Currently.

Watching: Nashville! Or trying to. I steal my sister's Hulu log in and she's started watching the show now too because I won't stop talking about it and she wants to know what all the fuss is about but Hulu won't let you watch two shows at once on the same log in. Booooo.

I'm a little bit embarrassed by how much I love this show. When Emmett and I are lying on the couch in the morning watching his whale documentary, I'm secretly daydreaming about Nashville. When I wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep, I'm secretly day(night)dreaming of Nashville. It's that good. And I'm that obsessed. And alllll the drama!

Reading: Nothing exciting. Anyone have recommendations?

Thinking about: Instagram! I have a major crush on Instagram y'all. I love photography and looking at photos, so IG is the perfect social media app for me. There is so much inspiration to be found through hashtags and @instagram suggested users. There are people doing photo prompts like @my_365 and @its_my_week, communities teaching about iPhone photography like @annapolisandco's #theeverdayproject and my new favorite @theportraitclub's #theportraitclub. There's so much to learn and so many people to learn from, all over the world, at your fingertips. I have to be careful not to spend all day digging through hashtags and finding new users to follow. I just think it's so cool to be able to open an app and be inspired, just like that.

Thankful for: The weekend we had. It was really wonderful. Emmett and I started Friday off with a trip to the park with Mary and her kiddos, and finished it off with those same kiddos watching Frozen in the park. Such an awesome way to begin our weekend!

On Saturday, Ray worked at our condo (it's soooooo close to being ready to hit the market!) while I cleaned the house to get ready for our Cinco de Mayo party. Our friends arrived at 5 and we spent the evening chatting and eating while the kids played in the sprinkler and fought over trucks. It was a really awesome evening and left me feeling full and content and ready to host another party. We love having people over, and it's really nice having a place we are excited about to host parties and impromptu hang outs in the back yard.

If you're looking for something yummy to make for Cinco de Mayo, look no further. I wrote a complete menu yesterday!

I hope you had a lovely weekend as well!

The hosts of Currently.:

If you are interested in co-hosting, please email Jenna at info(at)amamacollective(dot)com to get on the list!

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Fish Tacos with Cream Cheese & Avocado Sauce, Corn and Avocado Salad, & Fresh Citrus Margaritas: A Complete Cinco de Mayo Meal

We had a few friends over for dinner this weekend. With Cinco de Mayo coming up, we knew we wanted to serve Ray's insanely easy and delicious fish tacos with margaritas to celebrate the holiday a little early. The party was a huge success- the kids played together really well (after a few minor melt downs over toys everyone wanted at once,) the weather was cool and breezy, and the food was a big hit! There's really nothing more special than sharing a meal with friends in our back yard while the kids play.

Since the food we served was delicious and really easy to make, I thought I would share the menu in case you're looking for a quick and easy Cinco de Mayo meal for your family.

The Menu:

Fish Tacos with corn or flour tortillas (Ray loves flour, I prefer corn.)
Cream Cheese & Avocado Fish Taco Sauce
Corn & Avocado Salad (My absolute favorite summertime dish)
Beans and Rice (We use Vigo brand- so good!)
Hot Dogs for the kiddos
Watermelon
Fresh Citrus Frozen Margaritas

Fish Tacos: Ray insists this is too simple to be called a recipe, which makes me even more excited to share it with you. I love a meal that's incredibly simple to make, but still tastes really good. Ray's fish tacos are absolutely one of my favorite things he makes, and our friends agreed. "So nummy!" as Emmett likes to say. ;)

Ingredients:

1 pound Wild Pacific Cod (This should serve three. For the party, we made 3 pounds.)
Old Bay Seasoning
1 box Beer Batter
2/3 cup beer (We used an IPA)
Canola oil

Directions: Slice fish into small pieces. Lightly season with Old Bay Seasoning.
Mix Beer Batter and beer in a medium-sized bowl.
Place enough oil in a pot or pan to submerge the fish, and heat it on medium high until it's hot enough to fry. Dip each piece of fish in the beer batter, then submerge in oil for 2 1/2 minutes per piece. Lay on paper towel to cool.

Serve with tortillas, cole slaw, and lemon slices. Top with sauce, recipe below. :)

Cream Cheese & Avocado Fish Taco Sauce: This sauce is based on a sauce we had with fish tacos at a friends house years ago in California. Ray and I still talk about that sauce anytime fish tacos are mentioned! It was so delicious, but our friends don't remember the recipe, so I tried to come up with something similar for our party. It wasn't exactly the same as the sauce we remember, but I'm really happy with how it came out. :)

Ingredients:

1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoon sour cream
1 avocado
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon celery salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeds removed, finely chopped
juice from 1 lime

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, finishing with the lime juice, and mix in a blender or using a hand mixer. Serve cold with fish tacos.

