Saw It, Pinned It, Did It: Easter Printable

Do you need some fast and easy Easter decor before Easter is here on Sunday?  Printables are such a fun and easy way to add some holiday decor your home.  I love printables and I put new ones up all the time in my house for different holidays and seasons.  Easter is no exception!  I saw this cute printable on Pinterest and knew I wanted it in my living room:

Source: curdsnwheycrafts.blogspot.com viaEricka on Pinterest

So I just went to the site of the pin, downloaded it, and printed it on cardstock in a 5x7 size (to fit my frame).  I love the bright colors for Spring!

I also added some fun glitter eggs in Kevin's fantasy football trophy (he insists it has to be displayed in the living room...).  The glitter eggs are from Dollar Tree.  They match my Easter Egg Tree I have on my TV stand.

That completes my Easter decorations at my house.  I hope to add more next year, but I'm loving what I've done this year (Easter Egg Wreath and Easter Egg Tree).  I hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!  We will be visiting our families all weekend for Easter :)

I'm linking up with Katie and Stephanie for Saw It, Pinned It, Did It.

Wedding Stress

Today I was going to write about the bridal shower that my family had for me on Sunday, but I don't have all of the pics that I wanted to share, so that will have to wait until next week. I will say that it was an amazing shower, and my Aunt Liz, sister, and my Aunt Laurie did a great job!! Here is a little sneak peak:

    

Instead, I'm going to talk about wedding stress. My wedding stress. Throughout the whole wedding planning process, people keep asking me if I'm getting stressed. I'm basically planning the entire wedding myself. Now, don't get me wrong, I do have help from Kevin, my mom, his mom, etc., but I am doing most of the planning myself, and up until this, point, it really hasn't been stressful. Knock on wood, we haven't had any major issues, well besides the Pastor resigning and saying he's no longer going to be doing our ceremony...oh yeah, that happened. Luckily we found someone else rather quickly, and we are still getting married in the same church, so no big deal.

                                         Source: someecards.com viaEricka on Pinterest

The wedding is three months from Friday, and I'm just starting to feel the stress. All of the big stuff is done. Deposits are paid on all of our vendors. But now it's all of the little details that need to come together. I need to figure out exactly what we want to do for decorations, make sure we have our balances paid on time to our vendors, send out the invitations SOON, etc. I know I have a lot of people who will be there to help if I ask, and I think their time might be coming :)

Yes, I might be feeling a little stress, but I also know that if everything doesn't go perfectly, I'm ok with that.  It will make for a good story.  As long as everyone has fun, and I get to marry the love of my life, then I will be happy.

          Source: nsmbl.nl viaEricka on Pinterest

I'm linking up with Meredith and Elizabeth for Wedding Wednesday.

March Glam Bag

I received my March Glam Bag last week and wanted to share it with you.  I liked last month's products better, but love the cute bag this month!

Isn't the bag adorable?!?

The products I received were:

Juice Beauty Hydrating Mist - I've never used a hydrating mist before, and quite frankly  I'm not exactly sure how/when to use it!  The product description says "hydrates and refreshes your face and hair while on the go, anytime of the day."  I did spray it on my face the other day and it was kind of refreshing, but not exactly sure what the benefit is?  Maybe it would be something good to keep in my beach bag (if summer ever gets here) to spray on when I'm at the beach.

Glam RX Mini Freestyle Palette - I was a little disappointed when I first saw this because I thought I'd never use it, but now I'm starting to like it.  It has a magnetic base, so it stays closed, and has space to store something inside.  It also has a mirror on the inside.  It would be perfect to put little blushes, eye shadows, gum, etc. in and keep in your purse.

Yaby Eye Shadow Refill - I received the seashell and rose colors and I like them both.

La Fresh Travel Lite Makeup Remover Wipes - I was really excited about these, because I use makeup remover wipes every night to remove my makeup.  I thought this little pack would be perfect for traveling, so I don't have to bring my big pack of wipes.  I haven't tried them yet, so I'm not sure how they will be on my skin, but I have a friend who tried them and said they dried her face out...and the reviews seems to agree with that, so I'm a little nervous about trying them.

Overall, I liked the products, I just felt like they were products that I won't use as much as some of the others I have received in the past.

So with that, Happy Friday!  I hope you have a great weekend.  I'm looking forward to Kevin getting home Saturday night and my bridal shower on Sunday!

-Ericka

Saw It, Pinned It, Did It: Easter Egg Tree

Last week I showed you my Easter Egg Wreath and this week I have another fun Easter craft to show you!

