Thanks for entering the mod podge rocks book giveaway! The lucky winner of a copy of this fab book is...

Have you ever been to Cost Plus World Market? I went for the very first time this weekend and absolutely fell in love. My mom and so many of my friends have been telling me I had to go there and that I would love it and they were absolutely right!

I went to find some American themed decor and I definitely did! I was so impressed with the selection Cost Plus World Market has as well as the prices! I spent quite a long time in the store, and I still feel like I want to go back really soon to browse some more. I love all the specialty items they carry, especially all the unique food items.

I found this adorable pendant to use at a gathering and it was so great strung across my curtains over the dinner table.

 

Who doesn't love Mod Podge? It is a great medium for decoupage, and can basically be used to glue things or as a finish. Basically, it's just awesome. There is a blog, Mod Podge Rocks and the creator, Amy Anderson has a book out devoted to projects using Mod Podge! It is called Mod Podge Rocks! Decoupage Your World.

Over the past 30 years the founders of eFoodsDirect have helped people become more secure and confident with their greatest dependency—food. eFoodsDirect is passionate about helping people find simple, affordable meals they can store at home. They believe in three principles: Serve, Save, and Share—Serve great food and one another, Save for unforeseen circumstances that lie ahead, and Share the message of gaining control of your food supply and be less dependent on others. eFoods' mission is to empower every family to have food security in the case of storms, natural disasters, or even financial crises like shrinking income or the loss of a job.

Recently, I received meals from eFoodsDirect to try out in my own home. I couldn't believe when I got the pouches just how simple it was! We tried the tortilla soup and the creamy potato soup and you literally just boil some water and empty the contents of the pouch in. 15 minutes and the meal was on the table for my family! It was perfect because we had a very busy night of swim lessons and homework and had it not been for these quick soups, we would have been heading through a drive-thru!

We got together with friends for a Cinco de Mayo party this year because it's a great excuse to hang out with friends and eat Mexican food! We even had a pinata (yes, that is a penguin--long story!). My friend Kerri hosted and cooked up a storm--pork enchiladas, chicken enchiladas, bean burritos, homemade refried beans, Cafe Rio-style rice--whew! It was amazing! I am going to miss that girl. Another friend brought homemade salsa and guacamole (soooo good) and I contributed these Coconut-Lime Cupcakes. I altered the recipe from The Culinary Chronicles because I couldn't find one of the ingredients (and I wanted to add coconut) and they were out-of-this-world if I do say so myself. I'll be making these again for the next summer get-together!

 

Coconut-Lime Cupcakes Recipe
(adapted from The Culinary Chronicles)

Thanks for all the entries into our Cutting Edge Stencil Giveaway! What a great response we had. We are so excited to announce the winner of a $50 gift certificate to Cutting Edge Stencils. The lucky lady is....

We used to share reader projects almost weekly, but it's been a really long time since we did one! We're so excited to have a reader submission from Michelle at Shelly Homemaker today, showing us how to make these beautiful concrete stepping stones! This is one of those projects I would be totally scared to try to figure out on my own, so I'm so glad Michelle has done the hard work for me! Enjoy!


Garden Stepping Stones Tutorial

A while ago, I decided I wanted to change my front living room. It is a room you can see right when you walk in the front door and I wanted it to make an impact and feel modern. Here is what the room looked like when we first started.

About 14 years ago, my husband and I got married and moved into our first apartment together. As undergraduate students, we furnished the place with hand-me-down and scratch-and-dent furniture, which served us well for a looong time. In fact, when we moved to Iowa last summer for a one-year fellowship, we finally got rid of some of that furniture (good riddance!). And after 14 years of living on loans and stipends, I'm looking forward to finding and decorating my dream house in the near future. I've been watching Nate Burkus religiously, filling up my Houzz.com style boards, and pinning room ideas on Pinterest like crazy. In my head it is bea-u-tiful!

I just got my Mother's Day gifts in the mail. I really meant to on Monday, but the boxes I had were too big for the Priority Mail box, and then baby had a blowout, the boys were whining about making another trip to the post office and that was it. I seriously just gave up. Some days that's just how being a mother is, right?

Strawberries have been really cheap at the grocery store lately, which I love! At my house, we all love strawberries and my boys can eat a whole carton in one sitting. Sometimes I over-buy because I think they will eat up so many, but then need to do something with the strawberries before they go bad. I found this delicious recipe on Pinterest and it was a big hit!

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325*. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan (10-15 cup pan.) Sift together the 2 ¼ cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 Tb. lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.
3. Toss the strawberries with the remaining ¼ cup of flour. Gently mix them into the batter.
4. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the remaining 2 Tb. of lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.