It Has Arrived!

My favorite purchase has finally arrived! Found it at The Dump, Google'd it and found it cheaper elsewhere with free shipping! Nothing can beat that! 

Check this puppy out!!

What is that and where does that go, you say????

HERE!

Isn't she bee-U-T-ful?!?!?!

I am in love! :)

Goal of the weekend: Find a coffee table at a garage sale to fix up! :)

Sneak Peek

Remember {this}? 

THIS was in November. It is now March and I FINALLY have something to show you! 

For the last week, I have been on the rug hunt, because the floors are ALMOST finished!! To get ready for some normalcy, I decided I needed to go out and buy some rugs for these floors. I am here to tell you that after going to almost every place in metro Atlanta, I have finally bought some rugs! 

P.S. This has been my obsession for about a week now. I have eaten, slept, and breathed rugs. I was worried my husband was thinking I had gone insane. But that is just how I do things. I can't stand the thought of somewhere out there having a better rug with a better price. It's all about the hunt, right? And not to mention I am about the cheapest person on the face of the planet. However, looking at what I bought... you would never know.  :)

Leaf Floral Rug from Pottery Barn (my best deal!), in the dining room.

Beautiful rug that my sister and I found at HomeGoods, it is even more beautiful in my house than in the store!

Last but not least, I wanted to show you the other project that we have been working on. Remember my {lucky day}? After many hours and much labor, we are almost done laying and grouting the tile in the kitchen! My house is a wreck and we have probably gained 10 pounds from eating fast food, but it will be worth it! Currently, my fridge is in my living room, my stove in the garage, and my dishwasher in the hallway to our bedroom. Things have been CRAZY around here! Here is a sneak peek!

P.S.S. Sorry for not posting about my little project on my last post. Things have been really busy here. Will post about it later! Hope you all have a good week!

Can You Guess?

I am up to something... as always...

Can you guess what I am doing?

Here is a clue...

Come back later next week and check out what it is!

Destiny Day

Okay.... so I haven't made my stuffed bell peppers like I have been wanting (and craving!) to do on here with my few days off. I have had a little bit of a speed bump along the way, but this speed bump is awesome... and beautiful!

Remember {this post} about how we are re-doing our floors? We are putting in laminate flooring in our family room, formal dining room, foyer, hallways, and our dinette area. We decided we didn't want to risk ruining the floor by laying it in the kitchen (laminate flooring and water are enemies). So we have been sort of looking at alternative flooring for the kitchen area. We were thinking about ceramic tile. I am not the biggest fan of ceramic tile, only because it is a little boring. I like to spice my life up a little bit and have something a little different! 

So anyways.... yesterday was Destiny Day! 

Yesterday I went to the Habitat Store (thrift store but also has construction supplies, proceeds for Habitat for Humanity) to try to find a fridge for my husband. Unfortunately, there was no fridge to be had there. However, I did find these beautiful slate tiles!

Aren't they beautiful?!?!?!?!?

There is more than enough tiles to lay them in the kitchen! I didn't know how it would look against the laminate flooring or the cabinets. I basically bought them knowing I could use them anywhere (bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room, outside). I got such a great deal on them AND the proceeds went to a great cause! I actually met a volunteer there who was just selected to be one of the recipients of a new house. She was so joyful and tearful telling me her story! She even thanked me for helping give her a new house. How amazing! I am glad my money went to something worthwhile instead of making a big box store get bigger!

Check out your local Habitat for Humanity store and support a great cause! Just google it and I am sure there is one near you! You may just find something that you were looking for!

Can't wait to start laying this beautiful floor down!

Fabric Rosettes Are In!

Okay, so I have been DYING to try to make these little guys! I have seen them all over Pinterest and at the hospital (who would have thunk?), and every time I see them I think OMG I HAVE TO MAKE THOSE!

So here goes my tutorial for fabric rosettes! Once you make one, you can make a million! Also, the way you make them makes each one unique. AND they take like 5 minutes... seriously! Use these little boogers to spice up a shirt, a purse, a headband, etc. and you are stylin' and profilin'! I don't know fashion, but I do know that these rosettes are totally in!

Tutorial for Fabric Rosettes 

OMG so cute, right?

The best part about this project is that you only need so many supplies. All that I used was some fabric, scissors, a measuring tape, and a hot glue gun. You can use any type of fabric you like. I have even heard of people using old T-Shirts and things to make them! Also, if you are going to attach this rosette to something you are going to put through the washing machine, I would consider buying and using fabric glue instead of the hot glue gun.

Step 1: Cut a strip off of your piece of fabric. The wider and longer the strip, the bigger the rosette, the skinnier and shorter the strip, the smaller (I know kinda obvious).

I made my first rosette that you see pictured up top about 1.5" wide and about 25" long.

Step 2: At one end of the strip, tie a knot. Try to tie it so that the short end is hidden by the big knot. Don't let it poke out too far! Leave the knot a little loose to give it some added character. This knot is going to be the center of your rosette.