Original Pin:

Source: sweetfloweret.com via Ericka on Pinterest

If you like bright colors and glitter, you'll love this!

Supplies:
Foam Cone
Easter Grass
Small Glitter Easter Eggs
Hot Glue Gun

I found the grass and glitter eggs from Dollar Tree.  The glitter eggs are actually ornaments.  I originally purchased four bags, but had to go back and get two more.  I ended up using just over five bags of the glitter eggs.

Step One
Cut off all of the ribbon hangers on the glitter eggs.

Step 2

Start gluing eggs on to foam cone.  Start from the bottom and work your way to the top.  I put my eggs really close together.  If I did it again, I would space them out a little more (then I probably wouldn't need 5 bags of eggs).

Step 3

Once all of the eggs are glued on the cone and the glue is dry, you can start stuffing the grass into the gaps.  You do NOT have to glue the grass.  I just used a pencil to help stuff the grass in to the gaps.  It will stay there without any glue.

Once you have grass in all of the gaps, you're done!

I think it turned out pretty cute.  I have it sitting on my TV stand in my living room and I love the bright Easter colors it brings in.


I'm linking up with Katie and Steph for Saw It, Pinned It, Did It.

Wedding Shoes

Even before I was engaged, I knew that I wanted my bridesmaids to wear purple dresses and I wanted to wear purple shoes.  And I found some great purple shoes from Kohls.  They didn't have the purple ones in the store, but they had them online.  They were on sale and I had an extra 15% coupon!  What's better than finding cute shoes on sale??

Here they are:

What do you think?  Do you like the idea of wearing colored shoes on your wedding day?  Or do you prefer wearing white/ivory shoes?

I do plan on ditching them after the wedding and pictures though.  I think my feet will thank me if I spend the night dancing in flip flops instead of heels!

I'm linking up with Elizabeth and Meredith for Wedding Wednesday.

**Update:  Here are what the shoes looked like on my wedding day:

Weekend Recap

I normally recap my weekend with a recap and some pics.  Well, this weekend was fairly uneventful and I took exactly one picture all weekend:

I told you our weekend was uneventful.

Kevin and I went and saw Lewis Black at LaughFest on Thursday night.  It was a fun show and we had a good time.

Two of my cousins were in town this week from Louisiana and they stopped over on Friday night.  We had pizza and just hung out.  It was good to see them and catch up.  Can't wait for all of my out-of-town family to be here in June for the wedding!

On Saturday my mom and I went shopping to try to find her a dress for the wedding.  She found three that she liked, but didn't buy any of them.  That just means we get to go shopping again :)  Then we went and got my "undergarments" for under my wedding dress.  Tip: Do not got a bridal shop on a Saturday afternoon during prom season.  Total chaos.  After we got back, Kevin and I went to the mall real quick and he picked up the rest of his gifts for his guys, and then we came home and just hung out the rest of the night.

Sunday morning I took Kevin to the airport.  He is in California this week for training for work--Admiral and I miss him already!  After I left the airport, I went and got some groceries and then Admiral and I went to the dog park for a while.  The weather was so beautiful on Sunday, so we ended up going for a walk after the dog park.  I just couldn't sit inside all day and not enjoy the sun!

So no St. Patrick's Day shenanigans for me!  Actually, come to think of it, I don't think I have ever had green beer!  I think I need to change that next year!  We've just been so busy every weekend, that I enjoyed having some quiet time at home this weekend to relax clean.

Did you have a more eventful weekend than me?  Any fun St. Patrick's Day stories?

Saw It, Pinned It, Did It: Easter Egg Wreath

I'm so excited to share this super cute Easter Egg Wreath with you all!  I love the fact that I have a front door where I can hang cute wreaths for everyone to see.  When I saw this Easter Egg Wreath, I knew I had to make it for my front door.

Original Pin:

Source: google.com via Ericka on Pinterest

 I headed off to the dollar store and Michaels to get my supplies.  I already had the hot glue gun and glue sticks, so I just needed the plastic eggs, some ribbon, and a foam wreath.

Supplies

Hot Glue Gun (& hot glue sticks)

Foam Wreath

Plastic Easter Eggs

Ribbon

A lot of you probably have many of these items on hand, so this wreath should be pretty inexpensive to make.  I went to Michaels to get the foam wreath, and with my 40% off coupon, the wreath was about $5.  The plastic eggs came 12 in a pack for $1 each, and I used 4.5 packs of eggs on my wreath, so $4.50.  I picked up some yellow ribbon from the dollar store, but didn't end up using it.  I used the ribbon I found at Michaels, which was more expensive, but nicer.  It was about $3, but I didn't use all of it.  So in total, my wreath ended up costing me around $12.

