Groupon!!!

Our house is the end unit which means we have the mail box right next to it, which is convenient. 

That being said the plants that were there were growing over the sidewalk with weeds
and plants that I hated!

It looked messy and I decided this year was the year that I was going to do something about it.

So two weekends ago, I cleaned everything out.

Then I talked to my hubby about what I wanted to do:  Key word budget!!

So when my friend emailed me the other day about a Groupon that Merrifield Garden Center was having.  25$ for 50$ worth of product.  I jumped at the deal and actually bought 2.  

1 for the flowers that I will work on now
and the second one for the veggies I will plant in late April/Early May.  

I love Merrifield- and while they tend to be a little bit more expensive than Lowes or HomeDepot their flowers are amazing and I have found it is worth it in the long run. 
Especially with savings like this!

So last friday, I decided to head out and purchase some flowers.

So this is what $25 for 50$ gets you...

Flowers for around the mailbox, flowers for the front house, and some extra flowers for the backyard. 

Not too bad....

I headed home to plant...

End Product....

Thanks groupon!
I was able to put flowers around the mailbox, in the front yard, and in the back yards.
=0)
Will be saving my second Groupon to Merrifield for the Veggie Garden!

First Mojitio of Spring

After my 10 miler...
there were two things I wanted!

1) A Mojitio

I have given up drinking for before my run, and prior to that I would only allow myself 1 drink on the weekends.  

2) A cupcake from Cupcakes Actually

This is actually a tradition that my hubby and started my first year I ran in the race.  We are both very on top of what we eat, me more than him.  I can not justify a cupcake unless I have worked out to earn it.

So yesterday while walking the dogs up to Fairfax Corner we got my cupcake...

and then Joe made me the first Mojitio of the season!!

Happy April in deed!

Introducing my feet to Cole Haan

I have been looking for a new pair of silver flats.

I love the ones I have by Marc Fisher now that I purchased over two years ago, but I find that I am wearing them with everything especially since I am dressing up more at work now.  

So I went on a hunt a couple weeks ago with my mom for a new pair of silver flats. 
I wanted silver because they can pretty go with almost everything.   
We went to Lord & Taylor, Nordstroms, Macys.... 

I stuck to these stores because I still have Gift Cards that I am trying to use.  

While I found some that were cute- they were also 80$.

OMG not paying that!!!

Earlier this week I walked in to Nordstroms Rack just to take a peak... and there they were.

Silver Ballet flats by Cole Haan in my size in the clearance section.......

Originally 139$- really who pays that for Ballet flats? 

Prices at $80 then down to $50 with a clearance sticker on them.

I tried them on, and my feet loved them. 
Very comfortable with extra support on the soles. 

I headed to the cash register with my gift card from Christmas in my hands.  

But this is where an even bigger surprise came in- $34.82 with tax.  

The sales lady said they were on clearance which is why the additional discount.  

Yes please!!!

So now my feet have new Cole Haans with out spending a penny!

LOVE IT!!!!

Cake Pops!

Sorry for the break from my progressive dinner desserts over the last couple days.
Let jump back into it.

The third dessert was by far my favorite:

Red Velvet Cake Pops

I thought this would be a fun and also mobile dessert.  

I stole the recipe for the Red Velvet Cake Ball from Bakerella.com

Red Velvet Cake Balls
Ingredients:

1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
wax paper

 Instructions:

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

 Then

 Then I followed another blog, Love From the Oven,  which showed me how to make these balls in to pops:  

The next step was to put the sticks in.  I prefer to dip the stick into a bit of melted chocolate, than into the cake pop.   This seems to help the pop stay on the stick better, which helps a lot when you are dipping them in the chocolate.

After that I dipped each one into the chocolate and placing them in the fridge after the chocolate dried.  I used both milk chocolate and white chocolate. 

 It ended up making 48-58 pops so we gave going home goodie bags from the Progressive dinner, then froze the rest which we ended up taking some over to our friends for a cook out last weekend. 

Both times I arranged them in a small vase with little stones at the bottom to help hold them in place..

This was a little more involved dessert but a lot of fun and very yummy!!

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler Done!

Today is April!!!

And I started April with an awesome run surrounded by awesome people cheering each other on.  

While I was standing in my "designed waiting spot" I was amazed by all the different types of people who were running today.  This is truly what I love about the sport- anyone can run.  

Yes any one. 

4 years ago I could not even run a mile and now I have competed in multiple 10 miles, 1/2 marathon, and various other races.  You can do it!

On the home stretch, mile 9 when your body is tired and ready to be done, again I was amazed by all the runners who were cheering complete strangers on as well as friends/family cheering all the runners on.  These people are complete strangers and yet they were here to support all that were running! 

Furthermore, there was my hubby, who rocks for always supporting me and showing up to support me!  And all my family and friends for the emails, texts-  I kept you guys in mind on mile 10  =0)

Amazing way to start off April- 

Cheering on complete strangers, pushing them to do better and be better.

Empower people!!!

Empowering Lives!

Happy April!