Friday, December 30, 2011

My thoughts on 2011 and goals for 2012...

I hate New Year's resolutions. I hate them. It's like promising to do something because everyone else is. And it's always the same things... "My New Year's resolutions is to loose weight/go to the gym", or " I'm going to quiet smoking" or " I'm going to stop drinking soda". I've heard them and then by mid January, your back to chain smoking, eating Slim Jims, and sitting on the couch watching old episodes of Fraiser crying wondering what went wrong! Ok well maybe that's a bit extreme, but you get the picture.

Things I've learned this year....

1.) While you don't really get to choose the family you get, you can choose your friends and make them your family.  I don't have a big family, and by choice I stopped talking to my father because he didn't agree with my marriage to Jim. My mother is not a saint by any means, and she isn't always the easiest person to deal with or be around, but she is all I have and I'm stuck with her. My grandparents were amazing people and worked hard their whole lives. They are very special to me and even though they are gone now, I hold them close to my heart and think of them all the time. I have a sister and things are rocky. I'm not sure what more to say about this at this time. I will say though, that my sister has two awesome kids. My niece who is 15 is a spitting image of my sister. She is smart, and funny and has more common sense then most people I've met. My nephew who is 12, is one of the funniest,most unique, and sweetest person I've ever met.  I'm proud to be their aunt and I hope they know how much I truly love them. 


With that being said, Jim and I want to start a family of our own. Not right at this moment, but within the next couple years we would like to adopt or have a child of our own.  Jim doesn't have a big family either and we both want our child/children to have friends and a full childhood with memories of friends and family (both of us were only children growing up, my sister is 14 years older then me so I basically was an only child).  I recently started talking to my sister, and would love nothing more then to have her in our lives, but things are a little rocky and that decision is hers. I've made my piece and when she is ready I will be here.  Our friends have been so amazing this holiday season, especially Mitch and Maryanne, who let us and the dogs come stay with them for almost a week around Christmas. This brings me to my point. With all the family drama and the little family we have, I've realized that our friends, are our family. We may not get to see them all the time living so far away from one another, but our friends really mean the world to us... That means you, Halley, Elaine, Cora, Jaxon, Amanda, Mitch, Maryanne, Lisette, Matt and Cadell.  You are the family we chose and you mean so very much to us. 

2.) With all this time on my hands this year, I've had alot of time to think and plan and really decide what I would like to do in the future. Goals I'd like to set, with that being said.... WITHIN THE NEXT 2 YEARS I WANT TO OPEN UP MY OWN BAKERY AND COFFEE SHOP.  I want it to have a Pin Up, retro, vintage theme. All the baked goods will have fun names like Cinnamon buns being called "Victory rolls". I want to have fun little classes for decorating cookies and cupcakes and a couple times a month, staying open late and doing burlesque shows.  I'm super excited and super motivated.

Goals for 2012....

1.) I have a horrible habit of not staying in contact with people. My goal this coming year is to stay in touch with my friends more. I want to catch up more often and hear what going on with everyone. I don't care if people need to tell me to call less, I'm going to pester my bestest friends!

2.) I am going to enroll at the local community college and take courses on business management and maybe a couple of baking courses. Jim and I have been talking about taking a class together maybe so we can study together. I think that might be fun. 

No resolution, but lots of brain storming. I'll update soon with some fun stuff.

And once again, Thank you to my amazing husband, who takes care of me when I'm a snotty mess and make me feel pretty even if I have a crusty nose! True love, aint it pretty :)

Happy New Year.

Be Safe!!!!!!

One of our engagement photos!














Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Review this... New look.com

Let me start off by saying that I was not gifted any of these items. I bought them on my own and was not paid by New Look.  
    
     With that being said this is my first online purchase from outside the US. New look is Great Britain's version of Forever 21. I like forever 21 but I have alot of issues with fit and quality there. New Look has alot of options as far plus size clothing goes. I went there specifically because I was looking for wide calf boots. They have a whole section of shoes dedicated to wide feet and let me say that the selections are super cute and not orthopedic or granny looking at all. I have been swooning over these...

Wide width suede polka dot booties





     I bought a dress, a ring and boots. I'll start with the dress. It's a navy blue with white dots. It's a  tunic style dress with button detailing in the back. It has a tie in the back to create shape. I prefer to wear it with a belt, or to wrap the tie in the front to make it look like a belt. It's defiantly a polyester blend, but it had held up pretty well. I got it on sale for about $20 and I have been happy with is. As for the ring, It's super unique, it's two little swallows with encrusted crystals on them. The ring doesn't connect and the birds stick up for a super unique and eye catching look. It came in a antique gold color, but after wearing it for about half our the finish rubs off and the copper starts to shine through and turns my finger green. The ring was less then $10 so you can't really be mad. If I'm going out, then I will still wear it, but I try not to wear it all day, because my finger stained pretty bad last time. Now for the boots. I got these grey leather-ish  knee high boots. They are kind of a mix between a motorcycle boot and a riding boot. I really likes them and they ran about $50. They are not wide calf boots but they are wide width. When I got them in the mail I tried them I tried them on and they don't go up to my knees all the way because I should have gotten wide calf, but I love them so much I think they still look good even though they are a little slouchy. 

