1-Year Blogiversary Giveaway

That's right folks!
Life is Fantasmic has officially been around for one year!
Well, almost...
The actual one-year mark is on September 6th.

A couple of my other blogging buddies are also celebrating their one-year blogiversaries this September...
If you have a one-year blogiversary this month,
leave a message in the comments
& I'll update this post with a shout out link to your blog as well!

Lisa over at Pebbles and Piggytails is celebrating her first year of blogging this month!


Her blog is all about the power of Moms.
The gray & yellow reminds us that
sometimes life has sad or gray moments,
but to be cheerful because the sunny & bright times will always follow.
Being a Mom can be tough at times,
but she knows how important it is to stay optimistic!
Love her,
& love her blog (:

Cathy over at A Peek Into My Paradise is celebrating her one-year blogiversary too!

She's celebrating with this amazing month-long giveaway that she organized,

What would you buy with $500?
Amazon, Target, Paypal...
You choose how you want your $500
Awesome, right?

27 bloggers contributed towards that amount.
15 of those bloggers are co-hosting the giveaway on their blogs,
& I'm one of them!
That's right.
You can enter the giveaway right here!
How convenient for you (:

The 15 wonderful co-hosts:

Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines

Josi @ That Suburban Momma

Angie @ Snack Cups and Smiles

Ruth @ My Devotional Thoughts

Megan @ C'mon Get Crafty

Jeanie @ Create and Babble

Amy @ Love, Amybecca..x

Melissa @ Home on Deranged

Marissa @ Life is Fantasmic

Cat & Katrina @ Thinking Outside The Sandbox: Family

Kelly @ Hoppy Bottoms 

Sofia @ Something on Everything

Kristin @ Dizzy Busy and Hungry

Teri @ The Freshman Cook

Sunnefa @ Coder Mommy

The other amazing sponsors that contributed to the giveaway:

Lisa @ Chronically Content

Elizabeth @ Food Ramblings

Lanaya @ Raising Reagan

Elena @ Cropped Stories

Stephanie @ The TipToe Fairy

Natalie @ At Home with the Hinkleys

Amy @ The Stitchin' Mommy

Lori @ A Pinch of Glitter

Kim @ Enjoy the View

Consie @ Atop Serenity Hill

Jessica @ The Wondering Brain

Britney @ Mommy on Demand

Yep, each of these wonderful ladies contributed towards the $500 giveaway.

The winner gets to choose how they want the money...

The $500 can be divvied out in $50 giftcard increments between

Target,

Amazon,

& Paypal.

It can be split between two or all three of the above options,

or you can spend it all in one place.

The giveaway will be going on the entire month of September

& will close Monday, September 30th at 11:59pm (PDT)

So the question is...

What would you do with your $500?

Enter to win via rafflecopter here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

• Open Worldwide except where prohibited by law. 
• No purchase necessary. To enter, participants must use the Rafflecopter tool, have a Facebook and Pinterest account to have entries in those social media.
• Winner Must have a Paypal account if Paypal Cash is chosen.
• Winner will be selected by Random.org and be notified by email. Winners have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. Please note that A Peek Into My Paradise is responsible for the sending the prize "money".
• I do not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner. This giveaway is not affiliated or endorsed by Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.
• Must be 18 or older to enter this Giveaway.

One-year blogiversaries this September:
Life is Fantasmic
Pebbles and Piggytails
A Peek Into My Paradise
Lunchbox Dad

xoxo

Simply Watermelon Lemonade

I simply love watermelon.

& I simply love lemonade.
Little did I know that the two flavors combined are simply amazing.

Not too long ago...

We were at a restaurant that offered watermelon lemonade

instead of the traditional strawberry lemonade that you can find almost anywhere.

Hubby ordered one out of curiosity.

It. was. d e l i c i o u s.
They garnished it with fresh watermelon,

but used watermelon syrup instead of fresh watermelon in the drink itself.

