Operation Smile

There are so many things in life that we, as humans, take advantage of. And as Americans, we take advantage of so much more. Like a smile. 

I look around at all the beautiful smiles I have in my life. My husband, my family, my friends...heck even Ernie has a joker type smile smeared across his face most of the time. And I never realized how fortunate we are to have those smiles.

I am here today to share with you a wonderful organization called Operation Smile

Every three minutes a child is born with a cleft — often unable to eat, speak, socialize or smile. In some places these children are shunned and rejected. And in too many cases, their parents can't afford to give them the surgeries they need to live a normal life.

What a humbling statistic. Even more humbling knowing that if I was born with a cleft, my parents would have been able to afford surgeries. And most likely, yours would too. But that isn't the case for the rest of the world. 

Since 1982, Operation Smile — through the help of dedicated medical volunteers — has provided more than 2 million patient evaluations and over 200,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities.

So look around. I am almost positive that you are surrounded by beautiful smiles, loving eyes, and open arms. You are blessed. I'd love for you to take a second to check out Operation Smile and learn more about their history, their mission, and what sets them apart as a worldwide organization changing lives. You can even donate online to be a part of this wonderful organization.

Did you know that a 45 minute surgery can change someone's life forever?

 

 How else can you help?

Are you a college student? Or enrolled in a college course? You can help Operation Smile and change lives, just by reading your textbooks! When I first enrolled at Texas A&M University, I was appalled at how much textbooks cost and I KNOW some of you can relate. They are through the roof! Well I may have just the solution for you (and your pocketbook). Campusbookrentals.com allows you to rent textbooks for a fraction of what you'd pay for the book (& let's face it, it stinks getting $10 back at the end of the semester for a $150 book!). The wonderful thing about Campusbookrentals.com is that for EVERY book rented, they will donate a portion of the proceeds to Operation Smile. They have a goal of changing 1,000 lives this year. I would love for you students to consider this goal as you register for fall classes, changing lives is easy. Thank you for your support!

 

DIY silhouette canvas

Ever since we moved into our home, our mantel has been naked. I actually borrowed a mirror from my mom when House Hunters came back to film our house because I didn't want the world to see my bare mantel. I've combed Pinterest trying to find ideas but was having trouble making a decision. 

I am hosting multiple parties and showers at my house in July and wanted to have it decorated before then. I had few craft ideas with canvases so I went to Hobby Lobby to grab one. I decided against a large square canvas and went for 3 clearance rectangle canvases. 

(sorry, I only took instagram pics)

These pre painted canvases were in the 80% off aisle and I knew I couldn't get a better deal. I decided to prank Jon and showed them our new decor. I wish I would have gotten a picture of his face as he was telling me he thought they were "cool". Little did he know I was planning on painting them :-)

So back to the project. I primed and painted them a dark turquoise to match our new cabinet that sits under our mounted TV

I planned on mounting the canvases vertically so I needed vertical pictures to silhouette. I chose an engagement picture of ours and a picture of Mr. Ernie (still trying to decide what to do with the 3rd). I uploaded the photos to Block Print and chose the 12 page option. Block Print creates wall posters from high res photos. You upload a picture, choose how big you want your poster and it pops up a PDF of your photo. 

Here are my photos...each is 12 full sized pieces of paper

Next, I carefully cut out Ernie's body and mine and Jon's exactly how I wanted the silhouette to look. This was probably the most time consuming because I had to cut off the white borders and try to match up the pieces perfectly. Here is Ernie with his cutout, he was very confused haha.

I traced each silhouette lightly with a pencil on the painted canvases and painted inside with white primer (since it is thick and the canvas was dark). I did a couple of coats and let them dry.

Here are the 2 finished canvases!

So what should I use for the silhouette of the 3rd canvas?

Bad things happen

....when husbands are away

Seriously. I haven't had the best luck when my husband is out of town. Jon travels for work quite a bit and no lie, every time he is gone, something happens (okay not every time but still). A couple weeks ago it was the smoke alarm going off in the middle of the night. I spent 75 minutes in my tallest shoes I own on our step ladder trying to yank wires out of the ceiling. On the verge of tears, the alarm finally stopped chirping after 45 minutes (oh yeah this was between the hours of 2-3am).

This past week, it was the AC. We just moved into our house 2.5 months ago and the only thing that came up was the upstairs unit wasn't blowing cold air so we had it fixed. Well....Sunday night I woke up in a full sweat to Ernie panting and knew something was wrong. Jon left that morning for a 4 day business trip and Ernie and I were left in the heat. Thank God we have 2 units and used the upstairs to cool the downstairs. To add to the AC drama, I teach Zumba on Mondays and don't get home until after 7p so the AC guy couldn't come until Tuesday afternoon. 

Red neck AC?

Funny thing is...the guy was there for 10 minutes and the AC was back on. Our capacitor heated up and busted so he changed the part and we were happy as clams. 

So currently I am counting down the minutes until Jon gets home tonight so all chances of household disasters will be eliminated. 

I think there is meaning being this phenomena...

So please tell me I am not the only one. Does your car happen to break down when your man is on the road? Or your computer crashes when your geek is away?

In other news, since Jon has been gone, I've...

• Started season 1 of Pretty Little Liars
• Painted our upstairs guest room bathroom
• Had girl time (and Ernie had a playdate)
• Started some crafting for my sister's baby shower
• Did some baking

I am so ready to see him tonight!

p.s. the winner of the $50 Shabby Apple gift card is...

