January 23, 2015

Friday Favorites

It's the weekend! This week was filled with joy as we got the keys to our home for the next 3 years, frustration as Logan is a Threenager and is driving me crazy, hilarity as Logan is, again, a Threenager and I learned what that term was and it cracked me up because it is so true (and this life is at times pretty hilarious), and the mundane boringness that comes with having temp furniture and not really being able to start decorating until our HHG (Household Goods) arrive NEXT MONTH, which is a month later than promised!

Now on to my Friday Favs:
 
1. White Walls and White Walls Marketplace

(Photo from: White Walls Online)

Ever wondered where you could go to buy all those awesome (and of easily movable from home to home) crafts and décor that you see in the homes of your favorite military families?! Well now there is the White Walls Marketplace where you can go to one place in internetland, browse all of the amazingly beautiful creations made by military members and spouses, then when you see something you like, click on it and it takes you right to their website or etsy store to purchase it. Super easy right!? This awesome idea was the brain child of the White Walls Blog and corresponding Facebook page Founder Erin Morris and Co-Founder Megan Smith. Those are sites made specifically for military families to come together and share their decorating ideas to make the white walls that we inherit at each base feel more like home. Super cool idea that I love and look to for inspiration for basically every decorating need in my home, especially with this move. What better way to support military families than to support their small businesses?! The White Walls Marketplace is exciting, new, creative and fun! Don't want to buy anything? Just check out their blog, facebookpinterest or instagram pages to get some home decorating inspiration!! You won't be disappointed (If you are a military business owner who wants to sell your home décor on the white walls marketplace you can follow the instructions to join the marketplace here and start selling!)
****No they aren't sponsoring this post I just think White Walls is super duper awesome haha


2. Sweet Chili Sauce

 
I am not sure why but I have basically been putting sweet chili sauce on everything that I can. After having it on some popcorn chicken at my friend Nikita's house last weekend I became obsessed and now if I'm home and it sounds like it may be a good idea I am throwing it on there. This also means I am having a lot more popcorn chicken and chili sauce snacks than I should be during a day. I had only ever had it on Lumpia but it is so yummy on everything else too! Who knew haha
 

3. Project Paper Hearts

 
I read about Project Paper Hearts on Jo, My Gosh and then within the same week I saw an instagram post about it from Munchkins and the Military so this Thursday I took a break from packing up to move to our house from TLF and got to crafting with my little. Project Paper Heart collects handmade Valentines Day cards to mail to the children at St. Jude. Her goal is 200 handmade cards and as of January 17 they still had 168 to go. I hope that ours make it in time!! If I can do it with my obvious lack of crafting skills then you can do it too....so join us! It's so awesome to make a child smile and we are all so blessed in more ways than we can count.
 
 4. Military Spouse of the Year Voting and Marissa-Ellen Patterson

          (Photos From: Military Spouse Magazine)
 
It's the time of year when Americans and military spouses are encouraged to vote for their favorite military spouse that is contributing to their base, their community and country. I nominated my dear friend Marissa-Ellen who has made not only a huge impact on my life when I was first starting out as a military spouse but the woman who I hope to be like one day (even though we are just about the same age). She is passionate about helping military spouses adjust to this life, especially moving to a new country for the first time, she is active in her Enlisted Spouses Club and volunteers with AWAG (Americans working around the globe). I admire her, her chosen career working with veterans in whatever capacity she is able (before they PCS'd to England she worked with the Wounded Warrior Project, something I also wish to do and now assists veterans as they transition from military to civilian life) and how awesome, active and involved she is as a mom and dedicated wife. She does all of this while still making sure they make the best of their duty station and traveling around the world. I am so honored to be able to call her my friend. If you don't already have a horse in the race please take some time to vote for her here. There are so many other amazing spouses nominated this year that you can see here so even if you don't want to vote for Marissa there are so many other options. (They just released the winners for the base level and she won for RAF Lakenheath!!! Next round of voting begins February 4th with the top 18 spouses)

5. My "I'm your new neighbor" move in gifts


 
 
We finally moved into our house this week!! Remember when I listed all of those awesome ideas to help you introduce yourself when you move into a new home? Well we moved in this week and naturally I had to follow my own advice. I couldn't decide which one to do but I ended up combining both the popcorn and the measuring cup ideas (I bought much more candy but I stress ate it during the move). Our tower (building) on base has a Facebook page and when I introduced myself on there a few people reached out, welcomed us and were very friendly so when I made them for my floor and those 3 other people. I hope it will be well received and that they enjoy them (Isaac said that they're too corny and he would throw it away...I know RUDE!) I just dropped them off so hopefully when they wake up and get the day started they will see them and they will be well received! I'll keep you posted


**I got beat by my neighbor in the new neighbor gift department. Our awesome next door neighbor and her handsome little brought over some flowers tonight after dinner and before bath...she caught an epic tantrum and didn't even blink....I see a new friend in my future

Soooo those were my favs from the week! I hope everyone has a great weekend and check out who I'm linking up with here!

19 comments:

  1. The project and gifts are super thoughtful and sweet! Have a lovely weekend :)

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  2. Sweet chili sauce, YUM!

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    1. Isn't it delicious?! I have an addiction and I don't see it stopping anytime soon lol

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  3. Congrats on the new place! Moving is a pain, but your new home will be worth it. Thanks for sharing at the #TGIFhop!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! You're right moving is def not my favorite thing to do but I am enjoying setting up a new place and the Ikea trips!

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    1. Of course! White walls is helping me decorate this house!

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  5. Hey girl, I just HAD to pop over and check out your blog! Tell your husband that he is so dead wrong about the new neighbor gift! I wish I had thought to do something like that when we first arrived! I think I joined our tower FB group, but I don't know, I think my newsfeed is just so full of other stuff that posts on there just don't show up. :) Very cute blog! Welcome to Yokota!

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    1. Hi April!!!! I am so glad that I didn't listen to him and I made them anyway. If you can't tell I LOVE a good pun and I'm glad you stopped by an read the blog! The tower FB page is so nice to have and everyone was so nice on it! I also have a TON of stuff coming up on my news feed and it'll keep me on social media way too long

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  6. That new neighbor gift idea is such a sweet way to introduce yourself! I hadn't heard of Project Paper Hearts before but it sounds like a really good cause :)

    xoxo B | The Sequin Notebook

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    1. I had never heard of it but I am so glad that I did now and my little really enjoyed making the cards and telling people about why

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  7. Thanks for sharing the Project Paper Hearts - sounds like a fun project for this weekend :)

    Katie
    www.sweetlittleonesblog.com

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    1. Thanks for reading! It was such a cute and quick little project to do for a good cause.

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  8. Aww! I can't wait until we have new neighbors, so that I can welcome them! I never thought to give gifts as the new neighbor.

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    1. I had never thought of it before either but I really wanted to introduce my family to the neighbors in a cute way and I always remember going over to the new neighbors and saying hey with a small "welcome to the neighborhood" gift so why not do the same thing but in reverse!

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  9. Such a great idea!! Definitely tucking that one away for future use!

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    1. I didn't know how they would take it but they all seem to really appreciate it and a couple even reached out to me on facebook to introduce themselves (and visited my blog! yes I included the web address on there lol)

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  10. It looks like you're off to a good start in your new home! Our neighbor baked us a cake and brought it over when we moved in, and we loved it!

    Thanks for linking up with us!
    Tif
    www.brightonabudget.com

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