2013 Resolutions

This year I am going to get back in shape!!! I have two great trips coming up and I want to be rocking my fab bod on both. 

Last year I discovered quite a few obstacles that made it hard for me to work out and also eat right for me. I have Hypothyroid. This means I have to take this little pill every morning at 5am for the rest of my life so that my thyroid will have the right levels. At least I have figured out why it was hard to do any work out and why I felt like I needed to sleep all day every day.

With this new knowledge I went searching for a healthy way to combat it with food also. I found out that most people with Hypothyroid have gluten intolerance also :(. So I talked with my doctor and we decided to test that theory. I went off of gluten for a couple of weeks and did feel dramatically better. I still had some relapses though where my stomach felt bloated and it hurt to even to touch it. There were also some side effects in the restroom that I don't want to discuss. I ended up talking to a nutritionist about it and they suggested that most individuals that are gluten intolerant are also dairy intolerant :( :( :(. So I have given up dairy also and I am steadily getting better every day. I have more energy, my stomach/intestines haven't felt like I'm pregnant, and there haven't been any yucky times in the rest room. There has been a few times where something I ate was probably cross-contaminated and I ended up with a migraine and some hours in the rest room that will not be detailed. Note to self: stay away from honey-roasted peanuts.

So I will and I can get back into the shape I was before this calamity happened. If hard work and determination will see me through, I can do it. I will say I never thought it would be possible 6 months ago because I was working out like crazy and eating right (I thought) and nothing changed. I have been seeing great results lately with my regimen so that's encouraging. They are small, but something is better than the nothing before. 

I picked out this really fun vintage looking swim suite for my trips:

Totally cute and worth working for. Click on the pic if you wanna go to their site. All of their stuff is so much fun!

Christmas Packages

I've gotten into the habit of doing an amazing amount of baking around Christmas time to send out Christmas packages to neighbors, coworkers and such. They normally look like this:


This year I didn't have the storage space to make them early and I didn't want to spend 3 days straight baking and organizing and such so I'm just doing breads and bars in these cardboard baking trays. They have festive prints on the outside and are durable and sturdy enough to bake in them. You bake it, let it cool and then wrap it or put in a clear bag and your done!!! I'm excited about having a break this year but we'll see how they're recieved.

Gingerbread House Design

Trevor and I are going to make a gingerbread house next week and I mean week because we wanna make an indepth one. I was looking for designs, here are the ones I like:











What do you think? I like this last one here and I think Trevor will too. I guess we'll see what he picks.
Each picture is linked. If you click on them they will take you to the website I found them on.

I love decorating for Christmas. Every year I want to try something different. Maybe a different theme. This year I want to make a wreath but I'm not sure which style to pick. I have this really heavy sparkly ribbon that  I used to make the bows on my Dorothy shoes in the costume post below. These are the wreaths I like so far:

I like the last one with buttons of course! I say of course because it's the only one I can't imagine using the sparkley ribbon for and so it makes sense that I would be wastefull like that.

I found most of the wreath's at Martha Stewart's:

http://www.marthastewart.com/274364/holiday-wreaths/@center/307034/christmas-workshop#938633 

and then the button one here: 

http://missfancypants.typepad.com/little_miss_fancy_pants/2009/09/fancy-this-christmas-wreath.html

I also like these ideas for cards since I'm constantly frustrated with finding ways to use them:

I Think I'll go with the window trims. If that doesn't work then probably the boring door because then everything will be semetrical and that is the key to my sanity these days ;p

I never showed how the costumes came out for Halloween so:


Better late than never ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

 So what are your favorite Thanksgiving traditions? Mine are Oreo Turkeys :)

Here is a link to the site I got the picture from:
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/11/oreo-turkeys-and-cookie-pilgrim-hats/

It should explain how to "glue" everything together with chocolate icing, YUM! This year I found out I have Gluten and Dairy intolerance. So I will have to just look fondly at this picture and remember the good ole days of normal candy.

Halloween :)

It's that time again!! My favorite holiday! Halloween!

This year Trevor and I are going as the Scarecrow and Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ. I've already ordered all the materials, just have to create, sew, and perfect each peice. I'll try to keep posting the progress and then the results.

