21 Day Fix

I was in the basement one day cleaning when I got sucked into an infomercial for a fitness program (you know you've done it before), and I found myself wondering if it would be the right fit for me.  It's called the 21 Day Fix, and it's based on the idea that you can break a bad habit in 21 days (which neither I nor most psychiatrists will admit has any value, but I digress).

The premise relies on both fitness and nutrition, which is why I was so drawn to it. There are 7 different workouts that follow the workout calendar below:

It's three weeks straight of working out, but the workouts themselves are only 30 minutes, and (dare I say it?) they are pretty fun!  I will admit that I nearly died during the first one, but don't be discouraged-- you will feel so much better if you keep on it.

As I mentioned, this is also a nutrition plan, and it's based on eating at a caloric deficit, which is achieved by portioning food.  To aid this, there are color-coded containers, and you are allotted a certain number of them every day.  The hardest part of this entire process is, as you could imagine, planning.  You have to know what you're going to eat for each meal/snack before you leave the house, or you will not be able to follow this well.  

The first week I did this challenge, I only did the exercise and ate healthier than normal but not according to the guidelines.  When I started to buckle down and really get into the nutrition aspect, I found myself floundering a little.  That's where this helpful worksheet came in handy:

I really appreciated this guiding document from Kimberly Jobs of Sublime Reflection, but it was only available as a PDF, and I wanted to be able to use it to calculate my needs for me.  So, I re-created it using Google Drive, and it's available for download:

CLICK HERE FOR INTERACTIVE SPREADSHEET DOWNLOAD

This document, unlike the original, allows you to play with your meals and warns you when you've gone over your allotted serving.  You can easily see your remaining servings, and when you do exceed what you're allowed, it will let you know:

Clearly, I tried to sneak in too many veggies...

I hope that this document helps you out.  It was created in Google Docs and is therefore a little more compatible there, but it can also be downloaded as an Excel document.

For more information on the 21 Day Fix, check out their website or my Pinterest board.

Re-fashion

It's a new year, and I'm sure you may have guessed that means I'm on a new diet and exercise plan (more on that in a different post), the reason being that I am no longer able to fit into some of my clothing.  However, this has given me a unique opportunity to revisit something I have always had an interest in but never indulged, and that is re-fashioning clothes.

I am a decent seamstress.  I took sewing/fashion classes in high school and even sewed my own prom dress.  In college, my friend Casey and I discovered a book all about re-fashioning T-shirts, and though we did some, we only ever did the no-sew options.

My junior year prom dress, inspired by Beauty & the Beast...

Casey modelling one of our transformed shirts

One reason I'm not really into sewing is because it overwhelms me, mostly due to the yards of fabric needed to make a decent piece of clothing.  When I was in high school and had plenty of classroom space at my finger tips, it didn't bother me, but since then, I have mainly focused on projects that are very limited in size, such as stockings.

What's great about re-fashioning is that it takes pre-existing garments and allows you to modify them without taking up too much time or space.  To make a t-shirt, I would probably need at least two yards of fabric, and I would end up doing a lot of the onerous work, like creating the collar.  For the t-shirt modification below, I only needed a few inches of fabric and got the whole project completed in half an hour.

The inspiration for this particular project can be found here, though there aren't any real instructions beyond: "I cut out the side seams and serged in a panel of fabric on each side and, voila, the shirt fits."

Here's what I did with one of my very favorite t-shirts (that's a little snug these days):

Materials needed:

• Old t-shirt
• Extra fabric (dimensions will vary)
• Sewing machine, straight pins, & thread

Steps:

1. Cut side seams from bottom hem to top and through arm holes; measure cut distance (for me, it was 19.5" x 4" to accommodate .25" seams on sides and .5" hem on top and bottom)

2. Sew top and bottom hems of add-in fabric.

3. Pin and sew in side panels.

It is a pretty fantastic and fun little maneuver, and now I feel comfortable wearing this shirt again.  If I ever got back down to my skinnier size, I could always just re-sew the initial seams.



