July 21, 2011

23 weeks...how many are left?

23 weeks and I feel pretty good, no real complaints besides the occasional crippling back pain but it passes. Summer is going well, the kids are enjoying every minute of it and this heat wave has been spent inside in central air so I REALLY can't complain at all.

How far along - 23 weeks 4 days
Weight gain - +3 pounds
Cravings - Crispy Chocolate cookies with cold milk and only at 9:30 at night
Sleep - like a log
Gender - It will remain a mystery
Movement - Active and baby is really getting the hang of ninja kicks to the bladder
Activity - Lets just say if there is a lot of toys on the floor, they are gonna stay there.

July 8, 2011

My personal mascara journey

I do not wear much makeup. I wear just a simple tinted moisturizer, some light bronzer, and mascara on a day to day basis but if I'm in a rush or just around the house I wear only mascara. Its the one item that I feel perks up my whole face and transforms it from frumpy mom to bushy tailed domestic goddess, well that might be an extreme description but I have to say I at least feel less frumpy. So I went to Sephora a year ago and said well, hell if I love mascara so much than I should put maybe investigation to the best that's out there and go through trial and error and over the course of a year I tried them all and have come to the conclusion that I have found THE ONE.

1st- Buxom, Sephora Price $22.00
       Conclusion- Thick lashes but hours later tiny black flakes end up on my cheeks, not long lasting. Adios.

2nd-Dior Show Waterproof, Sephora, Price $24.50
       Conclusion- Not a good lash separator, Clumps, Does not come off easily with makeup remover, so if you get a clump your stuck with it unless you pluck out offending clumped lashes.

3rd-Kat Von D High Frquency, Sephora, Price$18.00
       Conclusion- Too thick, a few hours of wear before you get raccoon eyes.


4th- Clinique High Impact, Macys, $14.50
       Conclusion- Great color, you have to reapply to keep a good effect, not waterproof




5th Maybelline Define a Lash, Rite Aid, $6.00
      Conclusion- Not bold, good separator, does not wash off well, Have to reapply but that proves difficult due to the waterproof feature.







6th- Givenchy Phenomen'eyes effects, Sephora, Price $29.50

       Conclusion- I had high hopes for this funky looking wand but every time I used it I was wiping off more than I put on with a q-tip. I don't qualify for the talent this takes. It is bold in color, but clumps, uneven, and leaves raccoon eyes after a couple hours.





7th and FINAL Cover Girl Lash Blast Waterprrof, Rite Aid, $7.79
       Conclusion- My by far favorite. A great separator, thickener, bold color, lengthener, does not wear off, no reapplication needed, washes off with remover or shower

So after a few bad eye days a lot of money wasted but a wealth of knowledge gained with no thanks to the Sephora makeup consultant, whom I noticed never had on great mascara, I don't know why I followed her so blindly to new products to try. Now do I look like the commercials with the models with OBVIOUS falsies on with mascara...no but that's okay.

::side note:: Look at her, do people think you can roll out of bed and whip on some mascara and look like that? Heck no, that chick spent 4 hours in a chair getting lash extensions and then they probably photo shopped it.

I have found my go to mascara and who would have thought, its right around the corner.

July 1, 2011

Flashback Friday

Flash back to 2008 when my dear fiancee was still living in Maine finishing up his Fellowship year in OMT. He never thought he would ever end up back in Michigan in fact he swore he never would but with my circumstances I had to stay in Michigan and he decided that the kids and I were worth this sacrifice and he didn't blink. We had a great romantic final week before we Uhauled all his belongings to Michigan. We were married in December of this year. This picture was taken at Acadia Park and I am wearing 3 day old clothes because the airport lost my luggage at JFK during my connecting flight (grrr). So I wanted to look fabulous and adorable but I was with my toothbrush, lotions and clothes. So we had a run to Meijer and picked up what I need until it came. When your so deep in love on a mini honeymoon, that kind of stuff doesn't bug you as much as say it would any other time. That trip was very memorable, the clam chowder and lobster at outdoor restaurants, puffin watching the great Irish pub down the street and cuddling on his god awful futon.

