That Design Gal

Project Runway All Starts Week 3

2012-01-20T17:32:00.002-06:00

You know, I love Project Runway. Absolutely love it. But I will say that I have a lot to learn about the fashion industry. I just flat out don't get what the professionals see. Some looks that get rave reviews, I'm like "huh"? And ones that I think area great are terrible in their eyes. Thankfully my skewed logical hasn't deterred me from watching, although I serious considered it when Gretchen won over Mondo, and the hubby was pushing for that. hehe I couldn't pull the plug.

I have to be honest about last night and say that having a Muppet on the show to me, brings a bit of silliness to the show. Don't get me wrong, the Muppets are great, but really? It's like I can't take the show as serious anymore. I'm sure I am probably the only one, but that's okay.

So knowing that I just don't get it, I'm not sure why Gordana got kicked off last night. I liked the dress, a nice pop of color, and in regards to talking about cover worthy- this is for a PIG, does the the same gut sucking criteria (that Joanna was referring to) need to be taken for a pig as a human? Just sayin'...

So here is the losing look last night:

Personally, I thought Kenley's and design was absolutely terrible. I love one of the judge's comments that you could use Kenley's hat as a dish scrubber. (hmm, or was it a loofah).

Here is Jerell's look. Now, I don't care for it on a model. But somehow- don't ask- I can actually see this for Miss Piggy. I think it works for a costume on a puppet.

On the positive note, here is Michael's winning look. I am SO happy that he won. (I think that he should have won last week too)

Thoughts??

iPhone Mommies

2012-01-17T23:56:00.000-06:00

*This review was not solicited. This is solely my opinion.*

At some point, I'm sure that you wondering if there is anything out there that will occupy your baby and not annoy the heck out of you. Especially when you can't cart their toys everywhere.

May I introduce you to wonder of the Pocket Pond. It's a wonderful little app, that will keep your little one occupied, and has relaxing water sounds. Can't beat that, right?

My baby is only 8 months old and she is always reaching for the phone to play pocket pond. The idea is simple. You have a very realistic pond with swimming koi, lily pads, and dragonflies. Touch the water and it ripples. That's it.

The genius is in the simplicity that will ultimately keep kids/babies occupied. How many ripples can you get. She is now using her index finger to ripple the water, whereas before it was a funny full palm smack. (It still worked and you got a cute little giggle) And later down the line, she will use her finger to connect to the moving fish to "catch" them. It will grow with them.

No maintenance is required, no feeding necessary and no cleaning tanks. And there is a free version! YAY!

It's a winner in the Mommy Arsenal of tricks when you are out and about. Just wanted to pass that along ;-)

Organizing Ideas for 2012

2012-01-13T12:24:00.014-06:00

I'm sure you are like me where you have resolved to finally declutter your house this year. Well, it is certainly a daunting task, so let's take it room by room. How about we start in the craft room?

Paint Organizer:
Using an old cookie sheet and magnets, you can store your paints upside down and they will always be good to go right away.
Yarn Storage:
Make a fast run to Lowe's or Home Depot for a French Drain, for about $5, cut to the depth of your cabinet and you have yourself a quick and easy skein holder.Button Holder:
Around a dollar a piece (depending on the size) you can have a quick container for all of those buttons and little odds and ends that you don't know what to do with. It's a great way to reuse baby food jars.
Wall Baskets:
Yes, I know this is picture of the laundry room. But just imagine that this would make great fabric storage, or scrapbook paper holder. Numerous possibilities.
Ribbon Storage:
I have been trying to figure out a great way to store all of my ribbon instead of wading through my giant Kohl's bag. Use a tension rod inside of a cabinet and they will line up beautifully. (So much better than getting so frustrated that you can't find the ribbon you want so you start throwing ribbon everywhere only to find the one you want at the very bottom of the bag. Guilty, me? lol)
Hope this starts to get the creative wheels going!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-05T10:28:00.002-06:00

Happy 2012 Everyone! I hope that everyone had a safe and restful holiday. Ours was completely uneventful, and it was wonderful.

I have to say that 2011 was an absolutely amazing year. Reason… My little girl. She is now eight months old and I can’t believe how this time flies. Allow me to be cheesy for a second. Remember the movie “Fools Rush In”? Well, there is a line that soo applies to her. She is “everything I never knew I always wanted”. I never knew I would love Mommyhood as much as I do---I LOVE IT! Every little thing she does just cracks us up. Life is awesome now especially with her.

I am now also in a very small percentage of families where both mother and father work from home. How lucky is our little girl to have her parents’ home all day every day? I am so so blessed that I don’t have to miss a minute of her life. (Well minus my morning D1 bonding time with some trainers, lol).

So here I am New Year, and like everyone else, completely inspired to make some changes. Changes here on my little ole’ bloggy, more cooking, the rest of the preggo weight and probably the most exciting to you guys, some new crafts. I have been having a ball with my sewing machine I can’t even stand it. I probably have a year’s worth of projects already. (Thank you Pinterest) So exciting!!! And I am even going to be setting up a sewing room in the next couple of months!

Hope you guys are ready for the ride!!

Allow me to introduce you to my Daughter!

2011-06-14T20:34:00.007-05:00

She's here! And she is the most beautiful doll baby with the craziest head of hair! Yeap that is a new mother who thinks that she has the cutest baby, but I can feel that way, right??!!

And what a birth story she has. We were suppose to induce the day after the tornadoes which was 40 wks to the day, but power was completely knocked out across the city. So the hospital was on generators and therefore all elective work was cancelled. What made it all so stressful for Chris and I (everyone is okay) was that all phone lines were down and we had no way of getting ahold of our doctor and she was completely against letting me go past 41 weeks. We were panicking. Several days after the storms, phone lines were restore and we were able to get scheduled again six days later.

Come to that day and we went into the hospital early to get the ball rolling with the pitocin. (Not a fan by the way, lol) Anyway, my doctor wanted me to be prepared for a c-section. I had made her painfully aware that I did not want a c-section unless is was medically necessary, and for her to be prepared for me to completely freak out on the table if that was the case. I DO NOT handle medical "stuff" very well.

So the plan was to give the natural way a good ole "college try" (in her words) and take it from there. And I was going to hold off on the epidural as long as I could because I knew that the spinal would be more effective....

Fast forward ten hours later and I was singing a different tune. They had the pitocin up full blast and I was having contractions every three minutes lasting a minute long. Miserable is putting it mildly. There is only so much that pain meds in a IV can do. I had BARELY progressed, and I couldn't take it any longer, the thought of a c-section was beautiful. So I told the doc, "let's do this" and not even 30 seconds later I was bombarded by doctors and nurses. They were pulling and tugging and I honestly can't even remember what all happened, but God love my doctor she had her out thirty minutes after I gave the go ahead. She knew I was terrified of a c-section and she didn't even give me a chance to freak out about it. I blinked and it was all over and I was holding my daughter. I can't tell you how thankful I am for my doctor, she was awesome.

She was born May 4, 2011 at 3:22 pm weighing 7 lbs 13 oz and the fullest head of hair. It's no wonder why I was popping Tums like it was nobody's business. I serious think that water gave me heartburn.

Here she is!

I'm one proud Mama! lol She is such a ham and aside from the sleep, we are having a ball! :-)

D-Day is just about here!

2011-05-03T22:04:00.001-05:00

We were delayed one week because of the tornadoes down here, we all are fine. And very lucky. It has been one absolutely CRAZY week. But we got power back so we are just about back to normal. Thank goodness!

This little girl has had an extra week in her cozy digs and she is STILL not showing any signs of wanting to meet us!! Grr... So she apparently needs a little assistance. We are heading into the hospital tomorrow morning.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, it is going to be an exciting and exhausting day!

Ah, bedrest.

2011-04-30T21:01:00.003-05:00

Contrary to what you might think...it's not easy or fun! Let me tell you. And I would consider myself very lucky being that it is only the last three weeks of my pregnancy. To one of my girlfriends out there, honey I don't know how you do it!

What's difficult is that you feel absolutely fine (well aside from the fact you literally can't walk), you see the house getting dirty around you, and you can't do anything about it. And you have to be waited on. Sure, that's lovely in theory and I enjoyed it for the first couple of days, but after that you just want to be able to do something for yourself. I haven't been allowed to drive anywhere or even do laundry. You have to sit all day long. There are only so many comfortable positions in bed or on the couch. And if you do get up, it is the third degree and twenty questions as to why are up and what you are going to do, and how long you are going to be up. Yes, I know, it's coming from a place of love...but I'm just getting a glass of water!! lol

Yes, I'm ranting a bit, but I'm am now past 40 weeks and I am one INCREDIBLY uncomfortable pregnant woman that would love to have a forklift to get anywhere because the idea of getting up and walking to the kitchen or bathroom is daunting. I'm well past waddle mode at this point.

God love my Mom, she went out and bought just about every single magazine that Publix and Barnes and Noble had, just so that I would have some entertainment. I'm getting the favor returned to me because I kept my Mom on bedrest for me for several months. Well, I'm getting off easy.

Here are a few pictures of my buddies that have been keeping me company.
This picture is quite a common occurrence. Little Miss Lizzie attached at my hip. And yes, you are correct, that is one large belly.
You can see that Lizzie won't leave my side, precious little thing. Chris and I are sure that she is going to be a bit jealous of the baby. She is a Momma's girl. And that is my fancy spanking new computer that I'm playing with... yea!
Lizzie and Aubie
Aubie and Molly

Don't get me wrong, it is all worth it, and we should be meeting our little girl this week! F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!!! So many things to look forward too!!

P.S. Rant over.

Here is the Nursery!

2011-04-25T16:47:00.002-05:00

We did a Winnie the Pooh theme in pink and brown tones. For someone who has despised pink for her entire life, I certainly have embraced it for my daughter. lol Who knew??!! It's been hard for me not to do pink and kitty cats. You should see her wardrobe!

I painted all of the murals in a chocolate brown to work with the furniture, and this was done during the second trimester when I was feeling great! The bumblebee found it's way throughout the room. I embroidered them onto the curtain, the baby blanket that is on the recliner, in two of the murals, and painted above the closet doors.

The quote that is under Winnie the Pooh says, "Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart".

So, here it is!

Lots to do!

2011-03-24T22:12:00.003-05:00

Given the fact that I'm still learning how to use my new and cool toy, my sewing machine, I have several projects planned for our little one. Now, I do have one thing that is not on my side any more. And that would be time.

I am 35 weeks today, and this little girl is going to be making her appearance sooner rather than later. The doc said that she is measuring big and I might not make it until the due date. So we'll see!

So as you can see, there is lots of fabric here! I have very big dreams!
Oh geeish, I just realized that the pile of fabric has grown since this picture was taken...lol I better get to work!

I will say that it is nice to have a helper!
I have two things finished, and I will be posting them soon!

I'm Pregnant!

