Coffee for me has always been reminiscent of starting a morning off on the right foot. Sure, I don’t need it to have a good morning, but the comfort of a steaming mug of rich coffee is certainly a good way to go. The way the steam wraps around the morning air, the aroma of freshly brewing coffee, the hiss of the machine as it pushes the hot water through the grounds is practically musical. I just love it.

Growing up my parents always started the day with a cup of coffee and a long walk. They would go together and talk about their days, their dreams, and inevitably me and my sister. They would come back and get ready, clearly relaxed and ready to start the day. While they were off walking, my sister and I would drowsily pull ourselves out of bed and put a CD in while we both figured out how to get ready for the day.

When I was in college I started drinking coffee before morning classes. I would always roll out of bed, crank Jack Johnson’s “Bubbly Toes” and start the coffee machine. A shower, a few more invigorating songs, and a likely impromptu dance later I was out the door with my steaming mug of coffee in hand. When I think back to those college years I can’t help but love the way music and coffee always seemed to go hand in hand, and how I now see myself setting that same example for my son.

These days we wake up and kiss Nate goodbye as he heads off to work. I start the coffee maker and start getting Weston’s breakfast ready; he always stops and watches the coffee drip into the pot for a little bit before settling into his high chair. We eat together while we sing and read books, and I always have my trusty mug beside me the whole time. I love that he loves watching the coffee maker and more importantly I love that he’s developing a love for music early on. This little morning ritual we have is such a blessing as I learn how to be a mother and Weston learns how to do everything else

Sure, we don’t need coffee. We don’t have to have music. But life sure is better when we do!

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While I feel like I have an eye for things that look good on other people, I never claimed to be any kind of fashionista (this is where I get really happy about my StitchFix shipments) or DIY goddess.  Let’s be real here:  I’m not.  The other night I was working on some cute little baby girl headbands for a precious friend who is about to give birth to her sweet daughter, and I kid you not my hands were shaking the whole time.  This project required a tiny bit of hand stitching and the rest was all with a hot glue gun…and yet I couldn’t keep it together.

You know, just to give y’all a little perspective on my crafting capabilities.

A few weeks ago I pinned this awesome necklace on my clothes board and couldn’t stop thinking about it – I love the layers and the different metallics and the rhinestones, all in one beautiful piece.  I knew I had seen some of the materials I could use to make a much less expensive version (the original is $150) at Michael’s earlier in the week, and I got super excited at the prospect of making my own jewelry.  I am SO NOT this incredibly talented lady, but I figured it was worth a shot to make a cute necklace, right?

So here’s the deal: I didn’t actually get the materials from Michael’s, which is basically a result of sheer laziness.  Craft stores are literally around the corner from me, but I ended up just getting the chains at Walmart instead, hence the $6.  If you were to get them from Michael’s or Hobby Lobby it would certainly be a little bit more, but you would also likely have a larger selection to choose from.  Either way the final product will certainly be less than the retail of the necklace I pinned, so it’s probably a win

When you pick out the chains you want, make sure they’ll be long enough to make a necklace that is at a comfortable length for you.  Here’s what you need:

• 2-3 metal chains where the links are different colors and shades of metal – pick your favorites!
• 1 pair of metal cutting pliers (I don’t even know if that’s the name of those things)
• 1 pair of needle nose pliers
• Necklace fasteners (if your chains didn’t come with them)

My necklace is only two chains – one with larger links, and a longer gunmetal one with smaller links.  Basically what I did was:

• fasten one end of each chain to one part of a necklace fastener;
• hang the top on a nail in the wall (I just took a picture down for this part);
• wove the longer chain through the shorter one through every other link, then back through the links I missed going back up;
• fasten the end of the longer chain to the necklace fastener and cut it to fit;
• place the other side of the necklace fastener on the other side of the necklace.
• VOILA!

This is SO not a technically sound post, but it’s so simple I figure most people can figure it out by the photos anyway   Regardless, I love that it has this kind of hard-core look to it, and I love wearing it with more girly things!  And at $6 I don’t see a reason to not try it!

Behold, y’all.  We are entering salad season!

I’ve shared it so many times in the past, but I’m new to this whole salad-loving thing.  Then, when I was pregnant with Weston in the dead of Colorado’s 2011/2012 winter all I wanted from life was a fresh salad.  I just wanted some good garden-fresh spinach with a bunch of fruit and veggies that you can only find in the summer months, and drizzle of dressing.

