Is it just me, or does it seem like there are more St. Patrick's Day recipes and crafts on Pinterest this year than ever before? Don't get me wrong, I am loving all of the ideas, but I can't remember the holiday being this celebrated online as much...but then again maybe I'm just following more DIY blogs now that I'm a blog assistant for East Coast Creative!

So, to jump in on the holiday fun I thought I would put together a little St. Patrick's Day round up, here are a few of my favorites...

For Christmas a few years ago I made peppermint oreos from a recipe that blogger Jamielyn posted on I Heart Nap Time, everyone loved them and wanted me to share the recipe. Homemade sandwich cookies can be time consuming to make, but the results are amazing, plus your family and friends will be really impressed. How adorable are these green velvet shamrock whoopie pies from Homemade by Holman? If it's a little late to make these this year, definitely Pin for next year! 

Since the holiday is already upon us, this DIY banner from Simple As That can work for other holidays like Easter, Independence Day, or even birthday parties. But, if you are looking for a quick, fun decor idea for your classroom or home for St. Patrick's Day (which is tomorrow), it probably wouldn't take too long to make this. 

Cake makes everything better, right? My step-daughters made the most amazing blue velvet cake for my birthday, and two minutes after I posted a photo of my cake on Facebook, I saw this green velvet cake on my news feed from Recipe Girl...how ironic is that?! Surprise your kids or significant other tomorrow with this delicious cake and see how shocked they are when they cut into it to see that it's green!

If you're lucky in love like I am, than this St. Patrick's Day striped shamrock printable from Lolly Jane will work for the holiday and can stay up year round. I've seen a few free printables on Pinterest with shamrocks, but this is one of my favorites. I also love this friendship printable over on Occasionally Crafty. 

If you love Shamrock Shakes, but would rather not worry about the calories, then check out this tasty little treat from A Night Owl Blog that is sugar free! I mean, if you're celebrating St. Patrick's Day tomorrow, you have to have a Shamrock Shake! 

Is this moss Shamrock not the coolest St. Patrick's Day wreath you've ever seen?! The trick is to take one of those tinsel shamrock wreaths that they sell in craft stores and remove the tinsel, glue on a paper backing, then glue on your moss, easy peasy! Stop by The House That Lars Built for the complete step by step tutorial. 

If your kids are celebrating St. Patrick's Day in school tomorrow, this little flower pot turned leprechaun hat DIY from Life in Wonderland would make a cute desk decoration for their classroom party. It's also a clever idea for a St. Patrick's Day themed wedding for place card holders.  

Do you decorate or bake something special for St. Patrick's Day?

Ah, I almost forgot to mention and show you the "Kiss Me" banner I won on Instagram from Dawn of Leroy Lime, check out her Etsy shop.

Thanks for stopping by today....Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Happies & Crappies: Signs of Spring!

YAY, there are finally signs of Spring popping up and it makes my heart smile! I feel like I need a fresh start and Spring will help with that. The start of 2014 has been a crazy one and I'd like for it to go a little smoother, a little slower, and a little happier. 

Thank you to those who stopped by on my last Happies & Crappies post, I promise to check out your blogs; life gets a little busy around here sometimes but I am trying to schedule things better. I am also thinking of revamping my blog and going to WordPress, seems like the thing to do lately in the blog world. If you notice though, I actually just changed it from a three column to a two column, it was getting too busy looking. I really want to start paying attention to my blog more, perhaps make a Facebook page for it and get a few sponsors once I get traffic picked up. 

I started this blog right before we got engaged so I mostly blogged about our wedding details with a little real life (holidays, birthdays, fun weekend events) thrown in the mix. But, what kind of blogger am I really? There are fashion bloggers, DIY bloggers, mommy bloggers, wedding bloggers, etc. but I feel like I don't really fit into one of those molds, but I want to have a community like those bloggers do. Is there a community for Real Life Bloggers?! 

OK, so I'd love to hear your advice and your Happies & Crappies from this week as I am linking up with Steph and Amber again! 

Happies:

 Most of my happies in March come from it being my birthday month, the start of Spring, and the Philadelphia Flower Show! I won't go too picture crazy on you, but here are a few of my favorites from this week and last! 

We headed to the Reading Terminal for lunch before going to the Flower Show, and wow it was such a great idea! You have to locate Molly Malloy's next time you're there, the butternut squash soup was amazing and so fresh. They first opened up with a produce shop and then a restaurant. The fries were hand cut and the cheesesteak might just have been the best ever! 

The theme for this year's Philadelphia Flower Show was Articulture and I heard that next year's theme is Hollywood, which I'm already looking forward to! It's not just about the show, but for the last few years my mom and I have been going together for my birthday and it now has become a tradition of ours. We go down around noon time, get lunch, and then spend the day and into the night at the show and enjoy the free wine sampling that starts at 5:30 pm in the convention center right outside the doors of the Flower Show...what's not to love about that! We take public transportation down, so no worries about driving!  

Each year there is a live show of some kind at the main floral exhibit, during the Hawaiian theme they had hula dancers and this year they had trapeze artists, it was pretty exciting to watch (you can see them in the top left photo). In the middle are the most adorable frogs I've ever seen, they were part of my high school's exhibit (graduated in 2001!). The two photos after the frogs are from the main exhibit, also where my mom and I are standing in front of. The last photo, well who doesn't love tulips, right?! I can't wait for ours to bloom in the little "garden" we have in front of our house. YAY Spring!

