$150 Amazon Living Room Makeover

 Our living room has needed a refresh for quite sometime. And let’s be real.. furniture is so expensive! So as a different alternative I started looking in to different couch covers, which got overwhelming because there are so many to choose from! Immediately I knew that I wanted one with individual covers though and not one piece. As of now, the covers I have are on the lighter side, so not sure if we will keep them quite this light. They definitely turned out slightly lighter than I envisioned. Although, now the the space is definitely brightened up. But hey, for only $100 I got basically brand new colored couches! I do want to also point out that they had other options that were even more inexpensive.

The other purchase I made was replacing the wooden side tables (just imagine the coffee table but for end tables). We have had this set for about 12-13 years so they have definitely held up nicely. The coffee table will be the next to go, once I finally decide on what I want in its place. For the end tables I went with the simple gold framed ones with tempered glass. I was pleasantly surprised too, especially since the set was only $50 for two of them! 

The plant in the corner is from Hobby Lobby, but one I already had in another room. The area rug is from Boutique Rugs and I love it!! The coffee table flowers also got changed out after I took the pics, I will insert another angle of the living room below. It’s amazing how much you can completely change up a space for really cheap!

Xoxo,

Lindsey

DIY Wedding Coordination

 So I just really got to thinking about something new I could share that would truly be helpful to anyone out there. It occurred to me that I have never shared my side hustle with you guys. So about four years ago I became the assistant to a wedding coordinator/owner of "All Things Arranged". There was so much to learn, along with experience to gain, and I was truly in love with the job. Then about two years ago she decided to part ways with the business, but not before she could teach me as much as possible. That's when I decided to venture out on my own and where "The Finishing Touch" was created.

For this post I thought I would share a few tips on how to get jump started on coordinating your own special day. Along with setting up a timeline of events. 

1. To start off, the first thing you absolutely need to make it easier, if for all of your vendors to be booked. So the DJ, florist, caterer, officiant, baker, decorators, any rental companies delivering, etc. Then from there decide which events you want to take place. Are you wanting a bouquet toss, or maybe even a game to be played during reception? Once you have decided on all of the events you want to take place and all of the vendors are booked, that's where to me it's always the easiest.

2  Most of the time you are already aware of the timeframe in which you have your venue for, so the first step is deciding on what time you want your ceremony to take place. For the sake of this post we will just say 4:00pm. A lot of the times certain vendors will let you know what time they need to arrive depending on the start of the reception or ceremony, so it will make things easier when scheduling. The caterer is probably already familiar with how long it will take them to be setup in time for the cocktail hour or reception, and the DJ will know how much setup time they need (also if you require their service for the ceremony or not as well), and so on and so forth.

3. After you determine arrival times with the vendors, that's where I always fill in any extra details for certain time slots, basically things that you don't want to forget to do, and tasks to stay on schedule. For instance; making sure the groomsmen have the rings at a certain time before heading down the aisle, or having everyone make their way to the ceremony area, or making sure you know where the throw bouquet is located ahead of time. Don't get me wrong, there are a ton of little extra details to plan ahead, but it's definitely doable to DIY your schedule for the day.

Those are just a few of the ways to get started on planning out your timeline. If you would like me to go more in depth and give extra tips feel free to let me know! Meanwhile, here is a peek inside some of the weddings I have either decorated, coordinated, or assisted with.

xoxo,

Lindsey

Simple and Easy Shepherd's Pie

 

(Not my picture but literally exactly how mine looks)

Tonight we had my own version of Shepherd's Pie. It's quick, simple, and VERY affordable to feed a large family. I forgot to snap a picture other than the story I added to instagram (it's saved in my highlights though).  Here is how I make this simple family favorite. That takes less than 30 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

8oz Idahoan buttery homestyle instant mashed potatoes if you're in a pinch or a hurry (or homemade mashed potatoes)

large casserole dish for baking

4 cans of vegetables of your choosing  (tonight we had green beans, corn, peas, and carrots)

3/4 can of tomato sauce (or more depending on your preference)

salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder to taste

shredded cheddar jack cheese

Directions:

Brown the ground beef in a skillet and drain the grease. Then add it to the casserole dish along with all of the canned vegetables (drained and rinsed).

