Hobbies And Making Money

A little more than a year ago, I took Camille to toddler hour at the indoor trampoline park, and she was so worn out afterwards that she napped for two hours that afternoon.

For many of you, that may be normal, or even a shorter-than-normal nap. For me, it was double the time than I was used to. DOUBLE! Camille has always been a one hour napper (I'm getting 90 solid minutes these days thanks to the amazing and all-powerful OK to Wake Clock).

That day, my house was (somewhat) clean, I was (somewhat) showered and presentable, and I grew ... borrrrrred. Bored. I know, I am SO weird. Normal people would nap, watch TV, I don't know. Chill.

But in that last hour of unexpected naptime sleep, I taught myself how to make hairbows! I took a couple of Pinterest tutorials and fused them together to create the perfect little girly and tailored hairbow.

It wasn't long after I made that first bow before I had the idea to sell them, because I've always enjoyed making my own fun money. Especially now as a stay at home mom. I call it my "Chick-fil-A money" because it's the cash I keep on hand to buy Camille a 6-piece nuggets meal instead of always insisting on the ever-so-economical PB+J I can whip up at home.

Making hairbows to me as part of The Tipsy Bunny (the Etsy shop I own with my mom) is a blast. I love scouting out ribbon colors and putting together interesting combinations. I get excited every time a new holiday is around the corner and I can focus on holiday bows. When someone tags us on Instagram in a photo of their little ones, I am so proud! I sell quite a few bows locally from my own front stoop and love seeing a car pull into the driveway to come pick up an order from my front porch.

I absolutely love it.

The other hobby I do to make a little bit of money is ... blogging! It's no secret that blogging has changed remarkably in the 6+ years I've had this hobby, a large part of that being the monetization of blogs. Two of the most mainstream ways to earn a buck from blogging is to work with companies on sponsored posts and to use affiliate links (like the ones in this post). Sponsored posts can be fun to me if the partnership is truly genuine and meaningful. They are not really my cup of tea for the most part, though. Affiliate links are more natural to me as long as the content that surrounds them is genuine, unique, thought-provoking, and appropriate.

I think you see from the way I live my life, buying clothes at resale shops and meal planning around what meats are on BOGO sale, that I'm not obsessed with turning either one of these hobbies into a get-rich-quick scenario. I like to keep them as healthy hobbies -- low pressure, FUN, enjoyable, fulfilling.

Fulfilling is probably the most important word in that bunch, by the way.

I'd continue to do either hobby if they didn't bring me a little bit of money. But that part is the icing on the cake. To me, in this really busy season of life, it helps justify the time I spend making bows or blogging if it's time that could be spent snuggling with my hubby on the couch or tackling some household chores.

I'd love to hear about your hobbies -- whether they bring you Chick-fil-A money or not. :) What do you do that fulfills you? How did you learn to do what you do? What are your goals with your hobby?

A Simple Dinner Recipe: Parmesan Coated Chicken and Kale

Recently we had a dinner that was so delicious but also insanely easy to put together.

I don't know about you, but the chicken breasts at our grocery store are HUUUGE (I know, I know, I should be buying them organic, and maybe they wouldn't be so freakishly humongus. humongous. humungous. How ever do you spell that weird word!? Second way's gotta be right?).

The two chicken breasts below are actually just one large boneless skinless breast cut in half horizontally!

To lift each chicken breast off the bottom of the dish for cooking, I placed sliced red onions on the base of the dish. The onions cooked so nicely and were a great side but also played an important role in the cooking process. Almost like baking on a roasting pan.

The chicken breasts themselves were coated on each side with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a hefty shake of parmesan cheese. The powdery kind from the shaker can. Dried oregano went on top of the entire dish. 

I roasted the parmesan chicken and red onions at 375 until the chicken was golden brown and the onions were nice and soft. 

In my dutch oven, I had kale simmering for a loooooong time. 

After washing my kale and cutting it into strips, I added it to the dutch oven along with chicken broth, salt, pepper, and apple cider vinegar. Brought it to a boil then simmered. 

Right before serving, the kale got a nice dash of hot sauce as well.

Texas Pete is my hot sauce of choice, in case you were wondering.

Ian's a Crystal man, but, you know ... I'm the cook. 

So, delicious, easy, and ... did I forget to mention inexpensive?!

The red onion was already in my fridge. As I mentioned, this was just one chicken breast, halved. And the bunch of kale was not much more than a dollar. 

Can't beat a dinner like that!

Five On Friday ... First FoF as Smidge Of This!

It's time for another edition of Five on Friday and I do hope you'll join along!

