What I've Been Up To

The last few weeks have been a complete whirlwind! At the beginning of the month, I was lucky enough to get to meet Teresa Collins. That woman is amazing! Seriously the sweetest, strongest woman ever. I told her about my idea for a scrapbook line and she invited me to lunch to talk about it some more. GAH! Totally one of my most favorite lunches ever. :) I started reading her blog and was so impressed by her as a person. The strength she displays, and the love she has for those around her and her love of what she does. So inspiring! I decided I wanted to make her this, as a thank you for being such an inspiration and for taking time out her insanely busy schedule to help me.

The paper in the dress comes from a TCD line. :)

She totally is strength and love. :)

I love the dimension the ribbon adds to it.

These are vintage buttons from the 1950s. I had to use some from my little stash of vintage buttons for this! They looked to good not to. lol

I've been making more things for my Etsy site as well!

I may just keep this headband for me! hahaha

I made this for a Mother's Day present for myself. ;) 3 pearls for 3 kids! I'll be adding it to the Etsy site soon.

My friend Leslie asked me to sew a bag for her to hold her portfolio pieces for her photography class. I had a lot of fun with this!

She wanted a pocket to put information cards in. I used the same fabric to line the flap.

I put together this frame for Roberts Crafts. We're doing a Youtube video featuring all the new frames that have come into the stores. I did another frame, but don't have a picture of it yet. It was a lot of fun! Think buttons and modeling paste. ;) lol

I'm really looking forward to May! Hopefully it will decide to be spring, and stop snowing on us! Also, it will be my daughter's 8th birthday! She's really excited about being baptized and turning 8. Every time we talk, she's telling me what else she wants to do for her birthday party. LOL! So far, she wants to go to the water park, have a pinata, go see Kung Fu Panda 2 (it comes out ON her birthday, May 26) and I can't even remember what else. I'm sure Pirate Island Pizza is in there too. hahaha! It's going to be a FUN month!!

Cowboy Up!

The last couple of weeks have been SUPER busy! Between designing the scrapbook line, making crafts for work, making crafts for myself, spending time with friends and the kids .. . . whew! It all made April go by WAY fast!

Easter was a lot of fun! The kids deemed it the "best Easter EVER!" It was the first time we'd been to church in . . . a while too. It felt good to be back. Bridger even stayed in primary the whole time! It was a first. So proud of that little monkey!

I love the look of utter surprise on his face!

hehehe SO excited!

This boy knows how to chillax!

I can't get this kid to smile normal for a picture. LOL

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Look Mom! An egg!

My sister, Meagan, and her baby, Oliver.

 Alayna had her school recital the other day. I can't believe she's finishing up her 2nd grade year! I can't believe my little Hunter will be graduating Kindergarten in a few weeks. AAAAGGGHHHH! I'm getting OLD!

Alayna did so well in her performance! I was so proud of her!

The theme of the performance.

My three most favorite people in the world!

My beautiful princess!

My dad is like Hunter. They can't be normal for pictures. LOL

 Today for lunch, my mom went all out! She's been planning a cowboy lunch for the kids for a while, and today we were finally able to do it. :) She made a cowboy casserole, biscuits and (my favorite) honey carrots. MMMMMM!!!! For dessert we had wagon wheel cookies. (Oreos.) If there was any question of where I get any ounce of creativity, it was sparked by watching my Mom. Some of my earliest memories (besides the ones from when I was two. For some reason I can remember entire conversations from that age. And yet, I can never remember where I put my phone . . . lol!) are going to Roberts with my mom and being in awe of all the things in the store. I remember she'd cut things like flowers out of fabric then Mod Podge the flowers on to baskets she had painted and she'd fill them with silk flowers. She taught me to sew when I was 5, I've watched her bake and cook so many amazing things and she'd always come up with fun things like cowboy lunches. :)

Lemonade. The perfect drink to whet a cowboy's whistle!

