Photo Wreath

Katri asked if I had posted pics of this, which I hadn't, but thought "Why not?" So Katri, these are for you.

This was super simple. I just cut out black and white photos into squares and mounted them on patterned scrapbook paper. Then I punched holes at the top of each photo and tied them to the wreath with ribbon. Ta-dah! I am actually planning on re-doing this. I want one that is bigger and a little more detailed. I think this one looks a little dwarfed on the hall bench, but it's OK for now. I honestly haven't looked at it for a while. I just realized how dated the pics are. Yikes!

The Letter of the Day is...

I finally made the giant N for the kitchen. It's only been on my project list for like a year. I painted it black then added the vintage images, most of which came from my Lang calendar last year. They make such beautiful calendars, I always hate throwing them away at the end of the year. I can be sensible and usually end up tossing them out, but I loved the one from last year so much, I hung on to it. Of course I got an earful from the hubby - "What are you ever gonna do with that, blah blah blah." I considered that he might be right, but quickly dismissed the idea. (Still love ya hunny) Now eleven months later, Boo-Ya! An oh-so-fabulous use for my oh-so-fabulous calendar which is now my oh-so-fabulous letter N. I'm still toying with adding some ribbon, but overall, I'm pretty happy with the results.

Happy Tunesday

So I didn't get quite the response I had hoped for last week. Come on people! I need some new playlists. I know I'm not the only out there using an ipod. Pony up your songs!

Part two of last week's playlist "Another Workout Playlist":

"Rockstar" by Nickleback
"The Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani
"Fast Cars and Freedom" by Rascal Flatts
"Dani California" by The Red Hot Chili Pepeprs
"Forever Young" by Rod Stewart
"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship (Did anybody ever see the show "Mannequin"? I love that show = love this song.)
"Wind It Up" by Gwen Stefani
"This Is Your Life" by Switchfoot (I love this band. This song is perfect for pushing yourself during exercise or if you're feeling unmotiviated about anything in life. It could be one of my top ten favorite songs.)
"Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind
"Fergalicious" by Fergie
"Where The Streets Have No Name" by U2

Thanksgiving

Happy belated Thanksgiving. Did you all have fun? Here's what we did:

We ate here:


This is what I looked like after we ate.


And then we went to this movie:

I really liked it for it's originality,

it's sweet message,

it's funny jokes,

and the all around family theme.

The casting was OK too.

A little less traditional than normal, but it was sure nice to not have any dishes to wash! And a whole 4 days to spend together - heaven! I hope you all had as great a weekend as I did.

iTunes Tuesday

I have officially declared Tuesday "Tunesday". Each Tunesday, I am going to list 10 songs from random playlists in my iPod. Hopefully once you see my songs, you can suggest others you think I might like. I can't believe how hard it is to find a good ready-made playlist! I like what I have now, but they get old sometimes and I'm always looking for new stuff so PLEASE share the music, spread the joy.

From my "Another Workout Playlist" playlist:

"You Know My Name" by Chris Cornell (from the latest James Bond) I LOVE this song!!!!

"It's Not Over" by Chris Daughtry

"Better Now" by Collective Soul

"My Sacrifice" by Creed

"Love Bites" by Def Leopard

"London Bridges" by Fergie

"Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns and Roses

"Bananas" by Gwen Stefani ...We all know the real name of this song, but my mother reads this blog (supposedly)

"Lips of an Angel" by Hinder

"SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake

"Maneater" by Nelly Furtado

So I actually CAN count. I know I listed 11 songs, 'cause this playlist has 22, so half today, half next week. I know you can't wait to see what else I've got groovin in my head...

PS - If any of you are trying out the Podfitness thing, this is a good playlist for any circuit training downloads.

Back on the Wagon (Again) (But a different wagon)

It seems like I am using that phrase a little to much on my blog. Apparently I am riding around on wagons all the time. Or rather, falling off of them. But I'm back on. The wagon of the week? Exercise. I really love working out, but have been a total slacker for, um I don't know, 3 months?! (Ok 5, who am I kidding?) But I went twice last week and haven't missed a day this week. I think I've got my groove back, although I think my heart nearly exploded in spinning class this morning. It's amazing how fast you loose it when you quit, even for a short time.

So now that I'm finally working out again, I can fill you all in on something I've been dying to blog about but have been too embarrassed because I was feeling a little hypocritical. Bloggers, welcome to PodFitness.

This is the next best thing to having a personal trainer. And for $20 a month, it's unlimited! Find a trainer for that price! You can check out the website for more details, but here's the short of how it works:

You already have your own playlists of music downloaded into your Ipod (or any MP3 player).

You then choose what kind of workout you want - anything from running to weightlifting, yoga, kickboxing, you name it.

Then you pick your trainer. You can even choose who you want by what celebrities they train. (I know you're all dying to work out with Brittney's trainer, right? he he) But seriously, I've "trained" with Jennifer Aniston's and Heidi Klum's, just to name a few. (Which is why my body looks EXACTLY like theirs. Barf.)

