Girly Nails: Barbie Pink and Silver Glitter

Lately I've been trying out lots of different nail polishes together using contrasting accent nails, glitter ombre, ect and this is my newest combo and I love it! I used a super girly pink from Old Navy called "Preppy Pink" which has a subtle silver shimmer to it. I added an accent nail in Pure Ice "Beware" which is a shinny silver glitter packed polish, 2 coats and you can't see nail under the glitter.

I love the Barbie doll feel of these two colors together and the best part is that they are very affordable, under $3 each! For being cheap polishes they stay on chip free surprisingly well.

 



A Walk Down Memory Lane with Hungarian Cooking

I grew up in a Hungarian-American family that didn't come to America until after 1900, I am only the 3rd generation to be born in here.  My great-grandmother came to America when she was a teenager, married a Hungarian man (who I don't know much about) and had 3 children including my grandma. My grandfather came over with his family from Hungary when he was a toddler. I grew up eating delicious homemade Hungarian cooking. Hungarian cooking isn't very popular around the US but it should be because it is hands down the best comfort food ever. As an adult I never tried cooking any of my childhood foods, I guess I always figured that there was no way I could come close to my grandma's and my aunt's cooking so I wasn't going to even try. Recently, David had a Cub Scout assignment about his family heritage and one of the requirements was to make a traditional food. So I got on Pinterest (where I get all my ideas from!) and searched out Hungarian foods. We decided to make a Hungarian goulash, this is a soup made with chunks of beef, potatoes, tomatoes, paprika and coriander..not a bowl of noodles and hamburger like most people think of when they hear "goulash".  I didn't expect it to come out to taste like I remembered but I was pleasantly surprised when it tasted almost exactly like my grandma's! She has been gone for a few years now and hasn't cooked in even longer so it was so wonderful to taste those flavors again and even better to share them with my son. I'm including the original pin so if anyone would like to try this amazing comfort food soup you can! My only suggestion is it came out thicker than I remember so next time I will be adding a cup or so of extra water. It's so simple to make and has so much amazing flavor that it's really worth a try. http://pinterest.com/pin/258112622365030143/

 Credit: André Baranowski

 

4 tbsp. sunflower or canola oil
2 yellow onions, chopped
1 1⁄2 lbs. beef chuck, trimmed
and cut into 1⁄2" cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground
black pepper, to taste
1⁄4 cup sweet paprika
2 tsp. dried marjoram
2 tsp. caraway seeds
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, cut into 1⁄2" cubes
2 medium parsnips, cut into 1⁄2" cubes
1 1⁄2 lbs. medium new potatoes, peeled
and cut into 1⁄2" cubes
1 tomato, cored and chopped
1 Italian frying pepper, chopped

1. Heat oil in a 5-qt. dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Increase heat to high. Add beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook, uncovered, stirring only once or twice, until the meat is lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Stir in paprika, marjoram, caraway, and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add carrots, parsnips, and 5 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium. Simmer, covered, until the beef is nearly tender, about 40 minutes.

2. Add potatoes and cook, uncovered, until tender, about 25 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and peppers; cook for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with rye bread, if you like.

SERVES 4 – 6

 

For the same Cub Scout assignment I had to make a snack for the whole pack. I decided to try making traditional kiffels which are a cookie with a filling such as apricots or walnuts. Those, however, were a huge fail. They tasted terrible and I ended up running to Winn Dixie and buying a box of powdered sugared "Danish Wedding Cookies" and passed them off as Hungarian cookies..no one knew the difference, lol!

 

I am looking forward to learning more of the traditional recipes and maybe even perfecting my kiffels!

 

The recipe and photo are from www.saveur.com

 

 

Kids Room Letters-Lego Theme-Cheap and Easy!

This room letter craft is super easy and cheap! You can get all your materials at Hobby Lobby/Michael's/Joann's. Never pay full price when shopping at these craft stores..catch your materials on sale or use a 40% off coupon, you can print them and they all have a free smart phone app so you will always have a coupon on you when you go! I use the mobile apps for all three stores and it is so convenient and I don't waste money anymore because I forgot my coupons at home.