Bridger Jackson: Cutest gunslinger in the west!

He totally looks like he's ready to draw his pistols. Watch out!

She was little Miss Attitude Cowgirl for a while. lol

His smile just melts me everytime!

He sure makes for quite the handsome cowboy!

Howdy m'am!

He named his bear Teddy Fly Bear. lol

Wagon Wheel Cookies aka Oreos. :)

I'm really excited, I got a new swim suit today!! My other suits have been used so much there are completely threadbare. As much as I love swimming . . . I don't need the added attention a see through swimsuit would bring. LOL!!! I can't wait to get back in the water though. It's my most favorite place to be! New month, new training plan and new meal plan start tomorrow! YAY!

New Earrings!

I've been working on some new earring styles, and I'm pretty excited about what I came up with. :) I got the idea from the old fashioned ribbon candy.

I love the 70s inspired ribbon on this one. SO FUN! Disco, baby! ;)

This ribbon is my fav out of the 4. I love the color combination and the stripes!

Who doesn't love a fleur de lis? lol

I love the combination of green and purple. Damask is always one of my favorite patterns!

I'll be adding these (and more!) to my Etsy site today. YAY!

Simply uhMAZING!

Ok. When I started the gears spinning and was plotting out my meal plans . . . I had NO idea if it would actually work. I just knew I needed a change. But seriously, 9lbs lost in one week just boggles my mind! SERIOUSLY! WOO HOO! I haven't even started the exercising, it's just been an insane week. (There is so much going on that I am SO excited about, I can't even begin to tell you how excited. More on that later!)

So, because I've still been slacking on exercising, my goal for week 2 is to train myself to wake up EARLY. (I'm talking 5am early.) I did it before, I can do it again! I WILL do it again. :) I did have a training session today and he KILLED me. Actually, I did it to myself. He didn't want me to do 3 rounds, since it was my first day with him. He wanted me to stick to 2. Little did he know, I'm a lot tougher than I look. lol! And I don't back down from a challenge. Ever. Knowing what I was capable of before, I convinced him to "let" me do three sets. (Seriously, going to the gym twice a day, for two hours each time and you only want me to do 2 sets? PSHAW!) Anyway, we did core, squats, glutes, hamstrings, shoulders, biceps, back. It was fantastic! I won't be able to move tomorrow, but I actually LOVE that feeling, because I know I worked hard.

So today I got all the meals ready and separated out. The only cooking required for this week is the Spinach & Chickpea Curry. I found out today that a chickpea is a garbanzo bean. Who knew? haha! I'm so glad my mom is smart about cooking and helped me out with that one. I was standing in the canned vegetable isle ready to pull my own hair out because I couldn't find ANYTHING labeled "chickpea". Good heck! lol

Ok, so go back a post or two (I really can't remember) and you'll have week 2's meal plan and shopping list. Here is what the Oat Fit looks like:

Whenever I'd heat it up at work, everyone thought it smelled like vanilla cake. It's really yummy! But seriously, it's on sale at Harmon's for 50¢ a box, with 5 packets per box. Can't beat a 10¢ breakfast! I also saw it at WinCo today for 85¢ a box. I have paper bowls at work that I just pour it into, then there is a "fill line" on the back of the package. Fill it with water, heat for 90 seconds and done!

Here's week 2, all together:

I'm keeping the Gardenburgers in the box since it needs to stay frozen. So each morning it's just a matter of grabbing a Gardenburger, and a couple slices of Orrowheat. I have a tiny tupperware container that a put a little bit of veganaise (vegan mayonaise, you can find it at any health food store) and a little tiny bit of ketchup. I don't want a dry Gardenburger sandwich! ;)

I'm really looking forward to seeing what this next week brings!

Get Ready for Week 2!