When you start your workout, your music starts playing and when the trainer's voice comes on, it automatically lowers the volume of your music, gives you directions, then turns your music back up and coaches you through the session. It counts reps for you, gives you words of encouragement - it's seriously like a trainer is right there with you, but you still get to listen to your music. I love it!

And you don't have to be at the gym for these to work. You can download workouts to do from home or outside too. And the nice thing is, there's no contract, you just pay month to month so I will do it for a while and download some new workouts, then when I find a few that are really working for me, I will cancel my membership and use the ones I've downloaded for a couple months. Even if you pay each month, again the cost pales in comparison to real training sessions. But if I haven't sold you already, you can try it out for free. When you sign up, you get a 10 day free trial. Even if you cancel after the ten days, you can keep your downloaded workouts. What do you have to loose? (Besides the 20 pounds we're all going to put on next week!)

Here a little extra incentive:
Your Thanksgiving Calorie Counter

I never thought I ate all that much, but my plate came in at a shameful 2,783 calories. That's almost 2 days worth of food for me in one meal. And apparently if I just take a brisk walk after dinner (to downtown Fort Worth and back) I can burn it off no problem. In case you're wondering, that's about 28 miles. Don't think for one second I'm not eating it though - and lovin' every bite!

I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving dinner, even if you give in and look at the calorie counter. Eat it and own it! Rock on. Or should I say walk on...

Date Night

Craig and I had a long overdue date night last night. (I think this was our third one this year. Sad, I know.) It was so great.

We ate here: (Mi Cocina)

I had brisket tacos. Uh ya - that's right. Yummo!

Saw this movie:

LOVE IT!!!!! Can't put enough exclamation points for this. It was so great. I laughed till it hurt, it made me cry, there was nothing shady and I still felt great when we walked out. Best movie I've seen in a long time.

Went here for dessert:

Can you say White Chocolate Peppermint Steamer and Cinnamon Chocolate Cake?! AHHHHH....(Not ahh like a sigh, ahh like an opera singer) AHHHHH!


And did a little Christmas shopping for AJ:


This thing kinda freaks me out - it's a little too realistic, but it's better than getting a real cat anyday!

To my hubby - thanks for a great night out. Let's not wait another four months to do it again! I kinda like ya. ;)

Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Like A Kid In A Candy Store

As promised, here are my finds from Canton. Nothing too exceptional, but I was a little short on time (and funds) so overall, I think it went pretty good. Craig came with me and was a total good sport the whole time, pulling around my wagon of loot. What a trooper! Thanks honey! So back to the goods. I got:

This cool picture frame for the bedroom. It's going to look fabulous when I'm done with it and it matches my furniture perfectly.


This bedside lamp was too perfect a match with my bedspread to pass it up, so I bought a pair.


I am going to have to paint them silver, but that's on the bottom of the project list right now.


This cute, funky jacket. It's so Romeo and Juliet (Claire and Leo version)

It makes me look hot, even at 2:00 in the morning, see? Talk about all dressed up and nowhere to go...



And check out the back! Love this - Can't wait to wear it out.



I took a tip from my friend Rochelle and got this cross to help organize my necklaces (which brings me to my next great find...)


This Fleur de Lis necklace (or as Craig calls it my "New Orleans Saints necklace") could be my new favorite piece of jewlery. I want to marry it!


And what would a trip to Canton be without a new little hairbow for AJ. Now everyday is "I wanna wear the bow with my name on it!" day.


I also found some other great finds for Christmas gifts, but posting them would spoil the surprise.

And I figured since I wasn't a blogger the last time I went to Canton, here are some of my favs from the last trip.

Who says you can't buy happiness! All this stuff looks like a whole lotta' happiness to me. :)

I'm Baaaaaack...

Bet you all thought I died of a heart attack from eating all the fair food. Close, but no cigar. It just made my butt grow so big I couldn't fit in my computer chair and blog. Much to your relief, I am back to normal and ready to go. I tracked back through some blogs today, and realized how much I love it. I've missed you, invisible friends! So here's a quick recap of what I've been up to since the last post:

I painted AJ's wall mural (what a chore!) and now it should only be another 2 years before I finish the rest of her room.


Craig's brother and sister and her husband came in from Utah to visit. We went to:

The Water Gardens,




Medieval Times,



(Which AJ LOVED! This was her pretty much the whole time),




And Six Flags, just to name a few.



Since my last post, we went to a kick-butt Halloween party as the American Idol Judges.


We also celebrated Halloween with AJ. This was her first year of really getting excited. So fun!

Her Costume:



Her Pumpkin:



Her Trick-or-Treating Grounds:



Her Haul (AKA mom's new scrapbooking junk food stash):


OK - Lame boring post, but at least I'm semi-caught-up and can hop back on the blogging bandwagon. Coming soon, my Canton finds...