Monthly Photo Project: 8 Months Old

Oh man this picture was HARD to get. I guess when I started this I wasn't thinking about rolling, sitting and crawling. I had to shoot him twice to get anything half way decent. So this will have to do. The next four pictures are going to just get harder and harder to take! This boy is amazing! He brings a lot of fun into our life that's for sure! 

This Crazy Time Of Year.

I haven't blogged in a month!!! Yikes!!! Life is a little crazy & hectic right now. And it's just going to get worse because I got a job. Job + Husband + Girl + Boy + Christmas + Dog + Instagram Addiction = Blog neglect. That's just going to have to be the way it is for a little while. And that's ok with me. This job I know is a blessing and we sure do need it right now. So if other areas slip a little it will have to be ok with me. I'll post when I can. If you stick with me I know you won't regret it when I do get around to posting. I can assure you there will be a monthly photo popping up sometime over the next few days. That should be fun! 

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Miss. S: Four Years Old

Miss. S turned four the day before Halloween. I know I should have posted this sooner but we have been super busy. I'm so excited for her to be four. I just can't believe how big she is getting. Does this picture make anyone else laugh? She is such a ham. This girl brings so much joy into our lives! Love you S!

Monthly Photo Project: 7 Months Old

Yup! Late again. This month was super hard to get a decent shot. The minute we set him down he wanted to roll over and crawl away. So I had to take several different sets of pictures over several days. And this is what I ended up with. Cute no? I love this project. This boy melts my heart.

Pinterest Challenge: No Sew Dress Up Wings

As you may or may not know the Fall Edition of the Pinterest Challenge is going on. I know I already did a post about the kids Halloween Costumes yesterday but as I got the idea for the wings from Pinterest I thought I would do this separate post as part of the challenge. So here is the inspiration photo...

And here is what I came up with...

These wings were fairly simple to make. Just a little time consuming that's all. You could easily use them as dress up clothes instead of a Halloween costume as well. It might make a great Christmas present for a special little person in your life. I pretty much followed the directions on Burda Style. Except I cut out individual felt feathers and used a glue gun to attach them to the wing. That way I had more control as to how they where shaped. I also glued on grosgrain ribbon for the ties because that is what I had on hand. I wanted to simplify the project as much as I could. The whole project took about 3 hours on and off and cost less than $5. Miss. S loves these wings so I'm sure we will get much more use out of them than just this Halloween.

If you want to see what others are doing for the Pinterest Challenge you can look here. Also The four ladies who started it all are Sherry, Katie, Ana and Erin. Sherry has me wanting to start on some Christmas crafts right now.

Four Years Running

Happy Halloween! I hope you all had as much fun yesterday as we did. Miss. S is obsessed with Halloween and she makes this holiday so much fun for us. She has been talking about Halloween for months now. At the beginning of the summer she started asking to be Jessie for Halloween. Every single day she would ask. Then at the beginning of the month she switched to wanting to be a mad scientist. Then she changed her mind again and wanted to be Little Red Riding Hood. Then as we were shopping for materials for Little Red Riding Hood she changed her mind one last time. And this is what we ended up with... 

A Pink Flamingo. This is the first costume she has worn that is completely 100% girly girl. Is it my cup of tea? Not really. Pink fluffy tutu with feathers isn't really my style. But it doesn't matter what I like. It's all about her and she was in love with her costume. Something happened to that girl when she put that costume on. The sass level went through the roof. She was seriously in rare form. It was great!

And since I made a set of wings for his sister Mr. Z needed his own tiny set. So I made him into a little brown birdie. He was pretty darn cute too!

He didn't last too long in his wings though. Which is kinda to be expected. He did like chewing on the ribbons around his wrist though. I tried my hardest to get a picture of the two of them together and they just weren't having it. Oh well there is always next year!

This is my fourth year in a row making Halloween Costumes. I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking with making their costumes. I know some day the ease of a store bought costume will be way too tempting. And that will be just fine. But for now I really enjoy the challenge. It seems like I'm always working on them right up until the last minute. It's stressful & it gets a little tense but when it's all over and I see her excitement it is all worth it. It's kinda like my own little Project Runway challenge. It's really fun!

