Tone Up Tuesday

OK here we go its Tuesday again and its time to get back on it. I said that I would introduce a new workout this week so here it is. This one comes from The Great Balancing Act. I think I might like her blog, it re-reminds me of workouts and circuts that I have forgotten over the years. So I have two goals this week
1) To Write Everything Down That I Eat.
2) Complete this Workout 3 time and also complete two days of total cardio.

We have family pictures on the 10th so I have a little under two weeks to clean up before then so wish me luck!!

Make it Monday

Well how was everyone's Thanksgiving? Due to the holiday I decided to take a break for a bit. Working in education I had the blessing to have the week off to enjoy my family and friends. I also was able to complete a TON of projects that you will get to see in the weeks ahead.

Yesterday my girl friends and I had our Holiday DIY party. A few weeks before each holiday we have been getting together to hold a Do It Yourself party. Each time a different friend hosts the party. Each girl (we keep it small only 4-5 girls) brings a completed project and enough supplies for everyone else to make the same or similar project. So you bring 5 of the same undone projects and leave with 5 different finished projects. We also bring our kids for a big play date, usually my mom will keep an eye on them for us while we create. Everyone also brings something to snack on too.

Today's Make It Monday is a rundown of the awesome projects of our Holiday DIY party.

1) Fabric Christmas Trees

This was a Pinterest find like all my projects. In fact I think all of our projects were. I would have made a tutorial for you but Cyndy from The Creativity Exchange did such a great job I will just send you to her. I found these to be fairly easy to make but I don't know if all of the girls would agree with me. I think the toughest part is getting and keeping the fabric smooth. I am pretty thrilled at how mine turned out though. They do take a bit if patience.

2) Felt Pointsetta Pillow Case

The picture defiantly does not give this justice. These are beautiful in real life. These are easy to make but are time consuming. Luckily we had all of the pieces cut for us and the pillow case was sewn and ready to be appliqued. Generally, you make a plain pillow case (or buy one if your not a sewing type of girl. Cut out three sizes of petals. Hand stitch a line of thick tread down the middle gather and knot on each end. When you complete all of the petrels you hot glue them on (you could sew it on but we were in for quick). Add some jingle bells to the center and there you go.

3) Clothes Pin Card Holder

Talk about cheap and easy, this one was it! Open up a wire coat hanger. Spray paint clothes pins and string them onto the rounded coat hangers. Alternate beads with the clothes pins to give the cards space. When you get to the top leave yourself a little room. Push the wire through the ending beads wrap and glue ribbon on the coat hanger to connect the ends. Add a bow and a piece to hang with. So cute!

4) Christmas Wreath

These are always fun and easy to make. Get a plain wreath and embellish it with ribbon, bells ornaments and whatever reminds you of Christmas. Be careful though these can get expensive quick so the more you put on the pricier it gets. Quick tip, go to the Dollar Store first to get your supplies to help you stay on budget.

5) Christmas Notebook

This is a simple project that I had not heard of or thought of. Just get a notebook and embellish with scrapbook paper and such. Tab out sections for recipes, projects, gift ideas, etc. To keep track of your Holiday plans.

This is such a fun time I highly suggest you do this with your friends. It is so fun to see the projects that people bring and how different each project ends up even with the same set of supplies. It also is a cheap and fun way to add to your Holiday Decor.

Have a great Monday!

Tone Up Tuesday

Wow I really like that 10 Minute Work Out. If you haven't tried it yet I suggest you do, its a great Total Body Workout. Ill probably change it up next week but this weeks "Tone Up Tuesday" is about keeping on track for the Holidays. I love Thanksgiving it is probably my favorite Holiday. There's something about getting together with your family without any expectations other than a good meal that makes me happy. I know myself to well to know that I will not be able to moderate my eating and keep it within the "diet lines" on Thursday so this week instead of worrying about it I'm going to go with it. Now that doesn't mean that I'm free to eat what I want all week. My goal this week is to go to the gym everyday its open (luckily I have this week off work) and making sure that I stay within my points for the rest of the week. Thursday I plan on getting up and going for a 5k run before getting ready for the day. Then it will be back to the gym on Friday and back to watching my points (which is where I am struggling lately). Enjoy your Holiday and remember its just one day not a week, month etc.