2011-02-17T21:00:00.004-06:00

Yeap, it's true! I am 30 weeks! I know, I'm announcing it a "tad" bit late, what can I say. I wanted to make sure that I was in the "clear" so to speak. It has been quite a whirlwind and quite a blessing.

And to the exciting news....It's a girl!! Emily Owens will hopefully be here April 28th! (Well that is when her eviction notice is going to be served anyway, lol). Which means that we are just over 9 weeks away from meeting her! AHHHHH!!!! I can't believe it!

This pregnancy has been going really well. That's not to say that I haven't had my fair share of pain and discomfort, but it really truly could be worse. I have been so extremely fortunate. Fingers crossed that this last trimester will be as kind. My only complaints thus far, acne like I have never seen it before. My whole body reminds me of the moguls event from the Winter Olympics. Very annoying. Aside from that, I have basically lost three of my four limbs. My wrists both succumbed to pretty bad carpal tunnel- just in case you wanted to know, it IS fashionable to wear a two wrist guards. And my right leg has been quite a nuisance with bad sciatic nerve pain and some muscle band between the hamstring and the quad. My leg has basically been numb or throbbing for the last 3 months. That's been fun. All that being said, I haven't had heartburn, morning sickness issues, hemorrhoids or Braxton Hicks- so I am counting each and everyone of my blessings.

Onto the pictures...

10 weeks, 2 days

21 weeks, 4 days

There she is, our little peanut! I will be posting pictures of the nursery hopefully this week, because that sucker needs to get wrapped up soon. I'm not moving around as well these days! lol And we're almost there!

I know this makes me silly. . .

2010-09-15T20:22:00.003-05:00

I am so completely excited about a package that was delivered today...my VACUUM CLEANER!! YAY! I can't decided if that makes me dorky or if I have become that domesticated?!? So here she is.

Isn't she lovely!
FYI- This is NOT a product review, I was not asked to write this post.

I finally have a machine that was designed to attack the fur from all of our kitties, and that right there makes me very excited!

Thank you baby for your frequent flyer miles!

Cheezburger Wednesdays

2010-08-04T07:00:00.001-05:00

What a cool picture don't you think??

I can has Cheezburger

My first Sewing Machine!

2010-08-03T09:37:00.004-05:00

I am soo very very excited about my new sewing machine! Isn't she pretty!?! I am certainly a beginner but I'm looking forward to getting into handbags. I absolutely love handbags!
So here is my first project. Far from perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it considering it is the first time I have done this. If any of you have some sewing tips, please please feel free to share them with me, I could definitely use them.
Here's to the first of many handbags! YAY!

A Tribute to Grandmothers

2010-07-20T19:39:00.003-05:00

God has called a lot of Grandmothers home. Our family, my husband's family, and our friends' family have seen a lot of loss this year.

Going Home

When I come to the end of the road and the sun has set for me, I want no rites in a gloom-filled room. Why cry for a soul set free? Miss me a little...but not too long, and not with your head bowed low. Remember the love that we once shared. Miss me...but let me go.

For this is a journey that we all must take and each must go alone. It's all a part of the Master's plan, a stop on the road to home. When you are lonely and sick at heart, go to the friends that we know, and bury your sorrows in doing good deeds. Miss me...but let me go.

Image from: www.eso-garden.com

I love you Grandma, and you will always be in my heart.

It's Game Time!!! U-S-A!!! U-S-A!!!!

2010-06-26T13:08:00.004-05:00

Today is the day!!! GO USA!!!! It's Game Time for the USA and Ghana game and we are pumped!!! Have you guys been watching the World Cup?? It's pretty incredible to watch this and see how the rest of the world treats this sport. In some countries, it was more important than religion. It's crazy!!! Gosh, I love this sport!
If you guys didn't see the USA goal in extra time during the game versus Algeria this past Wednesday, please watch this video from YouTube. Even if you did see the goal, this video is awesome!! I love seeing the support for the US team, it's incredible. Chris and I actually set off the house alarm screaming at the US goal...I couldn't help laughing with the security office called to see if we were okay. Least the woman found it funny!!! lol

Come on USA!!! We're pulling for you!!

Strawberries, anyone??

2010-06-10T15:18:00.004-05:00

Is there ever a bad time for chocolate covered strawberries?? I certainly can't think of one. The DH travels every week for work, so I thought that I would have a little surprise for him when he gets home tonight. And let me tell you that it is simple pimple.

~Meets~

Now I got this chocolate from Fresh Market, but I would think that you would be able to find it at a Whole Foods or some other fancy store like that. This 6 oz. container can easily cover one pound of strawberries.

The original plan was to do one half milk chocolate with a white chocolate drizzle and the other half vice versa. But I continued to microwave the white chocolate to get all of the lumps out, and it actually dried the container out. So a little tip is to not completely cook the white chocolate. This didn't happen with the milk chocolate, so I think it was just the white chocolate.
I so can't wait to dive into these tonight!! Yum, Yum!!

Cheezburger Wednesday

2010-06-01T22:40:00.002-05:00

Lol Kitties

Hawaii Edition

2010-05-30T15:37:00.006-05:00

Wow, it takes a long time to get your body back on Central time from Hawaii time!!! lol Certainly not a bad problem to have, I am not complaining...

I wanted to share a few pictures of our trip, we had a fantastic time. We literally drove around the island of Oahu a couple of times, so we can say that we got to see everything. We stayed at the Rainbow Tower at the Hilton Hawaiian Village- and what a view!
Mai Tai(s) on the plane!!! How cool is that?? I like First Class!!! lolView from Balcony 1 with Diamond Head in the background.View from Balcony 2
Can't get much better than that!
Ah, this was our attempt to catch the sunrise...well, you can see how well that worked out!! lol
And of course, a luau!
Driving down H3 which cut through the island.
We had a good time just driving around and exploring the island.
Pali Lookout- was beautiful! View from 985 feet! I wasn't really prepared for how windy it was up there and how cold- my dress was blowing around a bit much for my liking. (if you catch my drift) Scary, I know....lol
The Manoa Falls was quite beautiful!
Hanauma Bay- It was our first time snorkeling and we had a blast once we got use to the equipment. Although someone forgot to put on suntan lotion and got lobster red. He had a rough trip back...
My "LOST"ie picture, don't you agree??
The Dole Plantation... No more pineapple for awhile! Oof...

Well, that's about it in a nutshell!

Mr. & Mrs.

2010-05-17T19:56:00.005-05:00

It's official! What a wonderful day and a wonderful week. We just got back into town last night from Hawaii, and we had an amazing time! Wow! But I will say, it was 18 hours of traveling yesterday and with the time change- oof, still very very tired. We came home though to our marriage license, and that was really nice to get that. It's in stone now!!! lol

Thank you all for your wonderful words of kindness, it really touched me. You guys are the best.

Here are a couple of pictures from the day. We haven't gotten back the "official" pictures, these are from the family and friends that were there sharing the say with us.
My Dad and I
The announcement...
First kiss.
It's official! He's all mine ladies, sorry! lol
And the cake, man, it was tasty! Thanks Ellen!
I don't know whether to caption that as my rockstar face, or my frightening face. lol I let you guys decide! lol

It was such a beautiful day! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

It's my Wedding Day!!!

2010-05-08T07:25:00.004-05:00

Wow!!! I can't believe it is actually here! A long 18 month engagement comes to an end today, and it blows my mind that it's today!! And in a blink of an eye it will all be over and everyone who came today will be leaving soon.

I have been pretty calm surprisingly through this. Big shocker. Really. Although I will say that I am getting a bit nervous as I write this. Not nervous in the sense of doubt, oh no, nervous in the sense that I don't do anything stupid like fall off of the altar today-- like I did yesterday, but Chris had fast hands and caught me. Just like he always does. I know those are the things that you will remember most, but it really would be nice not to have wood grain on my face in the pictures...lol. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

My family has come into town which has been so so wonderful. Life is just better with family around and especially my parents whom I love dearly. I just wish that I got to spend some more time with them and two o'clock in the morning the last two nights finishing favors and programs doesn't count. It was still nice amidst the tiredness.

It's going to be a beautiful day today! Weather is perfect, and there is a big smile on my face! (and a sign of relief at that)

So below is a picture of the cake. Can't wait for this cake!! Imagine it with two less layers and a sage green color instead of the blue.
God love all of my trainers, without them I would be standing up there on the altar today in a dress that is three sizes smaller than when I first started this journey. There is still some work to be done, but I'll get there. I can truly say that it has given me a new found self confidence, esteem and freedom.

Well, it's time to get the day started!! I thank you all for reading. I truly do promise that I will have more time to keep up with you guys after today!!! lol

Please keep Chris and I in your prayers today, I would very much appreciate that!

Chattanooga Aquarium

2010-04-05T21:37:00.006-05:00

Gosh, we are getting down to about a month before the wedding, so we decided to get out for a fun adventure. Destination: Chattanooga Aquarium. We had a great time, and I thought I would share some photos!

Cute little seahorse!Pregnant male seahorse
Yeah, I was a fan of the seahorses...
And some dwarf seahorses.
Can you believe this is a seahorse?
Hello Mr. Crab...
Loved the butterfly garden!A little too close for me!
Man, Chattanooga loves their turtles! They were everywhere!
How can you not love the penguins!

Where is your favorite aquarium? and exhibit?

Cheezburger Wednesday

2010-03-03T08:34:00.002-06:00

ICanHasCheezburger

February Featured Etsy Blogger

2010-02-28T21:40:00.005-06:00

We have a great find for the month of February! I am such a handbag lover, it isn't even funny! So I'm happy to share with you all a great Etsy seller.

Here is a tidbit from TiLT Creations:

Here is where you can find her: Etsy shop & blog

Enjoy!

Etsy Blog Carnival- Dream Vacation

2010-02-25T23:15:00.006-06:00

This month's Etsy bloggers carnival is to talk about a dream vacation. Easy peasy. In about 10 weeks, Chris and I are going to Oahu for our honeymoon. I am so very excited! I haven't been to Hawaii so I am looking forward to soaking up the sun and the absolutely beautiful landscape.
I mean, really, what's not to like?!
Now granted there is so much to do and not a lot of time...but the couple of things that I am really looking forward to are:

Swimming with the dolphins
and hopefully seeing a few of these:
and there will definitely be some of this...
Scoping out a bit of:

and??? Hmm...anyone have any suggestions?! Aside from those couple of things, that is about all that we have. I would love any ideas and stories!