This is the dress and my boots


You can see the tarnish on the ring some. I still like it though.




     As far as ordering from the U.K. I did have some problems. I was supposed to receive my package withing 7-10 business days. After 2 weeks I sent them an e-mail. With no response, I sent a second and then a 3rd email. On the 3rd attempt they contacted me back and apologized. Shortly after I got my package, it was close to a month after I had ordered it. On the label, there was a stamp that said that it was mis-sent to Australia! 

     With all that being said, I was happy with the things I purchased and would attempt to order from there again. If I had another shipping issue though, I would stop shopping there. For the most part I was completely happy. I would say that the quality of product is a little nicer then Forever 21, and that they have a larger selection of plus size clothing then a lot of U.S. stores. On a scale of 1-10 I would give my shopping experience a 7. 

Let me know what you thinking. Have you ever ordered from New look? What were your feelings on the quality of the products? Would you shop there again? I would love to hear your opinions




Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Houston, we have landing.... Etsy store is up and going strong!

My poor chubby fingers have been hard at work, typing, photographing and blogging about THE NEW ETSY STORE!!!!!! It's finally up and running and we have a decent amount of stuff. This partnership  with lovely Mrs. L is going swell. She picks up where I lack (grammar big time) and comes up with witty descriptions when I have a brain fart. I'm still off work, which gives me ample time to craft, especially when I don't feel good and imprisoned to the couch. At this moment though, I'm super happy with how this has all turned out. Our little shop is getting ample amounts of views without any marketing too. Once we sell a couple things we will start thinking about marketing and adds and google words and all that fun stuff. Other then that not to update on, and my brain is a little fried right now so I will leave you with some Outfit of the day photos and will try to chronicle my baking adventures tomorrow.Oh here is the link to the Etsy store.





OOTD-
Dress and boots- New Look
Sweater- Ross
Leggings- Target
Fascinator- Etsy shop!




Thursday, December 8, 2011

OOTD with a side of Cheesecake!

Cheesecake bars are the bastard child of lemon bars and cheesecake. They are possible the most delicious thing I have ever put in my mouth.  An added bonus is that they are pretty easy to make as long as you have a mixer. The first time I make them I did not have one and creaming cream cheese is not easy with an old vintage crank hand mixer. So I made a wise investment and broke down and bought a new electric hand mixer. It makes things so much easier. Ok so on with the tutorial....

you will need...
5 Tbsp butter, softened
1/3 c brown sugar
1c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 (8ounce) packet cream cheese
1 egg
2Tbsp milk
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 Tsp vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350
 2. Blend the butter, brown sugar and flour in a bowl. mix until it is the consistency of course sand. Set aside 1c of this mixture for the top of your bars. 

3. In a 8 x 8 inch pan, spray non-stick spray or coat with butter. Press the remaining crumb mixture into the coated pan.

4. Bake for 15 minutes.
5. While crust is baking combine the sugar and cream cheese into a bowl. Mix until cream cheese is smooth again. 

6. add the egg,lemon juice, vanilla, and milk into the cream cheese mixture and blend until all ingredients are combined.
7. pour cream cheese mixture over your baked crust and top with the remaining crumble. 
8. Bake for another 50-55 minutes until, toothpick come out clean from the center of bars.

 9. Let stand for an hour to set up all the way, then enjoy with friends and family or indulge by yourself! 


On a side note, Jim managed to score a vintage kitchen aid mixer and has been restoring it for me for Christmas. I'm so super stoked and my baking aspirations have been boosted to the next level!  We have been re-arranging our house and making it more "grown up", honestly it feel so good to have a house that is ours and not some place we live. 

On a side side note , I took a couple pictures of what I wore the other day to run errands. I love this skirt and try to wear it as often as possible without people thinking "didn't she just wear that?"


This ring is from New Look , I always get a million compliments  on it when I wear it.

OOTD-
Sweater and leggings- Target
T-shirt- Wal-mart
Lips Skirt- Forever 21
Flats- Payless
Bow- DIY, soon to be on my Etsy store!



 
Have a great day everyone and Etsy updates should be comin' up real quick!








