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June 28, 2013

five on friday {june top five}










Happy Friday!  I hope you're enjoying your summer!  Just realized that this weekend wraps up the month of June.  How crazy is that!  So here is a quick recap of the top five from June around our house:
 
1.  I changed up our front entry table and created this summer vignette.  I love walking by and having a daily reminder of a place our family loves to be -- the beach!
 
2.  I made this cheerful cake for my kids' last day of school.  They were so excited and I loved seeing the smile on their faces.  The fun, colorful gumballs are from Target and the little banner I made from food picks that I found forever ago at Target on clearance.  It was a great way to kick off summer!
 
3.  I decorated our mantel with some red, white and blue.  I didn't buy a thing for this project.  Just put it together using stuff I already had.
 
4.  We made one of our favorite summertime meals on the grill.
 
5.  Our office makeover project continues.  I received my swatches for the piano bench project in our study & loving the charcoal gray one.

And that pretty much wraps of June for us!  We are headed out to the beach this weekend and I am so ready to kick back and soak up the sand and sun!  I have some scheduled posts for next week while I'm out and then the winner of the skin product giveaway will be announced on Wednesday!  Hope your weekend is filled with happiness!

 

June 26, 2013

grilled shrimp & veggie kabobs

 


Grilled Shrimp & Vegetable Kabobs

Ingredients

  • jumbo shrimp peeled and deveined
  • bacon
  • soy sauce
  • parsley
  • salt and pepper
  • fresh vegetables
  • natures seasoning

Method

  • After you peel and devein shrimp, season them with salt and pepper, then marinade shrimp with soy sauce and parsley
  • To skewer, start with bacon, then add a piece of shrimp, then fold bacon over shrimp and repeat until skewer is full
  • Wash and cut (if needed) your choice of fresh vegetables
  • Skewer
  • Season with natures seasoning
  • Cook both shrimp and vegetable skewers on gas grill or charcoal pit until done

 
We love to grill!  Something so enjoyable about sitting outside to cook and everything tastes so good right off the grill.  Shrimp and vegetable kabobs are one of our favorite summertime meals.  I usually serve them over a bed of rice and that's it!  Yummy, easy meal!  We made these this past weekend and I thought I would share.  Hope you enjoy!
 
*check out my "FOOD" category for more great recipes!
 

June 25, 2013

Dermagist {refreshed, youthful, beautiful skin}

 
Enjoying life in my late 30's, skin care has become an important daily regimen for me.  I know that growing older is a privilege denied to many, so I embrace it every single day.  But that does mean I won't take care of myself and try to look my best for my age.  So when Dermagist contacted me to try their products, I quickly jumped at the chance to try their Complete Rejuvenation System.  
 
The Complete Rejuvenation System is a combo kit that targets all the signs of aging.  My skin feels so soft and smooth.  Dark spots are fading and my skin looks bright and refreshed. 
 

 I hope to live a long, full life and I know that you can't turn back the clock.  I remind myself that the lines on my face are proof of a life spent laughing and smiling :)  But if there are products that help improve these signs of aging I'm on board!  These anti-aging products from Dermagist now have a permanent spot by my sink, so that I can quickly apply them morning and night.  They will be part of my daily routine to help me have refreshed, youthful, beautiful skin.

Now on to the good stuff...Dermagist is offering a giveaway to one lucky reader choosing the product of your choice! 

How to enter:

Please leave a comment for each entry completed (include your email address if it is not connected to your profile or if you do not have a blog and want to leave an anonymous comment).
  
1)  Mandatory - Like Dermagist on facebook and follow them on pinterest .
2)  Additional Entry - Become a follower of This Is Happiness via Google Friend Connect.
 
Open to Residents in the US and Canada
Disclaimer:  if you already won a Dermagist giveaway, you are ineligible for this one

 
Giveway will close on Tuesday July 2, 2013 and the winner will be announced on Wednesday July 3, 2013. 
Thanks and good luck!

