Grace & Gratitude

I am so happy to be taking a break from packing right now. I think the smell of cardboard boxes will forever be engraved into my skin. Even more so than the need to get away from boxes, I am super excited to share with you all about a fantastic platter I received.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Mary & Martha. All opinions are 100% mine.

To say I am obsessed with home decor and anything beautiful I can serve my dinner on, would be a gross understatement. I was thrilled when I found this gorgeous platter that wasn't only beautiful, but it actually spoke to me.

Might sound crazy to have a serving platter speak to you, but if you saw it, you would totally get it!

Here see for yourself:

Not only is it my favorite style/color and matches all of my place settings perfectly, but it delivers a beautiful message. The "grace & gratitude" and the plant are embossed, and just absolutely stunning. And the scripture verse at the top just adds a little bit of love and comfort to preparing and serving your dish. (I Chronicles 29:13 NIV Grateful for his blessings; thankful for his grace. Grateful for the loving hearts gathered in this place)

(Measures 15" x 11 3/4. Dishwasher safe. $48)

After the platter came in I was so excited to show it off. We live very close to my in-laws, and have dinner with them every Sunday evening. I wanted to test out AND showcase this gorgeous platter all at once. I decided to make Maple Cinnamon and Bacon Sweet Potatoes.

Well, just as I suspected, the plate was a hit, everyone loved it. Especially me! It feels of great quality without being heavy and difficult to work with/carry. It also cleaned up very easily. It is dishwasher safe and comes out looking just like new.

You guys I'm in LOVE. 

The ONLY bad thing about this platter is this collection is being retired. They are available while supplies last, except for the Pitcher and the mugs which are promised to be in stock through the spring catalog.

FORTUNATLEY, they have SO many other amazing things... I'm seriously drooling over here. Their Christmas stuff is seriously to die for. And their every day stuff... I. Want. It. All.

I loved it SO much, I convinced the wonderful Rachel Lippert to do a giveaway for one lucky reader! The winner will receive $20 towards anything on the Mary & Martha website. She is also giving my readers FREE SHIPPING good through November. (To get free shipping contact Rachel to place your order.)

In order to enter for the $20 towards a Mary and Martha purchase.

http://mymaryandmartha.com/lippert

1. Go to Rachel's FB page https://www.facebook.com/rachlippert

2. Like and Sign up for Email

3. Comment Below "Done"

The winner will be announced Friday night!

Good luck! 

OH YEAH!

 In case you are interested... here is the recipe for those amazing sweet potatoes:

Maple Cinnamon and Bacon Sweet Potatoes:

Ingredients:

4-5 Large sweet potatoes

2 Tbsp Sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

Maple syrup

1 lb bacon

Water

Directions:

Start by cleaning and peeling your sweet potatoes, and then slicing them into medium/thin slices. Use a cookie / baking sheet with retaining sides. Pour a thin layer of water on the pan, not too deep, but enough to cover the pan. Then place all the sweet potato slices evenly distributed over the pan. Pour a small amount of water over the top of the sweet potatoes, so they do not dry out in the oven.

Mix the Sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over the sweet potatoes. Then evenly lay the raw bacon over the sweet potatoes, covering all of the slices. drizzle a small amount of maple syrup over the bacon. 

Place in oven and bake at 350 degrees for one hour. 

I serve on Leafy Greens (for atheistic) and included the bacon as part of the dish.

Enjoy!

What is stress?... and a tip for the giveaway

Stress is finding out your house DID officially sell, and you have ONE WEEK to be out, and 2 days to prepare for the inspection! OH yah, and taking care of two little rugrats! Oh boy you guys! I MIGHT just go crazy here!

For those of you who are new to the world of... well, me... I am a perfectionist... to the core. I have been slaving away for days making my home look perfect for the inspector/appraiser... all while trying to pack my house (while my 16 month old UNpacks my house and my 4 year old cries that she doesn't want a new house!)

Bribing my children with chocolate chips and the promise of a brand new trampoline when we move have become 2nd nature now.