Corn Salad: I crave this salad all year round. I wait impatiently for corn to be in season all through the winter until finally it begins to appear in stores again, and then I make this salad first thing and eat it straight from the bowl. It is my favorite dish to make in the summertime, so if you're going to a pot-luck with me this summer, expect to see it on the menu. :)

Ingredients:

5 ears of corn
2 avocados
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
juice from 1 lime
olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions: Grill corn until blackened. If we don't have time to grill it, we'll put it under the broiler in the oven to blacken it a bit. Let corn cool, then slice the kernels off each ear into a large bowl.
Slice avocado and add to the corn. Add cilantro, salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle with olive oil, just enough to lightly coat the salad. Squeeze the juice from a lime over the salad, and mix. Enjoy!

Fresh Citrus Margaritas: We snagged a nice bottle of tequila on major sale yesterday, just in time for our Cinco party. We used grapefruit for our citrus because we have a grapefruit tree in our yard, but you can substitute lime, or orange, peach, watermelon, or whatever your heart desires. This recipe is for a large batch, and be warned, we like our margs on the strong side. ;)

Ingredients:

8 ounces tequila
6 ounces triple sec
juice from one grapefruit
8 ounces margarita mix
ice

Directions:

Mix ingredients together in a large blender and blend on high for about a minute and a half, until the ice is the desired texture. Enjoy, and drink responsibly!

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend so far! Have a safe and happy Cinco de Mayo!

Popsicles (Of The Homemade Variety)

Because Emmett's birthday falls in the Summer, and we live in Arizona, and we're in the middle of the world's hottest heat wave, I thought it would be fun (read: necessary) to serve popsicles at his party. And as I am super crafty and really know my way around the kitchen and everything I do is Pinterest-worthy, I decided to make my own. So you know, go ahead with the praise.

I started with Pinterest, of course. I found a few recipes that looked good, bought this adorable popsicle kit from Crate & Barrel (there are cheaper kits, but I'm a sucker for everything C&B), and filled my fridge with fruit and juice.

I made a few different kinds, starting with an easy one- lemonade layered with strawberry lemonade with tiny bits of strawberries. Pretty hard to mess up that recipe.

Then I did this awesome recipe for chili lime watermelon popsicles, minus the chili. These might have been my favorite! So yum and I'm a sucker for watermelon with sea salt. I also made these, and my mom made some really similar to these but miniature for the kiddos.

But the biggest hit were these watermelon mojito popsicles my mom made. My mom loves a good mojito, so when she got to town a few days before Emmett's party, she made a batch of mojitos with plenty extra to freeze for popsicles. So yum!

All in all the popsicles were a hit, and a great way to keep everyone cool in the 118 degree weather!

DIY Painted Twine Garland

I'm not crafty y'all. Not at all.

But Emmett's first birthday party is coming up (my baby boy will be ONE in 11 days!), and I'm trying to plan a Pin-worthy party for like no money, so I decided to craft.

I've been eyeing Confetti System's gorgeous tassel garlands for years now, so when I found these babies on Pinterest the other day, I decided it was time to make my own.

Inspiration garland taken from theminimalist.com.au

I invited my friend (and super-crafter) Rachel over on Saturday to help me, and I love how they turned out! Here's how we did it:

We made the tassels out of regular (and cheap!) garden twine from Ace Hardware by cutting tons of twine into similar lengths, bunching them together, and wrapping the top bits in more twine. We left one piece of twine in a loop over the top to hang them.

I had some leftover sea blue/turqoise paint from our kitchen remodel, so we used that rather than trying to dye the twine. We painted each strand, leaving a few inches at the top just like the yellow inspiration garland. I left the tassels outside over night to dry, and then pulled them apart and reshaped them in the morning.

To hang them, I strung them on a long piece of twine, tying a knot around each tassel so they don't slide around, and hung them in the playroom/dining room/hallway/living room under our Happy Birthday banner!

Before re-shaping the twine. Ignore the mess on the floor. This room is multipurpose.

And a couple of close-ups of the finished garland:

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with them (and myself for being so creative!). I might even hang them somewhere in the house permanently after the birthday party is over. 

I still can't believe my baby boy is about to be a year old. I remember the day we brought him home from the hospital like it was just yesterday. I sure do love that little guy!

