• Life,  Recipes

    Friday Favorites | Vol. 4

    Hi friends! I wasn’t planning on writing this post because I’m going to be sharing with you another post I wrote for a different site later on, buuuut I’m really loving both writing and reading Friday Favorite posts. So I figured I would just do both posts! 😉

    Check back later on today for the link to my guest post about ways to practically cast your cares on God.

    Friday Favorites

    o n e

    I’ve been experimenting with new recipes this week and this one was so. good. It was so healthy too. It was actually served with chicken as well, but I snapped this picture before putting the cooked chicken back into the pan because the colors just looked so pretty. The recipe can be found here. 🙂

    This was the first time I cooked gnocchi and they are delicious! Especially paired with the tomatoes, they are seriously just too good.

    t w o

    I’ve been doing so much crocheting this week, it’s been great. This blanket that I’m working on here is almost done! I’m actually headed to Michael’s after I finish this post to buy more yarn for it. I’m going to be selling it on Etsy as soon as I get everything up and running. Don’t miss the launch date! I’d love to have you along for the journey, so follow me on my Etsy Instagram (@ashleyzincrochets). 🙂

    t h r e e

    I told ya I’ve been experimenting with different recipes this week. 😉 This one was honestly so good too. It’s a great swap for a high calorie side dish. The insides are filled with heavy cream, cheese, pepper, garlic, and a crumpled bouillon cube! So clever. This recipe can be found here.

    f o u r

    I recapped our honeymoon this week and it made me want to hop on a plane straight to the Caribbean so badly! That’s what living in New Jersey in March will do to you though, haha. I am so ready for warmer weather and beach days!

    Tommy and I are making the drive from New Jersey to Florida two weeks from today though! I can’t complain too much about the weather since I’ll be in sunny Florida soon enough. 🙂

    f i v e

    I revamped my Pinterest account this week and I’d love it if you would follow along with me. I have created tons of fun boards that make me really excited – from Fitness Routines to Ways to Use Essential Oils. I also pin the recipes that I use throughout the week as well. I’m confident you can find something that will be useful. Leave a comment with your blog and Pinterest and I’d love to follow along with you too. 🙂

    Today I’m linking up with these wonderful ladies!

  • Faith,  Life

    Friday Favorites | Vol. 3

    Happy St. Patty’s Day! Do you usually celebrate today? I don’t think I ever have before. Today I decided to pick back up and share a Friday Favorites post. I was planning on writing one last week but didn’t have such a great week and decided to do a Friday Introductions post instead and share a little bit about myself. Check that out here if you missed it! 🙂 (oh P.S. I, for some strange reason, decided to wake up at 4:30 am when my husband got up, after going to bed at 1 am, and am attempting to function like a normal human being, so please forgive me for any errors that may result because of this. 😉 )

    Friday Favorites!

    o n e

    image shared on Instagram via (@ashleyzincrochets)

    I started working on a baby girl blanket for my Etsy shop and am loving how it’s turning out! I wish crocheting wasn’t so time-consuming sometimes so that I can open my shop up sooner! For those of you who don’t know, I’m planning on opening an Etsy shop sometime within the next couple of months. I plan to sell blankets, home decor, and baby items. I’m very excited, but I never would have imagined how much work it is!

    t w o

    follow me on facebook here 🙂

    I revamped my site, along with my Facebook page, and am absolutely loving how it came out! I feel like this layout is much more pulled together and clean, and I feel like it better represents my blog and who I am. What’d you think? Also, I’d love to hear your suggestions for essential plugins. I’m always looking to learn more and I’m finding that the best way to do that is with friends. 🙂

    t h r e e

    This post located here, if you’re interested. 🙂

    Ever since I wrote and shared Facing My Biggest Fear, I have had such a different outlook on life. That sounds so cliché I know, but after I was able to stop worrying about my health, I just felt so much more alive. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10. The closer I walk with God the more this becomes real to me. Every time I lay a struggle down at Jesus’s feet and allow him to heal me of it, I am amazed at how differently I view my life. It’s never easy but it’s always worth it.

    f o u r

    I put out all of our Spring decor this week (even though there’s so. much. snow. outside), and I’m just loving the refresh it gave our little apartment. I’m loving even more that 90% of it is from our wedding decor and it reminds me of when we just got married. We’re planning on moving out when our lease is up next month and I am just not ready to say goodbye to our first apartment together. 🙁

    f i v e

    I’m only very new to learning about essential oils and all of the health benefits to them but I, of course had to add them to my Friday Favorites. This blend in particular is my absolute fav. I unfortunately am waiting on more lemon and lavender (because they are both so low), and have not been able to diffuse this in a while, but I’m really missing it. Do you use essential oils? What are your favorites? I’d really love to know!

