Fit Friday ~ Day 26

OOPS!!! It looks like I forgot to actually post this yesterday so here is my Fit Friday....on Saturday.

While doing the workouts from BikiniBodyMommy, that I absolutely love, some old injuries started to flare up so I have had to tone down the intense {even if they are short} workouts. Kind of bummed about that!! But the weather outside is finally starting to feel like spring outside so we have been able to go out and do more.

Lady A and I love to go on walks and we even have a pass to our local swimming pool so that is a great way to get some exercise in. She loves getting in the water and splashing around. This week we showed her that if she kicks with her legs she can get an even bigger splash. YEP!! She thought that was fantastic. One thing Lady A likes to do is dip her face in the water, not her whole face, just her chin and the tip of her nose, then she lounges up with a super surprised look, like she is thinking "What just happened to me."

It is great being able to get out and see my little girl enjoy the warm weather, especially now that she is a bit older and likes doing all sorts of outdoor activities.

To change the subject a bit we went to an Easter Egg hunt today, Lady A's first, and had a blast. At first she had no idea why everyone was running around and so excited to pick up the eggs. I had to get down and pick up the first one for her, after that, there was no stopping her. Once her little bag was full she grabbed some more and wrapped her hands around them to able to bring them with her. Then we went in to claim our prize. Yea!!! A bucket and shovel, with two small stuffed animals and bag of candy. We will be there next year for sure.

Re-used Cans

Have I ever mentioned before that I love when packaging is re-usable?!?! So now I get two for one out of my purchase. With how often we have been moving around I love reusing what I can because when it is time to move again there is no feeling guilty about tossing out these things instead of packing them, and I don't feel like I am throwing away money.

I have my creative corner in the living room so it needs to be tidy and everything needs a place. This will help with keeping it tidy along with having a place for everything to go so that my daughters sticky little fingers don't get into everything.

Today I am sharing with you how I reused same cans from the kitchen to help get me organized.

Supplies Needed:

Any number of cans, any size {I used four various ones from the kitchen}

Cardstock

Mod Podge

Cutting Mat

Ruler

X-acto

Ruler

Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks

Embellishments {ribbon, buttons, twine, stamps, ink}

Measure the heigth of the can between the top and bottom rim, then around the canister to figure out the width, this will give you the size you need to cut the piece of cardstock to. For the two shorter ones my width was 12 5/8" {inches}, after cutting a 12" strip I cut another 1 1/2" strip to the same height.

*For things like stamping I suggest doing that before placing the cardstock around the can.

Take the wraps off the cans that will come off. Two of mine had the wraps printed right on the can so I couldn't remove them.

*This is why cardstock is a great option, with the thick cardstock, the label underneath it won't show through.

To start gluing the cardstock to the cans I placed them without any mod podge to make sure I had them lined up correctly. Then let one side up and apply mod podge to the back of the cardstock and place down. Now go along the rest of the cardstock, I did it in about 3" sections, applying mod podge then pressing it around the can.

I used some simple ribbon, twine and buttons to add a little bit of character to my cans.

The bow is pretty simple too. The ribbon I used is slightly thicker than 1/4". Cut a piece 5 1/2" long and another piece that was about 3x's as long as the width of the ribbon. Fold the two ends of the larger piece back into the center and use the hot glue to keep in place. Place the other piece, centered in the front, fold the top and bottom pieces around to the back and glue down. TaDa! a Bow!!

Most of the ribbon I used was left overs from other projects or even ribbons from gifts {specifically that wonderful green ribbon with flowers}.
*If you have ribbon that has been crunched simply use a flattening iron or curling iron to straighten it back out. Be careful to not clamp down too hard.
*For the yellow can with the green ribbon I applied mod podge to the back of the ribbon. This helped to make sure the flowers laid down flat and wouldn't lift up.
*I used the glue gun to hold the ends of the ribbons down securely.

Here are some of the items I used for this project:

 

Star Burst Crochet Stitch Blankie

Lady A has a blankie that she absolutely loves. This thing has been all over with us and the white yarn is more of a gray color now. I made her a new one but it was the wrong type of yarn, she used it a couple times but doesn't really cuddle with it like she does the original.

I found this Star Burst pattern on pinterest, loved it and so I wanted to give it a try. The stitch came from the 'Handbook of Crochet Stitches' by Betty Barnden. A very reasonable price for a book of 200 stitches. To make the stitches a bit more loose I used a hook one size larger than the suggested hook on the yarn packaging. I simply repeated the stitch until it was the width I wanted and just kept going, row after row, until it was done. Because I wanted the scallop to frame the entire blankie, once I finished the last row, I continued doing the same stitch pattern around the entire piece.

