Enter your keyword

sunshine makes everything better

the grey and dreariness of Oregon has been wearing on me lately. i totally hate it, and it's on days like this that i want my blue skies and mountains back. buuuuut, because i know i can't let that(the grey and rain and "blah"ness) keep me inside all day, i have been forcing myself to run outside.

Photobucket

(what's cool about this pic? i didn't even know i had taken it until i was scrolling through my phone pics later in the week)

and this is what it has looked like outside recently...


lots of frost. and there's that white/grey/bleak sky. boo. i guess i should really be a lot more positive, and thankful that we arn't getting dumped on like our Idaho and Utah peeps. ha ha, oh why does that grass always seem greener on the other side? :)

however, TODAY the sun is shining! and i happily got B ready for a run. for your viewing pleasure:

Photobucket


it makes me so happy and all i was thinking while running was: it's blue. it's BLUE. IT'S BLUE!! and i wanted to start doing karwheels down the road. i freaking love me some good strong sunshine!

*how is your sky looking today?

leopard nails

another late night nail painting (party of one!) happened Saturday at midnight. and, unless i have a girl, i don't foresee myself painting them anytime before 10pm ever again. ha.


as you can see, i was inspired by my scarf...
...that i made myself! leopard print. i will have to tell you about that later. i'm almost embarrassed to post about it tho because it was too easy :)

Photobucket

here are the colors of choice. look at me getting all fancy with my backgrounds. my other one(white foam board) got demolished in our last move, so here i am using cardstock and an envelope...so legit, i know.

Photobucket

another close up of the nails.


here's what else i used:
left-konad nail stamp plate, m57. this was actually the first *nail plate i ever bought. awe. my sis-in-law and i got it at a kiosk in the mall and paid $6 for it! so ridiculous  don't ever buy yours there. amazon is the way to go girls. i am eyeing this set right now or this one.
right-nyc, MATTE me crazy. this definitely classifies as a "fun find"! i picked up this little gem randomly on a Winco trip back in December, and this was my first time using it. i love the change(not gloss) and how it makes my nails look!

*i have found(through trial and error) that the best polishes to use for stamping are the Wet n Wild brand (see above). it has to be thicker to look good when stamped, and i wasn't about to go buy a new set of polishes just for stamping..

call me lazy

..because that is most definitely what i was last week. i blame it on my son's cranky attitude, and the shots he got last Tuesday. i only exercised once..heheh. needless to say, my inner-fitness-guru (trust me, he's there-and if you listen closely-you have one too!) told me that it was time to get movin' and groovin' again.

Photobucket

for some reason i have to always brush my teeth before a workout. it makes me feel cleaner afterwords. weird, because i am just plain nasty sweaty afterwards, but whatev.


i sometimes also have to have a good look at my arms and convince them to join me in my workout. kinda give them a pep-talk, because Insanity kicks their trash the most i think! they are sore little wussies. i'm workin' on em :)

Photobucket

because i usually have 0 time during the day to get in a good post, i will update the night before. so these pics are really all from yesterday morning's workout. little B is so good while I stretch. and he laughs at me while i do Insanity. i love him.

Photobucket

while we were visiting my fam in Idaho, my brother (of all random people) showed me how to do these crazy push ups...on a yoga ball. they are intense and SO HARD! at least they were for me. it takes lots of core strength and balance, which obviously i have none of right now. of course when my brother showed me, i thought "psh. that's nothing. i have abs"...haha, well not enough to keep good balance! my sisters and i were trying and then my dad comes over to try and busts out like 20 without batting an eye. what the heck?! it was pretty funny. and i was jealous.

*so that is my challenge for you today: try doing 10 push ups on a big yoga ball. then let me know how it went! :)

skinny....jeans? uhhh..

oh yes i did. i drove myself on over to Target today with only ONE thing on my list that i really, really wanted needed to get (i'll tell you about that fun surprise later!). however, like you all know, Target is this great big hole of awesomeness, so you can't just stop in to "grab one thing"....ha ha! i happened to pass by these cute red jeans and decided to try them on.  i guess you could say they were calling my name. they are kind of a bright color, but i figured: go big-or bold, in this case-or go home.


(ah, don't you just love fuzzy phone pics?)

i had mixed feelings in the dressing room, and was debating back and forth with myself about them way to much. it was seriously ridiculous. so i sent a text to Lins(a sister-in-law) and my hubby.

Photobucket


so happy she said yes, because secretly i liked them too, and probably would have bought them anyways! they were on sale and that made them 10x more tempting to purchase. man this fad is really wearing on me, why am i always so behind?! (...oh yes, because i really hated them when i first saw them...hmm) on my way out i had to talk myself out of buying one in every color, and to just wait and see how much i really love them in a week or two :) it was hard to refrain, but i did.  i'm sure Kevin will thank me for that later.

and in case you needed to know what a bored baby looks like when you shop:


he was getting reeeeaaallly tired of me trying on clothes. ha ha, and decided that flipping around in his carseat was a whole lot funner than watching me make "goo-goo" faces at him.