     

    Today I’m linking up with these wonderful ladies! Come join us! 🙂

  • Faith,  Life

    Friday Favorites | Vol. 2

    I know it’s kind of excessive to do a What’s Up Wednesday post and a Friday Favorites in the same week but that’s just how it worked out this week and I am not complaining because it makes it a very easy writing week for me, haha! But I promised in my last (and first) Friday Favorites two weeks ago that I was going to do a Friday Favorites post every other week so I need to keep my promise to do that 😉 Don’t worry I’ll try my best to keep things interesting! 🙂

    Our first married Valentine’s Day was really nice! Tommy bought me these beautiful flowers and we spent the night just relaxing together. We wanted to order a heart-shaped pizza but I wasn’t sure how to find a place that sold them haha and I didn’t want to call around and ask. Soo we just ordered a regular-shaped margarita pizza and salad and it was the bomb.com!

    I don’t have a picture of this because I honestly never really take pictures in regular life. I really need to start! But Tommy and I hung out with my cousin and her boyfriend on Sunday. We went hiking, then came back to our apartment and just hung out for the rest of the night and it was so fun! Can’t wait to continue doing this with them as the weather keeps warming up.

    I mentioned this in my What’s Up Wednesday post too but didn’t have the pictures to include so I think that means it’s okay to talk about it in this post as well. 😉 When Tommy and I went up to Lake George this past weekend we went to our favorite cafe for breakfast and got lattes and I got a breakfast sandwich and Tommy got french toast. I wish the place was closer because it’s just so yummy.

    A little off topic but talking about how much fun going out on dates with Tommy reminds me that we’re joining this marriage class that our new church is doing for couples who are in their first 5 years of marriage. I’m really excited about it, but also a little nervous. It’s once a month for the next 6 months or so I believe, and I will definitely be blogging about that in the future. 😉

    The past month or so Tommy and I have been eating such yummy food. I’m actually planning on doing a Recipe Roundup post early next week and sharing all of the recipes that we are really enjoying. This dinner was extra special because I wasn’t feeling very well a few days ago and Tommy made this for us so that I could relax. The. Best.

    I’ve been having a rough week or so and I opened my Bible app the other day and found this verse as the verse of the day and I was so encouraged. I feel so lost sometimes because of not having a “normal” job, and I kept praying and asking God for some encouragement and I felt like this was him answering my prayer.

    I also realized (yet again) that I need to make some changes to my daily routine because my anxiety seems to be coming back some and I think it’s because I’m not leaving the house most days. I am going to commit to getting dressed and trying to leave the house at least 3 times per week because it helps so much. I have been putting off running errands lately and I’m not really sure why but it’s making my anxiety much worse.

    I’m linking up with these wonderful ladies today! Come join us! 🙂

  • Life

    Friday Favorites | Vol. 1

    I wanted to start a new little series here called Friday Favorites, which is a link up that I follow that I want to start to join in on. (I will include more information about it at the end of the post in case you want to join us as well!) The general idea is just to share your favorite things or moments over the past week. I’m only going to do this every other week so I will share my favorite moments over the last two weeks. I want to do this so that my blog is a little more personal too because that’s my favorite thing about reading other blogs. I love getting to know the writer so this is my way of letting you in on my day-to-day. 🙂 Hope you enjoy.

    On the right would be an example of just how excited I am about getting these oils & on the left is the kit I received minus the diffuser.

    I just received my essential oils that I ordered at the beginning of the month and I’m already in love. I already have tried the Stress Away blend and it really works!! I feel so calm and at ease. I can’t wait to keep experimenting and sharing about my essential oil journey. Has anyone else tried essential oils? I’d love to hear about your experience too! Leave a comment or email me. 🙂

     

    We had a snow day yesterday and I got to spend the whole day with Tommy and it felt like a weekend. We had a nice time just relaxing together, catching up on sleep, and getting our Netflix binges in. I just love days where you have an excuse to skip out on responsibilities and do nothing. I’m really soaking up this time because I know that once we have kids everything will be much, much different.

     

    My favorite part about being a stay-at-home wife is that I have so much more time and energy to really meal plan and cook fun dinners. I’ve been trying my best to keep the dinners pretty healthy but sometimes we like to splurge too and this dinner above was so, so yummy. I made homemade potato wedge fries with cheese, and cheeseburgers with sautéed onions.

     

    This is such a boring one but I feel too good about it not to share, haha! I cleaned out our pantry last week (which was on my February goals!) and just looking at it makes me so happy. I really should have taken a before picture because it’s hard to appreciate the organization that it is without knowing what it looked like before, but just take my word for it, it was a MESS. I love being able to just open the pantry and see everything without having to move things around.

     

    Tommy and I bought a pour over coffee maker probably about six months ago and I just tried a new kind of coffee in it and it was to die for. (We have this coffee maker and I used GEVALIA Colombian Coffee.) It was really strong but without being bitter at all. So good.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Today I am linking up with wonderful ladies! Come join us! 🙂