Project 30.30.30. - Day 5

So we made a little run up to San Antonio today and I wanted to stop at my favorite Goodwill on Commerce street to look for items for this project. I found an awesome ready-to-wear skirt and dress and a few pieces that I am excited to revamp!
Since we got home late, I wanted a quick and easy project so I decided to work with this skirt that I snagged for $2.

Purchase History: November 2012

I first saw this idea over at Modern Eve and instantly knew I wanted to try it. So much so, that I even made it part of my 101 in 1001 list. So here is my first month of tracking.
November was a bit spendy for us because of Black Friday. We always try to update our TV Series collection and Best Buy had some amazing deals. I also snagged some very pretty dresses that met me new fabric requirements. I will actually be modestfying the J.Crew dress with some vintage silk so stay tuned for those pics. And the food processor was one of my most exciting buys since it had been on my wish list for almost 2 years and I got it for less than half the price on Amazon.

Project 30.30.30. - Day 4

Today I found a little black tee at the bottom of my 6 month box. It was a little snug and had a much lower neck line than I prefer. In fact I don't think I ever wore it :-/

In My Mailbox: November 2012

Project 30.30.30. - Day 3

So today's project was pretty last minute. I found myself facing 6:00 and a trip into town and a movie night later with the fam. I wasn't sure how I would squeeze in my daily refashion. And then I remembered a pair of ombre tights I bought on Ebay from China last month. Unfortunately they came in and were way too short on me, so away they got tossed in to the back of a drawer :(

Project 30.30.30. - Day 2

For my day 2 refashion, I pulled out a pull over sweater someone had passed along to me. I am not a pull over sweater person, since I don't think they are very flattering on me and it's never cold enough here to wear one all day.
But I do wear cardigans almost everyday. Even in the summer in an air conditioned building. So a new cardigan it would become.
It was actually quite simple...

Project 30.30.30. - Day 1

For my first project, I rummaged through a box of clothes that have been packed for the past year and found an old button down pajama top I bought on clearance. I bought it because I loved the idea of a button down sleep shirt and it is super soft. Unfortunately it never fit comfortably so I have never ever worn it.

30 Days. 30 Dresses. 30 Dollars.

As part of my 101 in 1001, I set the creative goal of doing a 30 Day. 30 Dress. 30 Dollar challenge. This idea was inspired by the New Dress a Day project.

101 in 1001

So I have discovered that I need a bit more time for my different intentions. So I have decided to join the 101 in 1001 challenge. This gives me a master list for things to work towards and then I can pool from this list whenever I want to do shorter time frame intention lists.
I worked on this for several weeks and am very excited about every item on here. I postponed doing 101 in 1001 for a while because I thought it would be too hard to come up with that many goals but once I started, I was caught up in the idea. My list actually started when I checked out Dream It. List It. Do It! from my library. I just started listing and couldn't stop. I actually had to revise my list several times (even as I was writing this post) to get the right kind of goals that I think I can actually achieve in the next 3 years.
Plus I love that my start date is Dec 1st since that means my end date is on a 29th (which is "our number")!
So here's my 101 in 1001...

Not so Extreme Couponing - CVS Deals Week of 11/25

So this month I have made a concerted effort to get back into couponing. I am trying to be balanced and  only buy things we actually regularly use like tooth paste, body wash, shampoo/conditioner, and deodorant. And while not every deal I saw on matchup sites worked out as planned, I was able to score enough to be set in the toiletry department for a while.
This week I took advantage of a few deals and got my best score yet I think:

Menu Plan Monday: November 26

Tortellini Soup

Bacon & Cabbage

Lasagna

Crockpot Chicken Fajita Tacos

Jalapeño Popper Chicken with Rice

Ginger Soy Tilapia with Rice Pilaf

The United States of YA

When  I saw EpicGirl's infographic of  The United States of YA, I fell in love. My only problem was the overwhelming amount of paranormal books on the map. So I decided to make my own featuring books I loved throughout my teen years.