 Mix in your tomato sauce (be sure to not add too much, it can tend to get watery easily). Once it's all mixed together and seasoned to your liking then top it with the mashed potatoes. 

To make the mashed potatoes just simply follow the instructions, they're super fast and easy to make.

Once you have covered the entire beef and veggie mixture with the mashed potatoes, cover it with the shredded cheese and pop in the oven at 375 for roughly 15 minutes.

Then VOILA!! A quick and filling meal for the entire family. It will definitely feed 5-6 people easily.

What are some of your favorite quick and easy family meals to make?

xoxo,

Lindsey

Myrtle Beach Quick Getaway Money Saving Tips

 This weekend we took a quick trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In all honesty this wasn’t a planned vacation type of getaway, it was for a dear family member on my husband’s side, for their celebration of life. We did have some free time though, so I thought I would share with you all what we did. Plus some money saving tips too.

  First and foremost, don’t be afraid to book that cheaper hotel right by the beach. We spent $400 for the weekend at a little retro hotel called Waikiki Village, literally across the street from the beach. They also have 1 and 2 bedrooms available as well. Our first impression was not great at all!!! But the customer service was amazing and moved our room to a much better location and we ended up with a balcony that did have an ocean view as well. 

We were able to spend a few hours at the beach while there. Which brings me to my next tip. Bring your own chairs and umbrella from home. We use to buy a new one every trip and leave it for the next guests. So much extra money was spent that over time doing that. Obviously if you’re flying that’s a different scenario. One thing we did forget this trip was a small cooler so we bought one while there. 

So this next tip is really not a tip. Just a really affordable place I wanted to share. After we got back from the memorial service and went back to change for dinner it was already kinda late. I really wanted some kind of seafood so we randomly pulled in this place because it wasn’t packed. It was called Shuckers Raw Bar. We had some yummy Parmesan blackened oysters and each had a combo basket. Plus we had 2 alcoholic drinks each. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I got the bill and the drinks were only $6.75 EACH!! The place really struck us as more of a local type place. It wasn’t fancy by any means, but was also kid friendly too! So if you’re on a budget with kids this is somewhere to consider. They had a wide variety of appetizers to choose from as well, so it wasn’t strictly a seafood restaurant.

We also ate at a restaurant called Sharky’s and it’s right on the beach. Our bill wasn’t too ridiculous at $20 a meal roughly (for beach prices).. we ended up having our meals, plus we bought lunch for my husband’s little cousin too. Robert and I each had 3 drinks on our ticket as well, truthfully I think that totaled out to like $145 before any fees. I will say if you do go there bring cash!!! There is a 4% credit or debit card fee along with their automatic 18% gratuity on every ticket as well. I do want to note that the kids were not with us on this trip, so we were only feeding the two of us except this one time.  

Our great view for lunch at Sharky’s!

  If you have never been to Myrtle Beach there is sooooo much to do for families. Last time we were here Elizabeth was only 2 months old. So a really long time ago! Just for a fun throwback here are a few old pictures. 

Look how small Elizabeth and Michael were! Crazy to see they’re now 12 and almost 19, and Landon wasn’t even born yet. On this trip we did a ton but it’s hard to remember it all!

Xoxo,

Lindsey

5 Holy Grail Beauty Picks

I truthfully no longer wear hardly any makeup anymore. Maybe a little bb cream sometimes, but rarely daily, and some blush. However, I do have my favorites and holy grails that I continue to repurchase and use daily. Here are the top makeup/tanning/skincare products that I use on a daily or weekly basis.

1. It Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye in the shade medium. If you know me, or have followed me for a long time, then you know dark circles is the one hereditary trait that I got. It's also one of my biggest insecurities, so if you know of another amazing products let me know in the comments.

I chose not to insert a picture of my makeup wipes, but I use the Neutrogena ones and have for literal years! They work great, and do not break my skin out or dry it out either. These do get used daily as well.