Link up your own Flashback Friday

June 28, 2011

Back with a bang

I could ramble on of  the reasons I haven't touched my blog in awhile but I'm gonna sum it up in a little package of I didn't feel like it and leave it at that. I have so many things that have recently been going on as school is now out for summer and the largest being I am PREGNANT with baby number four. Do you know how weird it is to know this is my life? I am completely ecstatic with it and I really am in love with everything in my life. This coming from the girl who made it well known that I was going to travel, be single, unattached and mostly that I never wanted children is now making leaps and bounds to becoming a unique fusion of some obsessed soccer mom, wine drinking connoisseur, crafting, scrapbooking, knitting, momarazzi, (as of Wednesday) Minivan driving, phenomenal savory cook (humbly) mother. Talk about the the transformation. I am desperately trying to get the house in order, which is mostly cosmetic such as : painting, laying new wood floors, making an upstairs homework nook and making the master bedroom /6 month nursery ready. So life is good, we are blessed and everyone is happy and healthy. Can't say much more. So I'll post my current pregnancy bio stats to catch everyone up to date.

How far along - 20 weeks 2 days
Weight gain - +1 pound
Cravings - Avacodo with lemon
Sleep - Better now that I have the Cool Max pregnancy pillow
Gender - It will remain a mystery
Movement - Active but nothing strong
Activity - This week it has definitely become a pain in the ass to bend over to put on toddler shoes

Here are the kiddies enjoying their summer so far.


March 22, 2011

Tales of Cloth

 We have cloth diapered Adrian since birth and I have found it to be a very enjoyable process (well as enjoyable as poo and pee can be). I became obsessed with researching cloth diapers when pregnant. Our family was trying to do our part in being eco conscience (if you know me, you have to ignore our 8 passenger vehicle for this part), we were recycling, buying local as much as we could, we painted with LVOC paint but I was starting to feel guilty about all the diapers I would soon be dumping in to Michigan's already HUGE trash issue. So after being overwhelmed with information for about 4 months I decided this was the right thing to do for our family. I went with the cloth diaper brands Kawaii and Happy Heinys. I did buy into the fabulous website and many reviews of the popular brand BumGenius and against popular opinion, this diaper never met my expectations as they did not hold up to washing over months and you pay more for the simple fact that they are popular, so needless to say this is my least favorite cloth diaper thus far and are no longer in my rotation. 
 My husband was on board which really helped the decision along, I did not want to be the only one changing diapers here. So we began to shop around and tell our friends of our plans, I wasn't prepared for the looks like I was some crazy crunchy hippy for wanting to cloth diaper, but I soon became very good at my schelded eco friendly benefits, convience,and myths speech that often accompioned said looks.
::side note:: I am not going to go in detail here about those facts as there as a million blogs and websites that go over the detailsmuch better than I will.

So the cloth diapering began and I was so impressed with the ease and adorableness of it all, that I became a raving lunatic for more cute prints, larger wet bags and talking to random strangers about cloth (which I apologize for I'm sure that was obnoxious). We never had a poop blowout, never a leak and I was ecstatic once again for our choice. I hated nothing more than going out somewhere with my past babies and many times that cute outfit their wearing ended up being soiled before anyone saw them looking so cute and all that time you spent stalking Gymboree for the perfect church outfit is now shoved in a bag in the bottom of your diaper bag (ugh) and now are wearing a simple fleece sleeper.

Now these are ins and outs of my everyday cloth diapering life

1. I do one load of laundry a week- rinse, wash, dry  and  in the summer I lay out the diapers on the deck
2. I have two large wet bags and a small travel bag to put dirty diapers in which I wash with my loads
3.I use regular wipies
4. I dump out what ever poo will shake off and the rest will rinse and wash clean EVERY TIME
I'm going to take a break for a sec to talk about poo dumping. Regardless if you cloth or not ALL poo is supposed to be dumped in the toilet the EPA states it is illegal to dump excrement in your trash, like the kind everyone does with disposable. This practice is almost never practiced but it is what we ALL are supposed to do anyways.
5. I do have a diaper sprayer installed on my toilet if I want to rinse out my poo diapers more, but this is not essential at all.
6. After doing disposables for 2 previous babies the convience is not less with cloth. One extra load of laundry and an extra minute per change does not equal out to an inconvience.
7. Travel with cloth is just as easy as long as there is a washing machine around. I even had my diapers cleaned while staying at the 5 star hotel Broadmoor in Colorado with zero problems.