Ok, here is the shopping list for week 2, and a reminder of what week 2's meals are:

Week 2

Breakfast: Oatmeal (I found this amazing instant oatmeal called Oat Fit. I found it at Harmon's on sale for 50¢ a box, with 5 packets per box.)
Snack: Apple (I used apples for Week 1's breakfast, so I might switch to oranges or something.)
Lunch: Gardenburger on Orrowheat bread
Snack: Carrots
Dinner: Spinach & Chickpea Coconut Curry (Make a bunch, separate into containers for each night's meal.)
So here's your shopping list!

• Oat Fit (If you want to just buy a thing of oatmeal and cook it everyday, go for it. Just stick to the serving sizes. When I do this, I add a little bit of brown sugar for flavor.)
• Apples (or another fruit)
• Gardenburgers (The black bean chipotle are AMAZING)
• Orrowheat bread (I love the oatnut. SO good!)
• Carrots
• 2 Cans Chickpeas (I doubled the recipe from The Kind Life blog, since it says it makes 4 servings, that should give the perfect amount for a week when doubled.)
• 2 Cans Diced Tomatoes
• 4 Medium Potatoes
• Spinach (you'll need 6 cups worth)
• Cloves
• Tumeric
• Curry Powder
• Garlic Cloves
• 2 Cans Coconut Milk

With the spices, if you already have them then awesome! I have no idea if I do or not. . . There are so many spices in the cupboard I haven't a clue what's in there anymore. LOL So on Wednesday, I'll be hitting the grocery store with this list.

Here's a pic of the Spinach & Chickpea Coconut Curry. Doesn't it look amazing? I'm excited to try it! I won't be having it with rice, just to cut carbs. But if you need a little extra oomph with it, go with brown rice.

So far. . . So good!

I'm on day 3 of Week 1. Doing good so far! I haven't been able to get much cardio in, it's been a pretty crazy busy week. :S I met with a trainer on Friday, and I'm really excited to work with him!

Even though April 1st was on a Friday, and it felt odd starting on a Friday as opposed to the beginning of the week, I wanted to start at the beginning of the month. So I did my grocery shopping for week 1 on Wednesday. I put together my meals for the week Thursday evening.

Grocery List:
• Greek Yogurt
• Light String Cheese
• Apples
• Raw Almonds
• Spinach
• Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing
• Eggs (14 total. 2 per day)
• Kashi 7 Grain Crackers
• Laughing Cow Swiss Cheese Wedges
• Spaghetti Squash
• Marinara Sauce

All these groceries cost me about $25 at Winco.

So pretty much the only "cooking' to do this week is boiling the eggs and preparing the spaghetti squash. Which I found out you do by cutting in half and baking it, then scraping out the insides. SO good.

Here is what it looks like all separated out into containers and baggies, so it's just grab and go.

So I just boiled the eggs, then put two per baggie. I shell them when I'm getting my lunch out, cut them up and put them in with the spinach and drizzle a little bit of the poppy seed dressing over them. Do not drench it with dressing, it'll taste super gross. You really only need a little bit of the dressing, and it's heaven. :) Separate the almonds out into 2oz servings. We have a food scale here, which everyone should have! It's so helpful in getting correct portion sizes for so many things. The serving size of the Kashi crackers is 15 crackers. Which, if you don't put huge piles of cheese on them, gets you through the cheese wedge perfectly. Then for the spaghetti squash, I just separated it out into the containers. When I pull them out for dinner, I pour a little bit of the marinara sauce from the jar onto it and heat it up. One squash should give enough for one week. (You could use two as well. Being a vegetable, it won't hurt. I'm just going with one for myself.)

Here are some artsy food shots of breakfast and lunch. ;) hahaha

AND My sister and I have started a garden. I've never attempted to garden before, so this is entirely new to me. But I'm so excited to be able to walk into the backyard and pick my own veggies!! We planted them a week ago, and they've grown SOO much already! It's amazing to me. We either have that good of a green thumb, or they just have an innately STRONG will to live, knowing who it is caring for them. LOL!!