Step 1

Glue plastic eggs to inside part of the wreath.  You don't have to glue them on the back of the wreath, because no one sees the back when it's hanging on the door.

Step 2

Continue gluing eggs around the wreath until you have four rows completed.

Step 3

After the glue has dried, tie ribbon in a bow around the bottom of the wreath.  You can glue it in place if you need to, but mine stayed on it's own.

Step 4

Hang your wreath!  Mine wouldn't hang nicely on my wreath hanger, so I took a piece of hanging wire, made a loop, and stuck it in the foam wreath so I could hang it.

I told you this was easy!  And don't worry if you see white space when you look at your wreath (I was worried about this when I was done), because you can't see all of the white space when you aren't looking at it up close.

What do you think?  I love it!  Probably my favorite SPD project I've ever done!  Now if only Spring would get here and all of this snow would go away....

I'm linking up with Katie and Steph for Saw It, Pinned It, Did It.

Our Engagement Story

In honor of the Wedding Wednesday link up that Meredith and Elizabeth are hosting, I decided I would share our engagement story.

It was March 12, 2012 (one year ago yesterday-I can't believe it's been a year already!).  A few days before, we had put an offer in on a house that we really liked.  (We had started house hunting in January 2012, and we were living in our apartment at the time.)  I got the call on March 12 that we didn't get the house.  I was at work and I was super bummed.  Kevin was working from home at the time, and after I told him the news about the house, he came to my work and brought me some candy (Cadbury creme eggs to be exact-my favorite).  I thought he was just bringing me the candy to try and cheer me up about the house.  I told him he didn't need to do that but he said, "it's because I kind of like you."  That response was typical of him and it made me smile.

Before I left work for the day, Kevin texted me and asked if I would grab the mail on the way in to the apartment.  I said sure, but in my head thought, "why can't he just get it...we live in an apartment and the mailbox is in the hallway!"  But on my way in, I opened the mailbox and there was a single red rose and a note that said, "this is because I really like you."  Again, I just thought he was trying to make me feel better about not getting the house.  I thought it was sweet, but didn't think too much in to it.

When I came in the apartment, there was a bouquet of roses sitting in a vase on the table.  I thought, "wow, he's really trying to cheer up about this house."  I told him that was really sweet, but he didn't have to do all of that.  And he said "that's because I love you."  After he said that, he came over to where I was, got down on one knee, took the ring out of his pocket, and said, "and this is because I love you more than anything in the world."  And he asked me to marry him!!!!

I had no idea that the entire day was leading up to him proposing.  I was so surprised and happy and excited all at the same time!!

The ring is perfect.  It's exactly what I wanted!

After he proposed, we went out to dinner at Bonefish Grill, had an amazing meal, and enjoyed calling all of our family and friends to tell them the news.  My bad day turned in to the best day of my life.  I'm so excited to marry my best friend in 3.5 months!

Weekend Recap

I'm starting my weekend recap with Thursday night, because when I got home from work, these babies were in my mailbox:

Can't wait for August 6!!!!

Friday night was our usual pizza night at home, nothing eventful.  Saturday morning we got up and ran some errands and then went to marriage counseling.  Saturday night I watched SNL since Justin Timberlake was on it.  I thought he did a pretty good job...as he should have, since it was his 5th time hosting!

Source

Admiral wasn't too impressed because this is what he did for the entire show:

Sunday my dad and I went to the casino.  My dad and I love going to the casino together, we always have a lot of fun and Sunday night was no different.  However, it would have been a lot more fun if we would have left winners, but maybe next time!

I also did some fun Easter crafts this weekend that I'll be sharing later this week, so make sure you check back for those.  Happy Monday!

- Ericka

   

Liebster Award

Thank you to Meredith for nominating me for a Liebster Award!  It's not technically an award, just something fun to do to get know some other bloggers.  

RULES

1. Link back to the person who nominated you.

2. Write 11 facts about yourself once nominated.

 3. Answer the 11 questions from the person who nominated you.

4. Nominate 11 blogs with 200 or less followers.

5. Create 11 Questions for those bloggers to answer.

11 Facts About Me
1.  I have a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Baker College.
2.  I love football and baseball.  I'm a huge fan of my home state teams; the Detroit Lions and the Detroit Tigers.
3.  My fiance and I bought a house in August and we LOVE being home owners.
4.  I'm getting married on June 29, 2013.
5.  We are going to Atlantic City for our honeymoon.
6.  I have the most adorable (I might be a little biased) dog named The Admiral (just Admiral or Ad for short).
7.  I love the beach.  I could spend every day sitting on the beach reading.
8.  I played basketball, softball, and I was a cheerleader all four years of high school.
9.  I usually only shop sale or clearance racks.  I hate paying full price for anything.
10.  When cooking or baking, I have to follow a recipe exactly, or it usually doesn't turn out.
11.  I have one sister that is two years younger than me and she currently lives in Tennessee.

