My Loves

I hope everyone has had an amazing Valentine's Day! I must admit, the only time I have had a boyfriend for Valentines Day was back in high school. So for the last ten years, Valentines has not been a holiday I celebrated. Or even acknowledged. Or even wanted to leave the bed/house for. ;)

But this year I decided to make it super extra special for the kids. Who cares if I'm not in a relationship with anyone but Facebook and Once Upon a Time. (Seriously, best show EVER!) I've got my kids, who love me despite my many faults. And I love them. So why not celebrate that?

Let's do it!

I was so excited to finally celebrate this overly commercialized holiday that I may have gone overboard. But it was so much fun! As good as Christmas Eve! (almost) Yesterday on my lunch break I went to the dollar store and loaded up on cheesy, fun red and pink covered things. Streamers, balloons, favors, gift bags, chocolate roses, toys, etc. I got a little balloon bouquet for each of my kids. Little plastic champagne flutes with plastic hearts on the stems. A pink table cloth.

Just call me cupid!

Now the problem was . . . Where was I supposed to hide all of this?! 3 kids and myself in a 2 bedroom apartment. There are no secrets or hiding spots in this family.

So, I figured the ONE PLACE the kids would never look would be our little laundry closet. GENIUS! After I ran amok in the dollar store, I headed home and stashed my surprises there before heading back to work. I got worried when we came home last night and the kids started playing hide and seek. These kids will hide under the kitchen sink behind the garbage can, I wouldn't put past them to slip into the laundry closet. Luckily, that was the one place they avoided hiding in. Also, luckily, I had just taken the garbage out from under the sink. EW.

So last night after I finally got them all to bed and asleep, I pulled out my stash and went to work like the little Valentines fairy I had turned into. I pulled out all the red, white and pink balloons from the party mix bags I bought. The plan had originally been to blow them ALL up and cover the apartment with balloons. About 3 balloons into that plan, I nixed it. I ended up with 4 each of red, pink and white. Good enough, right? haha! I taped the balloons and the silver and red sparkly garlands to the bedroom doors. I tied the balloon bouquets to each of their beds. I laid out the gift bags all pretty on the table for them to wake up and discover.

Then I settled in to catch up on Grey's Anatomy. Valentines episode. Oh yeah. I'm SO in this Valentines!

I made the kids stay in their rooms while I cooked dinner and got the table ready. I wanted to surprise them again! And the boys really, REALLY needed to clean their room. (and it's still not clean. figures. lol) I left work a few minutes early today and I stopped and got us some flowers for our table.

 I made Pink Punch, to make it an extra special dinner. Raspberry sherbet, pink lemonade and sprite. YUM! I even brought out my china plates and fancy glasses. (To go along with our plastic champagne flute water "glasses.")

On each of my kids' plates, I placed a little stuffed animal.

Alayna got this little elephant. She has so many stuffed animals, but not an elephant. Her zoo is now complete!

Hunter got this little frog, because he's always asking Alayna to play with her giant stuffed frog that my older brother got her for Valentines when she was 1 1/2.

7 years ago, when my dad was in the hospital right before he died, my then step mom called my siblings and I into his hospital room. Laying on my dad in the hospital bed were little bags with his Valentines gifts to us. His last gifts to us. He was in a coma and couldn't give them to us himself. In my bag was this little bee keychain:

Bridger is always asking me if he can play with it. And then he leaves it places and forgets where it is. I panic. Then we find it and I tell him he can never ever ever ever play with it again. Until he asks me again, and I let him. Repeat process. So I got him his very own bee. Hopefully my little bee can stay safe now. ;)

I had wanted to watch Lady and the Tramp with the kids. I made us spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and thought, "How cute would Lady and the Tramp be, to go with our spaghetti!" You know, that whole scene where the dogs share the noodle and end up kissing. It seemed like a good love story to watch with the kids. But the store didn't have it! GASP! Sigh. Sadness.

So we watched Glee and sang along and had strawberry shortcake.

Best. Valentines. Ever.

Birthday Boy

When I posted that I was going to start in photography more, and was looking for guinea pig models, a friend of mine from college was one of the first to support me and let me take pictures of her amazingly handsome son. He's going to be baptized soon! I can't wait for him to have that experience, and I was so excited Amy said I could take his pictures.

Doesn't he look amazing in his suit? I LOVED the pinstripes!

Thanks Amy!!!

My Boys

Pictures say a 1,000 words, and I think these two pictures showcase my boy's personalities perfectly! These two have my heart. <3

Re-Visit

Tonight, just for fun, I went back and revisited a couple of pictures I took of Hunter and Alayna. I wanted to see them with a new edit. I just bought a few action sets from Florabella. I LOVE them!!

Old Edit:

New Edit:

 

Old Edit:

New Edit:

It's amazing to me how different editing effects can completely change an image! That's always my hardest thing, is picking what way to edit a photo.

I'm going to have to resist going back and re-editing all my photos with my new actions!

Art Night!

