Twenty Ten

Here's a little recap of Girl Land's 2009 Flickr pics! Some of my faves, in fact.


Was today your first day back to work? Mine too. Wasn't as bad as I thought. I was more depressed on Saturday anticipating the return, but it was a'ight.

So deja vu-- I'm yet again trying to lose weight. Ugh! It's a never-ending battle, I tell you. I don't want to be complacent with where I am. I'm tired of being fat. I have tried every program under the sun-- Medical Weight Loss, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers and Nutrisystem. They all have worked, but then I lose momentum. I can't do it by myself, but I'm afraid I'm going to fail if I start back up. Horrible attitude, no? All I can do is KEEP trying, and that's what I'll do. I just hope I can keep up the motivation. Sigh.

Here's where I am now (and this isn't even as unflattering as most of my Xmas pics...shudder, shudder):


Here's where I want to be again (this pic is from about 6 years ago):


I wasn't super skinny here, but I was HAPPY. And I felt good about myself which is really what it all comes down to.

Wish me luck!!! xo

Jazz Hands

I'm sooooooooooooo excited!!!! I'm actually LIKING exercise lately what with the Wii Fit and my newest obsession. Can you guess? I'll give you a hint...I might have to buy this from Every Little Count's Etsy shop to wear to class:


It's Jazzercise! It's soooo entirely fun. I was actually looking forward to class today (what the frig?). Their new building is just 5 minutes from my house too. I had no idea what to expect, but I looked on the Jazzercise website, and figured out it's basically aerobics but kinda more dancey. The songs are all newer REAL songs (sung by the real people), and it's so fun. I was sold when they started playing Untouched by The Veronicas (I love that song!). Plus, I'm getting to know a new friend which is always nice.

Other tidbits from this week

-I've been getting an Etsy package like every day! Today it was a bib for V's party Saturday (pic to come Saturday) and another from my newest Etsy obsession, Retro NaNa. Hold onto your hats-- I seriously almost hyperventilated over all the cuteness. Look at just a few things that I bought!


Those CD labels are beautiful. I don't know if I will ever be able to part with them.

-Wide Awake Chapter 49 is up!!!! Some very good/funny parts. I'm patiently waiting for the unavoidable smut. She has to take us out on a smutty note. Too much angst, not enough dirty stuff. No, but in all seriousness, I love love LOVE the story so much. So sad there is only 1 chappy to go + epilogue. Boooooooo.

-Lost was sooooooooooooooooo good tonight! Although I'm sad. Can't say any more...I cried. I admit it.

-Preparing for Viv's party this weekend. The 'rents are coming early to help me around the house and to help me with my YARD which looks horrendous.

Happy Hump Day, y'all! xo

Possible Blaspheme

Happy Good Friday. I’m unsure that is an appropriate salutation as today is a slightly morbid day in Christianity (sorry, I am approaching blaspheme…I’ll shut up now).

I am technically supposed to be fasting. However, since I’m eating only Nutrisystem food, I feel as if I’m constantly teetering on the edge of a massive (Easter candy) binge. Therefore, I won’t push my luck and deprive myself further. In fact, I’ve been daydreaming about Cadbury Eggs today, and I’ve comprised a little haiku:

Choco creme goodness
Is my resistance futile?
I fear we’ll BOTH crack

Photo courtesy of Gallery32/Chocolata on Flickr

Ha! I’d venture to say that the Easter season provides the best candy of all holidays. Besides my affinity for the Cadbury Creme Egg, I’m partial to the malted robin’s eggs, Cadbury Mini Eggs, Peeps (mmm), and the big jellybird eggs. I also love the buttered popcorn Jelly Bellies which were a staple at my grandma’s house because she used them in her birdnest cookies.

That being said and out of my system, you’ll see that I have added a little progress chart of my weight loss along the sidebar to spur me on. I’m still on track for my November 20 goal. I shall persevere!

Me Likey

♥The invitations for Viv's bday party (and packages of 8 soon to be in my shop! Just waiting on the envelopes).



♥Iowans


♥Zac Efron dropped out of Footloose. Maybe they'll scrap it altogether. I can only hope. I say this only because I have the utmost respect for the original and I couldn't bear to see them do the same thing they did to Hairspray (sorry, guys, I know some of you loved it).