2. A product I use daily is my all time favorite bronzer is the Milani baked bronzer in the shade 04 Glow. I have been using it for roughly the last 6-7 years. I typically can only find it now online unfortunately though.  This bronzer works great with my olive complexion, and I can uses it year round!

3. These next products are more or less a set. I have lots of favorite lip liners and lipsticks (I prefer a matte over any type of gloss), this one however does have a great sheen to it. The Kittenish cosmetics lip kits are amazing! I have both and rotate the two of them out between Bare It All, and The Jessie.

4. Alright, the next sets of products are also from Kittenish. I truly do love the brand though. You should see my closet also! I have been using their body butter for quite some time. A little bit goes a really long way, so it does last a long time.

 

5.Up next these items I really do love! If you're like me and prefer to self tan over the harmful effects of a tanning bed, then these are ones you need to try for sure. I like to mix the Kittenish self tanning drops with their body butter but its a super gradual effect. By itself you will get super dark, but they can also be difficult to apply. I have a couple other self tan favorites, but I wanted to mention this one since I currently use it mixed in with the body butter on a daily basis. Also included here is the Kittenish self tanning mist. Ya'll when I say I use it religiously I am being 100% honest!! I cannot even begin to tell you how many bottles of this stuff I have purchased. It gives such an amazing glow to your face. I also have lash extensions so I just cover my eyes to protect them when using it and have never had any hurtful effects to the extensions.

 Have you tried out any of these products? What are your favorite must haves?

xoxo,

Lindsey Fox 

Taekwondo Belt Promotion

Wednesday night was Landon's second belt promotion for Taekwondo (don't worry he also got a haircut right after this haha). He started Taekwondo around mid-April so I am very proud of how quickly he is progressing so far. I am still super new to the world of Taekwondo and learning how the belt system works. I took it as a kid but clearly that was a really long time ago! As far as I know it goes; white belt, junior yellow, solid yellow, senior yellow, etc...

He is officially a solid yellow belt! Not too bad for just starting a few months ago. Now Landon is also the same belt rank I was at his age. Unfortunately though I quit shortly after I got my promotion. Also, I never had the junior yellow either, I skipped right to solid yellow for some reason. So I guess different dojo's do it slightly different.

Here are a couple pictures Robert snapped at the end of their testing. Why does Landon always insist on either not smiling, or making a strange facial expression? I recently read a post where a dad said he always says the word "poop" right before snapping pictures of his son and it always brings out a genuine smile. Maybe I should try that next time haha!

 Proud of all these yellow belts and their hard work and dedication!

xoxo,

Lindsey

Jessie James Decker’s Chicken Noodle Soup (Weight Watchers)

Soup season is quickly approaching! 

(This pic above was a still shot from my Instagram recipe highlights)

 I have had JJD’s cookbook since it released and have made several of the recipes (changing some just slightly).. there are a ton of simple, quick, and easy ones to follow. By the way, I have preordered her newest cookbook that will be out very soon! I came across where I made her chicken noodle soup when I was really following Weight Watchers so of course I knew I needed to share with all of you, because it was sooooo yummy!

JJD’s recipe (picture snapshot of the cookbook):

No here is how I changed mine up to make it WW friendly, plus it also ended up making it super flavorful as well. 

Honestly there isn’t much to it, simply substitute out the regular spaghetti for whole wheat noodles. Then in place of the broth I used chicken bouillon cubes. Those two simple things really did boost the recipe. If you really wanted to lower those points, you could also leave out the corn as well. I am curious how this would taste with shirataki noodles to be keto friendly too!

There are actually so many ways these days to cut back on your carbs and to make recipes WW friendly. (Much more than there were a few years ago) I have an amazing keto shrimp taco recipe I will share soon if anyone is interested. I could eat it almost daily! Until then let me know if you end up trying this soup recipe out.

Xoxo,

Lindsey

Black Belt Club

     Last week Landon was nominated to join the Black Belt Club! He was so excited, it's a much more in-depth course where they get to spar, it covers bully defense, weapons training, character development, as well as the basic curriculum. There is more more to it than that though. You can look up Championship Martial Arts if you wanna learn more. This is a club that is invite/nominee only at his martial arts studio.

