I am so excited to share this recipe with you!  I don't even like watermelon and I am obsessed with this drink.  In my mind, a perfect summer drink is refreshing and simple. Plus, it is versatile.  You can use vodka or gin for another take on this drink.  Even rum with more lime and mint would turn this into a mojito!

I have a major addiction to Crystal Light margaritas.  Ricky was actually surprised I didn't bring the mix with me to Mexico (I should have!). Once you go back to regular margaritas, they are hard to handle!  Talk about headaches and heartburn!  Sugar free is the way to go!

I got the idea for this drink a while ago.  We were watching Jersey Shore last season (I know...I know...) and was fascinated when Ronny makes the Ron-Ron juice.  I saw him put watermelon in the blender with some rum or vodka.  Instead of thinking: "hey, they look way too drunk whenever they drink this", I was intrigued.  Not surprising.  Ever since, we have been experimenting with watermelon drinks.  I have yet to find a drink that isn't tasty with it!  I love that it is such a cheap and easy ingredient as well.

Fun fact: In Rachael Ray's magazine this month, they did a test and concluded that it is actually cheaper to buy the pre-cut watermelon.  Since the rind isn't weighed as it is with the whole watermelon, it is much cheaper by pound.  Good to know, isn't it?  I can't wait when it goes down to $0.49/lb.

We also have an abundance of mint in our herb garden, so I have been trying to figure out what the heck to do with it all.  I can only drink so many mojitos and cucumber/mint water!

Take this with you for a 4th of July party (or any cookout) and you will be a rockstar!  Beware, you will want to drink many of these...you can't even taste the tequila.

Here's what you need:

• Crystal Light margarita packets
• Don't follow the directions, just mix 3 cups of water with the packet.
• Watermelon, seedless (2 cups, cut)
• Tequila
• Fresh mint (8-10 leaves), plus more to top
• Limes to garnish

Simple Prep 

• Make the margarita mix, as stated above.
• In a chopper or blender, combine mint and watermelon.  Add a touch of agave (or 1/2 teaspoon sugar) and sprinkle of salt.  Sounds strange, but it adds a nice touch. 
• I would make a larger batch...it stays fresh in the fridge for about 5 days.  If you are mixing for a crowd, just multiply everything.  Super simple!

Mix it up!

In a glass, filled with ice, combine:

• 1 shot of tequila (we like Patron)
• 1/2 cup margarita mix
• 1/4 cup watermelon mint mix

Garnish with lime and a few mint leaves.

Drink it up!  Since these are slim margaritas, you won't feel as bad having a few drinks! Well, that is my philosophy at least.

Gotta have my UW shot glass!

You may be tempted to add more tequila, but beware!  These drinks are a lot stronger than they taste!    

If watermelon really isn't your thing, try my regular margarita recipe.  You will still be a rockstar, I promise!

If you want to turn this into a mocktail, just add lemon lime soda instead of tequila!

Save money: grow your own herbs!

We planted our garden 3 weeks ago and I could not be more excited!  It has been so dry lately, I was getting worried my black gardening thumb would come back to haunt us.   But alas, we have a great, plentiful garden coming up.  I cannot wait for veggies to start popping up.  Olivia might be more excited than I am, she is obsessed with checking the garden everyday.

My best tip so far?  Grow your own herbs.  I don't know why this has taken me so long!  I used to get those little packets for $2.99 at the store, every time I needed herbs for a recipe.  That is such a rip off when you can buy the whole plant, in the same section (usually) for the same price.  Our plants are HUGE and we have more mint than I know what to do with.  I am glad I like mojitos!

Look how much progress our herbs made in a week!

We have chives, mint, cilantro, basil and rosemary!

Anyone else growing a garden this year?  Any tips for us? 

Freecycle your junk!

Find a local Freecycle here!

I have written about Freecycle before, but I thought I would remind everyone.  This is the time of year to clean the hidden areas of the house: the basement, attic and garage.  Ugh.  As much as I would like to say I stay organized, I have random boxes still left unopened from our move back in September. 

VHS tapes?  We have them.  Ugly drapes that came with the house?  In the garage.  All sorts of crap. 