I was really inspired by this tutorial on Burda Style for the wings. Except I tried to simplify it. I don't know if what I did made it any easier though. Instead of breaking out the sewing machine I whipped out the glue gun. It took about 6 sticks of glue and I burned my fingers 3 times. I used felt instead of the fabric they suggested. Both sets of wings combined cost about $5. Cheapest halloween costume ever. I already had a tutu for Miss. S. I just added more tulle and the feathers. Pretty simple! I'm pleased with how they turned out. And Miss. S was more than pleased. She was ecstatic! And that my friends is all that matters.

I'm That Type Of Person...

If I were to ever loose my phone the person to find it might think that I'm obese. Seriously. I was looking through my photos and every fifth picture was of food. Yup I'm that girl that takes a picture of a hamburger and finds joy in it. The funny thing is I never do anything with the pictures. They just sit in my phone for my own personal enjoyment. Well until today. Ladies and gentlemen I give you my favorite food photos from my favorite places to eat in San Antonio & Austin.
Big'z cheddar avocado burger on a sweet sour dough bun with caramelized onion mayo. Oh sweet mercy that bun is heaven on earth. Oh and those onions rings? Best. Ever.

Texas Pride BBQ. Ok it's NOT our favorite BBQ place but it's still pretty darn good. BBQ is one of our favorite Texas traditions. Cooper's is my fave (didn't have a great pic). If you ask Denny he would say something different.

Hey Cupcake! black & white and very vanilla cupcakes. Delish & served out of the cutest airstream trailer I ever did see.

Torchy's Democrat taco, chips & salsa and a coke. Fiery perfection.

Frank Jackalope Hot Dog. Sausage made from Antelope, Rabbit & pork topped off with huckleberry compote and cheddar cheese. A. Maze. Ing. Truly. Oh and thank you Canada for the poutine waffle fries. Canada has the best junk food.

We go to this taco truck at least once a week. We love it so much. Carne Guisada taco, corn cup, mexican hot dogs. This place can not be beat. Too bad I don't even know it's name. However you can find it near Heubner and Vance Jackson in San Antonio every night.

Sushi Zushi Strawberry sushi roll. Yes you heard that right. Strawberry and sushi. Together. And it's actually pretty fantastic.

Just a warning. This probably won't be the last time I post pictures of food on this blog. I love to eat. And amazingly enough I'm not 300 pounds.

P.S. For the life of me I can not get the spacing of the pictures to look right. It's driving me crazy.

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September Salads: The Wrap Up

I've been stalling to write this post. I don't know why. It just seems like it's so over due and I got kinda bored with writing about salads. Honestly I thought I might just scrap this wrap up. However it's important that I do this post. I need to learn to follow through better. Plus I need to keep a record of what I learned through the whole process.

SO here I go...

I can't really remember what salads I ate the last few days or so of the challenge ( I know the picture above was from that time & it looks like the most unhealthy salad I ever made). I think there was a chinese chicken salad in there and a few that I whipped up from stuff I had on hand in the fridge or pantry. Anyway that is actually not the important part. What is important is that the day after my challenge was over I didn't eat a salad and I ate well over 2000 calories (I keep track with My Fitness Pal). I didn't think I had eaten that bad but I think the total was around 2250. I also went over on my sugar intake by about 120 grams. YIKES! That's bad. That week I was so sick of eating salads I didn't eat a single one. And... well... I gained two pounds.

*I want to say first and foremost that I did NOT do this to loose weight. I did this to add in more fruits and vegetables and to be all around a little more health conscience. So weight was not really an issue for me. I'm not bummed that I gained a couple pounds. It's just interesting to me.*

So this is what I learned. Of coarse results may not be the same for everyone but this is what happened with me. By replacing one meal a day with a healthy salad (I'll revisit this in a minute) I lost weight (unintentionally). I had way way more energy. I was motivated to exercise more. I did not exceed a 2000 calorie a day diet ever (the amount of calories I should have while breast feeding) and my GI track symptoms decreased.

