{Fashion Files} Have Some TEA

Are you familiar with Tea brand clothing? I was first introduced to Tea when I was pregnant with Ava, a few friends of mine bought me a lot of their clothing for Ava when she was a baby. Some of my favorite dresses and shirts for her are Tea brand. 

Tea just released a brand new Spring line for Women too! They have some fresh Spring items that I'm really loving! Here's just a few of my faves;

This dress is a fave! Love the colors!

You can see the entire Spring collection here.  I know you love a good deal and a discount code as much as I do! Tea is having a 30% off baby sale right now, enter code: BABY30. Enjoy $7 shipping on your order as well, or free shipping on women's clothing! 

Visit Tea here.

Spicy Creamy Chicken Taquitos

I found a creamy chicken taquito recipe on Pinterest a few weeks back, I wanted to make it but I didn't have all the ingredients it asked for so I improvised with what I had on hand already. Here's my version:

What you'll need:
1 red & 1 green bell pepper
1 medium yellow onion
1 handful of cilantro
Philadelphia Cooking Creme Santa Fe Blend
Half a rotisserie chicken shredded
Corn tortillas {I used the smaller ones and they broke midway, I would suggest using the 10 inch ones instead.}
Oil {to brush on top of taquitos}





Preheat your oven at 400 degrees.

Coarsely chop up your peppers, onion and cilantro and add them to the pan, heat them through. Next add the shredded chicken and cook together. Once cooked together add in the cooking creme and heat through.



Next, take your tortillas and fill them with the mixture. Fill them up as much as you'd like and as many as the mixture will allow for your tortillas. Brush the tops of your tortillas with oil, salt the tops and bake for 15-20 minutes or until they are golden on top and a little crispy on the edges.

Remove from the oven top with cheese and plate them. I added some sour cream and salsa to the side for dipping!

Enjoy! These have just the right amount of spice and are delish!

Linked With: Weekend Wrap Up Party, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Get Your Craft On, Sundae Scoop

{DIY} Lollipop Favors

Hi friends! I'm back today to show you another simple idea from Ava's 2nd birthday party! I'll be posting her party soon, but first I wanted to show you the rest of the details that went into her party. Today, I'll be showing you some simple lollipop favors I made for her guests.



I started with these blue swirl lollipops that I bought from Amazon.com. Here's the listing if you'd like to purchase these as well for your next party, they also come in other colors too. Some supplies I used are:

Thank You rubber stamp

Black Ink

Foam Squares

2 inch circle punch

Blue card stock

{you can find all of these at your local craft store}

First I punched out 12 circles from the blue card stock. Then using my stamp and ink I stamped the "thank you" on each of the circles. 

Next using the small foam squares I attached two on the back of the circle and then put them onto my lollipops. They turned out like this when I was finished;

I slipped them into some small favor boxes along with some other small toys for her guests. Even the adults really enjoyed these favors too! 

What do you like to do for party favors for kids' parties? Tell me in the comments below!

Linked With: Weekend Wrap Up Party , A Bowl Full of Lemons, Get Your Craft On, Sundae Scoop

{Lifestyle Crafts} Blossom Release

This month Lifestyle Crafts released their Spring line called Blossom! They sent me some of their new Blossom printing plates and some grey ink to make something spiffy out of these new release!

We just had Ava's second birthday last weekend, and I knew I wanted to make some cute thank you cards to send out as a thanks for coming to her party!

For this project I used the Blossom Printing plates, letter press paper, gray ink, disc cutting die, and foam squares you can get at any craft supply store.

I first ran all my cards through my letterpress using the Blossom printing plate and the grey ink. Then ran my smaller paper through with the "thanks" printing plate included in the set. I then used the disc cutting die to cut the smaller label, and attached it to the front with one of the foam squares.

Check out the full Blossom Release here, and here.  You can enter the code: WORLEYHOUSE at checkout too for 20% off your order!

Spring is in the air, have you done any special crafting lately for Springtime or Easter coming up? Tell me in the comments below!

Linked With: Weekend Wrap Up Party, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Get Your Craft On, Sundae Scoop

Getting Ready for a Party Around These Parts.....

I mentioned Monday that we were getting ready for a party around here, family has been in town this week and I couldn't be more excited to celebrate with them and all our friends Ava's birthday!

In case you missed some of the sneak peeks I've been sharing via Instagram here's a look at what's going on with Ava's party:







I made Ava a special shirt to wear along with her tutu I ordered from Zulily months back. She's gonna be one cute Jitterbug on her birthday!