I ordered one on my birthday at another restaurant,
and my taste buds were in heaven once again.
Note: This restaurant also used watermelon syrup instead of fresh watermelon.

Hubby bought a container of pre-cubed watermelon just to munch on
since watermelon is such a great summer treat...
Somehow it became buried behind things in the fridge,
and we almost forgot about it.
Thankfully we found it just in the nick of time,
& began eating it while it was still good.
I realized we wouldn't be able to finish the whole container before it went bad,
and was kinda sad about it...
Then I remembered how delicious watermelon lemonade was,
remembered that we had Simply Lemonade in the fridge,
& decided to make some to use up more of the watermelon while we still could.
It was a thousand times better than either restaurant version,
& the best part...
It was simply lemonade & watermelon.
No watermelon flavoring.
All natural.
There were no leftovers.
Didn't have to toss any uneaten watermelon out (:

Without further ado...
The recipe.

1.75 liter bottle of Simply Lemonade (you will have some left over)

4-5 cups watermelon chunks

Fill blender with 4-5 cups of watermelon chunks. Pour Simply Lemonade in the blender over the watermelon chunks until the 6 cup mark. Blend until smooth. Taste, then add more watermelon or lemonade to your liking if needed. Enjoy!

Featured at:

xoxo

^Lift

Sooo, I started using this awesome site called ^Lift.

It's a way to track your progress on specific goals you would like to accomplish.

Source: Google+

My sister mentioned Lift in a blog post last month.

I read about it while I had limited internet access

& had been meaning to check it out ever since.

A few days ago I finally got a chance to see what it's all about & I love it.

You can check out my progress here.

 Whether it be simple day-to-day tasks,

or baby steps that need to be accomplished before attaining a long-term goal,

you enter them in as 'habits'

and check them off each day once completed.

I know I always accomplish more when I'm checking things off a list.

Lift helps you track your progress each week,

& you can see multiple weeks at a time to see your long-term progress.

You can encourage your friends

or other people with similar goals.

It's pretty nifty.

No more setting goals in January

only to slack off come February.

Don't be discouraged.

We all have great potential.

Follow your dreams.

Choose happiness.

#itshappyhere

As my Grandma used to always say,

"New day, new start, happy heart."

xoxo

Monte Cristo French Toast

I'm really missing Disneyland right now...

It's my birthday week,

and for the first time in a long time

I won't be able to go to the Blue Bayou

and eat a scrumptious Monte Cristo.

Super sad.

I wrote a guest post about it,

which you should check out over at A Peek Into My Paradise!

I wanted to do something about this craving of mine,

so we had Monte Cristo French Toast for breakfast today...

It's not the same as the deep-fried deliciousness that we always get at the Blue Bayou,

but it definitely hit the spot.

I saw a pretty easy recipe here & modified it a little...

14 slices of ham

14 slices of turkey

7 slices Swiss cheese

14 slices of bread

butter (softened)

3 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1/8 tsp salt

powdered sugar

blackberry preserves

- Arrange cheese, ham, & turkey on plates so they will be easier to grab when putting the sandwiches together. This step will also bring them closer to room temperature so they won't take as long to heat up while cooking. I decided to do this on two separate plates so that the cheese doesn't soak up the moisture from the meats.

- Butter one side of each slice of bread, placing 2 slices of ham, 2 slices of turkey, and 1 slice of Swiss cheese on the unbuttered side of one slice, then placing another slice of bread on top making sure the buttered side is out. Repeat until you have made all 7 sandwiches with the buttered sides out.

- Cut into halves diagonally and secure with toothpicks. I broke each toothpick in half so that they weren't sticking up so high, and used 3 toothpicks per triangle.

- Beat eggs with milk and salt. Dip sandwich halves into egg mixture quickly and fry on a lightly greased hot skillet or griddle over medium heat until egg mixture is fully cooked & sandwich is lightly browned.