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Baby Ty

I've really been  buckling down on trying to use my DSLR in manual mode. When we researched what camera to buy, I knew I didn't want to buy an entry level one hearing that others grew out of theirs so we went with the Canon EOS 60d. I love it. I wish I had all the time in the world to take a photography classes, read tutorials and practice but free time comes few and far between. Most nights I don't get home until 7p and the natural lighting stinks and I want to eat ice cream on the couch :-). My girlfriend Mary just had her 2nd baby boy about a month ago and I volunteered to take some photos of him to help my practice. My big sis and I have already planned a few baby shoots when my niece arrives in October. Hoping I can get my hands on a few more babies before then to practice! I am no professional, nor do I plan on it, just for fun!

I just had to share some pictures of sweet baby Ty (total photo dump)

 sign via anchor and daisy

I cannot tell you how precious it is to pose a newborn and try to soothe him back to sleep. Ty was the most well behaved baby I've ever been around. I was with him for 8 hours the whole day (not all picture taking) and I never heard him cry. He slept and cooed and sat quietly in his bouncer. God please give me babies like him!

Also, I wanted to mention the beautiful sign with Ty's name on it. Mary's sister makes custom signs from salvaged wood, they are incredible. Check out her etsy shop, Anchor and Dasiy. 

and p.s. you still have time to enter the $50 Shabby Apple gift card giveaway!!

Shabby Apple Giveaway

Anchors away!

Summer is in full swing and who isn't excited about all the new (and reoccuring) fashion trends this year. Prints are back, 50's inspired dresses, and one piece bathing suits. I know I have a list a mile long of pieces of clothing I am swooning over. 

When it comes to clothing, I am totally a dress girl. Dresses take up more than half of my closet and if I had to guess, I'd say I own about 50 dresses. Not only are they feminine and stylish but very freeing in this Texas heat :-). I prefer cool, cotton dresses that can be worn to the office, grocery store, and date night.

Can I please have this dress in every color?

Today you have the chance to win a $50 Shabby Apple gift card to spend on whatever your little heart desires! Shabby Apple offers an array of clothing (dresses, skirts, blouses), swimwear, jewelry, and accessories. (so pretty much you'll have the hardest time choosing what you want if you win!). 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Shabby Apple is also offering 10% for my readers. Just use the code thechroniclesofruthiehart10off

My life

...is way cooler in Instagram

We are absolutely nuts about Ernie. I mean, doesn't he look like a fat little human in the picture with Jon? How did we get so lucky with his cute butt.

Maranatha has always been our peanut butter of choice but places around here stopped carrying it for about a year. Not only did HEB (main grocery store) not carry it but I couldn't find it at Central Market or Whole Foods so I basically bought Wal Mart out of their entire stock when I saw it last week. It is the best when it comes to organic PB, it doesn't get all oily and gross and you don't have to stir it every time you use it. I also really like Smart Balance so we keep that in the house too.

Speaking of food, Jon drinks a gallon of milk every 2 days. On his own. The only milk I consume is in cereal (or baking) and I try to put as little as possible. People ask how a family of 2 can shop at Costco and milk alone answers the question...

I love saving money when it comes to fashion, style, etc. I am not a designer handbag or jean person and always try to buy stuff on sale so it's not a surprise that I always buy the cheapest frames when picking out my glasses. This year, I felt like I deserved my first pair of Raybans and I couldn't love them any more. I don't feel comfortable buying Rayban sunglasses just yet...I am known to lose or break about 5 pairs a year so I go for the Forever 21 $5 sunnies :-)

My mantel project is almost done! I have one more canvas that is painted but I am not sure what silhouette to do. A lot of you asked for a how-to on Instagram/Twitter so I will definitely share the details.

 

Lots of family time this weekend...James had a basketball tournament and we begged him to take a picture with his sisters (he is almost taller than all of us)

I think my heart has been officially stolen by Sophie the apricot toy poodle. She is my sister's inlaws sweet pup and I just couldn't put her down. If you haven't noticed, Ernie is quite the chunk and not exactly a dog I can carry around all night :-). Jon had an apricot toy poodle growing up name Jean Claude hehe

Another project that was finished this weekend was our TV console (remember the $40 Goodwill piece I posted last week?). It is the same color as the canvases...it looks really blue in the picture but it is a gorgeous dark turquoise. I love having color in our house! It's my third piece to refinish and I used this method.

Yesterday Jon woke up with really bad allergies so after church we totally vegged out. We started watching 30 Rock from the beginning on Friday and are obsessed. Why am I just now watching?! We watched some Mystery Science Theater, Dateline, and didn't leave the house until a walk with Ernie at 9pm. It was a true, and much needed, sabbath. 

I woke up in the middle of the night in a full sweat and Ernie was panting. Turns out our downstairs AC unit was just blowing air, not cold air. Just our luck huh? The high today is 104. Luckily we have a home warranty and hopefully have a guy out there today. The joys of homeownership! We are thanking God we have two units though. 

& if you missed it Saturday, I posted a great recipe for quinoa 'mac & cheese'

What was the best thing about your weekend?

Quinoa mac and cheese

Who doesn't love mac and cheese? Crickets...

And as delicious as it is, the nutrition isn't always as desirable. I came across this recipe for quinoa mac and cheese and knew I had to try it. I am always looking for ways to "healthy up" some of our favorite recipes. I have to admit, it didn't taste like mac and cheese to me but it was great! I will definitely be making this as a healthy side for future dinners. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups quinoa
Salt

Season Salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese (plus some for sprinkling)
Panko Bread crumbs for topping

1. Cook the quinoa as per instructions (salt the water)

2. Whisk together eggs and milk in a large bowl

3. Stir in cooked (and drained) quinoa and cheese until cheese is melted

4. Season with season salt

5. Pour over greased full 9x13 baking dish and top with Panko bread crumbs

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes

7. Enjoy!