Baby Powder Beach Trick

I know I have mentioned this before but I LOVE Pinterest!  What did we do for inspiration and ideas before this site!?!  As I was searching for ideas for our Beach Trip, I came across this trick for how to remove sand from your legs and feet after a day at the beach. Past experiences have taught me that there might not always be a quick shower nearby to wash off that excess sand.  Apparently, when you are ready to head home, shake a little baby powder on your legs and feet and rub it around.  The baby powder will absorb any leftover moisture left on your skin, making the sand easy to brush off.  Sounds simple enough.  Well, I know that I have mentioned that the "apple didn't fall far from the tree" in regards to my mom before.  So it shouldn't have come as a surprise on our recent trip home, that she had a little vacation care package waiting for me.  And included in said package was a little bottle of baby powder!!  :)  She took it one step further and added an adorable little paint brush to go along with it.  I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the design she painted on it!!! 

She also designed these little bags for the kids to collect seashells in.  She took a zippered laundry bag and stamped on them to add a little character.  It is the perfect solution for carrying the shells, washing the shells and drying them all in one spot!  Genius idea!!

I think we are just about ready to hit the road!  Hilton Head Island, here we come!!!

Monograms Fit For A Sand Castle

It occurred to me that we will most likely not be the only family on the beach with sand toys. (ha ha!)  So I wanted to be able to label ours so that we knew which toys belonged to us at the end of the day.  Granted, most of the pails, shovels and such have been Dollar Store finds but we plan on this being the first of many beach trips, so why not save as many as I can for future fun.  So I decided to bust out my handy-dandy Cricut to personalize our toys.  I had the vinyl left over from a past project but you can purchase it in various colors for about $10 a roll.  I got mine a Michael's.  Vinyl is super easy to work with!  Just follow the directions on the package to set the machine to the proper settings, choose your die-cuts, load the mat and press Cut.  Viola!  I was beaming with excitement at how adorable everything turned out! And now when we are packing up at the end of a long day playing in the sand, we will be sure to know which toys belong to us.  :)

I got a little creative with the "extra" toys.  But these ended up being some of my favorite designs.

It was a super simple project that took all of 10 minutes, and I couldn't be more please with how they turned out!  SQUEAL!  I can't wait to get them in the sand!!!

Backyard Beach Oasis

I'm calling this "BEACH WEEK", in honor of our upcoming family vacation to Hilton Head, South Carolina.  I am sooo ready to put my toes in the sand, I can hardly stand it!  

We had a new deck installed a couple of years ago in preparation for C's graduation party. Since then, Honey & I have been working to create our very own backyard beach oasis.  It's a little piece of tropical heaven right out my back door.  It's still a work in progress, but I absolutely love it so I thought it was time to give you all a peek at what we have done up to this point.

It all started when Honey found this outdoor rug at Lowes.  "It looks a lot like water, don't you think?!" he said.  I wasn't completely in love with it at first as I am more of a neutral girl, but as soon as we laid it out under the table I was sold!  The pattern in the glass of the table top intensified the "water" effect!  Bonus points for Honey!!

The green striped umbrella was the next find, also from Lowes.  Again, Honey's creativity came into play.  "It's your palm tree on the beach," he says.  :)  Gotta love him!!

I found an idea for a unique side table on Pinterest using a large flower pot.  We filled it with sand, added a few shells collected from past vacations, and then covered it with a piece of beveled glass.  Don't you just love this little palm tree!!!  It's called a Pigtail Palm.  It was just too cute to pass up.

Speaking of palm trees . . .

I love tropical plants!  This one we purchased last summer, but unfortunately it did not like the indoor environment we had it in over the winter.  (Note to self: find a new spot for it this year!)  As soon as we were able to bring it back outside again, it perked right up with tons of new growth coming in.  :)  We ordered the solar Tiki Torches off of Amazon.  They provide the most beautiful glow at night!  

I may have a minor obsession with succulents.  :)

I fell in love with these little beauties immediately and knew that they would compliment the touches of pink in the larger plant.  Not to mention, they reminded me of starfish!  :)

No self respecting beach should be without an abundance of shells. . .

And last but certainly not least, our newest addition . . . the Japanese Winter Hearty Palm. Yes, you read that right ~ winter hearty!!  We ordered it off of QVC.  It can withstand snow, ice & temperatures of 15 below zero!  (SQUEAL!!)  I will finally have my very own palm tree in the backyard.  The directions were to plant it in a pot for the first year, then we can transplant it into the ground come next Spring.  I am so excited to watch it grow.  One of my favorite things about vacationing down south, is seeing that very first palm tree.  It never fails to bring a huge smile to my face!  Now I will just have to look out my kitchen window for a glimpse of that view.  It sure as heck is going to make doing the dishes a much more enjoyable experience, that is for sure!

We still have more ideas and plans to make this our little piece of tropical paradise, but for now I am loving spending as much time as possible out here.  There are many a nights that we can be found sitting on the deck relaxing after a long day, hanging out with friends or simply just enjoying the peace and tranquility that the atmosphere brings.  Now the only thing missing right now is a cocktail . . .

"Traveling" Through the 50 States Dinners ~ Michigan and Hawaii

Our next stop on this journey through the states, was Michigan.  In doing my research for this meal, it was clear right from the start that our signature dish was going to be a Meat Pie called a Pasty (pronounced pass-tee).  A pasty is a meat and vegetable filled pastry, not unlike a pot pie but without the gravy.  We learn the origin came from miners in the Northern Michigan peninsula.  It was designed to be portable and eaten by hand.  As you can imagine miners hands may not always be the cleanest or most sanitary due to the nature of their job.  The stiff crust around the edge acted like a handle for them to hold on to the pasty without contaminating the food.  This ridge allowed the miners to eat the pie without ingesting the arsenic from the dirt of their fingers.  

