What I Wore Wednesday

So glad I am doing this post again this week! It really makes me think about what I am wearing and I feel better about myself ...

I took a photo last week, or I should say that I had LD take a photo, of what I wore on Wednesday, but his photo taking skills are not up to par. So you have me in the middle school bathroom again!

Starting at the bottom ...

My shoes are Bobs from Kohls. I really like these and they are similar to Toms, but not nearly as expensive! The jeans are from Maurices, the belt is from Wal-Mart and the cardigan is from Old Navy. You can't really tell but I have a white shirt on underneath that is from Down East and my favorite part of the outfit -- my $1 shirt from Wal-Mart. Yes, you read that right -- it was only $1 and from Wal-Mart of all places!

We don't have a ton of money for me to be buying new clothes right now, but a find like that I couldn't pass up.

Another Pumpkin

When I picked up the other pumpkins at the Wood Connection I couldn't make up my mind between those and another style of pumpkin they had. For someone like me who is so indecisive a place like that is dangerous! Of course I decided to get both.

Here is my finished project for the other style of pumpkin.

This one would be really easy to make without buying the wood from a place like the Wood Connection because you just stack equal size wooden blocks on top of each other and then add a small part on the top for the stem. I then added some ribbon onto the stem to act like leaves.

The paper I used was from Echo Park from their Dots and Stripes line. The orange paint is the same that I used for the other ones and the brown is espresso. I distressed the edges of the paper with my Imaginisce sander.

So simple, but I really loves this pumpkin! :)

Re-Store Carnival

My friend C invited our family to go to the Re-Store Carnival with her and her son J. I'm trying to do something Halloween related with the kids every leading up to the big day so I thought this would be perfect. I was right and wrong.

DC had a plasma appointment and he had scheduled with the daycare to take one child. We decided to have EM go with him since LD would want to hang out with J. As we left the house in LD's costume EM was having the biggest fit. I felt bad because I know she would have had a good time, but it is what it is.

We got to the Re-Store (I'm still not really sure what it is!) and they had part of their parking lot roped off for the little carnival. There were a few cars available for trunk or treating and then a few games like bean bag toss, plinko and a wheel you would spin for a prize.

We were done in about 20 minutes so in that respect it was kind of lame. There were more things advertised than there were actually there. The most important thing though is that when we got back in the car LD looked at me with a big smile on his face and said he had a great time. That made it all worth it!

LD in his Bumblebee costume from last year. I refuse to let him wear his Spiderman one until closer to Halloween because my luck something would happen to it. He was totally content wearing Bumblebee.

J and LD mugging for the camera. We are doing family photos tomorrow and I'm a little nervous about what kind of poses I'm going to get from LD.

LD loved this photo opportunity. I can't tell you who anyone is in the photo except the storm troopers, but LD enjoyed it none the less. This is a family who always dresses up as Star Wars characters around town. I bet one of those storm troopers is a kid I taught when he was in 7th grade!

Getting Crafty on a Saturday Night

Yes ... you read that right! I'm actually doing a craft for myself! 

I wish I had a before picture, but silly me didn't take one and I can't seem to find one on the Wood Connection's blog or Facebook page. 

I painted these canyon orange (Americana paint from Michaels) and then added the the scrapbook paper to the larger pieces by tracing them and then cutting a bit smaller. The paper is from the Witch Hazel collection by October Afternoon. Next I added the smaller wood pieces to the front and then tied some ribbon around them. Finally, I added some wire to the tops to help it look more like the stem and the curly parts you sometimes find on pumpkins.

I think these are cute and they were super easy! Now onto another pumpkin project.

What I Wore -- Race Edition

This is me ... post race. I'm feeling great about myself and I love the results I've been seeing on the scale lately. I can't wait until I do my next 5K and then hopefully onto bigger and better things from there!

Starting at my shoes ...

These are some Nike's I've had for a while. They are actually the shoes that are in the mud photo from last weekend. I gave them a good wipe down, threw them in the washer and now they are as good as new! 

Leggings -- these are the cheap ones from Target. I probably paid $8. I like to wear them over my shorts because it gives me a bit more confidence.

