Creating.Simplifying.Inspiring.

Hey Everyone :). There's been a lot of new followers lately and I just want to say Thank You! It really does amaze me that people actually like to read my little blog when there are so many big fabulous ones out there.

I've been working a lot behind the scenes of my creative endeavor here, and want to let you know how excited I am to see my vision start to take form and come to 'life'. It has been six months since I began my blogging journey and I'm excited to see the progress and cannot wait to see what the next six months will bring.

Before I began blogging I sat down and really thought about what the content of my blog would be about. Would I stick to one theme? What would I post about? I am the kind of girl that always has thoughts and ideas running through my head, but I'm not always the best kind of girl to stick with a routine. In the beginning I thought I could do it, but I don't always work that way. I really began thinking, and I knew that I wanted to blog about the things I created and cooked, and also about some of our day to day life, and events that we go too.I came up with my "motto"

Creating.Simplifying.Inspiring.

 I think that pretty much sums up my blog. You will always see either something I have created, an attempt to simplify something in my life, and I always hope to inspire someone, in some way. You will begin seeing that I am tagging my posts with one of those themes, to help you refer to what category you'd like to catch up on.

In other news, I want to give a shout out too Amanda at The Little Giggler , who recently featured my 31 Fall Activities/Bucket List on her Love it, Link it up party!

Okay, so here's for the project of the day. It's simple really, man oh man I don't know why it took me so long to get too it. Our front closet was a disaster! It holds our games and coats. Ya, that's it....but in the before picture it sure looked like a lot more! The kids (yes I'm blaming this one on them) get into the games and never put them back properly, and well, things just get shoved in there. Organizing is something I always struggle maintaining...but I keep on trying. :)

Well, all I did was take everything out, throw away the torn up game boxes, put all the games back together in the proper boxes and organized them back on the shelves...nothing fancy...but look at how much room there is after doing just that!? Crazy huh?

That was only slightly embarrassing to show everyone, hope it inspires you!  :)

P.S. I would LOVE it if you would show me what you have been up to on my brand new Create.Simplify.Inspire. link up party!

~Melissa

Easy Fall Branch Decor

Welcome to a new week. :) I was lucky enough to have a weekend at home to catch up on some organizing that needed to be done. Still have a LONG ways to go, but I'm glad I got a little start.

I also have been working online, trying to learn more about all of this blog stuff and SEO and Adworks and Analytics, LOL it is all like a foreign language to me, but I am interested and eager to learn more. I'm so happy to say that as of right now I have over 280 combined followers....thanks for all of the love! If you have any great tips on how you have been growing your blog leave me a comment! :)

I've been absolutely loving looking at all of the cute Halloween decorations and inspiration around the web lately. I whipped together a little decoration of my own today, the best part was it didn't cost me anything. We happened to have a couple big plum tree branches that we had to cut when we extended our fence ( you can read the beginnings of that project here. ) and I created 'spooky' trees surrounding the bench we have on our front porch. Didn't turn out too bad....now all we need are some pumpkins!

Oh, and one final thought, I finally broke down and finished setting up my Twitter Account ....so if you prefer updates via Tweets, I'll be keepin ya updated that way too!

Check back soon, I have a cute Halloween kid craft in the works.....stay tuned. :)

~ Melissa

P.S. I would love it if you would show me what you have been up to at me Create.Simplify.Inspire. link up party!

Portland Home and Garden Show {Family Fun}

It was quite the event filled day today,...but when is it not? It began with me getting my eldest ready for picture day, and my husband forgetting his phone at home. Finally after about 10 phone calls from people at his work, I decided to track him down at the Vineyard and take it to him.

There was lots of picking going on around there.

Then what was going to be a fun little trip to Portland for a couple hours turned disastrous as we were stuck in stop and go traffic.

But, we made it to the Home and Garden Show and looked around for a couple hours. There was lots of vendors and them some Amazing showcases with an entertaining theme. I snapped photos of a few of my favs. 

After that it was rush rush back in horrendous traffic to get home in time for my eldest to get out of school and then rush to her soccer game. And they won. Again. :) 4/5 games now!

I'm looking forward to a low key weekend with the kids around the house, straightening up and perhaps tackling some organizing that in desperate need to happen.

And of course, decorating for Halloween. :)

A beautiful display of a night time picnic with sparkling butterflies over head. Wish I could have gotten a better photo of this one.

"Dinner at Tiffany's" display. I adore the colors and the movie scene in the back window!

