travel: Birmingham weekend

hi everyone! happy Monday :) i am finally getting around to sharing our Birmingham trip from last weekend! we had such a great time. it was my first time in Birmingham and I really enjoyed the areas of the city and  all of the fun shopping.

we left on a Saturday morning and headed straight to the barber vintage mtorsports mueseum as reed has been several times and always loves visiting this museum. it was really neat and we spent a few hours there and then went shopping at the summit. fabulous shopping I might add. we had dinner at Johns city diner downtown Birmingham. It was absolutely wonderful! we loved it. 

on Sunday, we had coffee and breakfast at a cute coffee shop downtown Mountainbrook and walked around the area.  on the  way home, we took the long route and went through a few small towns we had been wanting to see and enjoyed a nice Sunday drive.  it was a great relaxing weekend! here are a few fun photos of our trip. enjoy and thanks for stopping by :)

beauty: my daily skin routine

                   hi everyone! it's a new week and i still can't believe its already February! we had a great weekend relaxing and enjoying time with my brother and a few friends this weekend. i hope you all had a great weekend as well. i wanted to share my daily skin routine with you all this week. i have recieved several questions about beautycounter and what i use daily and thought this would be a great way to share.

                  as some of you know last year was a year filled with dermatology appointments and getting spots removed. last year around this time i was introduced to beautycounter and i couldn't be more thankful for what it has done to my skin. i have always been a product junky and i loved my subscription boxes and all that fun stuff but i often found myself not sticking to one brand but several. i never thought i would be able to order everything i need from one brand, and thats exactly what i do with beautycounter. to my shampoo & conditioner, to my makeup, and lotion. it's also such a reassurance in knowing that all of what i am using every day  contains safe ingredients and is actually good for me.

here is my daily routine:

-3 days a week, i apply the purifying charcoal mask and leave this on for 20 minutes or until it hardens and then i wash off the mask. it feels amazing and leaves my skin with a clean glow. this really has made the difference each week in my skin. the mask tightens and cleanses very well.

(below) each morning: i wash my face with the nourishing cream cleanser and then i pat my face dry and use the nourishing day cream every day before applying my makeup. the good thing about these products are how light weight they are. i don't like some moisturizers that are thick and leave your face feeling gunky (i think i made that word up) but you know what i mean :)

(below) this is my night-time routine before bed. every single night i have used these products for the past year and i can really feel the difference in my skin. i start by washing my makeup off each night with the charcoal bar. after i pat my face dry, i use one squirt (dime size amounts for all of these products) and i mix one drop of the balancing oil below in with the nourishing night cream which is the bottle on the far left. so let me re-cap.... charcoal bar- mix the balancing oil in with the night cream. then i apply that mixture to my face and let it dry and then lastly i take a small amount (dime size) of the eye cream (tube in the middle) and pat this lightly around my eyes.

this night-time routine has also really made the difference along with the charcoal mask. i can't tell you how great my skin feels on a daily basis.  it truly is about being consistent such as anything if you want to see results and feel good. 

thanks for stopping by! i hope you have enjoyed this beauty post. you can see all of the beautycounter products on my website at http://www.beautycounter.com/tesladraffin  

if you have any questions, please reach out to me and ask :) thank you and i will see you again real soon, have a great week! xoxo

            

recipes: whole30 homemade breakfast sausage

                    hey guys! i hope you are all having a great week. Is it Friday yet?! haha just kidding, or maybe I'm not! I wanted to share a delicious whole30 sausage that we made over the weekend for the first time. we really liked this one and it was literally so easy to make. here is the recipe and this one can actually be found on page 251 of the whole30 book. the sausage we purchased fresh at sprouts and it didn't contain a lot of the preservatives like most meats do; therefore, this was really light and not a heavy meat. this recipe is so good!! 

ingredients: 

-1 pound of ground pork

-1/4 tension of ground sage

-1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder

-1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme

-1/4 teaspoon of onion powder

-1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

-1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg

-1 teaspoon of salt

-1/8 teaspoon of black pepper

-grated zest of one lemon

details:

(this recipe calls for baking the sausage patties; however, i actually used a grill pan on top of the stove to make them a little crispy- either way is great)

-preheat your oven to 350

-in a large mixing bowl, mix all of the sausage ingredients

-form into 8 equal patties (i did smaller patties in this recipe)

-place on a plate and chill in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes

-remove the sausage from the freezer and place on parchment paper in your baking sheet (i actually put mine in a grill pan on top of the stove instead until golden brown and all of the pink is gone)

