Show and Tell: Fairy Birthday Day Outfit

Lanna's birthday was last week but her party is this weekend. My sister has a tradition of taking the girls out on a mommy daughter cupcake date for their birthdays which I think is adorable.

Of course, true to my special style, I decided the last minute that I wanted/needed to give Lanna a birthday day present not just something for her party. So this is what I came up with and I adore it. If I can find more or similar fabrics I may have to add these kind of sets to my shop but let me just say that I have been having a total blast sewing for friends and family lately.

 And my mom had us all over to have long life noodles to celebrate the big 2 year old. 

What's for Dinner: Week 49

 (Long Life Noodles and Homemade Wontons)
For those of you are new  to my blog I write these weekly plans to help me spend less (I kinda of love grocery shopping, yea I know I'm weird), to save time and to try and help us eat in more often. Also I love knowing what other people eat so I thought it would be fun to share. For a while I'll be adding my plans for what greens. I'll be eating since one of my resolutions is to build a habit of introducing more green veggies into our diet. Maybe some day it'll be so normal for us that I won't have to mention them any more.

So this past week we didn't stick to our plan not because we ate out but because our parents' kept on feeding us. My mom feed us twice and then hubby's mom brought food over to my parents' house because we moved them in. But I went and cleaned up the kitchen so I'm kind of itching to actually make something that isn't just a quick skillet warm job. After all I do like cooking.

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Crispy Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta and Peas	Grains and nuts: Sandwich, granola bars, brown rice Veggies: peas, green beans, salad Fish: Shrimp
Monday	Turkey Dinner with fam
Tuesday	Shrimp and Veggie Stir Fry with Brown Rice
Wednesday	Taco mac and cheese
Thursday	Steak Salad
Friday	Meatball Sandwiches and side salads
Saturday	Lanna's Birthday Party

Customer Appreciation Pic: Pig Tails

One of the best part of making things for kiddos is when I get a picture of them in my outfits. I just adore customer appreciation pics. I think this little pig tailed sweetie is just adorable in her little ruffler. Don't you just love her cowboy boots (man I wish I could find a pair in my size that were comfortable and affordable).

Fitness Journal: Week 5

My ankle is not better, my eating was only a tensy bit better so I will absolutely take the 1 pound loss. Well technically it's less than a full pound but it puts me below 150 lbs. and it's been quite a while since I haven't seen the scale start with a 1 followed by a 5. I suppose it's something of a milestone and combined with my knowledge that my eating was not the best and that my workouts have not been normal due to my ankle pain and scheduling issues I feel totally encouraged. I'm thinking that if my ankle is still super annoying next week I may go get it checked out just to make sure I don't have a stress fracture but then again I don't really want them to tell me not to work out. But it feels okay this second so I'd rather focus on the fact that I think I can actually reach my goal maybe one pound at a time but I know I can keep up this life style that I've had this last week and probably do even better so I'm definitely encouraged.

Weight:
8/3/2010 150.4
8/10/2010 149.6
I'm 5'5 but have a small frame

Nutrition Breakdown:
Calories ave. 1771 cal (1600 cal)
Carb ave. g 188 (200g) this is better for me than normal
Protein ave. 66 g (70g)
Fat ave. g 87(58)
(goals are in the parenthesis) 

Exercise:
W Bike 40 minutes
H Swim Drills
F Athletic Conditioning i.e. Boot Camp
S Nothing
S Day Off
M Nothing
T Bike 50 minutes

(the chart is my food log, yup every little thing I put in my mouth. If you click on it it'll get bigger, you can click on it twice to make it legible)

Show and Tell: Mustache Dress for Ava

 Ava, one of the first babes in my life had her 4th birthday party this weekend, SO crazy. She's the tiny blond baby in a lot of my shop listing pics like this one. I can't believe she's already 4. For her birthday I made her this little dress and pouch set. She's got a little thing for mustaches and I just thought it would be super funny, yeah that's how my mind works.

(they had the kiddos decorate cupcakes it was so much fun, and here's the birthday girl going at hers)
I'll for sure be making little boy/unisex sets with mustaches as soon as I get the chance they just make me giggle so much and baby Langdon needs one bad. I've also been thinking of adding ready to ship pouches to my shop but I suppose that would only happen if I found a load of time to create some, hmmm, I guess we'll see. Any ways just wanted to share.

What's for Dinner: Week 48

 (Grilled Talapia, Green beans and Rice from a couple weeks ago)
For those of you are new  to my blog I write these weekly plans to help me spend less (I kinda of love grocery shopping, yea I know I'm weird), to save time and to try and help us eat in more often. Also I love knowing what other people eat so I thought it would be fun to share. For a while I'll be adding my plans for what greens. I'll be eating since one of my resolutions is to build a habit of introducing more green veggies into our diet. Maybe some day it'll be so normal for us that I won't have to mention them any more.

