{Wordless Wednesday}

Last day of work until Thanksgiving and Black Friday craziness - LET'S DO IT!

Giveaway Winner

I used random.org to choose the winner of my MOLO Designs giveaway, and the lucky lady is:

Brandy!

Send me your email and I'll get you hooked up with Beth for your free holiday card design. Congratulations to B and a big THANK YOU for those who participated and helped spread the word about this giveaway! I had fun hosting this event and I hope to provide my readers with more in the future.

XOXO

Stacey

My A,B,C's

I straight-up stole this from one of my favorite people in zee world: Morgan. This is fun, it’s like those blurbs celebrities fill out in Cosmo. I always liked those…

A. Age: As Daniel Tosh says, I’m on the wrong side of 25 (I’ll be 26 in February).

B. Bed size: King and we sleep with separate covers. Cover-stealing problem solved, people!

C. Chore that you hate: Cleaning the toilets, obvs.

D. Dogs: We have two dogs; Xena is 8 and she’s a German shepherd mix and Bradley is 4 and he’s a Pomeranian. I hated having dogs when Laila was a baby because as she was crawling on the floor I was made very aware of how often I should be vacuuming. Now? Their fur is a pain but they are an important part of our family. We will always have a big dog and I’m really fond of having a little lap dog.

E. Essential start to your day: Washing my hair, I feel like I can conquer the world with clean hair.

F. Favorite color: MUSTARD YELLOW! Ugh, I love just saying it because I get an image of it in my head and I’m instantly happy!

G. Gold or Silver: Silver – or white gold.

H. Height: 5’[almost] 9″

I. Instruments you play: Straightening iron & curling iron. I’m not musical but I have relationships with the music I listen to.

J. Job title: Customer Service Extraordinaire a.k.a. the person who gets screamed at over policies and procedures that I clearly made up JUST to piss you off. Oh, but I will make you smile before you leave my office!!!

K. Kids: Laila, Monster, Goober, Bun, Bunny Roo (all one child).

L. Live: FL born and raised. I told my husband I want to move somewhere interesting, he asked what I meant, I said anywhere but here. A change of scenery would be nice!

M. Mother’s name: Gaela Jean

N. Nicknames: My dad called me Bumpkin when I was little. My husband calls me Babs or Little Miss. Some of my best friends call me Stacers, Roo, or just plain Stace.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Once when my sister broke her arm when she dove off a couch at our aunt’s house and once when I had Laila.

P. Pet peeves: There are so many… People who don’t teach their child manners so their kid is a jerk to mine on the playground. People who put leashes on their kids. Oh, and bloggers and/or YouTube people who give the vibe that they think they’re famous and too good to communicate with little people.

Q. Quote from a movie: “Take that vest off, you look like Aladdin.” –Superbad. This isn’t my favorite of all time but we saw this movie three times in the theater because it made us laugh so hard. I’m not one to remember quotes, just how a movie made me feel.

R. Right or left handed: Right.

S. Siblings: A brother who is 21 and a sister who is 19.

U. Underwear: Whatever doesn’t cut into my hips, cuz mama got back.

V. Vegetable you hate: CILANTRO! Gah! If butt tastes like anything, I imagine it tastes like cilantro.

W. What makes you run late: Making sure I have all of my daughter’s accoutrements in tow.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Besides my teeth? My knees. I had really bad knees growing up and there were a couple times when I dislocated them that I had to get them imaged to see if I tore ligaments. I never did have anything torn but moving my crazy-weak, crazy-sore knee around in odd angles was a blast!

Y. Yummy food that you make: Beer-battered shrimp/fish, and ceviche is my newest obsession.

Z. Zoo animal: Penguins. I like watching them waddle on land and then glide so gracefully in the water.

A Pinterest Rant of Sorts

I wrote this upon seeing a picture of a girl who clearly has an eating disorder pinned on Pinterest. I didn't have to click on it to know why it exists. There are sick girls out there who look at these images as motivation and nothing makes me more sad. Soon after seeing that picture (several times) I saw a picture of Emma Stone, which I pinned as well (because I adore her), but I changed the caption that previously read: could I just be you, please.

This subject of confidence pains me so much. I've come a long way from the obese child that I was and I still have days when I don't feel great about myself, I think we all do. I pray to God that I can instill confidence and strength in my daughter. It scares me to death to think that she may be so insecure that she wants to be someone else or resorts to an unhealthy lifestyle. 

'Tis the Season for Giving

I've joined up with my friend, Beth from MOLO Designs to bring one of my lucky stalkers loyal friends your choice of a holiday card design from her shop. Beth has become my go-to girl for design. My blog banner is a custom MOLO Design and the brain child of Beth after I requested she make a banner that mimicked the style she created for my MOO mini cards.

