Don’t worry Mom, there are no gift spoilers in this blog post, just a simple DIY idea for a gardening-inspired Mother’s Day gift. We’ve been busy updating the yard and patio to get ready for enjoying our first summer at our house. It’s so exciting to have tons of outdoor space after living in the city for a decade. While I have a well-known penchant for killing even the most durable of plants, I have been wandering the outdoor living aisles at some of my favorite stores thinking about having a garden, and that’s exactly where this idea came from: a Mother’s Day gardening kit. I started with a terra-cotta pot as the base, and filled it in with gardening tools, gloves, and herb and flower seeds; some tissue paper and an oversized burlap bow finish it off! I think this would be such a sweet gift to give your mom, grandma, or mother-in law along with a pretty plant or flowers for her garden. It takes about 5 minutes to assemble, and you can grab all of these items at Target or your favorite hardware store. What are you gifting mom this year for Mother’s Day? 
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I’ve so been busy writing about Cinco de Mayo celebrations this week that I’ve almost let a few last-minutes Mother’s Day DIYs slip by (Mom, I swear we love you more than margaritas!). I created my own mom-customized wrapping paper for Mother’s Day gifts. Start with a roll of white paper — try the craft store for ‘banner paper‘ or a shipping store for white packaging paper — and start scrolling out the word Mom in various sizes with a thick marker. The fun thing about this project is you can be really loose with it, it looks put together because the patterns repeat, but aren’t too perfect or precious (if you have kids give them a try at practicing their writing!). What worked best for me was using the king-size sharpie marker, and rotating the paper to get the writing at different angles. It can be totally customized — does your mom have a fun nickname, or do you kids call her variations of Grandma? Write those on too! When you’re done, wrap up the present and tie it with neon twine — I grab this hot pink twine at the hardware store (or purchase it on Amazon if you’re a prime-addict like me!). 
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When I was visiting my family recently I told my mom I’d be in charge of the signature cocktail for a get-together she was hosting. The proximity to Cinco de Mayo left me no choice, I had to go with a margarita. My mom agreed, but noted that her friends may not be as adept at holding their tequila as I am (I’ll take that as a compliment!) so I decided to experiment with a sangrita recipe — margarita inspired with a sangria flair. I made this in a big batch so it was easy for guests to self-serve. Start with a clear pitcher and 4 limes quartered and squeezed in the bottom. Next I poured in about 2 cups of ice, 2-3 tbsp of sugar, 1 cup of tequila (or more, depending on taste!), and 2 bottles of Izze Sparkling Clementine. Stir it all up and let it sit in the fridge for about 20 minutes to chill and combine the flavors. When you’re ready to serve, pour a glass halfway full of the margarita mixture and top with a light, crisp rosé (try a sparkling rosé too!). A few festive straws are all you need to finish off the drink (PS: how cute is my mom’s Target bar cart?), and luckily between the two of us we have a life-time supply of those!
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When Martha Stewart says it’s time to make something better, you listen up! The team at Martha Stewart Living sent me a little care package this month with a challenge to add a few new tricks and treats to my week, and I’ve been digging in to try them all out! The project at hand was a DIY chalkboard menu, and oddly enough, for a girl that has packed decoupage and glitter in her overnight bag before, I’ve never used chalkboard paint! It’s a DIY mystery how I’ve made it this far without chalkboard-ing something in my home so I was eager to try out these Martha Stewart Crafts products. 
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We’re coming up on one of my favorite excuses to consume excessive amounts of margaritas and Mexican food, Cinco de Mayo! To get in the holiday spirit I decided to play around with some nacho recipes (It’s a tough job people, but someone has to do it!). I really like the idea of nachos being a full meal, because I usually feel just full enough after eating them that I don’t really want an entree (but then I’m like, did I really just eat a bowl of cheesy chips for dinner?). My solution: add the full meal to the bowl of chips! I stepped out to our new grill (my current favorite toy) and grilled up some skirt steak, corn, and baby peppers. All of that grilled flavor adds such a great element to the nachos, and you get your protein and veggies in!
Life goal: find ways to make pasta more healthy. I could seriously eat pasta for every single meal, but know that I shouldn’t! Salt for Life and their team challenged me and a few other bloggers to come up with healthy recipes featuring a few key ingredients (like our own version of Chopped!). This is my second recipe in the series, check out the avocado-toast appetizer I created for my first recipe.
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Everywhere you look there’s a girl instagramming her avocado toast. I’ve seen more avocado toast on the internet than macarons lately, and that’s really saying something. So I start this post with a disclaimer, this isn’t an avocado toast, it’s California Bruschetta. So very different, right? I was going to call these mini-avocado toasts, but my husband walked in to scoop one off the tray mid-click of my camera shutter and asked — “what is this? California bruschetta?” He gets full credit for naming this one (and truth be told, he has a lot of great ideas that end up on this blog that he doesn’t always get credit for). 
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This past weekend we had a few friends over to our house for a casual gathering, I got a bunch of ingredients for us to make our own pizzas and we hung out around the kitchen island, making our own pizzas and drinking beers and catching up. For dessert, I wanted to keep with the casual tone and was brainstorming unfussy ideas for sweet treats. I’m participating in a little recipe challenge with Salt for Life, and a sweet and salty dessert is always up my alley.
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In celebration of their “Kiss Clutter Goodbye” events this spring, The Container Store sent me some of the Laundress’ laundry and cleaning products to try (I don’t even want to open the packages they’re so pretty!!). Besides being adorned with an oh-so-cute black and white label, they’re a friendly reminder to get my spring-cleaning on, and the perfect place to start my new entertaining series: Modern Hostess! Hosting guests, throwing parties and all things soiree-related are what makes me happy, so over the next few months I’m going to start sharing a bit more about how I prep for parties, my favorite party tools and serving pieces, a fool-proof party planning checklist, and other entertaining tips. To start, I’m going to share a little bit about my pre-party cleaning routine.
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About 90% of the time when I ask my husband if he has any ideas for dinner, he replies “tacos?” (in case you’re wondering, the remaining 10% answer is always fajitas — clearly we were meant to be). I’ve never met a taco I didn’t like, but every staple dinner idea can use a little spicing up now and again. When Family Circle Magazine challenged me to create a new recipe using Hidden Valley Sriracha Ranch, I had just the dish in mind! I created an easy dinner of pulled chicken tacos with tasty toppings and an extra kick with Hidden Valley Sriracha Ranch Sour Cream. It’s the perfect combination of coolness and spice to bring tons of flavor to taco night. I loaded these up with my favorite toppings — big slices of avocados are a must, and I love scallions and red onions for some bite. Plus cheese, lots of cheese! If you need to sneak some more veggies in there, chopped up tomatoes and lettuce work too. Add a little Sriracha ranch sour cream to finish them off. You can check out the tacos in Family Circle, and get the full recipe below:
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