Friday, December 2, 2011

MIxing Business and Pleasure! --OOTD--

     Ok, so I love a good craft. I mean what's not to love, turning boring ol' things into fun pieces of art to display/wear?! Well I've been making felt flowers for years. When I got married, all of the bridesmaids bouquets were made out of felt flowers and buttons (4 bouquets). After the wedding I went on felt strike and wanted nothing to to with felt or flowers or even crafting for that matter. Within the past couple of months I have started doing more and more projects and now with all this extra time on my hands (the doctors have me off work until Jan. 15th) I having been crafting my little heart out. I've been making felt bobbles, adorned with hand sewn beads. I'm loving the whole process of making them and beading all of the colorful felt accessories. I've been making hair doo-hickeys and rings, but plan on branching out and making all kinds of things once I can figure out what customers will like. An amazing friend and I are starting an etsy store. (I know, everyone and their mom has an etsy store, but this is my chance to make my little slice of the Internet that much fuller and well rounded... like me!) When we have the site fully set up I will make sure to share the link with everyone. 
     I went back to the doctor on Wednesday. It was as usual a guessing game. This time though the doctor seemed pretty certain that we are on the right path. Apparently the bone in my ear is grown into my ear drum and my inner ear is no longer vibrating. This could be something I was born with or some sort of trauma caused. If it was caused by trauma that could be what is causing my headaches and dizziness. The specialist (ear, nose and throat specialist) will be able to determine this and then tell me were to go. The boy and I have been researching this and it's called surfer's ear, and the treatment is surgery were they cut off your ear and chisel the bone away and then re-attach the ear. I'm hoping that it's an easy fix and  not surgery, but in all honesty I just want to know what's going on and for life to go back to normal-ish. 
     Other then my ongoing broken-ness and crafting, I've been baking alot. Miss kaelah beauregarde at little chief honeybee. has an awesome recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pie! Also I found an awesome recipe for Cheese Cake Squares, it's like a mixture between lemon bars and cheese cake. I will be doing a tutorial on those tomorrow! They are so good and pretty easy. I will say the hardest part is mixing the cream cheese because my mixer broke (hint hint x-mas!), so I have an old school mixer that you hand crank, not electric at all. I'm getting pretty buff from this baking stuff though!
Navy flower with beads and vintage button

unedited- purple felt flower with opal beads and pink vintage button





OOTD-
Dress- Kohl's
Sweater and leggings- Target 
Boots- New Look





OUTTAKE!!!!!

     Ok Jim is getting restless and wants dinner so I'm off to make homemade mac'n'cheese and meatloaf burgers. Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving. Till tomorrow, fancy shmansy... tootels!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

DIY t-shirt scarf! Super easy and fun

With winter sneaking in and temperatures quickly dropping, keeping warm is a must. Layers, chunky sweaters, fun scarves and tall boots are my favorite winter staples. Paying full price and looking like everyone else is never a problem when you have a hot glue gun and a few extra minutes.  Thanks to Mr. Kate and the awesome Threadbanger, you can learn how to turn an old tee into a new scarf.  This project is easy enough for beginners but fun for even the most advanced of crafters. 

Things you will need...
T-Shirt
(mens sizes, larger the longer your scarf)
Scissors
Glue Gun

Optional
leather (pleather)
old jewelry
beads

 I have a bunch of old jewelry that is either broken or in a giant knot, so I used that to decorate my scarf but you can use lots of things.

I used a large mens shirt, my shirt had a pocket on it but it came off quiet easy. Lay your shirt flat and cut straight across from armpit to armpit.



Also cut the bottom seem off.



Cut vertical strips from 1/2 to 1 inch strips, stopping and inch from the top




take each strip and and stretch it out, once that is done I chose to use 3 of the strips to make a braid.
Use the section that is not cut to gather and secure your new scarf! 





Now the fun part! Take your assortment of "doohickies" and figure out how you would like to decorate your scarf. I chose to use 2 colors of suede rope to cover the section that isn't cut. I also wrapped a distressed silver chain around the braid that I made. I used more of the chain and a broken feather earring to finish off the look. 







I'm super happy with the way the scarf turned out.  I'll make sure to do an Outfit of the day with it. If you have any questions or if you make one too, please leave me a comment!











Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Hurry up and catch up! OOTD too.