Remember, all you have to do is post about five things on your mind, add our logo (found at the bottom of this post), and join the party using the linky tools below. Easy, and a great way to find new blogs and be found. :)

O N E
I have had a very FUN week! Tuesday night I was down at my parents' lakehouse, Wednesday night I had Bunko with my girlfriends at Katie's house, and Thursday night I went to Nina's house after dinner for a little more girl time. Ian was totally cool with it because he's been sucked into Stranger Things on Netflix and was happy to put a dent in that series!

T W O
While I was down visiting my parents, my mom made the BEST Southern dinner, which included this Pip and Ebby meatloaf recipe. It's going to be our new go-to meatloaf recipe. She used part apricot preserves and part orange marmalade for the sauce, and I loved the little bit of orange rind that was in the glaze. It may sound a little odd but it sure was delish -- so you can be guaranteed that I'll be making it this way going forward!

T H R E E
We are having to hunker down this weekend and prepare ourselves for ... snow! Actual, real live snow! Apparently the grocery stores are a complete mess and the milk supply is dwindling. But we'll be good, I'll make a quiche for us and we have plenty of ingredients for grilled cheeses, soup, and hot chocolate suppers. I'm looking forward to it although it has thrown a kink into my weekend plans.

F O U R
Did you score anything from the Lilly sale? I waited in "line" almost two hours and then lost my spot, then re-entered the virual line for another hour and lost my spot again. Around one in the afternoon I had no trouble whatsoever getting in, but the pants I wanted sold out. If you scored any great deals, I'd love to hear about them! It's live through 1pm today.

click image to hop in the virtual line for the sale

F I V E

And if you didn't score any items in the Lilly sale, don't forget about one of my favorite ways to buy it -- on ThredUp! I didn't get the pants I wanted in the Lilly sale BUT I did order these black Lilly Pulitzer leggings last night from ThredUp for $23. If you use this new member link, you get $10 off your order!

I'm excited about my new black leggings. They have plenty of other great Lilly finds like these items below, so get to shopping and saving!

size 2, $36.99     // size 6, $30.99   //   size 10, $66.99    // size 6, $36.99

TGIF y'all, and hope you will join in on Five on Friday this week! 

Cheers to the weekend!

Thoughts On Thursday

I read a blog post in bed this morning that had me just (sleepily) nodding my head in agreement so much. My blog pal Natalie at East Coast Chic wrote it. She recently had a bit of a blogging/life epiphany. I highly encourage you to go visit this post and give it a good read. As a fellow blogger, I could not agree more. As a fellow mom, I could not agree more. As a fellow woman who still wants to pursue passions and hobbies that speak to me -- and make time for myself, I could not agree more.

I told some other girlfriends the other day that I was going to pump the brakes HARD on sponsored posts. It's just not me. Penning a post that's like "My Favorite Mama Moment (Brought To You By This Hardworking Deodorant)" ... its just. not. me. These sponsored posts pay really well, but they are more work than I want to take on. Adhering to deadlines, guidelines, did I tweet this enough, did I put this on Insta already, I have to get pageview reports to the company, blah blah blah. It's nowhere near as fun as what I'm doing RIGHT this minute which is sipping on coffee and chatting with you.

By the way ... my newest coffee obsession is the Cafe Verona k-cup by Starbucks. It's a dark brew and it's delicious with the French vanilla creamer I get from Aldi.

I do have some post ideas for this month which I'm really, really excited about. I am going to dedicate one full week to home stuff -- selling a home, buying a home, big home updates, little (inexpensive) home updates that pack a punch. I'm pretty excited about that little series!

I'm off to check out the Lilly sale which began at 8am today HERE. It runs through Friday afternoon only. This sale happens only twice a year and is something I always check out. I love Lilly and 95% of my pieces have been bought on sale. I can literally think of three things I own, a pink puffy vest and two Elsa tops, that were purchased full price. Chances are, if you see me in Lilly, it was a sale find!

(click image to hop in the "virtual line" for the sale)

The bright colors just speak to me and are so cheery. I know not everyone loves Lilly, but they have a fan in me.

And if you also heart pink, green, and palm trees but your Lilly budget is more in the $15 and under range, you're always covered. :)

Lilly Pulitzer daily planner notepad $10

Lilly Pulitzer drink hugger $6

Lilly Pulitzer Thermal Mug $15

Let me know if you score some great finds! What's your fave Lilly piece? I have a knit dress with navy and white zebras on it that is one of my absolute favorite pieces in my closet.

****

Linking up with East Coast Chic and Home of Malones ... two of my faves!

Our New Five On Friday Logo // Snag It!

Okay, now that my blog has a new name, we've done a slight redesign on the Five On Friday logo! Please link up with us this Friday using the new logo and linking to my blog, Hello! Happiness and Carolina Charm. Our pal Darci is still on a bit of a blogging break but is doing awesome and her boys are as cuuuute as ever.