We LOVED this meal!!!  Not a single gripe, groan or turned up nose.  It was delicious!  The recipe for the Pasty was from comfortablydomestic.com.  Our side dish was Michigan Cheesy Potatoes (recipe from hotdinnerhappyhome.blogspot.com).  Honey could have eaten the entire pan himself!!

For dessert, we dined on Michigan Cherry Cobbler.  This was a super simple dessert to make and was the perfect compliment to the rest of the meal.  Not to mention, it was DELICIOUS!!!  I will definitely be making this again, that is for sure. The recipe is from justapinch.com.  It was absolutely perfect served warm over a bowl of vanilla ice cream.  

From one of the most Northern states to one of the most Southern states ... Hawaii!  I am a long time fan of chef Sandra Lee.  I love her Semi-Homemade cooking style as well as the gorgeous tablescapes that she creates!  She's one of my entertaining idols!!  We chose her Hula Burgers as our main dish for this state, simply because . . . well, it's a burger topped with pineapple!  Need I say more?!  I originally got the recipe from her magazine, Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee ~ but you can also find it on her website here. For one of our sides, I made Hawaiian Macaroni Salad (recipe from inspired2cook.com).  It was that perfect combination of tangy and sweet.  Being from the Midwest, we are no strangers to macaroni salad, but this had just enough of that tropical flavor to make us think of palm trees & not cornfields.  :)  I will be honest when I say that I had every intention of making homemade Maui Onion Rings, but no matter where I looked I could not find Maui onions. :( So I cheated a little & just used the frozen kind.  My family LOVES onion rings so there were no complaints there!  If you're wondering about the "fancy" cocktail . . . it's actually just Sprite with a couple drops of blue food coloring to make it look like the crystal clear ocean waters surrounding the beautiful islands of Hawaii.  I added a few Swedish Fish to the kid's glasses for effect.  They thought that was pretty fun!

For dessert, we had Luau Cupcakes (recipe from createdby-diane.com ).  Since I was pretty certain I was not going to be served a tropical drink in coconut shell complete with a festive pink umbrella while lounging beside our imaginary pool, I figured these were the next best thing.  :)  The pineapple juice in the cake batter sealed it for me, not to mention I adore anything with coconut!  Simply delicious!!!!

The only thing missing from this meal was the smell of the ocean and the sand under my feet.  (Sigh)  Aloha!

Budweiser Clydesdales

Before heading home from Sturgis Falls, we decided to make a quick stop at the Budweiser tent to get a closer look at the Clydesdales.  As I said before, they are truly magnificent animals & we couldn't resist this amazing opportunity to see them.

After our visit, I took to the Internet to learn a little more about these "Gentle Giants".  According to Anheuser-Busch.com, these American icons made their 1st appearance on April 7, 1933.  In order to qualify for one of the traveling hitch teams, a Clydesdale must be a gelding that is a least 4 years old. It must stand at least 72 inches at the shoulder when it's fully mature, weigh between 1,800-2,300 pounds, have a bay coat, four white legs, a white stripe (or blaze) down the middle of the horse's face, and a black mane & tail.  (WOW!)

While Miss B was completely ecstatic to see the horses, L was a little put off by the smell... which wasn't really THAT bad.  We got to greet "King", "Jack", "Levi", "Lucky", and of course "Clyde" the Dalmatian.

It was interesting and impressive to learn that the horses travel in style and are very well cared for!

Not just anyone can hold the title "Budweiser Clydesdale Hitch Driver".  You have to be able to handle the combined total weight of the wagons and horses which equal a resounding 12 tons! There are 40 pounds of lines held by the driver plus the tension of the horses pulling creates weighing over 75 pounds.  That's quite a work out!!  Never the less, Honey thought he would pass the test.  :)

Not only do the horses ride in style, but they dress quite well too.  Each harness is handcrafted with solid brass, patent leather and stitched with pure linen thread.  They are absolutely gorgeous!  

I visited the official stables in St. Louis in my youth, which is quite impressive in and of itself.  Since there are unfortunately no plans to visit there in the near future, it was great to get a glimpse of the Clydesdales in our neck of the woods.

Needless to say, this little adventure did nothing to squash Miss B's desire to own a horse.  She keeps trying to tell us that there is plenty of room to care for them in our backyard.  Hmm... not quite.  So sorry my dear.  :)

Home of the Red, White and Blue

I finally decided that it was time to get out my 4th of July decorations, being as the holiday weekend is just around the corner.  I changed out the usual "D" on our front door for my very favorite Star Spangled Mouse ears.  It puts a smile on my face just looking at it!

I also added a trio of metal stars to the flowers in the front as well.  I am really happy with how well this arrangement is blooming.  Pretty flowers always make me happy, especially ones with a touch of tropical flair.  :)

Inside, I added the flag attachment to my Cotton Colors plate in the kitchen.  I absolutely love this! The phrase alone speaks volumes, "Happy Everything!"

Set out my Pinterest creation from last year on the island...

Set the dining room table ...

Hung up the Stars and Stripes Canvas that I created last year ...

And added a few more little touches here and there ...

And finally, I "threw" together this bowl full of Stars and Striped baseballs that I created after last year's 4th of July celebration.  Truth be told, I was cleaning out the garage and seeing as we are more of a soccer family than a baseball family... I thought these would make better decorations than dust collectors as the bottom of the sports bin.  So I cleaned them up, added a little paint and Ta Da!

How do you decorate for the 4th of July?  :)