♥My kid. She was "writing notes".


This one said, "Dear God, please bring me a new toy". She amuses me immensely.




♥A Saturday with NOTHING TO DO (hurrah!).


♥Still being on track with my Skinny Girl Land mission even though I only lost .6 lbs this week and having the strength to tell myself now that I am NOT going to eat ANY Easter candy this year. I've had Cadbury Eggs before. I know what they taste like. And I'm NOT going to slide down that slippery slope *punches luscious cream-filled confection square in its nose*.


♥My hub being home from California. Wrangling the girls alone wasn't as hard as I had expected. I just missed him.


♥Our soon-to-be houseguest in the form of our 15 year old babysitter. She is staying with us for a few days while her mom is out of town. I'm looking forward to Wii'ing with her and dishing on Rob Pattinson. :) The girl is wise beyond her years.


Happy weekending all! xo

Skinny Girl Land, Here I Come!

So I'm down 6.4. Girls, I have a long road ahead of me...but I'm on a roll...mmmmmmm, a nice buttery, greasy, chewy, warm....CRaP! Sorry. I'm on a melba toast.

Maybe I should get this? The perfect thing for my Wii Fitting, no??? :)

Happy weekending all!!! xo

So Much to Say & Creepiness

I have lots to say! Bear with me…

I’m irritated at Weight Watchers. Too long of a story to explain. Good news is I’ve lost 1 lb since Monday. Whoot!

Brings me to part I of my Creepiness. I started taking Alli. I won’t go into specifics, but let me just say that the side effects are really disturbing and just downright nasty. And I don’t think I can stick with it. It’s just not worth it. Anyone out there take it before and have any tips for me? Oh, but I am down 7 lbs. overall since I started WW 9 weeks ago. A little slow, but I recognize that I have the mentality I’ve had in the past, and I won’t back down until it’s all off.

Second part of my Creepiness. My parents just returned from a trip to Traverse City. Remember that insane asylum I told you about last year? Well, they walked around the grounds and stuff too. On the way home, they stopped to see my aunt who reminded my mother that they had an Aunt Barbara who was epileptic, and she was sent to that asylum for shock treatments in the 1950s which is, I guess, just what they did for epilepsy back then. Eek, CREEEEEEPY!!!!

I’ll have some cute vintage item pics tomorrow for you. Hubby’s been out of town this week, and I haven’t had time to take pics until after dark. My mom did give me a stash of my stickers last week. Look at these two beauties inside! Totally unscratched.









Another fun thing—top secret at this point. For those of you out-of-staters, Michigan has just started offering all these nifty tax incentives to film companies. Long story short, I may get to watch filming of a movie on Monday near my workplace. Will keep you posted!!!

Last, but not least, I have a new boyfriend:


Yeah, me and 1 million 15-year-old goth girls, right? Robert Pattinson has edged out Ryan Gosling on my top 5 list. Can’t help it—the man’s beautiful. I told you I’m boy crazy.

Have a good weekend, all! xo

56 Days Til Halloween...Silver Shamrock!

I've had this Alexander Henry fat quarter since last year (well, with white background). I made a few appliques out of it. Made this bag for my shop:

And then I got on a roll. I started these bags with embroidered name banners for the girls. Please excuse the wrinkles and the cat hair! Need to finish up V's:







Sure, Vivian won't be trick-or-treating for a couple years, but if I don't do it now, I never will. I must say that Heat N' Bond and a glue gun are a non-sewing crafter's best friends! What great inventions.

Going to a doozy of a flea market this weekend, and I'm taking my mom. She lives 90 miles away. I tried to prep her-- told her we may need to bust our umbrellas out. She looked at me like I was nuts. I told her to grow a pair (I really did!). Be back Monday to show you some loot!!! A teaser, if you will, for the vintage portion of my upcoming Giveaway Bonanza... xo

Oh! Any of my local peeps know of any good kid's photographers?? I had a lady in Berkley who COMPLETELY closed up shop, no forwarding info, no nothin'. I liked her because she was simple and cheap. No stupid props, no weirdo backgrounds, just PLAIN kid's pics. Anyone, anyone??? I refuse to go to Penney's/Target/Walmart/etc. We had a bad experience when Quinn was 1.