- Remove toothpicks before serving. 

- Sprinkle with powdered sugar & serve with blackberry preserves on the side.

xoxo

Two Month Late Update

We've had limited internet access ever since we moved
so I apologize for my ever-so-quiet blog.
We finally have our normal internet access back though so I'm hoping to start posting regularly again.
You probably won't be seeing any Mommy School posts or recipes for a while,
or at least until we get more unpacked & in a normal routine,
but it's good to be back - well, kinda back.

Our CA house had been empty since the end of June.
The last couple nights there were really weird.
Ya know, sleeping in an empty home and all...
We just closed on it though,
so it is a happy home once again.

Yep, that's right...
We found a buyer for our SoCal home!
Right after it was listed,
we had 4 showings in 3 days with 2 offers.
We accepted 1...
The offer was too good to be true
& we are so glad that things worked out the way they did.
We were nervous about the appraisal at first until it was over & we had the results,
but everything worked out fine and we had nothing to worry about.
It appraised right at the price we needed it to.
Afterwards we wished we had listed it higher since it sold so quickly!

Hubby drove four days with Gram (his mom) & Little Dudeman to make it to Indiana the last week of June.
Needless to say, it was a long drive...
Meanwhile, Little Princess & I stayed with Nani (my mom) at her place in Orange County.
We had an absolutely wonderful week spending time with her,
even though she had to work some of the days that we were there...
We went to a mommy & me yoga class on Tuesday which we both really enjoyed.

We also got to spend some time with my grandparents & visited Crystal Cove to see some tidepools & the ocean.
On Wednesday my mom was feeling pretty miserable from a bad cold that was going around
so she stayed home from work, we watched some Bollywood movies, & she got some extra rest.
We went to a Music Makers group with other mommies & toddlers from church on Thursday while my mom was working,
but later that night Little Princess started to get that cold and had a really hard time sleeping.
Friday we went to urgent care to make sure Little Princess didn't have an ear infection
since she had such a rough night and was tugging on her ear quite a bit,
but the doctor said her ears looked fine and that it was just a cold & allergies.
So we drove by the ocean one last time & swam in the pool for a bit before Nani finished work.

You can read all about our flights to Indy & our crazy layover at the Denver airport here...

It's kinda long, so I decided I would spare you & make it a separate post.

You're welcome.

We stayed at a friend's lake house for a weeks until we closed on our house.
We closed on the 16th,
& moved in on the 19th.
Our new home is wonderful (:

We were a little apprehensive since we bought it entirely on faith.
What I mean by that is we didn't get a chance to actually go house-hunting.
We had a great realtor that showed us houses on Google+ using the hangouts feature.
Crazy awesome, right?
But hey, it worked.
We ended up in the school district we wanted,
in a really great neighborhood,
nestled back away from major streets,
yet only 5-10 minutes away from pretty much everything!
Our neighbors & church family are super friendly & welcoming,
there's lots of young kids,
and a lot to see & do in the area.
We can't wait to get more unpacked so that this house can become our home!