-to bake: you can pop these in the oven until no pink remains in the middle of the patty--check with a fork 

-i sprinkled some salt and pepper on top and made breakfast for dinner with this! 

enjoy!! have a great week, ill see you again real soon xoxo

whole30 blueberry pancakes, egg muffins, and sausage- dinner for breakfast! blueberry pancake recipe is coming soon :)

(sorry these photos are a little dark, they came from my phone) 

home decor: my current favorite magnolia market picks

                           hi everyone! i hope you are having a great week! i am constantly looking at home decor blogs and shops for new ideas and ways to re-decorate our home. one shop i can't ever get enough of is obviously magnolia market. i just ordered a few items for spring and wanted to share with you some of my favorite magnolia picks right now. as much as i love winter and snow, i also really enjoy brightening up my house with some pops of color, fresh flowers in several rooms, and incorporating some new floral details in the house. so basically, if there isn't snow on the ground i want fun new spring decor inside haha I'm weird i know.

anyways, i thought it would be fun to share some favorite picks that i am currently craving. i am also trying to plan a weekend to magnolia this year, but more on that later. here are a few of my favorite picks  below and how to use them. happy tuesday! have a great week and i will see you again real soon xoxo

All of these items are found on the magnolia website http://www.magnoliamarket.com

metal cake stands: how amazing are these? i love the shape and the size. perfect for entertaining or stacking in your kitchen to make a statement.

in love with this wired 2 tier stand. this would be great for coffee mugs in the kitchen, cupcakes for a party, or as they have it above with gardening items. so cute!

these wooden buckets are beautiful for fresh flowers on your porch or could be used in doors as well with the right greenery.

i am a sucker for a good vase and flowers. i can't wait to display these in my home! i love the florals as well for a pop of color in any room in the house. 

this is perfect! thats all.

how cute are these french canisters? i love them with the wooden spoons, spatulas, placing flour or sugar in them or just for a good kitchen display 

locker baskets! what a neat way to organize for a kids room or in a mud room. love the colors and the  distressed look on these,

2017: new year, new goals

                       hey everyone! happy new year. it's hard to believe Christmas has come and gone and now new years as well. 2017 is here and instead of coming up with resolutions that will probably slip between the cracks i wanted to share my personal goals for this year instead. we all know everyone wants to be healthy and lose weight at the beginning of the year and you always hear the jokes about how many people open up a gym membership in january and don't ever see the gym again after february or start a diet and don't finish it; it's funny to me because i have been one of those people before. been there done that. 

                      i was so thankful my best friend jordan introduced me to whole30 in 2016. after about 45 days of strict discipline in maintaining the whole30 program i felt so good. yes i lost weight but i mean truly felt good inside and had more energy!  after eating bad food over the holidays (which was wonderful, don't get me wrong) it really felt like my body was hating me for how bad i was eating. it's amazing the difference you can make just by choosing healthy foods each day. thats my first goal for the year is to take care of myself and my family by keeping up the whole30 lifestyle and extending it past the first few months. i plan to keep this going as a lifestyle verses a diet. this might be a little easier to follow: heres a few goals i have for 2017

• HEALTH: put my health first- maintain the whole30 lifestyle and share recipes and ideas with others 
• GIVE: my goal is to give more throughout the year in ways we can impact others and through our church--  to actively seek new ways to give to others who are in need 
• BIBLE: my goal is to start a new women's bible study plan- anyone have any good recommendations for this one?? 
• SAVE: everyone wants to save more and spend less, but my goal is to save more each month 
• MEMORIES: reed and i love to travel, we will have more weekend time this year to make more road-trips and have more opportunities to travel often and even more than we did last year-- my goal is to keep this going and spend more time trying new things together 
• FAMILY: to continue to spend more time and as much time as we can with our families :)
• FREE WEEKENDS: this is a big one for us, my goal is to not plan every weekend packed full of things to do each weekend of every month-- plan weekends with nothing to do!!
• READ:  the goal is to put away the phone more often and grab a good book instead

those are a few meaningful goals for this year and i know you all have your own as well! I would love to hear yours as well, feel free to share and comment below! my hope for my blog is that i can share ideas with you through my little spot on the internet and inspire you to do things you love each and every day :) thank you for reading and for your support. have a great week  and cheers to a fresh new year with endless possibilities!! God is good!! see you again soon xoxo 

home decor: Christmas 2016 decor

                  Merry Christmas ya'll! I can't believe we are only a few days away from the best day of the year. this year sure has flown by and what a year it has been. i am so thankful each and every day for the wonderful people we have in our lives and that we have each other. i am so excited to head home to indiana on friday with reed, my brother, and paw of course. we have a wonderful weekend filled with family traditions and lots of holiday treats (the diet starts in january) ha! 