This giveaway is now closed and the winner is Jess V!  Congratulations Jess!
 

June 24, 2013

office project update {piano bench swatches}


Good Morning!  How was your weekend?  Ours involved house and car cleaning, a visit from my parents, a party for our friends that are moving and getting these pretty little swatches in the mail.  I love them all so much, but I'm thinking that the first one - charcoal city maze is going to work best for this project.  It looks so pretty against the light gray piano.  You can see in the picture above a little sneak peak of the piano now in a very light gray color.  It looks so much better!  More too come on that process. 



And because the piano has taken up residence in our study, here is a reminder of how the rest of the room looks.  It sits directly across from this desk and I think the charcoal gray will look great with the rest of the space and tolerate my kids climbing on and off of it!  Once I get the seat finished, I'll share the piano transformation.  If you're interested, you can go here to see how we painted the office furniture.  We are getting there, but at snail's pace :)

Have a great day!

 

June 21, 2013

quick & easy july 4th mantel


 
I just realized yesterday that the fourth of July is soon approaching!  We have plans to be at the beach just prior to the fourth, so I thought I better get working on adding some red, white and blue to our house.
 
 
 
Being my favorite place to decorate for holidays, I added these small patriotic touches to the mantel yesterday!  I have star stencils, so I grabbed some blue cardstock from my paper stash and put together this star banner.  To add red and white, I wrapped my candles in scrapbook paper.  I finished it off with borrowing these red and blue picture frames from our playroom.  I feel like it's a good start and I may add to it if I come across any other cute patriotic décor.
 
 
There's something about July that I just love! 
 
It's sizzling hot days and sweet summer sunsets. 
 
My heart melts for it's patriotic grandeur.

Stars and stripes.

Parades and picnics.

Buzzing cicadas and backyard barbeques.

Fireflies and fireworks.
 
So adding this beautiful patriotic palette of red, white & blue my mantel really makes me happy and reminds me of many great summertime memories!
 
Happy Weekend!
 
 
 

June 17, 2013

new project {painted paino}

Happy Monday Morning!  How was your weekend? 
 
It is full blown summer mode over here.  Staying up late, no schedule, sleeping in late and we are loving it!  One more swim meet today and then we are really going to be lazy!
 
More on our weekend...Preston started piano lessons in March and we were lucky enough to find a piano on craigslist for FREE!  It's old, needs some love and attention, but it's the size and style we were looking for and a great price :)  When I first looked at our piano, this picture below popped in my head.  This is a gorgeous piano that Kate refinished and I knew we could make ours work with our other home décor.  It had a dark finish, and since it's not a heirloom, I felt fine painting it.  We finally decided to tackle giving it a facelift this weekend in the 90 degree heat (which was an awesome way to get our paint to dry quickly) and we are almost done! 

 
 Ours is almost identical to this piano above as far as size and style goes.  So now that the painting is done, I need some fabric to make a bench cushion.  I've had a crush on all of Caitlin Wilson's fabrics for awhile now, so I hop over to her site.

 


 
I love these two collections, so I ordered the two fabric swatches above as options for the bench seat cushion.  What do you think?

 
Not for my piano, but I also love this navy and orange collection as well.  Maybe in my bedroom??
 
Be back soon to share how it turned out.
 
Have a wonderful day!
 

June 14, 2013

daddy time

 























 
From teaching our little ones to ride their bikes, to fish and to swim.  From playing candy land, carrying kids around at the zoo, trick or treating and everything in between, Grant is so instrumental our kids' lives.  So I wanted to wish him and my dad and all the dads out there a happy Father's Day!
 
 

June 12, 2013

summer vignette

 

 
 
 
I have been on the lookout for a long thin piece of driftwood for our front entry table and on our last trip to the beach I found this piece above.  This front entry table is really long and this piece stretches nicely across a large portion of the table.  I kept things simple, with a couple of palm leaves and baskets.  I love that it didn't cost anything and that I have a daily reminder of a place our family loves to be...on the beach.