Embrace the Pooch

As some of you may know, I posted on my Facebook 2 days ago that I was going to start a 5-day juice fast. Today I am writing on day 2 and have already failed miserably. Ok, not so miserably. What was miserable was being on that juice fast. So, after complaining to my mom and husband for long enough I decided to quit. I felt free. Right after feeling a tad guilty. Then I felt free again! For a couple reasons, the first being the most obvious one. FOOOOOD. I LOVE FOOD. I love anything with gluten and sugar and pretty much everything non vegan. Food makes me freaking happy, ok? There, I said it. How am I going to be a good mom to my baby if I'm irritable and "hangry" all the time. That's counter productive to me. Kids, people. It's all about the kids! But seriously. Gimme pizza! P-I-Z-Z-A! In the words of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. 

Ok, that is enough about food. Now on to the real reason I'm writing this blog post. My baby pooch! I initially wanted to do a juice fast to get rid of the last 10 lbs and my belly. I recently lost 17 lbs 3 months ago, which I'm super proud of! I have been able to maintain it even with all my eating habits. However, I can't seem to kick the last 10 lbs to the curb. As of about an hour ago though, I realized something. I need to just embrace the pooch. I need to stop obsessing. My belly is probably never going anywhere and will never be the same as it was in high school. That's just the name of the game when it comes to having babies, folks. I realized that my pooch is proof that I birthed a little miracle, and that there are a lot of women that so wish they could have a pooch just like mine in order to get their miracle too. I realized that I can still be confident, regardless of a few extra pounds. I realized that I am not trying to impress anyone except my husband, who doesn't give a crap that my stomach isn't as flat as it was when we first got married. I hope this encourages some of you ladies who are struggling with the same issues! I don't feel defeated at all after quitting my fast! I really feel like I gained so much more. Bottom line is, just do what makes you happy. If you want to do a juice fast or diet to see some results, do that! If you want to eat and live life, that's ok too. 

Now, for some pictures me embracing my pooch and showing it off first the first time, like ever! 

And here is the little person that gave me this pooch. And I wouldn't have it any other way! :)

DIY Cinderella glass slippers

If you are like me then you have been dreaming about owning a pair of those breathtaking glass slippers in the new Cinderella movie.  I swear they have been popping up in my dreams for the last month. I was in hobby lobby the other day buying some jewelry making stuff, when I noticed some jewels. They reminded me of the glass slippers! I bought them with a great idea, turn my old wedding shoes into some real life Disney awesomeness. They turned out exactly how i imagined, and wanted to share it with everyone. :) let's get started! 

Here are the supplies you will need: Heels, jewels, both 6mm and the big jumbo ones, butterflies, (I found mine in the floral section of hobby lobby) and E 6000 glue.

First, I started to glue the big jewels to my shoe. The best way I found was to overlap them slightly. There were less gaps and it made it more cohesive looking. This glue is no joke so I did this outside! There is a warning on the label that it can cause kidney illness and cancer, but don't let that scare you. Just be in a well vintilated area and as long as you're not a glue-sniffer, you will be just fine! :) this stuff is awesome though. You're jewels won't go anywhere. 

I accidentally bought black glue, as you can see. Seriously, who uses black glue? Why is this on the market? So many questions. Anyways, it ended up ok because the glue was completely covered with this project. Thankfully. 

Then I started gluing the 6mm jewels to the heel. It's not near as tedious as it seems. The gems are big enough to work with while still giving a nice and neat look. After that, go and make sure all areas are covered completely. I did not do this yet, because was too excited about my sparkly shoes! Make sure to do that, though :) Once you're happy with the shoes, glue on your little gold butterfly in the center of the shoe with the antennas facing the back of the shoe. 

And, bibbity, bibbity, boo! 

 

Aren't they gorgeous? They sparkle so much in the sunshine. I love this project! Was it time consuming? Oh yes. Was it worth it? Abso-freakin-lately. Now that I'm done with this tutorial I'm going to fix some spots. Make it look more put together. I really should have done that before taking pictures, buuuut...I was excited :) 

One more. Ahhhh. They seriously look like glass! So pretty. I don't know where I'm going to wear these crazy things. They are pretty gaudy, and last time I checked I was not invited to a ball. Maybe I'll leave them on display in my Disney wedding guest room that I'm going to have sometime in the future. If you have some old heels that need a makeover, try this out! 