So what did I do the week after the first week in October? The week I went anti-salad? I started eating salads again. Not every single day. About 3-5 days out of the week. I'm not going to be crazy about it. However the results are there and I know the benefits.

Now what do I mean by "Healthy Salad"? Well not all salads are created equal. I'm not talking a salad smothered in ranch dressing loaded with cheese and topped with bacon. No no no. That would be the wrong way to go. My advise? Stick to the serving sizes. I love poppy seed dressing. Is it the healthiest choice? Probably not. The serving size on the side of the bottle is 2 table spoons. That is a ton of dressing! So I use half that. I love croutons. The serving size I believe is 6 croutons.  That seems reasonable. I don't go over it. When making salads at home I use 1-2 cups of greens. Then I add as many plant based toppings that I want. All other add ins I go by serving size. I never go over. A lot of times I use less. When eating out I order the half size (if they offer it) dressing on the side (they always but way way too much) and if possible half cheese. So if you are thinking about doing a salad challenge yourself those are my tips for you.

Now I will never ever utter the word salad on this blog again. I give you my word. Unless you have any questions. Feel free to ask!

Bring On Halloween

Miss. S is obsessed with Halloween. She has been talking about it nonstop all year. I think it might easily be her favorite holiday. I love it too! When I pulled my Halloween box down from the closet I realized I really don't have that many fun things to decorate with. A couple weeks ago my sweet Mother-In-Law had Miss. S go to her house for a sleep over. They decorated and made cookies. It was all kinds of fun for her. She has TONS of decorations. And I have but one tiny box. So this year I'm fixing this problem. I few a few projects up my sleeve. All on a dime.

This first one is inspired by my previous faux zinc letter post. You could do any word you want. Boo. AHHH!!! Spooky! Anything! It was $10 and took about 45 minutes to complete. All you need is cheap cardboard letters, paint, plastic spiders, paint brushes & a glue gun. Oh how I love my glue gun! Follow the tutorial here & then glue on the spiders randomly. So simple and it has a great impact. These pictures do not do it justice. It really exceeded my expectations the way it turned out. I'm so happy with it!

Monthly Photo Project: 6 Months Old

I finally got my pictures to upload!!! It made my day! I can't even believe this little man is already six months old. We are half way to a year. Time sure does seem to fly by. This months photo is cute, but it isn't my favorite. I learned this month that lighter colored fabric is really best. And tiny polka dots might not have been the best choice (my eyes are going crazy). Oh well! I also learned that it is going to get tougher and tougher to get a good shot. All he wanted to do was roll over. I had less than a minute each time I turned him on his back to take a picture. Therefore I had less to choose from in the end. It still turned out cute though. I don't think the boy could take a bad picture.

It Happens Every Year

It seems to happen every year around this time. My friends back in Utah or Colorado or Virginia start posting pictures on their blogs or facebook of them in nice cozy sweaters with beautiful fall leaves in the back ground. It's when I start seeing these images that I start getting really really home sick. I love fall. I crave fall. Crisp cool breezes. The yellows, oranges and reds. The clothes. Oh how I long to layer again. I've lived in hot places for the last six and a half years. Places where fall is a little different. Don't get me wrong I have learned to love San Antonio's version of fall. It starts cooling off a little (is 90 degrees cool? Well to me it is.) we get a few trees that change colors and some years the butterflies arrive. It really is pretty nice. But it's nothing like Utah where the mountain side looks like it's on fire with red. Nothing like colorado with it's shimmering yellow aspens. So for those of you enjoying this changing of the season know that I am just a tiny bit envious. Enjoy an extra fall stroll through the leaves just for me! You are so lucky!

Surprisingly enough the above picture was taken last year here in Texas. If you live here in San Antonio and miss fall like me then take a drive out to The Lost Maples State park. It's beautiful and well worth the time getting out there!

Beyond Frustration

I actually had posts planned for this week. Shocking I know. Several of them actually. But for some reason my computer doesn't want to upload any of my pictures. I pretty much want to throw a shoe at it. This includes salad pictures (I'm all done with my challenge!), Mr. Z's 6 month photo and some cute Halloween stuff. I hate technical difficulties. I'm not very good at technology so I always have to wait for Denny to help. So until I can tie him down to take a look at the problem blogging might have to wait. So sorry!

