My Favorite Things Thursday: 10 Favorite Fast and Easy Recipes

Hello and welcome to My Favorite Things Thursday!!

Today I thought I'd share with you my most favorite fast and easy dinners I use ALL. THE. TIME. Seriously some of these I kind of have memorized I've made them so much. The reason I make them so often is simple: they are easy, delicious, and pretty fast. I did not include side dishes here because I usually make some sort of steamed/cooked veggies with nearly every dish. 

Enjoy!! 

Be sure to click over and read about how easy and delicious they all sound! 

Orange Glazed Pork Cutlets by Patio Daddio BBQ

This may be the best discovery I've ever made. This recipe is also crazy cheep. Orange Marmalade, a tiny bit of seasoning, and good chops go a long way. This is the perfect dinner to cook when you don't feel like cooking because it takes next to no effort at all. Love that. 

Honey and Pecan Glazed Salmon by The Girl Who Ate Everything

If you love salmon, stop what you're doing and go make this. It looks and tastes fancy, but it is super easy. I always get the "wow, this is really good honey" every time I make this. 

Glazed Pork Chops by Budget Bytes

This is another great go-to recipe because all it takes is a few spices and sugar you already have in your pantry and some chops! Easy. If you don't know the Budget Bytes blog yet, get on there and explore. So many great ideas.

Baked Pesto Chicken by Kalyn's Kitchen

Mmmm. My mouth is watering just thinking about this one. I love pesto and chicken and cheese so this dish is my heaven. I usually make this to serve over rice. Kalyn's Kitchen is another one of my fave cooking blogs.

Oven Roasted Salmon with Parmesan Mayo Crust by She Cooks He Cleans

Um, can I just say that parmesan cheese should always on top of fish. Yum. I know a mayo crust sounds a little weird, but it's amazing, I swear. Again, this is so easy!! 

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia by Rachael Ray Mag

This Parmesan crusted fish dish is a little more healthy than the one above since it doesn't have the mayonnaise, but it's just as tasty. 

French Bread Pizza by Budget Bytes

Hello comfort food. Easy and customizeable for everyone in the family. Yes.

Apple Spice Pork Chops by Budget Bytes

Ok, so confession: this one is not as fast as the others since there is a little chopping involved, but its so good I had to include it. You won't be sorry you spent an extra 10 minutes on this one. 

Cheeseburger Wraps by Mostly Homemade Mom

I don't even like hamburgers really, and I love these. Everyone I've ever made them for does, too. I use the lean beef and whole wheat tortillas to make it a little better for us and they're still great.

Turkey Pesto Sliders by Annie's Eats

This recipe is great for lunch or dinner. We like to pair these with sweet potato fries!!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my favorite recipes. Be sure to check out my Recipes Board on Pinterest for more!

Feel free to leave links to your favorite fast and easy recipes. I always need more!!

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Graduation Party Decor

I am one proud girl. My fiance graduated law school this May. He has worked incredibly hard and has stayed more focused than anyone I've ever seen throughout this whole process. 

Changing careers, moving two hours from where we're both from, spending lots of quiet evenings, weekends, holidays, etc. at home or the library studying will all pay off when Mr. Lovie passes the Ohio Bar Exam this fall and continues to practice here in Dayton shortly after! Then we'll get married. And then the fun starts. :) I'm so happy for him and so very proud. 

With all that being said, you may have figured out my reasoning for being so absent from the blog. Wedding planning, finishing out the school year with my kinder babes, moving to a new home, throwing a graduation party for our families and just other "life stuff" has kinda taken up all of my extra time. I really hope to be able to share much more with you this summer. I have a few really awesome jewelry tutorials I am dying to do, lots of sewing projects in mind, and, of course, plenty of diy wedding ideas on my list as well!! I know that my posting has been really sporadic, but I hope you'll stick around-I promise to make it worthwhile!

So back to the graduation celebration. I thought I'd share a few pictures. Our families live in different states than us and each other so we had never really gotten a chance to sit down and enjoy time together. I think it was a success! 

We cuddled a lot with this sweet little girl (Matt's niece), talked, ate (and then ate some more), watched the Kentucky Derby, and gave Matt high fives. 

We thew this party 2 weeks after moving into a historic home we're renting (that was in the middle of a couple renovations...) so it was a pretty crazy time. Major cleaning, organizing, and unpacking got done during those 2 weeks, and somehow the main area of the house was in decent shape for our guests! 

I made the table runner out of Kraft paper (purchased at a hardware store). I just painted some dots on it with paint from my stash and added a little ruffle to the bottom with a glue gun. The backdrop was made out of about 10 flattened moving boxes taped together with duct tape. I wanted the backdrop to be easy and CHEAP (because moving and parties are expensive) so I purchased some wrapping paper and wrapped the cardboard boxes. Since the boxes were free (thank you, school cafeteria) the backdrop was the same price as the wrapping paper. (yes!)

For the garland on top of the backdrop, I created some simple bunting with scrapbook paper, a paint pen, ribbon folded in half. I sewed the flags into the folded ribbon and done-easy banner! The tissue paper garland is my absolute favorite thing from this entire party, though. LOVE how easy it was and what an impact it makes. I used this tutorial, but I think I used 2 pieces of tissue at a time for a fuller tassel. I made a few tassels out of the kraft paper as well to tie in the tablecloth. 