This year Ava's actual birthday falls on a Saturday, we'll be having her party on her actual birthday which is fun an exciting. We've been preparing for weeks for this party, and this week my family has been helping me as well.

We've also been having some fun too, today we're headed to Sedona, AZ to see the sights. My Sister in Law has never been there before so I'm excited to show her a little piece of Arizona's beauty.

I hope to share more from Ava's party after it's over in the next couple weeks. I have some fun tutorials planned, and a BIG reveal of her party for you all to see!

Stay tuned!

{Lifestyle Crafts} Special Discount on Border Dies



Lifestyle Crafts is running a great promotion this week; 20% off their border dies! There's lots of fun things that you can make with these dies!

Plus you can use my promo code and save even more! Enter WorleyHouse and save 20% off! That's a 40% off savings! How awesome is that?! Hurry, hurry the sale lasts till March 25th, 2012!



Don't have a letterpress machine yet?! Don't fret, use my 20% off code and snag yourself one of these fun machines! Stay tuned in the next couple weeks I've got some fun projects coming up with this great machine!

Happy paper crafting!

Healthy Living with 4X- Pro B #DigestiveCare Part II

As part of my over all healthy living plans, taking 4X- Pro B has been a healthy part of that plan! After taking it for some weeks now I can feel the difference in my overall digestive health. Taking this product has inspired me over all to start taking better care of myself, because I've been feeling good and healthy in this area it's made me want to start taking better care of myself in all areas.

I'll be honest and tell you that I've been a total slacker when it comes to my healthy lifestyle. I eat pretty well, but I think I drink my calories more than I should. And, by that I mean even though I'm eating pretty well I'm drinking soda, and coffee with cream and sugar way to much. All that sugar adds up. 

This year I've challenged myself to stop drinking soda, and add more water into my diet. So far, I've done pretty well, and I'm really proud that I'm sticking with it so far. 

In addition to my workout plan and drinking more water I've been changing my eating habits as well. One of the additions I've been making is eating breakfast! It's true, I hardly ever really "eat" breakfast. Mostly it's coffee all coffee in the morning which isn't so good. So I've been trying to incorporate more food into my diet in the mornings. One of the things I like most is yogurt. It's simple and quick and doesn't take a lot of preparation in the morning when I'm trying to get out the door and get my daughter ready too. Yoplait is my fave, and they just came out with their new Greek yogurt which is really good too! 

Do you have a fave app? I love my iPhone! One of my new fave apps is the MyFitnessPal app! It's a great little app that I've been using for the past few weeks to track my fitness routines, water intake, and diet.

My favorite thing about it is the food diary tracker. You put in your profile of your current weight and the goal weight you want to be at and it helps you track your food. It gives you a daily calorie intake that you should be having in order to achieve that desired weight. And daily at each meal you track your calories. It has a handy bar code scanner you can automatically scan foods and it'll calculate the calories that way, or you can just search any number of foods and track it. 

I love this so much because it adds extra accountability for me. Being able to see how many calories I'm eating each day and where they are going to I think has been key for me to really feel like this is a valuable change. It helps me stay on track even more! 

4X-Pro B is definitely something that I want to stay in my healthy living routine, along with all my regular vitamins. 

Do you have any fitness apps that you're crazy about and love? Tell me, I'd love to hear about them. 

For more of my experience with 4X-Pro B Visit my Google+ story here.

Check out these other sites to find out more info on how you an incorporate Probitics into your healthy living plan too!

http://www.costco.com/

http://www.facebook.com/costco

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study forCollective Bias. #CBias All opinions are 100% my own.

Hello, Monday. It's nice to see you.

Whew! I've just come off the most crazy and intense weekend. If you follow my on facebook or twitter, you'll know we've been potty training all weekend.

And when I say intense, I mean don't leave your house all weekend, feel like you're going stir crazy kinda intense. Potty training boot camp if you will!

I have a lot of thoughts about the method I choose, some good and some bad. I feel very, very tired today. It was a crazy weekend.

Friday, our first sticker on the potty chart.

By, Friday evening I was tired and I wanted to cry. Actually I did, but I'll save all the drama of this experience for another post.



By, Saturday we were making progress. More stickers on the chart!

This week is a fun week for us in our home! We're 6 days a away from Ava turning two! Someone tell me how we got here so fast?! I can hardly believe it. Yes, I'm one of those Mothers that now sits back in awe and is a little sad that she's growing so fast! Put me in that group, and I'm ok with it.

