sunglasses giveaway!

 

Hi guys!  No, I have not fallen off the face of the blogging earth, I've just been kind of busy with life that I haven't been allowing time for this little space as much as I've wanted to.  Not to say I haven't been thinking about it though, and (I think!) I'm ready to get back at it. :)

 

Today I'm soso excited to bring to you a generous giveaway from the lovely folks over at Firmoo, an online optical store.  Just in time for summer, one lucky winner will be receiving a pair of sunglasses!  I was fortunate enough to have won a similar giveaway over at Little Lady Little City a few months ago, and am loving my pair!  Especially since they also offer prescription sunglasses as well when made with the regular glasses frames!  No more doubling up on glasses and sunnies for this girl, haha!  You can find out how to make your own here.

 

 

 Here are a few of my favorite sunglasses, besides the ones I chose of course.  They have a variety of colors and styles to choose from on their sunglasses page.  I had a hard time choosing, there are so many cute ones!

1 ... 2 ... 3

 

First thing's first, the only mandatory entry is to head on over to Firmoo and pick out your fav pair of sunnies, then leave me a comment telling me which one you'd choose if you win!  All other entries are bonus (you can tweet once a day!); please make sure to leave a way to contact you if you win.  Also, check out their shipping locations and deets on ordering; the giveaway is only open to those within their range.  You have until June 1st to enter, and the winner will be announced & contacted shortly after.

Now, what are you waiting for?! Go on and enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

food & beer friday~ solitude

 

Happy weekend!  Welcome once again to Food & Beer Friday; one of my fav times of the week (& I actually have this weekend off, so I can truly say, T.G.I.F.!!). 

 

This week I'm showcasing a beer from a local-ish beer to me, out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I picked up a little four pack of Solitude, an Abbey Style beer by Brewery Vivant, which is a relatively new brewery that I have yet to visit.  My husband Mike just went there for the first time about two weeks ago, and liked it a lot, so I'm planning on having him take me there soon to check it out myself!

 

 

The brewery makes French and Belgium-style beers; this one made in the style the Monks have used in Belgium Abbeys for centuries.

 

"Often people ask what spices are in this beer. There are none. The spiciness comes from a special yeast that we use from an Abbey Brewery in Belgium. Our secret is that we do not rush this beer. We give it the time it needs to work its magic. You can not be in a rush to make great beer."

 

 

 

 

At 6.5% ABV, this beer is a lot lighter than it tastes, so having a few wouldn't hurt ya.  It's very raisin-y, and easy to drink.  The description also says to look for caramel and pear flavorings hidden within.  A very good beer indeed; if you're in the Michigan or Chicago area, make sure you try them out!

 

 

 

Now go head over to Kristin's blog to see what she's been drinking this past week!  Come back and link up with your tasty food & beer pairings this weekend, or the following weeks to come.  Cheers!

 

 

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what to wear~ spring dress

 

 

 

 

This week the girls & I are showing off our spring dresses.  While daydreaming at work (shhh, don't tell, haha), I was trying to think of which dress I would wear for this shoot.  Finally I remembered this dress that stays tucked in the back of my closet, and I knew that this was the one.  I bought it less than a year ago from ModCloth when they had a crazy sale going on, but had no purpose for it at all other than I loved it & just thought it was pretty.  It turned out to be a little too fancy for most occasions, so I've only worn it once in public so far (to a Regina Spektor concert!  love her!!).

 

 

Thankfully I had an excuse to toss this beauty on for a few in the backyard, and enjoy a brew with my lover afterward.  My friend Carla recently sent me this cute headband she found at a craft store made out of an old necktie!  How cute!

 

 

Oh, I just discovered we have lilac bushes in our yard!  Yes!!  Thanks Mom, for pointing that out, haha.  I really didn't notice them till she said something; they're on the sides of our yard (one on each), and right on the fence line.  I had to eyeball the trunks down to the ground to make sure they were even on our side, and they are!

 

 

 

 

just bein' a goof; trying to look like a fairy, haha.  love my toadstool birdbath!

Go check out Nicole's blog throughout the day to see some more spring dresses, & link up with your own! :)

what's in my wardrobe~ on a lazy whimsical day

 

As I mentioned yesterday, I had the day off.  It was a wonderfully lazy/ somewhat productive day.  I didn't get much done around the house, but I managed to sleep in (hooray!)  and work a bit on this here blog space.  You may not notice any changes, but I cleaned up and tweaked a few things here & there.  It's a constant work in progress.

 

At around 11am yesterday, a beautiful deer showed up in my backyard.  They are actually back there quite a bit, but it's not often that I see them.  I was so excited, and promptly snatched my camera to take a few pics from my kitchen window of this lovely dude, and just watch him for a spell.  His antlers were so tiny & fuzzy!