September Salads: Weekend Update

Day 24, 25 & 26: SICK SICK SICK!!!
Day 27: Romaine, pears, craisins, candied almonds, gorgonzola & poppy seed dressing.
Day 28: Romaine, tomato, red bell pepper, cucumber, avocado, croutons & homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Oh I was sick this weekend. So so sick. So I didn't really feel like eating anything at all let alone salads. Oh well! I'll make up those days the first few days of October. I jumped right back into things with a delicious salad yesterday. I was actually trying out this recipe that I found on Pinterest. I was so excited to try that dressing recipe because I had a lot of luck with the last dressing I had made. It was just not for me at all. Oh well you win some you loose some. It was still a great salad with the poppyseed dressing on it. Even Denny loved it.

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September Salads: Week in Review

There are a few reasons I haven't posted at all this week. The number on reason though is I'm a little bored with salads. And although I've been really busy I feel like there hasn't been anything else going on that is particularly blog worthy.

The second reason is I'm documenting everything I eat in an iPhone app called My Fitness Pal. Which has been amazing! However documenting there and here just sounded too repetitive for me. So I thought I would do a weekly wrap up instead. So here I go.

Day 17: Half Cosi Signature Salad with light dressing and half the cheese.

Day 18: *Sigh* FAIL.

Day 19: Subway Turkey Breast Salad with Sweet Onion Sauce.

Day 20: Green leaf lettuce, strawberries, sugared almonds, feta cheese & poppy seed dressing AND Denny's Chinese chicken salad for dinner. 

Day 21: Green leaf lettuce, avocado, cucumber, tomatoes, balsamic vinaigrette.

Day 22: Green leaf lettuce, avocado, tomatoes, corn, croutons & poppy seed dressing.

Day 23: Green leaf lettuce, avocado, tomatoes, corn, croutons, shredded jalapeno cheddar cheese & balsamic vinaigrette.

As you can see I missed a day last Sunday. Instead of getting bent out of shape and down on myself for not accomplishing my goal I made up for it on Tuesday with TWO salads! Really I was planning a great salad for Sunday night but I had a latter lunch that was rather big. So come time for dinner I wasn't that hungry. I had some yogurt & fruit instead (should I count that as a fruit salad?). The last few days haven't been all that creative but it still works. 

Also you may have noticed I took Friday's post about the fried egg salad down. I had a few people tell me that the picture sort of resembled a certain female reproductive organ. The more I looked at it the more I saw it. So down it came. I'm only a tiny bit embarrassed. No biggie.

So there you have. My September Salads week in review. Next week is the last week!

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September Salad: Day 15

Day 15: romaine, celery, cucumber, avocado, red bell pepper, black beans, corn, honey mustard Vinaigrette.

Today's salad is very similar to yesterday's. At this point in the week I'm using up as much produce in my fridge as I can before it goes bad. I'm a much better shopper when it comes to produce now. And eater for that matter. I know what will last and what doesn't. The things that don't last long make it into salads at the beginning of the week. Such as Strawberries. Now I'm working on the things that have been in there a while longer. Like the celery. This may seem obvious to some but for me the non-veggie eater I've had to learn this. Another thing I've learned is that I need to find other ways to add in calories. I'll do another post all about that tomorrow though.

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September Salad: Day 14

Day 14: Romaine, cherry tomatoes, avocado, corn, black beans with homemade honey mustard vinaigrette.

I'm two weeks into my goal! Feels pretty good! There are a couple things I've learned in the past two weeks. Buying bagged salad mixes is a rip off. They only last for maybe two days. A head of Romaine will last several days and costs less. Same goes for salad dressing. It's easy to make & so tasty. However nothing compares to Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing. I will always have a bottle of that one hand. Also I love avocado with my whole heart but man does it have a lot of calories. Good thing I need the extra calories right now right? It's been a pretty tasty two weeks that's for sure.

