keep a clean home, make homemade meals, keep a healthy relationship, work, take care of children, have a social life, and all the other duties we try to fulfill? I always feel that I am being pulled in so many directions and want to be perfect at everything, but nothing is every good enough.

 

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PS I have lots of fun blog ideas I have started working on and I promise I will get them posted soon!

Lately…

 

 

I know I have been slacking in the blogging department, but I have decided blogging needs to be a fun thing I do on the side when I have time. I am not lucky enough to have sponsors and lots of followers (yet), unlike most blogs I read. Therefore I need to take my time and just do it as a hobby. I am constantly coming up with lots of ideas, but having the time to do it is another thing. Lately I have been busy working at the furniture store and meeting with real estate agents trying to get some staging gigs (which has proved to be quite difficult). I have also been having lots of fun photographing things and learning lightroom my new editing program which is amazing! I am excited to share some photos with you but I still have a lot of editing to do. It use to be something I didn’t enjoy so much but I am starting to really like it with the new program. I also finally had a chance to get away on vacation with my boyfriend! Even though we have been together for close to five years we have never been on an out of state vacation. Going to bend is not the same! So we got away to Vegas for 4 nights and had the most wonderful time! We had never been there before so we were quite overwhelmed by all the sights! I loved seeing the elaborate designs throughout the hotels. I have lots of photos from all the cool things on both my phone and nice camera (which I barely used). Here are a handful of pics from my phone, pardon the quality.

The flamingos at my hotel! For those of you who don’t know me, I have had an obsession with flamingos for quite some time!

We went to Caesars Palace the first night to go to the club Pure. Everything was so beautiful inside!

My little cutie

I believe this was outside the caesars palace forum shops which were filled with these beautiful roman sculptures throughout. I felt like I was actually in Rome!

I absolutely loved the design of this h & m! Luckily for the bf we didn’t have room in the suitcase for anything so I didn’t go shopping!

This is another shot of the amazing h & m. I don’t know about you but my h & m does not look like this!

This cool view of the strip was actually taken out a window in the bathroom at a club called Moon in the Palms! Pretty spectacular! We also saw the strip all lit up when we flew in and out of Vegas.

We split the best nacho’s here!

The view of New York New York! Can’t wait to go back and ride the roller coaster!

We got to go to an incredible club called Tryst in the Wynn hotel. There was a 94 foot waterfall! How cool!

The Wynn had a beautiful landscaping display inside. The hanging spheres are made of flowers!

We split the most delicious 32 oz bone in slow roasted prime rib at First Food and Bar in the Palazzo.

The fourth and final night we were exhausted but decided we had to make out. We went to XS in encore and were lucky enough to see manufactured superstars perform! We had not heard of them before but loved the show they put on!

Manufactured superstars perform wearing nasa suits and threw around these blow up astronauts, which I was lucky enough to snag!

Recipe Review: Juicing

 
Awhile ago my boyfriend and I watched an amazing documentary called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It was eye opening to say the least. It chronicled several people and their fight with obesity and illnesses. The main character, Joe was 100 pounds overweight, suffering an autoimmune disease and taking lots of steroids to combat his disease. With no hope in sight, he took on a 60 day challenge to only have fruits and vegetables in juice form. He takes a road trip while he is doing this and shares his challenge with many people who are suffering obesity and illnesses. The video inspired us to start juicing. My brother was kind enough to let us borrow his juicer to try it out. I made a few sweeter juices and we were surprised at how good they were! The only down side to juicing is the expense. You use a lot of fruits and vegetables just to make one glass! We experimented a bit but then kinda forgot about it. Now that we are trying to eat healthier and more raw foods, I realized, I need to get that thing out again! Below I will show a few recipes I have tried. I encourage you all to watch this documentary, you won’t regret it. Here is a link to watch it for free on hulu! Here is a little preview.

Video source: YouTube

 
Strawberry-Pineapple-Mint Juice
½ large pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into cubes
1 cup strawberries
1 pear
30 mint leaves
Press all ingredients in juicer and whisk to combine.
Please read your manual as all juicers are different, and a bit complex. The most helpful tip I found  was to put a bag in the pulp container. This makes for very easy cleanup! When done, just tie the bag and throw out!



 
Apple Green Grape
3 granny smith apples, quartered and cored
1 cup seedless green grapes
1 thin wedge lemon peeled
Press apples, grapes and lemons. Whisk to combine. Lots of foam likes to form on the top of this.
I can’t seem to find a photo of the above recipe, but I’m sure you can image it’s tasty!

Both recipes found on Zesty Cook. Photos by Kristen Peterson.

Have you guys had any yummy juice or smoothie recipes? I have also tried a few green smoothies lately too! Tasty and nutritious!

Steal of a Deal

 

I had some time to kill so I ran into Home Goods, there is now one close to where I live! Yay! I was fresh out of cash so  I decided to snap some photos of cute things I found to share with you all. Home Goods continually amazes me with their great products for very affordable prices.

 

 

Gold glitter pumpkin $12.99

Black and silver skull with rhinestones $9.99. Skulls are very popular right not, but especially since Halloween is right around the corner, this is a steal! I’m kicking myself now for not buying it.

These fun tribal boxes are $12.99 and $14.99

Bright blue lacquered box $19.99- this is my favorite color!

Dwell studio bird tray are artwork $59.99

I thought this was a cute tray, but it has hooks on the back, so you can hang it or display your items on it! Very cute!

 

This large mirror was only $49.99! Can you believe that?!

French vases $59.99 and $69.99

Cute paris themed mannequin $59.99. One of my friends has one of these in her cute “dressing room” that she uses to display scarfs and bags. So adorable!

These golden planes would be cute in a study $19.99

 

 

Absolutely in love with this lamp! If only I had a space for it.  It was $29.99 no joke!

Glossy white faceted vase $19.99!

 

Any good bargains for the home you have found recently?