Weekend Workouts

Disclaimer: This is a post where I talk about my love of mild excercise and make no formal recommendations for your life since I am not a certified trainer or physician, just your unathletic Joe Schmo who has managed to keep a few health issues at bay and stay off the short list as a potential Biggest Loser contestant through as little diet and exercise as I can get away with. Moving on...

I am a big believer in not doing anything on the weekends. Probably one of the most difficult things about being in a marriage where both people are into their careers and working full time is that we have to choose between A.) the evenings and weekends being dedicated to chores and errand running or B.) being comfortable with our lives being in near-complete disarray. I think Markus might lean more towards A but I have cried in enough grocery store parking lots on a sunny weekend day, rambling on about wasted youth that I have brought him over to the B side with me. Life's too short for folded laundry! At least when you have enough Downy spray and a lack of children to get away with it..

Currently there are about a majillion things (official medical industry term) that I could be medicated for: insomnia, digestive sensitivity, high-ish blood pressure, general lapses of mental sanity begin this list. I have just never reacted well to meds but have found 30-45 minutes of exercise a day and laying off the processed foods are pretty big cure-alls for what ails me. Because of this working out is a less flexible part of my daily life than I would prefer it to be. To try to keep exercise from being looked at like another chore on the weekends, or blowing it off completely and ending up not feeling very well by Sunday, I try to keep things fresh in terms of breaking a sweat on the weekend.

This Saturday I found my favorite new way to exercise - English Riding Lessons!

I have always loved horses and have wanted to ride English, so when a Groupon presented itself for lesson packages I had to buy them for myself as a Christmas/New Year New Me gift. I had my first lesson and I am in LOVE! Insane workout - I woke up at 5, 7 and 8am on Sunday moaning from my sore muscles. Might be time to invest in a foam roller.

I give Markus a lot of flack for cycling - the more you get into it the more time consuming and expensive it is. Now he can just buy me a horse and we can be even-steven in the pricey hobbies department.

Sitting atop the original Pilates reformer.

Markus bought me a bike the first year we celebrated my birthday together. It is still my favorite way to commute on the weekends and a great way to sneak in some exercise! I'll ride it to the corner grocery store, to my mom's house or to get an iced coffee.

An additional upside of riding bikes as a couple is you can't have your iPhone while riding (unless obviously it is to snap a photo of your truly...). Our conversations go all over the map during our rides. I love a good conflict resolution via bicycle and I'm sure our neighbors who jog and walk their dogs appreciate the gossip as well.

After reading Last Child in the Woods last summer, I am a big fan of unstructured play for children and adults alike. We took Markus' little sister and a family friend to the club on Sunday for a children's gold event and then to the field across the way to horse around. Trying to teach the video game generation how to fly a kite was definitely the most challenging and rewarding experience of the week - but also so much fun! 

Markus makes himself at easy target at the golf event.

What were you up to this weekend - any outdoor fun?

What are your favorite ways to break a sweat outside of th gym?

Party Cup Winner!

Hi all -

Finishing up a fabulous weekend with some good ol' GCB...

Looking forward to posting some photos and hearing more about your weekends tomorrow morning!

I know I am late announcing the winner of the party cups - it is Lauren at Shooting Stars Mag!

Lauren, I hope you enjoy the party cup as much as we all did on our lake weekend!

I love finding an Etsy dealer that is unique and a pleasure to work with, so I was so excited to share the love at Stuart Wallace Designs!

See you tomorrow!

Stuart Wallace Designs Party Cup Giveaway!

I feel as though I am still recovering from the blissful bachelorette last weekend - Did you see the photos?

As I mentioned earlier, there were over 20 girls in attendance at the lake, each of them a very special part of my sister's life. I wanted to add a little something unique to the weekend that could also be a small token of my appreciation to each girl for being such a great friend to my sister. I was very lucky to find these Stuart Wallace Designs cups on Etsy. Resuable, customized and a great price point!

Over the course of the day we were by the pool, up in the hotel room and on the sailboat before we were officially out for dinner and dancing. These cups were perfect for our daytime activities that were BYOB but not glassware friendly.

