Easy Balsamic Chicken Bake

The other night after a busy day of work and afternoon of running errands, I needed a quick dinner option! Also, we're leaving for vacation soon and I wanted to clear out the fridge.
I threw together an idea and it turned out super yummy!!!
This recipe can easily be tweaked to what you have available and it was seriously SO easy! Love that!!

Balsamic Chicken Bake

Ingredients:

• Chicken breasts (I had a thin sliced package of about 4)
• Provolone cheese slices (as many as you have chicken)
• Broccoli (I used frozen, you could also do a mixed veggie bag, brussel sprouts, etc. Really, the options are endless here!)
• Balsamic dressing
• Parmesan cheese

Make it!

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Place chicken in a baking dish, layer on provolone, spread vegetables around chicken, sprinkle parmesan on veggies, and drizzle balsamic dressing overt everything!
• Bake for about 30-40 minutes, until chicken is done and veggies are tender!
• SO EASY!!!! :)

**I made egg noodles mixed with a little bit of butter, salt, and pepper and served this dish over that. You could also do rice!

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Have a great day!!

xoxo

Spring Florals

Spring is on the horizon and florals are the perfect way to bring in the new season!!

I love this off the shoulder top that I got from Flaunt Boutique (one of my favorite #shopsmall boutiques on Instagram! And, they have a FB too!)

I decided to round up a bunch of different options from big store retailers like Old Navy & Nordstrom as well as some of my favorite small boutiques! Click the shop name below to check out the options I collected for YOU!

Flaunt Boutique

Old Navy

Nordstrom

Target

Spool 72

Anna Kaytes

Also, floral is the perfect print to pattern mix with! 

Let me know if you have any questions!

Hope you find something you love today!!!

xoxo

Summer's coming, Grab your shades!

If you are a glasses wearer like myself, you know how important prescription sunglasses can be for comfort (and style!) Have you heard of Warby Parker? It is an online glasses retailer that is trendy, fun, and affordable. They carry traditional eye wear for both men and women. Recently, they launched their 2017 summer sunnies and they are worth taking a peek at!

The fun thing about Warby Parker is their home try on system. You choose five different frames that you are interested in and they ship them to your door step for FREE! Then, for the next five days you get to try on the frames and get a feel for them in real life. After the fifth day, jot down which ones you loved and send them back in the pre-paid box!! It is that simple, and you don't even really have to leave home if you don't want! :)

Ready to get started? Click the link here to get started!!!

Any questions, just ask!

xoxo,

**all images courtesy of Warby Parker company**

Spring Break Fashion

Grab your swimsuits, we're heading to the beach!! Spring break season is upon us and it's all about swimsuits and sundresses! Today I am going to give you a sneak peek in to my vacay suitcase as my husband and I head to Mexico in TWO DAYS!! (And, where you can grab your own similar items!)

1. First up: SWIMSUITS

"I have enough swimsuits" -said no one ever.

I mean I do have a shopping addiction but I will admit it, I am a sucker for a new swimsuit (or three) every year!! (oops!) Am I the only one?

I buy quite a few of my suits from Target. This year they also have tops by bra size which makes the fit even better! Shop Target swimwear HERE.

Besides Target, I recently found this super cute online boutique and their swimsuits are $36 for the top AND bottom! Check them out HERE. (The striped bikini above is from there... and those ruffles! I die!!)

2. COVERUPS

The perfect match for your swimsuit is a coverup. Kimonos make for a super easy coverup, as well as, transition to a going out piece. I have bought them from Jane.com, LuLaRoe, and my local Meijer stores. Nordstrom also has some SUPER cute coverups that I wish I would have found prior to two days before leaving! (Shop them HERE.) Target also has some adorable ones too, because what doesn't Target have that isn't adorable!?!? (Shop them HERE.)

3.  DRESSES

After a day of lounging in the sun you are in need of the perfect sun dress to grab some dinner and more drinks! Hazel & Olive is one of my favorite online boutiques for dresses and trendy pieces. They have very reasonable prices and always FREE shipping! (The two far right dresses are from there!) Check out their dress selections HERE. 

Also great options are (as always) Target, Jane.com, Old Navy, and Nordstrom! I am loving the cut out and strap details on dresses this year!

I hope that you enjoyed this sneak peek in to my suitcase. Enjoy your sunny adventures!

If you have any questions, let me know!!

xoxo

NEW home: Our moving story!

Upon graduation, we knew that Tyler would be working for Macatawa Anesthesia at Holland Hospital where I also work as a nurse. To make the commute easier, we hoped to move closer to work at some point. Maybe not as fast as it all happened, but we are fortunate for the way that things did work out!

January 1, we went to "just look" at a few houses as we had the day off and figured "Eh, why not get the process going?". Haha, yea right! "Just looking" at houses is like "just looking" at puppies! Don't tell me after seeing those cute little fur balls you don't want to take one home!? So, window shopping lead us to a house that checked a lot of boxes in what we were looking for in a home. Best of all, it was BRAND spankin' new! Welp, that turned in to a hustle to get our house in order and ready to sell before we lost the opportunity to buy the new house we liked!

After much purging, cleaning, and painting, our 1950's home was ready for a new owner one week later! We put her on the market on a Wednesday, by that Friday evening we had 14 showings (and many that canceled with fear of how much interest it was getting!) and 7 offers... 4 of which were over asking!!! We were blown away.

