Call For December Sponsors! {discount included!}

Source: foxandcrown.tumblr.com via Alex on Pinterest

December is just around the corner, crazy, I know.

New ads will go up December 1st, but there's still time to book your ad space with Alexandra Rose!

Check out ad sizes and pricing here.

And, because December is the month of Christmas, how about a little discount gift for all sponsors?

Book your ad space by November 30th and receive 20% off!

If you're interested in more information or a promotional packet, please email me at alex.heater@hotmail.com

Our Week {in cell phone photos} + a giveaway winner!

Family dinner at my parents house {isn't their property beautiful?!}

Isaiah played with a horn...random

New Product! Cloth diaper burp cloths

 I was lazy. There was a beautiful sunrise, lots of cuddling with my aromatherapy heat pack and breakfast for dinner.

Tacos for dinner, along with home made elephant ears {delish} I finished up some crinkly taggie blankets and Isaiah had a bath! I swear he gets a bath every day...I just happened to take a picture of it on this particular day ;)

Apparently breakfast tastes better when you have your foot on the table...

This tomato basil pasta bake was actually quite delicious, even though I burned the top. Dangit.

Finished cup cozies! Perfect for coffee and tea lovers!

Swim class!

Mr. Potato Head smile

Lenny and his sweater

Sweet naptime snuggles

On Saturday we went to two Christmas bazaar's, walked around downtown and checked out the nutcrackers, visited the Saturday Market and got piping hot-fresh made doughnuts, yet surprisingly, all I have pictures of is our movie tickets, the as seen on TV section of Walgreen's {we had time to kill before the movie} and some of my new accent pillow case covers!

Go figure!

Hope you had a great week!

I'm liking up with {just.lovely.things}

and a good life

because they're both rad ladies...check 'em out.

and now, onto our giveaway winner!

The winner of the $20 store credit to the Silly.Beautiful.Life shop is

True Random Number Generator

Min:

Max:

Result: 21

Congratulations Kyndale!

 

Kyndale said...

I am a fan of Alexandra Rose on FB

November 18, 2011 6:26 AM

Don't forget, 20% of sales will be donated to operation Christmas Child!!

Give Thanks {week 2}

Source: sunsurfer.tumblr.com via Alex on Pinterest

So much to be thankful for...I'm feeling incredibly blessed.

Last week I was down with a flu bug, but I'm excited to continue the give thanks series. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'd love to continue recognizing my blessings and giving thanks long after the holiday season has left, and it would be great to have you on my journey.

Each day I feel an overwhelming amount of love and thankfulness, but when someone asks me "what are you thankful for", I feel like I freeze.

My immediate answer is everything!
But is that a bit of a cop out?

I can remember being younger and praying. My prayers would start out like this: "Dear God, thank you for today and all of the blessings you've put in it..."

Acceptable prayer? Of course.
Genuine? Definitely.

I meant what I said when I said I was thankful for everything...I really am!

But does it become more meaningful when we take the time and really concentrate, meditate and savor each thing that we're thankful for? I think so.

{and please do not misunderstand this as my judgement on the way you give thanks, your prayers, or your relationship with God. this is purely my own opinion about what has made me be a more reflective and thankful person}

I decided I was done with the blanket statement of being thankful for everything. Though I am thankful for everything, I want to be more specific, precise and really enjoy my blessings.

So, writing down things I'm thankful for became a great way to do that.

Sometimes, when I sit down at the end of the day to think about what went on, it's overwhelming. Couple this with the fact that I have an incredibly poor memory, I can hardly recall the small moments that made up my day. Though there are easily zillions of things I'm thankful for, it becomes hard to pick out the few that really had an impact on me.

I've found it so helpful to keep a small journal {or notepad, or scrap piece of paper} handy at all times. When something happens that makes me smile, or resonates with me - I jot it down. At the end of the day there's a list of what I'm thankful for. It's so great to read back as a reminder of all I'm blessed with.

7 things I'm thankful for this week:

smiles from strangers

the most amazing grandparents for my son

sunny, cold fall days

hot, home cooked meals

our bodies amazing ability to heal itself

laughter

a patient husband

What are you thankful for? I'd love to hear!

Link up!

Banana, Peanut Butter and Flaxseed Cookies

I love finding healthy and less processed versions of my favorite recipes, and this peanut butter cookie recipe was definitely not a let down!

Plus, add in a few chocolate chips and you won't even miss the gobs of sugar and white flour :)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 medium banana, mashed
• 3/4 cup organic honey
• 1 cup unsalted natural peanut butter
• 2 tsp pure vanilla
• 1/4 cup mini dark chocolate chips, optional..really, it' not optional...and I added at least 1/2 cup - just for the record.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, flaxseed, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mash banana with a fork. Stir in honey, peanut butter and vanilla until well combined.
4. Add flour mixture to banana mixture, stirring just to combine; do not over-mix. Fold in chocolate chips, if desired. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer sheet to a wire rack to cool slightly, about 2 minutes. Remove cookies from sheet and let cool directly on rack.

recipe via

Mmmmmm...

the perfect treat, or snack.

Heck, you could eat one of these any time!

Enjoy!

Family Photographs

A few weeks ago we had photographs of our family taken by a dear {semi-retired} friend of mine.

I'm.In.Love.