Make it Monday

This weeks Make it Monday was inspired by a pin I saw on Pinterest. I have been admiring the advent calendars I have seen all over Pinterest but I currently have so much on my "to make" list for Christmas presents I didn't think I had time to make or attempt to make something overly time consuming. When I saw a pin for these goodie packets I thought that's it!

First you take a plain paper bag and cut it open. Typically I cut down the seam and then around the bottom until the bag is in a rectangle. You will then fold the rectangle in half, then in half again and again in what teachers describe as a "hot dog" fold. Then you need to fold in half the other way into a "hamburger" fold.

When you have your bag nicely folded draw a design for your ornaments. I did a tree, bell, ornament and a star. You will need some heavy duty scissors to cut out your design. When you cut out the design you will cut out multiple ones.You will need to make sure you cut out twice as many as you need. I had four designs so I needed six packets of each shape for the 24 packets for the advent calendar. So I had to make sure I had 12 of each shape after I cut them out.

Place two shapes together with the printing on the inside and the plain brown facing the outside. Sew around the shape making sure to leave an opening of about 1". Decorate each packet however you would like. I think glitter would make these really cute but seeing as when I gave Emersyn the pen's to decorate some of them I got this

I thought it was best to just leave ours with water soluble markers.

Mark each packet with a number 1-24 and punch a hole in the top of each. Fill each packet with goodies. I used M&M's and Hersey's Kisses. Then sew up the opening of the packets. I then strung the ornament packets on a red piece of yarn and hung it on the wall to wait for the first day of December.

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday! My Thankful Thursday this week is all about my wonderful Hubby! He worked so hard this last weekend to make by birthday a great one and it didn't go unnoticed. Even his friends stated that he worked very hard on it. But that isn't the only time that he has worked hard to make me happy. Joe (my wonderful hubby) has constantly tried to make sure that our daughter and I are happy. He has sacrificed for me. He moved to Northern California for me (well for our family but he didn't know that at the time) he quit smoking for us and he has done countless other things our daughter and I. So today I am making a public announcement that he is a great husband and father and we are lucky and thankful that he is in our life. Thanks Joe!! We Love You.

Whats Up Wednesday!

Today my What's Up Wednesday is all about Me! It was my 30th Birthday weekend. How fun was that!

First of all I spent much of the day on Friday completing some Random Acts of Kindness, then I had a nail appointment, my car broke down (crazy out of control story but essentially operator error on that. Thank God for AAA) then I went to Sacramento to visit one of my great friends Lori. She had a girls night planned with some of her friends so that was a long night filled with good wine and girl talk.

Saturday morning we slept in a bit. Then Lori (Check Her Out Here) had massages planed for the two of us. Afterwards we did a little shoe shopping (I bought the cutest pair of boots that Ive had my eye on for two months). Then we headed to Chico for some downtown shopping and some more Random Acts of Kindness. We headed home around 7pm and when I pulled up to the house I could tell something was up (well actually I suspected something was up weeks ago) the big clue was the mass amounts of cars parked next door and then the fact that my parents were a our house but all of the lights were out. Hmmmmm..... SURPRISE!

Joe had thrown me a surprise party. I could tell when he walked in that he had worked incredibly hard to make it a good party and it was. He had one of my favorite Mexican restaurants cater it, he had a big bon fire going in the back yard and yummy cake to top it off (see yesterdays post on how I fell off the diet wagon yet again).

Sunday I was exhausted so I spend most of the day doing nothing...That was amazing!!! All in all I had a great and memorable weekend. Thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate especially my wonderful hubby. Check in later this week when I share some of the 30 Random Acts of Kindness.

