new year, new you giveaway!

I am a yo-yo dieter and an anti-exerciser.

I lost over fifteen pounds for my wedding (six months ago) and gained it all back, plus some. Okay plus some more than that too. I have decided that it must come under control ASAP! I have always lost a few lbs, gained some, lost some more, and the vicious cycle continues! I keep telling myself that I. AM. IN. CONTROL, yet I still get a value sized meal at Chick-Fil-A. Go figure. I really want this to be the year in which I lose all my weight because if I ever want to have a baby, I need to get healthy. I don't want to be overweight, have a baby, gain 50 pounds, and then end up serious Biggest Loser potential. I have a gym membership, exercise dvd's, diet books, a Wii Fit and a Biggest Loser Wii game, so why do I have such an issue?

Can I get an amen from anyone?

I feel like this is the year! It can be your year too! And just to show you how much I want you to be as motivated as me, I am giving away a year's subscription to Fitness Magazine and a little surprise chosen by me. Any takers?

Here are the rules:

One entry (1st comment) - Leave a motivational diet or fitness tip for everyone to be inspired by!

Second entry (2nd comment) - Become or already be a follower!

Third entry (3rd comment) - Blog about this on your blog and link it back to mine!

Easy as that! Please, oh please, leave each entry in a different comment space. This just helps me to count the separate entries. Contest starts 12-31-2009 and ends on 1-3-2009, Sunday, at 12 midnight. Good luck!

***Also please note that magazines take from 4-8 weeks to get the first issue. I will let you know once it has been ordered for you, but have no control over when your first issue will get to you. Thanks!

put your hands up

Ah yes, these are gun cookies my friends, as requested by a police officer, my husband. He wanted them for his work Christmas function. I felt a little criminal-ish bringing these to a bunch of cops but they loved them. I can't say that back food coloring has the best flavoring so I limited the black sanded sugar cookies to just a few. I even made little badges but forgot to take pictures of those!

"Festive" polka dot guns (my husband used the word "wimpy")

dag' on good design

Yesterday I had the opportunity to have lunch with my friend Rachel (who I used to work with) and then take a little shopping trip. I met over at her house and she showed me the rooms she has been decorating. They are seriously so creative and fun. She buys pieces here and there and makes them all work. She has even framed cards and artwork she bought from Etsy shops.
This is her guest room and the walls are a light aqua with red and white accents. Don't you love it?

She even made the art over the bed with fabrics!

Soon to be covered chair! She spray painted it!

She DIY covered this lampshade!

Okay, now on to her guest bath. The wallpaper makes it so much fun. It's Tweety in green by Thibaut. She and her husband did the tile floor DIY and added the cutest green glass mini tiles in between the white hexagons. This bathroom is gorgeous!

Oh, and did I mention she had an Etsy shop? I took some pictures of her stuff with my camera and you must check out her shop, Silver Lining Decor. Here are some pictures I took...

fun with fruity pebbles

(via Flickr, I forgot to take a picture!)

If you have never tried these, then you must right now! They are Fruity Pebbles crispy treats or is that what you would even call them? Fruity Pebbles treats maybe? Well whatever they are, they are DAG' ON GOOD! We hung out with some friends last night and I made these for fun and had 3 (x 2). I couldn't stop! Here's what you need:

1/2 stick of butter

1 bag of large marshmallows

1 box of Fruity Pebbles

Melt butter, add marshmallows, melt mixture. Add Fruity Pebbles. Mix well and put in pan and allow to cool and enjoy! I may even try this with Lucky Charms!

a photo from santa

photoshop elements tutorial

I made this storyboard on Photoshop Elements halfway for my own practice and halfway because my sister is finishing up her nannying position and she has a very close relationship with these two cuties. I wanted her to see some pictures of them that I took a while back. They are the sweetest little guys (both adopted) and I enjoyed hanging out with them.

I have had Photoshop Elements since last Christmas but I have been terrified to even touch it. Usually I would open it up, freak out, and close it again for months at a time. But, that was until I found a few blogs that give PE tutorials and now I am hooked. If you are ever wanting to learn more the program (which is a lot less expensive than it's sister Photoshop), look at these blogs:

Coffee Shop Photography

Texas Chicks Blogs & Pics

Pioneer Woman Photography

Here is the link to the tutorial that I used via Coffee Shop Photography - LINK

favorite new blog

I found this blog just two days ago and I cannot stop reading it! It's Life in the Fun Lane written by Holly and designed by Fabulous K Designs. She does the most amazing furniture makeovers and has great style. I can't stop reading!

what we woke up to

crazy amounts of snow!

(and a big boo to my pictures getting cut off)

house and key cookies

One of my good friends is a realtor and she requested some house and key cookies for a Christmas party for her clients. Well, at first she wanted a "SOLD" sign but I couldn't locate a cookie cutter for it until after I had made these. Maybe next year!

These cookies were made with lots and lots of layers. The black roof, the white body, then a red door, then gray windows, detailing and bushes with flowers. It took me about 10 hours to ice these babies, as they are the most detailed cookies that I have done so far.

Metallic keys! How do you get metallic cookies you ask? Easy as pie, so easy a kid can do it, easy cheesy, okay you get it! Keep reading...