Birthday Party Pinspiration

Emmett's first birthday is coming up, and I'm really starting to get excited about planning his little birthday party! I've been thinking about his party for some time now, but I haven't done much actual planning yet. I've been dreaming of balloons for days, a Pin-worthy dessert table, and the cutest baby boy with cake on his face and all in his hair. 

Obviously, when I need a little theme-spiration, I go straight to Pinterest. So, here are of few of my ideas!

I love this little elephant cake! I'm kind of obsessed with Elephants, so we have a collection of elephant stuffed animals and little elephant prints in his room. So.. maybe jungle themed? Or vintage circus?

I'm not sure where the party will be yet, but if we have to be outside, these super cute (and easy!) hanging forts will provide a little shade for the littles!

If we stick with the elephant/jungle/circus theme, animal crackers are super cute as snacks for the kiddos. Maybe we'll give them out as favors in bags like these:

These would be pretty easy to make using burlap bags and a cute animal stamp. I'm all about easy crafts! 

I'm not this good, but I do have a certain sister who loves to bake so..... Lucia, how much do you love your nephew..? Or maybe I'll hit up the girl who made me these cookies for my bachelorette party? Rachel..?

Now that's a little "craft" that I can do! This would be so fun as a centerpiece. 

And now, balloons, for days:

So many ways to decorate with ballons. Aaaand I might use all of them..

I love the idea of a little crown for Emmett's party hat, and this one is SO CUTE. I'm trying to throw this party on the cheap, so I might try to make a little crown for him.

I've got a lot of work to do, but oh my gosh it's so much fun! Can't believe my little boy is almost one!

All photos on this post are from Pinterest. Check out my 1st Birthday board for more birthday ideas!

Catch Up: iPhone Edition {2}

The last few weeks, according to my iPhone:

Emmett's 10 month photo was pretty difficult to catch. He's not a fan of sitting still for photos these days, and this day in particular he just wasn't having it. So, looking at the window with frog Wubbanub in mouth it is... We took that photo the morning we left for San Diego.

We left the babe in the care of my wonderful mama, and headed to California for a friend's wedding.

Our three tallest friends came along, so of course we made them squeeze into the backseat.

Here we are outside the church where our friends got married. Ray was a groomsman in the wedding, so we were lucky enough to be invited to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I love wedding rehearsals! The excitement and anticipation are palpable, and everyone is in such a happy mood. So fun!

The next day we had lunch at Stone Brewery (so awesome), and then spent the afternoon at our friend's parents house. The views from their home are so beautiful. We LOVE to visit them whenever we're in San Diego. 

Here I am at the wedding reception, pumping in the very public bathroom.. Luckily everyone was busy on the dance floor, so I was only interrupted once. Hashtag mom lyfe.

Emmett has a happy place, right there on his little chair. He LOVES to sit on that chair y'all. He smiles so big every time, and says "yaaaaaaay" in an almost whisper. It's the cutest thing he does right now!

He refuses to wear this hat most of the time, but whenever I can sneak it on, I giggle like crazy at those little ears sticking out. 

Here we are at Ikea last weekend. We planned to "run in" to grab some shelves, but of course we were there forever. Emmett was barely holding on by the time we checked out, so we had to get creative to keep him entertained. Those teeth! They slay me.

This is a terrible fuzzy photo, but I love it so much! I snuck in to check on Emmett the other night after he was sleeping, and I found his little feet sticking out of his crib. Those feet are my favorite!

I posted that photo of Emmett above on my Instagram last week. His two bottom teeth were cutting through so we had a tough couple of weeks. He was mostly happy during the day, but refused to nap or sleep at night. He was up 5 or 6 times each night crying out for me, so I spent most of my nights in his room holding him and trying to comfort him back to sleep. We were tired y'all. The above photo of me is a selfie I sent to my sister on a particularly difficult morning. I know, I'm real cute when I'm bone-tired and hating on everything.

Have y'all seen the new A Beautiful Mess app for the iPhone? It's so much fun! I like the filters in this app so much better than the Instagram filters, and there are endless borders, doodles, and phrases to add to your photos. I could (and have!) play with it for hours. The photo above and the next two are all made with the A Beautiful Mess app.

Emmett's first pair of Freshly Picked moccasins arrived over the weekend, and we're just as smitten as we knew we would be. So cute.

Enjoying a cool-ish day over the weekend. It's so hot these days, we hardly spend any time outside in the afternoons. 

I managed to catch Emmett with his hat on in this one. He hates to wear it, but it's soooo cute!

 

I call that look Emmett's teething perma-duckface. His poor little gums have been so swollen that his lips stick out all the time. It's cute but I'm ready for his mouth to stop hurting him!