Tone Up Tuesday

Why is it when I think that this is it and I'm going to rock this diet thing something happens that throws me back down and out of control. Last week I was sure that I was going to rock it. On Friday I weighed less than I have in two years!!!! Then my Birthday happened and I had a great time. Too good of a time, with favorite foods, wine and a big ol cake to top it off. Here I am three days later and I am back up (In fact I chickened out on weighting in today, maybe tomorrow). OK here we go again back on the horse, for real this time.....
Last weeks post introduced a great workout. If you didn't check it out I suggest you do! That work out rocked my world. My goal was to do 30 min of cardio, two sets of the 10 minute workout I am referring to and then run 10 minutes twice. Well not so good. First of all my lovely daughter ended up super sick for two days and I couldn't do much but hold her for the two days, Then I was planning the 30 Random Acts of Kindness and was setting up for that and then to top it off I had Birthday celebrations. So I ended up only working out twice this week.  I can tell you though that this workout is rockin!!! I could only do one set and I was jiggle legs.

My goal this week is to do 30 min of cardio and one set of the 10 minute workout and run for 10 minutes twice this week. Wish me luck! I bought myself new tennis shoes this weekend so hopefully that will put a little more pep in my step this week.

Make it Monday

Whew what a weekend! Why is it when I have a 3 day weekend I think "oh more time to shove stuff in" rather than "oh more time to relax and enjoy my life." I was so busy this weekend it was incredible. So unlike most weeks my Make It Monday is a food related item.

Typically I do not talk about something I make that's edible. I enjoy food very much, however I tend to make food that is diet friendly. This is because "I enjoy food very much"... But this weekend I needed (wanted) to make cookies for some of my "30 for 30 Random Acts of Kindness." I found this recipe on pintrest (surprise, surprise). They looked amazing and the pinner stated that they were the best cookies ever.  She was right! They are the best cookies ever.

Good thing I packaged them up right away and sent them off to be devoured by someone else (the paper on top is a description of the 30 RAK). If your making cookies for the holidays I strongly suggest this one for your chocolate chip! MMMmmm ENJOY.

Thankful Thursday

To Celebrate my 30^th Birthday this weekend I am completing 30 Random Acts of Kindness  I would like to invite you to celebrate with me by completing your own Random Act of Kindness. Some ideas of what I am doing are Taping Quarters to Vending Machines, leaving gift cards in the aisles of Barnes and Nobel, taking old towels and blankets to the animal shelter, giving flowers to a person who looks like they need some sunshine, Dropping change for kids to find at the play ground. Handing out water to the transients around town, Baking cookies for the elderly, helping someone pack their groceries in the car, Writing a thank you to the Police or fire dept., Leaving a note for the mail carrier etc. I would love to hear and or see what you did.  If you would like to tell me what you did please comment to me a description and or a picture of what you did to make our communities a happier place this weekend.  I would love to read them!

Have a Great Day and Pass it On!!

Whats Up Wednesday

This week Emersyn had her first trip to the dentist office. Emersyn is so friendly and excited to try new things I was not worried at all about her being scared (in her whole life Ive only seen her scared once or twice). She came into the office ready to explore the new environment. When the dental hygienist came in to greet her she walked back into the dentists office like she owned the place. She climbed up into the dentists chair and when asked opened her mouth up wide to show all of her teeth. Afterward she picked out a toy and then took herself on her own tour of the rest of the office (I'm sure the woman getting a cavity filled was trilled that she tramped on into her room to take a peek). But all in all she had a great time Way to go Emersyn!

Tone Up Tuesday

Ok, I did it I got back on the band wagon!! I weighed in this morning at Weight Watchers so... I'm excited to share with you 1.6lbs down (only a half pound from when I fell off the wagon). So my Tone Up Tuesday is to "Push a Little Bit Harder". Lately (since summer ended) I have been doing cardio only. I enjoy cardio so when I'm stressed, tired and don't really want to work out I can usually talk myself into doing some cardio. This is probably because I can "Zone Out" by plugging into a t.v. channel and not thinking about what I'm doing. But alas its time to Push a Little Bit Harder (no pain, no gain). My challenge this week is this 10 Minute Total Body Toning Workout of which I will do twice along with 30 minutes of elliptical and for an extra push I want to also run 10 minutes twice this week! Wish Me Luck!