As a large group of college friends, the red Solo cup has definitely made a soft spot in our hearts but it was very fun to class it up this weekend with a custom design, in polka dots no less!

Instagram was a flutter of cups this weekend, thanks to Stuart Wallace Designs!

I love DIY party cups that I've seen before, but with the wedding, work and planning other parts of the bachelorette I simply would have never found time to make 20 cups. Not to mention that the supplies I would have needed to buy up front would have at least matched what I spent on ordering these. Add in that I can be a little crafticapped (you know, handicapped in the craft department) and I was giddy to find this shop.

To make life insanely easy for me, each cup was delivered to me pre-wrapped and labeled with the girl's name. I had them all sitting out on a table when the guests arrived at the hotel so each girl could pick up her cup, fill it with her go-go juice and make her way down to the pool!

Dealing with Amanda at Stuart Wallace Designs was also amazing. As you probably know, Etsy dealers can be hit or miss (if you'd like we can discuss the time I had to threaten getting the Better Business Bureau involved to get my Roman shade). Because of this I can be very untrusting ex-girlfriend on Etsy, but Amanda put all my anxieties to bed, or at least those pertaining to 20 plastic cups. Every single one was perfect, they were completed quickly and repsonses to my questions were always fast and exceptionally friendly.

Some favorite party cup photos from the day:

It's always a good sign when your party favor is put to immediate use!

Sistah and I: Sporting coordinating polka-dot accessories since 1987.

Since Stuart Wallace Designs is the best Etsy dealer in town, they have offered to gift a personalized cup to one lucky reader!

To enter the Stuart Wallace party cup giveaway:

1. Leave a comment below with the name for your cup and your email address

2. For an additional entry, "heart" Stuart Wallace Designs shop on Etsy.

(Let me know that you've done that in a seperate comment below.)

3. For an additional entry, like Pancakes and Beet Juice on Facebook.

(Let me know you've done that in a separeate comment below.)

4. For two additional entries, share this post on Facebook or Twitter!

(Same rules - let me know in an additional comment.)

I will randomly choose the winner on Friday. I look forward to seeing your entries!

May the party gods be ever in your favor.

Sistah's Bachelorette Party: Sunny Sailing in Rockwall

After many many weeks of looking forward to my baby sister's bachelorette party, we got to actually live it in real life this past weekend! All TWENTY of the girls (yes) were so sweet and fun to be around. I am just so tickled that everyone came out and enjoyed the day. Snaps to the weather for being absolutely perfect. No one told me in advance that I would endure flash flooding throughout my wedding weekend so I could gift my sister with ideal sailing weather for her bachelorette, but I was more than happy to send a sacrifice to the weather gods for this blissful day of fun.

We stayed at the Hilton Bella Harbor in Rockwall. Now I know why people who say "I'm from Dallas. Kind of from, like, right outside of Dallas...?" do so with a serene smile on their faces. The suburbs was where it was at this weekend.

First stop was the pool, where we chatted it up, got some sun and began to break in our party cups.

Then we boarded the Seawolf sailboat for a Sail with Scott cruise. Could not recommend this any more. The boat is gorgeous and it is a wonderful 90 minute sail around Lake Ray Hubbard. Scott lets you help with the sailing if you wish, take a photo driving the ship and you can bring anything you want on board. All for $25! We were his sassy skippers for the afternoon. He loved it. 

wind powered sailboat + resuable cups = very excited about our carbon footprint at this moment

My sister and I were in love with each other so we look a quick photo. No instagram filters needed when you are actually in the great outdoors and flooded with light.

hello Sistah

at sea safe away from the lens of the Sartorialist, who would have definitely wanted at some of our street style

> a party bus

After we sailed it was time for snacks and a shower for the bride in one of our hotel rooms!

I made the bride's favorite chocolate covered covered peanut butter crackers and gluten-free strawberry cupcakes from The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten Free. The gorgeous and exceptionally tasty macarons below were from Creme de la Cookie. We had caramel, lemon and pistachio flavors which I may or may not have chosen to coordinate with the colors of the serving tray (when Type A's party plan).

I purchased 20 sailor hats and a case of fabric markers, so we all decorated our own hats as we gave the bride her gifts. I feel as though coordinating ridiculous accessories is a major component of a good bachelorette and everyone was very sweet to oblidge me.

