Decoupage Life

We have a lot of routines during the work week--our weekends, however, not so much. I sort of feel like sometimes my weekends are where I come undone, let loose, or go crazy. It's a time where I let myself be more spontaneous and outgoing--a place where my weekly (crazy) OCD regarding the upkeep of the house meets my more relaxed side in a battle of identity confusion.

It is weekends like these (which are more often occurring than not) that I find my life becomes a decoupage of some sort. Side note: I JUST learned about decoupaging from the reality show 'Flea Market Flip' with Lara Spencer.

As cited in Wikipedia, "Decoupage (or découpage) is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf and so on. Commonly an object like a small box or an item of furniture is covered by cutouts from magazines or from purpose-manufactured papers. Each layer is sealed with varnishes (often multiple coats) until the "stuck on" appearance disappears and the result looks like painting or inlay work. The traditional technique used 30 to 40 layers of varnish which were then sanded to a polished finish."

This weekend, our art piece blank canvas started with a fire on Friday night--we bundled both boys up and sat outside for a couple hours admiring the starlit sky and the beaming moon. We enjoyed quick but friendly conversations with passers-by and conversations of our own about the future and what it holds for our family. Life was simple that night and very peaceful--especially once Jack and Will fell asleep!

  Saturday was lots of fun--we started out at the Children's Museum for a birthday party celebration. Jack and Will both had a blast as you can tell from the pictures.

 

We then ended Saturday with some housework and a movie. Sunday was an extremely lazy day but we managed to go for a walk and head to the playground for a bit. I was a bit grumpy as the afternoon hit so I decided to snooze with Will during his afternoon nap...it was GREAT! We then took a quick trip to Bangor to Bullmoose Music to pick up the Superman movie--it's Jonathan's new favorite superhero--he's on a rotating schedule between Batman, Spiderman, and Superman. ...and YES, he did wear the shirt two days in a row :)

A pretty low-key, average weekend but this is the decoupage that makes our family who we are and I love EVERY SINGLE BIT OF IT!!

Meal(S) Success!

I normally would not find it necessary to post until the next exciting thing comes up but this past week marked a milestone for both Terry and I. It was the first week where Terry LOVED every single meal I made. I had YET come across a solid seven days in a row without being questioned what the recipe called for in one of my dishes or witnessing a silent, slow eater from across the table--rolling the food over in his mouth hoping it would taste better. It is not easy being the wife of a strength and conditioning coach--Terry has a degree in physical fitness and nutrition, not to mention one of the pickiest eaters EVER!! Just as an example...if Terry eats a meal more than two weeks in a row (these are usually staple meals)...he will hint to me that he will not probably eat it the following week. So, while making the weekly grocery list, I have to strategically pick healthy foods/meals and foods/meals that have not been consumed for more than two weeks in a row. But ALAS! I finally have reached the 1 week mark :) I should probably mention, after all of this bad mouthing my husband, that this is actually one of the reasons I love him so much--coming from someone who, for most of my child-adolescent years, had cereal for breakfast and dinner, I find it hilarious that he has such a hard time eating the same thing over and over. I also feel that it drives me to be a more skilled and knowledgeable cook--I NEVER used to cook. In fact, I was the bud of all of my families food jokes, "Oh you want some burnt toast? Ask Kristen, she's good at that." "You need your popcorn to catch on fire? Kristen's your gal!" (ok, I'm being a bit dramatic, but you get the point). I was horrible at cooking and now, thanks to my husbands crazy hours at work I have been deemed the primary household cook and I'm LOVING it!!!

Of course I never thought to take pictures of the meals or the steps it took to make the successful dishes so I do not have much to show for my week of food amazing-ness. I do plan to, however, cycle these recipes in more successful husband (and child) approved recipes as I test them out on my little "guinea pigs"!! I will then post pictures for anyone who would like to try them or just read about my remarkable cooking feat!