Make It Monday

This Monday's make it took a bit more work than I was planning on. I got the idea from my favorite addiction Pinterest. For full directions that are great please go here Simple Simon & Co.

These are not quite finished yet but mostly. Right now I'm in the "trying it out" phase of my make it process. This includes leaving it around the house and letting Emersyn drag it around, sit on it and tear it up to the best of her ability. That way I'm sure to have worked all of the kinks out before I wrap these baby's up for Christmas.  I already know that I need to stitch on the letters not just iron them on and spray paint the frames white to clean up the PVC.

I did make a few changes to the tutorial above though. When you make yours I suggest getting more PVC than you think you will need so that you have some "trial" pieces to use. I found that 7" and 10" were too small for the top and bottom bars and the fabric got squished and bunchy. So I used 8" and 11". Also make sure you make the bottom of the frame and screw them together first before adding the top of the frame with the fabric. Trying to screw it together with the fabric already attached to the frame got really frustrating. Here are some pictures of my process.

 

If your like my mom, and love the idea of this chair but hate the idea of actually doing it yourself I am selling kits so you can put them together without the work of getting the supplies and taking the time to do it. Check out my Etsy Shop TinyFlute



Thankful Thursday

I am so excited right now!!!! Joe and I booked a TRIP last night. We always talk about going here and there and then when it comes down to it we just don't go. I think it has to do with the commitment that you have to make when you pay for it the really freaks me out. Well we did it...I can't wait. Do you want to know where? Hmm should I tell you....DISNEYLAND!!! OMG Emersyn has no idea whats in store for her the week after Christmas. I told her but she doesn't know to be excited about it... I cant wait to see her face light up when we get there. So My Thankful Thursday is that I am thankful that we committed to a vacation (that we need really really badly)

Whats Up Wednesday

With Halloween this week we have a lot going on at our house. Besides having one of my favorite friends over for a visit we got to introduce Emersyn to the fun of Halloween. She definitely got it more this year than last year for sure.

We went to the pumpkin patch earlier in the month but I though I would share with you all of the fun festivities we did through the month leading up to the big day. Joe's mom was able to come up from LA and go with us. What a great time we had. My little dare devil wanted to climb up to the top of the haystack and wasn't afraid of tramping through pumpkin patch at all. We picked out four perfect pumpkins (usually we only get 3 one for each of us but Emersyn wanted two). Emersyn knew which one was hers and would pick it up every day when we got home. Notice our family pic had Emersyn's pic of the day in it! The joys of a toddler you never know how the picture will turn out.

Emersyn helped carve her own pumpkin this year and loved pulling out the insides of the pumpkin. She is so fun at this age. She was a goose for Halloween and got so excited to show off her costume! Here is a pic of her and her daddy going over to my parents house to trick or treat her first house!

Tone Up Tuesday!

OK here we go. My first post! So for the past few weeks (2, I'm counting) Ive gone off the diet a little bit. Ive had friends visiting, and family around and well damn that's good I want some more...oh crap I ate the whole thing. So I figured Its time to get back on the wagon. If you know me you know I'm a Weight Watchers tried and true client. Of course its a love hate relationship, and I sometimes feel that I'm giving them more ($) than there giving me (Less lb's) but its the only way Ive ever been successful and kept on track even when I fall off the wagon. So I thought on Tuesdays (my weigh in day) I would find some type of inspiration, workout, or whatever to make me re-pledge myself to my health for one more week. So here is this weeks Tone Up Tuesday... Fitting for the Day after Halloween, Don't you think.

When you fall down, get right back up and try again. You can’t control everything, so why beat yourself up about a missed workout or diet slip up? It's even OK to miss a workout once in a while.It doesn't erase all of the hard work you've accomplished up until now, or mean that you have to start over, just pick up where you left off when you were able to.