*what was the first color of skinny's you bought? and where from?
mine=RED and TARGET!
*how do YOU feel about this fad?? be honest-it's ok, i don't judge!
i really did hate them when i saw they were coming out, but i think i hated them because i hated my own thighs, and because Kevin thinks they look silly on girls(or guys). but seeing how fun the pop of color is in outfits, makes me happy, and i'm already thinking of all the things i can wear to match these red jeans!

fun find friday: slim and sassy

have you heard of it? the Slim and Sassy Weight Loss Wrap by doTERRA?

Photobucket

a new found friend told me about it last week and i was shocked i hadn't heard of it earlier! i got on Facebook the next day and found out that i have a few friends who just ordered it! what?! geez. what rock do i live under?

In a nutshell, the creators of doTERRA use essential oils and blends to help your body detoxify, and in the case of the Slim and Sassy Weight Loss Wrap, take off a few inches.

Photobucket


whoa. that's pretty sweet. but i'm not sure i buy it completely. it seems too good to be true. i guess i have a hard time wrapping(haha-get it...) my head around the idea that anything besides regular exercise and eating right is going to help me lose inches(and yeah, even then there's still a healthy-weight that my body is going to want to stay at..). hmm. i do get that they don't guarantee a loss or anything, and that it doesn't get you "toned". another lady in my ward who was telling me about it, said she measured herself before and after when she did it, and she lost FOUR inches. so part of me really REALLY wants to buy it and try using it on my thighs. right. now. ha ha ha. i'm dead serious.

if any of you girls have actually used this or have some awesome insight to share, please add it in the comments! i'm really curious to know more! and i will definitely keep you posted as to if i buy some myself ;)

7pm is a good time to sew

except for not really, because there are more important things to be done like, cook dinner before the mr. gets home, or take Tank out(instead of making him wait in his kennel...), or have some more cuddle time with the babe. all of those reasons probably trump my sewing business, but since we were having leftovers last night, i went for it.

Photobucket

he even urged me on. ha ha ha.

Photobucket

(as you can see, i was actually working on some different projects too..)

i have been wanting to make a kind of cover for my sewing machine. it's just been sitting out on my desk here in the kitchen area, and i read somewhere that it should be stored away from light to help prevent dust and keep it running smoothly. well, i'm really starting to love that little machine, so i don't want to store it away, but i do want to have it covered when i'm not using it.

Photobucket

i went digging through my fabric box to see if there were any pieces big enough to cover the whole machine, but there wasn't (dangit), so i had to get a little more creative. i found and cut three pieces that i liked together, and then ironed them out.


i got this iron and ironing board as a bridal gift(so...about 5years ago..) and am finally putting them to good use now! ha ha. who knew they'd be so handy? :) oh, and obviously it's(the board) the kind that is supposed to be attached to a wall in your laundry room, but since i don't have that, i iron on the floor. it's what all the cool peeps do. trust me.

Photobucket

then i pinned away and started sewing. i got really excited right about now, because i was feeling so proud that i had figured out how to make a little cover all by myself...

Photobucket

...that feeling faded quickly when i realized that i had sewn the wrong sides together. out came the seam ripper. boo. it is really REALLY not fun to un-pick a whole 28'' row. i guess i should be happy it wasn't longer?...meh. i forgot to take a picture of the next step, which was sewing off the corners, but it wasn't as hard as i thought. and i'm sure you all already know how to do that :)

Photobucket

here's the little throw cover! i still need to finish the bottom edges, because i know they'll fray like crazy if i don't. i would like to add a cute trim to it, but don't know what will look good. ha ha-i don't know why sewing makes me so happy, but it does!

happy baby=happy run

the mr. snapped these last week before we went out for a run. don't you just want to squish those fat cheekies?!


right now i'm really wishing there was a big free indoor track here. if there was, i know i'd run longer than i do right now. it's not insanely cold here in Oregon, like some places we've lived ::coughrexburgcough:: but i don't want it to get too cold for the babe-ster! he's such a good sport and loves going outside. he gets all tucked into his carseat with mountains of blankets around him, i give him his bottle, and he's out before i even hit the first mile.

fun find friday: bow rings

as i mentioned here, i am a little obsessed with bow rings right now. it all started from finding Kandee Johnson's amazing blog (see here). she is the cutest person ever i believe, and i love what she stands for and how she presents herself (to my rexburg peeps-doesn't she remind you of this cute girl?! every time i think MEGAN!! ha and i've texted her multiple times to tell her this). anyways, she wears these stinkin' fun bow rings, and i decided i should try to find some like it.