We have guests coming into town tonight! Yesterday, we spent the day cleaning and getting ready for our guests. We have a tiny place, and I'm thankful that Grandma Carolynn and Aunt Jess are coming and putting up with our conditions in order to be here for Ava's special day!

Ava loved the air mattress so much she fell asleep on it last night. She was just breaking it in for them. I'm excited for them to get here, and thankful they are coming. It's going to be a great week spending time with family and celebrating Ava's birthday!

What are you looking forward to this week?

all images taken via Instagram. Follow my there @photosbyandrea

{Our Love Story} An Introduction

I've been so inspired by reading a few different love stories swirling around blog land. Danielle does a series and I love reading each woman's story, Ashley has documented her love story for her readers as well. I believe that every couple has a love story that should be celebrated. I wanted to document mine as well. I wanted to write it down and remember it forever, read it to our children someday and have it printed into some sort of book like Blurb for me to keep.

Source: etsy.com via Andrea on Pinterest

Before I got into the nitty gritty of how we met, our dating story {because, there is one} I wanted to share the back story first. You can read brief descriptions of those events here, but for this series I want to tell you all the wonderful details that make our love story special.

I met my husband on a dreary day in January 2005. It was cold, it was winter in Minnesota. But before I tell you about that day let's go back.

In year before I met my husband I knew God was preparing me. He was revealing things to me about himself that would make me a better person, and a better wife eventually. He was healing me from past hurts from friends and family too, that would allow me to be open to love and be in a relationship as well.

Let's go back to Valentine's Day 2004. I attended a small private Christian college in Minneapolis, I was in my junior year during this time. Just starting the second semester of my junior year. Each day they held Chapel services that we were required to attend. I don't remember every single chapel service I attended throughout school, but I remember this service vividly.

One of the reasons that I remember it was because it was Valentine's Day, and I can remember really wanting to skip it and not go at all. I had a bad attitude about it being Valentine's Day, it seemed like everyone around me was married, or already dating someone. I had gone through a season of being hurt by a guy in my life. Led on emotionally, and still dealing with it.

I didn't want to participate in anything related to Valentine's Day, and the last thing that I wanted to do was go to chapel service and see other couples all around me either. But, I went anyway because I had to.

The part of this day that stuck with me the most was the altar call, I felt a call to respond. I knew I needed some healing in my heart due to some events and emotions that had transpired. And, God knew it too. I remember being there at the altar, and it's one of those moments where I knew God was speaking to me.

He so clearly said;

"Andrea, why doesn't my love overwhelm you?"

Whoa! It was like a reality check, a slap in the face that the one who loves me so much and cares for me so much I wasn't loving and nurturing my relationship with him the way that I needed to. I wasn't overwhelmed by his love, I wasn't pursuing my relationship with the Lord like I should in that season of my life. I knew better, I knew God had more for me that I was giving him at the time.

Instead I was pursuing a boy, pursuing things that were never going to happen with someone who wasn't right for me. Hurting from events that happened with my Father, and instead I was fixated on finding love, and being in love since all my friends were either married, getting engaged or dating someone. Everyone around me was in love, and selfishly I wanted to be too. I felt like I waited "long enough." Why hadn't my prince come?

Well, the truth was I wasn't ready. And the Lord knew it, and he needed to prepare me first.

I needed to heal, I needed to work on myself. I needed to fall back in love with Jesus first and let him reveal some things about his plan for me first.

The rest of that semester was incredible for me. I spent the rest of the semester involved in my classes, working on myself and my relationship with God. More involved in my friendships. I was concentrated on the things that I knew mattered most for that season of my life.

All the while God was preparing me for the future.

I spent that summer in Arizona completing my internship for school. I remember coming back to start my senior year of college feeling renewed for the year ahead. God had done a lot in me during that summer. He'd changed my heart, healed it from hurt, and allowed me to forgive.

Five months later, during the second semester of my senior year on a cold winter day I met Orion; who would eventually become my husband.

Come back next week to hear about how we met & our dating story. It's just getting good.

Special Event Style #CleaverBeauty #Spon

Thanks to Walgreens for underwriting this post. I was paid as a member of the Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all mine. Visit http://r1.fmpub.net/?r=http%3A%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B251491749%3B72261797%3Bw%3Bpc%3D%5BTPAS_ID%5D&k4=3097&k5={banner_id.

Last week I attend the Glitter Academy's 2nd Craft Night for bloggers and crafty ladies! It was a special treat for my to get out of the house, hang out with by friend Destiny and meet up with some other like minded gals for the evening!