We were off to Gloria's on the harbor for great food and some of the strongest margaritas of all time! 

Then capped off the night at Rockwall's finest nightclub on the harbor, complete with techno-loving DJ's, blown speakers and many of the area's finest bachelors. 

Lots of dancing and then a little pushback from the bride re: not wanting to change out of her dress for bed and we wrapped up a great weekend! I cannot believe my baby sister is getting married in THREE weeks, y'all. It simply is not happening.

If you liked our party cups visit back tomorrow - I am giving one away on the blog!

Friday Favorites

Cheers to wrapping up a great week before the baby sister's bachelorette party this weekend! Here are some of my favorites from this week.


Hanging out with Amy last night.
Sorry that my phone camera has a vendetta against eyeballs.

Funny Families/Female Funnies

Last night Markus took me to go see Amy Sedaris do a craft demo/Q&A/book signing at the Kessler Theatre. This was Markus' first time at the Kessler (I've been once before to see Bob Schneider with some friends) and he could not get over what a great venue it is. Very, very small and intimate and also stunning. Amy was hilarious and very personable and, unlike some comedians we've seen do presentations, was very unware of the fourth wall and let us talk to Amy the professional comedian, not just all of her characters. David Sedaris comes in town about once a year and I've never fought for tickets to go but I definitely will next year to get all the stamps on my Sedaris family passport. They are proof that a family who can embrace their weirdness is destined for great things!

Everyday Shea Products

These products are the real deal. They're very thick and work well. The company uses essential oils so the all-nautral fragarence stays on you, very good for people like me who do not wear perfume. I got hooked on the body wash first, then started buying the lotion and tried the hand soap when it came out a while ago and now love it as well. I notice a big difference in my skin when I switch to something else. All the ingredients are brought in through fair trade practices and 10% of all sales go to Alaffia's empowerment program for women so I feel very good about myself when I am running my shower water for an exorbitant period of time. I get all of my Everyday Shea at Whole Foods when I'm picking up other groceries!

The inspiring mission of Community Partners of Dallas

#FundraisingFriday

The smarties over at Community Partners of Dallas and Hope Cottage started the initiative to encourage people to give $10 on Friday to their favorite charities. If you play every week that's 52 charities that benefit from you, not to mention a $520 tax deduction! Even if $10 is too much to do every single week, I love the concept of taking a few minutes before I leave work on Friday to make a quick online donation and check in on a charity that I love or even find a new one! I'm going to kick off my #FundraisingFriday story by donating my usual $10 pay day Friday lunch budget to Community Partners of Dallas. Hope Cottage is also a community resource our family hopes to work closely with one day so they are next on my list!

Dallas Summer Musicals Date Nights

I've had a standing date night with my mom at the Dallas Summer Musicals for as long as I can remember. We love to sit in the exact same seats and ride down to gorgeous Fair Park together. Besides seeing Mama Mia the week before my wedding and not knowing the surprise ending which lead to a mini nervous breakdown, all of our dates have been such fun memories for us. Tonight we are seeing La Cage aux Folles and we're even bringing Markus! So excited. 

What are you looking forward to this weekend? Did you stumble upon a new favorite this week?

What charities would you give to in a #FundraisingFriday challenge?

Oh How Pinteresting: Those Painted Rugs Everyone is Doing and the Union Jack Attack

I've posted before of my love for all things reigning from those jolly Brits right now.

Seems like my Anlgophile fever has been drawing my eye to all things Union Jack.

First you will see my new bicycle helmet, which I have been sporting with pride on our weekend trips to the grocery store...

Union Jack helmet + Cambridge satchel = a regular Kate on wheels

Then I began to notice the Union Jack popping up in quirky home decor, and I wanted in on that too.

One of the most popular of Pinterest crafts at the moment is the elusive painted rug, a project that I've skimmed over because it looked hard and the patterns displayed looked like something I could outsource to, say, someone who makes rugs professionally.

Search results for "painted rug" on Pinterest -
so many patterns and templates to choose from!