i am finally getting a free second to share my holiday home decor with you!! sorry for the delay! i am so excited to share the main areas in our home and how we decorated for this year's holiday season. we added several new pieces this year but also used a lot of our tree ideas from last year. i wanted to keep the tree simple this year and not overload it like i did last year. 

                 i shared my gift wrapping ideas last week and you can also see more packages as well in these photos. this is the first year reed and i aren't buying Christmas gifts for each other. yes! i know! you are probably thinking, what in the world and why!? we are actually trading gifts for memories and have decided to book a few trips in the coming months instead! we love to travel and thought this was a great idea. i can't wait to share where we are planing to go, but that's for another post.

 in the meantime, i would love to hear your holiday traditions and what you are doing for the holiday season. send me a message or comment below :) i would love to hear from you! 

while it is very easy for us to get caught up in the "stress" and the material things of the holidays; let's reflect on family time and the true meaning of the season and thats the birth of Jesus :) I hope you all have a wonderful week and I will be sharing my Christmas go-to treats with you later in the week. see you real soon xoxo 

diy: Christmas gift wrapping

hi everyone! happy thursday! we almost made it to the end of the week and i am excited!! i am sure you all are in the Christmas spirit with wrapping gifts, christmas shopping, and making your favorite treats and i wanted to take a minute to share my gift wrapping for this year. 

i love sharing gift wrapping ideas with you and last year i went with the solid craft paper packaging with different ideas for gift toppers such as candy bars, ornaments, and monograms but this year i went with plaids, trees, and color! i handmade the gift tags on my circuit machine and purchased the nice thick paper from tjmaxx and marshals! enjoy the pictures and if you ever need help wrapping, i am your gal :) i love wrapping gifts for others. i hope you all enjoy your weekend and i will be sharing our holiday decor with you next week. can't wait! xo

handmade Christmas tags, will give your gifts a personal touch

it's all about the bows!!

exposed gifts on top of packages are always fun and make for a cute gift wrapping idea! :) 

feature: essential oils

hi everyone! i hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving with your friends & family! it's hard to believe Christmas is right around the corner :) 

several weeks ago, i was gifted a super fun package in the mail from a friend in indiana sharing her essential oil business with me "doterra." she sent me a care package and wanted me to try all of the essential oils that she offers. 

i will tell you, that i am a huge fan of essential oils and have been using them for almost two years now. the essential oil that has truly saved my life has been peppermint oil. if you know me, you know i have had migraines and headaches since i was 15 and i would regularly get them every two months or so. i discovered peppermint oil online when a Facebook friend said to try this for migraines. i had literally tried everything in the book and been to every type of doctor under the sun and nothing helped or worked. because they are hereditary, i knew i would have them for a long time if not forever. it wasn't until i started using peppermint oil and also regularly attending a chiropractor; i discovered these terrible things that started with an "m" disappeared. it has been a little over a year since i have had one and i truly can't believe it. 

you might be wondering how this can help a headache or migraine and how to use it. because the peppermint oil is so strong, it simply soothes and relaxes the muscles. i apply peppermint oil to the back of my neck, temples, and dab it under my nose. i will use this anytime my head feels tight, pressure, or i feel like i might get a headache. i have passed this on to many friends and family members! if you ask any of my old co-workers what oil i used constantly in the office they would all know and say peppermint oil haha! it has truly saved my life. 

now, enough about me. my friend sent me this wonderful package full of healthy snacks, essential oil samples, magazines, and my favorite was the recipe cards of what to use and how. i would be more than happy to pass along my friends information as well if anyone is interested, please send me a message or e-mail and i will gladly send you her personal information :) as you can see, she sent me a great sample of each of the essential oils. i haven't tried them all yet but i obviously have been using the peppermint oil that she gave me as well as the lavender for sleeping purposes (its wonderful). i have also experimented with the lemon oil as well in the kitchen and have really enjoyed this one as well. 

here are a few helpful essential oil tips & recipes that i used:

all purpose cleaner: i mixed dr. bronners peppermint soap with 4-5 drops of peppermint oil and placed it in a spray bottle and i use this daily for cleaning in my kitchen and home

linen pillow spray: 3 drops of lavender, 2 drops of chamomile, mixed with distilled water  add this to a spray bottle and spray a mist on your pillows and let dry before sleeping (lavender is great for a good nights sleep)

refreshing room spray: 2 drops of peppermint oil, 2 drops of lemon, and distilled water and add this to a spray bottle and use as a mist for your home! smells so good and fresh!

