Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Please enjoy this photo blog with limited 1-2 sentence descriptions. I will call it, my life the last week or so.

some of the ingredients to make the best potato soup. recipe to follow?

2 ikea blankets for my photography. the white one is heavenly!

i started making this hat last night. it will be amazing.

buy one get one $.88 shirts at Penny's. Also new doors down the hallway.

big tub of girls camp stuff. it's coming up quick!

40% off fabric for this book.

the HUGE pile of clothes i got rid of. if it didn't fit, i got rid of it, heeeheeehoooo

one remodel pic, it's ALMOST done we are sooooo close i can taste it.

and just for the heck of it, the kitchen sink ;)

I Love to See the Temple....

this is the LDS Vancouver Temple. The month of April they are having free tours for anyone who would like to see the inside of it. I would suggest that everyone who is in the area stop by. It's about a 30 minute drive from my driveway to it's parking lot (if the border wait isn't bad). I just got back from taking my 2nd tour of it. It was a neat experience to see all the rooms that you don't see unless you're a worthy LDS member with a recommend. If you have ever wondered what our temples are all about this would be the time to find out! They also have free cookies :), if you're into that sorta thing ;) haha I sometimes wish I ate cookies but I'm enjoying my sugar free chocolate mousse with fresh strawberries yummmm. Anyways just thought I'd invite anyone who was interested. You can go here to get directions and read a little more about it.

How I Do.

i keep getting asked how i'm losing weight. well i'll tell you a (hopefully) condensed version. it's called the Prism diet. you have to buy books and go to meetings usually but i have two aunts who have done it so they just gave me their books and i do it on my own.
the basics:
first 6 weeks:
weigh and measure yourself first day write it all down no weighing until 6 weeks is up go ahead and measure though
NO SUGAR (not even splenda)

NO FLOUR (even whole wheat)(basically nothing good)

NO POTATOeS (even though they are a veggie)

write everything down that you eat, measure it, weigh it, write down how many calories in everything you eat. i chose to eat 1000cals/day it's probably more for men but women should probably do between 1000-1500 depending on if you work out or not.
drink at least 8 8oz. glasses of water a day. you will pee like a camel so don't say, drive to vancouver to see U2 in concert and get stuck in traffic for 4 hours...no bueno.

the book says to drink an extra 8oz of water per day for every 10 lbs you are overweight...false...drinking the minimum was hard enough. also crystal lite counts as water you just need to write the calories down i think it's 5 cals per serving.
you're not supposed to have diet soda but everyone else does but it doesn't count for your 8 glasses. i stopped drinking pop 3ish years ago, nasty stuff.

p.s. hopefully you like rice cakes----plain rice cakes. nasty things you can have all those you want bleh let's say i tried it several times and i would rather not eat than eat those cardboard discs.

you'll probably eat lots of salads so you can find sugar free salad dressing in the diabetic section of the grocery stores. you have to check the label on everything. the only sugar that's allowed is natural sugars found in fruit and blue agave (liquid stuff you can get at costco) and stevia (powder, i haven't tried it)

any sort of protein is OK i have lots of tuna and salmon in the cans from costco mixed with either pesto or lite mayo. also bun less burgers are gooood. just get a huge hunk of lettuce and wrap it up. i always use ground turkey. for one 6oz turkey burger it's 170 cals. for 1 6oz beef burger it's something like 380 cals. YIKES.

after 6 weeks you can add in 2 slices of whole wheat bread a day and 4oz potato 3x's a week. you can also add sugar free frozen desserts 3x's a week. hellllo fudgecicles!
then after another 6 weeks you can add whole wheat pasta.
veggies will become your BFF. hardly any calories for quite a bit of food.


which would you rather have?! candy doesn't interest me one bit anymore, i'm craving things like crossants and no bake cookies ;-).

hopefully this answers some questions but if you have any other ?'s feel free to ask.