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September Salad: Day 13

Day 13: romaine, strawberries, avocado, gorgonzola & Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Mmmmm I love salads with strawberries. I'm taking advantage of them being so cheap right now. Pretty soon they won't be. I really try hard to eat in season.

I realize my pictures are really bad. And it's purely out of laziness. Although I love Instagram it doesn't do my salads justice. However I just don't have the time at lunch to break out the camera and set up a nice shot. So I snap a picture with my iPhone and call it good. We'll just have to deal with it.

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September Salads: Days 10, 11 & 12

Day 10: Half Wendy's Apple Pecan Chicken Salad (soooo good).

Day 11: Mediterranean Salad with arugala, turkey, olives & hummus.

Day 12: What I call the ultra basic. Romaine, tomato, celery, cucumber with poppy seed dressing.

Today's salad may seem totally boring but it taught me a lesson. A salad doesn't need a lot of fancy toppings to be tasty, delicious & filling. My Mother served a similar salad every single night at dinner growing up. It's basic. It's great. No need to fuss every day.

When I started out the month I was sure these posts would be skipped over and ignored. It was just a way for me to be accountable for a goal. I'm really surprised by how many people have come and talked to me about "my salads". I'm surprised that a couple people have even joined me. I'm so grateful for the encouragement. Under normal circumstances I would have given up by now. Blogging about this has really kept me on track. It's kinda awesome.

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September Salad: Day 8 & 9

Days 8 & 9: Chinese Chicken Salad Ala Denny Leclerc
Or a more appropriate title would be "The Salad I've Been Waiting Three Years For". Yes three years. Many of you may know my husband works for the family business. An asian stir fry restaurant called Fire Wok. It's great! I love it! I think the food is pretty yummy, but I am pretty biased. The menu is wide and varies a lot. I'll be honest though one area I always thought was lacking was the salads. They offer two and I don't really like either of them. Hate to say it but it's true. One of the salads is made up of ice berg lettuce, spicy dressing and friend chicken. It has no nutritional value what so ever. So bad for you. It's pretty bad when you can get a better asian chicken salad at McDonald's. So I've been pestering him for years about adding another option to the menu. Finally the man delivered. This salad was just what I was hoping for. It's so good I ate it two days in a row. I won't tell you what's in it. I can't give away the recipe. It's not on the menu yet. Hopefully soon. If you want you could go to Fire Wok's Facebook Page, like them, and then leave a comment requesting they add this salad to the menu. I need your help friends! Let's make it happen!

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Lost

I know this is a weird picture. Last week I walked into the kitchen and this is how I found Jessie. It just made me laugh and I had to take a picture. 

You know how bad things always happen in three's. Well the same goes for getting lost or losing things (I guess that qualifies for bad things huh?) Example...

1. Miss. S lost her Jessie Girl. Yes the one hanging upside down by her boots in the above photo. I think she was left behind at the Faust St. Bridge in New Braunfels. If she was then she is pretty lucky to get lost in such a lovely place. Miss. S was so very sad.

2. This morning I couldn't find my bathing suit and my sunglasses. Luckily the bathing suit was found. However my beloved sunglasses are officially lost. I think that means a new pair is on the horizon.

3. Today on my way to a play date at the park I got seriously lost. I mean for like an hour. It was terrible. Eventually I found my way but it was touch and go for a while there.

I've decided that feeling lost is one of the worst feelings in the world. I'm not the type of person that gets lost or looses things very often. So when it happens to me I kinda panic and get all flustered. I think I need to recuperate with a nap. Yes a nap seems appropriate. Both kids are sleeping and this Momma needs it.

September Salad: Day 7

Day 7 was mixed greens, mandarin oranges, craisins, feta cheese and poppy seed dressing. Pretty delicious. I could live off poppy seed dressing. I found some great salad recipes yesterday that I can't wait to try. Just you wait!

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September Salad: Days 3, 4, 5 & 6

Day 3: Taco Cabana Fajita Chicken Salad.
Day 4: German Potato Salad
Day 5: Fruit Salad & Broccoli Salad

Ok the last two were a bit of a stretch as I had other Labor Day BBQ items along side them. But technically they are salads & technically I did eat them. So what if there was brisket along side of it. It was Labor Day weekend and I do live in Texas after all. So I'm counting it as good.

