Spring Is Here!

Happy Monday! I can’t believe how fast this year is going by! Before I knew it Spring was upon us and the countdown to Summer has officially begun! We ended the Winter with a bang, growing our little family and enjoying the short, but much appreciated, blasts of warm weather! Here is our first official family portrait taken at the local dog park :)

Our puppies are so much fun, they are so goofy and get along so well now.

I snapped this picture one evening after I took the pups to the dog park, the sunsets here are unreal!

One night a few weeks ago I made delicious ground turkey tacos with blue corn tortilla chips, yum! I took the easy route and bought one of those taco kits, which are great for a fast weekday meal by the way! I paired the tacos with this yummy cab I purchased!

Two weekends ago we also celebrated a few things with our awesome neighbors, the safe return home of our active military man, two birthdays and the beginning of Spring! It was a great Saturday complete with shrimp boil and human-sized beer pong. We used large industrial buckets and soccer balls spread across two driveways, it was so much fun!

One of my awesome neighbors also brought these super yummy drinks that she let me try, I must say it was delicious and I will be purchasing these more often when we start boating!

We also made a trip to Coldstone because, well it’s Coldstone!

Spring is going to bring some new and exciting things for us; I can’t wait to share it all with you! We’ve been doing some decorating and painting around the house which I am super excited about! Once we are all done I will share pictures of our projects! 

I think it's safe to say Marley is adjusting well in his new home :)

Ribs, Marley & Wine!

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend?! Ours was great!

First and foremost and above all MOST importantly…we officially adopted Marley over the weekend! We’ve been having such a great time with him and Miss Lily really started to warm up to him. This is a picture I snapped yesterday leaving the dog park, I think they enjoyed themselves, don’t you?!

They even shared their first snuggle last week…I was one proud fur mom!

We were lucky enough to have great weather this weekend so we got a lot of things done! Most importantly we finished all of the touch up work that needed to be done which felt so nice! Friday we hung out with Netflix and our favorite cabernet, it was so relaxing and much needed!

Saturday we ran a ton of errands and then had a really fun date night at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse! We have eaten there before and thought the steaks were good, but we decided to order a smorgasbord of appetizers instead! We got the seasoned chips which are amazing, the bbq shrimp, the steak skewers, fried calamari and potatoes au gratin…everything was delicious and we left quite full!

Sunday Mr Tan Lines went on another 12-mile bike ride with some of our neighbors so I did some things around the house and went for a great run around our neighborhood. We then spent the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying the 72 degree weather.

Sunday night I made some super tasty ribs that Mr Tan Lines grilled. I marinaded them with Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce, 2 tbsp of cowboy rub (store bought) and 1/4 cup of a steak chop marinade.

I let them sit for 5 hours in the fridge and OMG were they delicious! We ate them with some grilled corn on the cob and baked beans!

After dinner I (finally) watched the movie Pitch Perfect, it happened to be on tv and I thought I’d give it a go! I ended up really liking it! Although it was really predictable as far as the love story and overall outcome, it still had its funny moments.  Marley certainly enjoyed it, can’t you tell?

Well, tonight is the night! We are finally going to find out who the new Princess Farming is going to be! I read a few spoilers (I mean really, who hasn’t this season?!) and I would be shocked if they weren’t right. Whitney seems like the perfect fit for Chris and more importantly I think she’s mentally ready to actually live in Iowa aka be banished to an area where the population is: you. I also get the vibe that Becca is about 8 years behind in her relationship maturity level and really, who has time for that?

I’m excited to watch this season come to a close! Hopefully (fingers crossed) we’ll also learn that Britt is the new bachelorette! Although I’ve heard it might be Kaitlyn, which wouldn’t be the worst thing but as you know I’ve been #teambritt from day 1!

Marley & Homemade Laundry Detergent!

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend?! Ours was pretty great! We’ve been quite busy and here’s the reason why…we’ve been fostering a new furbaby, Marley! We decided to take him on last week when we saw him at the local adoption fair. Being that he’s 5 it’s generally really hard for older dogs to get adopted and therefore they’re usually high up on the euthanization list. We just couldn’t let that happen! We decided to bring the sweet boy home and he’s been working out so well! He is so well mannered and sweet.

 

From what we know, and what Homeward Bound was told, he was given up after his owner passed away and neither of his kids could/wanted to take him, so they had to give him up. He’s spent around 8 months in the shelters and been fostered a few weeks in-between. He is so calm and has been a good influence on Miss Lily! At first they were really shy with one another, but now they play great.

Taking on another furbaby would be a big responsibility, but I just can’t see us giving little man up! Look at how adorable he is, how could anyone resist!

Friday night Mr Tan Lines and I were pretty tired from the work week and adjusting to having a new 4-legged kid around so we decided to grab some sushi to go and have a date night in. It was much needed and so relaxing; we caught up on some of our favorite shows, (finally) finished watching The Wolf of Wall Street and snuggled on the couch. Saturday we took the doggies to the dog park and let them get some energy out; it rained almost every day last week so it was much needed for them!

Saturday night we headed to our neighbors house where we sampled some delicious Italian and Argentinian wines and enjoyed a delicious meat/cheese tray! Hanging out with our neighbors is always so much fun; we are so lucky to have moved into such a great spot!

Sunday we did a lot, and I mean a lot of maintenance around the house. Mr Tan Lines did a full house clean while I busied myself with laundry and kitchen duty. We also updated all of the light bulbs around the house and made some decisions about where we want to start painting! I cannot wait to start really putting our house together with paint and new furniture!

On Sunday night we decided to get creative and make our own laundry detergent! We’ve been wanting to do this for a while and once we discovered how easy it was we went for it! Here’s what we used:

3 Fels-Naptha Bars, shaved using a cheese grater

4 lbs 20 Mule Team Borax

3 lb Oxi-Clean Versatile

28 oz Purex Crystals, your choice of scent, we used Lavender

4 lb Arm & Hammer Pure Baking Soda

55 oz Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

Then you just combine everything into a large tub and bam, you’re done!

All of these ingredients ended up costing around $20…which is almost what we pay for 1, yes ONE large container of liquid washing detergent! With this homemade batch you use just 1 tbsp per load, so it should last us around 550 loads…so crazy! I cannot believe we didn’t do this sooner, I had to share this with you because you cannot argue the cost savings, not to mention it made our clothes smell much more fresh! 

I hope you'll give it a try!

I am so excited for The Women Tell All tonight, I am still very much #teambritt and I can't wait for some of these phonies to finally be exposed! Yay for Bachelor Monday!