36x4+9/3-6=total weight lost

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so far

Conference Tradition.

tomorrow is my church's general conference. we are lucky and have the BYU channel at home so we don't have to actually go to church to watch it, we can watch it from home, in our PJ's if we so choose (i always so choose). usually we all pick a couch or chair and bring out some blankets and watch it but since our living room is currently empty except for a saw and stack of wood flooring, we will be watching conference downstairs. with a lot more blankets than usual.
another tradition we always partake in is this,

cinnamon rolls that i generally make

and chocolate milk, which i generally pass on (gag me).

however things are different this time around, no cinnamon rolls for me :(. instead i'll be enjoying some of these:

that's a carrot. ask me how i feel about that. i just have to keep telling myself that gross nasty cinnamon roll would only be delicious for about 5 minutes then it would be gone, well not really gone, it would be on my thighs for the next 24 years. i have to keep chanting, "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips."
that is my life folks. i'm actually not as bitter as i'm portraying right now. i'll be healthy while everyone else stuffs themselves.
tomorrow is also Easter so i will be partaking in some company potatoes and honey glazed ham, that's right, i said honey glazed. whatareyougoingtodoaboutit? that will be my little pseudo cheat then monday it's back to phase 1 to get this thing working faster! well maybe phase two, i do enjoy a slice of whole wheat bread once a day.
my lunch the last few days has been a handful of carrots and a string cheese, i'll be opening my restaurant in June, i'm trying to train myself to eat out of necessity, not out of habit or want. it's hard. but i am determined.

p.s. that picture is for my aunt jeanie, there ya go!
p.s.s. please don't see the movie, The Box, dumbest movie EVER.
p.s.s.s. i haven't gotten out of my yoga pants all day
p.s.s.s.s. boston rob was cheated! cheated i tell you!!!!!!! let's not talk about it.
p.s.s.s.s.s. i totally dyed easter eggs today and i plan on hunting for them tomorrow ;)
p.s.s.s.s.s.s. i realllllly don't want to eat this starburst sitting next to me...right?!

On top of spaghetti.........

Happy April Fool's Day! would you like some spaghetti and meatballs? muhahaha jk. it's cupcakes and chocolate dipped in jelly. siiiiick. that's about as good as i'm going to get for AFD this year sorry.

i spent the day yesterday cooking and baking for a few families who have just had babies and i got to take some pics of baby Ember. here are a few but there are more on my photo blog.

sweet sisters

i love her flower, it's almost as big as her head!

p.s. emily i hope that bread pudding turned out...i'm probably going to owe you guys another dessert! haha

p.p.s. painting all day today. yippy be jealous.

edit:

in honor of April Fool's day, here is a text conversation i had with one michelle chapin tonight. sometimes i don't know when to stop haha:

me: oh my gosh like michelle i'm like pregnant! like totally

michelle:oh my gosh! that's crazy! i'm engaged!

me: whoa! awesome. i'm also moving to mumbai and becoming a British monk with all the world's top skydivers. how cool is that?

michelle: way cool! i just won the lottery and won the Nobel peace prize! crazy huh?

me: congrats! i just discovered the fountain of youth...it's in istanbul and it's guarded by 12, 3 headed dogs. i used my amazing kung fu skillz to show them whats up.

...i'm like 4 now.

michelle: wow dang. i found this magic plant and lost 75 pounds in 1 day!

me: way to go!!! i signed a recording contract with justin timberlake and shaved my name in my hair. i made plans to visit mars with gloria estafan

michelle: dang! that's amazing! Pres Obama just named me world's smartest cosmetologist!

me: sweeeeet. me and shell obama are taking a diving class next week so we can discover the titanic then harry connick jr. and i are going to make a guest appearance on dancing with the stars. i heard there will be a shirly temple impersonator there too

michelle: oh wow. you totally win! dancing with the starts! say hi to kate for me.

me: we are BFF's. ok i'll be done. APRIL FOOLS i got you gooood. best prank ever. i had you believing every word. i'm awesome (and humble)

michelle: man you got me so good....

the end.

sorry to anyone who actually read through that. we're special.

Craft time!

i bought this book yesterday. prettttty excited for it. i've always wanted to be a sewer and there was a time when i made little dresses, aprons and other random things but i haven't done any sewing for probably almost 2 years!
once this remodel is done, i will be downstairs sewing! i'm so excited. i need to find some real cute fabric on some good sales and start planning what i want to make.

today i think i will be making some of these little guys with shelley. i love them. i bought balloons yesterday and we all know i have a plethora of yarn. and it's almost april fools day i need to come up with some good ideas. i might break out the Hello Cupcake book and make some spaghetti cupcakes or TV dinner cupcakes :). we'll see.

that's all i have for today. too much stuff going on, have several friends in the hospital (having babies, having brain issues?) and lots of stuff i'm trying to do for girls camp. welp have a goooooood day!

