Feeling Blessed

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Dining Room Plan- Backordered!

I have procrastinated long enough on getting our dining room put together so I spent some time yesterday looking for a rug and drapes for the room.  We've been in our house for over a year, and when I finally decided on drapes and was ready to pull the trigger on ordering them, I realized they aren't available for shipping until NOVEMBER 7!  Ug!  I want them now!  But if I've waited this long, does it really matter?  I'm going to look a little more and decide on something this weekend.  

Here are the ones I originally wanted, Concorde Medallion Panel from Ballard Designs (Indigo).

But, I also really love Kristen's (6th Street Design School) living room drapes, which are made from this fabric. I could order it and have them made??  The blue seems more vibrant, which I really like.  

I'm thinking a trip to the fabric store is in order for the weekend to help me decide!

Our Kitchen (From Inspiration to Reality)

When we decided that we were going to build a home, I started scouring blogs and design magazines for inspiration.  I recently came across two magazine articles that I had torn out and showed to our builder as the inspiration for our current kitchen.  I can't remember which magazines they came from, but I'm thinking Traditional Home and Kitchens & Baths.

Based largely on these photos, our kitchen was born!

Here's a peek:

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Tuesday at our house

It's Tuesday and my to-do list is a mile long today.  My baby's got a cold, my allergies are going crazy, the clean laundry is sitting in laundry baskets getting nice and wrinkled, and the kitchen is a mess!  But it's okay, that's life.  Thankfully, we have a beautiful kitchen and nice clothes to wear!  The doctor said James is fine and will get better soon.

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Here's to your Tuesday and looking forward to the weekend already!

Our Fall Mantle

As much as I loved summer this year, I've finally embraced the idea that fall is here and changed out our  summer mantle from sand and shells to a fall mantle with pumpkins and pinecones!  Since we don't have a fireplace, our mantle is a console table that sits in our  entryway-anything works, right?!  I love bringing in those warm fall colors to signal that it's time to get cozy!

I started with a piece of burlap that I cut into a runner, added some Target mercury glass candlesticks and votives, mini pumpkins from Hobby Lobby and pinecones that I added some sheen to with gold spray paint. 

Are you welcoming fall in your home?

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I'm linking up with The Lettered Cottage and you can too!

"For Now" Decor

The curved staircase just off of our living room is kind of a focal point in our house.  I've got some ideas on how I'd like to decorate it-- simply with a round rug and table and a big, leafy green plant.

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But, until I find the rug and table, we've got a "for now" situation happening.  I shopped our house and found a pair of our dining chairs, one of our former coffee tables and a silver Target vase with some Pottery Barn botanicals to fill in the space.

And come Christmas!, our tree will go there, so we probably won't be making any permanent changes until then.

James' Halloween Costume

Given James' recent fascination with the kid show Yo Gabba Gabba, we decided he could be DJ Lance Rock for Halloween.  We got the costume last weekend and I think he's going to be adorable! 

Last year, when James was just a tiny baby, I posted about these costumes- I still think they are so cute!  Do you dress up for Halloween?  I haven't in ages, but while we were shopping for James' outfits, I saw some really fun adult ones too.  

Fall is in the Air

You know fall is in the air when Starbuck's puts out their specialty fall drinks.  Or is that just how I know it's fall??!!   Maybe it's because our leaves don't really change colors and our temperature barely drops.  Anyhow, this weekend I tasted Starbuck's new

It is Yumminess!!  I love the little bits of sea salt you taste throughout the drink.

Being curious, I looked up the nutritional info (or the info that tells you how fattening their stuff is) and it's not bad enough to keep me from ordering it once in a while.  I got the tall without whipped cream:

If you go with nonfat milk, you'll save 30 calories and 4 fat grams- not that you need to be worrying about that while enjoying your tasty beverage.  Your $4 tasty beverage!  Ouch!



What signals fall to you?  Do you even like Starbuck's- don't answer that Amanda!! Ha!  For those SB drinkers, I'm always curious what your order is??

Motherhood

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Missoni SOLD OUT!

Remember this post about the Missoni line at Target?



Ug! Can you believe that after all that hype that the Houston Targets sold out of the entire line of Missoni goods within the first hour of the store being open?



My sis-n-law called me the day the sale started from the store and told me there was nothing left!  The employees told her that people were lined up outside before the store opened and when they got inside, started grabbing everything in sight.  And the employees said the other Houston stores were the same way!



I sure hope they restock- I haven't even had a chance to check it out!  Did that happen in your city?  Or did you score anything great?

Organized Bathroom Drawers

Over the weekend, I spent some time (only took about an hour) organizing my bathroom drawers. They were what I call "semi-organized" before, with similar things grouped together, but I needed to throw some old things out and group them better.  I use my favorite "Linus" clear drawer dividers from The Container Store.



The top "go-to" drawer needed the most help.  Things were just thrown in there and the makeup I never use was stored there too.

It was great to go go through my nail polish and get rid of the old, icky ones and see what colors I have.