After reading these painted rug posts on The Almost 40-year-old Intern and Gypsy Soul Interiors, rug painting seemed less hard. Then the aha-moment came to transfer these tips to something less patterned and more monarchy related. A perfect solution for the geometry-challenged like yours truly.

First I bought the rug from Ikea and mapped out my design.

My rug taped out with green painter's tape.

Since I have a red sofa, I decided to do a more Warhol-style take on the Jack with a grey and mix of citrus/saffron for the striping. The paint is a quart each of interior matte paint, mixed with two bottles of fabric medium from an art supply or craft store. The Almost 40-year-old Intern lays out the instructions very well - highly recommend reading through her post before beginning yourself!

P.S. I love these paint trays from Lowe's. $2 and I get to throw them away without feeling guilty about the price or carbon footprint. Washing a bunch of paint supplies after a project is le worst.

After letting the paint (almost) dry. I lifted off the tape to see my finished results. LOVE! Taking the painter's tape off at the end is always my favorite part of a paint project and I get so impatient about it...anyone else?

After a full night of drying in the spare room, good ol' Jack was ready to move into the living room and contribute to the mini rock vibe that we have going in there with the gig poster gallery wall. I formerly had a faux zebra hide rug in this space and with the animal print against the red I sometimes feared that I was living in a Planet Hollywood. This is a great replacement in my opinion.

The best part of finishing this project was logging on to JonathanAdler.com afterwards and seeing how much this same rug would cost through his site. With the custom colors and this size I was looking at $1,550.00...&@*%!!! Jonathan, I love you, but I've seen your vacation home and I need to start saving for my own. It's time for me to take my custom rug designs into my own hands.

I'm linking up with The Vintage Apple so you can see more Pinterest projects with other bloggers!

Have you seen anything on Pinterest lately and made it your own with a new design or process?

Party Prep: Gluten-Free Choco Covered Peanut Butter Crackers How-To

Subtitle: I wish these treats had a cutesy name for better blog title potential.

As I've blogged about before, Sistah's wedding is swiftly approaching and the big bachelorette bash is this weekend. We are going sunning and sailing on a nearby lake and I am so excited to see the bitty bride and all of her friends. There are a few other things going on for me this week so I am trying to do anything I can in advance of Sautrday so I am more present and less frantic when I arrive at the lake resort.

Growing up when we would visit our relatives in Kentucky at Christmas, there were always Ritz peanut butter crackers covered in white or milk chocolate and kept in tins around the living room to munch on as we watched basketball. Tessie loved these when we were younger so I thought having them at her shower would be a fun and nostalgic treat that I could also easily make in advance. Some of the ingedients have changed to make them gluten-free, but they are still a great sweet/salty snack!

Choco-Covered Peanut Butter Crackers



Shopping List:
Round Crackers (I use Glutino Gluten-Free Original Flavor)
Peanut Butter - have to represent my favorite PB ever, Peanut Butter Co's The Bees Knees*
1 bag chooclate chips
M&Ms (I chose spring colors to go with our preppy maritime theme)

*Click here to see where I use this awesome Peanut Butter in smoothie recipes!



Step 1: Make your peanut butter crackers by spreading the PB on one cracker and sandwiching a second cracker on top.

If your home is anything like mine, the presence of the peanut butter jar will catch at least one other family member's attention...

Little Child is my favorite sous chef.

Step 2: Melt your chocolate, in either a poor man's double broiler (pictured above) or in the microwave if counter space is a less of a luxury item in your home as it is in ours.

Dip each PB cracker sammy into the melted chocolate and then place it on a sheet of parchment paper. Top each cracker with a festive M&M. Allow the melted chocolate to harden around the cracker. Place the dried crackers in an airtight tupperware container until you are ready to serve.

Such an easy treat that is always impossible to pass up in our family!

Some questions for you:

Do you have a favorite bachelorette memory? What do you prefer for a girls' weekend - relaxing or wild?

What is one sweet treat that you can't live without? 

For the Nifty Thrifty: Dwell with Dignity and Thrift Studio

This weekend was a few projects but mostly relaxing at the house. I did manage to put a brush through my hair and leave the hippie haven for a trip to the Design District with my mom to see Dwell with Dignity's pop-up shop, Thrift Studio.