Some items we can try to sell at the garage sale, but others I just want to throw away.  Who needs 15 year old vertical blinds?  The funny thing is, someone might be looking for them!

Freecycle is like Craigslist, but everything is FREE.  It's like a hoarder's paradise. You can list items you want to get rid of or list items you are looking for.  It is amazing what people get rid of!  I have even seen working lawnmowers and exercise equipment.

I found someone moving and she was getting rid of all of her garden stuff.  Score!  Now we have pretty clay pots, plant food and all sorts of stuff.  I say "stuff" because, as a novice gardener, I have no idea what they are for!  Foam cones?

We are getting new-to-us couches for the basement and we can finally get rid of the uncomfortable ones that were left in the house.  The fact that they have lasted this long shocks me!  Tomorrow morning I am going to list on Freecycle "free couches" and hopefully someone will pick them up!  This saves us the time and energy of hauling them somewhere or calling for a pickup.  Fingers crossed my plan will work!

* UPDATE: the couches were gone within 3 hours!  So happy! *

The local branch is a Yahoo group and I subscribe to the daily email, so I don't have to remember to check the website.  If something is listed that I am interested in, I simply click to email the person who posted the item.  So breezy!

I also like to laugh at some items posted.  There was a lady for a while who was apparently cleaning out her closet and was listing everything: broken heeled boots, used bras and undies.  No bueno!   Some people don't know when to throw stuff away!

Have you found any gems on Freecycle?  Any newbies, make sure you check it out!

Gabby update: My baby is one!

I am having a rough time dealing with my Gabriella turning one.  This past year flew by and I feel like she never really was a baby...it all was a blur!  Between moving into a new house, the wedding and everything else that happened, this year flew by! 

It seems like yesterday I was writing the post about her arrival. She is such an amazing part of our family, I don't know what we did without her.  She loves to make us laugh and smile everyday, I can tell she is going to be the family joker.

Happy Birthday Gabby Goose!  (Or Gaga, as she calls herself)

Peanut Butter for the first time.  She was a fan.

Obviously needed a bath after the PB mess.

On the way to the Y to play with her friends!  Tutu is necessary, of course!

Loving her new phone.  "Hellllo?"

Starting out with the coupons early!

Princess Gabby!

"Mama, you are embarrassing me!  Enough pictures!"

True pain.  This is why I don't wear jewelry.

Beautiful cake made by our friend Sophia.

Burned out birthday girl!

We can't wait to see what this next year brings! 

Favorite things from Costco

We love the double carts at Costo, although we still need two now that G is sitting up.

It's pretty obvious we love Costco.  I have started to do my shopping monthly and our first trip is always to Costco (followed by Aldi).  They have great prices and we love the food samples....it helps keep the kids from squirming too much!  At first we weren't sure if the membership was worth the money, since you can't use coupons there, but we have learned it saves us so much money!  Now that we have been members for a year, we have tried out so many great products.  We have way more than five favorites, but I narrowed it down to must-haves (kind of...).  You know I love to ramble, especially when it comes to talking about shopping.

Here's my Top 5:

1. Bread/Carbs.  We love the organic wheat 2-packs.  For $3.99, it freezes well and is perfect for everyday sandwiches.  We also love the pita pockets, pizza crust, English muffins, sandwich thins and Flatout wraps.  Let's face it, we will never be on a carb-free diet!
2. Produce.  If you have little ones who eat like I do, the produce is amazing.  We buy the big bags of broccoli, berries, whole pineapples and sweet potatoes.  We freeze a lot, too.  If you search on Pinterest, you can find out how to freeze anything!
3. Ground Turkey.  It's our favorite lean ground type and it is only $2.99 lb.  We don't eat much beef, so we stock up when we go.
4. Alcohol.  If you are a wine drinker, be sure to shop at Costco.  The prices are great!  Also, big bottles of alcohol are at amazing prices.  We stocked up for the wedding and saved major money.
5. Kid Snacks.  Although I don't usually like to buy snack bags, they are actually cheaper by ounce this way at Costco.  Our favorites are Annie's bunnies and Veggie Straws.  Perfect for on-the-go or picnics.

Honorable mentions: Baby wipes, chicken stock, pesto and Prego sauce.

What do you love to buy at Costco?