The following are links to the meals I made:

Crockpot Lemon Chicken:
My husband loved this one the most and said that it was even better on day two!
http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/07/crockpot-lemon-chicken.html#more

EASIEST DINNER EVER:
This was SO easy--I think this may be a dish I make for work pot-lucks. We tweaked the recipe by using the 1/3 less fat cream cheese and a regular can of diced tomatoes with chili's instead of the rotel. It came out absolutely fine and my husband threw the "heavenly" combination into a whole wheat tortilla shell. 
http://thelarsonlingo.blogspot.com/2011/05/easiest-dinner-ever.html

Take Out, Fake Out Beef & Brocolli:
The only thing I would do next time with this recipe is double or triple it!!!
http://www.tablefortwoblog.com/2012/09/12/take-out-fake-out-beef-broccoli-crockpot/

Crockpot Fajitas:
Delicious, tender, flavorful!
http://www.stacymakescents.com/fix-and-forget-friday-crock-pot-chicken-fajitas

BBQ Chicken Quinoa Salad:
Yummo.
http://whatsgabycooking.com/bbq-chicken-quinoa-salad/#.UXV7_Eob18E

Resilient...United...Boston Strong...America the beautiful!!!

I was in shock when I heard the news on Monday--Boston Marathon Explosions/Bombing. My first thought was, "I hope all of my family members are alright." My second thought was for the victims of the bombing--how unfortunate and sad that this happened on a day that is traditionally a celebration for life, health, and bringing together people from different parts of the world for a great purpose. Although I had no direct ties to the current events other than the fact that I have family and friends who live nearby and I love taking trips to Boston with my family, I was in a state of sadness, fear, anger, anxiety, frustration, empathy, uncertainty, and self reflection--what's going to happen next? When will they catch the people who did this? How are the victims dealing with being witness to this evil act? What does this mean for our future--the future of my kids? Why did I decide to bring children into a world that is full of hate and evil?

As the days of this past week moved on, more horrible things have happened--innocent people have lost their lives or have been exposed to the individuals suspected of being responsible for the crimes. But, I have to say, I am so proud and warmed by the amount of support, courage, and love put forth by so many people. It allows you to see the good through the evil--and no, it does not replace the people that lost their lives, it does not replace limbs, it does not erase memory and images--instead, it provides a glimpse of hope however great or small for some people...that this nation, no matter how broken, will come together as one, and rebuild to be stronger than ever. My only wish and request (and I request this of myself as well), is that instead of waiting for something horrifically big and horrible to put aside our differences and treat one another with respect, love, and support, we should all try to do this on a daily basis. It could make America stronger and even more beautiful than it already is.

Here is a clip that I grabbed from YouTube that not only gave me goosebumps, but that glimpse of hope, that pride and warmth, and that love that I was talking about earlier.

Stay tuned!

Hi all! The camera has been full and I have not been able to find any time this week to upload all of my pictures/videos so this post is going to be quite boring. We've had fairly decent weather here in Maine this week--anywhere from 40-57 degrees!! That's considered shorts weather for me, but I have to be a good example to my boys and considering I have more meat on my body than they do on theirs...I'll forgo exposing my florescent white legs for a few weeks more ;) Feel free to thank me if you'd like!

We've been spending a lot of time at the playground during the nice weather and although I've felt nervous about not being able to give enough attention to both boys it has really worked out great! There are usually other families with kids who are Jack's age so he goes off and plays with them on the playground and I am able to put Will in his chair of Heaven (the swing) or let him crawl around on the playground. I've learned that I can not put him on the ground unless I watch his every move because he'll treat the wood chips like pringles (poppin' and not stoppin').

Although I wasn't able to take any pictures of the boys this past week at the playground due to my camera memory being full, here are some pictures of the boys at the playground the past few weeks when it was a bit cooler.

Timeline snapshot.

"Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." -Robert Frost

There used to be a song I'd sing on the school bus with my friends whenever we were teasing two people about liking someone--it went something like this: "....first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage." Being an RC (raised catholic), I also was familiar with love, marriage, and babies being the "traditional" order for things to happen in ones life...but NOT for me. When it came to starting my adult life the storyline took a different turn: love, grad school, baby, continue grad school, marriage, continue grad school, professional job, baby, life, life, life. Though the road is not always bump free for my little family, it is perfect for me and I would not have it any other way!!!

Est. 2008 <3

Jonathan Thomas O'Neill (Jack) was born June 30, 2009 at 11:57pm

 Terry and I were married on October 9, 2010 in Danvers, MA and had our reception at my Aunt Carmen and Uncle Jeff's in Beverly, MA

             I graduated from grad school in May 2011 and started working as an Academic Advisor for first-year college students at UMaine

 
William Terrence O'Neill (Will) was born July 10, 2012 at 8:39am

...and would you even believe....THIS....ALL OF THIS....is just the beginning of our lives! I can not wait to share more stories, traveling adventures, thoughts, foods/recipes, workouts, quotes from my children, etc.