Etsy Finds of the Week

Baby Memory Book

By: Lucy Darling Shop

$34.99

Ohmahgoodness.

I LOVE this baby book! I did a good search for a simple, not-too-complicated baby book to buy when I had Tess. Baby books should not be a hard thing for one to fill out, but for me - once they hit six months, I couldn't remember to write anything down. 

Ever.

Even now, I put Tess's ON THE COUNTER in the kitchen, starting at me every day just so I will write in it. I scibbled something in it yesterday and I think it was about her turning seven months. Or atleast hope it was.

This book is adorable though and doesn't involve too much effort on one's part! Plus I have a new baby niece/nephew that will be coming into my life in the next four months so maybe Baby Hills will be needing this! 

This seller has lots of super cute baby must-haves including monthly stickers - lots of positive reviews! 

The Original Beer Flight 

By: Barrel Art LLC

$30 

I love my friend Megan for many reasons. One of them being that she is just cool. She has cool stuff that I always want.

In fact when the Nordstrom Anniversary sale rolls around, I make it a point to check in and see what she got. Because it's always cool. 

When I saw her in August, I started making a list of cool things she has to add to Christmas lists for people. One thing she mentioned she was going to do for her cute beau-hunk boyfriend was get him a Beer of the Month Club membership.

Great idea! It went on my Christmas list for Matt! 

So when I came across these beer flights, I immediately thought of her and what a fun extra option this would be to give to Anil.

And Matt. Along with their beer club memberships. :) 

These are made from repurposed wood and DOES include the glasses! Lots of nice, manly items at this shop and seller only has great reviews! 

Gold Dipped Leather Keychain

By: Made by Perri

$17+

My best friend and I have a fun time gift-giving to each other because our gifts are always a random assortment of "stuff" -- candles, books, food, t-shirts, nail polish... I LOVE IT! As does she, and it's just fun to shop for! 

So when I came across these bad boys, I immediately thought of her and added it to my list of possible birthday/Christmas options for her! 

They come in many different colors and you can add personalization for $1 extra or leave it blank.  They can be dipped in the gold or not - they can be darker leather - the options seem to be endless! They also are made of real leather so you know they won't be falling apart any time soon! 

TONS of reviews on this seller and all are good!!! Can be shipped in 3-7 days which is good since I procrastinate on buying ALL gifts. :) 

Happy Thursday everyone and happy shopping!

XXOO,

Allyson

PS. Last chance to enter the Etsy Gift Card Giveaway -- I'll announce the winner tomorrow on my Friday Favorites!


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Meals I Have ACTUALLY Made

When we lived in Minnesota, I got in a great routine of meal planning and making grocery lists. My mom was a whiz at this stuff when I was growing up. She'd buy a Gooseberry Patch calendar every year and had dinners listed for every night of the week.

And she saved these to refer back to ... or to give away to my sister and I at some point (they probably got dumped in what we refer to as the 'Great Move of 2014'). But she was/is great at this!

And I felt my skills were really coming along.

And then we moved to Arkansas. And it all went to crap. And for no good reason!

I blame either laziness. Or laziness.

I also blame it on the fact that there are zero Super Target's in Wal Mart Land that I can use my Target Red Card which gave me five percent off my purchase (and came from my husband's bank account, not mine).

So we are stuck with whatever I can think of off the cuff with usually one meal planned for the week.

Oh... I also blame Tess. Once that girl came into this world, making ANY kind of dinner became exponentially difficult! She likes to be held. All the time!

So last week when I hosted Book Club and made the Pioneer Woman's meatballs, mashed potatoes and flat apple pie, I felt on top of the world! Except that was our meal at home the rest of the week.

It was divine though and Matt kept thinking of new ways to use meatballs so kudos to him!

But I wanted to share these recipes because they were actually pretty easy (which is key for me) and super yummy (an obvious key).

Pioneer Woman's Comfort Meatballs

Pioneer Woman's Delicious, Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Pioneer Woman's Flat Apple Pie 

The most important pieces of meal planning for me were Pinterest and Aunt Sherron's Cookbook. Pinterest is free to everyone and has a bazillion wonderful recipes that gave me endless options for my two-week plan.

(Sidenote: I really only made 3-4 meals a week because I refuse to make anything on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And sometimes Wednesday were leftover day. So ... meal planning shouldn't have been too difficult for me! :) )

Now Aunt Sherron's Cookbook is a little harder to come by. I got this years ago and it was a collection of recipes from family members and friends collected and put into one book... and then many, many copies made. It is glorious! It has some of my very favorites in there like her goulash and chili recipes (her chili recipe includes spaghetti - who knew, but it is truly fantastic -- see below)!

And just for good measure, here is the best Italian Dressing recipe this side of Antartica!

If you are hunting for recipes, need them to be easy, and are a semi-picky eater like myself, follow my 'Food I Gotta Try' board on Pinterest. It's full of goodies, including this meal that I made for our good friends, the Stacey's last night: Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos -- my house smelled amazing from Noon until I took the chicken out at 6. Lordy.

So ... planned meals are hard to come by at the Clark house nowadays. Luckily, my husband is a good sport and goes with it. Or curses me under his breath every single day, but has learned to whisper quite well.

What are some of your favorite, EASY meals? I need to stock up on my selection!

Happy Tuesday, friends!

XXOO,
Allyson

PS. Don't forget about the Etsy Gift Card Giveaway -- use Rafflectoper below to enter! The giveaway ends Friday and will be announced on my Friday Favorites!


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Birthday Giveaway

 
Well my friends, you are lucky I have gone this long without bringing up the fact that my favorite day of the year is almost upon us.

My birthday.

September 30 is my favorite holiday because it is mine. All mine. Yes, other people celebrate their birthdays on the same day, but in my head, it is my day.

But a quick shoutout to all those last day of September babies! You know who you are! :)

In honor of my birthday, I'm doing an Etsy Gift Card giveaway!

In honor of my birthday, that gift card will be for $34 to any Etsy seller that takes gift cards!

And it's $34 because I'm turning 34. And I'm OK with it. It's another year that I'm still alive and kicking and another year that I get to celebrate the greatest day of the year.

To enter the giveaway, just follow the Rafflecopter instructions at the end of this post and you are entered! Make sure to share the post on social media to get extra points!

The giveaway begins today and I'll announce the winner on Friday with my Friday Favorites!

Best of luck and may the odds be ever in your favor!

XXOO,

Allyson

PS. I started a 'Tess and Elm' Facebook page to keep my posts and other blog-related items to that page. So make sure you 'like' that page to keep up with the blog and also to get extra points in the giveaway below!


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