1)  Jess who blogs at Plucky's Second Thought had been looking for a co-host for her Monday Link-Up party (party can be found here if you are not familiar with it) for a while.  Well I am so happy and excited to announce that I will be joining her as her new co-host!  I hope that you will stop by on Monday and link-up and share your favorite recipes and crafts with us.  Also if you have a minute please stop by and visit Jess's lovely blog where she shares about tips, recipes, book reviews and more.

2)  Twice a month on Monday's I usually do a Makeup Monday post sharing anything to do with beauty.  I have decided to give that a rest and in the future just do a beauty post if I find something interesting and fun to share.

3)  I have noticed lately that some of my comments left on my blog are not going directly to my email but straight onto my blog.  I am sorry if I do not respond to your comments right away but do know that I appreciate and thank you all for your lovely comments.  I will be checking regularly the comments section.  This must be some glitch with Blogger!

4)  I want to say a big welcome to some new followers and I hope you enjoy your time here!

5)  This week I have been featured on some blogs for sharing some of my recipes and crochet projects.  Thanks blog friends for featuring me I am so honored!

Here are the blogs:

Eye Love Knots - For featuring my Crochet Hand Warmers
The Enchanting Rose - For featuring my Summer Egg Salad Recipe
Katherine Corner - For featuring my Summer Ranch Dressing Salad
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson - For featuring my Summer Ranch Dressing Salad
Domesblissity - For featuring my Summer Ranch Dressing Salad

If you enjoy visiting different blogs and like joining link-up parties then please visit these wonderful blogs.

6)  I have been very busy spending my days lately trying to get my house ready for summer with organizing, cleaning, and trying to get rid of or donate things we do not need anymore.  Please forgive me if I have not visited you lately.  When things start to settle down I will be able to visit you.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will all visit on Monday for the new link-up party.  I hope you all have a wonderful end of the week and weekend.

Now that the weather is getting warmer and summer is approaching I love having a light salad on the side to any meal or BBQ.

Here is an easy salad recipe that my family and I enjoy and I'd love to share with you.

Hi friends, I just wanted to share with you what has been going on with me since I have been so busy lately.  Here is an update from the last two weeks.

We visited friends a few weeks ago at their lovely home for a Kentucky Derby party!  If you would like to read more about it you can click here.  We had our dinner outside in their backyard and this was our lovely view.  Our friends have a pretty brook running through their backyard.


Our friends had catered southern food for all of the guests and that consisted of chicken cutlets, brisket, ribs, baked beans, and corn bread.  The desserts were cookies and a pound cake that I made which were all lovely.
 
We celebrated dinner out last weekend at the restaurant Mira Sushi and Izakaya for our daughters birthday.  This is one of the appetizers we all shared.  The restaurant serves sushi and all kinds of cooked food which we enjoyed.  It was our first time eating at this restaurant I would recommend it if you are in that neighborhood.


I stopped to take a photo of these pretty buildings in the Meatpacking District of New York City.  This is the area that my daughter and her friends celebrated having birthday lunch at the restaurant Serafina the next day.


This is the delicious pasta dish that my husband had for lunch.  My husband and I were sitting at another table eating lunch while the girls had their own celebration lunch.


I had my wood floors redone in the living room and dining room about a week ago and that was a big job.  I had to remove everything to a different floor so that the dust would not get all over everything.  I am so happy how the floor turned out and they are so shiny and look like new.  It's like I had a spring cleaning done.  I am still trying to put everything back together the way that I like it.  Today I will be washing my lace curtains to hang back up again.


I was finally able to get a photo of Bosco laying outside in the sunshine in my yard.  Bosco does not enjoy having his photo taken.  I can't help myself and here it looks like he is saying not another photo again Mom!


I had a wonderful Mother's Day with my husband and daughter and these are a few of the gifts they gave me.


We also went to church, shopping for flowers and vegetables for me to plant, and we had a little family BBQ.  I had such a nice day and I'm so thankful for my family!