Day 6: Apple celery salad with homemade Honey Mustard Vinaigrette. Recipe found here.

Today I'm back on track. My lunch salad was fantastic. Just enough sour, sweet & spicy for my liking. Plus gorgonzola and apples are one of my favorite combos. Try it you'll like it. Today I'm going to search Pinterest for new salad ideas. Hopefully I'll find some good ones.


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Happy Labor Day

I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend! We enjoyed a drop in temperatures today. A Labor Day Miracle if you ask me! It was a great day!

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September Salad: Day 2

Still using ingredients from my fridge today's salad consisted of mixed greens, strawberries, feta, candied almonds and Newman's Own Light Raspberry Walnut dressing. Now before you say "That salad isn't healthy you put candied almonds on it!" stop yourself. I used light dressing & low fat cheese. The amount of sugar used to candy the almonds isn't going to make that big of a difference in the long run. I'm getting so many other nutrients such as fiber, vitamin c, calcium, Ect. I'm not too worried about the small amount of candied nuts on this salad (it looks like there's a lot more than there actually are). Plus they taste so so so good.

If you want to play along with me please do! The only rule is to eat a salad everyday for breakfast or lunch for all of September. I don't even care if the salad comes from Wendy's. If you do decide to do it let me know. And if you have any great salad suggestions please pass them along!

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Fashion Night

Image Found in instyle.com

This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to give a Back to School Fashion activity for the Young Woman (12-18 years old) of our church. It was so much fun for me to plan and present this activity. I may not look like a girl that knows a lot about fashion as I generally prefer jeans and a t-shirt. However I am kind of obsessed. I think I've mentioned here before that I used to work at a modeling agency in Los Angeles called Rage Models and Talent. Through that agency I was able to form working relationships with several designers and their teams. It was a time in my life that I absolutely loved. Through that job I learned a thing or two about the fashion industry and it was so much fun to pass along some of that wisdom to these young girls.

Image Found on mymodernmet.com

Since it was a church activity we of coarse focused our attention on modesty. We wanted to approach modesty in a different way. By combining the spiritual aspect of why we should dress modestly and the fun fashion side of it. A lot of people don't put modesty and fashion together. But for me I think they most certainly should. Girls these days have such pressure to follow the crowd and unfortunately middle school and high school girls think that dressing immodestly is what will get them noticed. Unfortunately it will get them noticed but for all the wrong reasons. So one of my goals was to show them real life examples of fashionable modern woman. I found tons and tons of photos of modest fashion on runways, in magazines, on blogs, and on the street to show them. Truly modesty is every where and modesty is one thing that will stand the test of time.

Image Found on Sunday Crossbow

This activity was a great reminder to me. Sometimes I feel a little silly or embarrassed when doing fashion posts on this blog. I mean it's not a fashion blog (I would consider this a lifestyle blog). I might feel a little out of my league. But I was reminded that I love it. I was given an opportunity 6 years ago to learn and be immersed in a fascinating and unique industry. I did learn a lot from working at Rage. So why not share what I know and love. I was also reminded that our youth today should be admired. They are incredible and inspiring. In a world full of pressure from peers, the media and so much more they are constantly impressing me with their strength. We should all look up to the youth of today as examples in our lives. All in all Wednesday night was a great night for me. I hope that some day I'll get to have another experience like it. And you can look forward to many more fashion posts here on this blog.