Fast forward 6 weeks and we made it to our closing date! Not without the usual ups and downs of home inspection hiccups though. And, of course, more purging of stuff!! But, we made it and it was all good!! We closed on both homes on Friday, moved EVERYTHING in ONE day! We couldn't have done it without the awesome help of SO MANY of our friends and family!
Again, we were blown away!
Not to mention, the weather! Here in Michigan, it is hard to say what you are to get (especially in the middle of February!). But, that weekend happened to be sunny and 60 degrees and it was amazing! Once more, blown away by that great mother nature surprise.

Now, the perfect move doesn't happen without a great realtor. We used a friend (and professional!), Kirsten DeLange! She was totally on top of everything and made selling and buying a home at the same time a breeze!!
If you are in the West Michigan area and looking to buy or sell a home I would totally recommend her!
Check out her Facebook page here.

Needless to say, even though our move went pretty smoothly, we are not looking to do it again any time soon! We are excited to begin our journey out by the lake shore. I can't wait to share my decorating adventures with you!!

xoxo

Lunch Meal Prep

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As with breakfast, I found myself heading to the cafeteria every lunch break and coming back with blah and bland food choices. And, I was spending WAY too much money for lunches!!

So, on Sunday I made a plan to tackle my afternoon eating lull with a lunchtime meal plan too! We're about halfway through the week and I have stuck with my meal plans and even have tomorrow and Thursday's lunches made! (A lot of time I would try to meal plan but then not be interested in what I made... so sticking with it is an accomplishment! :))

My plan: Chicken caesar salad wraps, pizza pinwheels, BLT pita pockets, salad, any leftovers from dinners 

*Chicken caesar salad wraps: to make this super simple I bought a caesar salad kit and pre-cooked chicken strips (by the hot dogs and pulled pork, if that makes sense?). I heated up the chicken in a skillet in the night before and then the next morning I put the kit together, added the chicken, and made it in to a wrap. I added strawberries and pretzels and this lunch was delicious! I made the salad and wrap the morning of because I was afraid it would get soggy but my husband ate it a day later and said it was still good! I had leftover salad from the kit after making 2 wraps and took that as part of my lunch another day!

*Pizza Pinwheels: These were so yummy and so EASY! I think the kids would love this one too! Grab a couple cans of crescent rolls, spread out pizza sauce, desired pizza toppings, and cheese--- roll in to a big burritos, cut sections and bake! I am totally going to make these again! With these I had some fruit and a yogurt! Check out this recipe here.

*BLT pita pockets: Have you seen these cute pita pockets? They can be found in the deli and are a great bread alternative (lower calorie and carbs!). And, I think they taste delicious! I like to fill them with veggies and Italian dressing or lunch meat and cheese just like a sandwich! I made BLT ones with pre-cooked bacon (easy, faster, and LESS mess!), cut up grape tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and small amount of mayo! YUM!

*I also made a wrap with veggies and ranch and had some leftovers from one of our dinners one night! There wasn't a lot of prepping for these lunches, more planning actually! I tried to grab easy ways (with the bacon, salad kit, etc.) to be able to throw this together quickly the night before!

I hope these gave you some ideas to spice up lunch time!
I find that when I have a lunch packed that I am looking forward to eating I get hungry earlier and I am hungrier! Is this like a thing?? Do you feel that way too??! :)
What do you do for lunch??

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

Breakfast Meal Prep

Being that I work Monday-Friday in the Operating Room, it has become very easy to head to the cafeteria on my morning break and get eggs & bacon! E -v- e- r- y d- a- y! I need some better alternatives so when I was brainstorming about meal prep--- I wanted breakfast to be included! Because honestly, sometimes it can be as much of a struggle as dinner!

First, one of the biggest tips for meal prepping I can give--- Have a plan! Write out what you want to make and even plan out what days you will have certain meals on. Without a plan, it leaves much room for error such as forgetting something at the grocery store (The worst! Grr!)

That being said, my plan for breakfast this week was:
hard boiled eggs, fruit, yogurt, and a breakfast casserole.


I've been making the hard boiled eggs for a few weeks now for Tyler and I as alternate breakfast choices and I have yet to master the peeling part! I've tried putting salt in the water, adding a little baking soda, and putting them in cold water after cooking but nothing seems to do the trick 100% of the time. Usually two or three of the eggs will stick to the eggshell and the rest will fall off pretty easy. I will continue to test out tricks... if you have any good advice throw it my way!!!

I like to put together a couple eggs, a small handful of fruit, and a yogurt... breakfast for a few days! This set up is pretty easy to put together and I love that part of it. That would bring me to my second tip for meal planning---Keep it simple! Don't over do it or try to make it super fancy. Keep it simple and easy! You will be more likely to stick to it the less complicated it is! :)

This week I was thinking of adding a little something else so I decided to grab a breakfast casserole recipe off Pinterest and add it to the mix. And this one did NOT disappoint! It is delicious (and easy, woo-boo)! Find it here. Tastes like blueberry muffin cake. Y-U-M! I will probably pack a couple small pieces of this and an egg or two.

Thanks so much for joining me on the blog tonight! 

I hope that you liked these ideas and that these tips help you plan for your busy families!!

Have a great week friends!

xoxo