Sure, you can find salad anywhere.  And I tried to find something that would meet my impossibly high 3rd trimester standards, but the reality is that it didn’t exist.  Honestly I figured that I would just get over it after Weston was born, like it was some kind of random pregnancy craving – but the longer I went without that salad, the more I wanted it!  When the good local fresh stuff started hitting the markets I was all over it, and a the salad obsession was born!

So tuna salad.  I’ve never really had it before because we didn’t eat a lot of tuna growing up.  College is really when I started to eat it consistently because it was so affordable, but even then I didn’t have the guts to really make it my own.  And this salad you guys?  Totally worth the wait.  It’s incredibly simple and pairs so well with a bunch of fresh lettuce, OR served in a sandwich/wrap.  I like to chop my mango and fold it into the whole thing, but in a true moment of transparency I can down a whole ripe mango in one serving, so I just eat the extra on the side.

Here’s to salad season guys!

QUICK HUMMUS, MANGO AND PISTACHIO SALAD

• 1 can Bumble Bee solid white Albacore tuna, drained
• 2 Tbsp hummus (I love Sabra’s Roasted Garlic hummus, but if you like to make your own I really adore this version!)
• 2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mango
• 1 Tbsp dried cranberries
• 1 Tbsp shelled roasted pistachios
• lettuce/tomatoes/carrots – your favorite salad items!

I know it’s going to sound so simple, but I think it’s all about the ratio of ingredients here.  Stir together the hummus, the Greek yogurt and the mustard.  Flake the tuna a bit with a fork, then fold the tuna, mango and cranberries into the wet ingredients.  If you’d like the fold the pistachios in then that’s fine, but they lose their crunch fairly quickly if you do.  I like to top mine with the pistachios right before eating!  Serve and enjoy!

Since we partied it up on last week’s ChefMom food let’s tone down the calorie count (but not the flavor) this time around! These recipes are regulars around our house – so simple and so flavorful and so healthy!  Enjoy!

Cauliflower steaks 

Stuffed cremini pizza bites 

Banana pecan overnight oatmeal 

Roasted sriracha edamame 

Coffee cakes always remind me of Sunday mornings.

See, we always ate breakfast every day of the week; I’ve never really been a stranger to making breakfast a priority.  In fact I’d be willing to be that most nights I probably am already thinking of what I’m going to eat the next morning.  I like food.  You know, in case y’all couldn’t tell

But coffee cakes were always reserved for Sunday mornings.  My mom would always wake up and make a big breakfast with eggs and sausage or bacon and coffee cake.  We always looked forward to eating a warm slice of cake with the crunchy sugary topping before heading off to church.

This week I made this delicious little number for Nate to take with him for breakfast in the mornings, and then subsequently decided that it was not all his and that, in fact, it was half mine too.  Because there’s nothing that could be more fun than a week of Sunday mornings

BLUEBERRY COFFEE CAKE WITH BROWN SUGAR ALMOND STREUSEL

Makes one 9-inch round cake

For the cake:

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 2 whole eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour + 1 Tbsp
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 12 ounces frozen blueberries

For the streusel topping:

• 4 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with nonstick spray.  Whisk together the oil, yogurt, eggs, milk and vanilla until combined.  Whisk in 2 cups of flour, the baking powder and salt until just combined.  In a smaller bowl toss the frozen blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour.  Gently fold into the cake batter.  Spread the cake batter into the prepared pan.

In another small bowl stir together all of the streusel ingredients until combined.  Sprinkle evenly over the top of the cake batter.  Bake the whole cake at 375 for 45-60 minutes.  Keep an eye on it toward the end; if it’s starting to get too brown then cover lightly with foil.  Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving!

If you follow me on Instagram at all, you probably saw that last week my little man finally sprouted his third tooth. Yes, you read that correctly: at just over 14 months he now only has 3 teeth! It’s silly, but this is something I’ve been worrying about like crazy. I KNOW he has teeth coming in, I KNOW it’s actually better for his teeth that they’re coming in slowly. And while I can certainly wait for him to grow up, I’m also excited to see what he looks like with his big sweet smile filled with beautiful pearly whites.

When it comes to Weston’s milestones I always feel a little torn, and each one is a little bittersweet. I get so excited to watch him turn into the little boy and the man that he’s going to become, but I can’t help but miss the tiny helpless baby he once was. The other day I found a newborn diaper that was leftover from the first few weeks of his life, and when I placed it next to the size 4 he wears now I burst into tears. I know it sounds crazy, but there are times when I mourn a little bit the fact that he will no longer be so tiny, but every stage he goes through is even more incredible than the one before so I can’t help but rejoice in the fact that I get to watch it all unfold before my eyes.