On one of my "I can't sleep because I have too many ideas running through my head" nights, I came up with doing an art journal night with my kids. I'm so sick of the come home, do homework, cook and watch tv rut we're in. So I decided to throw in some activity nights. Monday night is going to be our art journal night! I went to Michaels and got us all an 11x14 sketch book. Lucky me, I found out when I got to the register that they were all buy one get one free! SERIOUSLY! I was one happy art journaler! I just got us all a set of Crayola watercolors thinking if we actually stick with this and someday get to be amazing artists, I'd get us a set of nice watercolors. But for now, the $4 Crayola sets work just grandly!

For our first foray into watercoloring/art journaling, I thought it would be fun to paint to music. I set it to Elvis' Greatest Hits. About halfway through my kids turned the iTunes to Adele. What? That works too. hahaha!


Here's what we came up with:

Top Left: Bridger's meteor crashing onto the grass on Earth. Bottom Left: Alayna's scenic art. Bottom Right: Hunter's portrait work. Top Right: My random flower.

Art Journaling Monday is fun! I think next week I'll give them a word or theme to paint and see what we come up with. Any good random kid friendly words or themes you can think of?

Practice Run

So, yesterday I made a purchase I have been DYING to make for years . . . .

EEK! I am so happy! I was so excited to take it out for a test run, so this morning I took the kids out to do a few quick pictures. Hunter isn't in any because he didn't want to take his coat off. It wasn't THAT cold, but I didn't want to force him. lol Bridger only lasted long enough to get one decent picture, but Alayna was my little champ! I love that she loves having her picture taken!

Here's what I got out of 20 minutes and this fantastic building in "downtown" Bountiful:

My only problem with these is how GROWN UP my daughter is looking! This just can't be!

I can't wait to take it out and do MORE pictures! I need practice with it so if you're in the area and want pictures done and are willing to be my guinea pig, let me know! ;)

GIVEAWAY!

 I've sent you an email. Reply back to it with your info and I'll get your prize sent out to you! -Brie

Perfectly Posh released their NEW CATALOG on Friday! I am so excited about all the new products and for how they've updated their base products. It looks so amazing, I can't wait until March 1 to order some. You can download and view the entire catalog by clicking the arrow button below:


To celebrate the catalog release, I'm giving away an entire set of Lovey Dovey, the limited edition set for February! (Click the picture below to see it larger.)

To enter, share this giveaway on your facebook page, on your blog, on twitter or wherever! Make sure you link it back to here. Post a comment letting me know you shared.

For ONE extra entry, "Like" my Perfectly Posh facebook page. Click HERE. Comment on this post letting me know you're following me there.

For FIVE extra entries, book an online party with me between now and March 31st. Online parties are SO EASY. But you earn hostess incentives like a regular home party. Those incentives include free products! Who doesn't want free things? For more information about hosting a party, feel free to email me at poshbrie@gmail.com. Good luck, everyone! Winner will be announced February 14th. Happy Valentines! :D

Live Like You're Dying?

I've had an epiphany today.

It was brilliant.

I want to scream it to the world!

I want to start a religion, based on my epiphany and preach to the masses.

Ok, not really. But kind of. Minus the religion. I'm too fickle. ;) Or maybe just too lazy.

BUT! Here's the epiphany.

You know the phrase, "Live like you're dying." Seems like it's a self motivating, go get 'em kind of statement, right?

Is it really?

I'd like to propose a new and improved phrase.

"Live like you just left the hair salon."

Hear me out. To me, "Live like you're dying" invokes a sense of frantic urgency. GET-EVERYTHING-DONE-YOU'VE-EVER-WANTED-TO-DO-BECAUSE-YOU-MIGHT-DIE-IN-FIVE-MINUTES. To me, it could be a motivating factor to be kinder, be more generous, be more forgiving, travel the world, read a book, watch that movie you've always wanted to see but haven't stopped to do it. But, it seems to be more of a fear based motivator for redemption.

Why live like you're dying? That's depressing.

You know that feeling when you've gone in for a hair cut. Just a trim, even. But they wash your hair with the GOOD shampoo that you'd never actually splurge on for yourself. They blow dry your hair and style it for you and tell you how good you look. You leave that salon (or barbershop or wherever you go) feeling on top of the world. You feel good. You feel like you look good. You feel like you can take on anything! HOLD ON TO THAT FEELING! Don't let it wash down the drain with your next shower! It is THAT feeling that is a true motivator! When you feel good about yourself then you ARE enough. You're not comparing yourself to the neighbors down the street. You're not comparing your beat up mini van to your friend's shiny new car. You're not motivated by want. You become confidant, happy. You become content. That contentedness turns into peace that will spill into your home. It will wash over your kids. You'll spend more time enjoying your time doing what makes you happy than worrying about getting everything spotless because neighbor so and so's house is ALWAYS spotless.

What I'm saying is live confidently. It doesn't matter what you look like. How much money you make. What car you drive. What clothes you wear. It is CONFIDENCE that shines through everything.