OSB Update: Down 5 total lbs! Ugh...soooooo many more to go. :( This buttercup is going to try to keep her chin up though.

Splurge

I have been obsessed with this dress ever since Kathleen posted it. Her inspiration was from this dress from Ses Petites Mains.

Well, it’s on sale. I splurged and bought it. More than I care to spend on a 2 year old, but I had to have it. While I was at it, I bought this one too for next spring/summer!

When Quinn was a baby, I used to buy lots of her non-daycare clothing from Janie and Jack. Now is pretty much a Target and Old Navy gal, so I thought she needed something special. It will serve triple duty: Halloween costume (she will be a 40's style Little Red Riding Hood with a white 1/2 apron and red hooded cape), Thanksgiving with the in-laws with a red cardigan, tights and black maryjanes, and Xmas Eve with my parents with the same.

Ventured into Etsy Alchemy again— I really do love it. Am hopeful that it works out well. Have gotten some great bids for the apron, cape and Big Bad Wolf costume, so I’m excited.

How was your weekend? We saw a pretty good movie, The Counterfeiters. Typical scenario—Ryan picks it out with super high hopes. I whine about having to watch a non-fluffy movie (I’m so shallow). He ends up being semi- disappointed, and I am engaged during the whole movie. Although, we are both looking forward to this one:

OSB Update: Made the zucchini quiche, and it was AWESOME. Omitted the parsley and oregano because we had none, but added dried mustard. Didn’t read the directions well enough and mistakenly added the cheese to the egg mixture. That’s my downfall in the kitchen: too impatient and don’t pay enough attention to detail. Anywho, baked it for the suggested time, and the top got all crisp and chewy in a great way. Served it flipped over, and it was like a cheesy bottom crust. Yummers! And I counted it as 2 veggies (because of the 1 cup cooked squash in each piece), but I think with the onion, it could probably be counted as 3…hmmm. Currently obsessed with Lean Cuisine paninis. They are 7 WW points, but I was literally STUFFED after eating one yesterday for lunch. Just had the BBQ flatbread pizza. It was so so. Bought Hostess 100 calorie packs carrot cake—ONE WW POINT! There’s like 4g of fiber in those bad boys. Sweeeeet.

100th Etsy Sale!

Wow, I can't believe it. Who would have thunk it last January that I would have sold 100 items by now? Not a record-breaking feat by any means, but something I am personally proud of. I still love Etsy as much (if not more) than I did the day I found it. Sigh.

And my 100th sale was a lovely experience. Katie of Skunkboy Creatures (dahhhling shop) bought one of my Welcome to Girl Land trinket boxes. Her 5 year old daughter liked it so much that Katie requested a special one for her! I changed up the story in the box and popped her name in. I hope she likes it. She also got a few extra goodies because she was my #100: a little Hello Kitty shopping bag (you know how I loves my kawaii!), personalized keychain (do 5 year olds carry keys?), a homemade hair tie smaller for kid hair, a heart pen, and an owl pencil eraser. Yippee skippee.

Do you have wonderful weekend plans? Tomorrow is swimming with Quinn, Amy, and her daughter, Ramona. Afterwards, a Dream Cruise party. For you locals, I'm sure you all know the Woodward Dream Cruise is this weekend. UGH. I so loathe it. When you say you loathe the Dream Cruise around these parts, people look at you with this LOOK. Like you just said you worship the devil or drive a foreign car or hate Crocs (no, I don't worship the devil). We usually try to get out of town since we live like 1/2 mile from Woodward, and it sucks because you can't even CROSS it. Dummies block the intersections. It's ridic.

OSB Update: It is onnnnnnn...I so lost 3 lbs this week (whoop whoop). I'm so excited. Makes me *almost* want to exercise after going going going for 14.5 hours straight all day every day (wah, poor me). But two things: our WW leader gave us these WW brand mini snack bars to try-- Peanut Butter Bliss. I almost peed my pants they were so good. One WW point. And found this recipe from Sarah who found it from Turkey Cookies, and I finagled to make it points/diet- friendly. I could eat 1/4 of the entire thing, and that would be only 5 pts:

Grammie's Zucchini Quiche

4 c. thinly sliced zucchini

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 T. butter (instead of 2 T.)