(all images from Google Images)

Cheezburger Wednesday

2010-02-24T07:25:00.000-06:00

I Can Has Cheezburger

Curling 101

2010-02-20T18:10:00.007-06:00

Alright, so I have been stuck in bed for the last few days with a cold, cough and a stubborn fever that won't go away, and I have been watching a lot of TV. And I am one of those really weird people who thinks that I am not doing my patriotic duty if I am not watching every possible minute of the Olympics. Crazy, right?! So that has meant one thing... Lots and lots of curling.
Before this week, I was curling stupid. Just plain ignorant on the sport. But I figured that if I am going to be watching a lot of it, I might as well learn what I can about the sport. So here is what I have learned so far:

Two teams- 4 people per team
4 people- one skip (one who call the shots) one thrower, and two sweepers
Playing field 15' by 150 approx. Ice is covered with a brine solution to make it "pebbly"
The friction between the stone and the ice causes the stone to turn one way or another is know as "curling"
One game consist of 10 Ends (or rounds). One End consist of 16 thrown stones total (8 per side)
Each team has a total of 73 minutes to throw all of the stone for the game. If they don't make that, they forfeit.
The circles at the end of the playing field is called the "house" and the center white circle is called the "button". The button is the target.
Goal is to score points by having more stones closer to the button than the other team. One point is awarded for each stone that is closer than each of the opposing teams stones. Points are awarded at the end of each End.
Thrower uses a "hack" which is a black block (similar to someone running track) to push out of to throw the stone. They have to release the stone before the first black line which is a "hog line" and the stone has to cross at least the second hog line.
The skip is person that stands behind the house calling where to throw the stone and how hard.
The sweepers are "sweeping" the ice as the stone travels down the field.
There are two reasons for sweeping: to increase the distance that the stone travels, and to make the stone travel straighter.
Stone weighs between 38 and 44 pounds
The player's shoes have two different finishes. One has a Teflon finish that will slide on the ice and the other shoe has a rough surface for traction.
The speed at which a stone is thrown is called the weight.
Stopwatches are used to tract the speed of the stone
There are three types of shots: the guard, the draw and the takeout. Guards are thrown in front of the house and are used for protection, the draw are shots to make it into the house and the takeout is a shot used to remove the stones from play.

That's what I got so far. And I will tell you what, I am really enjoying it! Who knew! I still don't understand a lot of the strategy, but I'm picking up some from the commentators.

If you have a chance to catch a game, give it a shot! And if anyone knows the sport and can correct me on anything that I have written, please do! I am certainly no expert.

GO TEAM USA!!!
(images from Google images)

Cheezburger Wednesday

2010-02-17T15:17:00.002-06:00

ICanHasCheesburger

Happy New Year!!

2010-02-15T21:19:00.004-06:00

I know, I'm a bit late!!! lol I hope everyone's new year has gotten off to a good start and everyone is staying warm and out of the snow. It's crazy that we have had 11 days of snow now here in Alabama. Craziness!

Well, I have lots to catch you all up on, and I have lots to catch up on and I'm looking forward to getting back to it all! I have missed you guys!

So I'm going to back up a bit and share a fun project that I "attempted" for our Christmas celebrations. Chris and I had Christmas dinner over at our house, and it was great to finally host a party! It was nice!

I thought that I would try to put together a gingerbread house. I have never put one together before, who knew how this thing was going to play out.

Here is the recipe that I used:

♦ 1 cup butter at room temperature
♦ 1-3/4 cups brown sugar
♦ 1-1/4 cups white sugar
♦ 2 tablespoons molasses
♦ 6 eggs
♦ 6 cups all-purpose flour
♦ 2 teaspoons baking soda
♦ 1 tablespoon ground ginger
♦ 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
♦ 1 tablespoon allspice

Preheat oven to 325°F degrees. Line several cookie sheets with aluminum foil. Butter and flour the foil.

Using the dimensions in the Gingerbread House Drawing, cut out paper patterns for the walls, roof and chimney, and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Beat in the molasses and eggs. In another large bowl, sift dry ingredients. Combine mixtures and knead into a smooth ball. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

On a well-floured surface, roll out a small amount of the dough until it is 1/4 inch thick. Place one of the paper pattern pieces on the dough and cut around the edges. Gently, using the spatula, lift the dough and place it on the foil-lined, prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly firm. Let cool on racks until firm enough to handle. Peel the foil off the sections and set the pieces aside to dry thoroughly overnight.

I got this recipe from Texas cooking and it made a decent size house and 20 very large cookies. So you can judge accordingly. This year, I might use this towards a gingerbread village! lol

Now after it was all said and done, I do have one suggestion. Instead of cutting the pieces to size before baking, I would cut the pieces afterward. Just in the process of cutting the pieces to size and then picking them up and moving them to the cookie sheet, they got all warped and I had to re-cut them. So this year I will just bake one big sheet and then cut. Just a thought.
The two of us had a blast decorating this thing! It was a fun project to tackle together.
After all of that work, it was fun to see the kiddies have so much fun digging into it!
And this is what we ended up with!
I hope that this becomes one of our family traditions!

Enjoy!

Etsy Bloggers

2009-12-30T21:53:00.003-06:00

For the month, I would like to introduce to you all the jewelry of Calkat. How great are these pieces?

Here are the links if you would like to see more: shop and blog
Enjoy!

Cheezburger Wednesday

2009-12-23T16:06:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas!

Etsy Bloggers- Favorite Color Combos

2009-12-18T21:56:00.004-06:00

This month's blog carnival is dedicated to our favorite color combinations. I have to say that Eggplant Purple and Sage green are two of my favorite colors. And I plan on using these two colors for my upcoming wedding. The clock is ticking and it is time to get creative!!! Here are a few of my inspiration pictures:Bridesmaid dresses are going to be the purple. The green is going to be the secondary, which is perfect for spring!

Something else that is not shown that I am going to be creating is decorating all of the bridesmaids gifts and groomsmen gift bags with the two colors. I have had the opportunity to do the gift bags for a wedding through my Etsy shop and I thought that it was a nice touch.

If anyone has any suggestions for different ideas for these colors, please let me know, it would be a great help!

Time to get busy!

Images are from Bridal buds,Wedding bee, and Wedding Wire.

Cheezburger Wednesday

2009-11-18T08:00:00.001-06:00

Oh my...

2009-11-15T21:12:00.004-06:00

I had no idea that so much dust accumulated on my little blog. Gees. I have been busy running between Huntsville and Nashville and working with a couple of contractors for a project on the house. Please forgive me for the absence. I will be out again probably until Wednesday afternoon. Guys, I can't tell you how this move has lingered on. I can't wait for it to be over. "Hurry up Wednesday!!"

Anyhoo, I finally got over being sick and got to D1! Oh boy, that was insane, exhausting, invigorating, and puzzling that I have so many muscles. Let me tell you that I waddled around for days!! I went on Tuesday and just yesterday I could confidently say that I was back 100%! Can't wait to go back for more! hehe
Can't tell you the last time that I had to do a full blown pushup! Oh boy...no woman modified pushups allowed. But I surprised myself and knocked it out! So exciting!Well, I promise that I will do my blog rounds as soon as I possibly can. I hope that you all are doing super duper!! Take care!

Cheezburger Wednesday

2009-11-04T07:00:00.000-06:00

Project D1

2009-11-01T16:11:00.005-06:00

I start a brand new journey tomorrow. It is one that I know is going to change my life, and I'm so excited and scared all at the same time! It is a Boot Camp program that really is meant to kick my butt and get me into tip top shape. D1 is a training facility that is geared to training collegiate athletes and pro-sports players that was started by Will Bartholomew an ex-Broncos player, and is co-owned with Peyton Manning of the Colts and Philip Rivers of the Chargers. (you can click on their logo below for their website)
So why go to this extent? Well, I am one of those people who gets super duper motivated, works like crazy for a few days and then I either get hurt or I fall from exhaustion because I did too much too fast. It has been a very vicious cycle with me. I have never been good about pacing myself or being consistent. So I have joined D1 for help to get me on track so that I can look great in time for the wedding and fingers crossed, wear a two piece (for the first time in my life) on the honeymoon. Gotta wear a two piece if you are in Hawaii, right?? I can't think of anyone better to help me than some big 'ole football players and trainers?! I'm hoping that during this next year, I am set on the right track so that I can break this ugly cycle and start being a consistent "athlete". From there, I would love to get involved in running marathons (1/2 of course) and just being a healthy person.

These next 365 days are going to be crazy, not just for this new change with me but also because of the wedding and the new house. I am a very lucky girl for all of these wonderful things and for this great opportunity. I am treating it like my very own Biggest Loser competition.

Thank you everyone for your kind wishes on the house! You guys are truly awesome, and I absolutely love your support! I will let you guys know tomorrow how my first boot camp session went, but I am preparing to be one very sore puppy this week!

Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Any Interest?

2009-10-29T08:30:00.002-05:00

I have an idea that I have been thinking about, and I am writing you guys to see if you have any interest in this. I have another blog, "that Kitty mama" and I was thinking about doing a sort of Furry Show and Tell. You guys have shown a lot of love when I have posted about my feline family so I would like to extend that to all of your furry family members.

I have an email link on that blog where you can submit your stories and pictures. I haven't seen anything like this and thought it would be fun to build a collection of our adorable pets!

Any interest in sharing your furry friends?? Please feel free to stop by!
That Kitty Mama

Cheezburger Wednesday

2009-10-28T10:33:00.001-05:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Oh so, so close!

2009-10-25T20:41:00.009-05:00

I'm getting so itchy! Not literally, but man I so cannot wait until I can say that don't live in an apartment anymore! lol We are oh so close. Here are pictures of the interior so you can see what we did.
I have an extreme aversion for beige, so we went blue.
We tore out the carpet and put in hardwood.
In the kitchen we put in granite counters, a backsplash, and a ceramic tile floor.
It is going to be so awesome to have actual cabinet space!

So that is the update on the interior! YAY! The rest of the house is pretty standard. Is it Friday yet?

Blog Carnival- Etsy Bloggers

2009-10-22T22:29:00.007-05:00

For this month's Carnival, we were asked to talk about how we were going to be celebrating Halloween. Well, as much as I love the spider webs, pumpkins and super fun decor, there won't be much of that this year. Wait! Hold on...there is going to be a lot of excitement had by all! (well, us really) ;-)

The day has finally come and we will be closing on our first house next Friday! I know that I haven't posted much on the house lately, but I do have some photos that I will be posting for you this weekend. I promise. There were lots of interior changes that we made and they are finally done with all of them. It is beautiful! And we are so incredibly pumped!And not to completely disregard the holiday, I'm hoping that we will be able to put up a few pumpkins. Fingers crossed...
I do have a bit of Halloween fun in my Etsy shop. It is a set of three black gift bags that are accented with glitter embellishments and ribbon. Perfect for those treat bags!

I hope that everyone has a Spook-tastic Halloween! I know I will!

Cheezburger Wednesdays

2009-10-21T10:47:00.003-05:00

It's that time again!!!

2009-10-16T21:23:00.008-05:00

Time for another Auburn Football Game!!! Yay! I will say that Project Football Love is moving along quite nicely!I am getting pumped for my second big Auburn game! We are leaving butt early (and let me tell you guys that I am not the most pleasant person in the morning) Seriously. Poor Chris, he handles it pretty well. He thinks that joking around will get a smile on my face, but actually he gets quite the opposite reaction. And let's see, if you look at the time stamp of this post, you will see that it is 2.5 hours before we are getting up. Whew, I'm going to be a happy girl. But obviously, very excited!