While I have read most of these, I did need to fill in some gaps with the help of GoodReads and this list.

I think this map would make a great summer reading list especially if you have some road trips planned next year.

Menu Plan Monday: November 12

I cannot believe it is already mid-November! O_O Last week we ended up eating a lot of left overs so 2 recipes got rolled over to this week. Plus I decided to shop the sales this week on Stuffing and Bell Peppers and I snagged some cheap stew meat last week so here's what I will be making:

Italian-Style Beef & Pepperoni Soup

Mexican chicken Tacos

Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Mashed Potatoes

Simple Stuffed Peppers over Rice

Easy Beef Bourguinon 

Anticipating Tax Season

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So this week $5 Dinners ran a post on Tax Refunds and Personal Finance. It linked to this article advocating withholding less each month instead of receiving a big tax refund at the end of the year. This got me thinking about what our preferences are when it comes to taxes. 

My Handwriting: a link up

I found this link up on BLOG.ADRIENNEROSE.ME (whom I had the pleasure to do work for a while back) and loved the idea since I am a big note junky.

The rules were simple...

...so I definitely wanted to give it a try :)

Menu Plan Monday: November 5

Pantry Pasta - use whatever ingredients we have in the pantry to make a pasta dish
Potato Topped Beef Bowl 
Italian-Style Beef & Pepperoni Soup
Mexican Chicken Tacos
Cajun Fettuccine Alfredo

Fall 2012 Pinterest Challenge: Baby Shower Ideas

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Apparently 'tis the season for pregnancies and I have yet another baby shower I am working one. This time I am the host along with my mother, and I am having a blast planning an intimate girly affair.
When I saw that it was time for another round of the Pinterest Challenge, I knew it was a perfect time to get started on the handmade pieces of the party.

The $300 Kitchen Remodel: Progress

I think only one photo is needed to show
the work we had cut out for ourselves.

So it has been a while since I did a remodel update. Frankly, there hasn't been a whole lot to update. We were gone most of August and then Luke started his new job. I had a busy spurt with work and we just pushed home repairs to the back burner. Well, my Aunt is coming to visit this week so we finally did a good fall cleaning/unpacking session last weekend. That means our kitchen, though not complete, looked good enough to share photos.
And since it looks so much better than it did before, I am ready to share a before photo as well.
And ready to see what we've done so far?

The Demise of the Wedding Blog

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Now maybe it is because I am no longer in wedding planning mode, but for the past few months I find myself not even reading  my old favorite wedding blogs. I kept feeling like I wasn't seeing anything new, but the same wedding regurgitated over and over again since 2009.

Things I Love: Custom Sock Dogs

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Not too long ago, I stumbled across Original Sock Dogs on Etsy, and fell in love. At $85 they are pricier then I normally would spend, but the art and love that Stacey puts into each one makes them totally worth it. I already told Luke that at some point I want to have our girls immortalized in this fashion.

Menu Plan Monday: October 22

Since it's toward the end of the month, I shopped our freezer meat supply for the menu this week...

Rio Grande Valley Sombrero Platter
Beef fajita cooked with onions, bell pepper, topped with Mexican melting cheese and cheese quesadillas. Served with chips and guacamole.
Tortilla Soup
Slow Cooker Creole Chicken
Stir Fry Al Pastor
Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings
Skinny Spaghetti
Toss pasta with 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil, breadcrumbs, parsley, lemon juice, garlic powder salt, and black pepper.

Need help menu planning this week? orgjunkie.com has hundreds of user submitted plans each week!

The First Girls of Baxter Academy by Pamela J. Roskin

The First Girls of Baxter Academy by Pamela J. Roskin
Self-Published (November 29, 2009)
ASIN: B002NKLNSS
161 Pages
Ages 12+
Buy Here for $2.99
My Rating: 4/5

DIY Date Night Jar

So in my late night perusing of Pinterest the other day, I found the adorable idea of making a date night jar. There are some pretty cute ones making the rounds right now. And fortunately for me, I had all the supplies on hand to make our own.

