Welcome to the Love Your Body series, featuring guest posts from amazing women bloggers who are brave, inspiring, beautiful, smart, and pretty kick ass! They are here to share their body-related stories to encourage and inspire you to Love Your Body. 

As I sit here reading through a few of their guest posts, I am not only learning about who they are but I am learning from them as well. Every day isn't going to be an "I Love My Body" kind of day, but guess what ladies? That's okay! Life is a journey, it's a roller-coaster of emotions filled with ups and downs.  Some days our jeans will fit better than others, some days our hair won't cooperate because of the high humidity. And on those days you'll just want to scream, "I hate my thighs" or "I hate my hair", and that's okay, we all have those days. 

But what is not okay is to feel ashamed of your body, especially because someone else said, "Those jeans look terrible on you" or "Wow, I really hate that hair color on you". It's also not okay to feel bad about how you look because the media keeps body shaming celebrities like Kelly Clarkson, Melissa McCarthy, Mindy Kaling, P!nk, and others. 

Ladies, don't compare yourself to someone else and don't strive to look like someone else. LOVE YOU; love your hair, love your thighs, your eyes, your skin tone, your booty, love it all and just LOVE YOUR BODY! 

To all who are new here: Hi, I'm Diana. I'm 6 foot tall, weigh 215 lbs, I have grey hair coming in, I wear size 14 jeans, large to x-large top, glasses, size 10/11 shoes, and I LOVE MY BODY! 

These things about my body don't define who I am as a person. Growing up and being teased for being the tallest girl, for being "big boned" {overweight}, having bushy eye brows, stained teeth, and frizzy hair, I thought that's who I was and I thought these things would follow me every where I went. 

But then in college and post graduation I finally met people who inspired me to be more than a label, I met people who thought I was beautiful, who thought I was funny and intelligent. I met people who believed in me and pushed me to believe in myself, which is why my word for this year is "Believe". 

{My favorite necklace from Creative Carmella}

It took me some time to finally Love My Body, but thanks to those around me and thanks to getting away from those who put me down, I can say it and I can say I love myself and I believe in myself. I'm paying it forward to anyone who wants to listen, anyone who needs to believe, who needs to hear the words, "You are beautiful" because you are. You are beautiful and you are worth it. 

Thank you for listening to my Love Your Body story, stay tuned to next Wednesday when Marie of Just Plain Marie will share her story with us. 

Big News: The Game of Love Reveal

It's been a while since I posted and I have a good reason too! I've been busy working on a secret project with my boss and today is the big reveal of The Game of Love...

It started three years ago in 2012 when she shared a DIY bed sheet game board she made for her husband for their first wedding anniversary. Today, she has turned the game into a product you can purchase online...genius! 

I'm so excited for Monica and can't wait to see where The Game of Love takes her. If you are tired of not feeling the love and connection you once had, then this is for you. Or if you have a friend getting married, know a couple who has been going through tough times, or maybe you want to surprise your loved one and ask them to marry you...then this is for you! 

Haha, at first I was going to share a new recipe, but I wanted to let you know why I've been a little MIA lately...so recipe tomorrow then on Wednesday I'm going to share details of my new blog series "Love Your Body". Stay tuned. 

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day! 

{PS, stop by The Painted Home to enter to win The Game of Love!} 

Throwback Thursday and a Giveaway Winner!

Since it's our wedding anniversary month I thought I would share a few wedding photos for readers who haven't seen them before. I loved everything about our big day, it was just as beautiful as I dreamed it would be. Yes, that sounds a bit cheesy, but it's true! 

What was your wedding day like or what do you hope your wedding will be like if you haven't said 'I do' yet? To read more about our wedding click here.

If you have any wedding questions, feel free to ask! 

Are you ready to find out who won the Shop Rite $25 gift card?!! Drum roll please....

Congrats to Heather Walrath! A big thank you to everyone who entered! 

Stay tuned for more wedding fun on Throwback Thursdays! Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

Motivational Monday

Sometimes we're our own worst enemies. We compare ourselves to others, we pick at things we're bad at, things we don't like about ourselves, and we let our past mold who we become.