The only thing more nerve racking than finding someone to buy your house, is proving to the lenders, the appraiser, and the inspectors that your house is indeed worth every penny you possibly can.

Am I crazy for being paranoid about this?

The sell of this house has truly been an act of God! A real life miracle before my very eyes! I have faith that He won't let me down now!

***************************************************************************

In other news... DON'T forget about the awesome giveaway. I've had a few people email me telling me they can't figure out how to follow the blogs!

If you are on a phone, on my blog, scroll all the way to the bottom, and click the link that says view web version, then on the right hand side you should be able to find where it says "follow me" and click that! (xoxo)

To follow Sidnee, do the same thing, and then on the right hand side at the very top she has her followers follow by email. Just plug in your email there and you are all set!

Then don't forget to comment on the Giveaway post "DONE!"

I hope you are all having a beautiful week, but I must get back to taping boxes!

Wish me luck!

Here we come a wassailing...

I know most people scoff a little when someone mentions ANYTHING Christmas related before Thanksgiving... so for those of you who have grinch blood running through your veins, I am sorry...

Just kidding. I love you anyway.

BUT, I'm here to plead my case for wassail! In my house growing up wassail was MORE than just a "Christmas Drink", in fact, I hardly associate it with Christmas at all. It is definitely an Autumn drink in my opinion.

Hear me out: It's warm, it's cinnamon-y, and most importantly it has TONS of vitamin C ( I mean... it is mostly orange juice ). It's the beginning of cold and flu season, so why not get as much of this wassail goodness as you possibly can while getting your vitamin C protection in right?

Now that I have plead my case, I will come back from my tangent.

Today was a magical sort of day here in the Stanfill home. My children... BOTH of my children napped today. **Insert jaw drop here**. This. Never. Happens.

My oldest gave up naps the same week her sister was born. And today, it happened: they both napped at the same time.

I could think of a million things to do, napping was on the list a few times. But instead, I did the dishes slowly without having to pull anyone off the dishwasher door, hands soaking in the warm water listening to soft music. It was so warm, and quiet and peaceful, as my wassail warmed on the stovetop.

I dried my hands, grabbed my favorite fleece blanket, and a giant mug of warm Autumn wassail, snuggled in on the couch and did a little bit of reading ( by reading I mean mostly online shopping mixed with a chapter or two from a book ;) )

As I sat there I got the sweetest email from an old friend. About how excited they were about my blog, and they were so glad I finally got the courage to start this journey I'd been dreaming of for quite some time. Then another similar email came in... and another! I was feeling so much love and warmth (and not just from the wassail), I slid down on the couch, stared at the ceiling for a bit and thought... What a wonderful day.

It was a wonderful day, and I think maybe just a little of it was from the magic of the wassail. The warmth, the taste, the smell filling my home. So many happy things all at once. And then it occurred to me, I wanted to share that magic with YOU!

Autumn Wassail

Ingredients:
5 quarts of water
3 cups of sugar
2 cans of orange juice concentrate
12 Tbs lemon juice

2 Tbs Cloves
2 sticks of cinnamon
1 cup water

Directions:
Add 5 quarts of water, the sugar, orange juice and lemon juice together in a large pot on the stove.

In a separate small pot, combine the 1 cup of water, cloves and cinnamon together, heat on medium heat until the water is a nice dark color and your home is filled with the amazing fragrance! (It may be best to do this in a coffee filter). When it is done, pour (strain) the water mixture into the orange juice mixture in the large pot. (Make sure the cinnamon sticks and cloves do not fall into the large pot, that wouldn't be fun to swallow). Heat all ingredients together stirring occasionally, until hot/warm.

Serve warm!

I hope you love and enjoy this recipe as much as our family does, and I hope the magic of wassail can bring you a slow, happy and quiet day.

A little bit of gratitude

This morning is such a beautiful Autumn day. I love the cool crips air, especially coming out of a hot and humid summer. Autumn for me brings new life! I am NOT a summer person, at all! Don't get me wrong, I love a good BBQ, and the 4th of July is so fun. I like summer, I just don't LOVE summer. I do however LOVE Autumn, and even winter (I prefer Winter over Summer! **GASP**).