As far as holiday cards go, photo cards give me a real kick in the pants. I've used photo cards for our family for the past three years and I love hearing feedback about how cute our little one is, it's the stuff mamas like me just eat by the spoonful. I'm a little nutty for the honeycomb design Beth has whipped up for me, so I'm a real sucker for this particular card in the MOLO shop:

The beauty of ordering through MOLO Designs is that you can have as many cards as you want printed and if you're a frugal girl like me, you know you can get prints on the cheap from either Snapfish or Walgreens (depending on promos and codes).

Enter to win your choice of a MOLO Designs holiday card by visiting Beth's shop and then commenting the link to your favorite design below along with a blurb on what your favorite thing about the holidays is, a winner will be chosen at random in about a week. You can earn an extra entry by subscribing to my blog.

My favorite thing about the holidays is making them special for my daughter. We've made new traditions, just the three of us and it's enabled me to let go of the pressure of trying to fit into other's traditions. Seeing everything through her eyes makes my world magical. Truly. 

My Morning Hair Routine

It was recently suggested to me that I should do a hair tutorial when I was twittering away with Brandy and Alicia. I have reservations doing this because I've learned a lot of what I do from well-know YouTube guru, LolaMarie7. I think Jess rocks and would never claim her ideas as my own, I decided to post this just to let inquiring minds know how I usually do my hair in the mornings.

I also have anxiety about being on YouTube full-blown because I've seen people get so nasty towards the girls who make videos. So, for now, this video can only be viewed through my blog (and maybe my YT channel).

I hope the video isn't too long or redundant, it's my first. Let me know if you'd like to see my version of a quick wavy 'do.

{Wordless Wednesday -iPhone/Diptic edition}

Sequins found while thrifting always remind me of this...

...wait until the 31 sec mark!

Some Hussy

Some hussy hit on my husband last night and lives to see another day. Long story short, my hubalicious (real nickname – he loves it) went out with his friends to eat, drink, and collect their copies of MW3 during the midnight release. Hubs was texting me while he was at dinner, telling me about the amazing mozzarella sticks he was eating, blah, blah. I usually stay up when he’s out just because we’ve slept together so long that I cannot fall asleep without him next to me. Last night was an exception, I was exhausted and I knew he was safe due to the texts, so I fell asleep while my lectures played on the iPad and the TV hummed in the background. Side note: if he isn’t home, the only way I can fall asleep is with the TV on.

He got home around one in the morn and must’ve thought I was awake, because all I remember him saying was, “I actually got hit on tonight.” In my sleepy haze I can remember responding, “I don’t like that!” I believe I repeated myself a few times and then proceeded to need to know all the details. You see, I don’t doubt that my husband gets admired or hit on more regularly because I, myself am still wildly attracted to the man. I think his day-to-day run-ins are probably more subtle therefore he doesn’t realize what’s happening. Most men are oblivious, or at least that’s what they lead their wives to believe.

I’ll admit, I had a twinge of jealousy and while I’ve joked with him about it a bit, I probably won’t anymore and that’s as far of a hard time I’m going to give him. Jealousy isn’t cute and I know if I let it get to me I I’ll just end up going all psycho mutant wife on my husband and that definitely ain’t adorable and it doesn’t draw a man closer. Besides, who could blame a guy for being smoking hot in his motorcycle jacket, just trying to get his grub on?

Sorry little miss waitress, but you only reminded me that my hubby is hot, he’s all mine, and it’s been a while since I’ve rode on the back of the motorcycle with him. Cheers to you in your endeavors! I’m actually more jealous of these phenomenal cheese sticks I have yet to experience, maybe you can serve them to me…

Professional stud muffin 

Am-ba-lance

I did this here video:




The Words:
Aunt, Roof, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught, Naturally, Aluminium, Envelope

The Questions:
1. What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
2. What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
3. What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
4. What do you call gym shoes?
5. What do you say to address a group of people?
6. What do you call the kind of spider (or spider-like creature) that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
7. What do you call your grandparents?
8. What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
9. What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
10. What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

"Are you talking about Ceviche?"

It's when Christina Yang uttered those words on Grey's Anatomy in season 6* that was the first I had ever heard of ceviche. I had to google it to understand the reference the insensitive, yet hilarious doctor was making about a woman who got into a fight with a boat propeller and lost.


Fast forward to the present and my coworker trying to recreate the fabulous dish she had on vacation with her family in Miami. It was shocking to find out that ceviche is raw fish that is essentially cooked via the acids from citrus. Being a sushi nut, I was skeptical but willing to give it a try. I was hooked on a single bite.

The beauty of ceviche is that you can put any spin on it you'd like.

My version pictured was made as so:

(this was a single serving that I ate on it's own for lunch)

One tilapia fillet (4oz or so)

Three limes

1/4 cup chopped yellow onion

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 cup tomato

::These measurements are estimates, I did not actually measure the ingredients out when I made it, use amounts that suit your taste::

Juice limes into a plastic or glass food container that has a lid to seal it. Chop fish into bite-sized chunks, add to lime juice. Add chopped onion to juice and fish. Mix in basil. I let my ceviche marinate in the fridge over night. If you're eating it the same day I'd let it rest for a couple hours and take note of the color change from pinkish to white, more cooked appearance. I added the tomatoes a couple hours before I planned on having lunch so they wouldn't be too soggy. Just add them with the rest of the ingredients if you plan on eating it the same day. That's it! 