We had quite an eventful evening. This little brat (yes, don't judge me) decided that she was going to have some fun with us tonight. And we were not amused. She decided to hide from us for 10 hours in the apartment. We literally tore this place apart a few times. We had figured out that she was hiding in the garage under/in the car. We jacked the car, searched the engine and the wheels and there was no Molly. We were convinced that she had gotten out somehow. After crashing on the couch to figure out what to do next, this little thing just strolled back inside looking for food. Yea, thanks Molly. Ooo, we were relieved and ticked the same time, but once she started purring again, we were done being mad. Really, how can you be mad at this little face?!SHHH....don't tell Chris that I am showing you all this! Lookie who he ran into at the San Fran airport this week?!?! Can you tell who it is? Don't fret, I had a hard time with it at first too. I was thinking that this was an old biker buddy of his (I don't think he has any biker buddies) or I was thinking that this was some football player that I am "supposed" to know. Any other guesses??It's GUY FIERI!!! Who would have thunk it? See it now? For anyone that doesn't know who guy Fieri is, no worries, he is one of the stars of the Food Network. And I am a fan! I didn't recognize him without the blond spikey hair showing and the sunglasses on backwards! No real scope, Chris found out that he was on his way to Honolulu and that he is going to be in our neck of the woods soon. (Nashville) How cool is that?! Kind of jealous...

To continue on with the random post, I found quite a lovely surprise when I was visiting one of my regular blogger buddies, Lisa Anne. It is the Dragon's Loyalty award, and I am honored. Thank you Lisa Anne!!! Seriously, if you guys haven't found your way to her corner of the world, you would not regret wandering over there!
So standard rules apply... show some love to the one that gave you the award, link to their page in the post, and pass it on.

In the spirit of this award, I am going to pass it on to my lovely faithful followers! I love you guys! And like what Lisa Anne did, you guys will be surprised by the award by reading this post! (*wink*)

Without further adieu:
1● Beaded Tail
2●Ocean Dreams (and a special shot of love for being my very first follower!)
3●Scrappin' my Bliss
4●HazyDaisy
5●the Fox Den
6●Confession of a first time Mom

You guys are awesome! And thanks for being your beautiful selves!

I hope that you all have a SPECTACULAR weekend! It is now 2 hours before I have to get up again, so I have to shut this down and try to get some sleep I'm out~

I've been Tagged!

2009-10-15T00:05:00.005-05:00

I have been tagged by Hazydaisy!
I have to answer the following thousand questions using only one word answers, and then tag others! Here goes then:

1● Where is your cell phone? Lap
2● Your hair? Up
3● Your mother? Astounding
4● Your father? Strong
5● Your favorite food? Carbs
6● Your dream last night? Wedding
7● Your favorite drink? Wine
8● Your dream/goal? Happiness
9● What room are you in? Den
10● Your hobby? Bags
11● Your fear? Dishonesty
12● Where do you want to be in six years? Healthy
13● Where were you last night? Den
14● Something that you aren't? Dumb
15● Muffins? Blueberry
16● Wishlist item? Sewing-Machine (oops)
17● Where did you grow up? Cincinnati
18● Last thing you did? Jogged
19● What are you wearing? T-shirt
20● Your TV, movie? Bridget-Jones
21● Your pets? Funny
22● Friends? Necessity
23● Your life? Crazy
24● Your mood? Mellow
25● Missing someone? Yeap
26● Vehicle? SUV
27● Something you're not wearing? Shoes
28● Your favorite store? Coach
29● Your favorite color? Teal
30● When was the last time you laughed? Minutes
31● Last time you cried? Monday
32● Best friend sympathetic? Absolutely
33● One place you go over and over? CraftStore
34● One person who emails you regularly? Mom
35● Favorite place to eat? Penn-Station

My goodness, that was a lot!

Alrighty-runey, I would like to see these answers from...

●Smell the Coffee Lisa
●Scrappin' my Bliss
●Ocean Dreams
●Love, Taryn
●Splendid Little Stars
●MAB notes on jewelry

YAY! Have fun!

Cheezburger Wednesday

2009-10-14T09:59:00.001-05:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Holy Moley-- do I feel good!

2009-10-13T14:47:00.006-05:00

We all know that exercise makes you feel good. But wow, I just got done with a 4 mile jog/walk and I feel on top of the world! WOOHOO! Oh, fingers crossed that I can get used to this feeling so I can stop being so darn lazy and start exercising everyday!

I have never really been a runner. I grew up playing soccer and I have played my entire life. This is the first time in my life that I am actually starting to enjoy running. Gosh, I used to despise it. A goal of mine would be to run a half marathon. And I am going to try to work towards that for next year at the Music City Marathon. It will be perfect. It will force me to be in shape and hopefully look amazing in my wedding dress the next month. The marathon is in the beginning of April I believe, and our wedding is in May.

I thought that I would share some tools that are amazingly helpful. This is certainly not any kind of product review, this is introducing you all to the amazing-ness that is my running buddy. It is the Nike Plus Sportsband. It is a watch with USB thingy and sensor that "records" your runs. It logs time, distance, pace, and calories. This is what I love. You actually get to see how much work you are doing. So this allows you run anywhere and still see how far you are going. Once you are done, you just plug the USB thing into the computer and you have a page where is keeps track of all of your runs, data and everything. You can set up training programs and challenges with people from all over the world. There is the worlds largest 10K run on 10.24.2009. It's a great tool, and I love it!

So what motivates you all to get off of the couch?

I'm hoping that I can move tomorrow, so that I can get a good dose of running in again. I feel GRREEEAATTT!!

lol- and I'm a dork.

Featured Etsy Blogger

2009-10-12T19:53:00.006-05:00

It is that time of the month again! This month, the tour has stopped at "Made by Melissa". She makes the cutest little animals! She is an engineer by day, and a crafter by night!Please check her shop out at Etsy, and her blog. How cute are these?! You know you want one!!

Enjoy!

Showing love for the Donkeys

2009-10-11T15:43:00.008-05:00

I have to share with you my new pen pal! I got into an exchange of handmade cards on the Etsy forum, and I have share with you the wonderful work that she is doing. Her name is Ady and she is on Etsy to raise money for the four rescued donkeys that she has taken in. Did you guys know that donkeys needed to be rescued? It breaks my heart to find out that the donkey need to be rescued too. Here are a few pictures of her babies.

●Peugeot●Rufus●Simone●Kikoman

"The two smaller ones, Peugeot and Kikoman are micro mini's. They were at a slaughter sale when they were very very young. The larger brown one, standard mini, is Rufus...he also was at a sale. Simone, the white one, was tied to a stump, out in a field, in the summer and left behind when the people moved. He was 4 months old."

Thank you so much Ady for the work that you do! It is so great to know that the animals are loved and in good hands. They look so happy!

Please stop by her her shop and show some love!

Hello World, meet Molly!

2009-10-09T11:16:00.008-05:00

Yep, our little rescue baby is completely healthy and has captured our hearts, so I would like to introduce you to Molly!
She had a very big day at the Vet yesterday, poor little thing, but she completely blew us all away with how well she behaved. She was such a champ! So our little one is about 9 weeks old and weighed in at a solid 2 pounds and 9 ounces. She sat on that table and had blood drawn, shots, pills, and a bath and she just purred the whole time! Really, purring at the vet, who knew?!
This little one decided that Monday night, she wanted to be an indoor kitty. Normally she would run from you if you looked at her, and for some reason that night she was crying and crying at the screen door and standing on her hind legs. It was going to be a cold night. Very bizarre for her. So that is when Game Plan Rescue Kitty was put into effect.
We have started to bring her out and introducing her to her new family. This is Aubie, same birth mother but different litter. We are hoping that they bond and play together. We rescued Aubie back in March. Talk about SPOILED LITTLE PRINCESS! She demands fresh water and she loves her king size pillow top bed! Come on Aubie, time to be a good big sister...
Here is Molly's and Aubie's Mama. I absolutely adore her. She is the sweetest, most passive kitty and a great mama. I would LOVE to rescue her, she deserves a good home. I just can't get her. Don't worry Mama, we are taking care of your two babies!
So Monday night she was utterly fearful of humans, and now she is a COMPLETE LOVE BUG! Can't get enough! We are working on the playing, but I have faith that will come in the new few days. Such a great kitten!

Cheezburger Wednesday

2009-10-07T11:32:00.000-05:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

There is now one more off of the streets!

2009-10-06T14:06:00.003-05:00

First off, I want to thank all of you for the sweet birthday wishes! They meant so much to me! You guys are awesome! There was a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant, and we shared one Monster Margarita! Ah, it was a nice evening.

So I have to share some great news with you all. I'm sure by visiting my blog, it is pretty clear that we love cats. Now, I will say that I am not the cat lady and never will be. I will never ever take on that title. It implies some, hmmm, ah heck you know what I am talking about.

Anyhoo, we have taken care of all of the strays in our apartment complex. There are two kittens that are in that mix and we have dreamed up some ways of trapping them and saving them. (Not that we don't like the older ones, but it is a lot harder to save them. They don't make that transition well.) Last night, I gave it a shot, and I was successful in trapping one of them. We are so excited to have one more off of the streets. Here is the little guy (or gal), not so sure yet. That is a regular 4 inch bathroom tile, so you can see this is a pretty small guy. Couldn't be more than 3-4 months old.
I should say that no one was hurt in the process. I took a single cat carrier and put it up to the screen door. I had a plate of food in the carrier and another about six inches outside the sliding door. So when the two kittens were eating from the one plate, this little guy saw the one in the carrier and walked right in. I quickly shut the door before it had any idea what was going on. No worries, he was not harmed in any way.

He had a great first night. This little one has never been touch by a human, and frankly hasn't gotten within 5 feet of one. But within an hour of being in a bathroom, I was able to pet it! And not only that but this morning, I walked in the bathroom to see that it had used the litter box TWICE and it had eaten some food! Ah, such a relief! It made the transition within hours. Still frightening by this big human coming towards it with big hand rubbing it's body, but hey, one small step at a time, right?!

Fingers crossed that is a healthy little one, and that I can be successful in trapping his buddy tonight!

I'm 29 today!

2009-10-03T11:13:00.003-05:00

Oh boy! 365 days until the big 30... Let me just say that I am going to cherish these next 365 days!
Nothing special planned today. Just hanging out at home. It is a beautiful day outside, windows are open, cool breeze coming in. Birds are chirping away, and the sun is bright. Can't complain with that, can you?! I love that my birthday is in the fall, I absolutely love this time of year!

Alright, no offense everyone, but I'm out!

Cheezburger Wednesdays

2009-09-30T10:24:00.003-05:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I am starting Cheezburger Wednesdays. I absolutely love the "icanhascheezburger" website and the posts that they have are too funny that I have to share them with you all. So I hope you enjoy a little bit of cuteness and humor for your Wednesdays!

WAR EAGLE!