 

My son is a Lego freak so that's the theme I chose to go with. I used the typical bright primary colors that go with Lego but the paint comes in pretty much any color you could want so your theme possibilities are endless. Your materials will be: large cardboard letters (I got mine at Hobby Lobby for 30% off, ended up paying around $15 for 9 letters.) Hot glue gun, paint and a paint brush.

 

This is the paint I used. I got these at Michael's on sale for only 77 cents and I have plenty left over for other projects.

 

Paint each letter with two coats, for lighter colors you'll need more coats, I did 5 coats in the yellow and 2 coats in the other colors.

 

Once they're dry just hot glue them together and you're done..easy peasy! You can leave the letters separate if you want to do it that way. You can also glue them together vertically or staggered so they're not in a straight line.

I hung them on the wall using those removable 3m mounting squares from Walmart and they are holding up just fine! These could also be used on selves, table tops or dresser tops if you don't want them on the wall.





 



Pinterest Meal Reviews!

I am finally finding the time to post up some reviews of the Pinterest meals I've tried! Some of these are recipes from my previous post Pinterest Meal Plans. Some of the meals I've tired have been fabulous and some others not so much lol. I followed all the recipes according to the directions/ingredients that were given (unless noted otherwise).

 

First up, Homemade Mexican Pizzas. These were a flop...literally! I fried my tortillas until crispy but after the pizzas cooked they were floppy and the tortillas were mushy :( I think I may have put a little too much meat/beans on them so that may have been the problem. The flavor was good though so I might be giving these another try. http://pinterest.com/pin/258112622364813750/ 

 

Next up, Honey  Bourbon Chicken. The sauce for this was super good! It does have some spice to it though so if you're not one for spicy food omit or half the red pepper flakes. The recipe says to thicken your sauce in the crock pot...that was going to take forever so I just poured mine into a sauce pan and thickened it on the stove on med/low heat and it was done in a few min. My chicken did come out dryish though so I think next time I won't be cooking it for so long. http://pinterest.com/pin/258112622364852862/

 

 

The last one for today is Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup. This came out looking NOTHING like the photo! A friend of mine also made it and said hers looked nothing like this photo either. I have a feeling the soup in this picture has heavy cream added which is not included in this recipe. However, it came out sooo good! And healthy too if you use skinless breasts instead of the thighs. I have made a few revisions to this and will be posting those along with an accurate picture soon! http://pinterest.com/pin/258112622364833375/

 

I will be posting more reviews on the new recipes I try off of Pinterest very soon! If you'd like to follow me on Pinterest feel free :) http://pinterest.com/mrs_riossince03/



To Renew or Not Renew...That's the Question...

To renew our wedding vows that is. For the last few years I've been entertaining the idea of renewing our wedding vows and having a reception/party afterwards. The reason being is that we never had a wedding of any kind. Way back in 2003 we eloped in Vegas..just the two of us and we don't even have a snapshot to remember it by. That isn't what was planned or really what we wanted but that's the way it had to be if we wanted to be together...we were beyond exhausted of the long distance military relationship and I think if we let that go on much longer it would have been the end of our relationship. There was no time for planning, it wasn't possible. He got deployed with the Marines with the first wave of troops to Iraq. He first went to Kuwait to await the invasion into Iraq and spent the next 6 months there. At that time there were no phones, no Internet, no bases, no nothing. When he left we had no idea how long he'd be gone or how soon he could take leave when he returned. That, along with a low, low budget made us decide to get married just the two of us and plan a reception later. Well, life got in the way of those plans, another deployment, bills, PCS, a baby and recruiting duty.  Now he has recently EAS'd and hopefully our life will begin to be more stable and I can finally have the event that I want! I want to do this while I'm still young (30 IS the new 20 right?!?!)   But even though the idea of it seems so amazing I'm still not sure. Do I really want to blow thousands on one night? I know I could pull it off super cheap in a backyard with a sundress but if I'm going to do this I want it to be the way I want it, I want a pretty dress, great food and entertainment. The other thing is I feel like it's kind of anti climatic....how can I expect people to be excited for this event when we have been married for 10 years already?  I think I might just go for it..I don't want to grow old and have regrets about things I never did.

