I don't care!

After being over 90 degrees last week, the weather now wants to threaten to rain and only get into the 50s. I don't care! It's spring, dammit! I will wear yellow sweaters, peachy stripes and flowers in my hair.





PS, these are my new favorite pants. Why? Because I finally fit into them :D and BONUS POINTS, my butt looks more bubbly (Should I thank the cargo patch pockets? Won't hurt. thank you, booty pockets, thank you.).

{ba-DOW}

Birthday Plans

Emberly's birthday is at the end of this month. And apparently she's hired a party planner and all I have to do is show up. At least that's how she makes it sound. She's told me all about the pizza and costco cake (um, sugar laden awesome). It's to be an evening party at her house, mostly in her room. There will definitely be pinatas. I, for one, can't wait to see how she pulls all this together.
Her birthday wishes are for colorful play-doh and a spirit hood.

Red Hot

I absolutely love a crimson lip. But I'm uncomfortable with lipstick on, let alone a bold color like red. I feel like my lips take over my face. Doesn't help either that my husband tells me I look "weird" with lipstick!
But I took a dive and carefully plastered it on, resisting my urges to tone it down with some gloss. I felt like it was too much for the first two hours. I also didn't care for having to reapply it after eating, otherwise my lips were stained oddly.
Red lipstick is an all-day commitment.
But, it's been on for 5hrs now and I'm starting to not feel uncomfortable whenever I'm in front of a mirror. I don't know, red lips might be my thing now!

Shredding

I've been living barefoot and in flip-flops since I tried to kick my pinky toe clean off of my foot.
Not so conducive to running or going to the gym.
But, I promised myself that I'd be ready for a swimsuit, ASAP, so I can't just sit around on my ass, staring at my green and purple foot. Staring burns less calories than one would hope.
So I checked out what was OnDemand, to see what I could do, barefoot in my living room. 30-Day Shred, woot-woot! Jillian Michaels isn't really my favorite, but I love this series. It's the right combination of torture and feeling great when I'm done. Probably because the workouts are only 20-something minutes long. But seriously, you seem results pretty quickly despite the brevity of the workout. That's golden.
Check out how pumped I was to shred.

LOL, I've been 5'11" for over 10yrs now, so you think I'd get over it and stand up straight. But no, I always have to catch a glimpse of my horrid posture in a mirror or photo (or case in point, both) and remind myself to push my shoulders back.
I've only lost 4lbs since I took the photos in the bikini, but progress pics seemed in order anyhow. I'm cheating a little since the rise on my yoga shorts is considerably higher, hiding one of the problem areas, but give me a break, I've had two babies in there, most of the problem is thinner, looser skin that is only going to improve (or not) over time... So take your tickets to the gun show and shut up :D



Thong Mono-kini, here I come! Not really. Last time I checked, I don't have any car show promo modeling coming up LOL

Supernatural

Honestly, supernatural brownies need no embellishment, but I got a bug up my butt when I saw a box mix for "mud brownies." Naturally, the afternoon project became making some brownies. And is there anything better than a whole house filled with brownie aroma? MMMMMMmmm.

I justify a generous piece by doing the 30 Day Shred while I wait for them to cool :D

Veganized

I mentioned my butter and cheese obsessions before... but I've passed dairy up for 3.5mo now due to Bauer's sensitivity to the proteins in my milk. The thought before was unbearable and without something like his health and my sanity (don't get much sleep with a baby writhing and crying with intestinal upset all night) hanging in the balance, it's not a leap I would have ever taken. And you know what, I don't really miss it! The same thing happened when I gave up soda as a teen. To this day, sometimes a root beer sounds sooo good, but when I get it, the carbonation burns and I'm over it a few sips in. Sometimes pizza sounds divine, but I'm okay.
Anyway, the point is that I've ventured into trying some vegan alternatives and I'd like to share some reviews.
Daiya cheddar-like shreds: I made a grilled cheese sandwich on wheat sourdough with it. It was okay. It tastes like liquified cheese-its. Toward the end of the sandwich when there was a glob of it, I gagged a little trying to swallow it. But I'm weird in my love for sharp cheddar, so most people probably would be fine. Case in point, I made mac-n-cheese with it tonight (used milk in the rue though, so I didn't get any), and the hubs and Emberly wolfed it down unawares no problem.
Eatpastry cookie dough: There's nothing taboo about eating the dough straight from the canister because there's no egg in it! My favorite so far is the Chocoholic Chunk, it's de-freakin-lish. The other flavors are okay.

I really think I could go vegan. But without commitment from Damon too, I doubt I ever will. So for now, meat and eggs still make my menu.

It's in the air!

Spring that is.
It's warming up and our color palette is brightening!



My favorite find so far this season is my denim shirt from H&M! I'm already wearing the hell out of it.

And I've been doing a lot of "window" shopping online. I don't know why I do this since I almost never buy anything, but now I'm in love with this shirt.
I asked Kendi over at Kendi Everyday for tips on finding "knock offs" when you just can't part with J. Crew type cash. She was quick to respond and true to form, humorous. She hipped me to a website, shopstyle.com, where I can search keywords and it will bring up items from various retailers that have those words somewhere in their description. Pretty freaking neat.

*blogger's note: I do realize that it isn't Friday, but I drafted this yesterday, and *surprise* I didn't get around to uploading my pics until this morning. Please forgive me.