2009-09-26T12:29:00.019-05:00

I am now a fan! My first College football experience was intense! I went to a small university for undergrad and grad so I missed out on all of this fun stuff! But I will certainly be making up for that now... Let's see, it was WET, crazy, thought provoking, and I really do need to emphasize the WETNESS factor. But all in all, it was a fabulous weekend and extremely exhausting!

Have any of you guys been tailgating? I really don't think I understood the meaning of it. I was thinking open back end of a SUV with chips & dip, beer, and some chairs. That's all. Man, I was in for an awakening. Tailgating is serious business people! We are talking lots of RVs, campers, tents, and some trucks and SUVs mixed in there as well. These guys get there two days before kickoff and just hanging out. Any bit of land on campus is taken up with these campers. And then come Friday afternoon after classes, the RVs take over the parking lots. (We are talking swanky RVs too) People just set up shop and eat, drink and be merry with other hard core fans.

Okay, let's kick up this image up a notch. There are tons of tents, grills, and food like you wouldn't believe. But the biggest thing that literally BLEW MY MIND was the Satellite dishes and flat panel TVs. No, I am not kidding you. They were everywhere! I still can't imagine setting up a satellite dish and a nice TV under a tent. So before kickoff, people just drink, hang out all day and watch other football games.

Here was our little tailgate. And I say little because even though to me, this is pimped out, it wasn't as pimped out as some of the setups that we saw.

Hardcore!(see the satellite dish on the left by the SUV?)
(Chris and I, pre-storm)

Here is Tiger Walk. Mass people crowd outside the stadium to cheer the players as they walk into the stadium. I couldn't get the best pictures, sorry about that. The second picture is shows the van that brings in the Eagle. We didn't get to see the Eagle fly around the stadium because of the rain and the rain delay.
Okay. The rain. We are not talking about a drizzle or even a steady rain. We are talking about a TORRENTIAL rain storm. I took this picture right before the sky literally opened up. Yeap, we got caught up in this sucker. We found out later that this storm dumped 3.75 inches in 40 minutes. There wasn't a dry inch on us. All we had was an extremely thin "trash bag" of a poncho that was only designed to hold off a drizzle.
The students just stripped down to what was legally allowed and just relished in it and sang along to Creedence Clearwater Revival "Have you ever seen the Rain". Funny right? I wasn't really laughing at the time. But it was amazing to see the shear love for their team. It was pretty impressive. Here is a you tube video a fan took on the opposite side of the stadium. About a minute in you can hear the crowd singing.

It was late when the game finally got started. I will spare your all of the actual game details. Short story- West Virgina was whipping Auburn's butt in the beginning but then Auburn got their act together, made it a game, and then won. (how was that?)

For any of you who didn't have a college football experience, I took this video for you so you can get a glimpse of the environment.

After the game we had a 2 mile walk back to the camper and then we had to wait in traffic to get out of town. We were beyond tired. The one thing we didn't do was go down into campus and see the students TP all of the trees. That is a tradition for all wins. Fingers crossed that when we go down in October, we will have the opportunity to see that.

What an AWESOME weekend!!! I can't wait to go see another game, and it would be great if it were a dry one!! I am a FAN!

WAR EAGLE!

Designs by Vanessa

2009-09-22T20:44:00.007-05:00

Hey Guys! It is that time of month for the Featured Etsy Blogger! This month is Vanessa @ Designs by Vanessa. If you guys have not seen her shop, it is a must see! Her cards and jewelry are fantastic! Cute birdies!
Love this necklace!
Seriously, can you get any cuter?

Here are her links:
Etsy Shop ♥ http://designsbyvanessa.etsy.com
Blog ♥ http://designsbyvanessa.blogspot.com

Please enjoy!

A post full of Randomness

2009-09-15T22:42:00.003-05:00

Today I had my dreaded dentist appointment. A crown and a couple of cavities. (please don't judge the state of my mouth!) AGH. The whole left side of my face looked deformed. And then stupid me had to go to the grocery store afterwards for some soft food, and I felt like I was drooling all over the place. I couldn't close my mouth because when I would, my face would contort into all kinds of unattractive faces. I couldn't get home fast enough. But you know, I am writing this at 11pm and I'm not doing too bad. Not too bad at all. Guess I can't be so scared of the dentist now right?!

My fantasy football team did GREAT this weekend! I'm in first place! Thanks baby! lol It is his team with my name on it. What can I say, he has 14 years of fantasy practice on me so of course I am going to take his advice! lol But I did faithfully watch some of the games. Project Football Love had a good first week!

I thank Kaibee for the lovely Splash award! Truly thoughtful. You have to check out her blog, very very cute! Diary of an all Pakistani Girl I want to thank all of you guys for your bloggy love. I have only been blogging for a few months, and I absolutely love it. And I am so excited to have some new friends, thank you for taking a seat at my blog. I am a VERY, VERY lucky girl, and I feel loved! You guys are wonderful!

I am SOO looking forward to the weekend! Chris and I are going to Auburn for a football game! YAY! He surprised me with the tickets last night!! I am so excited! Looking forward to a long weekend doing some fun stuff outside of Nashville! I went to a small university so I never got to experience that college football thing. So I am really looking forward to a full weekend of Tiger Walk, toilet papering the trees if they win, tailgating, and watching the Eagle flying around the stadium! Let's just all keep our fingers crossed that they win so that I come home with a happy fiance. lol But rest assured, I will be posting some pictures!! I am so excited!! Is it the weekend yet?@assets.espn.go.com

Do any of you guys watch So You Think You Can Dance? or Project Runway? I am looking forward to my shows this week! Oh and "The Office" premerie, YIPPY! Very excited about that!

The computer is going to be getting shipped off soon to get some much needed repairs, so if I am MIA for a week and I can't borrow a computer- you all will know what is going down. I don't know what I am going to do, no computer! AHHH! There is probably going to be lots of bags being made! lol

Hmm...I think that is all for the moment. We were down checking out the house this past weekend and it SHOCKING how much they had gotten done. It is amazing. I am ready to move- like tomorrow. lol I will have to post some of the pics for you guys.

I hope you guys are all doing well and your week has gotten off to a good start!

My first Blog Carnival!

2009-09-11T22:05:00.010-05:00

A big "Hello" Everyone!! This post is my participation in my first blog carnival. I am a new member of the Etsy bloggers and so every month you will see a post about different topics and themes. I hope that you enjoy reading them, they will certainly bring a different flavor to my blog. I am so excited!!So the topic for this post is "To make the world better what do you do? Charity donations or support, volunteering, or living green"

Actually it is an easy one for me to answer. It combines my love and education in architecture and the helpless stray animals that are in our neighborhoods and towns. My dream is to go into towns and revitalize abandoned shopping centers (big boxes) and make them into No Kill Animal Shelters. We all see the sweet animals in our neighborhoods sometimes there is only so much that can be done, and it kills me. My heart goes out to the stray dogs and cats, and I would take everyone of them in if I could. I really would. Our cats are strays that we have taken in, and Chris and I are feeding a Mama Cat and her two kittens at the moment. We would so love to take in these little guys, it is tearing us up not to.We have also heard those heartbreaking stories about humane societies putting helpless animals down for the simple reason that there isn't any food. Well you know what, this isn't good enough.My hometown is riddled with old shopping centers that are struggling and are complete eye sores. They just sit there. Why can't some of those big boxes get turned into No Kill Shelters? It would bring in people, it would more importantly allow for those helpless animals to have a home, some love and live out their life in peace if they were not able to get adopted. And with the space that comes with a big box, we are talking about 100,000 square feet that animals can have their own little world and they would be off the streets.I am hoping that as soon as I finish up my licensing exams and become a Licensed Architect, I am able to use my "expertise" to find a way to, in a sense "kill two birds with one stone". I know this is not the best analogy I can use especially in a post about saving the animals, but I think that you can understand my point. It is a win-win in my opinion.

Thank you so much for reading about my dream. I would love to see it materialize someday.

Little Parker

2009-09-10T00:23:00.004-05:00

I want to thank all of you who were sending some prayers and good thoughts Parker's way and to give you all an update on his condition because he had been doing so well! He had all of the IVs taken out, put in an open crib started feeding from a bottle(!), and he is now over 3lbs. Such a blessing!

The roller coaster took another dive this evening and he is quite a sick little guy again. He was now having seizures every 20 minutes, it looks like the meningitis is back, low blood pressure, and possible pneumonia. This poor little guy, he is fighting so hard.

Please offer up another round of prayers and thoughts for little Parker and his family. They can use everything we got!

For those who are new to my blog, here is the previous post about this Precious little guy, and the family's blog with all of the updates.

Thanks again everyone! Let's pray this roller coaster starts climbing another hill.

Oh boy, Oh boy!

2009-09-04T11:10:00.006-05:00

I just picked Chris up from the airport and lookey what he brought me! Fresh sourdough from San Francisco! Yippy, my favorite. And it is a cute turtle! I don't even want to eat it, it is too cute!
And this is a loaf of asiago sourdough. As you can see, someone has already gotten to it! lol Yum, yum.So do you guys have any suggestions with what I can do with the bread??

Do you all have any plans for the weekend? I get to finally spend some time with Chris here at home! It gets hard with Chris because he is gone every week for work to a new place each week so I don't really get to see him until the weekend. Then sometimes he isn't even here for a whole weekend. It gets frustrating sometimes just because he isn't here and I miss him. Some weeks are better than others, but I had a hard time with it this week. One week at a time right?! And he has a week off this next week so I get him for a whole week!!! Oh, boy!

On a happier note, the house is moving along beautifully! We are going down there next week to check in, and I am pretty pumped! I can't wait to see it all! I will be sure to get some pictures for you guys.

I hope that you all have a SUPER DUPER weekend! I hope that you all get to have some fun with your family! Be safe in all you do!

This is going to be interesting...

2009-08-29T20:24:00.004-05:00

Well, I did something this evening that I never thought that I would do. It was done out of a sincere attempt to enjoy one of the man's passions. I worked really hard at this last year and so this year I decided to go that extra step. (theMainLadybug and ontherefrigeratordoor can verify my efforts from the last year-lol)

So, what am I giving my fall away too? A fantasy football league.

Hmm...it looks very strange doesn't it? Especially coming from me. Now granted, this is just a league involving the family, and yes, I did have him throw in some HEAVY input (*wink*) but the fact of the matter is there is a team called:

The Little Lambs

Sounds fierce, right!! Get it? Mary & the little lambs?!! Go Lambs!

I will keep you updated with the progress that the team is making...are there any football fans out there aside from the Main Ladybug??? Ms. Ladybug, I did draft Rob Bironas! (heavy suggestion from the man) But I will say that I do remember his name from last year! And I knew there had to be someone from the Titan's on my team just for you!!!