My top 5 beauty products!

I am no beauty guru by any means, but I do love to beautify myself, ya feel me? I have a hard time finding products that I truly love! Some are just ok, some are way over hyped, and some are just flat out too expensive ! Ain't nobody got time for that. So here are my 5 favorite, fairly affordable holy grail bueaty products!

1. Enjoy hair straightener. This stuff is amazing for all my curly girls who love having straight hair! It's very light so the is no product build-up. It makes my hair so straight and soft! I can run my fingers through it! That's a big deal for my tangle prone hair, people. It is a little pricey for a hair product. I found mine on eBay for $15 but it has lasted a year and I still have quite a but left! Worth it, love his stuff!

2. Dove frizz-free shine cream-serum

This is another great one for all the cury girls! Or anyone that just needs to tame some frizz. This stuff works. It does everything it says on that freakishly long name! Gives a frizz free, prefect shine. I have THE most unmanageable hair known to man and this makes my hair somewhat normal. I think it's only sold online right now, so just a heads up before going to the drug store right this moment. It's also super cheap, like $3 cheap. Get this stuff.

3. Coastal Scents 252 palette. Do you love eye shadow? Eye shadow gives me life. Actually, makeup in general gives me life, but back to the topic at hand. This palette, is so great especially for the price! You get every color imaginable, the colors are so creamy and pigmented. You can do any look with it, and the best part?! It's crazy affordable. My husband got this for me for Christmas and I think he paid around $25. I mean, look at how many colors you get! The quality is amazing. Get this palette if you are a makeup hoarder like me. You will not regret it. 

4. Covergirl's Ready, Set, Gorgeous foundation. Some people may disagree with me on this one, but I  personally think it's one of the best drug store foundations out there! It covers without being super cakey. It blends so nicely and the colors are great! It works like most high end foundations, but way cheaper!

5. GVP hair straightener. I am so sorry to any straight-hair girls reading this blog post. I obviously have some serious issues with my hair. This straightener, though. I just had to talk about it! Basically, it works like a CHI, but without the price tag. I got this sraightener at Sally's Beauty Supply and it was on sale for $40. I think it's originally $50. I highly recommend this one! Also, it's pretty! 

My experience with the Military Diet

I tried out a new diet that I would like to share with everyone. Before I start, please keep in mind this is just my experience with it. I am not telling you what you should eat by any means, just putting my experience out there to help others out. Please speak with your doctor first :)

Now, I found this diet on Pinterest a few months back and it immediately caught my attention. The caption read, "3 day military diet, lose 10 lbs in 3 days! It really works!" I thought that sounded way to good to be true, and unhealthy considering it's really only healthy to lose about 2 lbs a week. I had a baby a year ago still with a good amount of baby weight so I looked deeper into this diet. The reviews were oustanding! Not very many people actually lost 10 lbs in one week, but a lot of them lost 4, 5 and even 7 lbs! I decided to give it a try.  Why not? It's only 3 days! You can do anything for 3 days! I will go through what the diet consists of, then give you my results and thoughts on it. 

Day 1:

Breakfast: half a grapefruit, one piece of toast, (I used wheat) 2 tbsp peanut butter and a cup of tea. They didn't specify which kind so I used green tea.

Lunch: half a cup of tuna, one piece of toast and 1 cup of tea

Dinner: 3 oz if any kind of meat, (I used chicken) 1 cup of green beans, a small apple, half of a banana and 1 cup of vanilla ice cream. I didn't take any pictures of the ice cream because I save that until an hour later as my little treat :)

Day 2:

Breakfast: 1 egg, (I scrambled) one piece of toast and half of a banana 

Lunch: 1 hard boiled egg, 1 cup of cottage cheese and 5 saltine crackers. This plate was pretty bland all together so I substituted the cottage cheese for some vanilla yogurt. You can find all of the substitutions on the military diet website, if you don't like something!