Adorable DIY Baby Gifts

J&J are full time ministers like me and Luke, so when I was deciding on their baby shower gift, I knew I wanted to make Baby Ethan something that would fit his mommy & daddy's spiritual lifestyle. Of course pinterest helped me find the adorable idea of velcro bow ties and a onesie. I thought they were too cute and they weren't that hard to put together. Plus I love that they are completely machine washable, since we  all know the messes babies love to make :)

A Hand Crafted Monkey Baby Shower

If you follow my Instagram feed, you have already seen the photos of the weeks of preparation Ana and I did for J&J's baby shower last weekend. Even put them to work on the invitations and paper monkeys.

Crossed by Ally Condie

Crossed by Ally Condie
Dutton Juvenile (November 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0525423656
ISBN-13: 978-0525423652
367 pages
Ages 12+
Buy Here for $12.18
My Rating: 1/5

My Reading Wishlist

So I have a massive "to-read" list but today I am going to share the books that I absolutely want to read asap...

Identity Protection and Personal Security in the Land of Social Networking

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I find that it is so true that the older you get, the more concerned about internet security you are. When you are a teenager you don't really think about such things, but as you get older the dangers become red flags everywhere.
I find this to be especially true for me. This past summer I joined Instagram to share photos with friends. I keep my pictures private and limit the people who can follow me to those I actually personally know in real life.
But I keep noticing more and more younger teen girls who don't take such precautions. I'm sure this comes from a misguided place of the desire for popularity and high follower numbers. But what they don't realize it what easy targets they are making themselves.
So today I want to take a few minutes to show how easy it is for a predator to find you from some basic info you share on social networks and how to protect yourself from this...

My First Foray into Maternity Photography

On Saturday, I attended and helped setup a baby shower for some close friends. I hope to share some of the projects we did later in the week but today I wanted to share a few maternity photos I took after.

Currently

Loving:

Flipboard and Pocket - These apps have made keeping up with my reader list 100 times easier. I flick through Flipboard in a matter of 5 mins every day and am amazed that I have reached the end of my blogroll so fast. That has never happend to me before O_O Such a time saver!

Reading:

Watching: This ISR video on YouTube. 

This is one if the best things to teach your baby. We will do this.

Thinking About: Our busy weekend. I am launching Poetry on Demand at the McAllen art Walk tomorrow and then we have the Alaniz baby shower this weekend :)

Anticipating: This weekend, the Special Assembly Day next weekend, Syn coming to visit at the end of the month and Lani possibly coming down this winter. Also being debt free within a couple months :)

Listening to: The A/C unit next to me. But I have really been liking my Eisley station on Pandora.

Working on: Finishing my secret job order that I can't wait to share pics of after November and some other smaller orders. Also trying to stay on top of my intentions.

Wishing: This sinus infection would go away!

Miracle by Elizabeth Scott

Miracle by Elizabeth Scott
Simon Pulse; (June 5, 2012)
ISBN-10: 1442417064
ISBN-13: 978-1442417069
224 pages
Ages 14+
Buy Here for $10.98
My Rating: 3/5

What being a Parent Means to Me?

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As a married couple in our second year of marriage, Luke and I get the question "Do you guys plan to have children?" a lot. We have our response planned and rehearsed. And the conversation usually goes one of two ways. In our current area, it's usually a pro-children conversation since families are the norm here. In Dallas and amongst our more spiritual-goal-oriented friends, it's a "You should wait, children are a burden" conversation.