20 health benefits of essential oils: 

1. affect the psyche

2. support immune function

3. supply potent antimicrobials

4. provide natural pain relief 

5. reduce inflammation 

6. ease stress and anxiety

7. decrease insomnia 

8. rejuvenate skin

9. protect against colds and influenza

10. soothe digestive disorders

11. improve circulatory system 

12. promote optimal endocrine function

13. support urinary system 

14. soothe burns, sunburns, minor cuts, and scrapes

15. support muscles and bones

16. provide oral and dental care

17. nourish and strengthen hair

18. improve mental clarity

19. protect against cancer

20. provide safe and natural alternatives to household cleaners 

i hope you have enjoyed a little bit of information on essential oils and why i am a true believer of them! thank you so much to Jerrie for inspiring this post and for sending me products to try! i love them all and appreciate it! if you have any questions at all or would like further information/ personal information on Jerrie's business in essential oils please contact me. 

thanks so much and hope you all have a great week :) see you again soon xoxo

recipe: mexican chicken casserole

hi everyone! happy wednesday! i wanted to share a new recipe i found in the "come home to supper" cookbook from the author of Southern Plate. i wanted to try a new casserole and found this mexican chicken casserole. i am a picky eater; therefore, i made this for reed haha! i wanted to make this for him since he loves anything and everything mexican! he absolutely loved it and i wanted to share it will you all. this is very easy and simple to make and like i said he really enjoyed it. here is the recipe!

ingredients:

-cooking spray

-4 cups of chopped cooked chicken

-2 cups of uncooked brown rice

-1 can of cream of chicken soup

-1 cup of sour cream

-1/2 cup of diced onion

-1 can of hotel (i used cilantro & lime juice flavor)

-1 can of beans (if you wish, this recipe didn't actually call for beans but i added black beans)

-1 can of green chiles 

-1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin

-1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

-1 1/2 cups of chicken broth

-8 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese 

details:

-preheat your oven to 350

-spray a 9 x 12 baking dish with your cooking spray

-place the chicken, beans, rice, soup, sour cream, onion, rotel, cumin, garlic powder, chicken broth, and half of the cheese in a large mixing bowl

-stir well 

-turn the mixture into a prepared baking dish

-top the dish with the rest of the cheese

-bake the casserole for 30 minutes or until it is bubbly

-you can serve this with tortilla chips, flour tortillas, or corn tortillas (we used crunch corn tortillas)

-enjoy :)

this recipe was so easy to make and reed loved it! i hope you enjoy this recipe and i will see you all again soon :) as always, thanks for stopping by! xo

home decor: hallway details

happy monday! the past few days have been extremely relaxing and laid back. we finished up our Christmas open house at The Faded Farmhouse and i had two days off to relax yesterday and today and it has been pretty wonderful. my brother came over yesterday and we all watched football, the walking dead of course, and ate lunch & dinner together. reed and i spent friday night out for date night with dinner & a movie and saturday evening was a time to also relax and cook dinner. all in all, this past weekend was good for the soul ha! 

i wanted to share a few hallway details with you. i apologize the picture quality isn't the best in these photos due to lighting but wanted to share a few good finds from our hallway. i found a bottom of an old tobacco basket from a little antique shop in palestine, il. we found it for $5 yes you heard me right! i couldn't believe it and thought it was so neat with the stamps and imprints on the basket. this hallway is located at the front of our house as soon as you walk in the front door. this hallway connects the guest bedroom, bathroom, and my craft room. 

the table we found at "at home" stores when we first moved in. the greenery at the bottom of the table was found at "home goods" and the barn painting is from the faded farmhouse (of course) ha! on top of the table; i found the small greenery at tjmaxx and the basket came from the nashville flea market (it was also a steal for $4). lastly, i am a lover of old books. i use them to decorate the house with and i love the old vintage look of them. especially when you can find great classic titles such as "gone with the wind." 

again, sorry the photos are a little dark but i hope you enjoy our hallway details today! hope you all have a wonderful week and i will see you again real soon :) xo