The Most Satisfying thing you will EVER do!

is decorate a cake. this is the cake i made at the RS b-day dinner thing. i'm like a young martha stewart or something.




bahahahahaha JUST KIDDING.


THIS is the most satisfying thing EVER!



at least he got to eat it after ;). there was seriously 4 lbs. of frosting on that thing.

i encourage you to make a cake, decorate it, find a victim (willing...or not) and shove it in their face when they don't expect it.
sam kind of expected it but i did it when he wasn't looking. my dad taped it and my mom took pics...we are awesome.
werido didn't shut his eyes hahaha. it's very therapeutic for some odd reason. i wanted to do it again.

welp off to get ready to take some fashion photos for a 5 yr. old's b-day party!

edit:
thought you might like to see it in action, words don't do it justice.

Plateau

this is what i feel like. or something. i've been thinking i've hit a plateau in this dieting thing. i still don't eat sugar or white flour but i'm defiantly eating over 1000 calories a day. this has got to STOP ahhhh. also my water intake has decreased drastically. this too needs to change. i'm just sick of eating this way and not seeing results like before. i might just go back to phase one where i cut out ALL flour, all sugar, all potatoes etc...and just eat fruits, veggies and protein. probably a good idea. 35 pounds is good but i want more! muhahahaha.

anyways i've been having this headaches the last couple weeks and haven't been sleeping good so i think if i start eating right again i'll be good to go. also i just found this stuff yesterday, almond milk. D E L I C I O U S. i hate milk hate hate hate hate hate it. makes me gag and makes me sick but i got the vanilla flavor of this yesterday and i gotta say i don't hate it. it's made out of almonds, imagine that. the kind i got has some natural sugar in it and a little added but i need the calcium so i'll let it sliiiide.

ok off to work. days like today i'm glad i can wear jeans and a sweatshirt!

food for thought: why is it that chub rolls on a baby are so cute but as adults it's harder to pull off? i say we start a movement, then i won't have to worry about all this!

Dust-ay

dust. i. am. sick. of. you. everywhere you turn more DUST. dust dust dust. bleh. oh well that means we are getting closer to the end of this "adventure" hopefully. here are some updated pictures.

these are a couple different tile options for the back splash. the one above is slate that would be laid like brick. (please continue to ignore the mismatched paint, it will be resolved soon i promise.)

this one is tumbled stone that would be laid in a diamond pattern. we can't decide which one we like better. so many choices. we seriously spent like 3 hours in the tile section at Home Depot the other day. awesome.

he's almost done with the bar area the counter is down all that's left i think is a little sanding, putting the rest of the sides on and building the support post you can see in the next picture.

and of course the back splash isn't done yet either.

now let's take pause and talk about colors. i. love. colors. i could (and have) spend(t) 4 hours looking at all the different paint chips at all the different stores. PS sherwin williams has the best selection. you don't need to get the paint made there but if you chose one of their colors, Home Depot or wherever else can mix their colors for you so it's cheaper. I'm sure they appreciate me saying that :). But honestly, out of all the colors I've looked at, they are the richest most pure colors (does that make sense?). I bought the big paint swatch thing from SW for ten bucks, chose the colors I liked and went to see if I could find close matches at HD and Lowes. I could not. Sherwin Williams just has way better colors. So I gave HD my chip and they made it for me. Cheater!

ANYWAYS sorry for that tangent. Umm where was i going with this?! Oh ya. I've had a few colors picked out for the walls that need to be painted and they bought a can of paint for the entry way so I painted today!

obviously it needs to be touched up and such but you get the general idea. it's called Warm Stone. It's kind of grey kind of brown kind of amazing. We are going to repaint all the white to make it look really nice. It is way darker than it was before but i love it.

the kitchen will be a green color...this is pending on back splash/counter tops...not a bright or deep green just a subtle green.

the living room/hallway will be a goldish color (i'm trying to match the color of my purse {I'll have to do a purse post at a later date :)})

the wall that used to be the fireplace will have the TV hanging on it and it will be RED. and deep awesome red.

the office will remain the greenish color...maybe. if it goes with what we chose for the kitchen. since it's basically one big room they all have to flow good together. i'm ready for this to be done so we don't have to be cramped downstairs anymore!!!!!

p.s. sorry for all the update posts i have people telling me i have to update all the time. it shall be over soon enough.