Stenciled Treat Bags

 Good idea from Martha Stewart for simple favor bags.

Benihana at Home

My hubby and I tried Benihana for the first time when we were in Vegas several months ago.  We both LOVED our dinner and I wanted to try to recreate a more affordable option at home.  I ordered Lemon Chicken so that's the version I'm sharing with you.

You'll need:

zucchini

yellow onions

yellow squash

mushrooms

chicken breasts (one per person)

3-4 lemons

salt and pepper

your favorite rice

Chop all veggies and cook in Olive oil.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Squeeze lemons over veggies and chicken as they cook.

Thinly slice chicken breasts and trim off all of the ick.

 Cook rice separately.

 Cook veggies until desired softness is reached.

I squeezed fresh lemons over both the whole time they were cooking.

 Chicken is done!

 Combine chicken & veggies with a side of rice.

It was pretty delish and an easy meal to put together.

Definitely achieved my goal of a more affordable option for at home cooks.

Floral Trend or Trash??

Floral skinny jeans are showing up everywhere.

I owned a pretty snazzy pair in 6th grade that were floral in the front and regular jeans in the back.  I should look for photo evidence of these bad boys...

via Nordstrom

Do you think they are a great trend or trash for the summer season??

Mountainy Monday

We've been enjoying the spring weather in Utah lately.

Here's some happy proof of it.

 Happy Monday to you!

Photo Shoot Inspiration

The siblings in my family went together to get my mom a gift certificate to update our family photo for Mother's Day.  We did this two years ago and it was a big hit so I thought we should do it again.  My cousin is our photographer of choice so it works out perfectly.  We updated our picture two years ago and it'll be extra fun this time around because we'll have three new little girls to add this the picture!

My mom gets to pick the color theme, because it's her gift, but I wanted to give her a little help.  She's pretty visual so I sent her lots of links to different family picture options from Pinterest to give her some ideas for color combinations.  We went with black, red & khaki for our last one so we wanted something different this time.  She made her decision and we are going with the picture below for our color inspiration:

via Pinterest

Our only rules:

Find an outfit that is red, turquoise, yellow and/or jeans -

you can do one, two or all colors - whatever you want.

Pick an outfit that fits your personality or that you feel most comfortable in.

Anything in the color scheme is okay - skirts, jeans, crops, dresses, etc.

Patterns are okay as long as they go with the colors. 

Accessories are encouraged.

It should be a fun photo shoot in a few months!

Foundation First

In the past I would apply concealer first and foundation last

but lately I've been trying out the foundation first method.

I'm a fan.

via thebeautydepartment

Penny Ann's Cafe

My husband is a GREAT deal finder.

He gets emails from Groupon, Living Social and several others on a daily basis.  He'll buy dinner coupons, hotel stays and tickets for sporting events at a very discounted rate.  He loves to surprise me with his new finds and treat me to new places around Salt Lake.

Last week, we went to brunch downtown at

Penny Ann's Cafe

We were slightly disappointed that they weren't still serving breakfast at 11:15 since we'd heard they were famous for their breakfast menu.  However, the staff assured us that their lunch was really tasty.  We decided to stay and give their lunch a try.

We both ordered sandwiches and sweet potato fries.

I got ham & cheese and Kevin got a roast beef grinder.

I'm pretty picky about meat so I was pleased to get really high quality sandwich meat.

Our fries came with a Utah staple of Fry Sauce and a pickle.

We both loved our food and would definitely go back.

We asked to see their breakfast menu 

and are anxious to go back early one morning to give it a try.

Sleepy Heads

 I've been hanging out at home more than usual;

it's funny to see what my cats do all day long.

 Oliver says,

I don't always sleep on a pillow,

but when I do,

it's my mom's.

 Sure do love my silly cats.

The Way to My Heart...

 The way to my heart...

monograms, stationery, personalized anything.

Thanks Meg!

Weekly Wrap Up

Here are the highlights of my week:

1. I got to see a rainbow in my backyard.

2. My blood pressure is up but my liver/kidney functioning looks better so I'm plugging away at 37 weeks pregnant.  Going back next week for more appointments to check on me.  Olive is doing great!

3. I got to go on a breakfast date with this handsome guy.

4. I found out that National Chocolate Chip day was Wednesday of this week so naturally I had to bake something with chocolate chips to celebrate!  I chose to make Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.

5. A friend gave me this book for a shower gift and I was excited to start reading it this week.  I've finished up book club books, gotten caught up on some projects and enjoyed doing a bit of reading since I have more time on my hand with only working 3 days a week lately.

Linking up with LaurenElizabeth and InstaFriday.

Perfect Summer Treat

Looking for the perfect summery treat?

Homemade Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

 Make your favorite cookies (mine are chocolate chip)

Add your favorite ice cream in the middle (mine is 1/2 fat vanilla bean)

voila!

 Suggestions:

Make your cookies a little smaller than usual 

because regular sized cookies make BIG cookie sandwiches!

Add chocolate syrup or caramel syrup

Roll the edges in sprinkles, mini chocolate chips or your favorite chopped candy bars.  

Make them in advance for a gathering and let them harden in the freezer.

Turn this into a cookie sandwich buffet and let everyone make their own.

I could eat this treat every night!

Linking up with Or So She Says, The Scoop, Weekend Wrap Up
Finding the Pretty and Delicious, The Weekend Re-Treat, Six Sisters Stuff,
Super Saturday Show and Tell, & The Sundae Scoop  

Map Collage

I'd love to frame maps from my favorite spots in the world

and create a little map collage in my house one day.

via decoratrix

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 37th Anniversary Mom & Dad!

What Whitney Wore

My outfits were much more colorful this week.  It's also been in the 80s/90s in Salt Lake City so it's been a bit easier to add some brights into my routine.  I'm 37 weeks this week and working hard to stay cool. 

Here are the outfits that I put together for the week:

1. Going Away Open House

top & skinnies - Motherhood

flats - Payless

gold dangly earrings - Francesca's

arm party - Groop Dealz, Charlotte Russe, Macys

 2. Day Full of Doctor's Appointments

top & Skinnies - Motherhood

scarf - Old Navy

earrings - Francesca's

Flats - Payless

 3. Heading to a Luncheon

top & skinnies - Motherhood

belt - Micheal Kors

animal print scarf - Limited

Gold earrings - Francesca's

flats - Payless

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy, Style Elixir,
What I Wore to Work, Third Thursday Threads, 
Passion for Fashion,  Favorite Fashion Friday,
The Best of Style, Wardrobe Wednesdays and Casual Fridays.