Truth, I wear the same size jeans as my husband! (TJ haul)

Yes, that statement is true. But let me clarify. Because trust me, about 45 minutes ago I about had a full-on melt down in the TJ dressing room...

As much as I love my skinnies, I like to change it up every know and then. While thinking about what I wanted to take on vacation(yes, I plan several months in advance to prevent anxiety), I knew I wanted some denim shorts. Jhorts, as I affectionately call them. This comeback trend(I rocked mid-thigh light blue denim rolled shorts circa 1992, and yes I have a picture to prove it), is lovely! However, I have no interest in 'wearing short shorts' these days. I guess I'm not stylish because apparently, anything that doesn't show the bottom of YOUR bottom isn't hip. I'm rambling, but I have a point and here it comes. I was researching Jhorts when I came up with the idea of using 'men's/boyfriend jeans' to make a pair. My thinking was, I could cut them the length that was appropriate to my frame. That's when I decided, because its only logical, that if I'm going to have boyfriend shorts, I have to have boyfriend jeans.
I digress..
So, I'm shopping in heaven, I mean TJ Maxx, when I discover that the juniors section has a whole rack devoted to the boyfriend denim style. But they honestly were looser skinny jeans, which just looked like skinny jeans on me. I just didn't like the fabric or the fit. Which brought me to brave the men's section.
First off, who else is glad that there is such a variety of washes now? I mean, they had everything from 'John Deer' farmer blue to 'Jersey Shore' faded wash.

I managed to find what I needed in 2 trips to the dressing room. After the first trip which nearly sent me into a shame spiral, I settled on a dark wash, slender fit pair of 32/30 Express Jeans for $19 bucks. I even managed to find a pair of white shorts that were a decent length in the juniors section thus restoring my faith in humanity about clothing length. (Am I too old to be shopping in juniors?) Another great TJ trip all in all.

Here's a few tips I learned.
1. Remind yourself they sit on the hips, not the waist(unless you're going for a baggy mom jean look, no judgement here). This means the measurement 'number' will not be what you are accustomed to.
2. Skinny is not just the fit for women, apparently the gents also like to rock the tight fit.
3. Rejoice because for ONCE length doesn't matter
4. Don't cry because they aren't as baggy as you thought they'd be(refer to number 1 and 2)
5. Don't be afraid 'wear the pants' in your family. I mean literally, I can just use Macs jeans in the future. I wanted a darker wash then he likes to wear but I could probably try his for daytime fun!

Inspiration pic below, I'll try to post a 'look book' picture sometime this weekend.

Thoughts on my mani? Too young, just right?

In my defense, my husband is pretty trim. I guess I could work at fattening him up so I don't have to stalk the men's section anymore, bwahahaha....

Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End.....

Got a lot of things coming up in the next few months. A trip 'home', a vacation, and my 'little' sister's wedding. What a blessing that I am able to do all these things!

So, a follow up from my last post. After a kick off week of super clean eating, I am on my way to fit-town. Because for me, skinny isn't an option. It's just not the way God made me. I've got Mary Lou Retton thighs, huge calfs and a broad chest. And even though I don't like that I don't have long stick legs-it was those muscular stumps that got me thru 5 years of stunting in college. So I strive(not settle) for fit.
I've hit the gym for at least 30 min of cardio each day. I've also been doing 3 various weekly plans that have complete arm, glute-area, and ab/core circuits for each day. Now that I'm getting back to 'real-life' eating I'm shooting for 3 meals with 2 snacks. I may go to 5 mini meals but I am going to try 3-2 first.

Train insane or remain the same! I bid goodbye to blah me....and(as Barbara would say) hello gorgeous! :)

Check below for a few new foods I'm trying out. The peanut spread says gluten free and vegan, and it was very good! Almost as good as my favorite Krema peanut butter.

High: that I set a goal and have stuck to it, even tho I wanted to quit(just about every time I got to the gym)
Low: realizing that a lifestyle change means limiting my beloved pasta

Weekend highlight: Hank fell asleep sitting up in the car yesterday. We took the dogs to Bark at the Park downtown and got to play and meet lots of other dog lovers. A great time was had by all.....

Ain't no turning back time.

Vacation. Should be a time to look forward to, a span of time filled with whatever your heart desires(changing scenery and good friends in my case). But if you are like me, or many of the women I know-it becomes a furious and panic filled count down of trying to get into shape.

I will be the first to say, I am my own worst and harshest critic. And I tend to put myself on a shame spiral that ends up 5 stops past crazy town and blows up on everyone. However this time I'm determined to stay in control and on the tracks.

I've committed myself to 3-4 days of activity sessions(30 minutes minimum) and a 'food' challenge a week.

Accountability is what's key here. So why not have it in writing? I've got to teach myself that gone are the days of eating what I want and when I want it. I am no longer a college athlete and I am no longer in my 20's.

There's no going back, only forwards.