Shorts -- I love these! They are bright pink and so much fun. They are also from Target.

Pink lace tank top -- this is from Maurices. I don't usually use it from running, but I wanted to throw in as much pink as possible so it worked for today. 

Black downeast basic tee-- I know you can't see it, but it is there and I love these. Again, I don't normally use these for running, but it was the first shirt I came across last night when I was getting ready that would work.

Pink Jacket -- believe it or not this baby is from K-Mart. Believe me -- I don't normally go searching for clothes at K-Mart. It's not that I have anything against the store, I just don't really love it. I went there at the end of last school year for something and came across this (I have one in blue also). I think they were on clearance for $10 and I fell in love. They are great to run in and there is a pocket up top where I can put my keys, money or anything else small that I have with me. Around the zipper it is also reflective so great for safety!

Breast cancer awareness headbands -- I bought these as the Party City store locally. They are great to just show off a little support and keep my hair back.

Save a Sister (Run a Race)!

For some reason every time I say "Save a Sister" I think of that song by Big and Rich -- "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)." I'm cheesy and made my blog title resemble that. What can I say -- I don't get out much.

It was a little bittersweet for me to wake up this morning and go to run/walk the 5K. I was excited to finally be able to do this race, but for the last two years I've been in San Diego at Ever After's Crop for the Cure and I'm bummed I didn't go this year. It was mostly a financial decision. We are headed down that way at the start of December anyway and it would have just been a lot of driving, gas and time. I'm sure I'll do it again in the future though.

  

This is my pre-race photo. I actually kind of like it!

  

 And this is my post-race photo. You can't really tell in the picture but my face is bright red. When I got home (about 30 minutes after I had finished) DC kept asking me if I was OK or if I had gotten sunburned because he though my face was staying so red for such a long period of time. I'm happy to report that I am fine now.

I picked up this sticker when I got my race packet last night. One of the reasons that October is so important to me is because both my mom and my grandma have had breast cancer. In fact, my grandma has had it twice. I try to do little things to help the fight against breast cancer, like this run and the lights next to my garage are pink right now.

All in all it was a great morning! I was excited today to go meet up with my new race friends. I met them last week during the mud run and it was great to have people that I'm about on the same page with to complete the race with. I feel so lucky to have made some new friends.

Now I'm just kinda bummed I can't run/walk next weekend because I have a work conference.

My crafty side

You are probably wondering where the "crafty" part of my blog title comes into play. I seriously do craft -- it's just I've been focused on ONE project lately and now that I'm done with that I can move onto other things.

I've spent the last couple of months working on things for my brother's wedding. I made 60 invitations with RSVP cards, little cards that said where they were registered, a guest book and then some accessories for the wedding.

I'm so glad I was able to help and hopefully I saved them a few dollars while being able to use my creativity, but I'm glad to not use purple for a little bit!

These are the last things I had to do -- 50 thank you cards. I actually really like how they turned out. I was inspired by this layout by Kristy Lee at Scrapbooksteals.com.

I really like the detail with the color on color and knew it would be perfect for my thank you cards. 

So this is what I came up with.

I am officially done using purple for a while -- at least until I get the photos from my brother's wedding and decide to make them a scrapbook for Christmas.

A fun date and a restaurant review

I'll be honest -- I'm not very adventurous when it comes to eating. I order my hamburgers plain, my Subway sandwich only has lettuce, onion, olives and vinegar on it and I have a rotation of about three different types of cereals I eat.

I'm picky and I have come to terms with it.

I was really bummed when Ruby Tuesday's closed and I waited with anticipation to see what was going to be put in its place. I seriously had a dream that a Souplantation went into the location and I was ecstatic -- until I woke up and realized it was only a dream.

When I saw signs that a Buca di Beppo was being put in the location was had mixed feelings. I was more open to trying it than I had been in the past, but I knew it was going to be so busy that we wouldn't be able to get in there for a while.

The restaurant has been open for about a month and we finally decided to go for lunch. I had found a coupon for a free lunch entree so that made going out all that much better!