As I was going along with the stitch I noticed how similar this stitch was looking to one I had designed. I will share my stitch with you but you will have to get the handbook if you want the Star Burst stitch that I used for Lady A's blankie.

I got the yarn type right this time but it is super thick compared to her favorite one. Great for cuddling and keeping warm. Now I think I will move onto making one for the summer, a simple one that she can wrap around her like a shall or scarf, the same way she uses the one she has now.

Items needed for this project:
'Handbook of Crochet Stitches' by Betty Barnden
Hook I/9-5.50MM
Scissors
Colors used for this blanket.
White
Sunshine
Pistachio
Grey Heather
{I used one 6oz. skein of each}

Half Shell Stitch

Key:

CH ~ chain

ST ~ stitch

SC ~ single crochet

DC ~ double crochet

TOG ~ together (this is done like a decrease stitch but with more than just two stitches)

{} ~ from precious row

* ~ repeat

Foundation: ch st in multiples of 4, +1

Row 1: Skip 2 CH, *5 DC in next CH, skip 1 CH, 1 SC in next CH, skip 1 CH* end with 1 SC in last st, turn.

Row 2: 3 CH, skip SC, 2 DC TOG, * 2 CH, 1 SC in next DC {center of 5 dc}, 1 CH, 5 DC TOG {over 2 dc, 1 sc, 2 dc}* end 3 DC TOG {2 dc, 1 ch}, turn.

Row 3: 4 CH, 2 DC {in top of 3 dc tog}, *skip 1 CH, 1 SC {in sc}, 5 DC {top of 5 dc tog},* end 3 DC {top of 2 dc tog}.

Row 4: 2 CH, skip DC, *5 DC TOG {2 dc, 1 sc, 2 dc}, 2 CH, 1 DC {center of 5 dc}, 1 CH,* end 1 SC {in 4th of 4 ch}, turn.

Row 5: 1 CH, skip SC *skip 2 CH, 5 DC {top of 5 dc tog}, skip 1 CH, 1 SC {in sc},* end SC {first of 2 ch}.

Repeat row 2-5

Giveaway ~ Getting Organized

Well I think it is time for a giveaway!!!

I have a craft corner in our living room {yea for apartment living} and with a toddler whose sticky little fingers find everything that is not put away or high enough out of reach, I have to keep my corner organized and straightened. This means having an easy way to pick things up and put them away.

We all know that it takes a bit of time to set up when we want to start a project, then cleaning up just to bring it all out again when we want to continue working on our projects.

*Giveaway is for an empty roll-up. I have sewing  supplies in the first two pouches, stuff for party decorations in one and in the last pouch, items for an image transfer project I'm working on.

This is the perfect way to stay organized when I have to clean up. With four pouches I can keep all my standard supplies available, those needed for a specific project, bits n' pieces for my projects and whatever else I need. The pouches also come off and on so you can place it right on the table with you and not take up all the space for unrolling the bag.

Now, while I am working on a project that will take more than one nap time to complete, I won't have to put everything away in their different places then take the time to pull everything out again when I want to finish my project, just roll it up and put it in a corner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I also have one for the restroom. It's great to use right now but I love it when we go on trips like the one we took last weekend. Pouches for cleansers and lotion; make-up; toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss and the like; and whatever else might be needed like medication, q-tips, cotton balls, etc.

These bags are normally $30 but if you would like to purchase one at a discounted rate {$22 + shipping, tax is included} shoot me an e-mail. To get this rate we need to reach a group order minimum, once we do, invoices will be sent out. The discounted rate ends Saturday, March 30th, so act fast. The more orders, the bigger the discount for all of us so be sure to share this with your family and friends.

*Giveaway is open to US residents only.

*UPDATE: The winner of the small space organizer is Vonda. Congratulations!!

Fit Friday ~ Day 19

Oh dear me I need some help...Who wants to come get me in the mornings to make sure I get my workout in?!?!?

It seems like we can not get a break here in Connecticut, as I am typing this, snowing falling. If I am going to do more walking it will have to be put off even longer or I will just have to give in and go to the gym. Well, I think it is time to head into the gym for my cardio, I can not put it off anymore.

