Guest Post by Bella Before & After

Hey Tizzi Lish readers, I'm so happy to be here today. Thanks Kara for letting me say hi to your readers. 

My name is Bella ~ Isabella~ and I am the one behind the blog:

I started on this blogging journey in August of 2010. After being a SAHM for 12 years, it started getting to me. I needed something to call my own, other than my kids, lol. Getting a job, unfortunately is out of the question for now, as my kids need me WAY to much, even more so as they get older. Plus being mommy is my number one joy, and duty in life, right now.

I am Romanian, born in Transylvania, came to the U.S. when I was just a baby, lived in California for a good 20 years, (Orange County) and now live in the south (sigh) with my husband who is from India, and 3 kiddos, who range in age from almost 12 to almost 4, with an almost 7 princess in the middle. I love to cook, and have learned quite a lot of Indian food, of course Romanian food, and I grew up loving Mexican food. I like to blog about food, and share recipes with my readers. I'm particularly passionate about organic, non processed home cooked meals.

Some HOT Kerala Indian fish curry, Bella style!!

Some crazy good BRICK Chicken!!

Savarine, a delicious Romanian pastry!!

Did I mention we make cakes too?
You can check us out on Facebook, for more cake designs!!
EURO STYLE CAKES on FACEBOOK


I also love to craft, and love to create, and LOVE to save money, and hopefully save the earth a little too, by trying to reuse things I already have, and upcycle other peoples trash. My most favorite kind of craft involves recycling products, and not spending money.

Contact paper is AWESOME!!

Come see how I grow my own pineapple plant.

Trying to organize my pantry, at least it's clean now, hehe.

The girls and I love doing mehndi for fun.

Check out how I created a flower bed for my garden.
I also host a weekly party called 

I've worked really hard at redesigning my blog so I can FEATURE my top 10 every week, on my SIDEBAR, the whole week. It's a great way to be seen, by the masses, hehe ( I wish), but ONE day, I will be big, and you will BEG to be featured on my blog. Until then I do it happily and love helping out new bloggers, because after all, I'm still learning myself, and support is key to growth. 


I love all my followers, and have made some wonderful friends, bloggy friends, and look forward to getting to know you too.


So come on over and see how I clean my stove with my shampoo!

And check out how I cut MY OWN HAIR!


I really hope you enjoyed my post today! I loved sharing with you.

Come say hi to me on facebook, or twitter!!

Don't forget to join me at my weekly party. 
AMAZE ME AUGUST

             

Thanks Kara for having me, I had so much fun!

What I LOVE for SPRING...

Even though we are not experiencing much spring like weather here right now...
I was happy to return from Florida to find these sprung up in my garden. 

 

That just makes me smile!

And DREAM of warm weather and all the spring fashion that goes with it.

Is it just me or does the first glimpse of warmer weather instantly make you want to put away all your black boots and pants and trade them in for flip flops and dresses in fun spring colors?

Here are somethings I "must have" for spring and somethings I already have that I think are REALLY great...

VERSATILE PANTS

These pants from Maidenform...called Flexees Fat Free Dressing Legging.  Don't you just love the name before you even know anything about them?  I bought these pants about a month ago at a home party and I never want to wear anything else EVER again.  They are that comfortable!!  They look great on and you can wear them with boots and a dress, or a long top and flip flops!  They come in a flare leg "weekend" style as well.

*  Soft & Comfortable
*  Breathable fabrication
*  Firm control legging
*  Eliminates "muffin top"
*  Smoothes and shapes the waistline

Want your own pair, click HERE then type in "Karen Gotchel" which will bring you to the store where you can order the pants or email Karen directly at my3pips@yahoo.com and she will order them for you.

FLOWER PRINT HANDBAGS

Such a fun way to spice up your wardrobe for spring!  LOVE these new prints by Vera Bradley.  I may or may not have ordered myself one in the Watercolor print (gray and purple), shhhh don't tell my husband ;)

PURSE ORGANIZER

I definitely need one of these GREAT purse organizers.  Lil G is getting to the age where most of the time I can just run out of the house for a quick trip with one diaper and a small pack of wipes in my purse, so this would be great.  Purse Bling has the cutest and most functional ways to organize all that STUFF that accumulates in your purse.   And they are offering a 10% discount with the code Tizzi to my readers.  The code will be good on everything excluding sale items through Mother's Day, May 8th. 

BRIGHT COLOR SHOES 

The color of your shoes can so easily change any outfit!  These peep toe pumps from DSW would be adorable to "spring" up a little black dress.

FLOWERS AS ACCESSORIES

You see flower clips EVERYWHERE lately....

And why NOT...you can wear them on your shoes...

Attached them to a handbag...

Photo from Etsy

Dress up a shirt or jacket...

Wear them as a necklace...



Photo from Little Miss Mama Blog



Or wear them in your hair...

(my brother -in-law and beautiful cousin Ashley wearing the flower clips I made for my bridesmaids)

For the entire month of APRIL I'm offering Buy 1 handmade flower clip, Get one flower clip FREE!  So contact me on my new Tizzi Lish Facebook Page and I will get the order complete for you (prices vary depending on the size and style of the clip).

Hope you are all as ready for spring as I am :)

I'm off again...this time to San Diego for work... I will have a guest blogger this week so keep a look out for her post :)

~Kara

Mascarpone Cheese and Bruschetta Pasta

Today I'm sharing with you another one of my friend Carla's recipes.  Can you tell this girl LOVES to cook!!
This is a simple recipe with only a few ingredients, so it's perfect for a last minute week night dinner....hummm...what's for dinner tonight?! 

Ingredients
1/2 box (about 2 cups of dry pasta) Gemelli pasta (you can use any short pasta you like)
3 Plum Tomatoes
Mascarpone cheese
2 cloves fresh Garlic
Parsley, Basil, Oregano, Salt and Pepper

Cook pasta to your liking. While the pasta is cooking dice up 3 plum tomatoes and season with fresh garlic, parsley, basil, dash of oregano, salt and pepper.  Once the pasta is finished boiling drain the pasta (reserve about 2 tablespoons of the cooking water).

In a mixing bowl combine the pasta, 2 tablespoons of pasta water, 3 tablespoons of mascarpone cheese and the bruschetta mixture.  Serve with garlic bread or texas toast.  You can easily double this recipe to feed more people or adding cooked chicken or shrimp would be delicious too.  ENJOY!

Where I have been...

I've been MIA...

And I haven't been working on home projects or making headbands and tutus, and didn't even make a single meal over the last week...

BUT we did do a lot of this....

And visited here...

And saw this...

And had a blast doing this...

And we met some new friends...

On St. Patrick's Day we did this...

And we even rode this...

And the best part was watching lil G's face in amazement of it all...

We spent 8 days enjoying the beautiful weather (80 degrees and sunny EVERY day and about 68 degrees every night...can it get any better?!) and all the fun activities Orlando has to offer.  It was so nice to stop all the projects, ignore all the emails, and just ENJOY my family and friends for the week.  The men even took turns cooking breakfast...so I literally didn't cook a single thing all week long! Ahh...a well needed vacation!

We laughed, we played, we ate and drank...but most of all we spent time with each other making memories...it's what life is all about!