I ordered the Chicken Limone with Alfredo Fettuccine and DC ordered the Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti. At first I thought the service was a little slow, but it ended up being OK. While we were waiting for our meals we enjoyed some bread with their vinegar and oil dipping sauce and then I ordered a salad.

Yes, I am weird when I order my salads also. I asked for a Cesar salad with a vinaigrette dressing instead of the Cesar dressing. It was definitely good, but I wish the dressing would have come on the side how I asked for it -- mostly just to save some calories.

The food came and even though these were lunch size portions we decided to share that way we could try a couple of different meals. I really liked my chicken, but I couldn't finish the fettuccine. I LOVED the chicken parm and the spaghetti was actually OK. DC loved everything he tried.

I would definitely rate Buca di Beppo as somewhere we will go back again!

As we were leaving we thought we would have a little fun with the statue out front :)

As we were waiting for our food to come at Bucca di Beppo we learned on the place mat that it was national dessert day. There wasn't anything on the menu there that we wanted to try so we decided to go and check out another new place we hadn't been -- Yogurtland.

I have tried a couple of yogurt places in town and wasn't really in love. I used to like Spoon Me, but it closed. I was so happy when I found a replacement place with Yogurtland. We walked in an the nice girl working gave us sample cups to figure out what we wanted before we filled a bowl. I was so happy with this because I'm super indecisive and this helped me.

I actually only tried one flavor though and instantly found my new favorite flavor! I died and went to heaven when I tried the Strawberry Lemonade Sorbet. It is the only non-dairy flavor that Yogurtland carries and I hope it isn't rotated out anytime soon.

Yogurtland is one of those places where you pay by the ounce. We ended up with 15 ounces -- 5 for DC's Cookies and Creme and 10 for my Sorbet. I didn't add any toppings except a couple of bananas and a small scoop of Oreo crumbs.

I can't wait to go back there! It is definitely somewhere that I will be visiting often. Luckily it's only 25 calories per ounce.

My first mud run

 Before I get into the meat of this post I want to share a before and after photo. I felt really cute in the photo on the left. I am pretty sure my eyes are close in the photo on the right because I was stepping into even more MUD!

I'm not going to lie -- I was nervous before the run! I'm not sure why, but until the "race" actually started I was all full of nervous and felt like I didn't know what I was getting  myself into.

In the end -- I LOVED IT!

I was dirty, I was beat red in the face, I was tired, but I felt amazing. I met some great new ladies that I hope to encounter at future races and I proved to myself that I was capable of doing things I hadn't tried before.

My wonderful friend C came and took some pictures for and of me. I really appreciate her!

This is looking toward the starting line. You had to run on the grass around the farm, do some obstacles and then you went back into the desert to complete some more muddy obstacles.

This is me running/jogging toward to finish line. I thought there would be a bigger area to clean off, but they just had a small area with bubbles. I was kind of disappointed in that, but otherwise it was a blast.

This is my after picture. I was really drenched and super muddy, but you can't really tell. I had so much fun and can't wait to do it again next time!

A picture of C and I. Again, I can't thank her enough for coming to support me! Next time she better be out on the course with me :)

I hope that as I continue to exercise and get in better shape that I can become faster at something like this. The race said that it wasn't a full 5K, but it took me about 40 minutes with the obstacles including hurdles, a really tall tower we had to climb over, tires to run through, a couple of slip and slides, a rope wall and, of course, lots of mud!

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of the day. It is so not me and that is why I love it!

Zumba for a Cause

I love to Zumba! I pretty much suck at it, but it's fun and I definitely get my sweat on. Friday night one of the local places that does Zumba was doing a breast cancer fundraiser. I definitely could not miss out on this!

 I asked my friend C to join me and we had a blast!

What I Wore Wednesday

I definitely don't have a slew of super cute clothes, but I thought it would be fun to do What I Wore Wednesday each week. It kind of makes me try to dress better than I might otherwise because I know my picture will be taken. It is also helping me go through my closet and think of different things to wear that had previously been neglected.

You probably noticed my first What I Wore was the wedding edition. That was pretty fun and I had a ton of self confidence that day! Today is just another casual day at work for me. Yes -- I took my picture in the middle school bathroom. It was the only full size mirror I could find where I could snap a photo. Get used to it because my mirror at home I can't get a full body shot.