Warning - picture overload is about to occur.

I can't wait to turn some of these into canvas!

Silly.Beatuiful.Life {a happy Monday giveaway!}

I'm so excited to bring you today's giveaway!

Let me introduce you to Fallon, of Silly.Beautiful.Life.

  

Hello to all you girlys over at Alexandra Rose! I have been blessed enough to know this amazing woman for... gosh, about 15 years. (We're not really thaaaat old, we were just really young!) I would have never thought that here we would be, making handmade and getting our blog on!! But here we are, and here is a little about me!

I am the luckiest mama and wife! I have two little boys 3.5 years and 16 months.

They keep me on my toes and very VERY busy.

Not too long ago, I was struggling with post partum depression, and needed an out for myself. That is how Silly.Beautiful.Life came to be. I started crafting when I was pregnant with my first son, Braxton, so I had all the materials I could need for a while, and started taking a little "me" time. I was new to shopping on etsy, but fell in love with {just.lovely.things} as so many of us have, and then came the profound thought. "I can open a shop. Yup, I think I can do it... but wait.." (this is where you insert a million doubts!) Hubby was/is so extremely supportive, that I decided to give it a shot. Its all still very new, and I am slowly learning my way, but I am loving every minute of it! I love all things sparkly, shiny, and anything that makes me feel pretty, so that is exactly what you will find in the shop!!!

Beautiful items, right?

Wanna know my other favorite thing about Fallon and her shop?

{rhetorical question}

Each month she donates a portion of her proceeds to a new charity!

This month, Fallon is making donations to Operation Christmas Child...talk about feeling good about your purchase!

And, you can do more than just help donate to a great cause...

Fallon is giving you all the chance to win a store credit to the Silly.Beautiful.Life shop!

Here's how to get in on it:

There are 7 ways to enter!

{please leave a separate comment for each item you complete}

{this one is mandatory} be a public follower of the Alexandra Rose Blog

Become a fan of Silly.Beautiful.Life on facebook and tell her I sent you

Become a public follower of the Silly.Beautful.Life blog

Become a fan of Alexandra Rose on facebook

Follow Alexandra Rose on twitter

Re blog {tweet or facebook} about the giveaway with a link back to this post

Tell me who your favorite housewife is from any of the Real Housewives show

{please tell me you watch that?!}

Plus,

Fallon is giving all of you the chance to save 20% on your entire order

by using the code

BEAUTIFULALEX

at checkout!

Head to the Silly.Beautiful.Life shop now!

Giveaway and discount code will be open until Saturday, November 19th at 11:59pm

Winner will be announced Sunday, November 20th.

Veggie Pot Pie {and a giveaway winner!}

This is one of those recipes that makes you feel all warm and tingly inside.
Perfect for making on a cool fall evening.

I make this dish vegetarian, but you could easily add chicken and make this a regular 'ol chicken pot pie.

 The filling is normally thicker, but I was super hungry and in a bit of a rush to cut a piece of this bad boy :)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic
• mushrooms {I used an entire 8oz package}
• 2 carrots
• 1 can of corn
• 4 small red potatoes
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 cup frozen edamame, thawed
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 5 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• frozen pie crust {one for the top, and one for the bottom}

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Heat oil in a large skillet or saucepan. Cook onions, mushrooms, and garlic in oil for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms. Stir in broccoli, edamame, and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are barely tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch, soy sauce, and 1/4 cup water until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Stir into vegetables, and cook until sauce thickens, about 3 minutes.
4. Roll out 1/2 of the dough to line an 11x7 inch baking dish. Pour the filling into the pastry lined dish. Roll out remaining dough, arrange over the filling, and seal and flute the edges.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the crust is brown.

 recipe via, adapted by me

I know you all loved the giveaway from Enticing Treats

but there can only be one winner.

True Random Number Generator

Min:

 Max:

  Result: 51

 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Congratulations:

Breaking Free From Old Ways

said...I follow Alexandra Rose

I'll get you in touch with Tempestt so you can claim your prize!

For the rest of you, don't be sad you didn't win

{ok, be a little sad}

check out enticing treats and grab some goods for the holidays!

shop/facebook

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

We're off to enjoy Sunday dinner :)

Our Week {in cell phone photos}

I'm not sure why, but there's something fun about documenting a week in pictures

{even if they are from my cell phone}

This week wasn't anything out of the ordinary...

There was some shopping, treats, walks, thrifting, a Christmas bazaar and some crafting.

1. Check out that receipt. Yep, that's right. My total was $1.98 for 2 pairs of leggings. Booya.

2. Not-so-hot while grocery shopping

3. Rockin' mom's shades in the car

4. Our local fabric store

My favorite things from the Christmas Bazaar:

1. A plant growing out of a boot. I was tempted to buy this. Seriously.

2. Braided rugs

3. Fresh made kettle corn

1. Gorgeous fall tree we saw on our walk

2. The dahlias I finally had to toss from our family photo shoot

We stopped by our favorite furniture store

They have AMAZING pieces

I drool.

website/facebook

1. Made some burp rags from cloth diapers {big and super absorbent!}

2. Had a happy lunch

3. Cuddled with my lavender aromatherapy heat pack

It was a good week :)

I'm linking up with {just.lovely.things} and a good life