Goody Ouchless Ribbon Elastics

I was chosen to test the sunkissed vox box by Influenster. I was super excited to be able to participate. We've been overseas for the last 3 years and just recently returned to the states and I was really looking forward to getting back into blogging and being apart of influenster again.

These ouchless Ribbon Elastics were apart of the box and I am so glad they were. I hadn't heard of them before and was super excited to try them. I normally don't put my hair up a lot because I get headaches from using hairbands. I didn't get my hopes up for these because normally I just toss hairbands because they bunch up, break, or cause headaches. I tried one and threw my hair up for a day at the pool with my kiddos and to my surprise at the end of the day I still had it in and no headaches and I got tons of compliments. I highly recommend these to my fellow headache sufferers as a cute fashionable way to throw your hair up. You can wear one and look cute or use a few different colors for a adorable and unique look.



About the product:

*Soft, stretchy material that looks beautiful on the wrist or in the hair

* From America’s #1 elastics brand, Goody® Ouchless®

* Unique knot style hair ties are perfect for personalizing or dressing up your look.

You can find more out about these cute accessories and all their other products by going to http://www.goody.com/

I did receive these hair bands complimentary for testing & review purposes from http://www.influenster.com/

All opinions are 100 percent my own. Would love to hear your thoughts =D

Coming Home

If any of you have followed me for a while or are friends and family you will know my family and I spent the last 3 years in Belgium due to my husband's service in the United States Air Force. I would be lying if I said I loved our time over there. I am just not a fan of traveling or being in the unfamiliar. I love my country and lets be honest, I love convenience. You don't get that a lot over there. We did get to meet some fantastic people while there and got to do some neat things and that is awesome.

My husband called me one night from work and let me know we had orders. He was hesitant I could tell at first, to tell me where we were going. It turned out we had orders to Fort Bragg/Pope AAF. He was not happy about this because this was actually his first assignment and he spent 6 years here prior and he hated it here. I told him not to stress it. It would be totally different now that he has a family and we will be together and that is all that mattered. I had to keep an open mind because I was tired of being in the negative. Belgium just broke me honestly as a person and I was miserable all the time and I couldn't live that way anymore and I didn't want the boys to see me like that. So I went into this expierence with a whole new out look on things. For one it wasn't Belgium, two we would be in the country we love, three there are so many more opportunities here, and four it isn't Belgium haha.

We had quite the ordeal getting home. We basically had no choice in flying home because Brussels airlines wouldn't fly our dogs out. So we had to take Germany and go out of Ramstein AB. We got stuck there for a couple of days due to delays. We finally got out of there and because we had to connect in Baltimore we had to stay there an extra day because we had already missed our connection due to delays and they didn't have another flight to Raleigh for a few days. Then we get to the airport finally going to North Carolina and they tell us they can't fit our German Shepherd on the plane going into Fayetteville NC. It was to small a plane I guess. So they booked us on a flight to Raleigh NC that could accommodate his XL kennel. Relief! I was going to go into all out panic mode. We'd been traveling so I was already stressed and I was going to lose it. Luckily the manage of Delta understood and spared no expense on Delta's dime getting us home. So finally we get to Raleigh and we just rented a SUV and drove to Fayetteville our selves. They were going to drive us down but I just said forget it we will drive our selves.

We have been in the process of buying/building a home here. We decided we didn't want to live in Base housing any more after our nightmare experiences with that and that it was time to just buy. It was going to save us a massive amount of money and we wouldn't be told what to do by some company. We also would be investing in something instead of just flushing rent down the toilet every month. We were in the hotel on Pope AAF for a month and 7 days. It was decent we had 4 bedrooms and a decent kitchen and the boys had other children to play with. It was a pain driving them 30 minutes back and forth every day to the school they were going to but we wanted to have them in the school they would be going to when we eventually got in our house.

We finally closed on the house and we love every minute of it. Well minus all the deposits you have to pay to get all the electricity and water and trash turned on but it's all part of the home owning experience. We chose not to live in Fayetteville because of all the crime that is around so we live a little way away from the base and I am glad we made that decision. The day after we closed on our home, my boys and I went to Georgia for 2 weeks to visit my parents and sisters. So we just finally got back and I am working on unpacking boxes and trying to make my home, a home. I should be back to baking, cooking, and coming up with new recipes once I get everything settled.

I hope to have some new recipes up very soon including the banana split cake that I love and is my favorite thing to eat for the moment. I also am going to continue Friday Favorites. I am really excited about being back in the states. Thanks for following along on my baking adventures.

Here are a few pictures of our life along the way they include first haircuts in the states, house progress as it was being built, yummy cupcakes and dessert, fire ant bites, adorable puppies, and just shenanigans.

Spicy Enchiladas

I am a huge Enchilada fan. I love Mexican food and so does my husband. My kids just don't know what's good and they don't like anything but popcorn chicken so their opinion doesn't count in this.

The original recipe calls for avocado and I am not a fan so I skipped that and I really ended up changing a lot of the recipe. So my version is below and the original version is linked below if any one is interested.

Please excuse the crappy pictures. It gets really dark in Belgium early and the lighting in the house is not the greatest. Really looking forward to moving to the states where our next house is going to have impeccable lighting I am making sure of it.

Bonus! The left overs heat up really well and taste amazing.



This bad boy has a pound of cheese! When I say it is amazing, please believe me haha!



Spicy Enchiladas my recipe
Inspired from The Novice Chef's Spicy Avocado Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

for the sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
1 Jalapeno pepper, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 red or green pepper, minced
2 tbsps flour
1 1/4 cup chicken stock
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 cup medium salsa
1/2 cup fat free sour cream or greek yogurt

for the enchiladas:
3 cups chopped cooked chicken breasts (about 4 breasts)
1 lb Monterrey Jack Cheese, shredded
1 small yellow onion, chopped
8-10 flour tortillas

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Heat the butter on high in a sauce pan. Then saute garlic & both kinds of peppers for a minute. Then add the flour and stir constantly for about 2 mins. Then add in your chicken stock, cumin, salt, & pepper and bring to a boil. Gently stir in salsa and sour cream or greek yogurt.

3. Pour a little sauce in the bottom of the pan about 1/2 cup. I don't like my Enchiladas super saucy so you could put a little more if you like.

4. Fill your tortillas with chicken, cheese, & onion (you can omit if you don't like onion). Place in the pan and continue on until pan is full. Then pour as much or as little of the sauce as you like on top of the filled tortillas then use whatever cheese you have left and put on top and bake for 20 mins.

For the best results DO NOT buy bag cheese! Buy the cheese in blocks and shred yourself. It always melts the best. Enjoy the cheesy goodness! It pairs well with chips and salsa or a salad.