When I got the chance to try Huggie’s SlipOns diapers on my rapidly growing little man, I jumped at it. He is so active and hardly has time to have diapers with tabs put on him. Those kitchen cupboards aren’t going to explore themselves, you know And while I was a little sad to do his “first fitting” (where we actually put the diaper on standing up), I consider myself blessed to be part of every milestone!

So my verdict on the diapers? LOVE THEM. They seem super comfortable for Wes, and we haven’t had any leaks at all. I love that the sides tear away to remove them easily (practically one-handed!), and they’re so easy for him to move around in. Plus I really like that I don’t have to lay him down on gross changing tables when we’re out in public, which means that he won’t be grabbing and trying to chew on said gross changing tables. Instead I can stand him up and we sing and laugh and make the whole process of changing him fun instead!

My little guy may be growing leaps and bounds and moving at the speed of baby lightning, but I am completely blessed to see it all unfolding before my eyes – even if it does happen faster than I want sometimes!

For coupons and to learn more about your baby’s first fitting, visit the Huggies Fitting Room http://www.huggies.com/en-us/products/diapers/littlemoversslipons

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf ofHuggies. The opinions and text are all mine.

Since we’ve been living in the South again we’ve been drinking quite a bit more tea than we did during the 4 years we lived in Colorado.  I don’t know if it just feels right again – I mean let’s be honest, Colorado has tea (and very good tea at that!) – or if it’s a cultural thing or what.

As in most things, good memories always center around good food and good drink.  Some of my favorite memories from college were conversations with my friend Sarah on the porch at McAlister’s at 19th and University.  We would sit for hours and chat over endless cups of the good stuff, then go back to our apartment and wonder why we were so wired late into the night.  Turns out black tea has caffeine – just so you know

Mint has been another memory-maker for this Texas gal.  When we were growing up in the summers my mom would always plant these amazing gardens full of tomatoes and strawberries and zucchini.  Another big plant we always had was mint, and my parents fully convinced us that we could drink the nectar from our neighbor’s honeysuckle bushes and chew the freshly washed mint leaves and call it dessert.  To this day I can have both and just call it good!

Here’s the thing that I’ve discovered with tea lately: when I make it like this (in the recipe below) it’s a complete vacation in a glass.  I can sit back and sip it while the rest of the world is going crazy and just feel like I’m sitting on a deck somewhere listening to water lap up on a shore beside me.  It’s sweetened with stevia because I don’t love the aftertaste of simple syrup, but the key is the mint.  It sweetens the whole batch naturally on its own and is incredibly refreshing!

SWEET MINT TEA

Makes 2 quarts

• 2 quarts water, divided
• 4 iced tea bags (6.4 g each) – I got mine at Kroger
• 1/4 cup whole fresh mint leaves, washed and dried
• 1 Tbsp stevia – I use Stevia in the Raw

Bring 1 quart of the water to a boil.  While the water is boiling, place the mint leaves into a 2-quart pitcher.  Using the handle of a large spoon bruise the mint to release the oils and flavor in the mint leaves.  Add the tea bags to the mint leaves, pour the hot water in, and set a timer for 5 minutes. As soon as the timer goes off, remove the tea bags and the mint leaves, and discard.  Add the stevia and the remaining quart of water, stir, and then refrigerate until time to use.  Serve cold over ice!

Good morning! Y’all, these recipes are ridiculous – totally summertime party food.  Enjoy!

Homemade pepperoni rolls

Crock-pot barbecue sauce with seared smoked sausage

Ranch soft pretzels

Snickers s’mores

There’s an army of women in this world.

Women who fight, day by day, to make this world a better place both for now and the future.

Women who work around the clock for life to sustain and love and protect.

Women who work and cook and clean.

Women who comfort and hold.

Women who worry and hope.

Women who dream dreams for people that are not themselves.

Women who give everything they have.

Women who pray more fervently than they ever have before, every day.

Women who live and laugh and take joy in others.

Women who do countless loads of laundry and dishes.

Who make innumerable meals and feed the mouths and souls of others day in and day out.

An army.  Fighting for what’s good, fighting for what can be great, fighting for faith.

They call us mothers, and they call us blessed.  Those of us who have babes at home, those of us who wait for the day when it’s our turn to hear those sweet cries, those of us who have felt the pain of losing a baby too soon.  We are all mothers.  Life givers.  Life sustainers.

Keep fighting momma.  You are loved and you are blessed.

Happy Mother’s Day!