Starting at my feet ...

My shoes are Rocketdog. I've had them for a while so I'm not even sure how much they cost or even if they sell them anymore.

My jeans are from DEB in the mall. I was in desperate need of new jeans before I went to Europe last year and these were super cheap. They are comfortable and I love wearing them.

You can't really tell, but I have a black sleeveless shirt on underneath from Old Navy -- it is seriously old -- like from before I had LD. Then I have a black cardigan I bought at the GAP outlet last spring for $12.

The scarf is my favorite part! I paid a few Euros for it in March when I was in Florence. I bought a ton of scarfs and I absolutely adore this one the most!

Senior Moment

Meet Julian Myers.

Photos from ESPN the magazine by Gregg Segal

He is 94 years old and competes in Track and Field events.

Saying that he is absolutely amazing and an inspiration to everyone is an understatement. He is doing things that in my 30s I struggle to do. I think the world of this man and his accomplishments. And the number of medals he has received at the Huntsman Senior Games is incredible -- 46! Yes, I typed that correctly -- he has earned 46 medals and is hoping to add to that total as he competes in 14 events this year at the games. 

Yesterday he attempted the high jump and failed. What 94 year old even attempts the high jump!? He also ran about two miles in two hours. WAY TO GO JULIAN!

According the the blurb in ESPN Magazine Julian stills works as a publicist and he has been running competitively for 85 years. I just hope to leave to be 85! He trains six days a week. I'm speechless.

DC got in contact with Julian a few years ago and it has now been our family tradition to join Julian and his wife, Patsy, for dinner prior to the games. Last year I was unable to go because EM was in the hospital with croup. I didn't want to miss it this year. As per tradition we went to Cracker Barrel and enjoyed a nice dinner.

I'm not sure what LD is doing in this photo, but EM is as happy as a clam.

Julian has invited us to his 100th birthday shindig in LA and you can bet that we will be there. I don't doubt that Julian already has things planned and is gearing up to go many years beyond that.

Red Robin ... YUMMMMMM!

At least that is what my kiddos kept saying! Don't get me wrong ... I LOVE Red Robin, but I didn't think we would be going out to dinner after eating out all weekend while we were out of town. But who am I to deny my kiddos?!

DC sent me a text while I was in Math class and said that LD wanted to go to Red Robin for dinner because Red had come to his class during the day and passed out these stickers: 

I'm really glad we went. The food was great and LD and EM ate their whole kids meals! Their favorite part was getting their picture taken with Red. I can't get over how stinkin' happy LD looks! LD also enjoyed seeing other people from his school, including a couple of classmates and even the principal. 

What a fun family night out! It was a great way to support the school and be a part of the community.

What I Wore -- Wedding Edition

    

So I was kind of obsessed with taking pictures of myself on Saturday. I feel like I looked great and it gave me a lot of confidence! 

This cute little dress is from Old Navy (I think I only paid $20!).

 the tights are from Target ($2.50) and the belt is from Wal-Mart (I bought it at the beginning of the summer for $8). 

You can't really see it in the photo but I have on some cute bracelets that are a bright red and silver and then some great earrings (all jewelry was from Old Navy and I think they were about $6 each). 

My shoes were from Express. I bought them last Christmas when I went to Vegas to hang out with my friend Jodi. I think I had worn them once ($30). 

Not too shabby for a wedding outfit!

A weekend wedding

I can't believe I am about to say this, but my little brother got married over the weekend! OK -- he's not really that little, but I still can't believe I have a sister-in-law now and my own kids were the ring bearer and flower girl at their uncle's wedding. CRAZY!

All in all it was a great ceremony and reception. There was a little stress of chasing my kiddos around the mansion, but luckily they didn't damage anything. And of course LD fell while playing the in grass out from between the ceremony and the reception. As my hubby kept saying -- it wasn't a matter of IF he was going to fall and get grass stains, but a matter of WHEN. EM did a pretty good job at her role of flower girl ... well at least in front of me where she pretty much just dumped her basket and then when to stand with the bridesmaids.