Ok, so I'm a super slacker when it comes to how long it's taken me to update! With good reason though, let me explain.... I've been doing nothing but going to doctors visits, getting electrocuted, throughing up tacos out of my nose, and other slightly embarrassing yet entertaining medical mishaps. I'll start off by saying that my caffeine headaches turned out to have nothing to do with caffeine. We (as in me and my medical staff) still don't know what it is. I went and had a CT scan (in case you have never had one, they stick you in this machine that looks like a large donut, shake you back and forth and, may I advice you wear a sports bra to minimize the jiggling that will occur, and then take pictures of your brain). This resulted in my doctor, Mr Hooper (which if you did not know hooping is a slang turn for sticking drugs up your butt) to decide that a scar on my head from a previous and embarrassing injury may be pinching nerves on my scalp causing these headaches. Well how do we fix that.... OH. I KNOW LETS ELECTROCUTE IT! Yes, they stuck an electrode to my scar on my head and zapped it 4 or 5 times to loosen it from my scalp. Now I was terrified when they told me this was going to happen, but in all honesty it wasn't that bad. There was pressure and I could feel a zappy, tingly sensation, but no tears and no fried hair.  From here I'm not sure what they are going to do but they ordered a bunch more tests and I promise to keep this thing more updated with what is going on.
     A plus to this whole debacle is that I will get to spend thanksgiving with my family. That hasn't happened in a couple of years because of my crazy work schedule. This year I will go down a couple days before thanksgiving and get to visit with my Sister and her kids, then my extended friends/family, and then on thanksgiving spend it with my moms side of the family, which is always filled with lots of food (we are Italian), booze, my crazy cousin, and memories to last a lifetime. 
     Speaking of being thankful, I have to thank my wonderful husband, Jim. He has taken care of me through this so well, even when I'm being sad and pathetic. I'm so grateful to have him in my life and I can't imagine one day without him. He puts up with all my crap, is my model for all of my sewing projects, rubs lotion on my feet when they hurt from walking all night (on the streets, mainly the corner, ha ha), combs my hair even though he hates it and it's my favorite thing ever!, and he takes the dogs out in the morning while I still lay in the warm cozy bed! I've got it made! and I know it, and just wanted to take a minute to thank him for all the nice and sweet things he does for me.  I know he's my biggest fan, and I hope he knows I'm his! :)
     With my extra time off now, I've been trying to keep busy around the house so I've been sewing alot. I found this skirt on Modcloth dot com that I loved but was not willing to pay loads of money for so I set out to make it myself. I'll include some pictures of the project.  I'll also include some pictures of an outfit I wore the other day when I was running errands. 

http://www.modcloth.com/shop/skirts/a-chance-of-showers-skirt      , $89 you are killing me modcloth!

I loved this fabric, Clarence!

cutting the fabric

My sexy Model

sewing the hem

adding the waist band

just needs a big bow!

Close to finished
  Here is the outfit I wore the other day....

Dress- Target
Sweater- Ross
Leggings and Boots-Target




My Beautiful Boys :)

 One last thing.... I need to thank my friend Marchelle, for being so amazing and a great friend through this whole feeling poopy thing. It means so much to me that she remembers when my doctor appt. are and checks up on me to see how they went. She comes and hangs out when I don't feel good and even makes us dinner. Thank you so much Marchelle for being an awesome friend and I hope you know how much it truly means. 







Friday, October 14, 2011

Thinking healthy and OOTD

     I am a fat girl. I always have been and I always will be. With that being said... I'm on a diet (a lifestyle change). Let me start off by saying that this is not because I want to be a model. First of all I lost my gallbladder in May (R.I.P. G dog, you were always my organ homie) and I'm tired of having constant diarrhea. Second, I have not been feeling very healthy. I know that it's a problem when I get winded tieing my shoes! Now, I'm happy with me in general and am one confident fat chick! I have always been able to find things I like about myself, but at the same time I've started noticing things that make me feel not so great and I would like to improve myself a little to be the best me there is. Part of me being me is my size and the attitude and confidence that I have with that size. Loosing weight is not the goal here, its being healthy and conscious of what is going in my body and what I'm doing to it. If I do loose weight that is fine and I won't mind that either, my point is that I don't have a goal weight and I won't be devastated if I don't loose every week. I won't lie, I know that being fat puts a target on you for health problems and I just want to make sure that I'm not one of those statistics, plus I'm pretty sure that it would be hard to accessorize one of those sleep apnea masks! 
     So I joined Weight Watchers and I'm pretty happy with it. I will say that the hardest part for me is not having soda. You can have soda on WW but I know that if I have one, I will want five more and that's just not good and what got me huffing and puffing over my shoe laces! Diet soda is not the same and the after taste that lingers all day, I just can't do it, so I opted for no soda. I have been drinking juice and that helps curb the cravings. With that being said the caffeine with drawls were the worst part. I've been getting random migraines and they won't go away! Once I can get past this then I'll be in the clear, but this is by far the hardest part of the diet change.  As far as food goes the boy and I have been eating well and stayed within our point ranges. We bought a magic bullet and have fruit smoothies for breakfast in the morning. I had my first weigh in yesterday and I was down 4 lbs. That kinda made it worth all the soda crap. 
     I had to go to a training at work today so I figured I'd take a few pictures before I left for an OOTD. The boy got in on the action too. I threw in a couple bloopers for you too. Hope you like.




 Leggings and cardigan - Ross
Tank tops- Target
Skirt- Kohl's
Flats- Payless



I hope everyone is doing well and is having a good week. Feel free to drop me line and let me know how I'm doing at the log thing. I'm really enjoying it! I like sharing my little slice of life. Have a good weekend yall!!!!