Yesterday was a less than pleasant day for me. I didn't really have a fantastic reason for feeling so... blah. Maybe it was all the sleepless nights adding up. Getting up with a teething baby all night can really wear a person down.

Then a sweet friend of mine decided to spend her free night with me! So what did we do? We went shopping of course!!!

I found some really fun stuff, but two of my favorite buys of the night were this little book I got at a sweet boutique, and this amazing mug I found at T.J. Maxx (Who needs Target when you have a T.J. Max... Okay, so I still need Target too!)

The book kinda just spoke to me. I have been feeling a little, flustered I guess you could say, lately with all the news that gets passed around and pushed in your face. It's not longer just in a newspaper or on a news site. Social Media is force feeding it down our throats, and creating a feeling of complete chaos. I tend to be one that doesn't handle the "news" very well, and so some of these articles that have been placed RIGHT in front of me, have been really weighing on my mind.

I have been working really hard at trying to, not ignore them, because it is part of life, and things do happen, but I have been working on taking it all with a grain of salt. Media feeds on fear, and of course they are going to push what will get them followers and readers.

SO instead, I have been trying really hard to focus on the GOOD in the world, because guess what guys... it's still out there!!! In an ABUNDANCE!

So when I saw this little journal that says "Let your faith be bigger than your fears", I knew I needed to buy it, and I have a plan for this sweet little treasure. Each day, no matter what, I will write at the end of the day, at least 5 good things I saw in the world that day, and 5 things that I am grateful for! I hope by making this a daily routine, I will be able to weed out the good from the bad, and to be able to focus on what this beautiful earth still has to offer.

The mug also plays into this, this one is a little more "Sweet" and "mushy" though. My husband has always been a very loving and affectionate person. He adores those who are close to him and doesn't hesitate to let them know this, even when we were just friends, he always called me "Love". I loved this mug because each morning as I'm drinking my super healthy breakfast drink (Ok, okay... so it's going to be full of white hot chocolate... ) I can look at that drink and be reminded of one of my greatest blessings of all!

A positive attitude and a little dose of gratitude can take a person very far in the journey of life and joy!

May you have a beautiful, and happy day!

(And don't forget about the giveaway coming next week!)

xoxo,
   Kelsie

This is EXCITING!

Good Evening you gorgeous people!!! I just wanted to take a moment before I went to bed to tell you all about this EXCITING news! Next week on the blog there will be a giveaway. And it's not just any give away! 

I have teamed up with the one and only Sidnee. A Diamond Coach from BeachBody, and she is going to be stopping by the blog to give one lucky reader a FREE 21 Day Fix Extreme "The Challenge" workout DVD! That's right, you KNOW you don't wanna miss this! So make sure you are staying tuned in so you don't miss the chance to win!!!

The ULTIMATE...

Hey Hey Hey!

So I realize I may be a little late to the party on this one, but have you guys seen these Tommee Tippee Bibs? They are the ULTIMATE BIB!

For reals, one of the coolest baby accessories I've EVER purchased! A friend of mine introduced me to them a few weeks ago, and I finally went and bought them last night. 

My daughter is the epitome of independent. If it is something I have to feed her she actually straight up refuses to eat it. So this little 16 month old insists on wielding her own spoon full of oatmeal around the room until it finally finds her mouth, if we're lucky. 

I got to the point where I just stripped her down naked to eat every meal (which was a story all of it's own, since apparently getting dressed is the new form of torture.)

So I went to the store, bought myself one of these beautiful things, and decided to test it out with oatmeal this morning. I didn't take her close off or anything. And at the end, she was clean! Nothing else around her was... but by golly her cute little white sweater was clean! Everything that she dropped ended up in the little cup part of the bib! Best part its, the bib is 100% dishwasher safe! That's what I like to hear! But even at that, I just ran it under hot water for a few seconds and it was completely clean! I'm in heaven! I think I need to buy like 100 more of these... or at least a couple!