One more day until my in-laws arrive for a visit.  They will be staying with us for four days.  The kids can hardly contain their excitement.  I am happy and excited too but a little stressed that I won’t have the house ship-shape before they get here.  Since I’ve been busy cleaning my buns off I haven’t done any of the projects on my list.  So, I wanted to share some pretty pictures of Pittock Mansion.

Here’s another view of this stunning window.  I would so love to have a big window like this in my home.  My mid-70′s era house has few windows and they are pretty small by today’s standards.  I CRAVE sunshine!

Pittock Mansion is in Portland Oregon.  I live in Utah.  I am always amazed, no stunned, every time we go to Portland (the home of my in-laws) because everything is so green.  That’s why this is one of my favorite photos from our summer vacation.   Next week is Spring Break.  I don’t have any major projects on the schedule but I do have a couple of fun little Spring/Easter projects planned. As usual, I have an idea in my head of what I want but have not seen on the internet.  I sure hope they work out so I will have something to share .

Do you Pinterest?  These green smoothies are all over Pinterest.  When I first realized why they are green I thought “Yuck!”.  I have since grown to love this smoothie!  Here is the recipe I came up with for mine.

1 cup frozen mixed fruit, 70 calories

2 cups raw spinach (the secret to the green color), 20 calories

1 tablespoon raw honey (can be purchased at health food stores), 60 calories

1 scoop protein powder (I am new to these powders but I got mine at the grocery store), 100 calories

Just throw everything in a blender and mix.  Add water until smoothie is a drinkable consistency.  I haven’t measured how much this yields, but it is a pretty big glass (More than pictured above.  I wanted to put some in a clear glass for the picture.) I make mine pretty thick so it takes a long time to drink.  It is very filling and it really does taste yummy.  Everyone swears that you can’t taste the spinach but I think you can.  It is faint and mild though.  To me it just adds a little more dimension to the flavors of the fruit, kinda an earthyness.  I can’t believe I’m saying this but this smoothie is more satisfying than the handful of Oreos that used to be my favorite snack.  Oh, who am I kidding, I ate two handfuls of Oreos.  So two handfuls of Oreos (say 10 cookies) is about 550 calories.  It would take me 10-15 minutes to eat them.  This smoothie is about 250 calories and takes me a half and hour to drink.  For those reasons alone I love this snack but throw in the fact that it is actually full of vitamins and fiber it comes out the winner.  (Full disclosure time now, I can’t eat Oreos anymore because they make my gall bladder act up.  You know what though, I wouldn’t go back to eating them even if I have my gall bladder removed.  I feel soooo much better now that I am eating healthful foods.  Not just the “I think I’m going to die”  feeling when my gall bladder reacts to some fatty food.  I mean the “Wow, I haven’t felt this kind of energy since my twenties” feeling.  So, do you think you’ll give this smmotie a try?  I double dog dare you!

They say, “The best camera is the one you have with you”.  I agee with that.  I would only have about half as many posts if it weren’t for the camera in my phone.  But… the camera in my phone is not the best, so I have to keep apologizing for crummy picture quality. Despite imperfection, some things (like this sunset) are too beautiful not to share.

Teal, aqua, and turquoise are my favorite colors.  I would do our whole house in cream and turquoise if everyone else in my family didn’t think they were “girl” colors.  Of course cream is a good neutral color but I believe turquoise is an excellent neutral too.  I honestly can’t think of a color that doesn’t play well with it.  I have done design boards with turquoise and yellow, orange and turquoise, and lime and turquoise.  I am planning to do grey and teal and aqua and brown soon.  In real life, I did my laundry/craft room in turquoise, cream, and red.  As you can see from the above board, I also am a big fan of turquoise and black.  Hop on over to Olioboard and try out some color combos you love.

I found some more pictures from the Kid Paradise House from the 2011 Salt Lake City Parade of Homes for this week’s “Inspiration”.  This week I am sharing pictures of the girls’ rooms.    First up (above) the pretty purple room.  I love the shade of purple the designer (Joanne Constantine) chose.  I am also loving the cute little tutus hung on the wall, so sweet and feminine.

Next up is the very colorful room.  It is so bright and cheery.  It just makes me happy to look at it (especially if I had a better pictures, sorry!).

And finally here is a picture of the shared Jack-and-Jill bathroom.  I love the purple vanity and the shower curtain.  I think it is great for both very young and teenage girls, heck, I wouldn’t mind it in my bathroom .  Hope you all have a happy and “Inspired” weekend!