I'm so excited to have a sister-in-law now. She is such a sweet woman and she has really made my brother happy which is one of the most important things in the world to me.

 I absolutely love this photo of some of the most important men in my life! My little bro looks so handsome and I couldn't be prouder of him. LD was a great boy at the ceremony and did wonderful carrying the ring pillow and then, as always, DC is so good looking! He looks just like he did on our wedding day! 

This next photo is my beautiful friend Jaime and I. I am so glad my brother decided to use her as his photographer. She is absolutely amazing and I finally got to spend some time with her! We always talk about getting together but it never seems to pan out. She is so talented and so much fun to be around. I hope she knows that I think the world of her! I can't wait to take some family photos for our Christmas cards.

And last but not least ... seeming EM look like this when we pulled into the driveway at my mom's house doesn't surprise me at all! She didn't nap during the day (or the day before ... or the day before that) and she had been running around like crazy having a blast! She looks absolutely angelic in this picture!

All of these photos were taken on my camera so a few key pictures are missing -- my mom and I, my grandma and I and my dad and I. They were definitely at the wedding and we did get some great photos, I just don't have access to them at the moment. Another person that came that I got some fun photos with was my best friend from grade school -- I'll call her TR. I absolutely adore her and I'm so glad she was able to come with her cute family. We took some fun photo booth pics that I will have to scan in! 

Abbreviations explained

So I might change things as I go, but I thought I would start by explaining some of the abbreviations you  might see on this blog. I'll probably add more as I go, but for now this is what I have.

Julie -- that's me!

LD -- my energetic five-year-old son.

EM -- my beautiful two-year-old daughter.

DC -- my husband of 8 1/2 years.

These abbreviations mean something to me and they might make sense if you personally know me, but if not you'll just have to get use to seeing the abbreviations and hopefully you can put two and two together.

Run Little Man ... Run!

We signed LD up for football back in September and knew he would love it. He is such a friendly little guy and he enjoys getting out there and playing with other people.

The first practice was last Saturday and he said he had a good time, but his face was so serious. Yesterday he had his second "game." They spent about 30 minutes teaching the kids some skills and doing drills with them. Then for about the last 30 minutes they actually put on the flags. It wasn't an actual game, but they let each kid have turns at the different positions and try to run the ball. 

The time that LD was the quarterback he ran for a bit and then was actually tackled. The first thing DC asked me was if LD cried when he was tackled. Luckily he didn't! He just laughed and then asked the ref to help him get his flags back on.

I'm so glad he is having a good time and is involved in something where we are getting out in the community and meeting new people. 

This video is of LD running during one of the drills. I love how he goes hard at the start and then starts to be silly at the end. That's my boy!

Starting Over -- I'm a Little Bit Scared

I think change is always a scary thing and I try to avoid it often. In this case, however, I'm thinking it's for the best.

I initially started blogging a few years ago because I wanted to write and get my thoughts out there for other people to read. Then once the kiddos came into the picture it became a way to show them off to the grandparents (and the world).

The thing is -- I think I was putting too much information out there.

I mean, the blog address was our last name. The title was all of our first names. And often times the photos would give away information about our location. With all of the scary stuff that seems to happen concerning the internet and kids I'm wanting to be smarter and not just give away information to the world.

Yes, I could have made my previous blog private, but I don't really want to do that. It's harder for grandparents to access that way and I also sometimes want the world to see what I'm doing.

Another reason I decided to just create a new blog is that I had three blogs I was trying to keep up with and failing miserably at all of them. I know I can do better than that and really there is no need to have separate blogs for different parts of my life because they are all a part of who I am.

So you will see multiple types of blog entries on here -- adventures around the house and with my kiddos, recipes and reviews of the food we try at home, my craftiness (specifically scrapbooking projects) and last but not least, my weight loss journey.

I'm more hesitant to give up my weight loss blog because I don't really want to put it out there for my friends and family to see, but I've decided that if I want to end up where I envision myself then I have to be honest and just document the process.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. I hope this is a place you will routinely visit and come to for ideas, inspiration or a good laugh at me trying to do way too much at one time!