Also, my family decided to come surprise us on the 18th to help with the move...
It. was. epic.
I was sitting in our empty home cleaning & waiting with the kids for our truck to come with all of our stuff
while Hubby was at work & Gram was at the lake house.
The truck was scheduled to come sometime between 10a-5p.
The kids were bored, & I was sick of cleaning.
Just as I started thinking how great it would be to have some company, the doorbell rang.
Assuming it was the ABF truck I was slightly relieved,
since that meant that we could leave to run errands then head back to the lake house.
I looked out the window & didn't see the truck - or anyone for that matter.
I then thought to myself...
maybe it was someone from church or a neighbor.
I opened the door to see my family holding a plate of cookies & some sparkling grape juice!
I. was. overjoyed!
That was exactly what I needed right at that moment.
The timing couldn't have been more perfect.
We decided to keep it a surprise for Hubby & Gram...
When Hubby came home for a quick lunch everyone hid in our pantry like a pack of sardines
and I told him that there was a huge spider in there that I needed him to take care of.
When he opened the door, he saw them all standing in there.
He stayed to eat his lunch & chat for a bit before heading out to finish his work day,
then he drove to the lake house to pick up Gram so she could look at an apartment & we could go out for dinner.
When they got to the house, my family was waiting quietly upstairs.
They had decided to sneak down one at a time
then casually start in on conversation as if they had been here all along.
It worked a little too well!
Gram saw the plate of cookies that they had brought & I told her that they were from our new neighbors.
When she asked if they had any kids I said that they had 4 kids, but that they were older...
Two girls in high school & two children that had graduated already.
Their son is in college & their eldest is married with two kids of her own.
(I didn't mention that it was me)
When Gram was looking out our back window & talking with Hubby about our playset & garden,
my sister Abby came downstairs,
washed her hands in the kitchen sink,
then we started chatting away in the background.
When Gram still wasn't turning around,
our sister McCall came down & joined in on the conversation.
We started talking louder & made it a point to call each other by name to make things a little more obvious.
Still no clue.
It wasn't until the kids' Gramma (not Nani, but my other mom, (stepmom)) came down the stairs & started talking that she realized they were here.
It was priceless.
My sister blogged about it not too long ago...
She has a spectacular blog (:
I magma her.
Ya know, since magma is hotter than lava.
Really though.
I love my family & extended family like crazy.

I'll try to post all about our lake house adventures later this week!

Longest layover ever.

The last Saturday in June we got up early to head to the John Wayne airport in Santa Ana.
Little Princess & I had been staying with Nani so that we could spend some extra time with her before we moved.
Hubby & Little Dudeman were already in Indiana and would be picking us up that evening in Indy.
I could tell that I was starting to get that awful cold that was going around earlier that week by this point.
No fun.
Our flight left at 10:05am and we got to the airport around 8:30ish (if I remember correctly)
We waited in line to check our big suitcase and the carseat,
then around 9-or-so we walked over to security to say our "see ya laters".
They let us go through the first class line since I had a stroller,
then the nice man that checked my ID decided to help us through the line since it was the end of his shift.
I forgot to empty the water out of Little Princess's sippy cup,
& they normally dump it or test it (which I was completely okay with),
but they said that they weren't going to bother because it wasn't very much.
It was more than half-full.
Uhm... not really protocol, but okay?
That was nice of them.

Little Princess was an angel on her first flight, even with her drippy nose.
I began to have more & more sniffles as the flight went on,
but Little Princess slept almost the entire flight, which was quite the blessing.
We were sitting next to a nice man & his partner who loved keeping her entertained during take-off & landing.
She only screamed once...
but that was after we had landed & it was because I was wiping her nose.