It's so neat how the juice transforms the fish and even begins to break down the onion into a sweeter version of it's raw self.

More on the beauty of ceviche:

• You can mix/substitute citrus - oranges, limes and lemons - Oh my!
• You can use any spice that you prefer. This dish is typically made with cilantro but I hate cilantro. 
• You can mix in any veggie that strikes your fancy.
• You can use the marinaded meat to make fish tacos! NOM, NOM, NOM!

* I had to look the info about what season of GA Christina said the ceviche comment. I'm not a freak who just knows trivial things like that.

Flashback Friday!

Today I introduce my daughter to the blog, her name is Laila, she is my world.

Halloween 2009 "Laila bug"

This year I was able to reuse the red tutu I made two years ago for Halloween - without a single adjustment!

Halloween 2011 "Olivia the Pig"

So what if only one person knew who my child was dressed up as, without us explaining it to them (if you don't know, google it, it's a cartoon pig with very big ears)! My kid is cute and that trumps the fact that her pig ears resemble bunny ears any day.

We had a lot of fun taking Laila trick-or-treating for the first time. Our community has an older median age range so we were disappointed in the amount of people giving out candy. We got the scoop from some neighbors and we're prepared to go where the action is next year. This year served as a good warm-up.

For now I'm glad there isn't more candy in this house. Laila asks for candy several times a day, most requests are denied. The good thing is that she is dealing with rejection more and more positively.

TGIF, loves!

New name, new look... Still me

Through my own assessment I've embraced the fact that I've been blogging with only my big toe in the pond instead of jumping right in. Blogging can be intimidating. Should I post this or that? What will people think?

There will always be a bit of me who desires to be liked, but I'm getting more comfortable that I may not be everyone's cup o' tea.

I've changed my title because I felt that the last title gave an air of pomp that doesn't resemble what I am about. Part of me would like to be considered a Charlotte York type who has a spotless NY penthouse but I forgo all that for a day of baking in our messy galley (fking tiny) kitchen with our daughter and then saving the mess for tomorrow because we have important things on our agenda, like going to the playground.

Bottom line is that I plan on sharing more of my life and will always be genuine.

XOXO

Stacey

{Wordless Wednesday}

There are no words besides, "GIMME!"

Running Playlist Link Up

Hi there! I know it's been a while since I've posted and I want those who follow this blog to know I appreciate you hanging around. I have some changes that are in the works and once I figure out the logistics of it all I will be revealing a whole new look, name, and I'll be featuring more of my personal life.

Enough on that for now...

I've been meaning to link up with Brandy of mannlymama on a couple of passions we both share: running & music, but thoughts of changing my blog kept me lagging and I also took a running hiatus due to an injury. I finally set an appointment with myself to get back on the pavement while I was dragging ass through work today and I "let" myself download some songs I had been tagging through Shazam (app for iPhone, if you don't have it, GET IT - it will change your life). Running is the best medicine for me and my playlist really kicked my run into high gear. I usually run closer, if not over 11min/mi when I'm getting back into my groove after time off but tonight my average pace was 10:09, with my first mile being sub 10's. So without further ado, the jams that kept me pumping:

Linkin Park - "Waiting for the End," "When They Come for Me," & "Wretches and Kings"

The first song reminds me of things that make me angry and I'm pretty sure I look like I'm running to beat someone up while I listen to it but it gets my adrenaline pumping so hard. The latter two songs have crazy beats that are fun and make me feel badass, and again, I probably look a little nuts.

AWOLNATION - "Sail" {New Download}

This is a song my husband and I both reached to crank up in the car last night, it's just recently got play on the radio and I've only heard it a couple times but it's addicting and unique.

Dev - "In the Dark" & "Bass Down Low (feat. The Cataracts)" {New Downloads}

I typically want a running song to evoke either anger, badass, or sexy feelings. Dev's songs are blatantly sexy and for that, I thank her. Oh, I'm also thankful that she doesn't just say "it's The Cataracts" for the hell of it in her song "In the Dark," I was very confused by that for the longest time.

Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem - "Forever" {New Download}

I'm pretty sure I'm late on discovering this song because I've heard bits and pieces for a while now but I finally heard the whole thing on my way to work last week and HAD TO HAVE IT!

New Boyz - "Better With the Lights Off (feat. Chris Brown)"

This is a guilty pleasure song for me, I really wanted to hate it but the cheesy 80's beat has me hooked for life (maybe not, LIFE, life). The song is about telling a girl she "looks better with the lights off" which is just rude, but I do believe they spend the rest of the song explaining why that's a good thing and she's "actually more poppin.'"

I hope ya'll  enjoy and please link your favorite running playlist as well!