Photobucket
(the babe and i over Christmas shopping at good 'ole Costco)

i jumped on Etsy and searched "bow rings". which gave me a whole lot of hits, but since i didn't want fabric or metal, i tried "acrylic" or "plastic" bow rings. there were a lot of cute ones, some more expensive than others, and since i just wanted to try one out,  i chose a cheaper one from ParadiseRose. if you do go there just click on "cabochon rings" (found under "shop selections" on the left). they are $3. that's three dollars people (well...girls)! they are the freaking cutest little things to wear, and i get all happy when i look down and see it on my hand! haha. i'm totally serious too. the one i'm wearing above is slightly larger than all the others-just in case you were wondering.

so that's it. my fun find for today. hopefully i'll find other cool things i love to share with you!
(ha-and hopefully you'll love 'em too!)

electricity culprit

if you've kept up with my family blog, you'll recall that when we moved into this new condo, the washer and dryer were front-loading, and that i was very excited about them. since having Bronx, i have started doing laundry at night. he still wakes up at least once, so that's when i move it over.

Photobucket

our last electricity bill was outrageous. like seriously-are-you-kidding-me?! it was the highest it's ever been in our (almost) 5 years of marriage. i didn't understand how that was possible. we both thought about it, and went over what i do during the day normally, and there was no way it could be that high! i thought for sure we were being cheated somehow by the electric company.

the other day i decided (for whatever reason) to throw in some laundry during the day. so glad i did because i walked by it an hour later and did a double-take. the timer said: "99" as in 99 more minutes of drying time. no way. i distinctly remembered that it said "35" when i started it. what the heck?! i opened the door and found our clothes more than dry so i decided to start another batch and watch the washer closely this time. i set the timer for 56 minutes-the time the washer said the cycle would take. again, so glad i did because when my kitchen timer went off, the washer said it still had 8 minutes to go. it said 8 minutes for like, 10 more minutes too! how awesome, right? not.

so there's our electricity culprit. our freaking washer and dryer were trying to cheat us out. now i put our kitchen timer on every time i do laundry, and i do it during the day. i'm interested to see what our electric bill will be next month...

my morning with toothbrushes

because we only have one shower in this condo, we both use that bathroom for everything(even though we have a master bathroom with more space-it never gets used...it's so stupid, i know). so the bathroom with the shower is much smaller. we've always put our toothbrushes in a drawer, but because of limited drawer space, we decided to keep them up top in a cup, like so:

Photobucket

i have never been a fan of this because i feel nasty germs float around our toothbrushes all day long...

so the other day after the hubs left for work, i pulled out the big guns (okay okay, just a glue gun) and started googling ways of storing toothbrushes. i decided i wanted to hang them in the medicine cabinet and keep them out of site. looking around, i found a travel toothbrush holder(they are .99 @Walmart) and decided that would work perfectly to hold em.


perfect! it's been about a week and they've held up nicely. so glad they're off the counter.

diagonal nail art

i really must thank Pinterest for all the awesome ideas i've gathered over the past year or two about nail art. some people are so creative and i'm so happy i can try out their cool nail ideas on myself! the idea for these nails came from here.


my edge isn't perfect-the paint was still a tiny bit tacky when i took the tape off. these were super easy though. i did two coats of white and 2 of orange(i could have gotten away with 1 coat on orange but i'm just used to doubling everything). and don't you love that cute bow ring? i do. i'm kinda obsessed with them right now. i got mine from Charlotte Russe for Christmas. (haha and say hello to Tank in the background!)

Photobucket


colors:
white=pure ice
tangerine creme=NYC

no lie; i sewed a bowtie

all.by.myself.

and i actually sewed TWO of them. all while the hubs watched his recorded football games and the babe slept. you guys. i am sooooo not a sewer seamstress. and i was a little freaked out when i realized that i actually had to thread the bobbin by myself.


my mom taught me how to do some basic sewing stuff when i was 10(i think?mom do you remember?) and i took a basic home ec. class in the eighth grade where i learned some more of these basics, sewed a bunny rabbit and rag pillow case...and forgot it all. out came the owner's manual. luckily i survived the winding-of-the-bobbin process. ha. and please excuse my nails up there-sick! i actually painted them right after this (hello, church was the next day!) and will show you that coolness later. like tomorrow :)

Photobucket

awe.
i was so proud i texted my mom at 11pm just to show her how accomplished i am. ha ha. and then i got daring and did ANOTHER!


and yes i was too lazy to wind another bobbin. so teal thread it was. isn't the chevron fun? so the whole reason i even got the idea to try making Bronx some ties was from this little outfit i got him for Christmas. i got it from a cute etsy site and now i am kicking myself for buying it when i see i can make it myself....for free! don't tell my hubby, he might get grumpy. ha ha. (jk babe if you even read over here)

the next project on my agenda? suspenders.