Now allow me to throw in a beautiful memory of mine. We all knew that the Main Ladybug is a Titans fan. No- really, she is a BIG Titan's fan. But there was that one Thursday office party where we were told to show our Titan's spirit, and who would have thought, but that Main Ladybug dyed her hair blue!!! But not only that, there was a Titan's sports jersey with the incorporated packing air bubbles as shoulder pads. It was so priceless, I can't even explain to you how priceless it was. Aw, our bosses' faces. I will never forget it! Thank Ms. Ladybug!

(Side note, if you haven't met the Main Ladybug, you all will love her as I do. Please stop on by!)

So I have a sneaking feeling that this team is going to get me to become a hard core football fan. I have to be truthful, I kind of hope it does. That way the man and I can have something else to bond over. He will never get me on baseball, but I think he has a strong possibility that he will get me on football. I live in the South, this is big right??!! Let's hope that this time next year, I won't be soooo annoyed at the football countdown. Yes, Ladies, I am update quite frequently with the weeks, days, hours and minutes until the first game!

What is the role of football in your households? How do you all deal?

Whew! Bag making frenzy last night!

2009-08-26T23:26:00.015-05:00

Good grief! I got such a creative burst last night and just went crazy making as many gift bags as I could possibly make. I think that I totaled 16 and that was in one evening. Crazy, right?! I have been accumulating an obnoxiously long list of bags that I wanted to make and I just went to town tearing up the place!

I wanted to share them with you to see what you think. Ladies, please-please-please feel free to give me any feedback about these crazy creations. I can take the good and bad!! Really, I can. lol And if you have any ideas on new bags or bag sets that I can make, I would love any suggestions!

This is my favorite set! It is a set of 9 bags all with different ribbons and stickers on them. And not just stickers, but MAD LIB stickers for "Girl's Night Out!" How much fun is this! Seriously! So my thought is that this would make for a perfect game where each woman fills out the mad lib and then you have to guess who wrote what based on their answers! What a great icebreaker! I'm such a geek, but sounds like a bag full of fun!!! (had to throw that retarded comment in there!)

I so love this black glitter butterfly paper!

Holiday Bags:

I can't believe that the holidays are right around the corner! What a whirlwind!

Silk flower bags:

This is bright enough that it can brighten anyone's day!! lol

It is great to finally have a good amount of stuff listed in my store! If you want to see any more pictures or find out any more information on these bags, my store is www.thatdesignshop.etsy.com!

I am thinking about doing a giveaway soon of some of my bags. Any thoughts or suggestions on what kinds of bags you guys would like to see? I am here to appease everyone!

Thanks Ladies!

OUR HOUSE!!!

2009-08-23T21:55:00.008-05:00

YAY!! Chris and I are so pumped! Ah, there is a light at the end of the tunnel- no more apartment living! Thank goodness! And yes, that is a SOLD sign!!! WOOHOO! Ladies, I am so excited!I do sincerely apologize for being a news tease, but I wanted just to wait just a bit longer to make sure that all of our ducks were in a row! You know, I was afraid that I would share the wonderful news will all of you and then we would get a phone call saying "nice try". lol A little tibbit about me, I am such a paranoid person. It drives Chris up the wall. :) So that was my reasoning for drawing all of this out. Hope you all will forgive me!

We are even fornutate enough to pimp this house out a little bit with hardwood floors, and some granite! They will be starting the work soon, and I will keep you all up to date!

Here is the view as soon as you step inside, trust me Ladies, when I am done with this house, there will not be an inch of Beige in sight. I am SOOO not a fan of beige! COLOR BABY!
And this is our kitchen! One of our prereqs. for our house was a big kitchen. Chris and I are sick and tired of having to do leap frog and twirls around each other when we cook together. That is something that we like to do together, so the kitchen was a big thing! Picture granite counters and a backsplash! YIPPY! So giddy! This is my little brother Stephen! Hi Stephen! And we are going to be moving close to my brother and SIL, and all of Chris' family and friends. I am pretty pumped about being near family again! It has been a long time...Backyard!! This picture is from the back corner of our lot, we lucked out and got a HUGE backyard! Bonus! I have been talking Chris' ear off about our backyard and how I am going to go HOG WILD landscaping this sucker! I just hope that he is ready for it all! I'm thinking English garden!
So this was my news! I can't wait! I will be sure to keep you all up to date with the interior construction photos! They should be started this soon!

Some Prayers Needed for Parker

2009-08-19T21:36:00.005-05:00

Hey Ladies,

Lindsey is a good girlfriend of mine from college and she just had a baby boy who is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Parker was born at 12:01 am on July 28th, he weighed 2 pounds 1 oz. and was 13 inches long after a short (26 weeks) and trauma filled pregnancy.
Thus far in his short little life, he has had to overcome some big obstacles like Bacterial Meningitis, high levels of E. Coli, and Apnea. Too much for such a little one. I can't imagine the roller coaster that Lindsey and Lance are on. In one of her posts she said that Parker is wearing Lance's wedding ring as a bracelet, it broke my heart.Here is Lindsey's blog that she has started to keep everyone up to date on Parker's status. I know that they can use as many prayers as they can get. Parker Alexander Maximus Ringhand's story.

Thanks Ladies, I know that I can count on you!

What a Wonderful Treat!

2009-08-17T20:49:00.004-05:00

I hope that everyone has had a great start to the week! What a crazy week and weekend! Two separate trips to Huntsville, and a trip to Mobile- insane. I am a bit tired! lol

I came back to find out that I have been given a blog award! WOOHOO! Thank you so much Cindy! I was featured on her blog Chalk It Up! on Friday! If you haven't seen her blog, she has some amazing art work, and her frames are fantastic!

Seriously, how amazing is this!? Please stop by and check it out! Thanks Cindy!

I know that there is some news to share, but I have to hold on a bit longer. I should be good to share by the end of the week. Don't mean to tease you all, I apologize. But it is big! ;-)

Anyone excited for the Project Runway premiere on Thursday?! I can't wait!

I'm still here!

2009-08-12T21:33:00.003-05:00

Hey Ladies!

I know that I have been missing in action the last few days, but I will be filling you in on all of the details soon, I promise. There is some very good news to share, but it is still a bit too soon! Teaser, right!! Hehe, I love it. And before you start getting any ideas- no, I am not preggo! Sorry to disappoint, but that isn't it!

We are heading to Mobile for the weekend and I will be back on Monday. Fingers crossed that I will have my computer back by Monday and I will be off and running again. Oh, it has been so hard without my computer. Isn't it ridiculous that you can get attached to that silly machine!

So until next week, here is a cute picture to share! I hope everyone is doing well and I will catch up with you all soon! Take is easy!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

My Three New Friends!

2009-08-08T12:38:00.006-05:00

Ah, I feel so much better after my long vent from last night! The good thing that came from it, is that I now have the motivation to pick myself back up and study again. I have been away from it for a long time and it is about time that I finish what I started. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read it, I know that it wasn't pretty! lol I went ahead and deleted it though. It didn't show my best side. lol :-)

So here I am with a new recipe that is a lot of fun! But should really only be enjoyed on a bad day, because Ladies, it is not healthy! But man, is it delicious! I call it my "3 Guys Pie."
Ingredients:

2 Pints of Ben & Jerry's Stephen Colbert Ice Cream (hence the 3 Guys)
1 Premade Chocolate Graham Cracker Crust 9"
1 12oz. box of Waffle Cones
1 7.25oz Container of Magic Shell Chocolate Flavored

Let the ice cream sit out for 15-20 minutes or so. It needs to be soft enough so that you can spread the ice cream around in the pie crust. My ice cream was soft by the time that I got home from the store so it might not take that long.

While that is softening, take all of the cones and break them up into small pieces. As seen below:
Simple pimple to assemble. Spread the ice cream all over the pie. Be careful not to eat ALL portions of the carmel, it is hard to resist. Place the pie back in the freezer for 2-4 hours. You are looking for the ice cream to harden again. After it is frozen, you can do the topping. Take the magic shell and cover the top of the pie. Then sprinkle the cone pieces over the top of the chocolate. Finally top the cones with the left over chocolate shell. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes to allow for the shell to harden.

Cut, serve, and enjoy! Do not get on the scales for the next 5 days!!! But guarentee to brighten any bad day!!! :-) And this is Chris' hand! He couldn't wait another 2 seconds for me to take this picture!

Tagged! I'm it!

2009-08-05T16:18:00.010-05:00

I've been tagged! WOOHOO! My new friend HazyDaisy just tagged me to share 6 random things about myself! She has a great blog with some really beautiful pictures, please check it out! (thanks HazyDaisy for the entertainment while I was waiting for my car to get fixed!!)

Alright Ladies, here is the scoop!

1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random and/or revealing things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your post entry is up on your site.

Six Random things about me:

1. I am a HUGE Dave Matthews fan. Really, HUGE fan! I have been to 11 shows, and I have actually gotten to sit in the second row at my very first concert! Love Dave! (Imagine my arms stretched out wide) "THIS MUCH"!! HEHE ;-)2. I can't stand the word "panties". Ah, I even cringe just typing the word. I have no idea where my hatred for the word came from, but I can't stand it! Eh...
3. I took Scottish Dancing lessons for awhile when I was young, and I absolutely loved it. I was bummed when I had to stop, because it was conflicting with soccer. My mom grew up playing the bagpipes, so I have that always had that in my life. I truly do love all things Scottish, and I would absolutely love the chance to go there some day. (Scotland and Rome are first two on my list)
4. I HATE spiders! Depise them! But I can't kill them! The thought of squishing one-ah-diguisting!! So I do one of three things. 1-Leave it for my insect catcher, Lizzie (below)
She is awesome at it! 2-Try to pretend I don't see it, but I am screaming and running away, and 3-Break out the Windex, toilet cleaner, whatever I can get my hands on. I can't squish it, but I can spray the heck out of it! Terrible, aren't I??! Creepy and disquisting.
5. Being an Architect (Degreed, not licensed yet. Yes, you are sensing some bitterness. But I will spare you all of venting, because that is another blog in the making. Not just a post, a blog! I will spare the world. Interns- you know what I am talking about!!) Okay, back on track.
We have studied several Architects during our time in Architectural school, and my favorite Architect is Marlon Blackwell. He is located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and is AMAZING! And I would actually move to Arkansas to work for him. I have had the opportunity to meet him twice (I'm soooo lucky!!!) Once when I was studying at Harvard and then a couple of years later when he was a visiting professor at my graduate school. Above is a pictures of one of his projects that I love. It is a carport plus beekeeper's workshop. Awesome!
6. I have a fetish! Big fetish for handbags! Love them! And especially Coach bags! BE-AUTIFUL!
This love started when I was living in Argentina and I was completely surrounded by leather, steaks, and fashion. Ah, and they are so cheap too, it's awesome! Next trip, I am going with the clothes on my back, suitcases packed in suitcases and I am filling them up with handbags and introducing Chris to the wonderfully tasty steaks!! If you want a bag, let me know, I will put you on the list, I will be bringing back several!!! hehe

Whew- sorry to go on there! So I am tagging a few of my new friends to get to know them a bit better! Looking forward to reading your lists!!

