Raspberry Razorback Lemonade for Game Day #TeamJello #shop #cbias

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #TeamJello #shop #cbias

I've had my eye on these university-themed Jell-O mold kits for several weeks now and am so glad I snagged one for our game day food table! I had so much fun making little hog-shaped Jigglers, as well as some awesome raspberry Razorback cubes for lemonade. I came up with a great technique to get perfectly-shaped cubes and I'm sharing it here so you can do some of your own. 

I definitely learned my lesson about waiting until the last minute on stuff like this. Once I was ready to buy my kit, I looked all over Northwest Arkansas, but hog fans had already snatched them all up! Luckily, I found a few left at a Missouri Walmart, just over the border. Woo Hoo! Thanks for showing some dual-state loyalty in Jane, Missouri!

Jell-O made molds for 20 university teams, so be sure to find out if your favorite team can be represented in Jell-O, too. You can find them in their respective universities communities, or check out Walmart.com for a coupon and a bigger selection.

This is our first summer in Arkansas and we've just been having such a blast getting into the spirit of all it means to be Arkansans. (Even though I haven't yet learned how to say, "Arkansan"...) I thought these hog molds would just be so fun for celebrating our local team. 

To make this easy raspberry drink, first mix up a pitcher of lemonade. Set aside 1/3 c. and put the pitcher in the fridge.

Wash 6 oz. raspberries and crush in a bowl with a fork. Then add the 1/3 c. lemonade and stir.

Pour the raspberry and lemonade mixture into a clean, dry Jell-O mold. Use a spatula to evenly fill each spot, but don't worry if there's a little overflow. It's really easy to scrape the excess off the top before popping out your frozen hogs. Freeze for several hours, until firm. They'll pop right out of the tray like ice cubes and you can float them in your lemonade.

Look how awesome that turned out! I surprised even myself on that one! Adding the lemonade to the raspberry mix helped fill in all the fine details of the mold to give me the perfect Razorback shape. Totally love this.

Once all my little hogs were frozen, I served Jamie and I some raspberry lemonade and Jell-O Jigglers. This is definitely the most redneck thing I've done yet; but hey, I'm an Arkansan now! Woo Pig Sooie!

Linking with:

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Through Life

A Return to Loveliness @ A Delightsome Life 

Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home

Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios

Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good 

(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife

The Scoop @Stone Gable

Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits by Mary Jane Hathaway -- Book Review

Book Description: "Shelby Roswell, a Civil War historian and professor, is on the fast track to tenure--that is, until her new book is roasted by the famous historian Ransom Fielding in a national review. With her career stalled by a man she's never met, Shelby struggles to maintain her composure when she discovers that Fielding has taken a visiting professorship at her small Southern college. Ransom Fielding is still struggling with his role in his wife's accidental death six years ago and is hoping that a year at Shelby's small college near his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi, will be a respite from the pressures of Ivy League academia. He never bargained for falling in love with the one woman whose career--and pride--he injured, and who would do anything to make him leave. When these two hotheaded Southerners find themselves fighting over the centuries-old history of local battles and antebellum mansions, their small college is about to become a battlefield of Civil War proportions. With familiar and relatable characters and wit to spare, this book shows you that love can conquer all...especially when pride, prejudice, love and cheese grits are involved!"

This story is laugh-out-loud funny! Totally loved it. This is the second by this author that I've read and I just love how she has a way of making me want to jump to the last page. I very rarely feel the urge to prematurely find out how it all ends, but Hathaway is excellent at building anticipation. I regularly felt my breath caught in my chest. 

"Cheese Grits" is an excellent modern-day retelling of Austen's, Pride and Prejudice. It was so hard not to put Kiera Knightley's and Matthew MacFadyen's faces on the characters of Shelby and Ransom. Yes, I know, everyone thinks the BBC version is better---but MacFadyen completely makes the Hollywood version. Swoon! 

This is one of those rare books that is so fun to read that you don't want to put it down. I love how she makes some characters so hateable. She has a way with dialogue that really develop her characters' strong personalities and her humor is just awesome. The turkey plucking story on page 268 TOTALLY cracked me up!

I've been getting to know the author on Facebook as we found out we used to live just minutes from one another in Oregon. The more I get to know her, the more I can hear her voice in this story. It's so fun to read books by people you know. Can't wait for more!

Linking with:

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Through Life

A Return to Loveliness @ A Delightsome Life 

Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home

Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios

Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good 

(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife

The Scoop @Stone Gable

Making Wellness Fun in Northwest Arkansas {Pea Ridge Battlefield Adventure} #BalanceRewards #shop #cbias

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BalanceRewards #CollectiveBias

All my life I have wanted to live in a place rich with history and full of beautiful walking trails and mysterious forests to explore. The idea of quietly slipping down paths that hundreds of thousands of people have walked on before me has always been intriguing. Now that we're living here in Northwest Arkansas, I'm finding my dream coming true as our family explores more and more of the beautiful area around us. It's easier to work toward our health goals when we've got such a gorgeous place in which to make healthy choices.

The Walgreens Balance Rewards for healthy choices app is great for keeping track of my wellness goals. Once you've got the Walgreens app installed, you can find the healthy choices option at the bottom left of the screen. Click through to access lots of options for tracking your health goals. You'll earn Balance Rewards points by completing some of your goals, and be able to see how far you've come from where you started.

One of my health goals is to eat foods that will help me feel awake and positive throughout the day. Walgreens has a nice selection of filling and healthy foods that will energize me and help me feel great. I found these fun little cups of oatmeal and thought they'd be good for my breakfast. The older kids are in charge of making breakfast for everyone while I do my morning blog stuff, which means I often get so busy afterward that I skip the morning meal. These little oatmeal servings will be a quick and easy way to give me some good morning energy.

I also found this double-walled drink cup in the kitchen section at Walgreens. I find that I drink a lot more water when I'm drinking from a straw, and it's always fun to drink your water when you've got a pretty cup!

In addition to healthy eating, I also like to get out and move! I've spent a lot of years cooped up in the house and making excuses not to be active. There are so many fun things here to see and do and I don't want to miss out! The Walgreens app is designed to make that easier by keeping track of fitness, as well as several other wellness goals like, steps taken, weight management, sleep, water intake, and more. My favorite parts of this app include the steps tracker and the water intake tracker.

 On Saturday, our family drove out to the Pea Ridge National Military Park. It's the most well-preserved Civil War battlefield in America, and it's just minutes from our front door. We had no idea what to expect, and were totally blown away by the beauty and history we found there. The park has walking, biking, hiking, and horseback riding trails, as well as a car path to get you to the most beautiful spots faster. It's only seven miles all the way around, but we spent five hours enjoying it.

At one point, I found a sign indicating that a portion of the Trail of Tears was preserved there in the park. Growing up, I was reminded, time and again, of our ancestors' trip down the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. It was an amazing experience to be walking it now, over 180 years later, with my children.

Later in the day, the kids and I took this path, the original Telegraph Road, that runs through the park and served as a main road even long before the war. I'm telling you---with something as awesome as this to venture down, I'm going to have legs of steel before long!

Just like the Pea Ridge park is carrying on the legacy of it's amazing history, I want to leave a legacy to my own family. I want them to have seen me enjoying myself outdoors and reaching goals that are important to me. What kinds of goals have you made for your own healthy lifestyle?