So this really was more or less my experience with diapers not the do's and don't of diapers, like I said there are a lot of mommy blogs out there with this repeating info . Here are a few of my fav's


http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/
http://crunchybeachmama.com/
http://www.clothdiaperblog.com/

On April 23rd there is going to be a Guinness world record event called the The Great Cloth Diaper Change in locations around the world and the United States. The location is to educate and bring awareness on modern cloth diapering as well as host the largest mass synchronized cloth diaper change Me and my close friend Heather will be attending with our fluffy butt babies and we are very excited. For any of you that want to become involved it is easy as there are daily many locations being added. http://greatclothdiaperchange.com/

February 14, 2011

All wrapped up in love.

Valentines day has a new meaning when your all grown up.


February 12, 2011

So I could get used to this life!

For Valentines we decided that we would do something a little unique and special. So we thought about doing a private Valentines dinner for us and 2 other couples we are close with here at home, but what is so great and romantic about cooking a huge meal, hosting and cleaning for 6 people, well its not. So we started to look at some other options. My husband is work acquaintances with the wonderful Adrien Sharp, Adrien was on The Next Food Network Star show, hosts a T.V. show called Food Circus, plans out meals and is head chef at our local hospital, as well as host Kraft online commercials.



We knew he was a very busy man but thought that we would still ask him if he would be interested in gracing out kitchen with his mad skills. He accepted and I was giddy with excitement to have a fabulous meal cooked just for us and friends and not have to prep one thing or clean a dish afterward. Giving over reign of my kitchen was something I was slightly nervous about, I mean what if they didn't put my scrubby thing back in the right spot under the sink. So anyways I let go and I loved it. He was great to watch in the kitchen although how hard is it to watch an attractive, genuine, family man who loves to create great food in my kitchen, well...it wasn't too hard at all. Dinner blew us all away. 
Here was the menu:
Starter-
Classic Italian Bruschetta on Whole Grain Baguette with Buffalo Mozz, Fresh Basil,  Heirloom Tomatoes with balsamic reduction and pine nuts

Salad-
Arugula and Spinach salad with Candied Pecans, Dried Cherries, Feta Cheese, and Home Made Honey Dijon White Wine Vinigrette

Entree-
Beef Tenderloin with Herbed Goat Cheese Tomato Shoe String Onions, Balsmaic Reduction and Truffle Oil

Dessert-
Dark Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis

I honestly meant to take pictures of all these dishes and post them but I had a few glasses of Moscato to start with and by appetizers I forgot I had a camera. Oh well just trust me it was unbelievable and if I could afford it I would do this all the time. So to Adrien, thank you so very much for creating a magical night and being so gracious to us and our friends. Cheers!

Host of JTV-"Food Circus"  watch it online @
http://www.jtv.tv/
(517)787-8817

Howdini Productions- Kraft Picnic Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8pDpdGVKpU

Meredith Productions- Kraft Video
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/sweet-potato-gnocchi-citrus-119274.aspx

Foodnetwork.com Profile
http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/season-3-adrien-sharp/index.html

"The Next Food Network Star" Highlights - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p55nWb6GRw4

Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=1179461343&ref=profile



January 23, 2011

We rocked the headboard!

 Sorry the following post has nothing  involving headboard rocking maritals but its close!

One trip to Lowes and one trip to JoAnn fabric and we were ready to start "project headboard". I was only slightly worried that this could either be a very romantic gesture to our marriage bed or cause a gladiator Saturday fight over the assembly. From shopping to assembly everything went smoothly and I would have to say it all went perfectly except when it came to putting the duvet in the duvet cover. Really the only bickering occurred because there was a lack of knowledge on what a duvet was and why it needs a cover (ahem: not me). I was proud of us and it was fun and we both put in equally as much time and creative juice into this project. We have some future projects coming up which is a potential mirror wall, new paint, custom built night stands and the high hope that I can keep fresh flowers on those night stands.