Coal Gift Boxes

Love this tutorial for boxes that look like coal from Martha Stewart!

http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/lump-of-coal-gift-box-with-a-secret#slide_0

Goodbye 25!!!!!!!!

I have lost 25 lbs!!!

I am so excited and I want to share a bit of my journey.  I while back I posted about biting the bullet and joining Weight Watchers  I gave it about a month and I only lost 2 lbs... and needless to say I fell off the bandwagon and went back to my junky ways.

From July to the beginning of August  I noticed my clothes becoming tighter and some unwearable, and I was already not able to wear 80% of my clothes.  From my trip to Cuba, to a food and drink filled weekend in NOLA and my birthday I was quickly loosing control of my weight and my self esteem.

I was feeling uncomfortable sitting or bending over and I was mastering the one pose for pictures that I could disguise my arms, and midsection some.  Or I was avoiding pictures altogether, which is so unlike me!

So a week or so after my 29th birthday I decided I couldn't take it anymore and no food was worth the temporary satisfaction and it was time for a major sacrifice.  Mostly time to get healthy and get control over my body!

This time I opted for low carbs, no bread, pasta, potatoes, sweets, or starches in general.

I eat lean protein, eggs, lo fat cheese, apples, berries, citrus fruit and lots green veggies.  

I don't eat any processed foods, basically nothing that comes in a box!  Fresh healthy foods every meal and snack.  I have tried to eliminate diet sodas but I still have one every once in awhile.  I also drink as much water as possible!

The second major change was portion sizes... until I started to make conscious decisions to limit my portions, I didn't realize just how much I was eating.  And how many times I ate out of boredom and when I wasn't hungry. 

This is not easy to do.  In the beginning I went 6 weeks without going out to a restaurant for dinner.  Lunch isn't as hard to eat out since I can get a salad with chicken or something along those lines.   You have to really plan your meals and have snacks ready to go.  I carry an apple in my purse and keep sliced deli meat and low fat cheese sticks in the fridge at work.

I could stand to work out more but I have been power walking with hand weights a few nights a week.

Ok so here is my progress!

Me in July

 In August on my 29th birthday

It's so hard to admit what you really weigh.  But I figure it's time to be honest with myself and maybe someone who reads this will be inspired to make some better decisions towards a healthier lifestyle.  On August 23rd was my first weigh in was a little over 171 lbs and I am 5'4.  

(notice the pose, shoulders and arms back half hiding behind my boyfriend)

 On Sept. 13th I was at 161 and this pic was taken the weekend before that weigh in.

This was taken on Oct. 2nd and I was at 155

A week later I lost 4lbs and hit 20lbs loss and 151lbs.

Today I hit the 25lb mark and am 146lbs. and I have lost over 5 inches in my waist.

I would still like to get down to the 130-135 range as that was the weight I was in my young twenties and a weight I was able to maintain easily.

All of my clothes are getting big and I feel fantastic!  I have so much more energy and I just feel good about myself.

I must admit I don't know how I was able to do this without my boyfriend Chris.  He has been doing this diet right along side me every step of the way!  And he has lost 38lbs!!!!

When you cut carbs there are so many foods that you think you are going to miss.  But I don't miss bread as much as I thought I would or potatoes and pasta.  I do miss sweets but I think I enjoy them more now when I let myself splurge a little.

I I'll post again at 140:)

Halloween Wrap-Up

This was another successful Halloween!  Being one of my favorite holidays I try not to spare any details:)  But alas it is over and time to move on to new projects.

Esmeralda was a hit this year and even had a fellow witch, Mandy, to conjure with!  She brought her own broom and has the best witch laugh!

So here are some pics of the night!!

 This is my neighbor, The Beautiful Mia, as a jellyfish!

Let's stop for a second and talk about Mia's awesomeness! I helped her assemble her umbrella, we used a clear umbrella, cut even strips of bubble wrap, used clear and iridescent plastic gift wrap shreds, and this really awesome silver decomesh tubing.  With some super hot, hot glue, we stuck it all together.

What really makes the outfit is Mia's fabulous gagaesque twist!  The white wig and the glittery mask were so fun.  Her dress was from a bargain bin at a theatrical shop, and the chiffon was so pretty flowing as she walked!  Best costume hands down!

Of course we did get a little inspiration from Martha:)

I love this picture so I edited it 3 times!  Why is dry ice so darn cool?  I have no idea but it sure gave off the impression that I had real magic! hahaha!

This night time version shows how the cauldron looks lit up in the dark.

You take grape vine wreaths, and set a glass bowl inside filled with orange Halloween lights, and then stuff yellow tissue paper in the cracks.  It was pretty great.

 The table was pretty difficult to shoot with my standard camera, there is just so much going on it's difficult to show all the details.

But, I can kinda list how I put a lot of it together.

There are 2 card tables with a black plastic Halloween themed table cloth.  Then I put Halloween orange lights on the table and then draped gray creepy cloth over everything.  The tower is just a metal home decor accent that I covered with orange lights and gray and black creepy cloth and hung a skeleton.  I have a black wire tree with caged crow lights,  a stack of old books, skulls of varying sizes a bird cage with crows, potted green plants, spiders, rats, and silver pumpkins.  I used old wine and liquor bottles stuffed with corks and rags with moss and stuff, and I printed some free labels from the internet.  And I have a couple of glass jars and bottles that I stacked around.  I made a faux candy apple and put it in a cloche and made a tag that said poison apple.  I used candle sticks to give height to skulls and other props and I shoved spanish moss all around.

Then of Course you cant have a witch's potion table without some real live ingredients.

Eyeballs:  Plasic eyes and grapes with a splash of water

Bullfrog kidneys:  Kidney beans

Ogre snot: slime mad from glue water and borax

Zombie brains:  cold sticky linguine

Shrunken head soup: mini skulls in water

Crusty Scabs:  Craisins

 Brains and Ogre snot

I lay a piece of cheese cloth over the bowls and then I rip holes,  the cloth is transparent so you can kinda see through it, but it's not as obvious.

I have all the kids put their hands in each bowl and then I pause for a minute before I bring out a cauldron of candy.  If they don't want to touch the goo I have them scream as loud as they can for their candy.

My script runs along the lines of 'I need little children's fingers to mix the ingredients for my potions!"

When I hear them coming I proclaim " I smell children, they smell delicious.. I mean so lovely"

When They are hesitant I say things like " don't worry I don't actually eat children on Halloween Night!"

When they don't want to touch the ogre snot I say "oh but it's fabulous for your skin!"

And when they don't want to touch the crusty scabs I say "oh come on!  Everybody picks their own scabs!"

It's all pretty gross but the kids really love it!  The parent's enjoy it too!

Until next year my pretties!