 

 

I planted about eight different herbs from seed a few weeks ago, and so far about three kinds are sprouting.  It's fun watching them pop up out of the ground; here's hoping the rest come up!

 

 

My Mom will have an absolute fit when I say this, but I recently got this skirt from the thrift store, and couldn't wait to wash it before I wore it...

 

...hold on, hold on...it still had the store tags on it!  So it was basically new!  True, there may have still been some thrift store cooties on it, but hey, I wanted to wear it now, not when the laundry was done, haha!

 

Thankfully my deer friend couldn't reach the bird feeder my Dad made me; he resided to munching on some shrubs instead, but I don't mind.

let's drink~ strawberry lemonade

 

After a trip to a downtown antique store with my Mom a few days ago, and the purchase of a little glass fruit juicer, I knew I wanted to try it out right away.  I was immediately reminded of Sondra's instagram post from a few weeks ago of some scrumptious-looking strawberry lemonade, and I knew that's what I wanted to make first.  I bought a bag of lemons, and a box of strawberries on my way home, then googled a few recipes and got to work.

 

 

I ended up using this recipe, but with only 5 lemons instead of 6, since that's what came in my bag.  Let me tell you guys, this was so simple, and soooo delicious!  Wow!  You simply must try this!  I will be making more again for sure, but probably not until the weather warms up a bit again (it's super chilly here!!).  It's really not uber lemon-y, and not sour at all because the strawberries sort of take over, but shazam!  This is about as fresh as you can get right here!  I added some vodka to my individual drinks (not the entire pitcher, in case I wanted one straight-up) for a little something extra. ;)

 

 

 

 

I hope you all have a good Monday!  I have the day off of work, and hope to be somewhat productive around the house, including relaxing time which I'm accomplishing right now, hehe!

wanna chat? I do!!

 

So a little while back, I got an email from a friend letting me know I was a "no-reply" blogger.  I had no idea what that meant, and after a little conversing, figured it out.  All along, I've been replying to blog comments straight through my blog, not knowing there was another way to reply (through email).  It always frustrated me like crazy knowing that even though I'd replied to your comments, you most likely didn't know that I did, because I don't have a way for you to subscribe to my replies (if you know how I can do that for blogger, that would be awesome).

 

Anyway, unless you have an email address attached to your blog, you come up as a "no-reply blogger."  Meaning, if I comment on your blog, you get an email telling you you've received a comment, and you hit "reply" within your email to respond to me.  The address comes up "no-reply blogger," and that email will go into space & be lost forever.  Sad day!

 

Thank you, thank you to Kristin for letting me know, and telling me how to fix this little issue!  She sent me this link of a tutorial on how to fix it, which is hilarious and seemed soooo simple!  Yet I still didn't get why it wasn't working for me... until I searched a bit more, and found out that if you use blogger and are connected to Google +, it won't work.  You need to switch back over to the old blogger in order for it to work.  I found out how to do that within the comments of another tutorial.  To switch back, go to the dashboard of your blog, find the little gear symbol in the top right corner.  Click it, and choose the "revert to old blogger" option.  From there follow the tutorial steps, and it's easier than blowing your nose.

 

Who knew?!  I didn't, but I'm glad that I had a friend willing to help me out!  Hopefully this helps some of you out as well, and I'm not the only silly one who didn't have a clue, haha!

food & beer friday~ birthday style

 

 

 

Thank goodness for Food & Beer Friday!  I've been neglecting my poor ol' blog here, but I finally have a reason to blog today.  You may remember me telling you about Mike making a special birthday brew for me back in March...?  My bday was in April, so I'm thinking it was March.  We were hoping it would be ready by my birthday (the 15th of April), but it just wasn't carbonated enough by that point.

 

Well guys, it's ready now!! :)

I must say it turned out well.  Mike's aim was for a hoppity hop tasting beer, since that's where my beer heart is, & hoppy it is!  Although not quite what Mike was hoping for I don't think, it is quite tasty.  It's hoppy, with a bit of a flowery edge to it...it keeps getting better with time in my books; obviously I guess, since it tastes better carbonated than not.  I call this a win!  Thanks honey!!

 

 

 

We consumed these after a dinner of a frozen cheese pizza and an episode of Ask This Old House.

 

 

 The master with his work of art.

 

I forgot to get the deets about alcohol content, etc. from the brewer, & he's already in bed, so I'm sorry ladies...if you're curious, leave me a comment and I'll reply after consulting the brew master at a later time. :)

 

 

Well what have you been sipping on?  Link up with Kristin & I throughout the weekend so we can see what other sorts of brews are out there!

 

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