Pickle dip, Lemon-Raspberry cake and French eggs, oh my!

Been keeping my hands busy the last few weeks. Started to play around with calligraphy, but more on that later. This post is about food. I've learned over the years that there isn't much that I don't love about it. Thought I'd share what I've been whipping up in my kitchen as well as a few tricks of the trade I've been using.

PICKLE DIP

- I made this for a Sunday school class girls night gathering. It was a BIG hit, which was a relief after my last outing with buffalo goat cheese bites was only so-so. Note to self; don't bring soft cheese to a gathering with numerous pregnant women. I highly recommend this as a simple and crowd pleasing item.

Ingredients:
(From bunsinmyoven.com)
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temp(can't stress the room temp part enough)
- 1/2 to 1 C dill pickles(to taste)
- 1T Worcestershire
- Dill, if desired
- Pickle juice(to taste)

Instructions:
- Chop pickles finely
- Combine cream cheese(the softer, the easier to mix) with Worcestershire
- Use pickle juice to thin dip out
- Season with dill if desired
Serve cold or at room temp with chips(I chose the classic ruffled chip, is there anything better to use as a vessel for dip?)

TRIPLE LAYER LEMON CAKE WITH BLACK RASPBERRY FROSTING

- This past Sunday, I was given the task of bringing a dessert for Easter and did not want to:
A) disappoint the in-laws(always more pressure there)
B) bring a standard dessert

Tutorial:
I used 2 boxed lemon cake mixes. I ALWAYS doctor my boxed cakes with either flavored pudding, melted chocolate, or (in this case) lemon pie/dessert filling. I make the cake according to the box instructions and add the extra 'goo' to keep the cake super moist. Some helpful tips...
- it does help of you sift the cake mix, but you could hand whisk the lumps if you wanted
- use the box cooking temp and time as a guideline and just keep an eye out(using common baking sense, aka toothpick test).
2 boxes made 3 8-inch round cakes and I used the extra batter and my favorite Wilton mini fluted bundt cake pan to make little lemon cakes which I brought to work.

For the frosting, I used a classic American buttercream recipe(see below) and added in my new favorite sweet-Graeter's Black Raspberry Fruit Topping(found at Kroger with Ice-Cream Sundae stuff). A few notes about making frosting...
- add powdered sugar a small bit at a time(never fails that my counter, floor, dogs and myself end up covered)
- make sure your butter is softened or you will get butter chunks in your frosting
- too runny? Add more powdered sugar. Too thick? Add Water or cream. Grainy? Whip it into submission

I let the cakes sit before moving them to a cooling rack. I use parchment paper when flipping them onto the rack since the extra moist cakes can break easily(bonus-less dishes!). The cooled completely before I even made the frosting, this is so I'm not tempted to rush the process. The rest is easy
- put strips of parchment on your cake plate that can be removed after frosting for a clean base.
- center 1st layer, top with thick layer of frosting, repeat with 2nd layer
- place top layer on and frost with thin crumb coat.
- frost cake with desired thickness(I'm not a huge frosting person, but I have to admit that this recipe rocks!)

The frosting would have been fine on it's own, but the Graeter's topping gave it such a delicious fruit flavor and gave it such a beautiful pink color. Et Voila!

OEUFS EN COQUETTE AUX FINES HERBES(Eggs baked in Ramekins with Herbs) a Julia Child Recipe
- My something to read this Christmas was Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. So after coming across this Pinterest recipe pin, I was inspired to delve into the cooking book and try.

I used Amanda's Cookin blog as a guideline, along with my cookbook
Ingredients:
* I modified the amounts.
- 2 T cream
- 1-2 eggs
- dab of butter
- herbs(S&P)
- you'll also need an stove & oven proof pan

Instructions:
- turn oven to 350 degrees
- fill stove top and oven safe pan halfway with water and bring to simmer
- 1 T Cream into greased ramekin, flavor with herbs, half dab of butter
- place ramekins in simmering water and heat until butter melts
- add egg(s), 1T cream, remaining dan butter and additional herbs
- place pan in middle of over(so you don't burn bottom or top)
- cook 7-10 min(depending on oven) until just set. Remove and let sit for 3-5 min
Notes:
- The cream will make it look not cooked
- you could play around with various herbs and ingredients
* I'm guessing this is one of the easier recipes in the cookbook, but I'm hoping to get the courage to try additional recipes soon!

Baby Bohl Party

Quick fix for a party I co-hosted in the beginning of March.

I had made chocolate covered cheesecake pops for a wedding shower recently and they were a hit. They were a nightmare, however, to transport. Top of my Food that does NOT travel well list. Well, the mama-to-be requested cheesecake so I got to brainstorming(I wasn't willing to travel with the pops again).