Dwell with Dignity is a volunteer-run non-profit in Dallas that uses design partnerships and DIY projects to create inspiring and beautiful places for families transitioning from being homeless. I got to tour some of their finished projects when I visited the Interfaith Housing Coalition on my Junior League bus tour and their work is truly incredible. Maybe you have seen their feature on my favorite site ever, Apartment Therapy? I love that the volunteers of this organization often tell me how much working alongside other women who love design and beauty on a budget has changed their own lives. Their Wednesday Work Nights are the alternative happy hour and visiting Thrift Studio inspired me to go by the Dwell house soon and get some target practice with my glue gun.

Thrift Studio sells everything from upcycled art and DIY projects to donated linens homegoods to raise funds for Dwell with Dignity. I was overwhelmed with design inspiration for my own home as I walked through the showroom and also found some great buys! My iphone favorites follow below...

I adored these bookshelves with a little hideaway storage in the nursery showroom. (Of course, Crazy Baby Lady strikes again...) I feel like most nurseries are either super traditional or very, very mod and this is a great merging of the two looks in a key nursery furniture item.

After seeing so many great projects of designers using screens as headboards I was very drawn to this beautiful screen!

I love consoles and vintage buffets as entertainment centers. So much so that one is in my home and I have another one at my sister's place. So I was not allowed to buy this one, even though it would make a great bar, TV stand or dare I say changing table? (CBL does not quit, you guys.)

Peacock Alley donated linens for a mini-outlet sale inside Thrift Studio. So many of the fabrics are stunning but the colors on this one really popped out at me for that "so old fashioned it's cool" look that preppys and hipsters alike are in pursuit of right now, yours truly included.

These chairs were an immaculate upholstery job and the perfect example of how quickly the right fabric can take pieces from drab to fab! I have been really interested in learning how to do small reupholstery projects after my Nannie's chairs were completely transformed earlier this year. I need to make good on my resolution to work with Dwell with Dignity soon - you learn SO much while volunteering!

This caught my eye as I was leaving for a fun pop of color in an office or powder room. I love that femenine pieces are in style right now. I love decidedly girly decor when it is in the right place.

Click here for updates on Thrift Studio along with hours and location. Hurry up and pay them a visit before all the goods are gone!

In honor of all the great women volunteers I met at Thrift Studio along with it being National Volunteer Week, I'd love to ask...

Do you volunteer? If so, where? and why do you like it?

Give your favorite non-profit a shout out on my blog! Turn the comments board today into your personal soap box and let us know why we should volunteer there!

Zoom! Whitening With a Side of Emotional Trauma

Subtitle: How I Learned That I am Too Chemically Imbalanced to be Left Alone in a Room for 45 Minutes

Markus and I had our cleanings at our dentist, Pure Dental, today. I am particuarly fond of my dentist for its friendly staff and for it's green-minded approach to running a medical office. Everything is paperless, I get my appointment reminders by email and text and there are organic and eco-friendly options for many of the treatments.

They also have awesome patient rooms with flat screens where you can watch TV during your cleaning! I've watched really cool National Geographic videos during cleanings and today was The Office, which I was really excited about until things happened that I shall explain with time (consider this my plot exposition).



So great, unless you are crazy and then it is not so great.

The dentist ran a Groupon a few months ago for Zoom! whitening, which also I won from Pure Dental as a new customer a few years ago. The placement of my teeth is a little um, irregluar, so I figure if they are super white people will just generally be blinded by the sight of them and fail to notice that some of the teeth, like the woman whose mouth they inhabit, tend to journey off from the pack. I like Zoom (only doing the trademarked exclamation point on first reference, sorry everyone) because it's a one-time thing and I don't have to remember to do a tray or what have you. It also lasted for a really long time the first time I did it, most likely because up until starting my most recent job I always drank my coffee or tea with a straw - such a easy way to keep teeth white, I noticed a difference so quickly when I stopped!

Zoom is a 45 minute long process and your mouth is kept open where you are unable to speak. Since our dentist is wise enough to realize most adults do not need a babysitter for 45 minutes, you're only checked on every 15 minutes or so but given a squeak toy in case you need something. (And so we continue to build the plot exposition...)