We ate out a lot last week so there are a few repeats since we didn't get to them.

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Chicken Gouda Sausage and Rice	Grains and nuts: Sandwich, granola bars, brown rice Veggies: peas, green beans Fish: fish
Monday	BBQ
Tuesday	Oven Fried Chicken with green bean casserole
Wednesday	Panko Chicken Breast and Lemon Pasta w/some veggie
Thursday	Laab and Green Beans
Friday	Talapia and Garlic Mashed potatoes and peas
Saturday	Homemade Pizza

Fitness Journal: Week 4

It was a frustrating week. I know everyone is like well maintaining is better than gaining, which I agree is true, but I don't have a problem gaining weight so for me to stay the same is not good, it's nothing different. I've maintained my chubby weight while exercising consistently for 2 years. I'd been doing really good with eating but this past week I was really craving junk and I felt way hungrier than normal. And of course I gave into my cravings and 'hunger'. It's not like I don't eat junk when I'm doing 'good' either it's that I was eating way more than one serving I was eating many servings. I'm hoping it has to do with hormones and lady times but regardless that's two weeks of nothing and even if it is hormones I can' do that every month. It's about better choices right?

So on top of my crap eating my ankle has hurt for 2-3 weeks now but last week it hurt alot, my trainer said no to running but even biking or swimming had me hobbling and icing and popping ibuprofen. So I haven't been getting the same intensity of workouts as normal. I guess with my lower exercise and higher food intake it's pretty amazing that I didn't gain more this week. My trainer and I think my ankle thing is just from weakness so I'm going to just work out hard and ice it and take ibuprofen and hope to strengthen it, that's worked the last couple days so we will see.

Weight:
8/3/2010 150.4
8/10/2010 150.8
Blah
I'm 5'5 but have a small frame

Nutrition Breakdown:
Calories ave. 1723 cal (1600 cal)
Carb ave. g 159 (200g) even when I over eat I can't get my carb proportion high enough
Protein ave. 84 g (70g)
Fat ave. g 84 (58)
(goals are in the parenthesis)

Exercise:
W Strength and Conditioning class at WMI
H rested my ankle
F Biked 40 minutes
S Biked 30 minutes swam 20 minutes
S Day Off
M WMI Games
T Athletic Training/Boot Camp

(the chart is my food log, yup every little thing I put in my mouth. If you click on it it'll get bigger, you can click on it twice to make it legible)

Show and Tell: Lanna's Circus Birthday Invite

I had SO much fun making this. First because the thought of dressing my hubby up like a tiger and have Lanna be his Cat Tamer seemed so far fetched and freaking hysterical (well at least in my head). Plus I'm just so thrilled with how it turned out. I love it, I haven't closed the photoshop window since I made it because I love it so much. I made hubby's tiger costume years ago, Lanna's outfit is just one of my retro rufflers (but special fabric) and I just threw together the whip and the hat which I think is the funniest thing on earth. Any ways I was just super proud with how it turned out so I had to share.

What's for Dinner: Week 47

(Chinese Black Bean Ribs)
For those of you are new  to my blog I write these weekly plans to help me spend less (I kinda of love grocery shopping, yea I know I'm weird), to save time and to try and help us eat in more often. Also I love knowing what other people eat so I thought it would be fun to share. For a while I'll be adding my plans for what greens. I'll be eating since one of my resolutions is to build a habit of introducing more green veggies into our diet. Maybe some day it'll be so normal for us that I won't have to mention them any more.

Ate a lot of junk last week. Trying to be better.

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Shepherd's Pie	Grains and nuts: Sandwich, granola bars, brown rice Veggies: peas, green beans Fish: fish
Monday	Fancy Ramen
Tuesday	Laab and Green Beans
Wednesday	Talapia Garlic Mashed Potatoes and peas
Thursday	Oven Fried Chicken with green bean casserole
Friday	Homemade Pizza
Saturday	Potluck Party

Harry Potter Party: Part II

I already shared all the non-food parts of the First Annual Harry Potter Birthday Party here. So today is all about the food. Not only do I adore all things Potter but I love love love party food!

 Magic (Chicken) Wands

Chicken Satay and Peanut Butter Sauce. For the Chicken I just used a packet of Thai Satay seasoning to marinate the chicken and them grilled them.

Peanut Butter Sauce

• 1/2 C coconut milk
• 2-3 TBS peanut butter
• 1 TBS curry paste (this should vary depending on your taste and how spicy your curry paste is)
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• Microwave and stir the above until well combined add a couple squirts of lime juice and taste add more peanut butter if needed or more soy sauce if you want it saltier

Gillyweed Stalks (Grilled Zucchini)

These are grilled zucchini and although these are insanely simple they are absolutely fabulous everyone. One of my friends shared this recipe and I was instantly won over. I've made them multiple times a week since I learned about them. Every one I've made them for has love them too, especially the ladies. I'm a major fried food person and I think these are better than fries and fried zucchini, just saying. 