I had originally planned on making mini neopolitan cheesecakes. I mean what kid didn't love neapolitan ice cream? you didnt have to choose just one flavor, you could have strawberry, vanilla AND chocolate-heck yeah!!!! But then I couldn't find the mini springform pan I needed in time so I got a little creative and went to an old stand by. Mason jars. Little ones. For those of you who don't know.... Many stores sell Mason jars. I get mine from Kroger and they are usually around a buck each($12/dozen). I have them in all sizes and they make great decorations, gifts and in this case dessert vessels(that pack up and are easy to move!).

I wasn't about to attempt to bake 3 layers of cheesecake, I didn't have the time. But I didn't have much experience with Jello no-bake mix besides my friend N's rave reviews....No one knew the difference. 1 box of crust mix was enough for 24 jars, and I used 5 bags of cheesecake mix. For flavor and color(in the strawberry layer) I added vanilla extract and strawberry jello mix. And that's it. You make each layer, immediately pour it into a plastic bag, and 'pipe' it into each jar while its still liquid. Then gently tap each jar on a flat surface covered with a towel( so you don't break the jar) until the layer is level. Refrigerate each layer for at least an hour to set.
**Some of the jars had the crust come up while tapping the layers out, so be sure to pack down the crust well. If you 'pipe' the cheesecake in immediately it shouldn't require much tapping.

I also made salted dark chocolate caramel cookies. Recipe found on www.sallysbakingaddiction.com (March 1, 2013 post)

Pics below. For me, presentation is just as important as the food or gift. I had a massive pickle jar and some tongs for the cookies and we stacked the jars but opened the top layer.
I also included the chevron afghan I crocheted for baby Bohl. It coordinates with her nursery decor. Love that shade of purple. My inspiration was The basket liner on the registry.
- pattern used: Chevy baby blanket by Vickie Howell off ravelry.com (modified)
- Caron simply soft yarn in Orchid and White

Can't wait to meet the little princess!!!!

Rock Socks, there's an app for that!

Good gracious, blogger has an Iphin app. I've been looking for it, but stumbled across it today!
I'm hoping this means more consistent blogging. I have found that I rarely use my laptop for anything, and I have no idea how to use Mac's Mac:).

So to get back in the swing of things....Today's post is all about kitchen.

We decided that it was now or never on the kitchen renovation. I have always thought the kitchen needed a facelift. I didn't get to re-arrange things quite the way I wanted, but we were able to compromise and find a GREAT happy medium!

My vision was to completely gut the kitchen, get new appliances, floors, counters and cabinets. Then I landed back on planet earth. Since our tile floor goes throughout much of the downstairs, new floors wasn't an option at this time. Fortunately, it can be something to be considered in the future. The layout of the kitchen however, had to be meticulously thought out as this will be the way it will remain until/if we move.

We knew the wall between the living area and kitchen was coming down. We did have to say goodbye to the gorgeous craftsman built ins as they could not be salvaged, nor would they fit anywhere else in the house. We planned to take that wall all the way out but ran into some plumbing pipes(literally). With some creative plumbing, we were able to take out most of the wall as planned and only had to sacrifice about a foot to accommodate the new plumping routing.

We took all the doors off the top cabinets, sanded, and painted to blend in with the walls. Now we get to play around with displaying many of our beautiful wedding gifts in our open cabinets! And(much to Mac's delight), I am forced to keep the dishes organized.

Side note that the craftsmanship the workers did on our living room wall was awesome. They matched our 'molded' walls perfectly!

Mac was also pleased that I didn't choose the most expensive counters there were. I wanted a pop of color on the counters so instead of doing Venetian gold all throughout(I should mention the the island already had Venetian gold), we chose to do the main counters with black granite. Then we did the transaction counter in Venetian gold to complement the island. The finished look is a neat contrast.

We've staged a lot of the top cabinets with neat items. The pull down spice rack has to be my favorite. Decided to use a stainless, glass and white dish theme throughout. I realized that almost everything I already owned fit right in with the kitchen, creating a seamless look.

Some of the finishing touches are; the industrial pull down kitchen faucet and stainless undercount sink, the lazy susan bread plate, the stainless flip lid trashcan, the black iron doggie(maybe kids one day) gate.

We aren't done yet. We have finished one side of the base cabinets with new paint and hardware, but haven't gotten the energy to start the other side. A note about painting cabinets. DON'T DO IT if you can avoid it. Plans for painting the island black...thoughts on this? (We are conflicted) and a back splash are in the works.

The look we ended up with is industrial farmhouse and we love it! Hoping the whole project will be done by summer!

High: Yes, oil based paint gets you high...
Low: sanding is required if you want the paint to look right. However, you will be cleaning up after it for weeks.

Here are some progress pictures.....

Happy Birthday My Beloved!!!

Today is Mac's 33rd birthday! I have been lucky enough to celebrate 5 birthdays with this AWESOME guy. And I don't tell him enough that he helps to keep my world spinning and that I love him with all my heart and then some! I wish him the BESTEST birthday and hope that the upcoming year is filled with love and excitement.