Both Camille and Char have been a bit sick. It started with baby Charlotte ... she had a cough and it just didn't sound great. The cough itself was okay (not raspy or barky) but when she went to take in a breath, it just seemed so labored and gaspy. Scary. But the pediatrician said Monday her lungs were crystal clear and her ear infection (that she'd been taking antibiotics for the last 10 days) was still present ... and worse. So now she's on Augmention as well as a probiotic. 

Our ped was sweet enough to take a look at Camille's ears while we were there for Charlotte and gave us the all-clear for her. An hour later, wouldn't you know she had a fever! She was up in the middle of the night with what I think was a fever-induced bad dream -- she was saying over and over something like "that's not supposed to be here." I went to her room, snuggled with her, gave her some Tylenol, gave her a dry diaper, rocked her, and dampened her forehead with cold water. Poor thing. 

So, we are surviving over here, 'tis the season I guess! I'm just hoping I stay healthy. I am popping my vitamins religiously. 

I'll see you all back here Thursday. Don't forget to save our new Five On Friday graphic!

On Keeping Baby Genders A Surprise (And Baby Names We Didn't Use)

One of the questions I receive the most is about our decision to keep our second daughter's gender a surprise until birth. My Insta and Facebook feed have had so many pregnancy announcements recently that I figured it might be a fun and timely topic to discuss. People have asked me -- what made you decide to keep it a surprise? Was it worth the wait? Would you do it again? Was your guess correct?

So, first things first, we did find out the gender with my first pregnancy, Camille. We actually got it done a tad earlier than my OB's office would do at a private ultrasound practice so that we would know in time for our gender reveal party (I planned the party, printed/mailed invitations, THEN found out that the anatomy ultrasound appointment was happening after the party ... drama).



With Camille, we were both secretly hoping for a little girl! Ian was inclined to keep the gender a surprise, but I pulled the Type A card and really pushed for us to find out. Um, hello, gotta plan.

So, when we were expecting our second child, I decided to give him his wish and have us experience the true surprise of finding out boy or girl at the moment of birth. Here are the reasons why I was down:

+ I had already experienced a pregnancy knowing the gender, so this was a way to experience it a totally different way
+ I already had so many baby necessities from Camille that were gender-neutral colors or styles and could work for a boy or girl
+ I wasn't planning on doing another registry or having a big lavish baby shower for gifts
+ Something about finding out with just Ian (other than the medical staff) felt really intimate and special
+ Being busy with a wily toddler, I didn't have as much time to just sit around and navel-graze and ponder pregnancy. Life was all about Camille and this second pregnancy was so wonderful but not as "in the limelight"

One stipulation that I did have was that I asked our delivery room medical staff (midwife and nurses) to let Ian be the one to tell me what we had. I made this wish very clear because I just always wanted that memory of hearing the news from him!

And boy, was that a surreal moment. I will never forget hearing from him that we had another daughter.



I was also SO wrong in my mother's intuition ... I thought for sure we were having a boy!

SO, although I really think with every cell of my body that our family is complete as a family of four, if I did it all over again, would I wait to find out the gender?

Probably not. :)

It was definitely a sweet and wonderful surprise, but being the planner I am, I took so much JOY in connecting with baby Camille in my tummy, knowing she was a girl. Running my hand over little pink outfits in the store, Registering for blankets with ribbons on them. Picking out girl names.

(About that: The hardest part of ALL for me was having to go to the hospital with both a girl AND a boy name, both of which we loved, and then have to leave one of those names on the proverbial cutting room floor. Our boy name was Carter. Our other girl name that we decided against at the very last minute was Scarlett. We loved both Charlotte and Scarlett but Charlotte just seemed more classic and special to us and our story.)

I'm definitely glad that I experienced the two pregnancies in different ways. And it was fun telling our moms as they entered the room that the baby in our arms was another darling girl.

So, what did you do, or what do you plan to do? Will you find out the gender?
Care to share the baby name(s) you ended up not using?

Happy Monday, Happy New Year, Happy Birthday

2017 is here ... and, as promised, I've debuted my new blog name! I went pretty simple and just took part of my old tagline from A. Liz Adventures -- so, the new name is Smidge Of This. I think it's simple, slightly different, and it encompasses the fact that I like to cover a wide array of topics in this little space of mine. 

It's still a work in progress to get every little mention of "A. Liz Adventures" converted over, but I'm trying to tackle that during naptimes and bedtimes!

I also updated the actual blog design to something classic and simple, a look that will hopefully last me for a few more years! If you're reading on a blog reader, you may not be able to see the actual design unless you click over. 