Step 3: Keeping your fabric down on a flat surface, start wrapping your leftover fabric around this knot. You can twist the fabric as you wrap it around the knot. Play around with it at first to see what you like. How loose or tight you twist your fabric will effect what your rosette looks like. While you are doing this, make sure that you keep your rosette on a flat surface so that every layer of the rosette wraps nice and snug around the previous layer. Also when you are twisting, think about how much you want the backside of your fabric to show. Twist and wrap this sucker till you leave enough of a tail to use to cover the back of your rosette.

Step 4: Make your rosette as large or small as you like, just make sure you leave your tail to cover the back of the rosette. Flip the rosette over, making sure you hold it together tightly. Take your hot glue gun and lather the back of the rosette up. Press and hold that tail to the back until the glue is dry. Pull off all the little strings from the glue. Here are photos from the backside at this point and from the front.

From the back just after you are done gluing:

From the front:

Step 5: Cut off the excess tail so that you cannot see it when you look at the front of your rosette.

And now you have your first rosette! :)

Enjoy and start decorating with your rosettes! If you have any questions let me know!

A Healthy Substitution

Lately, I have been trying to cook as healthily as possible. Whether it being trying new diets, new recipes, or new fresh ingredients, I am trying! However, I have decided what my new favorite health food is - cauliflower!
I have always liked steamed cauliflower or even raw cauliflower. I didn't know of its versatility until recently. I have been substituting it for rice! Who would have thunk, right?

Cauliflower Rice

Cut the stem off of the head of the cauliflower. Next, cut the cauliflower into smaller pieces. Place pieces into food processor and pulse until large chunks look like the consistency of rice or couscous. Dump the pulsed cauliflower rice onto a baking sheet or stone. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix together and spread mixture evenly across baking sheet. Place in oven at 450 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes. Pull out shelf in oven to stir rice up so that it doesn't burn or stick to pan. Put back in oven and repeat. After the second stir up, only bake for an extra 5 minutes. Remove from oven and serve!

Now you have a way to cut down on starchy carbs and bring more veggies into your diet! Serve under your favorite rice toppers (mine is stir fry!) and you will never even know the difference!

Here is what the mixture looks like after being pulsed, drizzled with some EVOO, and sprinkled with some s&p!

My WOD

This is going to be a complete disappointment to everyone... so I am sorry in advanced.

Ever since I have been on day shift (about 7 months now... wow!) I have had a goal with my husband to stay healthy and fit. My husband started doing CrossFit just over 2 years ago to lose weight and stay in shape. When I switched from night shift to day shift I started doing CrossFit with him in order to not end up like the people I have been taking care of in the hospital for the past two and a half years. Since July, I have advanced so much and I see how different I personally feel from day to day. I have so much more energy and my body can physically last so much longer. Who doesn't want to feel better everyday?

I am going to start posting small workouts that I have come up with that takes absolutely nothing but yourself and self motivation. You do not need weights at home or anything special to do what I am posting. That is what is best about CrossFit; such a small amount of equipment is needed... all you need is yourself! You are the machine!

I am going to post my first WOD (Workout of the Day), which includes a small warm-up, a workout, and some stretching. If you don't know anything about exercise movements you can still participate, because I will either post a picture, a video, or something that shows what the movement is. If I don't, just google it.

Please join me in the best self respecting thing you can do... get up and move something! :)

Stretch:

Do some leg stretches that will warm up your hamstrings and your quads.

You can do some high knees or butt kicks to help in the process.

Warm up:

Run -- just run!

(I know, I know! I hear the complaining already! Almost everyone on this Earth hates to run, but guess what? It is SO good for you AND you feel so good after you just get up the umph and DO IT!)

I don't really care how far you run. If you want to run to the mailbox and back, down the street and back, or a mile and back, I DO NOT CARE. Start off small and over time you will see a change! Just make sure that you do get your heart rate up a little bit. We are exercising, remember!

For my own WOD, I ran 1 mile.

Stretch:

Stretch out your legs and your shoulders/arms. At CrossFit, we do what is called the pigeon pose. It is a great way to stretch your hams and quads, as well as your hips.

Work out:

Four Rounds for time of:

10 Burpees (How to here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Dq_NCzj8M)

15 Jumping leg lunges (How to here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zLTDUFjbXA)

20 Sit ups (please tell me you know how to do a sit up)

25 Squats (How to do a real squat here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDdSZmWNYQI)

The beautiful part about this workout is that you can "scale" the workout to your fitness level. If you only want to do 1 burpee, 5 lunges, 10 sit ups, 15 squats, you can! If you want to do the reps from the workout above but can only do one round, do it! Whatever combination will make you get up and move something is the best option. My best advice is, don't OVER do it because it will not be fun and you will not do it again. Also, it is better to have good form then work yourself to death trying to do something that you are not doing properly.

Just a tidbit: you know that your dog is super lazy when you have to DRAG her the WHOLE time you run because she is just THAT lazy!

Also by the way - ladies, this workout will get you in that bikini in no time! Just saying....

Have fun kids! Get up and move something today!