11 Questions from Meredith

1. Favorite Holiday?

Christmas.  I love being with family, and of course all of the yummy food and Christmas cookies!

2. Least favorite chore?

Doing the dishes.  I don't know what I would do without my dishwasher.

3. Favorite book or series?

I love James Patterson books.  I loved his Women's Murder Club series.  I own them all!

4. Online shopping or head to the store?

Depends.  I like the convenience of online shopping, but I usually like to see something in person before I buy it, so I usually head to the store.

5. Dream car?

A black GMC Acadia.  If you would have asked me this what I was about 8, I would have said a purple sparkly convertible with a lightning bolt on the side.  Boy how we change our minds as we get older...

6.What's in a name, reason behind your blog name.

I started this blog while I was engaged and house hunting.  Things were just so crazy in my life at that point, so I decided on "This Crazy Thing Called Life."  I'm still engaged, but we finally bought our house, so at least one part of my life has settled down a little :)

7. What's your go-to snack?

I usually bring a string cheese and some mixed nuts to work, so I snack on those during the day at work.  At home, I don't really snack that much.

8. If you could pick one celebrity to be your BFF, who would it be?

I'm a huge Justin Timberlake lover fan, and since he's married, and I'm getting married, maybe we could just be BFF's since our romantic relationship hasn't happend yet.

9. Most loved piece of clothing/shoes/accessories.

I don't know if I could pick one item.  I love coats/jackets.  And bathing suits.  It's hard to pick just one thing...I'm a girl for crying out loud!

10. Favorite / Most visited store?

I love Kohls.  It's the only store that I have a credit card for.  I also love Target. And Marshalls/TJ Maxx.

11.What are you looking forward to this year?

Getting married!  June 29 will be here before I know it.  And the honeymoon...can't wait for Atlantic City!

My 11 Nominations:

Lindsey @ The Things They Don't

Danielle @ Goodwillista

Amanda @ everyday b&b

Cayli @ Night Chayde

Britt @ True Britt

Ashley @ Cup Of Ash Tea

Erin @ Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
Jennie @ The Diary of a Real Housewife
Nicole @ Adventures of a Semper Fi Family
Katie @ Dreaming in Lace and Pearls
Jessica @ My Bag of Sunshine


11 Questions:
1.  Why did you start your blog?
2.  What is your dream job?
3.  Do you have any pets?
4.  What is your go-to outfit or accessory?
5.  Who is your favorite band/musician?
6.  What is your favorite place to go on vacation?
7.  What is your favorite movie?
8.  If you could go on a $1,000 shopping spree, where would you go and what would you buy?
9.  Do have any weird or hidden talents?
10.  What is your "signature" dish/meal that you cook?
11.  What was your favorite subject in school?

Weekend Recap: Chicago

In case you missed it, Friday was Admiral's 2nd Birthday!  Kevin and I got him a new football for his birthday.  We dropped him off at my parents on Friday night because Kevin and I were headed for Chicago on Saturday morning.

We went to Chicago to help move Kevin's cousin in to his new apartment.  After a hard day's work (by the boys, not me), we of course headed to Giordano's for the best pizza ever.

We left Chicago Sunday morning, picked up Admiral, and then headed home.  I ended up making some super yummy, super easy, super healthy cookies on Sunday night.

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas

1 cup quick oats

1/4 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Steps:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Grease non-stick baking sheet

3.  Mash ripe bananas

4.  Mix in oats, then chopped pecans

5.  Spoon tablespoon size amounts on to baking sheet

6.  Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees and enjoy!

I told you they were easy!  You could even add some chocolate chips if you wanted.  They are great for a quick breakfast or a yummy snack.

I hope you all had a great weekend.  I'm linking up with Sami to share my weekend recap, and you should too :)

Happy Birthday Admiral!

Admiral is two years old today!  I can’t believe my baby is two already!

I can't believe how fast two years went by.  It seems like just yesterday he was a tiny little puppy.

Kevin and I got Admiral a new football for his birthday because he tore his old one up.  I can't wait to give it to him tonight!

Admiral gets to go to celebrate his birthday weekend with my parents, because Kevin and I are headed to Chicago for the weekend to help his cousin move.

Happy Birthday Admiral!  We love you so much!!