Confidence is an amazing motivator. It will get you to the gym. It will get you to the job interview for your dream job. It will get you back in school. It will get you to sign up for the class to learn the skill you've always wanted to learn. It will allow you to jump into a decision you would never have made without it. It will push you to be your best self. And it will make you happy with who you are.

For the last three years, I've lost my confidence. I was simply being. Not living. I haven't been myself. I haven't really tried on anything. I've got so many projects that I'd just given up on. So many ideas and plans that I just let go.

And yes, I went to the salon today and got my hair trimmed. My new stylist, Lindsey, used the good shampoo on me. Told me how gorgeous my hair was after having had three kids and losing most of it. Blow dried it out straight. (I always feel like I look better with my hair straightened.) Told me how excited she was to see me again. And she actually meant it.

And I walked out of there feeling good. I haven't felt good about myself in a long time. And no, this has nothing to do with looks. It has everything to do with how one FEELS when they know they look good, or did an amazing job on a project or has something to offer the world. And that feeling is confidence.

I'm really hoping this feeling of getting my confidence back sticks around longer than my next shower. It may not, and I may have to remind myself again and again. But I'll get there. And so will you. And anyone who wants to be there. It doesn't just happen. But it's so worth anything to get there. It's not a magic pill or potion. It comes from within. It's personal. It can't be given or taken. It can be let go of and forgotten. But that root of confidence will grow if you let it. Don't block it with internal walls of fear. Let go of the fear. Let go of misconceptions. Just let go and let confidence in.

Then you will know you are truly living. Then you will be a light that others will gravitate towards.

Confidence feels good.

I'm so excited to see where my confidence takes me!

Starting Monday, it's going to take me to a crazy schedule that I'm really excited about! I'll tell you more about that later.

If you like my epiphany, I'd love for you to share it. Let's reach whoever needs to hear it. :)

Tortellini with Spinach and Chicken

Does anyone else reach a point where there is just NOTHING in the house to cook for dinner? And I don't mean that I just can't come up with an idea of what I want to cook, I mean there seriously is just no groceries left in the house.

For me, that point always hits a few days before payday. ;)

So, here I am. On a Wednesday/Thursday night. I've got tortellini, but no sauce. And no ingredients to make sauce.

Ok, ok. I'm BRIE! I'm SCRAPPY! I'll make something out of nothing if it kills me! Which it just might, seeing as I have GOT to go grocery shopping if I don't want to die of starvation and take the kids with me. (Don't worry, we're not starving. We made it to payday and tax return day! WHEW! PARTY TIME!!) The kids are perfectly fine surviving on peanut butter suckers, but until they make peanut butter healthy & it comes in a self replenishing jar .  .  . I have to be scrappy.

So I pulled out the tortellini and boiled it. (Is that the proper "chef-y" term? I have no idea.) While it was boiling (we're gonna go with it!), I sautéed chicken with chopped onion, garlic powder and olive oil. When the chicken was cooked through, I added zucchini slices and some salt and pepper. Once the zucchini was cooked until it was tender, I added the tortellini and shredded parmesan straight into the pan and stirred it all together until the cheese melted.

The results were . . . well, let's just say I should run out of groceries more often if this is what I can pull together. (Not to brag, or anything. hehehe!)

SO good. I've made it again since then. (This was last week.)

I don't know exactly how much of everything I put in there. When I cook I just kind of throw things in there and pray that it ends up at least edible. So we'll just say everything is "to taste."

Here's a picture:

The only thing that would make this better would be to have cooked the chicken on a grill before. Drool! Now I just need to get a grill . . .    ;)

New Things!

About a month or two ago, I read an article on Huffington Post about what classes and workouts different celebrities are taking. The three that most interested me are:

 • Yoga Booty Ballet •

• JAM (Juicy Athletic Moves) •

• The Bar Method •

I wanted to try them all! They sounded amazing. I immediately found JAM on Facebook, and messaged the creator of it about becoming a teacher and bringing it to Utah. I can't wait to get started on it! 


Last week I ordered the series Yoga Booty Ballet from Beach Body. (The company that brought P90X.) It arrived last night. I'm so excited to start it! It came with an exercise ball, a stretch band and a measuring tape and tracker. I took my measurements last night. I would have started it this morning, but I could not fall asleep for the LIFE of me last night. UGH. It was awful. 2am. There's just no way, no matter how motivated I am, that I can function on 3 hours of sleep. So I slept in. 


Sigh.


It has 5 DVDs, plus some bonus ones you can order for a bit extra. (I totally did.) Also came with a meditation CD. 


The main workout DVDs consist of:


• Light & Easy (basic yoga and light cardio to get ya going)
• Cardio Cabaret
• Go Go
• Latin Flavor
• Body Sculpting


They also sent "Hip Hop Abs" as a "free" gift. 


Tomorrow! 


We shall start! 


And it shall be grand! 


Next week, I'll order the Bar Method DVDs. *Giddy!* I'm kind of excited to review these different workout programs. :)