Thursday, September 27, 2012

Thursday Crush

It feels so so good to be back in the swing of things and of course linking up with Kristen for:


Current Crush Thursdays

The weather here in Chicago has been playing with my emotions- the mornings and evenings are cool but the afternoons are still getting warm, don't get me wrong I'm trying to hang on to every bit of summer that I can. However I just have to face reality and realize that Fall is technically here and I need to get in the swing of things. One of my many favorite things about Fall is the nail polish colors! I've put together some of my favorite colors for Fall. 
Color me Fall






What are your favorite Fall Colors?? 

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Pit & Peak

Hello Ladies, gosh can you believe it's Wednesday?? I'm actually counting down until Friday at 5pm because I'm off this weekend!! No big plans but I'm sure we will find something to do as we always do.

Since it's Wednesday I'm hosting my link up again! 



Here are the Rules:
1. Say what was the Pit of your week
2. What was the Peak of your week
3. Any other things you want to share about your week 

Grab a button -- follow your host -- stop by other people who have linked up and post a comment! 

The Peak of my week gosh I feel like I have a couple so I will share them all. First off I got my hair done! It's a pretty big change because I was rocking black for quite awhile but like I said in my post last week I'm embarking on this new chapter in my life and I felt like I needed a change to reflect that. I may share what provoked this new chapter one day but I'm not quite ready yet but it will come, Promise. But check out the new do! 



My second Peak of the week would be my continued efforts with my Paleo diet, I've been slaving yes slaving isn't exaggerated in any sense. I have been researching recipes upon recipes for good Paleo meals and then making my grocery lists and checking them twice and breaking a sweat in that kitchen! I have to say that everything I've cooked thus far has turned out. On a side note I'm feeling fabulous with this diet. To date I've lost 6.5 pounds!! I'll take it! That's a lot more than I lost the last time I did this diet. 

My Pit of the week would def have been all the time I had to spend in the salon to get my hair to look like the picture that created this all! It's still not quite there but they didn't build Rome in a day right?? 



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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

"Easiest" Recipe

So today I thought I would share with you a recent experience. You know being a good wife requires a lot of qualities and one of those qualities is being good in the kitchen and well I'll be honest that is an area where I lack majorly. The one time I cooked for my husband (chicken so pretty easy right??) he got sick for 3 days!! Why you may ask, well it wasn't under cooked but rather I decided to put to many spices on the chicken. Oops. So needless to say I don't go in the kitchen very much and when I do he is always frightened. However even since I've jumped on the Pintrest bandwagon I've decided to turn a new leaf and try some recipes that I found. I mean some look easy enough. So I tried this one:




What you need:

1 box of Nilla Wafers (depending on how many you want to make)
2 Tbsp thawed Cool Whip Topping
2 Tbsp of yogurt- pick any flavor you like

Make it:

Mix the Cool Whip & Yogurt together and mix well
Place 1 wafer in a paper-lined muffin cup; cover the combined Cool Whip and Yogurt 
Freeze for 1 hour or until firm 

It was delicious!! I even brought it to a party and it was a huge hit. So I once again was getting a bug up my butt to try a new recipe so once again I turned to Pintrest. I came across this recipe 


Funfetti Cake Batter Dip
Serves 1-2

3 tablespoons funfetti cake mix powder
2 tablespoons yogurt, plain or vanilla flavor
1 tablespoon whipped cream (cool whip works too)

1. In a small bowl mix together the cake mix and yogurt until smooth.
2. Gently fold in the whipped cream until combined.
3. Serve with fruit, graham crackers, or animal crackers to dip and enjoy your party in a bowl.