1/2 cup Egg Beaters (instead of regular eggs)

2 tsp. dried parsley flakes

1/2 tsp. garlic powder, dried basil, oregano, salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 c. part skim shredded mozzarella (instead of full fat)

1 tsp. mustard

Saute zucchini and onion in butter until tender. Whisk the eggs, parsley, salt, garlic powder, basil, oregano, and pepper together. Whisk in mustard. Layer zucchini and cheese in pie pan. Pour egg mixture over top. Bake uncovered (yet with a pan underneath so your oven stays clean) at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until knife in the center comes out clean. Let stand for five minutes and serve.

Really not major changes. I doubt you'd even miss the stuff omitted. I'm going to make it this weekend and let you know how it turns out. Yummers!

The Perfect Costume and Self Diagnosis

Halloween's less than 3 months away. I can’t wait! I’m searching for the *perfect* duo costume idea for Q and V. Q will basically be 3 by then and Vivian will be about 6 months. I’m planning on an Etsy Alchemy listing to get the costumes actually made. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson, but I have had some great experiences, so I don’t want to give up on it. Currently I'm thinking this:

Quinn/Vivian:

and again Quinn/Vivian:

Oh, the possibilities!!!

I have also determined I have cubular tunnel syndrome. I can't feel my ring finger or pinky on my left hand!!!! I need to go to the doctor stat, but I just returned to work, and I hate to have to take more time (that I don't have to spare) off. I'm going to fashion a splint McGyver style to straighten my arm whilst I sleep. Did I just say "whilst"? Anybody know anything about this? It's uber annoying.

OSB Update: I didn't weigh in today because I forgot before I left the house and then I was thinking I really don't want to get on the scale until my WW weigh in (on Friday). Is that ok??? Better be...don't F with me though because here I am right now...

Time in a Bottle

photo courtesty of Alexia

My days are fleeting now. I have lofty ideas of painting a baby doll highchair for Q, painting some picture frames for Q’s room, making matching Halloween embroidered or appliquéd shirts for both V and Q, sanding step stools, etc. But by the time we come home, eat dinner, do nighttime routine (baths every night—my kids sweat!), and read books, it’s almost 8:30.

Working full time again definitely makes me appreciate them both more though, I think. Q is really funny. She has learned to operate Ryan’s iPod Touch. She takes it out of the case, puts it on the speaker, turns the speaker on, then scrolls through the songs until she gets to her favorite—“Whole Wide World” by Wreckless Erick. She’s obsessed. Q calls him “Reslick Erick”. I’m so glad she doesn’t need to listen to Barney or The Wiggles every day. She also loves Feist and Talking Heads (“Where are Talking Heads’ knees, Daddy???”). And it makes me proud that my 2 year old is more technologically savvy than one of our presidential candidates (ahem).

OSB Update: So far, so good! Had a few minor incidents involving movie theater popcorn, but still on track. I’m addicted to Morningstar Farms Chik Patties. Cut up, they seriously taste like FRIED chicken tenders. My favorite salad is currently mixed greens, 1 chik patty cut up, cucumber, grape tomatoes, ½ oz. shredded cheddar (full fat yo), and 1 ½ Tbsp. Newman’s Own light honey mustard. It’s 6 WW pts and fills you up. Plus, it counts as 2 veggies and is chock full o’ protein. You could add another 2 pts with a little bacon (I use the pre-cooked stuff) and crumbled egg whites. Tastes just like J. Alexander’s Cypress Salad. Yum!

Skinny Bitches

I've been debating on whether I want to make myself officially accountable. I have FIFTY pounds to lose, so I need to get off my ever lovin' ass. Period. I'm doin it. Here's a start.

Weight Watchers online fizzled out. I can't do it by myself. I get overwhelmed too quickly. I need to suck it up and try to get to an aerobics class stat. But I did go sign up for WW meetings. Let me show you what I'm dealing with here. Ugh (my hair looks horrid too):

And here's my lowest weight about 50 lbs ago when I visited my friend in San Diego three years ago right before I got pregnant with Q.

Yep, I weighed less at 29 than I did in high school! I think this shall be my motivation.

Thanks for listening to my "woe is me" post...but "woe is me" shall be no more! All I can do is keep trying, right???