    I am so incredibly proud of how hard he is working, and truly understanding what Taekwondo is all about, as well as following the student oath and tenants of Taekwondo that they are teaching them. Also, how quickly he is learning too. He only just started back in mid April and is quickly advancing. This week he is doing stripe testing. Which if you don't know what that means, basically with each belt there are skill and lessons that you have to earn in order to be promoted to the next belt up. Right now he just needs his blue stripe to be eligible for the next belt promotion.

    To be totally honest, when the first promotion came along, and he had only been going for about a month, I thought surely there was no way he would advance that quickly. He proved me wrong right away! Then when we were away at dance nationals he stayed back with my parents because he wanted to participate in an Olympics being held at his Taekwondo dojo. Of course, I was worried that he may be left down if he didn't place since he was so new. You guys!!! He placed in the top THREE in four of the eight events and brought home some really cool medals too!! To say we were proud is an understatement for sure.. Now that you guys are a little caught up on his new Taekwondo journey, here are a few pictures (if the videos of his first time sparring will load, I will include that as well)!

This was taken last night, he got all of his Black Belt Club gear and was so excited!

This was taken after his first stripe testing when he was working towards the next belt up. I believe he got his final stripe in the following class.

My mom snapped this picture during the Olympics they mentioned earlier. I do want to also mention that the Olympics was for all belts, so they competed against each other (that's what made it even more special that he placed os well).

Lastly, his first Black Belt Club class was last week and he got to spar for the first time ever. He had so much fun!

I am so excited to see how far he goes!

Keep Training Until The Belt Turns Black,

xoxo Lindsey

Dance Nationals and Cedar Point Amusement Park

   This was Elizabeth's 8th year of dance, and her 5th year competing. Every year we go to nationals with a different competition and in a different location. We low-key did not want to have it in Sandusky, OH but we honestly ended up having more fun than we did on our cruise! A lot of us ended up with more than one free day where the girls didn't have to dance during our week long trip, so we took that opportunity to go to the waterpark two days. (I have no pictures but 90% of the girls Elizabeth's age were free the same days). One of the mom's was gracious enough to rent us all a private cabana one of the waterpark days too. The competition was held at the Kalahari resort there so they had an indoor/outdoor water park with countless activities. 

    Robert really wanted to go check out Cedar Point while we were nearby too. If you have never been I highly recommend it. Cedar Point is known for all their roller coasters and did not disappoint. The girls all rode as many as they could fit in from 10am that morning when they opened, all the way until 10pm when they closed! I believe Elizabeth ended up fitting in about 9 coasters that day and Robert rode 10. A few other dance parents tagged along so the dads all rode with the daughters all day. I am not big on coasters these days, so I just hung out and watched. They had so much fun that at the end of the day Robert said to me, "Babe, thank you! That was a lot of fun!"

        We truly had such an amazing week and made some of the best memories with our dance fam. Here are some pictures from the week. I didn't wanna go overboard here, but if you want to see more photos and videos and a reel (from both the competition and much more Cedar Point content). You can check out my Instagram page for lots more!

Happy Travels from one dance mama to another!

xoxo,

Lindsey

Bahamas Family Vacation

     I am a lover of traveling and definitely enjoy my beach vacations overall! Here is a look in to our most recent family vacation on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas!

    The cruise turned in to a big family vacation, Robert's mom retired the day before our trip and joined us. Our best friends and their four kids also came! The craziest thing though, is that we didn't get a single picture with our friends the whole trip, so there is no proof we were all together. Regardless, our families all made some amazing memories. The trip was a four night cruise and we went to Coco Cay and Nassau, Bahamas (insert teen me living out my own MK & Ashley movie)! Here is a look in to our trip, if you want to see more videos and pictures head over to my Instagram and I have a whole highlight saved and a reel also. 

We did have a second vacation that we took about a month after this one, but it wasn't a family vacation. I will get in to that in the next post. Until then... Happy Travels! 

xoxo,

Lindsey