This week I also signed up for Runtastic, it links up with MyFitnessPal so my cardio can be added. These are just a couple of my latest tools to help in my journey to create a new me.

Spring Break 2013

For Spring Break Paul had to be back for work by Wednesday morning so if we were going to get out and do something, it was going to be short and we sweet. As it happens, we had the opportunity to go spend some time at a condo in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

We decided to take advantage of this and head down. The internet said our drive was supposed to be just over 11 hours but it didn't take into account our toddler we would be bringing with us. Our drive ended up taking around 15 hours. Lady A didn't want to sleep in the car and only slept for a total of about 2 hours. We left around 3:30 in the morning and once she woke up.....there was no going back to sleep.

We pulled up to the condo just before sunset and the temperature was so lovely. It was wonderful to get out of the car knowing we weren't going to get back in and drive more. Weather on Sunday was not so great, it was overcast and there were winds about 14-18 mph all day. We took one quick walk to the beach to show Lady A but couldn't stay too long, it was just too cold. We spent our day in the condo watching movies and trying to get Lady A to come in from the balcony ~ she loved it out there even though she was so cold.

Start off the morning with a little Harry Potter.

 Enjoying the balcony and ocean air.

This is what Heaven will look like to Paul.

Monday was better to get out so we went to the Wright Brother National Memorial and Museum. There was a lot of neat things to see there and think their first flight was in 1903, 66 years later we were on the moon and look at how far things have come in 100 years since they started.

 Look at those cute footprints. Daddy walking hand in hand with Lady A.

I love my little family.

We will most definitely be back down to OBX. Next time hopefully the weather will be a bit warmer so we can all get our feet in the water.

Whenever we travel we like to get a deck of cards and or a book about the area. This time we even got a book for Lady A to help her start he collection. We got Pirates, Ghosts, and Coastal Lore: the best of Judge Whedbee by Charles Harry Whedbee and First Flight: the Story of the Wright Brothers. Check out my review here. I couldn't find the same book we got but some of the stories come from these two books {he has written a total of 5}.

 

Fit Friday ~ Day 12

I have a confession to make ... This was not my best week.

It seems like we were running around a lot more this week than normal, coupled with staying up late to spend time with my husband when he gets home from work and school, I have had not energy.

I'm sure you noticed that the 'Day' count is off. There are two reasons for that, I fell behind and for me it would be best if my 'rest' days were on Sunday. To help me get back on track I am going to go to bed earlier and wake up before my little girl gets up and exercise in the morning. This will help wake me up and get the blood flowing for the day. With my cardio days it is hard to get out to the gym and we can't seem to get away from the snow, but hopefully, spring will be here any time. Going for walks/runs would be great for Lady A and I to get out and do together. Ah!! So excited for spring.

If you are interested in what exercise program I am following, just click here. I love the workout that are set up. They can be done from home and are a great length, short enough to keep me interested but long enough to get me sore. Love it!

Water. Water. Water. I need to do better at getting my full amount in for the day. I know that will help a lot with loosing the weight and helping myself feel better all around.

Ok, I am recommitting to this exercise routine today.

How are you doing on your goal? Have you fallen off the wagon? Well, hope right back up there with me, lets do this together.

~Mindy

Hunter's Fight

Digital Download Fundraiser!

My husbands cousin, Hunter, is a young man {14 years old} who loves his family and being a brother to an older and younger sister and one younger brother. He is very spirited and enjoys to play games and play jokes on people. At eighteen months old his Dr.'s diagnosed him with Cystic Fibrosis Pancreatitis, that causes him daily pain. He had to have a Total Pancreatectomy with Auto Islet Transplant, in short, that means a full day of surgeries. Check out his page on FaceBook to read more about his story.

Hunter and his mom have been in Minnesota for over a month while Hunter had surgery and has been recovering. It has been a long road to recover, others have come and gone for the same surgery, meanwhile, he has had multiple other surgeries do to complications. The surgery takes a year to recover and the family needs to raise money for medical expenses.

Hunters' family is at home in Utah doing what they can to help lift some of the financial burden for Hunters parents. Because we are in Connecticut we haven't been able to participate in the fundraiser dinners, benefit concerts or other activities so I have come up with another way for us to help. For St. Patrick's Day I have designed cupcake toppers that you can purchase, and the money from this will go toward Hunters medical bills. I love these little tags because they can be used for so many different things: cupcakes, party favors, cards, scrapbook/memory albums, etc, the list goes on.