Scrappin' my Bliss
Smell the Coffee Lisa
Melissa Heart and Home
Chalk it Up!
Blogging Jax
Wish with Me

Tori & Dean, Home Sweet Hollywood

2009-08-04T22:53:00.004-05:00

Have any of you guys watched this show? Let me start off by saying that yes, I was a 90210 fan, but I can't say that I was a huge fan of Tori Spelling. But she is back on TV with her husband Dean, son Liam and daughter Stella.

Well, I was bored one day, so I decided give it five minutes to impress me. Let me just say WOW! She is nothing like what you would think a big celeb would be like! She is completely real, I am utterly amazed! And you know, I have actually enjoy catching her show when I get the chance now. Yes, I know another show. But there is also a bonus, her husband is not bad on the eyes either Ladies! ;) Right, right??!! Well, minus those 1970s glasses! Hmm...
I give her a lot of credit growing up with the fame of her father and the drama that continues to have with her mother, but she is down to earth, friendly, sweet and she could truly be one of your girlfriends!

Her show is on Oxygen at various times of the week, check it out sometime!

New Creation!

2009-08-02T16:24:00.006-05:00

I finished a great gift bag set that would be perfect for that next upcoming Bachelorette party that you are going to! How sexy is the black and pink with the pink fuzzy zebra patterned ribbon?I had a lot of fun making these bags, and I can easily add the names of the attendees and the date on the bag. If more bags are needed for all of the women, just send an email to me and I can set that up!
These bags would also be good for that girl's night outing together or maybe for a 30th Birthday party! Many, many possibilities! Check out my store listing for more info on these fun bags!!!

Enjoy!

Let's take a moment....

2009-07-31T21:27:00.008-05:00

This post is dedicated to a special group of people that are very close to me who all lost their jobs today. I was separated from this group of people, my family, back in February and the pain that have been dealing with since my lay off, I would never wish it on my worst enemy. Their situation is much worse with the circumstances behind it, I can't even imagine how one would process it all. Ladies, I love you, and I am praying for you.

Dear Lord Jesus Christ,
You wanted all who are weary
To come to You for support.
Lord, I am worn out
By my inability to find work.

Guide my steps to a righteous path;
Give me the patience
To find opportunities with a future.
Calm my worries and fears
As my financial responsibilities mount.
Strengthen my resolve;
Embolden my heart to open doors;
Open my eyes to see life beyond rejections.
Help me believe in me.

Let me realize other ways
To bring about Your kingdom on earth.
Let me grow as a person
That I may be worthy
For Your greater glory.
In the name of the Father.

Amen.

I know that God has a plan for us, and for the millions of other people that are in the same situation as we are, I just pray that this plan is revealed to us sooner rather than later. I am just trying to keep in mind that, "what was meant to be, will be."

My very first Blog Award!

2009-07-30T08:06:00.007-05:00

Woohoo for blog awards! I have to thank JosiahsMommy for the lovely honor of this award. I have had a lot of fun since I have started blogging, and I have learned a lot from all of you. I send out a big thank you to everyone for their bloggy love and your help while I figure all of this stuff out! Woohoo!

If you have a moment, please check out JosiahsMommy's blog, you won't regret it! I have enjoyed stalking her blog, so please show some love!
For this award, please accept it, then acknowledge the blog & blogger that has given you the award in a post along with his/her name, and link. Then pass the award onto 15 other blogs that you love to stalk. So lots of love and fun will be had by all! Remember to write everyone to let them know that you have given them an award!

I would love to share the bloggy award love with:

On the Refrigerator Door
Life, Love and Ladybugs
The Fox Den
It Aint Easy Being Cheesy
PurrPrints: Art, Cats and Randomness
Scrappin' My Bliss
Vino Bodega
OceanDreams
Rachel vs. "The Kitchen"
I Could Use a Deal!
AB Interiors
Chalk it Up!
Faith Imagined
Love, Taryn
Welcome to the Nut House!

Ladies, I have enjoyed reading your blogs immenesely. Please enjoy and pass on the love!!

Spotted dick by Heinz??

2009-07-26T18:42:00.005-05:00

Excuse me??!? I certainly don’t mean to offend anyone here that may find this the most appetizing thing on the planet, but what the heck is this? I thought that this was joke at first, you know one of *those* gag gift type of jokes. Or it seems like something that should be on Bizarre Foods.

Wikipedia to the rescue. “Spotted dick is a steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit (usually currants), commonly served with either custard or butter and brown sugar. Spotted refers to the dried fruit (which resemble spots) and Dick may be a contraction/corruption of the word pudding (from the last syllable) or possibly a corruption of the word dough.[1] Another explanation offered for the latter half of the name is that it comes from the German word for "thick," in reference to the thickened suet mixture. It is a cultural part of English Cuisine."
Hmm…Interesting. So can anyone report on this?

What kind of response would I get if I said "Hey honey, how about some spotted dick for desert?" lol I don't know about him, but I certainly don't think I would take a fork to it if someone asked me that!

This Woman's Work

2009-07-23T08:46:00.008-05:00

Yes, I know, I talk about this show a lot, but please allow me this free pass. Last night was extremely powerful due to a dance by Tyce DiOrio talking about the turmoil that a woman goes through when she has Breast Cancer. There is not a lot more that I can say, it speaks for itself.

Crafty Tip Tusday

2009-07-21T20:23:00.008-05:00

Are there scrapbookers out there that have been frustrated with the lack of good scrapbooking flowers? Half of the time that I go into Hobby Lobby which by the way is just about everyday (man I have to get a life) I just don't see any good flowers to use. But on the way out of the store one day it dawned on me that I could use some regular silk flowers. Why not!?
I'm sure this isn't an original idea, but just something to throw out there. So I have gone nuts buying lots of flowers and now I have so many choices. It is fantastic! It does open a few doors to more flowers that have a lot more depth of color, and certainly a lot more possibilities. Silk flowers are usually 50% off at Hobby Lobby, so it makes quite an amazing deal! Here is one of the ways that I have utilized this new idea.

Enjoy!

Girl's first pie!

2009-07-20T13:34:00.006-05:00

Ah, I’m back Ladies! Missed you all! Well, an apple pie with a lattice crust is Chris’ favorite so I decided to see if I could whip one together for a surprise for him after a long week of traveling for work. I have never made a pie before, but I am so happy with how it turned out! And he was constantly raving with how good it was. Looks like it is a winner! And if a newbie like myself can pull this off, anyone can do it!!Pie Crusts (yields the bottom and top crusts for a 9” pie pan)-

12 Tablespoons of unsalted Butter (1 ½ sticks)
3 Cups of all purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon of Sea or Kosher Salt
1 Tablespoon of Sugar
1/3 Cup of very cold Vegetable Shortening
1/2 Cup of ice cold Water

Filling-

½ Cup of unsalted Butter
2 Tablespoons of all purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon of Corn Starch
¼ Cup of Water
¾ Cup of White Sugar
¾ Cup of packed Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon of Nutmeg
1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
5 Granny Smith Apples
2 Red Delicious Apples

Place the shortening, butter and water in the freezer about 30 minutes before starting so that it is extra cold. When you are ready to start, dice up the butter and then put it back into the fridge while you are putting the mixture together. Add the flour, salt and sugar into the food processor and pulse a few times. Then add the butter and the shortening and start pulsing the processor. Continue to pulse while slowly adding the water in the feed tube until the dough starts balling up. Dump it out onto the board, roll into a ball, wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Once melted, add the flour, corn starch and stir into the mixture to make a paste. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, bring to a boil and then lower the heat and let simmer.

Peel, core and cut up the apples and place in a mixture of water and lemon juice to keep the apples from browning. Once the apples are cut, it is about time to pull the dough out and start making the crust. Cut the dough in half one half will be for the crust and the other half will be the lattice crust top. Dust the board and rolling pin with flour so that the dough does not stick. Always roll out from the center of the dough. Before placing the bottom crust in the pan, be sure to spray the pie pan with a nonstick spray (I forgot this one).

Drain the water from the apples. Take ¾ of the syrup and pour over the apples. Fold mixture into the apples to make sure that they are all coated evenly. Fill the pie pan with apples and mound them slightly, they will cook down.
Roll out the other half of the dough. Cut into ½ or ¾ inch strips depending on how thick that you want the strips to be. Start with placing a strip down the center of the pie. Next, place sever strips perpendicular to the center strip alternating on top or on bottom of the center strip. Continue to add strips in the basket weave pattern. Trim extra dough from the edges of the pan and pinch the dough together.

Take the final bit of the syrup and brush it onto the top crust. Then sprinkle the cinnamon all over the pie. Your pie is ready to bake! Oven should be at 350 degrees and should bake for 50-55 minutes. With 10 minutes remaining, brush a milk wash over the top.

Put the pie in the fridge and let it sit overnight so that the filling will have an opportunity to firm up. Next day cut, heat up and enjoy!!

SYTYCD Week 4- Good stuff, lots and lots of good stuff!!

2009-07-01T21:00:00.004-05:00

Janette and Brandon: Cha, Cha, Cha- HOT, HOT & HOT! Holy Moley! THE HOT TAMELE TRAIN CAME FOR THEM, OMG, AND THOSE WERE FIRST CLASS TICKETS!!!!!! I HAVE TO SEE THAT AGAIN!!! I am so glad that Mia came out and said that she is the hardest on the ones that are bursting with talent because I’m sure that Brandon felt pretty crappy about himself after Mia and Lil C had a little too much to say to him at the auditions. You could see how much that compliment choke him up…but Brandon has nailed everything that they have given to him, he is simply amazing!

Kayla and Kupono: Jazz- If only I could understand the place that Sonya’s dances come from, I just don’t understand her mind. The dance was really dark, but not in a bad way it is just a new world of dance. This is the reason why I really LOVE this show, it opens your eyes up to what dance could be. Simply awesome! I really like the two of them together, not to say anything about Ashley or Max, but they are a great couple! And they were given a second trip on the HOT TAMELE train. WOOHOO! Alright 2 for 2 for the HOT TAMELE TRAIN! What a great start to the week!

Randi and Evan: Broadway, Wow, I figured that the judges would be all over that, because I absolutely loved it. But here again, I do not have that educated viewpoint. This was not would I would traditionally think of as Broadway, but it was darker play fight between man and woman with a Broadway twist! Hmm… I really liked it.

Catlin and Jason: Jazz, Okay- woman alien invades earth and she has to find the last man to procreate with…Really?? How do they come up with this? It was certainly enjoyable if you are able to just imagine and play along with the story that they are telling, but boy, that was straight up weird! I just love this show!

Jeanine and Philip: Hip-Hop Very cute! They were literally chained together at the ankles and not once did they mess up. It was great!!! (They should have been on the HOT TAMELE TRAIN).

Melissa and Ade: Classical Ballet- Yeap, you heard me right CLASSICAL BALLET on SYTYCD!!!! Romeo and Juliet, it was simply amazing! The two of them were just awesome! LOVED IT!!!