Now it claimed to be the easiest recipe ever, I love the word easy when it's put in front of recipe. So off I went to the grocery store to collect my 3 ingredients and off I was to go make this dip. So I'm in the kitchen with my iPad checking it often to make sure I'm following the recipe to a T. 
So I dump the entire package of Funfetti cake mix in a bowl, add 2 tablespoons of Vanilla yogurt, and my 1 cup of whip cream. It then told me to mix until there were no more lumps, so I'm stirring and stirring and stirring. Ugh there were so many lumps not to mention there was more cake mix then my yogurt whip cream mix. So then I get the bright idea that maybe I was suppose to make the cake mix (meaning 2 eggs, water, and oil) so I dump all that in the bowl and start mixing away, and NOW it was starting to come together. So the hubby strolls on in and nearly stops dead in his tracks when he sees me cooking something in the kitchen. His curiosity got the best of him so he asked what I was making and I explained and then I told him the bump I ran into so I told him what I added to the cake mix and I was so smart for solutioning the problem. He then starts laughing I didn't know what was so funny but he then told me that you can't eat raw egg so I didn't solution the problem but instead was on my way to making a cake. Ugh. So I then felt defeated and thought well I mind as well bake the darn thing. So I rummaged through the pantry to finally find some pan looking thing that looked like it could hold my now cake. I popped that bad boy in the oven for 50 minutes and poof I had a lovely loaf cake! Which later I found out I cooked it in a meat loaf pan. Who would have known the difference. Check out my beautiful funfetti loaf . . .



Looks good doesn't it?? Well when I woke up in the AM to get ready for work and take some pics of my masterpiece it was half gone! Clearly the hubby thought it was quite good! 

Well I hope you enjoyed my little adventure, please come check me out for more of my daily adventures, current crushes, and many more! 

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Sunday, September 23, 2012

I'm back!

It feels so good to be back! Trust me I had no intention of taking this 4 day hiatus however my recent post about changing my hair color turned into a nightmare! Let me give you a little recap: I had very dark hair like practically black -- I was channeling my inner Kim Kardashian-- and while it did me well for many years I was ready for a change and because Pinterest has become my latest obsession I found this amazing photo of a hair color. 


Pretty amazing right?? That's what I thought. So when I went to my consult and then the BIG day to do the big change I was very excited and a bit nervous. So Tuesday came and while my hair dresser said it could take up to 5 hours I was hoping it wouldn't. Well let me tell ya 5 hours would have been easy it ended up taking 6 hours!!! The kicker?? When I went to pay (mid way through the process) it was $100 more than I was quoted and after sitting there for 6 hours it was nothing like the picture that I wanted. The solution was to come back the next day for her to try and correct it. Ugh more sitting. 

Now Wednesday came and once again I was sitting in the chair to get my hair fixed, while the top of my hair was perfect the bottom because it was darker didn't look as good. I told the hair dresser that I wanted the top as is just fix the bottom. Again not what happened- so as she was washing my hair I told her that I was upset about the $100 price difference, after some conversation back and forth she agreed to give me that difference back. So now was the moment of truth as she was blow drying my hair I thought I was going to have this perfect hair color. . . . to my HORROR I had the complete opposite. I now had platinum blond hair and orange on the bottom- are you kidding?!?! You think I'm being dramatic I'm not, here's a photo to prove it. . . .


Do you see that orange tint to the ends of my hair??? I was in utter disbelief. I didn't pay $300 to look like this. So in the end and after spending 10 hours in the last 24 hours at the hair salon I got all my money back but was still left with this hair. Thankfully I was off this weekend and was able to get it fixed on Sunday and this was the outcome. . . 


So much better! Is it like the original picture that I wanted no but they also didn't build Rome in a day. At the end of the day the orange is out of my hair and the blond is more subtle. 

Now that this catastrophe is done with I'm back to blogging 100% 


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Monday, September 17, 2012

Changes

Do you ever look in the mirror and feel like you need a change?? Well the last month or so I was defiantly feeling that and while I could give you a laundry list of things I would like to change (nose job, a little bit plumper lips, some lipo, boob job maybe?) I wasn't about to go under the knife anytime soon but I could spice up something. . .so why not my hair. I really sat on this for sometime before I opened my mouth and got everyone else's opinion I needed to make sure I was committed to this idea. And I'm not going to lie the OH so wonderful Pintrest happen show me a picture of the perfect hair color. Here is the photo that inspired me:






Source: via Jessie on Pinterest

Pretty MAJOR huh?? Well I thought it was. So after I committed I then started to get other's opinions- everyone hands down said they wanted me back to my blond roots. So off I was to a consultation to see how bad it would be to go from black (yes black) to blond. That's a crazy jump. But I was rocking the black for about a year now because I was channeling my inner Kim K and it did me well people it did me well. But I felt like it was time to move on- so my hair stylist said it could def be done just might take a couple of hours and two separate trips to the hairstylist- that was fine by me! So I have my appointment set for today @ 4pm! AHH!! I can't wait and I'm kind of nervous. I will be posting a pic tomorrow. But until then let's go down memory lane of some of my other hair colors . . .

From the past to current:









I've had my phases of hair colors and I felt like each color was for a different chapter in my life and you know I am starting such a great new chapter in my life and I'm ready to reflect that change personally. 

I'll be posting a pic tomorrow of what it looks like. Ahh!! I can't wait


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Polish Swap Reveal

Hi Everyone! Okay I apologize I have been so busy with work and this new diet is requiring me to put a lot of time in the kitchen so I have sort of neglected some of my post duties. I promise I'll be getting back on track! 

So about a month ago I signed up on Carly's blog for a nail polish swap- this had my name written all over it! I love anything that has to do with nail polish, I'm a nail polish junkie more like an Essie junkie! So I was so excited to at the opportunity to share this with someone else who also enjoyed nail polishes. All we had to do was write the type of nail polish we would like: neutral, pink, dark, etc. Since my new dress code at work only required me to wear neutrals I decided to stick with the neutral theme. 

A few weeks later I got an e-mail with my swap partner! We exchanged a few e-mails and then I anxiously waited for my package. My partner said she liked darker colors so I went straight to Essie and got her two colors from there. About 2 1/2 weeks later I received my package! Check out my goodies. . . 




I cannot wait until my manni/pedi appt on Tuesday to try one of these colors- I just don't know which one to do! 

Thanks so much for hosting- this was such a fun idea!! 

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Friday, September 14, 2012

Friday Letters

Hello Friday! I actually kept thinking that Thursday was Friday- all day I thought 'Oh thank god it's Friday' but it wasn't it was Thursday. However I'm happy you're finally here. I am once again linking up with Ms. Ashley for none other than

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Dear Red Mango: Ugh! I never should have tried you because you're so addicting. Technically you're not on my diet but when I have that sweet tooth craving I just can't resist. Plus compraed to all the other things I could eat I don't think this is that bad. I mean I'm just saying.
Dear Work: I seriously cannont believe that I'm already writing holiday schedules. Plus the thought of also hiring 45 seasonals & coming up with a training calander. AHH!!

Dear Self: I cannot tell you ohw proud I am that I've discovered my innner culinary Godness. Who knew starting this diet would not only promote weight loss but also my cooking skills. I'm totally impressed.

Dear Hubby: Thank you for taking care of me while I was sick. I always say you're the best caregiver when I'm sick, you're so attentive and put up with my crazy demands and every want and desire. Thank you! 

Dear Weekend Off: I'm excited you're next weekend, no big plans but aren't those the best anways? I think so! 

Dear Open Resturant Space: So when I came to work today I noticed that Ruby Tuesday's was gone like tumble weeds were already rolling in. How crazy because two days ago you were packed! Kinda bummed because you did have good burgers but oh well. So now with this prime resturant location open I'm dying to see what goes there. Better be something good! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Thursday Crush

Hello Ladies! I hope everyone is having a good week so far and hopefully not getting sick, so much is going around right now. Since it's Thursday it's time to link up with Kristen for


Current Crush Thursdays

I don't know about you guys but here in Chicago even though we've been managing to hang on to this 75-85 degree weather when the wind blows there is just a crispness to the air that let's me know Fall is coming. There are so many things I love about Fall fashion but one of the would have to be scarves!


Wrapped in Fall






I'm always finding ways to incorproate them into my outfits! Here is one that I found at a flea market (of all places) last year that has become a fast favorite!!





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