•  zucchinni (1 person probably isn't too much, my friends and family can handle that haha, the other day I made that much and my mom and MIL had downed them all before I finished cooking the rest of dinner)
• slice the ends off and the cut into quarters lengthwise and then cut in half
• place in a ziplock bag with 1-2 TBS olive oil and 4-5 good shakes of garlic salt (you don't want the zuccs drenched in oil, I've done as little as 1 tsp for 2-3 zuccs and it works great)
• marinate for 2 hours or so and then grill

 Forbidden Forest Pate (Hummus)

This was a guest addition so I don't have a recipe but my mom and I loved it so I may be reporting a recipe soon as it was one of the best homemade hummus recipes I've ever had.

Bertie Bot's Every Flavor Beans 

So hubby says he can't fine the Harry Potter/jellybelly brand ones anywhere (and he'd know) so we got the other brand of gross jelly beans. He really wanted to mix them into the regular jelly beans but I vetoed that since I'm already grossed out by mint and coffee in the regular flavors I knew I'd avoid the candy altogether if I knew there was any chance of me biting into skunk or vomit. And as you see I couldn't even get one shot without a little hand in it.

Polyuice Potion, Pumpkin Juice, and Gillywater

All of these drinks were in the books but I didn't really feel like going all out nor did the through of butter infused rootbeer (to make butterbeer) sound the least bit appealing. So I just added red and yellow food coloring to lemonade and put labels on the soda and water. For my movie premier party though I'll probably make a pumpkin soup.

Dumbledore's Pensive

So I dreamed this up and put my sister on it. I think she did an insanely good job!

• 1 pack blue jello divided (we used an 8 serving)
• whipped topping like cool whip
• Make up 2/3 of the pack of jello according to the directions (of course use only 2/3 of the water ) and let that set.
•  Mix the remaining 1/3 pack jello mix with hot water add some ice cubes and cool whip. Put into a pastry bag with a tip. (we used the 8 serving pack so 1/3 of that with 1/3 C hot water a few ice cubes and 1 C cool whip)
• You'll need two people for this step. Cut a swirl into the jello have one person  open the cut with two spoons and have the other person pipe the creamy mixture into the set jello. And then chill   

Padfoot Paws (Beef Empanadas)

I used this recipe for empanadas. I thought it needed way more seasoning, it was kind of bland. I baked it so obviously I'm sure they'd be tastier fried. I may or may not make them again I thought it had lots of potential but I wish I had tasted the filling before stuffing them and added more salt and other spices since the wrap part wasn't salty at all, maybe I'd add salt there too.

Snitch Cake

Heidi brought this. If you don't remember Mrs. Weasley made Harry a fabulous Snitch cake in the the last book. So cute isn't it!

I'll be having many more Potter parties to come the next will be this November for the next movie so if you have any other food or party ideas that would fit the theme I'd love to hear it.

Harry Potter Party: Part I

If you've followed my blog or known me for any real amount of time you probably know I've got a minor obsession with all things Harry Potter. In the same way that advid sports fans look forward to big games I look forward to every tiny Harry Potter thing -when the books were still coming out, video games releases, the new theme park and of course the movies. I will take any excuse to celebrate.

This year I began what I hope to be a yearly tradition having a Harry Potter Birthday Party. No not a birthday party for me themed with Potter stuff but a party to celebrate Harry's July 31st fictional birthday. Luckily I have enough geeky friends that it was loads of fun.

 

Of course the most important part of a party for is the food. I'll be posting all the food close ups and recipes tomorrow since this is already and crazy long post. We had gillyweed stalks, magic wands, bertie bots every flavor beans, a snitch cake, forbidden forest pate, dumbledore's pensive, padfoot paws, pumpkin juice, polyjuice potion and gillywater. Here's the food post.

I'm quite proud of this move of ultimate geekery. Yup the Mirror of Erised.

One of the musicmaker's favorite past times has been making people taste the nasty Bertie Bot's every flavor jellybeans. I always abstain, there's no way I'm voluntarily eating skunk, vomit or earwax, just saying. But our friends got sucked in haha.

Last minute the night before I decided that I needed something new to wear (not that I don't already have 3 Potter shirts and a scarf) so I made a bunch of aprons and I absolutely adore how they turned out. Tira made the perfect house elf but she moves so freaking fast she makes the worst model. And of course naughty Lanna lived up to her Mischief Managed one. I was going to make Langdon a "Hogwarts Class of 2028" onesie but I ran out of time, but don't you worry he'll have one in time for the next movie. I've got the aprons in the shop now but I have a few other potter themed things I plan on adding to the shop too.