Image found via Pinterest

September Salad: Day 1

Last week I had some medical testing done. Everything is fine and all the results came back good but it got me thinking about my overall health and well being. The past couple years I haven't been the healthiest of girls. Before I got pregnant with Mr. Z I was getting sick at least once a month for several months in a row. With the flu or a cold. Just various things. I ended up getting an immune booster type shot from my doctor and I was better for a while. Then I got pregnant. And I had a really difficult pregnancy. I was sick or in pain pretty much the whole nine months. Since having him I've had several different things going on. This is all on top of a GI Track disorder I have been struggling with my whole life. Anyway the point is I have not been in tip top shape and it is frustrating. Honestly I can't really say I've been taking care of myself all that well though. My diet is a little crazy. I haven't really been exercising. I stay up way later than I should. So after last week I'm making a commitment to myself (and to my family) to take better care of myself. Starting with my diet. I've been really putting forth a lot of effort to make better choices. One big problem is I'm not getting in enough fruits and veggies. So I decided that for the entire month of September I'm eating a salad everyday for lunch or dinner. So I'll be back to posting everyday. I feel like the best way to be accountable is to document it publicly. Everyday I will be posting my salad of choice. I think this is the easiest way for me to add in more veggies.

Today's salad pretty much consisted of everything in my fridge green leaf & lolla rossa salad mix, avocado, green bell pepper, corn, black beans, carrots and topped off with hatch chili salsa in lieu of dressing. It was hearty and delicious!

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Instagram Love

That's right. I have a love of Instagram. There are a lot of reasons why I love it. The main reason is I'm not really great at taking pictures. Especially with my phone. Instagram takes my crappy iPhone pictures and makes them decent. I'm sooooo excited about Printstagram. They have really great ways to print all those wonderful little Instagram photos for you to enjoy. I've been pretty much daydreaming about this all morning. How cool would it be to have an Instagram Poster hanging in your house. Or a tiny little book filled with your favorite shots. There are even tiny little stickers. LOVE IT!!! I can't wait to try it out and when I do I'll make sure to let you guys know all about it! Instagram is a free iPhone app and it is well worth having it on your phone!

Monthly Photo Project: 5 Months Old

Well I'm back (again). Last week was a little crazy for me. I had somethings come up that kept me away from my computer all week. Here is the little man. A day late but who's keeping track besides me. I just love this boy so much! I swear these pictures look so much different/better in photoshop than they do uploaded to my blog. It's super frustrating. Anyone know why?!!?

Another Great Snack

I was watching a show once where the guest was Chef Tyler Florence. He said that the best way to cook vegetables to make them taste great is to roast them. That even people who don't like veggies will like them roasted. He was right. I've been roasting ever since. However I had never thought of roasting edamame until I saw a post about it on The Kitchn. I don't know why I never thought of it. I love roasting. I love edamame. It just makes sense that I would love roasted edamame. So today I gave it a try. And I do love it. Even Miss. S gobbled it up. I will definitely be making this one again. You should give it a try too! Recipe found here.

I Want To Go To There

Image found Via The Lettered Cottage

Sometimes I come across something out there in blog land that I just have to make mention of here. I came across a new to me blog on Pinterest today called The Lettered Cottage. They had a week of posts all about  a couple who purchased an old run down summer camp called Wandawega and spruced the place up. Honestly it looks amazing and now I would kill to take a trip to Wisconsin just to stay there. She even put in the coolest nursery for her little one. And the tree house? To. Die. For. Please click here and go check it out. You won't be disappointed. There are some incredible before and afters. And the way they display collections is so clever! Makes me want to start collecting something. I will be putting Tereasa Surratt's (the wife/ owner) book Found, Free & Flea on my must buy list. Her blog is averymodestcottage.blogspot.com.

Water Color Monogrammed Note Cards

Back in February I blogged about what to do with Children's Art. We love doing art projects around our house. So I'm always looking for new things to do with Miss. S and different ways to display/use them. My cousin had a really fantastic idea about using your child's art as note cards. That suggestion spawned our Valentine's this year. Which has evolved once more into some monogrammed note cards that I will be using as some Thank You notes. With just a little bit of prep on my part S and I got to work today painting away some cards. All I did was use scotch tape to make an L on the front of a notecard. Then after we had painted the front we peeled off the scotch tape to have our home made monogram. Miss. S had so much fun with this. She thought is was magic. Her face just lit up when I peeled that tape off and she saw the L. It was a lot of fun. Minimal effort for a really great activity with your kiddo. Just make sure you use tape that peels off easily and wait until it is completely dry. Other wise the paper might peel up with it.