Weekly Intentions: September 30

• Finish the Twins blankets
• Prepare poetry on demand booth
• Finish the Alaniz's Baby Shower Gifts
• Get started on the Ideal Bookshelf gift for L {inspiration}

• Start planning Bianca's Shower
• Update our living growing family scrapbook
• Finish the Ingram's wedding gift

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder: Book One in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
Feiwel & Friends (January 3, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0312641893
ISBN-13: 978-0312641894
400 pages
Ages 12+
Buy Here for $10.98

My Rating: 5/5

Menu Plan: September 24

Asian chicken

Lasagna

Tacos

Homemade pita Pizzas 

Chicken Piccatta w/ Pasta

Slow Cooker Goulash

Fall into my Sweater Clogs

So I know that they are considered a mega frump fashion item, but I can't help but adore sweater clogs. I have been in love with them since I was a kid in New England. I remember envying all the popular girls in school with their cozy Steve Maddens. It actually wasn't until last fall when I snagged myself a pair finally and I wore them every. single. day.

Fall Intentions - 2012

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So Fall is upon us. This has always been a much loved season for me. Especially back when I lived in beautiful New England. While we don't get the pretty scenery here, it's nice to have a break from the heat. I have decided to start setting a mini goal list for each season. I like the idea of breaking down my goals into 3 month deadlines. I will use this list to build my weekly intentions and scratch off 23 before 23 goals. Here is what I would like to accomplish this Fall...

• Finish reading The Money Class and TCOYF
• Go camping
• Reread through my Purposeful Conception notes
• Start a Frugal Dinner Club {inspiration}
• Launch Poetry on Demand
• Buy 10 matching pillow cases and 2 fitted sheets for our bed
• Design and order my AdoramaPix books by the end of October
• Post items to sell on Threadflip
• Spend 30 minutes everyday cleaning some part of the house. This needs to become a routine. On "at-home" days, I will do it when I wake up and on "service" days, right before bed.
• Design a pretty cover for my new european travel notebook
• Make some 4x6 envelopes for Art Walk poems {inspiration}
• DIY my own thickening hair treatments
• Work on the final projects to finish the kitchen (install light, fix under the sink shelf, install last doors, hand pallet shelf and cube)
• Get started on our new sectional
• Build "the wall"
• Start planning Bianca's Baby Shower
• Organize my closet and update my wardrobe
• Design the Ideal Bookshelf gift for L
• Blog about each of these intentions

DIY Lace Headband

This is such an easy project and I absolutely love how this headband turned out! It will literally take you a matter of minutes and depending on your craft stash, you can make it for free :)

The 5-minute Beehive Tutorial

As promised here's an easy tutorial on how to achieve this beehive hairdo in less than 5 minutes. Literally this took me 2 minutes and 12 seconds according to the time stamp on my pictures. That's the only way I could get Luke to take the pics for me :)
Full instructions after the jump...

Savings Goals: European Vacation

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So I mentioned not too long ago that one of our savings goals with Luke's new job is to go to Europe. I initially just put the goal figure of $3000 on that trip. Luke thought this was a gross under-estimate, but I wanted to at least have some figure to work towards in the meantime.
During my most recent library haul, I picked up 4 books on budget European travel. I have barely started on the first, Let's Go 2009 Europe (Let's Go: Europe), but have already found it very informative.

Menu Plan Monday - September 17

Last night as I was menu planning, I was so stuffed from lunch still that nothing sounded good so it took me way to long to come up with this list. But here is what we are having this week:

Tortilla Soup

Recipe from my friend Lyzette: Bring to bowl chicken broth, 1 can of black beans, 1 can of corn, Rotel, and cooked shredded chicken. Serve with cheese, chips, and avocado.

Grandma's Pork & Cabbage

Dad requested this recipe this week so I had to ask my aunt for it. You chop the pork up in bite size pieces. Brown them in a skillet. Then chop the cabbages into chunks and place on top. Also chop some onion if you want. Cover and let steam till cabbage is translucent and pork is cooked. Then shake in some Worcestershire sauce and that about it. Serve over rice.

Asian Chicken

A friend gave me this recipe in a fun swap game. All it requires is 1 part peanut butter and 1 part soy sauce that you coat over chicken pieces. Cook the chicken and I serve it over those Asian noodle kits you can buy at Walmart.