I've had some new make-up that I've been dying to experiment with and try some new things so I decided this night would be perfect to curl my hair and kick up my routine. For myself, I like to change up my day/night make-up. For the day I usually don't wear eye liner or a bold lip. Usually it's pretty natural/neutral. But, for the evenings I like to do a darker eye and wear eye liner and more mascara.

Here's some of the new make-up that I got not only for this, but for my everyday as well.

Special Event Style- Make-Up routine by worleyhouse on polyvore.com

1. Revlon Lip Butter: I'm obsessed with this stuff! I've bought it in a few colors since my first trip. Thanks to Heather & Kate's rave reviews! This stuff is awesome like lipstick but not heavy, has a moisturizer so it's helping not dry out those lips while wearing it. GO. GET. SOME. TODAY!
2. Neutrogena Healthy Glow bronzer: I really like this blend over a lot of bronzers I've tried, it's not so heavy on the "bronze" and just gives you a nice glow.
3. Neutrogena Concealer: I like the color and the built in brush.
4. Maybellinne Expert Eye Wear Trio: Love these they are goof proof and have a cheat sheet right on the colors to tell you where exactly they go on your eye. I love this because I don't have a clue sometimes how to do my eyes and this makes it sooo easy!
5. Covergirl Lash Blast Length Mascara in black: Love the brush, it helps get even the tiniest of lashes coated!
6. Covergirl Perfect Blend Eyeliner in Black
7. Neutrogena Make-up remover towelettes: The easiest way to remove make-up at the end of the night! Then I just wash my face.

{links are not affiliated, just the easiest way to show you products}

Here we are at the event, fresh faced and all dolled up for my night out with friends! 

Do you do anything different for special events? How do you change up your make-up routine? I'd love to hear it in the comments below! 

{Blogging Events} The Glitter Academy

A little over a week ago I attended The Glitter Academy Craft Night! A bunch of Arizona bloggers & crafters coming together for a night of food, crafts, and hearing the fabulous Kim from The TomKat Studio speak! 

I always love attending local blogging events and meeting other Arizona bloggers. Every time I attend another event I meet a new face, and hear about a new to me blog! It's pretty awesome all the creative minds there are here in AZ!

I attended the evening with my Best Blogging Buddy & Friend Destiny, she's become a great friend! One that I wouldn't have met if it weren't for blogging.



The event was held at Noah's in Chandler, AZ. A beautiful venue inside and out. The TomKat Studio hosted a dessert table at the event as well that was well, perfect!



Kim, also was the guest speaker for the event. I always enjoy hearing her speak. She has a great success story and it's always an inspiration to see what she's doing next and how she's pursuing her dreams!



I finally got to meet Kimberly from A Night Owl blog! We've been following each other on Twitter & Instagram for a couple weeks now and it was fun to finally put a face with a name.


{Kimberly, Andrea & Destiny}

If you're wanting to attend one of The Glitter Academy's next events, click here for more info! Thanks to the Glitter Girls Jamielyn, Kristyn and Stephanie for hosting such a great event!

When You Give

I've been thinking a lot lately about my lil' shop, where I want it to go, and what I want to accomplish with it. I've been praying a lot and asking God to show me more ways to show his love to others. A couple of weeks ago some ides began swirling, and after doing some more praying and researching I'm excited about the next little step my shop is taking.

Each month I want to give 10% of that months proceeds back to a charity. Each month highlighting a new charity to give to.

Not only do I want people to know that by buying from the shop they are also giving back to some great chairties, and giving to those in need, but I also want them to know when THEY GIVE, they can be blessed as well.

There's a few charities that I'm excited to give back to, hopefully you'll find new ways to give as well beyond this and learn about some of these exciting causes you too can be apart of.

Here's just a sneak peek of where you'll be giving to over the next few months when you purchase something from the shop! Please take a look at the sites, read about their awesome charities and how they are helping bring awareness, support and how they are helping to change the WORLD! 

For March & April:

http://www.babybuggy.org/

Is a charity helping underprivileged families by providing baby gear and other baby items  to those families and mommies in need.

For May:

http://www.love146.org/

Helping abolish modern day slavery. Help end child sex slavery and exploitation.

For June:

http://www.myshineproject.com/

Help Ashley provide collage scholarships to kids at a local Arizona inner city high school.

GO HERE to buy something from the shop!

For A Season.....

Here we are 5 months away from calling Arizona home for three years. The last few years have gone by so fast, I can hardly believe it. Add a child to the mix, and those months seem to fly by. Just two short weeks away from her turning 2! Crazy, somebody tell me where my baby went?!!?