After organizing everything, I had a whole extra drawer free, so now nail stuff gets to be by itself.

The hair clips and and bands have been relocated to a new drawer.

How many hair brushes and curling irons does one person need?  I put the ones I use most in one drawer and the others in the drawer below.

James loves to pull the curlers out of the bottom drawer and play with them while I get ready in the morning.

It's so nice to open my nice, newly organized drawers!!  Been organizing anything lately at your house?!

My "Eat Clean" Meals

My weight loss journey has hit many plateaus, but not surprisingly, I've always seen the biggest improvements when I've eaten a really "clean" diet.  For me, that means finding something high protein that I can eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for about 5 days straight, then switch to something else.  And when I'm eating really healthy, I'm also more likely to workout.  Conversely, if I'm in a "bad" eating rut, I'm not likely to be hitting the gym.

I'm no dietician or nutritionist and only know what has worked for me.  Some of you read my story about losing the baby-weight and asked for more info on my diet, so here goes.  AND, I love this Eat-Clean Cookbook.

Picture 1: James 2 weeks old

Picture 2:  James 17 months old (photo shot at bootcamp!)

First, I'll let you know that my goal was to build muscle and get lean, with Jamie Eason as one of my inspirational goals.  I like her shape, although she is a fitness model who is way leaner and more muscular than I'd like to be.  She is about my height though, 5'2 (I'm a shorty at 5'1).

To obtain the kind of shape she is in, you have to eat a super-strict diet, and I've never been that disciplined.  I still eat Mexican food, ice cream, iced mochas from Starbucks, and drink wine, (but all in moderation).

Although I don't really count calories, Jamie provides a formula for you to use if you are trying to lose weight.

via JamieEason.com

Here's what I typically do.  I try to eat approximately 100 grams of protein per day, broken into about 5 small meals. I love my Starbuck's iced mochas in the afternoon, but will get an iced tea instead if I'm trying to watch my calories.

I usually work out in the evening, so when I get home and am hungry, I'll have bacon and eggs.  Sometimes, for breakfast, I'll eat oatmeal with skim milk, raisins, cinnamon, and sliced almonds, then drink the protein shake later in the day.

For me, the easiest thing to do is find a few healthy meals I know I like and eat them over and over.  Boring for sure, but since getting high-protein meals in is key, it works best for me.  I might eat one of the meals for a week, then switch to something else.  Of course, I "splurge" on cheeseburgers or nachos or something every so often too.

My three "go-to" meals are:

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RECIPE:

• Extra lean ground turkey (1 package)


• Low sodium black beans (1 can)


• Brown rice (1 cup)


• Taco Bell low sodium seasoning

I make the rice in a saucepan while I brown the turkey meat.  Then I add the seasoning and black beans to the meat.  Combine the cooked rice into the meat and top with low fat sour cream, low fat cheese, salsa, and sometimes I crunch up a couple of tortilla chips on top.  (James actually loves this too).

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RECIPE

• Chicken tenders (or chicken breast)


• Salad mix (I buy prewashed in a bag)


• Bangkok Padang Peanut Sauce (found in the regular grocery store in the Asian aisle)


• Lime juice


• Sliced almonds

I cook a package of chicken tenders and portion them out for 2 tenders per salad.  I usually mix a couple tablespoons of the peanut sauce with a tiny bit of lowfat peanut butter because the sauce is kinda spicy and I want to mellow it out.  I add a squeeze of lime and toss in the salad and chicken, topping with some sliced almonds for crunch.

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RECIPE:

Ingredients:

* 2 lbs ground turkey (or chicken)

* 3 egg whites

* 1 cup quick cooking oats

* 1/2 tsp ground cumin

* 1/2 tsp dried thyme

* 2 tsp dry yellow mustard

* 2 tsp black pepper

* 2 tsp chipotle pepper spice

* 1 tsp salt

* 2 tbsp garlic powder (2 cloves minced)

* 1 small onion (finely chopped)

* 2 celery stalks (finely chopped)

(I make several batches of the seasoning mix at once since I have all the ingredients out).  I also usually eat them with a side of frozen steamed veggies.  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Spray muffin pan with canola or olive oil.

3. Mix all your ingredients together in one large bowl.

4. Roll the mixture into balls and place in muffin pan. Muffins should be about the size of a racquetball.

5. Bake for 40 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

Here's a video showing Jamie Eason cooking these- she calls them turkey meatloaf muffins.

I hope this helps!  I'm always curious how long it took other women to lose their "baby" weight too, I think it helps knowing that for many of us, it takes a loooong time!

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Also, my ULTIMATE WORKOUT PLAYLIST (60 songs) is on my healthy lifestyle blog, Honey We're Healthy. 



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Ready for Fall?

Seeing images like these makes me ready for fall.  And we've been blessed with cooler temperatures and less humidity that feels fantastic!  I've been working on switching out our summer decor with some fall inspired decor- just need to finish snapping some pics so I can show you!

photo: tumblr via justine taylor

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