Karla and Vitolio: Quick Step, Oh boy, this dance is always the kiss of death. But they did a really great job!!! That was great! WOOHOO!

And what you have to remember is that these are not the styles that any of these dancers were trained in and they look like they have been dancing these styles for years. It is unreal how amazing these dancers are. I do not know who goes home this week, and I am glad I do not have to make that decision.WHAT A GREAT EVENING! THAT WAS AMAZING!

Big Cat Rescue

2009-06-27T15:53:00.008-05:00

Well, I just got back from vacation from Clearwater Fl, Mobile, AL and Huntsville, AL. Yes, it was a very long trip and much needed! I will share some photos here in the next couple of days, but I just have to tell you all about an amazing place that Chris and I visited in Tampa. It is called the Big Cat Rescue, and it is a charity and sanctuary that saves exotic cats from roadside zoos and people who have these cats as pets.

Their stories are absolutely heartbreaking with the conditions that they have been brought up in such as living in basements, cages that are too small that their noses gets scratched, being breed for fur mills, and being chained to concrete floors that the fur on their joints have been completely rubbed away. That barely covers the extent of the deplorable conditions that these cats have had to endure. As much as this yanks on the heartstrings, you have to be so very thankful that there are such wonderful people in the world that have made it their mission to reach out to these beautiful creatures to take care of them and give them a permanent home for the rest of their lives.

Please do not take this post as me on a soapbox about exotic cats. This is solely written as an informative post about these beautiful animals that have been saved and given a second chance at life. Although it is not the life that they would have in the wild, they have been given a chance to live their life out in peace and comfort while being loved and cherished by the volunteers and visitors. I had never heard about this sanctuary or even had a notion that there are people that would treat animals this way. I wish that there was more that I can do. So I’m hoping that spreading the word does a little something.

Here is the story of the cat that we “adopted”. “His name is Cheetaro and he is a Male Asian Leopard born 7/1/1998. Cheetaro arrived at the Big Cat Rescue in November 2003 for a roadside zoo. Cheetaro was confined to a corn crib with his mate and bred constantly so that his cubs could be sold. They braved the New England winters together where a chill factor of -18 wasn’t unusual. They had no way to escape the sleet and snow. They had only the shelter of the corn crib’s tin roof and a box. They had no choice but to survive by enduring their fate together. When the roadside zoo was closed in 2003, Cheetaro’s mate was sold off and Cheetaro, being male and of no value was sent to the Big Cat Rescue. Here he lays lazily in the sun on top of his cave mountain, or can hang out in his tree, but he has forever been separated from the mate he loved. One of the wiliest cats in sanctuary, he spends hours stalking the house cats, peacocks, and visitors from his large grassy cat-a-tat…Big Cat Rescue visitors are always captivated by Cheetaro as he sleeps or keeps watch on everything from high in his oak tree…That’s why we consider ourselves very lucky that we have many breathtaking photos of this ‘wild and crazy’ leopard lounging on the branches of his tree. This is his favorite spot. We can never make up for the life he had to endure, but we try every day to make life as enriching as we possibly can for him.” –Excerpt from sponsor packet.

If by chance there is anyone out that reads this and volunteers at the Big Cat Rescue or to any of the sponsors of this sanctuary, “Thank You” for all of the work that you have done! Just touring the sanctuary you can see how much these cats are loved and cared for. You all do such amazing work!

If you would like to know more about each of these cat’s stories, their website is: www.bigcatrescue.org

Thank you for reading this post.

SYTYCD Week 3

2009-06-24T21:13:00.004-05:00

I am a huge fan of the show, HUGE! I get so excited for this time of the year! And to have it again in the fall, OMG!!! Woohoo! (insert flaring arms here) So here is a quick recap of the night for those who may have missed it.

Karla and Jonathan: Hip Hop- Cute, but probably not going to be memorable. I don’t know if it was as bad as a “Sunday School Picnic” as Nigel stated but I agree with Mary, the two of them looked off. We’ll see.

Asuka and Vitolio: Jazz, Okay. There seemed to be a lot of “dead spots” in there between the moves. Maybe hesitation is a better word. I am not a dancer, so of all of my critiques are from an uneducated point of view, just an entertainment factor.

Melissa and Ade: Rumba, Wow, now that was a dance! I would love to be able to pull off and outfit that Melissa had on, it was gorgeous. I really enjoyed watching that!

Janette and Brandon: Hip Hop, That was very cool! And I think that Brandon has to have proven Mia and Lil C wrong with that number.

Kayla and Kupono: Vietnamese Waltz- I like these two together. Kayla is an amazing dancer; she has nailed everything that they have given to her. I think she might be headed to the Top 4.

Randi and Evan: Jazz, OMG, to be in the mind of Mia Michaels, what would that be like?? The butt dance was great, and extremely original. I really like the two of them, they are awfully cute together! Probably my favorite number of the night! Well, Melissa and Ade were pretty darn good too. Hmm…

Katlin and Jason: Paso Doble. I enjoyed that. The music automatically makes number that pretty powerful.

Jeanine and Philip: Broadway, what a cute number! I never would have thought that a “popper” would have been able to pull that off, but I thought that he did great. That was a fun number.

Nothing really hit me as an amazing “OMG, I have to see that dance again” but that is just me. What did everyone think?? Let the discussions begin!

Daily Update

2009-06-04T13:43:00.002-05:00

I found an interesting bit of information in the First Magazine (usually in the checkout lane of the grocery store) about the benefits of walking, and I thought that I would share them with everyone. I knew walking was good for you, but wow it can make a bit difference. The article was sometime in mid-April if I remember correctly. I also have it posted on my fridge to keep me inspired.

"Research suggests that taking a daily stroll can do more than blast-fat-- it's guaranteed to make you healthier, happier, and less stressed. Look at what else walking can deliever:

40% Sounder Sleep
65% More Energy
71% Less Anxiety
88% Better Moods
90% Improved Confidence
166% Increased Libido
200% Sharper Thinking"

Not bad for a daily stroll, ehh?

Well as promised, I have been good today, but boy did I want to be lazy this morning. So here are the stats:

Thursday

Treadmill
3.51 miles
59 minutes
521 calories

Thanks for everyone's support, it will definitely help me stay on the path to thinness!

If anyone wants to join me in this journey, please add your walking stats so we all can celebrate your success!

Alright Ladies, get your rulers ready!!

2009-06-03T15:37:00.004-05:00

Okay Ladies, it is time to get my butt in gear. The wedding is in 11 months, 1 week and 3 days away according to the hundreds of emails I get counting it down for me, (no wonder there are crazy brides out there!) and there are lots of pounds that need to say bye-bye. And yes, that white dress and the thousands of pictures that are going to be taken is usually enough motivation for women, but for me I am still dragging my feet. But I have had enough!

So I started exercising something fierce on Monday and I am going to let you guys know about it so that if you see that I haven't been good with exercising I am giving everyone free reign to wail on me! Let me have it! Just send me a slap on the wrist. And hopefully this way, I will keep this up and get back on track. So, is everyone with me??

If anyone would like to join me, in the "don't want to get a slap on the wrist" club, please let me know and we can all keep each other accountable.

So here is what I have done thus far this week:

Wednesday

Treadmill
7.36 miles
1 hour 54 minutes
1214 calories

Tuesday

Treadmill
2.44 miles
44 minutes
402 calories

Monday

Greenway Trails (beautiful paths here in Nashville)
8.24 miles
2 hours 12 minutes
1359 calories

I can't guarantee that I can keep these kinds of numbers up, but I will guarantee to you that I am going to do my best!

Challenge is set! Anyone with me?

Is that green on my thumb?

2009-06-02T11:09:00.018-05:00

By no means would I claim to be a good gardener, but I have been completely surprised by my little apartment garden. I have always wanted a herb garden and after all of the shows that I watched on the Food Network, I thought I would give it a shot. It has been about six weeks since this garden has been established and the one thing that I can say is that fresh herbs are absolutely amazing! Here is what I started with: basil, cilantro, dill, thyme, oregano, rosemary, tomato, jalapeño, red bell peppers, and catnip (for the kitties). It seems like we are pulling something from the garden everyday, it is fantastic! Stay tuned for some recipes that my fiance and I have worked up!

Here are the beginning and present day pictures of my first attempt of a herb garden.

Mid-April

Today

Party like the Irish

2009-06-01T22:55:00.002-05:00

I was in the middle of graduate school in Architecture when I had a fabulous opportunity to travel overseas. So a classmate and I were on our way to Barcelona and decided that we were going make a couple of pit stops in Dublin and then London for a couple of days. I have never been overseas prior to this new adventure so I had all kinds of nerves and anxiousness about what kinds of experiences I was going to encounter. Landing in Dublin was a whirlwind, raining of course, and the honking roll along suitcase I had was such a marvelous idea in theory, but after a quarter mile on cobblestones it was a complete nightmare. There is a reason why people wear backpacks while backpacking. Learned that lesson the hard way. So after a long evening of bar hopping and enjoying hanging out with the Irish (which by the way was so much fun) I was looking forward to passing out. It was about 9 o'clock in the morning when I starting hear these strange noises outside the window. (And no, it was not a funny dream from being hung over, for all of those who were thinking that ;) ). So in my half awake stake I pinpointed the sounds to a group of steel kettle drums. Now wait, I thought I landed in Dublin, rained and drank Guinness like I was in Dublin, but maybe I was in Jamaica? After a few minutes of trying to recount the previous day events, I got out of bed and looked out of the window and this is what I saw. The rolling of the kegs down the cobblestones sounded like steel drums! Mind you this was a Tuesday morning!! So for everyone who wants to party hard, party like the Irish!

Summer Treat Bags

2009-05-31T13:19:00.009-05:00

Idea for Summer Treat Bags

I was inspired by these little sandals that I found and I decided to design a gift bag around them. Now that school is out, people are going to be off to family reunions and block parties, and they are always full of interesting personalities! The captions on these bags give a different personality to each one. So for table toppers or prize bags for games, I think that this would be a great handmade touch! You can find them listed on www.thatdesignshop.etsy.com. Please enjoy!

Welcome!

2009-05-28T10:48:00.001-05:00

Welcome everyone to That Design Gal's blog! My name is Mary and I am a newbie! If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to offer this newbie some advice. I'm hoping that through blogging I can connect women together through crafts, new experiments in cooking and really anything under the sun. I hope that this can be and avenue for some inspiration!

I opened an Etsy shop about a month ago and I absolutely love it. Now if I can start getting some sales to support my gift bag fetish, that would be great ;) haha. If you like to see how I have started to dress up the plain old gift bag you can check out my Etsy store at: www.thatdesignshop.etsy.com.

I love making personalized gift bags for birthdays, baby showers, and any occasion under the sun. I was tired of buying generic gift bags and thought that I can personalize them for that special person. There is no reason why the packaging can't be personal and creative. So let's start the fun! :)