Stove Top Easy Chicken Bake

Bobbies aka Thanksgiving Sandwiches

We first had these at DOMA and they are amazing. Just make a sandwich out of turkey breast, stuffing, and cranberry sauce stuffed into a big hoagie roll. So yummy!

The Smart Phone Diet: September Update

So if you have been keeping track in my weight tracker header, I have officially lost 12 lbs and am a 1/3 of the way to my goal :) I think that is pretty good, considering we have gotten pretty bad about keeping up with the accountability aspect of our diet. But I have not gained anything back so far, and it's a new week and a new opportunity to start photographing meals.
I wanted to check in today with a progress photo...

Preserving Photo Memories

*Warning: Heavy photo post to follow*

So I love to take pictures of everything. My external hard drive is filled with thousands of photos. I once took 8GB of photos on just one Spring Break vacation. Now that I finally have a smart phone, I'm finding myself taking even more photos then I used too. And love being able to look back on all those great memories. For years, I was ok with just seeing them on my computer. But in the last couple, I decided I wanted to preserve my favorite in print.
I love the concept of scrapbooking and have made some very lovely conventional and digitally designed ones. But scrapbooking just isn't very practical for someone with a busy lifestyle. So over the last 2 years I have perfected how I preserve my photo memories via photo books and our living growing family scrapbook.

Memory Bank

Speechless Studios Memory Bank - $65

A few months ago, I saw this cute idea of keeping a memory savings bank on Apartment Therapy. They featured this snout-less piggy bank you could by and while I loved the idea, I honestly think that bank looks a little creepy :-/
But I keep coming back to the thought of a little ceramic storage place for our favorite memories. I think this is something I would really love to do for 2013.

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Harlequin UK Ltd Mira Ink Imprint (October 5, 2012)
ISBN-13: 9781472000613
272 Pages
Age 12 +
Buy Here for $11.55
My Rating: 3.5/5

The Last Bag You Will Ever Need - HP + Project Runway: Laptop Bag Design Competition

Here's a little known fact about me...
As a child I used to dream of being a fashion designer. I was constantly sketching outfits and by my preteens having my mom actually sew my creations. I ended up with some very beautiful dresses over the years and to this day I enjoy coming up with innovative outfits for special occasions.

Insurance Reassurance

For as long as I have had my license, I have been insured by State Farm. It was an automatic for me since my family had been with them for 4 generations. And even when I started on my own policy and price compared they had the lowest rates around.
But financial advisors always say to check prices with other companies every once in a while. I don't do this very often since I couldn't imagine paying any less than we do. For instance, when we got married, Luke was shocked that we were paying less combined with State Farm than he paid at Farmers. I know part of this is because of some crazy loyalty discounts I get so that was another reason why I never really shop around for insurance.
Well today I decided to give it a try. Progressive quoted me at $541 for a 6-month premium of the exact same insurance we have now. That was over $100 more than the $435 Geico quoted. And still we are paying $40 less than that a year. Not huge savings, but reassuring that we are with the right company for us :)
What have you guys found from insurance comparisons?
This post was not sponsored by Sate Farm and all opinions expressed here are 100% my own from personal experience.

WhimseyBox Review

When I first heard about WhimseyBox, I was very excited about the whole concept. I knew it was the company I wanted to go with for my first subscription box purchase.

Unfortunately, they didn't live up to their gorgeous marketing.

Menu Plan Monday: September 3

This week we will be noshing on...

• Potato soup in homemade bread bowls
• Spicy Amish casserole

• Crock pot beef and broccoli

• Summer Pasta
• Jambalaya
• Breakfast for Dinner

Don't these sound so yummy? :)

Weekly Intentions: September 2

Because of the schedule shift last week with Luke's new job and the end of the service year, I didn't set any intentions for myself other than survive :) But here is how I did with my intentions from the week before...