How blessed am I? My friends and family really helped 31 feel even just as amazing as 30! It all started with a surprise gift card to Barnes & Noble that came in the mail from miss Heather over at High Heels & Flip-Flops, such a sweetheart. I actually got the chance to meet her in person and can't wait to hang out again sometime! Oh, and then my friend Katie created this incredible custom and one of a kind tote bag for me! She also created journal cards for my Project Life album, pretty awesome right?! She is actually in the middle of starting her own blog, which isn't up yet but for now you can check her out on Facebook at Busy Bee Kate (love her blog name).

Saw this little guy hopping around outside today and just had to take his photo. Also loving the fact that we can finally see green grass in our yard instead of blinding white snow that has been piled up for two months now! Signs of Spring indeed! 

Crappies

I have been feeling a little uneasy lately, just a lot of bad, emotional days of feeling lost and in the middle of not knowing what's next. Also, I feel like I just don't have the motivation to workout right now...Jillian Michaels I need you to push me again! If only she were my real life physical trainer! I did get on the treadmill today, but not as long as I wanted to, but it's a start... GO ME!! 

----------------------------------------------------------

OK, it's almost the weekend and we have house guests coming! My best friend from college is coming with her hubby, and two little ones. I can't believe their daughter is now 6 and their baby boy is going to be 1 in June! 

Also a Big Happy Birthday to my older sister, she turned 33 the day before my birthday...we're 2 years and 1 day apart! 

Can you tell we grew up in the 80's?! My younger sister is the baby in the top right photo, there's three of us...yep my dad had to put up with four women in the house, lucky him! 

Here is another photo collage I made for her to post on social media for her birthday! 

She's a DALLAS FAN...in Eagles and Steelers Country! 

Happy Friday and weekend! 

Happies & Crappies:

So it's the last day of February and that means my birthday month is about to start! So last year I was all excited about turning 30, but this year 31 just sounds like well, eh! Last year I celebrated the big 3-0 with a bang and the year after it's just like, "OK, I have another birthday...whatever!" Don't get me wrong, I like small gatherings and don't want anything big each year; having cake at home with the hubs and kids is all I really need on my actual birthday, and then maybe going out to eat with the extended family the weekend after. Also, I love going to the Philadelphia Flower Show every year with my mom, it's been our little tradition for a few years now. 

I don't want to top last year, it's just a feeling of, "Wow my twenties are really behind me, I'm now in my thirties!" In my thirties, doesn't that just sound crazy!! I'm sure everyone goes through this when they reach the next stage in their life; their 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, etc. that they just can't believe they are at this age and how quickly it seemed to come. 

However, it also inspires and motivates me as I look back at how much I've grown as a person, how much I've learned, how much I've challenged myself, and makes me want to keep striving for more. You never stop learning and you never want to stop challenging yourself. But right now I am proud of who I am, I'm proud of where I am in life, and I'm very blessed in life as well.

So now it's time to link up with Steph and Amber for Happies & Crappies!! 

Happies...

1. Life is about being brave and putting yourself out there; take chances and get dirty! So this passed week I took my girls to our favorite local restaurant and my youngest step-daughter was really hitting it off with our waiter. Every time he walked by he would smile and look right in her direction. He even went the long way back to the kitchen just so he could pass our table! So her sister said that she HAS to talk to him and find out how old he is and if he goes to the same school. Well, this was a lot to ask because she doesn't really like to talk to guys she thinks are cute and so she was freaking out! That's when her sister said, "20 Seconds of Bravery!" Do you know this quote? It's from "We Bought a Zoo" and it's one of my youngest step-daughter's favorite quotes and well now she just had to talk to him since her sister put her on the spot like that! Well, she found out that the waiter was a little bit older than she thought, and that wasn't going to fly with my husband (maybe in a year or so!). But, we were very proud of her for being brave and putting herself out there, it took a lot of guts to talk to him. YOU GO GIRL!

2. Though I haven't been eating the healthiest types of food (cheesesteak on Tuesday, cookies today, and probably other crap I shouldn't have eaten!), I have been exercising with my girl Jillian Michaels all week long. I love her Ripped in 30 work out that consists of 4 weeks of different exercise routines. Oh and a few weeks ago I tweeted her and she TWEETED BACK!

LOVE HER!!! 

3. As I mentioned before (well when I was interning) that I'm the new blog assistant over at East Coast Creative...and if that isn't cool enough they also have a DIY TV SHOW called Knock it Off! But this isn't my happies, but I mean really that is pretty fantastic! So, in just a few days one of the biggest and most kick ass blog design contests is about to go down on their blog and there are big prizes involved, plus big blog stars! If you love DIY then you will want to stayed tuned on March 3rd and get your submission in for your chance to compete and be able to have a big blog star mentor you. But wait, that's not all! Even if you don't enter to be apart of the design competition, you can enter to win an awesome vacation to Punta Cana...sweet! It's called Creating with the Stars and you can check out a post on their blog with all the details...what are you waiting for?! 

Crappies...

1. My only crappies for this week is my bad habit of procrastination! I need to write a schedule and keep up on using my desk calendar...right now there is a pile of junk on it! I just get down in the dumps in the winter time, it can get tough sometimes when you work from home and don't interact with people every day. Working from home isn't always all that it's cracked up to be. Plus, there are so many distractions and everyone just thinks you have time to do everything because well you work from home! I need to change this and waking up earlier and not staying up till 2 am the night before would probably help! 

So, what are some happies and crappies from your week?