Peanut Butter + Chocolate = Perfection

My husband and I are both big fans anything containing peanut butter and chocolate (his idea of a perfect lunch is Dr. Pepper and a king sized Reeses AND he's one of those that can eat like yet gain no weight)We hosted our church's monthly couples study last week and he made a request for chocolate peanut butter no bake cookies - these cookies are delicious, made with three of the most magical ingredients - peanut butter, chocolate, and oatmeal, and take about 5 minutes to make! There are several variations of the recipe for it but I like this one.
What are your favorite food combinations?

Adventures in Wonderland

As this is one of my all time favorite cartoons,

I have been looking forward to Tim Burton's continuation/version of it for awhile. I am hoping this weekend, in between working, buying a car, participating in a jewelry show, and teaching the teens Sunday morning, my husband and I can spare a few hours to see this.



I have heard mixed reviews but still am excited to see it. Anyone else seen it yet?

Wedding Wednesday

I'm starting a new weekly feature: wedding Wednesdays. Each week Wednesdays will be devoted to all things wedding whether it's suggestions and ideas, items from Etsy shops that have wonderful wedding items, interviews, shared stories of weddings and engagements and pretty pictures. Here are a few lovely things from Etsy to get us started

Giftbearer's Carmella Collection is beautiful and the procedes all go to a great cause. Stop by her shop and check out her blog for some lovely beaded ideas

KittyKatKards has some awesome origami that can be personalized to ask your attendants, family, or anyone else in a special way to be a part of your special day

A Dusy Attic does alphabet photography and can create an original with your new last name on it - great gift idea!

One of the most important things (next to the dress) that you will wear is jewelry - for both the brides and the wedding party. Here are two shops with absolutely gorgeous jewelry

For girls in pearls:

Be sure to check out JED bridal - they're have a beadkit give away on their blog as well

Head over to Vibrant Vows - they have gorgeous, original jewelry as well. Here's one of their sets of bobby pins that are perfect for any hair do

Can you tell I love pearls?

At a wedding, the more personal touches you add the more the day reflects you and your spouse. For some unique centerpieces and candle holders check out Confections in Glass They have an entire line of centerpieces and welcome custom orders.


Nutfield Weaver has a great collection hand woven items for weddings such as petal cones, ring pillows and garters

This beautiful ring pillow can be custom ordered with your intial and color



Crafts for a cure has some super cute sets of wedding invitations. Be sure to stop by their shop - all proceeds go to Susan B Kohlman 3 day for the cure


Java girls has a line of bridal journals - this could be used to keep lists and jot ideas for your wedding, gifts for bridesmaids, to keep a journal of all the time leading up to your wedding or as a one of a kind guest book - check out their photo albums for some great gift ideas too

For an original twist on flowers check out Perfectly Paper

Here is an example of one of their bridal bouquets

If you have an items that you'd like featured next week or any questions you'd like addressed feel free to email me at modernhousewife@yahoo.com

Features

To celebrate two of my passions: weddings and Etsy, I am going to begin two new weekly features: Wedding Wednesdays and Etsy Find Fridays. On Wednesday I will be sharing everything wedding from ideas to personal stories of engagements and real weddings to beautiful photos. Fridays will be devoted to all things etsy: cool finds and great shops. If you are interested in sharing your shop or your story - leave a comment here or email me at modernhousewife@yahoo.com

Back in the Saddle . . .or uh treadmill

My excercise routine seems to go in spurts (my husband seems to think that I always turn it about a month before a trip back to see my fam hmmmm) and I've fallen off for the past 2 months. After working the past few weeks at getting back into good eating habbits I am determined to start back at the gym this week. About a month ago I started waitressing a few nights a week at a trendy restaurant downtown. I always hesitate to mention this to people because my reasons for doing this are not the usual that people assume: my husband is back on the night shift at work and so he is done several nights out of the week so I thought that this would be a productive use of my time. I work for a charter school and it's not the most stable place to work right now so while finances are not an issue right now, this is providing me with a peace of mind incase something does happen at our school plus a little extra cash is always nice for future endeavors! Anyways, I have notice small changes in myself just from the constant movement of being on my feet for several hours at work and I know that I will feel even better after reestablishing my workout routine. While I really enjoy my job at the restaurant (I am a genuine fan of the hospitality business) the later nights are causing me to hit the snooze a few more times before getting up for school. My goal for this week is to do some type of physical activity 5 times this week - whether at the gym or in our workout area here at home. So, here we go . . .

March Madness

I cannot believe that it is already March! We are in our third month of 2010 yet it seems like New Years was last weekend. While March is a long month, it's going to be a great month. While there is not much of a season change here in San Diego ( compared to my family back East there is no such thing as bad weather here - although it has been exceptionally rainy) we are quickly approaching spring. There are things I love about all seasons and for spring it is the brightness, the smells, and the new beginnings. This month I am looking forward to: getting back into my excercise routine, my niece's performance in Peter Pan for her middle school, working in the yard and the possibility of planting new things - all of last years plants were accidentally sprayed with too much weed killer, working on new items for my shop, going to my friend of many many years' (friends since kindergarden) wedding, and the wonderful week at the end of the month that we teachers look forward to starting the day after christmas SPRING BREAK when I will have my annual trip to the spa with two of my coworkers/close friends. Welcome March with all of your maddness - you are going to be a great month

What are you looking forward to?