Just go to my Donations tab, choose which set of tags you want, enter your donation amount then checkout. You will be emailed the tags as an instant download. Come back to check out the Easter tags that will be available for Hunters fight.

Baby Birth Frame

When our little girl was born I wanted to be sure to have something with her little feet prints.

I took the first verse of a favorite primary song 'I am a Child of God' and added Lady A's info. The Nurses were great and able to get some wonderful foot prints for me. Look at all those creases in her feet.

When she was first born this is the song I would sing as the two of us were figuring each other out. We now sing 'I am a Child of God,' at least once a night, before bedtime.

Download here. There are tick marks to cut the pdf to an 8" x 10". I would suggest filling in the blanks {the ones that you can} and then with a pencil draw a very soft line {that can be erased} along the bottom using the tick marks so that the nurses will know where the foot prints need to fit into. I printed out 4 {four}: one for me, one for each grandma and one to make a mistake on, with those little squirmy feet sometimes it takes more than one try. They did so great that all four turned out and so now Lady A has one for her book.

*This frame was given to us as a wedding present and I absolutely love it. When I put the footprints in I found out that with the extra detail molding in the frame it is more 7.5" x 9.5" but I haven't been able to find a new frame for it that I like so I will keep it in here until I do. On the PDF download I also tightened everything up a bit so if your frame is the same, you won't have the same problem.

I love how it turned out and hope that when Lady A is old enough, she will love it too.

There are seven different color schemes with editable fields to enter your childs' name, birth date, city and state, and Parents. If you don't see the colors you want shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment. I would be happy to help you out.

***UPDATE***

{4 June 2013}

Oh my goodness is my face red. I have been looking at the one I did for Lady A over the past year and half. I finally found the perfect frame for it and as I went to swap frames....I saw a typo. AHH! On the third line it is supposed to say 'an' not 'and'. I have fixed the typo and attached the new file to links above.

Get Creating!

~Mindy

Birthday Score

I still love when my birthday comes around, even if I don't share my age, because it is MY day!! It's the day I joined my family, came into the world and the day that would lead to me having my own family.

This past week was Coupon Commotion at Joann's Crafts and Fabric and with today being my birthday, I splurged. Growing up my mom had the coolest pair of scissors. How do I know they were that great, because we were NOT allowed to touch them. They were my moms' and just for fabric. They had this case they slid into like a sword into a sheath. Well, I finally got my own Gingher shears.

Look at how nice and shinny they are. The case will be good in case they get left down so Lady A won't be able to get them open and play with them. They have a perfect weight in my hand. The bent handle makes them ideal for cutting on a surface like a table. The BEST part is the blade, OH the blade! Thread sees this blade coming and it melts away, they cut through the jeans {project forth coming} like a knife through butter.

I have arrived!

St. Paddy's Day Pillow

The truth: the pillow form tutorial came about because I already had a purpose for it, my St. Paddy's Day Pillow. NOW I can create as many covers as I want and just switch them out.

This Tutorial is two-fold today. First is the pillow cover design and tutorial and second is the image transfer. 

Pillow cover

Items needed:

Material of your choice

Flannel

Felt: Green and Fuchsia {one of each}

Text and Shamrock transferred onto material {transfer using nail polish remover}

Thread to match material {or felt}

Pins

First thing is first, everything needs to be cut out.

Material for pillow cover: One {1} piece: 15 1/2" {inches} x 10 1/2" {inches}

Two {2} pieces: 10 1/2" x 10 1/2"

Fuchsia Felt: One {1} piece: 2" x 9"

Image Transfers and Flannel: Place the transfer imaged material on top of flannel then cut out, this will help ensure that the pieces are cut to the same size. For mine I cut the material to leave 1/2" around the text and image. Making my pieces approx.:

'Lucky' 2 5/8" x 7 1/2",

'IN' 2 5/8" x 1 3/4",

Shamrock 4 1/2" x 4 7/8"

L V E letters: You can find a font you like, print them out then use that as a stancil to cut the letters out of the felt. I wanted very simple letters and it was faster for me to come up with my own then look through a bunch of fonts. Each letter is approx.: 2 1/2" x 4"

On the front piece of the pillow cover lay down the cut outs how you would best like.

*Remember that you will loose 1/4" on each side for seem allowance.

Pin down 'Lucky,' the fuchsia felt piece, 'IN' and the shamrock. I wanted the thread to match my pillow case colour and like how it stands out against the felt pieces. Sew approx 1/8" from the edges. Go around 'Lucky' and the shamrock. Sew a square on the top and bottom of the fuchsia felt and then around 'IN.'