Christmas comes down in our house today. We are getting back to the grind ... ballet for Camille, laundry for me, army crawling for Charlotte, and work for Ian. And maybe a doc appointment for my girls who have a cough like they share a pack of Virginia Slims each morning. 

Yesterday was my birthday, and I got exactly what I wanted ... a family lunch out. And the girls in matching dresses (THESE from Old Navy). Ian also got me flowers and a gift card for a local movie theater with the instructions to take a girlfriend out to a movie. Done!

Last night I took a selfie in a restaurant bathroom ... yes, I'm 35. 

But Ian and I had a babysitter and went out on the BEST date night for my birthday dinner. We had dinner at Pearlz where we shared 30 oysters (24 raw, 6 Rockerfeller) and I had two glasses of champagne. I wore that awesome crushed velvet top which looks to be sold out in dark green but still available in black. I'm wearing a small and I traditionally wear a XS/S. It's marked down to $23, soooo .... pounce on this. And if you bought it at $39 like I did, start a chat with them to get a price adjustment (you know I took advantage of that!). 

Let's hope that I can up my photography game in 2017. My phone is 100% out of space so I have to take all of my photos in Snapchat and then save them. #firstworldprobs

Happy New Year to you!

Five On Friday

It's time for another edition of Five on Friday and I do hope you'll join along!

Remember, all you have to do is post about five things on your mind, add our logo (found at the bottom of this post), and join the party using the linky tools below. Easy, and a great way to find new blogs and be found. :)

O N E
Cheers and hurray because this is the last FoF as "A. Liz Adventures"! After blogging under the same name for such a long time, I am definitely excited for a change.

(photo from Christmas, but, appropriate perhaps?
'cause, you know, drinking? cheers?)

And again, to all of you who took my blog survey recently, I am so happy to see that you LOVE our Five On Friday posts and enjoy reading a bit about everything going on in my life. A smidge of this, a smidge of that, as my tagline says.

T W O
Okay, I have two kid-related deals to pass along to you. First of all, do you have a Kid to Kid nearby (here's a store locator)? Well, I went in to one right before Christmas, and I was looking in their book section. I found a totally brand new Pinkalicious book -- the pages hadn't been touched. Well, you better believe I snatched it up for Camille ... she loves that series! The cashier asked me if I had a book club card with them, and if not, would I be interested? Instead of (typically) saying no, I said yes, and she said "okay, then you don't owe us a thing ... you get that book for free!". Apparently you get one book a month that is priced $1.99 or less with your little stamp card. So, join that free VIP  book club!

And secondly, I don't know if you log your Pampers Rewards like I do (seriously every single code I get, I enter!), but if you save yours up, you can get 6 months of Highlights High Five magazine for 1700 points. This magazine is seriously sooooo cute and Camille loves them. I keep one in the back pocket of the passenger seat of my car and she loves "reading a magazine" when we drive. The other day she started laughing hysterically about a drawing of a cat on a bicycle. How cute. It's geared towards kids age 2-6. If you don't do Pampers Rewards, you can also find a 12-month subscription HERE on Amazon. 

T H R E E
Beauty stuff. I had a few people say on my blog survey (open thru 12/31) that they were curious about the hair vitamins and whether I liked them. I used SugarBearHair vitamins (on Amazon here) and took them the entire month. I did feel like my baby hair regrowth from postpartum hair loss got better, but I had no way of actually knowing whether it was from the vitamins or just... you know, patience and time. Being that a month of these cost $33, and I personally didn't love the texture of the gummies, I decided not to continue taking them.

And mascara. I get asked a lot what mascara I use. I curl my lashes with the Shiseido eyelash curler, followed by a coat of the Superstar primer (step one) on top and bottom lashes, and then 2 coats of Voluminous Extra Volume Collagen mascara in Blackest Black. My favorite combo for thick lashes!

F O U R
Raise your hand if you're a mean mom who makes children believe that all Easy Mac packets come with veggies in them? (hand raised)

F I V E

I am so excited that my birthday is around the corner! New Years Day. Thirty five ...  whatcha got for me. Bring it on!

My goals for the blog in 2017 are: introduce my new blog name, potentially have a blog background/layout change, comment/engage more on others' blog posts if I really love them, add in some more Roll Call Mondays, reduce the Saturday Sip and Shops, take off the ads that cover up text and images, better quality photographs, add some "frugal mom who still wants to look cute" style posts, more makeup and beauty posts, more bargain/deal hunting posts, more posts about what we're doing with The Tipsy Bunny, and potentially adding some You Tube videos to the mix to make my blog more dynamic and personable.

TGIF y'all, and hope you will join in on Five on Friday this week! Cheers to the weekend!