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!

Ceramic Egg Cartons Make Me Happy

...that's basically it. I bought two of these ceramic egg cartons at Ross this week for $2.50 each. I would have bought more but two is all they had. There is no name on them and I couldn't find a version like them when I checked eBay and Amazon.

I just love looking at them in my fridge or on my counter.

I was making EatingWell.com's vegetable fried rice when I took these pictures. The recipe is fantastic, a couple of my omissions include: the ginger & the hot red pepper sauce. I used less garlic and I will use less soy sauce next time (coming from a lover of soy sauce).

Relics of Workout's Past

I was obsessed with Minna Lessig (blonde on the left) back in the day. She was my Jillian Michaels of 2000-2004, I did her tapes religiously and actually saw results. I can't believe it's been so long since I've visited her. 

As I was finishing up day 3 of the 30 Day Shred (again), I found myself reminiscing about the VHS tapes of yore that I used to get in shape during high school... I'm not one to save things so I was pleasantly surprised to find these two in our stash of movies we don't watch! 

I think my best friend Jill actually gave me these tapes and I knew I had bought another tape of Minna's but quickly remembered that I wore that sucker out, so... Amazon to the rescue! For $2.99 flat I will have my missing VHS by Tuesday, I can hardly wait! In the meantime I plan on doing Minna's workout through Quick Fix: Arms & Legs tomorrow morning ; )

My missing tape. $2.99 on Amazon,
free shipping with Amazon Prime trial.

Color Palette: Yellow, Navy Blue, & White

Had a happy Sunday with my little family & attended a wedding

Sunnies: Dior
Necklace: Given to me by my father on my wedding day
Blue cardigan: Ross

Yellow racerback: too long ago to remember

Skirt: Gap, forever ago

Ring: Me, mentioned here

Flips: Target

Friday Fancies

In order to get myself more disciplined about posting I wanted to have a weekly post where I can at least check-in and let anyone out there who cares know what I'm into as of lately. If you follow me on Twitter it may not be hard to figure out so if you think I'm being redundant just, click-away...


1. Workouts
To make a long story short, I may come off as a workout fanatic and to an extent I am because I was a fat kid. I started working out in the summer between seventh and eighth grade because I decided I didn't want to be fat anymore. My main motivator was my best friend, we motivated each other because we were around the same size and wanted to be healthy. Before I started working out, the last time I had weighed myself was in sixth grade and I was over 180 pounds. The delightful thing about working out and watching what you eat is that it works... The hard part is that you can never stop (at least I can't, not with this metabolism). So I give you what has been keeping me motivated this week:


Tuesday: 40 Minute, 5 Mile Bike Ride while pulling my 2 year-old in her trailer (pulling over 55 lbs), exhausts me to the core and we make a pit-stop at the park, little does my daughter know: we take the looong way to get there!


Wednesday: My new obsession, the Tone It Up Girls! Their new workout is a killer and I'm pretty sure why it hurts to laugh! You can find more of their info and workouts on YouTube.


Thursday: No matter who else comes along, there will always be Jillian in my routine! I'm on level two of her Yoga Meltdown and will stay there until I master all the moves!

Pretty sure you can get this anywhere:
Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart

2. Beverage

Starbucks has coconut now and after trying it in a frappuccino and most recently in a cappuccino, both of which were topped with whipped cream and toasted coconut I've decided that I cannot choose between them. It just depends if I want something hot or cold.

NOTE: This is not on the "eating well" tip and clearly a splurge!

Coconut cream frappuccino

3. Etsy

Researching supplies, inspiration, and more formal graphics for MY SHOP along with more formal shipping accouterments - I can't get enough and I feel so inspired. I have a list going of what I want to implement and hope it all comes to fruition!

4. Music

I like all music, some of what I'm loving lately... 
Country - "Dirt Road Anthem" Jason Aldean (it's different, not what you hear every day). 
Rap - "6' 7'" Lil Wayne feat. Corey Gunz (explicit) & "Moment for Life" Nicki Minaj & Drake (gets my workouts pumped, inspirational). 
Alternative - "Tighten Up" The Black Keys (just plain funky).

5. Style
I've decided I need more turquoise in my wardrobe, so I've been seeking it out and bought a special little beauty to make a one of a kind piece of jewelry. I can't wait for all the elements to arrive and will be soon to share the finished product!

Beautiful ring from Jewelmint.com

Hope everyone had a great week and hope you have an even better weekend!


XO,


Stacey

Quick Tip, Surprises, and Nail Polish

I had a movie date set up with my good mommy friend, Beth, to see Bridesmaids today. My daughter was going to her grandparents for the afternoon and chose a very cute Gymboree shirt to wear. While the shirt is adorable, it's also a pain because the flower on the back always comes out of the dryer looking like a blob. Well, I did not have time to iron it and I usually stay away from the iron in general because I have been known to singe clothes in the past. I was doing my hair and had a stroke of genius: I was using my straightener anyway so I took my daughter's shirt off her and quickly "straightened" the bow and sleeves of her shirt. It didn't produce a perfectly pressed shirt but it got it to look decent.