I also did another shirt, and now I'm afraid I may be addicted...

Now that I have this project under my belt, I am ready to take on more.  Some will be more challenging while some will just be plain fun, but I'm sure a trip to Joann is in order!

Check out other possible projects by clicking here for my Pinterest board.

Loving My Living Room

When we first moved into our place in December 2012, it was a very nice blank canvas.  It didn't need a lot in the way of repairs, which I always expected my home would.  Instead, it was a very nice, very bland home just waiting for some inspiration to hit it.

Problem was, it was REALLY intimidating to fill an entire house at once.  We had furniture, and I had some of my favorite items from when I lived at home, plus some raw materials for projects that I had collected over the years, intending to utilize them when I finally got my own place.

I had grand ideas, but somehow, almost two years in, my house was still looking pretty boring.  My living room, especially, was making me angry.  I had curtains and pillows that I liked, but there were some issues with the walls.  I'm not a huge fan of the color yellow (because it has to be the PERFECT shade), and the whole first floor is...you guessed it-- yellow!

Here's the LR when we moved in:

And a shot towards the Dining Room:

After almost two years, it looked like this:

We had couches and some other great furniture, but the walls were severely lacking.  The only original thing on the wall was the picture of me that my friend's mom had painted, and it's a little odd to be looking at yourself all day.

My husband is not much on home dec, but he reports that I spent months just looking at the wall before I finally decided on what to do.

Step 1: Remove photo of self and find something more appropriate; switch out small items that aren't working.

As I said, it's just too much to look at oneself all day.  I switched it out for something I found at Joann for about $30 (I only buy stuff on sale; you should know that by now).  It's one piece, but it's staggered for interest.

As for some of the smaller pieces, I switched one circular table out for another, and I bought an ottoman so that I could stop resting my feet on a decorative trunk.

Step 2: Utilize garbage-picked shutters in fun and funky way.

I found these AWESOME shutters on the side of the road and (swallowing my pride) threw them in the back of my car.  I looked at all kinds of different ways to use them, but, ultimately, just putting them on the wall with a thorough cleaning was the best way to go.  I got the idea to put up photos with clothespins from this blog.

Step 3: buy (and dress) a leaning bookshelf.

A leaning bookshelf is something I have always wanted (can't tell you why), so I was excited to find this affordable version at Walmart.  It's not hardwood, but it's really nice, and it acts as the perfect way to showcase a lot of stuff I already had and just didn't know where to put. I had dudes commenting on it.  That's how you know you actually made a difference.

TA-DA

That's really all I did to make my living room one of my favorite rooms.  I felt like I had so many good pieces that just weren't coming together.

To review:

Before

& After

Got a room transformation you'd like to share?

Giving Thanks

Hi everyone!  I hope that you all had an amazing Thanksgiving.  As you'll note from my last post on the subject of November 26th, I had serious misgivings about this holiday.  I haven't been so happy to be proven wrong in a very long time.

Turns out that my Thanksgiving was terrific.  It was one of the best I have had in a long time, in fact, and I was wasting all this time and energy dreading it (my husband's voice is ringing in my head, saying, "I told you so...").

I am posting today to share some awesome pictures of the event but also to share the wise words of my boyfriend, James Clear.  I introduced James to you in a previous post, bu this Thanksgiving advice was something that really hit home (and when I showed it to my husband, his exact words were, "This guy is stealing my material;" sensing a theme yet?).

You can read it all below or here on his own website (poke around; you might find something awesome!)

And, because I'm a visual type, here's just how happy my Thanksgiving was!

How to Be Thankful For Your Life by Changing Just One Word

By James Clear    |    Life Lessons

My college strength and conditioning coach, Mark Watts, taught me an important lesson about how to be thankful that applies to life outside of the gym as well as inside it…

As adults, we spend a lot of time talking about all of the things that we have to do.

