fashion: memphis fashion week

            Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a great week. I wanted to share my super fun experience at Memphis Fashion week this past weekend. My sister-in-law Lauren is on the board of Memphis Fashion week and also the head stylist of the Freeze models as well. I was able to help style with her this past weekend and I had so much fun working with her. We make a great team and I loved being apart of the fun experience. Enjoy!

Here are a few images of Memphis Fashion week:

Stylist Team 

One of my models

Models & Stylist team 

recipe: whole30 taco & fajita seasoning

        hey everyone! I hope you all are having a great week! I wanted to share our go-to seasonings that we make on a weekly basis with you.  with whole 30 we eat a lot of tacos and fajitas about once a week. it's quick, easy,  and whole30 compliant.

the taco & fajita seasonings that we make are clean and light unlike a packet of seasoning you find at the grocery store where it feels heavy and loaded with sugar.  we have really come to love these two seasonings.  we found these on pinterest on a whole30 blog. I made my own containers and labeled them; therefore, you can really make ahead or just combine your mixture for one recipe. because we use these so often, i am constantly refilling these jars. oh and they have polka dots, aren't they cute?! :) here are the recipes:

Seasoning for Fajitas:

Seasoning for Tacos:

host: reed's birthday dinner

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a great day and week. Over the weekend, I hosted Reed's Birthday dinner at our house with family and friends. We had a great time and I enjoyed having Reed's family over. I wanted to share a few pictures of my table setting. I love simple tables settings with neutral colors and fresh flowers of course :). 

Reed's mother Barbara made the brisket (Reed's favorite) and potatoes and I made a buffalo chicken dip for the appetizer along with his favorite salad, pineapple casserole, and vegetables. To top it off I made a yellow cake with chocolate icing (Birthday boy's request) for dessert haha! It was a fun night with family. Here are a few photos:

travel: mount airy, nc

hi everyone! happy Monday. i wanted to share our Mount Airy, North Carolina trip with you all from this past weekend. i had several people ask me about the trip and wanted to know more information about andy's house that we stayed at so i thought this would be good to post about.

we left Friday evening and traveled to bristol, TN which was a good stopping point since the drive from Nashville was about 6 hours. we drove late Friday after work and stayed the night in bristol. we woke up early Saturday and had breakfast and only had an hour and a half drive left until we reached mount airy. we arrived at mount airy and immediately started the day at the andy griffith museum. reed is a huge andy fan and loves the andy griffith show. he watched it a lot growing up but still watches it on Netflix every day when he gets home from work (not kidding) every day!!

we loved the museum and we stayed there for an hour or so and then we made our way downtown main street Mayberry. what a cute and quiet little town, we really loved it! we ate lunch at the famous snappy's lunch. this is the lunch spot that is mentioned in the show several times and they are known for their pork chop sandwich. this was such a good hole in the wall place. after lunch, we walked around main street and went shopping.

then, we checked into andy's someplace which is andy's actual home that he grew up in. we loved it! it was such a sweet and small older home with neat memorabilia and items from andy's life. after we checked in, we took a tour in andy's sheriff car and drove through the town learning about the history of the town. we really loved this part as well haha! you can definitely say we are old souls, and we wouldn't have it any other way. i am so thankful that reed is an old soul and appreciates the simple things in life.

after the tour, we ate dinner at 13 bones which was a great steak house. we enjoyed dessert (reeds favorite -red velvet cake) and then took a drive to see pilot mountain. it was a beautiful drive! we headed home on Sunday and took our time and made a few stops. we love road trips together and we really enjoy seeing new places together. i hope you all had a fun weekend!

here are a few links to the andy griffith landmarks in mount airy for those of you who asked and also several pictures of our trip :) enjoy!

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