Pillow Case Skirt

A couple years ago when Miss. S was still a toddler I bought a darling embroidered vintage pillow case to make a pillow case dress. Well here I am two years later and I hadn't done anything with my cute pillow case. Let alone make a dress out of it. So I decided to do something about it just now. She's a bit too big for the dress I was planning but not too big for a skirt. I'll tell you what. This is the easiest skirt anyone could ever make. All you have to do is put in the waist band. That's it. You can find this type of pillow case at any flea market or antique mall across the country for around $5. It took me maybe a half hour to measure S, cut and sew it up. Pretty simple. She's now napping otherwise I would have had her model it for me. I was just too excited to get it on here.                                                                                                        

P.S. Is anyone else having issues getting their photos in the right spot with the new blogger? I am frustrated with it!

My Spin On A Pin

So a couple weekends ago Sherry from Young House Love and a few other bloggers did a Pinterest Challenge. Where they all worked over the weekend to put there own spin on something that they had pinned. I thought it was a great idea and wanted to do the same challenge. Except I was busy busy busy that weekend and did not have the time. So today I sat down and did it. This is what I had pinned...

Image Found Via KFD Designs

I've come across a couple tutorials on-line for Faux Zinc Letters. Like these from Anthropologie. I have always loved those letters but for $98 a pop it's just not a realistic purchase. I never even would have thought to do a faux version with paint. So when I saw the tutorial for it I got a little giddy. Out of all the tutorials that I found I thought the one over on KFD Designs was the best. So I went with that. We have a wedding gift to give so I grabbed a large cardboard C from Joann's on sale for $2.99 (C for the married couple's last name). And here is how it turned out...                                                         

                   

I love it. It turned out just as I hoped it would. Of coarse the one in the pin is better but I still love this one. Now I want to make a few more to live at my house. Possibly in the kitchen? We'll see. The entire project cost around $6 (don't worry we gave them something else also). $6 is much more reasonable than $98. Did I mention I love it?

The Summer Slump

Look familiar? This is the photo I took to make my blog banner. 

I haven't blogged all week. I know. I'm a huge slacker. Honestly I've been lazy this week and not really all that motivated. I've determined it's because of the summer slump. It happens towards the end of the summer every year. This year it's just hitting a bit early. I found when I lived in Utah I would get the Winter Blues around the end of January early February. Right before spring. When the days are cold and gray and the inversion sets in. Well here in Texas it's the opposite. It happens in the summer. When the days are long and hot and it feels like the air is on fire. This summer has been a doozy. We've had very little rain and it has been in the triple digits for months it seems. It makes me want to lock myself in doors and lounge in the air conditioning. We went swimming with friends today. It felt so nice and refreshing. Now both kids are taking a nap and I get a minute to breath all to myself. It's great.

I'll be back next week. I promise. To be honest I needed this week to kinda slump around and not do much. I'm refreshed and ready to get some projects done. Even though I know we have several more weeks of hot days left I'm hoping this is the end of the slump. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Monthly Photo Project: 4 Months Old

I had a hard time choosing this months photo. There was a lot to choose from. Honestly it wasn't my favorite shot of his face. There were cuter smiles but there would be a hand or a foot that was totally blurry. It distracted from his face. So I went with this. Which is still cute. His hands are a little blurry but not too bad. This was also my least favorite fabric. Every time he wiggled it would pucker funny. Oh well. I am having a lot of fun taking his picture every month. I'm pretty sure my photography hasn't improved but I am having fun! This boy has completely stolen my heart!

Today I Took...

This long sleeve t-shirt and made it into a...

 Short sleeve T-Shirt

Using this tutorial.

Is it perfect? Heaven's no.

Do I care? Not a bit.

Will I do it again? You betcha.

This is perfect for those of us who live in San Antonio. Our winters are pretty short. So those long sleeves don't get that much wear before spring rolls around. This is a great way to stretch out their life a little bit. Especially since Miss. S grows like a weed. Who knows if they will fit her the next time winter rolls around. It's super easy and thrifty. That's always fun. 

P.S. I know these pictures are terrible. And I really should have ironed the shirt first. But I was in a hurry so this will have to do.