I didn't think we could raise a baby in 900 square feet, but we have.

I didn't think we'd be still living in tiny said apartment almost 3 years later, but we are.

I didn't think I would ever come to find friendships here in Phoenix, but I have. And I'm forever grateful & blessed to have.

I didn't think that I would make living so far from home work, but we have.

I didn't think Orion would ever get better work hours, but he did. And God pleasantly surprised us and blessed us by this in just a short amount of time.

I never thought I'd still be working out of the home, but I am.

My point is this;

You can do anything for a season.

Source: joyshope.com via Andrea on Pinterest

Some seasons are longer than others, don't get me wrong. But, you can do anything when you have God on your side.

When you lean not on your own understanding........
Trust in the Lord with all your heartand lean not on your own understanding:in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.Proverbs 3:5 (NIV)
You can do anything that's hard for a season if you trust in him. Believe that HE has good things for you waiting on the other side of that season.

Source: vi.sualize.us via Andrea on Pinterest

Some seasons you have to pray harder than you ever have before.

You cry more than ever before.

You smile and feel content more than ever.

You trust more.

You learn from them.

And eventually you GROW from them.

And then you realize what I'm saying...YOU can DO ANYTHING for a SEASON!

My encouragement to you today is that whatever you're going through today, whatever season God has you in delight in it. Even when you don't want to, or when you think you can. There's always something positive in the season you're in.

God is in your circumstances. He knows them, and will bring you through it.
He can help you find joy where you think there isn't.

Healthy Living with 4X Pro B #DigestiveCare

One of my goals for the year on my 30B430 list is to establish a better eating plan, and start working out more on a regular basis. I'll be honest and tell you I've been a slacker, and it hasn't been the biggest priority in my life. Getting older has a way of making you realize that you need to take care of yourself the best way you can.

Part of my healthy living make over was to take more vitamins as well, and one of which I've been taking has been 4X-Pro B from Costco. Probiotics are the "natural" stuff that helps take care of your digestive system and keeps everything working. Just like the "natural" stuff found in yogurt!

All I had to do was log into my Costo.com account and order the product straight from their website. Of coarse I did my research and read the facts, compared it to other brands on the market and made my choice.

Then it was sent straight to my door! So easy!

One of my other goals for my healthy lifestyle has been to stop drinking soda, and start drinking more water instead. I've been doing pretty well and haven't had any soda for the last couple months.

Source: diethoroscopes.tumblr.com via Andrea on Pinterest

Some of my fave workouts over the past few weeks have been these two;

Source: overstock.com via Andrea on Pinterest

Jillian is brutal, and I pretty much dislike this DVD while I'm doing it but afterwards I'm glad that I did!

Source: amazon.com via Andrea on Pinterest

Pilates, is a low key workout that I really like as well. It doesn't seem strenuous while you're doing it but afterwards you feel it and that's the best I think.

What about you? Any healthy goals you're working on for this year? Tell me in the comments below!

To find out more about how you can start using 4X-Pro B in your own diet and exercise plan, visit the links below. And make sure to check out my Google+ page to find out more about my shopping experience here.

http://www.costco.com/

www.facebook.com/Costco

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All opinions are 100% my own.

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Getting Out Of Our Dinner Rut

Last week I tried three new recipes for dinner. We've been in a dinner rut for a while now, eating a lot of the same. A lot of "favorites" but I felt it was time to try out some new things for dinner. There's a website a friend told me about called Skinny Taste, and I'd seen a few of Gina's recipes and they all look delicious.

Saturday I scoured her website and found three of them to try for that week. I shopped that day for the ingredients that I didn't have on had. It made me really excited to cook dinner for our family that week. Here's the three that I tried last week; I'm not going to re-post the recipes here but give you links to her website instead. GO there, she's got a ton of great food on her site.

{these are all photos from my kitchen.}

Garlic Lime Pork Chops & Cilantro Rice

This was a great one! The rice is copycat from Chipotle! And I must say IT really does taste just like Chipotle's rice. Everything about this meal was really good.

Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup

I love just about anything you can put in the crock pot and forget it! Delicious as well. 

Coconut Chicken Salad

I was a little skeptical about whether or not a salad would fill us up for dinner, but this one did not disappoint! It was soooo good! Filling enough for a meal too! The perfect summer/spring salad! 

I can't say say enough great things about Skinny Taste! I can't wait to try more of her recipes.

What about you, have you tried anything new in your kitchen lately?