Dinner: 2 hot dogs, (no bun) 1 cup of broccoli (I steamed mine), half a cup of carrots, half of a banana and half a cup of vanilla ice cream

Day 3: 

Breakfast: A small apple, a slice of cheese and 5 saltine crackers

Lunch: 1 egg made however you like and a piece of toast. I forgot to take a picture for this one but I'm pretty sure you know what this looks like ;)

Dinner: 1 cup of tuna, half of a banana and 1 cup of vanilla ice cream

I did this the first time and only lost 2 lbs. at first I was bummed out but then I thought, wow, that actually seems healthy, and you can't beat 2 lbs in 3 days when the scale hadn't budged in months. The way this diet works is you do the diet for 3 days, the 4 days off making sure you watch what you eat, and then you can start it again the next week. I did another week and lost 4 lbs! I did it another week and lost 3 lbs. I am now down 15 lbs in 2 months and I'd say that's pretty good! And not unhealthy. I never felt starved on this diet. You kind of feel like it the first time because you are so restricted with what you can't eat, so you get intense cravings that make you feel starving. Read all about it on military diet.com, they have all the information you need. I like this diet because you really get all your fruits and vegetables, you learn self control, it's easy to follow, it's cheap, and it worked for me! If you feel like you can't kick the last 10 or 20 lbs, try this diet! Let me know if it worked for you!

Being a stay at home mom - feeling worthless?

As you may know, I am a stay at home mom. I honestly would not trade it for the world! I truly feel as though it is my calling in life. That might sound crazy or lame to some, but to me it's all I've ever wanted. Part of the reason why, is because that's how I grew up. My family struggled my whole childhood. My dad was a pastor of a church that couldn't pay and worked long hours all throughout  the week just to make ends meet. My mom stayed home with me and my two younger brothers. I don't remember struggles at all. To this day I remember having the best childhood anyone could ask for! My parents never told us about the struggles, they just took us on hikes, picnics and bought A LOT of dollar store Christmas presents. ;) it was a GREAT childhood. I want that for my kids. I want to be the mom that's always there, regardless of the hardships.

I'm a stay at home mom, but I have to admit, sometimes I feel completely worthless. When we are running out of money at the end of the month I start to feel guilty. When my husband works a 16 hour day and all I did was read a couple books to my daughter, a load of laundry and caught up on my tv show from the night before, I feel useless. Sometimes I wish I could do something amazing with my life to make my husband super proud of me, like how I feel for him. He is studying to be in the medical field while working in the U.S. Army and raising a daughter. I am SO proud of him! Is he proud of me? I'm just staying home with our child.

Yes, the answer is YES! He is proud of me! He might not say it, but he is. Does he think that what I do is worthless? I may feel like he does, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. If you are a SAHM and have these feelings, they are normal but please don't feel as though you are worthless. You are giving your child something that they can carry with them for ever, great memories and bonding experiences. You have one of the most important jobs known to man. You are molding and making a future member of society. You are making them feel special, supported and loved. I don't know about you, but that is an amazing calling in life. One thing I try to remind myself is that at the end of my life I am not going to wish I had worked more. No way. I'm going to thank God that he gave me the opportunity to be home with my kids and watch them grow up every step of the way. I'm not going to wish I had made a name for myself. I am going to remember the times I took them to school and made it to every baseball game. Money may buy a lot of things, but it doesn't buy you memories. You are doing something amazing. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for the working moms too. This is not a slam to you because I applaud you for working while raising kids. This is just for the moms who truly have a passion to stay home with their kids. It is more rewarding than you realize right now, and it is definitely, definitely NOT worthless. :)

Introduction

Hi everyone! This is my first blog post! I am very new to this so please bear with me. I really don't know what I'm doing yet haha! I love sharing experiences in life so I thought this would be perfect for me. I will post encouraging things, my favorite recipes and DIYs! It's gonna be great. I'll tell you a little bit about me! I have been married to my amazing husband for almost 4 years. I think you will like him, he is hilarious :) we have one beautiful daughter together, her name is Violet. She's pretty much the apple of my eye. I am excited to share our life with you! I love to show people our adventures, our mistakes, our victories. It's what life is all about! Connecting. Follow us on our journey!