Markus models the whitening accessories.



I got in my chair and got set up. Everything was going great until one very particular episode of The Office had to come on and reveal my deep, dark ugly secret to everyone in the dentist's office.

The secret is this: I want a baby so, so badly. I've had baby fever before, where for a week or so you stare at babies in the grocery store and look at nurseries on Pinterest or whatever and then you go to dinner with your friends or accomplish something awesome at work and it passes by. This round hasn't budged since the beginning of the year. It just seems like it's time to be thinking about when the baby comes and meeting with people to begin making it happen. There are a lot of things on our "things to do before we have a baby" checklist that are checked off, but some big ones aren't and so baby time is not here for our family. For me to personally stay in my own life without getting comparitive or throwing pity parties or beginning to get resentful for any sweet person blessed with a baby right now, if you are pregnant and my Facebook friend you are bye-bye from my news feed for the time being. I love reading blogs of new moms because I feel like the longer format has taught me so much for when its my turn, so blogs are sticking around for the moment. But TV episodes where America's favorite couple welcomes their first baby into their happy marriage? Not right now, thank you.

So the episode of The Office that comes on while I am trapped in my seat with no one to turn to is where we watch Jim and Pam welcome their baby into the world and everyone can't believe it and isn't this the happiest day of their lives and Jim is an adorable mess and Pam is calm but then nervous and they get through it together because it's JAM AND PAM EVERYONE and all the people who love them knew they could do it and will never forget this day.

Markus wrapped up his whitening and came in to find me fetal in my dentist chair, sweating and sobbing, my mouth stretch over my whitening device but still quivering and completely overcome with emotion. Poor man had to run to the front desk and beg them to turn off the television. And that is how "Crazy Baby Lady" came to be written on my dental file. I guess the good news is I have six whole months before I have to see them again?

This is something I never expected to blog about or share but if it's good enough for my dentist's office, it's good enough for the blog, right? I've been trying to keep Crazy Baby Lady (CBL?) from consuming my life or becoming public knowledge but with crying jags 1-4 times a week and the inability to watch episodes of The Office, I'm making this post my official ownership of my want for a baby.

I think it's kind of difficult for me because I was never looking for my husband in school, was not the type of girl to meet a guy at 21 and marry him at 24 - the numbers on this scream "connects being married with her own self-worth" to me for some reason when I always thought I would be the girl traveling for work with nothing in my refrigerator but a box of baking soda. Wanting a baby with my husband only three years after being married makes me feel so decidely wifey and not working-girl-who-is-also-married. When I think of all of that I've accomplished in my twenties, the cornerstone is the family dynamic that I've built with Markus. So being a happy wife who hopes for happy babies was not the career goal of my twenties, but it came to me and it is changed my life and I am owning it without shame or thinking that it means I am any less smart or ambitious. And it starts at the dentist apparently.

Easter Weekend in Photos

Markus' chosen saint for his Confirmation was St. Francis de Asissi, so I got him this buddy from my faovirte antique store The While Elephant for his outdoor man space. Markus loves to unwind by burning whatever he can find in his chiminea. Now he'll have a friend out there.

Our table set for family to come over after Markus' baptism. I found sunflower cake idea on Pinterest (duh). The cake is gluten-free chocolate chip from my most trusted cookbook, The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten Free.

Scripture favors for those who attended the baptism. Found on Pinterest.

Markus being baptised Catholic! My type A flared up when I looked at this photo later and realized I forgot to smooth out my dress when I got to the altar. Why do things like this drive me crazy sometimes?

My mom got Markus 2000 ladybugs as his baptism gift. Releasing them into the backyard was awesome!

They are a natural insecticide and they'll lay their eggs in our garden so we can enjoy them for a long time.

Easter Sunday - Little Child lets the world know that He is risen as we go to my mom's (Gigi's) house.

Rules at my family's egg hunt are everyone has to wear a crazy "Easter bonnet" to get to hunt.

Hunting for eggs in the rain.

Sistah and I could not find our manly men after the rainy hunt. Turns out they were under the side porch awning smoking cigars and talkin' shop about those Watson women. Still sporting their Easter bonnets of course...

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

What were you up to this weekend?