Before

After

I recommend this if you are crunched for time and just need things to look "ok". Use a med/high setting on your straightener, not full blast. I only clamped the straightener on each section of the bow for a second or two and swiped it along the sleeves. 

After rushing out the door and dropping my daughter off I met my friend at the movie theater and she came in carrying a BIG box... She got me a gift "just cuz"! When people do sweet things for me I can hardly believe I deserve it, so you can imagine my surprise when I opened the box and she had gotten the tea/coffee mugs I wanted from Pier One (mentioned here)!

We barely have counter space so I may play around with where I place them, but here they stand for now : )

Can't wait to have my nightly dose of Organic Throat Coat tea tonight!
Thanks Beth, you are really too sweet!

Beth and I also share a nail polish obsession and she let me borrow her new OPI purch from the Pirates of the Caribbean line, "Skull and Glossbones". Someone is getting at home *mani*pedi* tonight : )

All in all it was a fabulous day. Bridesmaids is HI-LARIOUS, BTW.

 

Creative/Reusable Gift Wrap

One of the lovely ladies I follow, Morgan, wrote this blog post: Frugal Gift Giving about her obsession of wrapping gifts uniquely and making the appearance just as special as what is inside. I couldn't agree with her more! Along with making gifts look fun and fancy I also like to make the gift wrap reusable.

More recently I find myself staking out cute boxes, containers or reusable gift bags or shopping bags to save for a special gift to fit inside. The last gift I had the pleasure of giving was for a dear friend's baby shower...

I got K some necessities from her registry (hangers,
pacifiers, etc) along with a necklace with her child and
little one on the way's initials. The necklace is from:
Etsy: Elemental Workshop

As you can see I wrapped all the odds and ends in tissue
paper and I put the necklace on a little tag.

I created and added this bright bow for a little more
oomph as well as to hide the necklace.

I thought about myself and other moms I know, always clamoring for storage options, so I decided to find a colorful bin to put everything in. I found this rainbow hearts bin at Target on clearance and everything happened to 'just fit'. I think it turned out very cute, bright, and cheery. 

A Little Slice of [my] Life

This is my little setup on my little side of the bathroom sink (his & her sinks in the master a MUST in the next house we buy). I just set this up about a week ago and I'm proud to say it's still this organized. All of my go-to makeup and jewelry is right there so I feel so organized and so girlie getting ready in the morning. I really don't think I could be in a bad mood looking at this. 


The serving platter has been kinda just sitting around since I made it from thrift-store plates and tea cups a while back for a display at a craft fair (flop). The bowls are from a recent trip to Michael's where I picked them up for $0.49 each! I'm still obsessing about buying more of those bowls as ice cream dishes...

 Thrift store haul when I bought the supplies for the serving dish display.

 Finished serving dish display, naked.

Haul from recent Michael's visit : )

To make yourself a serving dish like I did: find various pretty saucers/plates/tea cups & attach the together with Gorilla Glue. I had to attach each piece one at a time and let it dry with a few text books pushing the pieces together for an hour before I'd attach the next piece. Apply Gorilla Glue very thinly, it expands when it bonds two things together and can cause major bubbling to occur if you use too much.

I'm really into indulging myself a bit with little things that make me happy. I have a lot going on right now so I need inspiration to break up the monotony. 

Bring on Spring

Florals, bright colors, sunshine, and Easter, I'm ready for it all. I cannot wait for spring! The first previews of spring seemed to be all around me and inspired some impromptu crafting... Enjoy!

Mother Nature:

These are neat little birds that fascinate our daughter, as well as our dogs. They stab their long, pink beaks into the ground looking for something to nosh. They're probably tearing up the next thing photographed, but they're so beautiful I almost don't care.

As I looked out into the back yard today I realized that our grass is growing back from the dead! The new baby grass is so bright green and vibrant, it really lifts my spirits just looking at it.

On to the crafting:

I went to Michael's today with a thought in my head and a gift card in my pocket. My original plan didn't come to fruition but as I was roaming the isles I found these sweet flowers amongst scrap booking supplies and I immediately knew what I'd do with them!

More sweet spring whimsies...

       

...viola!

...ta-da!

This is my first time using E-6000 on bobby-pins and ring pads. I used Gorilla Glue on the last ring pad I made something with and the adornment ended up popping off and I'm really not a fan of how GG bubbles when it dries. I didn't want to use hot glue because I don't like the strings created by it. I have used E-6000 on other crafts and I've never had a problem with it. The adornments on each bobby-pin and ring pad were on snug after about thirty minutes but I'm still going to wait over night until I wear an item. If I have an issue with anything staying glued I will post about it.

Bobby-pins with blanks and ring pads can be found on both Etsy and Ebay, just shop and compare since there are new postings on each site all the time.