This is lustre dust, sold in small vials at (some) craft stores or online. You mix some of the powder with a little vodka (yes you read that right) and voila! Instant metallic! Brush a small amount over top of your icing and it becomes really silvery and neat.

Each bag of icing used gives me lots of added stress! Each batch of icing can differ depending on the temperature, humidity, and other things making it either too thick, too thin, or too frustrating. This batch kind of gave me a cookie meltdown but I am back in business!

bloggin' mistakes bloggers make

I found an awesome new blog, Life With My 3 Boybarians, over the weekend and this girl is singin' my tune! Not only does Darcy discuss photography and bloggin', but she also does fabulous blog design. I found this hilarious post that she did about the biggest bloggin' mistakes that people make. Below are some of my own bloggin' pet peeves. See the full list on her post, Bloggin' Mistakes.

• Always Apologizing - I get annoyed when people write "I'm so sorry I haven't posted in so long, I'm a bad blogger." You don't owe anyone an apology for not writing on Your.Own.Blog.
• Automatic Music - A.n.n.o.y.i.n.g. Enough said.
• Making comments hard to post - Disable the word verification people!
• Ads - Pioneer Woman and Bakerella have reached ad status. Putting ads on a personal blog is distracting and not necessary (unless you have 6 thousand followers).
• Cluttered Sidebars - Sometimes I run across three-column blogs that have so much "stuff" on the sidebars that I get too distracted and leave. I have tried cleaning up my sidebar a bit.
• Pre-Made Layouts - Some pre-made layouts allow you to keep writing outside of the margins. I can't see your text!
• Comments Like - "Thanks so much for checking out my blog." We all look at tons of blogs and leave comments here and there. It's not necessary to keep saying "thanks" to everyone who comments on yours. Why not leave them a witty comment instead?

I'm sure you all have your own bloggin' pet peeves too! Oh, and you don't have to agree with me here. This is just stuff that has been pluckin' my nerves as of lately.

hawaii memory

This is where we were six months ago. In the middle of no-where Hawaii. We got in the car and just started driving and ended up in the most wonderful spots. Sigh. (Notice sunbathing sea lion on the beach)

linzer how-to

Linzer cookies are a traditional Austrian cookie and they look like they take all day too make (however, not true). I found a linzer cookie-cutter set at Michael's in the holiday baking section for about $6 bucks. It comes with the 2" circular cutter with a cutesy scalloped edge and mini-shapes to cut out in the center. They look impressive and I'll show you how to make them.


Recipe (from Wilton):

2 cups flour, 2/3 cup finely ground almonds, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 2 sticks of softened butter, 2/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 egg, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam and confectioner's sugar

In a small bowl, combine flour, almonds and cinnamon; set aside. In large mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Add flour mixture. Divide dough into 2 pieces; press into small disks, about 1 inch thick. Wrap seperately in plastic wrap and chill until firm.


Preheat oven to 350 F. On floured surface, roll out dough until 1/8" thick and cut out cookies. On half of them cut out the center shape and bake for ten minutes. Cool on cookie rack. Sprinkle the cut out center cookie with powdered sugar. Spread raspberry jam on other cookie piece and sandwich together.

Serve and enjoy (and act like you are exhausted!)

cookie swap

Today I hosted a cookie swap with a few close friends and family members. We had an absolute fantastic time sampling everyone's tasty treats. I set all of the cookies on my kitchen table (with a few more platters in other places) and we took turns taking a few dozen at a time. The cookies were all so nice and yummy and I enjoyed it so much.

Raspberry Linzers

Oreo Truffles (top) and Lemon Drop Cookies (bottom)

Raspberry Bars

Mini Sugar Cookies

White chocolate, pretzels, peanuts. Enough said.

Spiced Snowflakes

Lemon Spritzers

Red Velvet Cake Cookies

Pecan Sandies & Peppermint Sugar Cookies

Sanded Sugar Cookies

(my mom has been making these since we were itty bitty)

Magic Bars & Pecan Bars

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Double Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

What's on the food table you ask? Well, the staples of course! Crab dip with pita chips, Nutella with pretzels, Brie en Croute with crackers (to die for), Peppermint tarts, Chocolate-toffee popcorn, Peanut M&M's - wait, am I making you hungry?

On the beverage tray: Hot cocoa, Mulled cider and Nordstrom's ginger-peach tea (my absolutey-tute favorite).

My craft project was this centerpiece. Great deals at Michael's on the greenery and Christmas picks. I'm not sure why ths kind of thing is so fun. Beats me!

Now, you cannot come to one of my functions without a little competition involved! I gave out three cookie awards and here are my super-special winners. How fun!

Best All-Around Cookie goes to Katy for her Red Velvet Cake Cookies with icing and sprinkles, to boot. They were definately a group favorite.

Most Creative Cookie Award goes to Sara for her Peppermint sugar cookies that were dyed three different colors (her directions lost me at step 2!!).

Yummist Cookie Award goes to Grace for her double chocolate cookies and let me tell you, this girl racked up some votes with those yummy things!

Tune in soon for a linzer cookie how-to!