You have to wake up early for work. You have to make another sales call for your business. You have to work out today. You have to write an article. You have to make dinner for your family. You have to go to your son’s game.

Now, imagine changing just one word in the sentences above.

You don’t “have” to. You “get” to.

You get to wake up early for work. You get to make another sales call for your business. You get to work out today. You get to write an article. You get to make dinner for your family. You get to go to your son’s game.

I think it’s important to remind yourself that the things you do each day are not burdens, they are opportunities. So often, the things we view as work are actually the reward.

Embrace your constraints. Fall in love with boredom. Do the work.

You don’t have to. You get to.

Crafts & Champagne: Reverse-Reverse!

Please pardon that this post is from a crafting party I held almost a month ago and was too busy (*cough* lazy *cough*) to write about.  As you know, Crafts & Champagne is one of my favorite things to do with my girlfriends (and, apparently, my husband's boy friend now wants to be invited; he'll fit right in).  We decided to do it right before Halloween but then faced the conundrum of which holiday we should center our crafts around: Halloween (almost over!), Thanksgiving (a little ways out) or Christmas (far away, but so many fun things to do).

That's when Pinterest rescued us.  I had found and pinned several crafts that were reversible to cover several seasons, and we opted to get the best of both worlds.

Popsicle sticks are cheap, easy, and fun, so I grabbed some of those for a reversible scarecrow/snowman.

Turns out, wooden blocks are expensive as sin (considering they are actually scraps), but I found a decent replacement at Joann for the words.

Hobby Lobby had all their Xmas stuff on sale for 40% off, and I found 2-packs of blank ceramic ornaments for only a few dollars, and that rounded off our supplies.  (Of course, Mom was kind enough to donate her wood paints, and Lauren definitely came through with the extra glue gun).

Top: our inspiration   Bottom: our finished products

All in all, we did pretty darn well, although you'll notice that the wooden banner is the best because Sarah did it (*cough* over-achiever *cough*).

Have any other ideas for multi-season/multi-holiday crafts?

We would LOVE to hear about them!

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; 

rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Alex B

If you have been paying attention, you will probably have realized by now that I've been struggling a bit lately with my brother's death.  I'm quite convinced that the reasoning for this is because the ten-year anniversary has been looming, and, though I shouldn't put stock in such things, that milestone has made me more cognizant that he's gone.

And so, without further ado, the day is finally here.  Yep, you guessed it.  Happy Freaking Thanksgiving.  (hear that?  It's the sound of salt being rubbed in an open (albeit decade-old) wound)

Yes, he is fishing for boxes of beer.  Bet he caught them, too...

So, in an effort to cope with what ten years ago became my least favorite holiday, I wrote down the things that, even though so much time has passed, routinely remind me of my brother.

Alex, I remember you when:

• I make Ramen but dump the water and just flavor the noodles.
• I make a wreath out of my spaghetti to heat it evenly in the microwave.
• I see any number of movies, including: The Sandlot, The Rock, Con Air, Big Trouble in Little China, Waterworld (remember the part when he drinks his own pee?), Cool Runnings, The Lord of the Rings, etc. etc.
• I say "oshwam" and really mean "ice cream."
• Someone says, "indubitably."
• I see any kind of graffiti.
• I see Lauren's dog and think "STU-EEEE" with that inflection you made famous.
• Someone talks around the cigarette in his mouth.
• I see pictures of people in the 90s rocking uppercuts and baggy jeans.
• It's Thanksgiving.

Now that the day is finally here, I feel a release.  For whatever reason, the milestones sometimes get you (think about your first family functions or holidays after losing someone you love), but it's the everyday memories that are the strongest and that live on.  These are the ones that bring you comfort.

Today, I'll think of him.  I'll miss him.  I'll repeat.

And then I'll play "Smoke on the Water," grin despite myself, and all will be well.