Meet Mrs.Evans!

I am officially a Mrs!!!  Not that life has really changed, but our marriage was an exciting day for us.  We have been together since 2005 and it was about time! We had a small ceremony in my hometown and the weather was absolutely perfect.  I have been frantically planning for the past 5 months and it turned out very well!

We went on a 5 night honeymoon to Mexico and it was just what we needed.  It was hard to leave the ladies though, but we knew they were in good hands.

Give me a beach book, sun and a margarita and I'm a happy girl!

My hubby!

Pool bar = best invention EVER. 

Now we can relax and enjoy our summer and Gabriella's first birthday this week.  Where did the time go?

Any words of wisdom for us?

*GIVEAWAY!* UPrinting die-cut cards

Create a custom business card!

I have been shopping around for business cards for a while now.  Yes, I know I am not officially working right now, but I love to spread the word about my blog.  I came across this website and I absolutely love the die-cut shapes!  They look very unique and the website helps you create a custom card.  I am so excited to see mine!

Even if you aren't in the market for business cards, you could make some "Mommy Cards".  I was also thinking about making these.  You put your information and give them to other Mamas at playgroups or wherever you may meet new people.  It's a quick and easy way to exchange information!

Check out the UPrinting.com website and you can win a set of your own cards!

Enter below!!  Contest ends on Tuesday, June 19!

Prize Information:

• 250 Die-cut Business Cards!  PLUS free shipping! 

Restrictions:

1. This giveaway is open to US residents only, 18 years old and above.

2. No prize substitutions allowed.

3. Winners are allowed to win once over a six-month period.

4. Only email addresses used for the giveaway will be eligible to claim the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

"You should assume that I will receive free print products in exchange for the post. Any and all reviews posted are based solely on my own experience and may be atypical. Please practice due diligence in making any related purchase decisions. Interested to hold a giveaway like this? Please sign up here.”

Spread the word! Operation: Kid Equip

I am so happy my fellow blogger friend Mrs. Weber's Neighborhood told me about this cause.   Operation: Kid Equip is a Michigan based program which is trying to raise funds to get books in the hands of homeless children.  Their goal is to raise $15,000 by August.  Did you know that there are 31,000 homeless children in the state of Michigan? 

The stats on the site are very eye-opening.  I had no idea there were so many children in the Kent County area!  Even if you don't have the funds to donate, please spread the word as much as you can!

Here are ways to help:

Tweet:

Help provide books to all of #Michigan’s homeless students with @OKE_News here: http://bit.ly/L1SHhu #OKEBooks

Or simply spread the word on Facebook.  Every little bit helps!

 

Garden time: round two!

Last year, we lived in an apartment and our gardening attempts were very sad.  We had a crazy neighbor who was sabotaging our garden and a location with no sun.  No bueno!

This year, we are starting off with a fresh plan.  We have a big, sunny backyard waiting for a garden.  Also, the twins are old enough to "help" with the planting the seeds.  I really think they will enjoy helping me this summer...especially once they realize they can eat what we are growing!

We started off buying seeds from Menards.  It was a great way to get the girls excited.  They picked out what they wanted to grow and we came home with one of those big grid seed starters (I'm sure there is a real name for that...).  This was in March.  Remember that big sunny week we had?   The seeds were growing great and I was so excited.   And then the cold weather returned.  But of course, we live in Michigan.

From that point on, our seeds were dwindling and finally ended up being useless.

This counts as a workout, right? I may or may not have a glass of sangria waiting for me on our deck...

Flash forward to this week.  Ricky built a garden box and we are ready to plant.  I am very optimistic, despite the fact that none of my planted seedlings made it.  We just shelled out a few extra bucks to buy plants.  Is that cheating?

If you are a gardener, please give me any tips!  We are planting tomorrow and pretty much crossing our fingers Rambo doesn't destroy it.

Stay tuned!

Fitness magazine $3.99/year TODAY only (6/5)

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Last time I posted a fitness magazine deal, people loved it!  So here is another great deal for you.  Make sure you enter the promo code to get the discount!

I love this magazine for the quick workout tips and recipes.  One of my favorite recipes from the winter was found in a fall issue: turkey meatball minestrone.

Happy reading!