Finally we watched the most recent movie just for fun. The next movie comes out November 19th so you can bet that I'll be having a pre-movie party on the 18th! I was so tempted to leave the decorations up until then haha. Anyways check back tomorrow to see all the food and recipes. Harry Potter Party food post here.

Fitness Journal: Week 3

Even though I don't think my workout gals read my blog I put off posting this just in case since a few ladies were out of town and hadn't received the sad news yet. Last week my trainer informed me that he was shutting down the gym. He's had serious medical issues for almost 6 months straight now and needs to take all his time and energy to focus on getting better, it's that bad.  Please pray for Swan.

Our other trainer/coach has been leading all the workouts but Swan started it all. He was my first trainer, he brought a group of ladies together and made us into a team. We all LOVE going to his gym and were so so excited to try and help it grow and develop. He was doing really really cool things. But as hard as it is to get a business like that off the ground it's even harder when your body is breaking down and fighting you ever step of the way. So I'm so sad. I hope to keep training with my other coaches (swimming and strength training) but we won't have our own gym and the classes will probably be different and smaller, it'll be hard to keep the team feel that was part of the magic that Swan gave us. But of course more than the selfish sadness I am mostly sad and worried about my trainer, my friend's health.

On to more shallow news. I ate out a lot last week. I didn't feel like cleaning the kitchen so there was no room to cook plus I was feeling stressed and anxious about this news and school stuff and other things. My ankle hurts, I can't pin point any instance of hurting it but most of the time it feels like an old sprained ankle and everyonce in a while I get shooting pain so I didn't work out as hard (like I walked instead of run, etc.)

Weight:

8/3/2010 150.4
8/10/2010 150.4
At least I didn't gain weight right?
I'm 5'5 but have a small frame

Nutrition Breakdown:
Calories ave. 1434 cal (1600 cal)
Carb ave. g 137 (200g) blast way low
Protein ave. 64 g (70g)
Fat ave. g 71 (58)
(goals are in the parenthesis) 

Exercise:
W Strength and Conditioning class at WMI
H Swim Drills
F Walked with Heidi 50 minutes
S Biked 50 minutes
S Day Off
M Strength and Conditioning class at WMI
T Bike 50 minutes

(the chart is my food log, yup every little thing I put in my mouth. If you click on it it'll get bigger, you can click on it twice to make it legible)

MHC: New Issue Out Now

I know some of you like to be reminded of when Modern Handmade Child the online magazine I contribute to comes out so here it is. Filled with tons of back to school goodness. Sheesh I feel like the summer went by insanely fast this year.

What's for Dinner: Week 46

(lunch most days...well half a sandwich)

For those of you are new  to my blog I write these weekly plans to help me spend less (I kinda of love grocery shopping, yea I know I'm weird), to save time and to try and help us eat in more often. Also I love knowing what other people eat so I thought it would be fun to share. For a while I'll be adding my plans for what greens I'll be eating since one of my resolutions is to build a habit of introducing more green veggies into our diet. Maybe some day it'll be so normal for us that I won't have to mention them any more.

I had my first official go at making burgers and I think it turned out pretty good. I mashed up black beans and put them on the bottom bun with some BBQ sauce, then some meat, a slice of colby jack, bacon, onion straws and the top bun smeared with BBQ sauce. I think it turned out pretty tasty. Besides that one meal we ate out like 3 or 4 times last week, I think for the most part I just didn't feel like cleaning the kitchen but I'm going to get it clean and get back to cooking properly this week.

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Carnitas Tacos	Grains and nuts: Sandwich, granola bars Veggies: broccoli, zuccs, carrots Fish: fish
Monday	Cheddar Brats and ???
Tuesday	Chinese black bean ribs and broccoli
Wednesday	Blue Mac and Cheese and Panko Pork
Thursday	Oven Fried Chicken with green bean casserole
Friday	Talapia and Rice
Saturday	Shepherd's Pie

Naughty Time: Little Minds

 We'd been putting off picking up all the fallen apples but when the girls were over we had the oh so clever idea of convincing them that it would be really fun if THEY picked up the apples. Little minds, so easy to trick.

Well not that easy. Uncle (my hubby) decided it was a fine time to spot water even though I thought it would be way too tempting for the girls. They were already in their jammies. They were doing a good job of not getting wet but the pull of the the water was strong. Tira was inching closer as my mom and I continued to tell her not to get wet when I saw glimmer in her eye and a giant smile spread across her face as she did one of those fake out basket ball moves changed directions and ran full force into the sprinklers of course Lanna was sure to join her. It was way too hysterical that we just had to let them enjoy the perfect summerness of it all.