I will not say, "do not weep," for not all tears are an evil.

-J.R.R. Tolkien

Closet Overhaul

There has been a dress-code crackdown at work.  We are technically a business attire environment.  Not business casual.  Business.  That means that many of my male counterparts (and certainly superiors) wear suits everyday.  As you can imagine, the new enforcement has led to the normal rumblings bordering on revolution and some epic co-worker bonding over why "booties" are not professional.

Examples of appropriate workplace wear

For me, it meant a necessary upgrade.

Now, not everyone will experience my luck.  My mother-in-law happened to retire right before I started here, and she gifted me with dozens of pieces from her years in banking and financial loans.  Not everyone is lucky enough to have an MIL as giving or stylish as mine is, but there are some ways to nearly replicate the hand-me-down effect.

1. They give you the chance to take risks at no cost.  No, I would not normally wear floral print pants, but Beckie handed me some for free.  At that price, it's definitely worth trying once.  (And I wasn't shocked when they weren't my thing...)
2. You know the fit.  I can't tell you how many times I have found something I really liked, only to find it was too tight once washed.  To combat this, I started buying things a little bigger, and then it would just be too baggy after a few wears.  The best part about hand-me-downs is that you already know how they will look and fit after a few (or more!) wears.
3. You don't feel too badly parting with it.  I have spent years trying to keep my STUFF at a manageable level.  Clutter, particularly of un- or under-used items, is both difficult for me to manage and something I am desperate to master.  I have seen many different anti-clutter strategies suggesting that you dispose of one piece of clothing when you bring home a new one, and the easiest way I have found of doing this is to have clothing that didn't cost you too much money in the first place.

So, what do you do if you aren't lucky enough to inherit clothing (especially the good stuff)?  My number one suggestion is to go to Goodwill.  Or any other kind of donation-based resale shop.  A Goodwill just opened up down the street from me, and it's been awesome.

My friend Ann sent this to me... can you tell I do a lot of Goodwill?

I like Goodwill for all the reasons I like hand-me-downs (it's so cheap, it's almost free...).  Most resale shops also benefit a good cause, but that's just an added bonus.

Now What?

So, what do you do with all this clothing now that you've got it?  Well, for a few weeks, you fumble around with grabbing shirts at random and wondering if they are work-appropriate before you realize that there has to be a better way.  That's when you sneak a peak at your husband's closet.  It's full to bursting because he's too lazy to get rid of anything, but you know from years of putting his stuff away that it's divided into sections: T-shirts, Polos, button-down work shirts, long sleeve sweaters, casual long-sleeved shirts, and (my personal favorite) sweater vests.  Because Kevin is an inherently organized individual, he knows where all these things are without having to give it a second thought.  For someone like me, this does not come automatically, and so any time I adopt a system, I need to back it up with structural support before I can master it.

I decided that there were two really important distinctions I needed to make: what kind of clothing each piece is (t-shirt, sleeveless, etc) and whether or not I can wear it to work (casual, formal, work).  I ended up with the following list (and yes, I made a flow-chart of my closet; and no, it's not weird):

I bought relatively cheap clothing dividers online (less than $10) and then labeled them up with the different sections above.  However, I went a step further, bought hangers, and color-coded the entire thing, too.  Now, anything that's hanging on a silver hanger is the "formal" category; anything on a white hanger is "casual"; and anything on a black hanger is newly-enforced-dress-code-appropriate.

The "formal sleeveless" shirts getting the silver hanger treatment

Isn't it GLORIOUS?

It wasn't expensive, either.  I had a lot of mish-moshed hangers already; it was just about using them differently.  I had to train myself a little to remember the hanger color when doing laundry, but it saves me so much time on the other end that it's completely worth it.

What would your closet overhaul look like?  You might decide to organize differently, go bold and use green, yellow, and purple hangers, or have funky dividers like these:

Post pics if you decide, like I did, that it's time for a change!