We had were supposed to have an hour-and-a-half layover once we got to Denver.
Not too short, not too long right?
Enough time to have a quick lunch, go to the bathroom, change diapers, & get to the complete opposite end of the terminal (where our next gate was) without feeling super rushed.
I looked at the departure board with disappointment when I saw that our flight time had changed.
Our flight to Indy was now scheduled to leave at 4:45pm instead of 2:50pm.
Hubby had already left since Indiana is 2 hours ahead of Colorado.
He was about halfway through the 3 hour drive to come pick us up when I called to tell him the bad news.
So they stopped to have dinner since he & Little Dudeman now had plenty of time to kill.
We ate lunch and got to our gate
(located at the opposite end of the terminal, remember?)
About 20 minutes or so passes and the nice lady at the gate kindly lets us know that our plane would be even more delayed, although she didn't have a new departure time yet.
A couple minutes after that she informs us that our new flight time would be 7:23pm out of a different gate
(which was back where I had just come from)
Yep.
So I called Hubby and told him the bad news yet again.
The 7:23pm departure meant we would arrive around 11:30pm (after the time change),
then we would have to get off the plane,
wait for our luggage,
re-install the carseat for Little Princess,
& drive 3 hours to the lake house.
Yeah... did I mention that we were staying at a friend's lake house until we closed on our new home?
It was a nice break from the chaos of moving.
Really nice.
But back to the airport.
I was feeling more & more miserable by the second.
I had terrible hayfever & was sneezing up a storm,
not to mention that my nose wouldn't stop dripping.
Yep, I was no longer stuffy.
It was like a leaky faucet.
I had a headache and well,
I was achy from head to toe...
Not a fun way to spend a layover.
Hubby was thinking about driving back to the lake house & driving to Indy the next day to pick us up if the airline could get us a hotel in Denver, then he would come get us on the first morning flight.
I walked by the guest relations line & decided I would wait for it to die down a little,
but it continued to grow...
After a couple stinky diapers and a few walks back and forth to opposite ends of the terminal I finally decided to wait in the 45 minute line at guest relations to see what they could do about that.
No such luck.
They said that since there was still another flight to Indy (at 7:11pm) that they couldn't get us a hotel.
It's okay.
I didn't want to go to a hotel anyway.
We would have had no clothes or carseat since we had checked it.
They did however give me a $30 meal voucher and a $10 snack voucher to use at the airport while we waited...
35 minutes before the boarding time.
That didn't give us a lot of time to sit down in the nice sit-down restaurant they suggested,
order,
wait for food,
eat it,
change one last diaper,
& get to the gate.
So instead, I ran to the little grab-n-go shop nearby,
got as much food as I could manage to eat &/or stow that would add up to $30
(a giant slice of pizza, raspberry cheesecake, a sandwich, yogurt, a banana, a cookie, some chips, & possibly other things that I have since forgotten about).
Then I ran over to Hope's Country Fresh Cookies,
ordered $10 worth of cookies to save for later,
& headed back to the gate.
There I met a girl on our flight from Carmel, IN (Hubby's hometown)
& a lady that was headed to the exact same lake that we were (Lake Wawasee).
Small world, eh?

We finally boarded our upgraded plane around 7:40pm.
I say upgraded because it was no longer a full flight.
We went from having 2 seats per side to 3 seats per side.
There was a very kind mother, daughter, & grandmother in the same row as us.
The 3 of them decided to all sit together on one side of the plane to give us some extra space since Little Princess was squirmy & needed a lot of extra wiggle room during this flight.
I was so grateful!
I had hoped for another easy flight since I was very exhausted by then & quite miserable from the cold.
Unfortunately I had one fussy toddler to deal with almost the entire flight.
She decided to nap about 10-15 minutes before the descent,
but woke up screaming when her ears started bothering her.
No nap for me.
Miserable.
Absolutely miserable.

We landed around 11:45pm,
got our luggage around 12:15am,
took a quick potty break,
changed diapers,
paid for parking before heading to the car,
installed the carseat,
loaded up the car,
& hit the road.
We ended up leaving the airport around 1:00am
and didn't get to the lake house until about 4:00am.

Longest. layover. ever.
or at least it felt like it...

Have you ever had any crazy long layovers?

YNAB Summer Sale

Just wanted to pop in really quick-like to let you know about an amazing discount YNAB is offering on their budgeting software now until July 22nd!

It's normally $60, but they are offering it for $39.99 right now.

Not only that, but if you follow this link, I can get you an additional $6 off your purchase.

That brings your total to $33.99!

Don't know what YNAB is?

Check out my post about how we discovered it & how it's helped us

then check out their site to learn more...

We've gone 7 months now without going further into credit card debt.

Even with all of our moving expenses.

YNAB has been quite a blessing in our lives.

I would recommend it to anyone that wants to become more financially stable.

Click here to save $26 on your YNAB purchase until July 22nd!

That is all.

Real posts coming soon.

Promise.