One of my absolute favs... a wedding theme, with a gorgeous table display, sparkles everywhere, and the carousel horses. The lighting in person took my breath away.

Another one with amazing lighting. Who wouldn't want a glowing tablecloth like that?

Romantic outdoor dinner decor with an Italian vibe! So beautiful.



Roasted Red Pepper Lasagna

Well, harvest is here. My husband didn't home until 11pm tonight and tomorrow they begin harvesting the grapes. That means that he will have an unpredictable schedule for the rest of the month and I can't rely on him for pretty much anything. Its frustrating, but hey, what can you do. We must drink wine. Just remember as you are sipping your vino that wives across the world had to suffer in the making of that bottle! ;)

When your sipping on you delicious glass of wine, here's a dinner idea to go along with it....its called Roasted Red Pepper Lasagna and oh my gosh its yummy. It takes a little effort, but its well worth it. I absolutely love regular lasagna so when I saw this recipe in one of my many cookbooks, I had to give it a try.

       Red Pepper Lasagna

4 medium red sweet peppers

1T olive oil

1 28- ounce can crushed tomatoes, un-drained

1/2 cup snipped fresh basil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 t salt

3/4 t ground black pepper

8 ounces sweet or hot bulk Italian sausage, browned and drained (optional)

1/3 c butter or margarine

1/3 c all-purpose flour

1/2 t ground nutmeg

8 c milk

12 no-boil dried lasagna noodles

1 1/4 c finely shredded Parmesan cheese (5 ounces)

1. Preheat oven to 425. For red pepper sauce, cut fresh peppers in half; remove stems, seeds, and membranes. Place peppers, cut sides down, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until skins are bubbly and browned. Wrap peppers in foil; let stand for 20-30 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Peel skins from peppers. Cut peppers into thin strips. (Or, if using bottled roasted red peppers, drain and cut into thin strips.)

2. In a large saucepan, cook sweet peppers on medium heat for 1 minutes. Stir in undrained tomatoes, the basil, garlic, 1/2 t of the salt, and the black pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring often. Set aside to cool. If desired, stir in cooked sausage.

3. For be'chamel sauce, in a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in the remaining 1/2 t salt, the flour, and nutmeg until smooth. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Set aside to cool.

4. Preheat oven to 350 F. To assemble, grease the bottom of a 3-quart rectangular baking dish. Cover bottom of dish with three of the uncooked lasagna noodles. Spread about 1 cup of the red pepper sauce over the pasta. Top with 3/4 cup of the be'chamel sauce, spreading evenly; sprinkle with 1/4 c of the Parmesan cheese. Repeat layering pasta, red pepper sauce, be'chamel sauce, and Parmesan three more times. Be sure the top layer of noodles is completely covered with sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 c Parmesan cheese.

5. Bake, uncovered, for 35-40 minutes or until bubbly and light brown on top. Let stand for 20 minutes before serving.

~ Melissa

Why Hello October....

It's here! October! It is on my to-do list to keep up on my to-do list for October and not fall behind on everything! (...including my posting!)

Yesterday was a busy one! I didn't get home until 12:30am Sunday night from work, then was up at the crack of dawn to get kids ready, and babysat my friends 21 month old for a few hours, while helping another friend get ready for a job interview. Then in the afternoon, one of my oldest friends (and by that I mean I've known her since she was 3!) stopped by for a visit. We used to live 4 hours away from each other, but a couple months ago she moved 2 hours closer, and she had a doctors appointment in Portland, so she decided to stop by with two of her adorable children! In fact, I was able to finally meet her youngest, who is just two months old.

All in all it was a fun day.

Today was more low key. By that I mean no friends, just the routine....get one child off to school, get the other ready for pre-school. Drop her off, run errands with my youngest, pick her back up from preschool, make lunch, quiet time, then today is Tuesday so my eldest goes to the after school program which happens to be at the same church as preschool, so we go back there and pick her up, then back home, make dinner, homework, and get ready for bed! I do a slight amount of housework in between ;) AND unfortunately for me, I'm on the night shift tonight, so no rest for the wicked I guess! I'm off to get ready for my second day, with no sleep in between, and wish me luck as I will be getting no rest until tomorrow night either. I hope the caffeine doesn't fail me now!

Ah the life of a mom, right?

Oh yes, and if you get a chance, check out the recipe I posted today on Serenity You ....Espresso Stout-braised Pork Shoulder.... it's delicious!

Emma and her new BFF Ella

girls night out!

my old school calendar is filling up! Gotta love October!

~ Melissa