Cloud Atlas!!!! :)

I am getting so excited for the movie "Cloud Atlas" to come out! My husband and I are reading the book and are more than half way through it. The book is very witty and clever beyond words. I saw this really fun post today from the Toronto Films Festival and found this engaging clip of the press conference for "Cloud Atlas". There are some enjoyable comments from the cast and crew in the clip and I hope this sparks an interest for more viewers and such or at least someone else to gush to about this phenomenon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnG5zbg8NoM&feature=player_embedded

It doesn't matter how many years have passed since September 11th 2001, I still feel this great sense of loss and shock to my system every time I think about that event in time. I remember not being capable of doing anything but staring at the TV that day. I couldn't understand others going about their daily activities. Every year since on the anniversary, I have felt this hollow, gnawing, pit in my stomach. So I think I'd like to start a new tradition. Every year I want to ask myself about how I've conducted my life since the previous year. Have I shown a greater commitment to peace, love of mankind, and Charity? Not monetary charity but the pure love of Christ. Have I, since this time, worked to deserve the life I live? Is my life an instrument for good in serving others? Do I live a life that promotes peace and love to everyone? Do I pray for not just myself, but others, even my enemies? I hope that next year as I remember the lives that were lost surrounding this awful event I will have truly remembered the commitment I have made to deserve the life that I live, in a country whose sacrifice has been many, for my life.

My husband and I have been looking for a hardback copy of "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell. We can find so many paperbacks and the only hardbacks are signed so they're $$$$. Oh well...we are really pumped to read it. The preview to the movie looks fantab.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWnAqFyaQ5s Most any movie with Tom Hanks, I will love. The trailer editing was done well, I thought. When you can connect and feel something stir inside of you after only a couple of seconds...that's when you start to anticipate the future ride. I love it when movies introduce you to books that you would never know about otherwise. Although, when a book is so amazing and the movie doesn't do it justice it's hard. Especially when you have this picture in your head with the way everyone looks or feels like. So...we will read it, review it, and measure the results.

“Design for Shabby Apple”

I couldn't choose just one design that I wanted to submit so I did a small collection. If I were given a go I could definitely create more designs but I have to submit these drawings tonight! Let me know which one you like of these : Shabby Apple Dresses

The Violet Dress would be made from cotton and the baby blue edgings would be embroidered.

I'm sure this cut would look good though with a few choices for color. Maybe white with blue or violet embroidery. There are plenty combos that work. 

This red dress would be fun in a heavier fabric close to canvas and the  ties for shoes and top would be fun as a checkered print white and red flowered, or a sample I included in the picture is more of an indie print. Or you could even switch the fabrics entirely and have the red for the ties. So many fun things with this cut. Definitely good for any bright color. If you cannot tell there is actually cut outs in the edging.

This green number was definately a 50's inspired dress. As with the other two above many colors would work for the style. The fabric I was thinking of would be more of a hugging one like polyester and spandex mix. Maybe to get the edgings to standout like they do in the sketch they might have to be corded inside.

This last suit dress or what have you is supposed to be cream with navy edging. It would need to be a heavier woven cotton and the edging would need to be either embroidered or ribboned.

 Obviously I like old fashioned things but I'm not the best at shading and have not finished my art training so I hope you don't have to use your imagination too much. These were actually inspired by Hallmark's version of "Camille" that came out in 1987.

Summer Time

I know it's summer when I have to give Oscar, my cute baby puppy, a haircut. Here is his latest.

Cabbage Patch anyone?

I need to take a baby on the trek and the only dolls I can think of that might be just right would be a cabbage patch kid. Maybe the kind with no hair but they seem kind of expensive new. Maybe I can borrow one?

Working on the clothes for the trek.

I found this free pattern for bonnets:
http://www.sewchicpatterns.com/free.html

Guess where I ate dinner?

Couple of guesses... crayons and olive oil.

Trek

So Trevor and I have volunteered to be parents on a trek this summer and I need to start sewing our pioneer attire. I've never been on one before and haven't been to any meetings yet. Here are a few sketches of the shirt and skirt combo I might be making. The far right one is a Sunday dress. I don't think you travel on Sunday but I couldn't help wanting to draw one more fancy.

The Thin Red Line

Why have I not heard of this movie before? I watched "The Thin Red Line" last night with my husband and was totally blown away. Seriously it's a peice of art. I found myself transposed into this dream world where the meaning of peace was so delicate and fragile but so vital. It came out the same time as "Saving Private Ryan" so I can understand why one was more heard of. I guess most people preffered the war movie that gave you hope. I would say though that the movie last night spoke more of why we need peace. Here are just a few of the amazing quotes from the movie that trully shift your thoughts:

"Are you righteous? Kind? Does your confidence lie in this? Are you loved by all? Know that I was, too. Do you imagine your suffering will be any less because you loved goodness and truth?"

"This great evil. Where does it come from? How'd it steal into the world? What seed, what root did it grow from? Who's doin' this? Who's killin' us? Robbing us of life and light. Mockin' us with the sight of what we might've known. Does our ruin benefit the earth? Does it help the grass to grow, the sun to shine? Is this darkness in you, too? Have you passed to this night?"

Keys in the fridge?

Why is it when you're in a hurry you find the important things in the oddest places? Like this morning I was trying to run out the door and found my keys in the fridge!