So if I do decide on this I'm thinking of an old Hollywood theme...beautiful, classy and glam. Pretty much the look and feel of this picture. I am in love with this dress (minus the train, I feel like it's too much for a vow renewal) Unfortunately, it has been clearanced and by the time I could get it I'm afraid it will be gone! But the hair and makeup is exactly what I am wanting.  I'm just love with this whole look and always havebeen, I think it's perfect. Here's a link for this dress that I have pinned. http://pinterest.com/pin/258112622364806189/

Pinterest Weekly Meal Plan

So about two months ago I decided that I should actually try making some of the fabulous looking dinners from Pinterest rather than pinning and forgetting like I had been for the past 6 months. I've been basing my shopping list almost entirely on brand new to me dinners and side dishes all found on Pinterest. I thought I'd post my meal plan and maybe help out another struggling cook like myself :) So here goes, a picture and a link to the original pin!

 

 

Honey Garlic Pork Chops---This sounds ridiculously easy AND I already had all the ingredients on hand.. http://pinterest.com/pin/258112622364477500/

 

 

 

Balsamic Herb Pork Loin with Roasted Vegetables--This one is also super simple and it looks beautiful plated. http://pinterest.com/pin/258112622364738183/

 

Chicken Tortilla Soup...In a crock pot! I love crock pot cooking, I never feel like cooking once dinner time comes around so I've been getting into the crock pot more and more. http://pinterest.com/pin/258112622364790615/

 

Homemade Mexican Pizza--Is is possible that this could be better than Taco Bell's pizza, fake meat and all?? http://pinterest.com/pin/258112622364793000/

 

Happy eating! I'll update with how they turned out after I've tried them all..If you'd like to try them yourself follow the links to get to the original recipes!

My Life's Biggest Problem....

Where're my short girls at?!? I'm sick and tired of not being able to walk in a store and buy a pair of cute yoga pants! lol Guess it's time to suck it up and find a tailor... :)

Pinterest Salt Dough FAIL!! lol

So recently I found this great pin to make a simple salt dough that you can smoosh your kid's hand or foot into, bake and use as a garden stepping stone. I immediately knew this was something I wanted to do so I gathered up my ingredients and got started.

Things seemed easy enough, there was no way I could mess this up! Mixed up the dough and had David smoosh his hand into it.

I followed the directions and stuck it in the oven for 3 hrs at 200 deg. But....what the original pin failed to tell me was that this dough would cement itself onto whatever surface it was baked on... So instead of a cute garden stepping stone I now have a salad plate with a hunk of salt dough cement. lmao. I wish I could have seen my face when I tried to lift it off my plate!

I don't have a stepping stone but at least got a laugh out of it. Thinking I may submit this mess to Pintrosity! Haha Moral of the story: Beware of salt dough crafts and your good plates!



 

The Girl Behind The Blog

Hi...I'm Megan the girl behind "Living My Charmed Life"! This is my first blog and I'm excited to get it up and running. This is a project I have wanted to take on for a few years now and just finally took the leap and got started. The main purpose of me taking on this blog is to just share with the world the things that I find to be fun, amazing, interesting and funny.

A little bit about me..I just turned 30 (ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!). I have been a stay at home mom and am getting back into the work force (omg it's been a long time!). I am a self taught photographer and am finally starting school to  expand my skills and business knowledge (finally!). I am a former Marine Corp wife, my husband just got out after 11 years (huge adjustment & life change!).

And here's a picture of me with my son..he had won a school fundraiser prize and we got to ride in a limo and have a free lunch at pizza hut. He was so excited and that is one of my favorite days ever!