*When the edges of the material start to fray, the flannel placed under the material with the transfers will fray as well and make it look more full instead of scraggly.

Now place and pin the L, V and E.

*Remember that when you need to pivot on a corner, leave the needle down before you lift the foot, this will help keep everything in place and lined up.

{Can you spot my mistake? I hate having to redo something because of simple mistakes. Argh! However, because of the mistake I figured a better order to attach the pieces on the cover, so the pictures are just a smidgen off of the tutorial.}

For the two back pieces, along one edge fold a crease at 3/4" and then at 1 3/4" so the material will fold in on the wrong side {just like your pant hem}. Fold twice on the creases and sew hem down. I sewed mine at 7/8" so it would be close to the fold on the inside.

Lay the front piece of the pillow case cover right side up. Place the back pieces right side down so that the hems are in the center and over lap while the edges match up with the front piece. Pin all the pieces together and sew with a 1/4' seem. When you get all the way back to where you started, lift the sewing foot and move the pillow case over slightly so that you can go around the pillow case using the zig-zag stitch.

*With the pieces over lapping in the back and the pillow being a bit longer for how short it is, there is no need for ties or buttons in the back. It will stay closed really well on it's own.

With the opening in the back be sure to sew all the way around the pillow case. Turn the pillow case right side out and make sure the corners are pushed out. Now stuff your pillow in there and watch your own handy work bring a bit of seasonal cheer to your room

My little girl loves it too! It's just the perfect size for her.

Get Creating!

~Mindy

Fit Friday ~ Day 7

Wow, how are you all feeling? This first week of work outs has really put me in my place.

Of course day one is always a killer {since my body most definitely isn't used to working out like this}, but I have noticed that I am able to finish my work out a little faster and maybe even a bit more pep at the end. OK...maybe 'finish' is a strong word, but I am getting further along in them every time. My goal is that I don't have to be perfect but I just need to keep at it!!

I have found that this week, putting all the tools together that I have been talking about for the last bit, have really helped {it's a lot to keep up on, but it does really help}. I am keeping track of what and how much I am eating, I am most assuredly drinking more water and I am loosing weight...YEA!!

Read up on my goals and how I'm going to achieve them here!

I am creating the new me and excited to see what this next week will bring.

Get Creating!

~Mindy

Image Transfer

I love playing around with photos and so I thought I would do a series on transferring images to different surfaces and share my findings with you {the good and the bad}.

Materials Needed:

Words and Shamrock PDF printed on a laser printer {download here or come up with your own}

Material {cotton works great}

Nail polish remover {not just any, look further down to see my explanation}

Sponge brush

Spoon

*Remember this will be a worn or vintage look, the transfer won't be crisp. It is best done with monotone images or images that don't have a great deal of detail.

Cut the image out leaving as much white space around it as possible.

Lay down an extra piece of cardstock, cardboard or anything you might have laying around, secure it with tape. Place the material on the cardstock face up {make sure it is flat and tight, secure it with tape} then place the text or image face down in desired location and secure it with tape.}

*From my material I cut pieces a bit larger than I knew I would want them and placed my text or image in the center. This would give me a bit of extra wiggle room and allow me to cut down to size.

With sponge brush or cotton ball apply a generous amount of nail polish remover to the paper over the text or image.

*Instead of covering the hole text or image at once, I did it one letter at a time. This way I could keep up with the nail polish remover before it dried.

*You can see in my image I used the Wal-mart brand nail polish remover, nothing too fancy or expensive. But I did find that the 'Regular' didn't work, it was the 'Strengthening' that ended up working like a champ. There are two extra ingredients listed, they are: benzophenone-1 and propylene glycol.

With the back of the spoon press and rub firmly across the text or image. The paper and material will shift so use your other hand to hold them firmly as they start to shift.

*Tip: You are applying a liquid to paper so try to work fast, don't take a brake in the middle of a section. Too much liquid and too much rubbing will dissolve/tear the paper and you'll have to start over. Too much rubbing will also cause the paper to be 'ground' into the material and leave paper behind with transfer. If this happens let the transfer sit and completely dry, then use a towel to get the paper residue wet and rub away with your finger. DON'T press hard or you will lift up the text/image transfer too.

*Tip: I had to repeat these last two steps a couple of times for every section of the text or image. Check  your transfer by lifting up one section of the tape and pulling the paper away from the material.