We also let negativity cloud our judgement.  As a teen and as a young adult, I associated myself with people who put me down and who didn't believe in me. I didn't stand up for myself and I let them walk all over me. I could sit here all day long and blame them, but the truth is I have to own up to not walking away sooner and for not taking a stand. I am in charge of my life, I get to say who I can be, what I am capable of, and how far I can go. 

If you're struggling right now with who you are, where you are in life, and seeing a brighter future for yourself, you're not alone. Our struggles make us who we are, they are part of our story. To get passed these trying times, you have to start believing in yourself, stop comparing yourself to others, and you have to choose to be happy. If that means stepping away from negative people, searching for a new job, or leaving a terrible relationship, know that you can and believe that you will. Seek out the positive and surround yourself with people who encourage you, activities that will inspire you and your life will start to get better each step of the way. 

Here are a few prints I put together for those days when you are struggling and you need a little motivational reminder, which we all need from time to time. 

Happy #MotivationalMonday, thanks for stopping by have a great day! 

Happy Easter!

{Egg background photo found here}

Happy Easter and Passover. Wishing you a beautiful holiday with your family!  Our kids are coming over tonight for dinner and egg dying! 

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by! 

Simple Strawberry Muffins {and a Giveaway!}

Today's post is sponsored by Finlandia, but my love for their butter is all my own! 

Is there anything better than waking up in the morning to the smell of fresh strawberry muffins? Well there is, and it's topping those strawberry muffins with Finlandia butter! 

You may have heard of and tried Finlandia Cheese, but soon you will hear many speaking of how much they enjoy Finlandia imported butter. 

I used the unsalted in my strawberry muffin recipe and topped it off with the perfectly salted butter. I was really surprised by the rich taste, it's probably the best butter I've ever had...seriously! {No April Fool's joke here!}

The recipe called for two sticks of butter and Finlandia butter comes in 7 oz packages, just shy of two sticks, which usually measures to about 8 ounces. Despite the slight difference in the amount of butter used, the muffins turned out quite delicious! 

Fun Facts about Finlandia Butter: 

"Finlandia Butter provides authentic flavor still made the old fashioned way. With Pure fresh milk from cows cared for on small Finnish family-owned farms. Nothing artificial. No added Hormones. This creamy, delicious butter starts with the purest milk in Europe from small Finnish family-owned farms where the cows are treated humanely and not given rBST or any artificial hormones. The fresh milk is carefully churned and cooled to a perfect temperature that creates a delightfully creamy flavor and smooth texture. Chosen by the most discriminating French chefs to create their famous baked goods and croissants, Finlandia Imported Butter is the ultimate butter for baking, cooking and especially, eating!"

So before I get to the giveaway for a ShopRite® gift card so you can try Finlandia butter yourself, I'm going to share my simple strawberry muffin recipe with you, so when you pick up the butter you'll have a recipe on hand to try out! 

Simple Strawberry Muffin Recipe

{Makes about 18 muffins}

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 7 oz unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups diced fresh strawberries {I thawed out frozen ones}
• 1 1/2 cups sugar

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the cupcake liners in your muffin tins and sprinkle a dash of flour in them so the muffins don't stick. 
2. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl until combined.  In a medium bowl combine milk, eggs, and melted butter. Make a well in the the dry mixture and pour in the wet mixture. Stir until combined. There should be some lumps, so don't over mix the batter. Next, mix in the strawberries and sugar and stir to combine.
3. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups {I used an ice cream scoop}. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, check with a toothpick and if it comes out clean your muffins are done! Let them sit for a few minutes in the tins, then place on cooling racks to sit until ready to eat! 

{Recipe modified from Food Network}

Simple...right? Do you know what else is simple...entering my ShopRite® $25 gift card giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

{US entries only please. Giveaway will end on April 8th. Winner will be emailed and will have 48 hours to reply. After this time a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway is not affiliated with Facebook or Twitter. Thank you and Good luck!}