 Using his law books as decorate the tables was a no-brainer. Easy, cheap, and a perfect theme. 

This pie was a beautiful centerpiece for the food table and the little flag bunting was so fun to make. I may or may not have made it while I was waiting for the pie to set in the fridge...Haha. 

Here' s the other table runner I made for the extra seating. 

 His school's colors were red and navy, but I made sure to incorporate that turquoise/ light blue color so I could use this torn fabric garland I made for his 30th birthday party last year. Matt told me to stop being such a hoarder when I said I was keeping it after the party last year, but see? I really did use it again!

I hope you enjoyed seeing the decorations from our little family party. 

I'll be linking up to my favorite parties on my sidebar.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for My Favorite Things Thursday. 

Thanks for reading!!

Layered Necklaces Tutorial

Hello, friends! I've missed you!! 

Be sure to head on over to 30 Handmade Days for this great Layered Necklaces Tutorial! 

I'm loving the layered necklaces look right now and since I couldn't figure out a good way to mix and match any of the necklaces I had, I just made more. Be sure to check it out for more pictures and a tutorial! 

It feels good to be posting. I bet you guys think I've abandoned you. Nope. There are just a lot of things that have been going on around here...we moved, Mr. Lovie graduated law school (woo!), I planned and had a graduation party for him (more on that very soon!), it's now the end of the school year (which is always nuts) and, oh yeah, more wedding panning. It became tricky to work, do all those things, and blog. I'm hoping that maybe, finally, I'll have a little more time since the last day of school is a week from today!! I love my kindergarten babies, but I'm ridiculously excited to see them graduate and start my summer break! Summer = a little more time to do what I love- create and share those creations with you. Yay. 

Thanks for reading!

Anthropologie Mixed Alloy Necklace Knockoff

You can head on over to 30 Handmade Days today to check out this Anthropologie Knockoff, the Mixed Alloy Necklace! 

This was a great project to help me use some of the beads that were already in my stash and the end result was so fun! I'm really loving that sequined bead in there! Head on over to see more pictures and a full tutorial now! 

BHLDN Knockoff Bridal Earrings

Hey friends! Turns out, I am still alive. I know it has been for.ev.er. since I've posted, but I hope to be better about it soon. 

A lot of things have been happening around here. Teaching and end of year preparations, wedding planning, (rental) house hunting, and (rental) house finding!, and now moving- next weekend. Also, Mr. Lovie's graduating from law school in a few weeks and this girl is planning the party for him and our families. Whew. It won't slow down for awhile now, but it's all good and exciting things. So in the meantime, I'll pop in every now and then...Come May 24,the last day of school, I can be around a lot more I hope!

So last month, I wrote this tutorial for these BHLDN Knockoff Bridal Earrings on 30 Handmade Days and I even forgot to share it with you! 

I love checking out the BHLDN website from time to time to check out all the beautiful things I can't afford :) and when I found the Dawn's Harvest Earrings under the Bridal Jewelry section for $280, I knew I could knock them off pretty easy! 

 Click on over to get the tutorial! 

Thanks for reading! I'll be linking up to the parties on my sidebar.

12 Unique Easter Decorating Ideas

Happy St. Patrick's Day Eve! I hope everyone is enjoying this fun holiday! 

Today is not Thursday, but I just had to share these great Easter ideas with you! 

Enjoy!

Easter Egg Countdown by Victoria at A Subtle Revelry

These are so pretty. And you've got to go check out her post-she has surprises inside the hollowed out eggs! So cute. 

Altered Plastic Eggs by Alisa at Alisa Burke

Alisa Burke can do no wrong. Love these fun eggs. 

 Easter Wreath by Amy atPositively Splendid
This wreath is SO bright and cheery. She has links to a tutorial on how to make the stuffed eggs on her blog as well as her Easter mantle. Go check it out! 

Vintage Brass and Lavender Easter Tablescape by Laura at Finding Home

I love this tablescape. The brass bunnies and eggs are my very favorite. 

Scribble Eggs by Camilla at Family Chic

These are so fun and kid friendly!!

Buttons and Lace Easter Eggs by Bev at Flamingo Toes 

Love this style! These are so easy and sweet.

Faux Gilded Eggs by Colleen at Just Paint It

I always love anything gold. These are so fun!!

Gold Leaf Eggs by Eden at Sugar and Charm 

AHH! I need these immediately. So so so cute. And pretty easy, too!

Washi Tape Eggs by Chelsea at Lovely Indeed

Love these fun washi tape eggs. So unique and fun.

Easter Decor by Jennifer at Dear Lillie 

This natural Easter decor is just beautiful. You have to go see the rest of this room. 

Thumb Tack Polka Dot Eggs  by Brittni at Paper N Stitch
These are very easy and unique. Love 'em.

Elegant Eggs by Martha Stewart

These were just too gorgeous not to include. They'd be great to make and keep to bring out every year!

I hope you enjoyed this fun Easter roundup!

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