Once you are happy with your results, take the paper completely off.

I found that the larger the image, the more vintage it looked. Working with a smaller area, like the word 'IN' from my tutorial, it is easier to get most of the image to transfer and be a bit more crisp.

I am so excited about how it turned out. I think the text worked a lot better than the larger shamrock.

Check back to see the final project I use these image transfers for.

Create Your Own Pillow Form

I love that there are pillow forms to purchase so all those fun pillow covers can be removed and washed, or changed, when needed. Every once in awhile I need or want a pillow of a not so standard shape or size. Now I'm going to share my tutorial for creating my own pillow forms.

Items needed:

Muslin (any color, I usually go with white. If your cover is going to be darker, I suggest getting a darker cotton fabric)

Fiberfill

Sewing machine

Thread

Ruler

Cutting mat

Rotary cutter

Pre-wash material.

Decide what size you want {for this particular project my cover will be 15" x 10"} then add 1/4" all the way around {my final measurement is 15.5" x 10.5"} and cut two. 

Line up the two pieces. In the middle of one side place marks for a width that will allow for your hand to fit in {mine is a 4" opening}.

Because this pillow will go inside of the pillow cover it needs to be just a bit smaller. This will allow for the cover to be placed on and taken off easier. Starting at the bottom 'opening' mark sew around the pillow form using a 3/8" seam allowance until you reach the top 'opening' mark.

*If you want you can also back stitch once or twice on either side of your 'opening' to help keep the seem tight.

*Tip: When getting to a corner sew up until you think you will need to change directions. I even measure to make sure the last stitch is where it needs to be. Leave the needle down, lift the foot and rotate your material. This will help so that the corners of the pillow form will be nice and sharp.

*If you also choose too, you can serge around where the straight stitch is. For a simple pillow form I will just use my zig-zag stitch.

Now turn the pillow form right-side out. Just reach in the opening and pull the right-side out. Then reach back in and use your finger, pencil with eraser or round tip scissors to push out the corners to make them nice and crisp.

Fill the form with Fiberfill to make your pillow form as full as you want.

*I reach in and make sure that some of the fill gets into the corners to help shape the pillow form.

Once you have enough fill in your pillow form push it down a bit to give yourself working room to sew the 'opening' closed. Pull the two sides on either side of the 'opening' and line up the sides of the opening, finger press and even place pins if you would like. Sew right at the edge of the opening from the top to bottom to sew the pillow form closed. On this one I missed a little section, if you do too, simple take it back to your machine and sew it closed.

With this stitch on the outside {even though it will go inside a pillow cover} I still want it to look nice so I simply tie the thread ends into a square knot and cut off the extra.

Voila ~ Pillow form!!

Creating A New Me ~ Working It Out

Ok. I'm feeling good so far. I might be going a little slower at this than others but the point is...that I'm still going.

Last month our goal was to pick out what supplements we were going to take. These can help fill in what we are missing from our meals and to cover certain areas we feel we need help in. Everyone will be different so be sure to figure out what works for you, talking with your Dr. is a great place to start if you need help. For me I have gone with a multi-vitamin, iron and fish oil. Again this needs to be doable for me, if I have 6-7 pills that I need to take 2-3 times a day .... that won't last.

I also added water. Yes: WATER. As I was looking through exercise routines the number one thing mentioned, EVERYWHERE, was to drink water .... lots of water. As I was taking stock of how much I drink, well, it was shameful. So this past month I also added water and am excited to let you know I already lost 6 lbs in two weeks. Wahoo!!

Now for the exercise. This gets me every time. I can start out with the best of intentions but will always fizzle out. All these exercise plans want you to spend 1-2 hours at the gym. If I had an extra 1-2 hours in my day ... I would sleep, this momma is tired!! Well I am excited to say I found a plan for me. It can be done at home, during nap time, before she gets up in the morning or in the evening as a detox and me time. Sigh! Here is the BikiniBodyMommy on FB. I will be doing her 90 day challenge. If you go to her photo albums you will see all her workout days. The best part, bikini season is just 90 days away!! I didn't plan this but the timing does work out great.

Hello!! Inspiration. Alright, it's time to get my workout on. Here it goes. From comments by others I hear the first week or two are the hardest but this time I am determined to stick with it! I'll take my measurements and all that not so fun stuff and check in next week. I don't think I am brave enough to put up pictures of me in a bikini but you never know, maybe if I hit my goal I will show do a series of transition pictures.