Hi friends, I am so excited to be Co-Hosting at the Mommy Reality #36 and I hope you will all join in the fun!  

Welcome to Mommy Reality Challenge 36!!!

If this is your first time hearing about the Mommy Reality Challenge we are so glad you are joining this great community of moms who participate in our bi-weekly challenges that showcase all the fun, crazy, and sometimes overwhelming moments that are in every mom’s life!

The Rules are Simple!

1. We will announce the theme.
2. You will write a post or take a pic, post it to the social media account of your choice with the hashtag #mommyreality and then link it up to this blog post!
3. Then in two weeks, we will announce our favorites and award a meme to the winner. The winner can then co-host the next challenge with us!

Just a little background on how our challenges are selected- Jen and Celeste take turns writing the post and creating the winning meme from the last challenge.

But we could only choose one winner!

Now It’s time for a NEW Mommy Reality Challenge and Co-host!

 

Welcome to our Co-Host!

Now it’s time for a NEW Challenge!

Now It’s your turn to share!

You have 2 weeks to complete this challenge!

But DON'T Take 2 weeks, because we are on pins and needles here!

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<a href="http://www.leapfrogandlipgloss.com/" title="Leapfrog and Lipgloss"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/hardpack/Mommy%20Reality%20Ombre%20Button_zpsohhvgbt6.png" alt="Leapfrog and Lipgloss" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
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✔ *By submitting your pic, you are giving the Mommy Reality Team permission to use your photo to create a special silly meme for you if you win! :). If you win and you’re a blogger, you also have the opportunity to be our co-host!

 ✔ **The Mommy Reality team and our special co-host are VERY diligent in pinning, posting, and sharing the link-up participation every week, so make sure to follow us on our social media channels so you won’t miss out!

  We encourage you to visit a couple other Mommy Reality participants in the link-up and leave meaningful comments! The best part of this link-up is that we’re a community of real moms with a sense of humor about ourselves!

Hello friends!  I am so excited because I will be Co-Hosting a blog party that Jen from JENerally Informed and Celeste from Leapfrog and Lipgloss host.  They have invited me to be a Co-Host for this next challenge that will last for the next two weeks.  There are different themes that they each pick and you then decide what you want to do for the challenge.  It's a fun party and you can share on different social media and you can link it up on the blog.  I will have it on my blog starting this Friday.

Here is a sample of two of the challenges that I shared on Instagram and then I linked it up to their blog party.

Hello friends!  I have started a new crocheted scarf to donate for our annual Fall/Christmas sale.  I found a really nice pattern that I like on Pinterest.  To see the pattern you can click HERE.

Welcome to Makeup Monday on Julie's Lifestyle.  I will post about a certain type of makeup, nail polish, face or hair product etc.  It will be a fun place to come visit about anything to do with beauty.  



Week 37 - Wet n Wild Wildshine Nail Polish

My hands and manicure!

Hello friends, I hope you all had a nice weekend.  Welcome to week 37 of Makeup Monday.  Today I would love to share with you this nail polish I bought recently by Wet n Wild.  I was shopping and wanted a new polish and picked this up because it was on sale and it cost $1.99!  The color is called 455B Tickled Pink.  Well I have to tell you that I love this polish and it lasted for one week on my nails without chipping.  I did my own manicure and the polish went on smoothly too.  I would definitely recommend this nail polish and I hope you like it too.  I sometimes enjoy doing my own nails instead of going to the nail salon.  I find it very relaxing and I save money too.   

Nail Polish by Wet n Wild

Hello friends!  Many of you know that the crochet/knit group that I belong to at my church we crochet and knit all year long for our annual Fall and Christmas Fair we have each year.  I have belonged to this group for about 12 years and the sister that runs the group has organized us to knit and crochet squares for a charity called KasCare's Knitting For Charity Project, knit-a-square.   

Hi friends!  We have been making smoothies in my house a lot lately and I'd love to share with you this easy recipe to make one.