Before and After

A quick before and after. Last September I was probably still about 170 lbs, and now I'm 149lbs but I've only recently been putting good effort into it. I was 167 six months ago and 153 a month ago.

It's gotten me excited to make more clothes and so I turned a tee I was wearing last summer into a tube top and converted some Jeans into patchwork bell bottoms.  Sort of a crappy pic but you can definitely see the outfit is awesome and that I'm thinner. Wish I had more before pics!

Tomorrow I'm making a maxi dress out of an old sheet I had originally bought for Nova dresses but she has way more clothes than I do that fit .

A time for everything

I know I've been trying to sew more and have come up with some awesome designs, but I just rarely find the time to do it when the machine won't be too loud. I have made a few necklaces this week though which feels amazing to do.  Once I get up into the studio and sit down in front of boxes of beads and other supplies my hands quickly dig in and release all this creativity that has been swelling inside. I made an amazing piece today but it needs just one more detail before I can take a picture. I'm thinking a large quartz point.

I see other moms do so much and I'm super anxious to balance the scales more and this week had been a great exercise in doing that.

Speaking of exercise, I finally am putting great effort into losing this stupid weight.  A combination of pity, exhaustion, horrific pain, and stubbornness have up to this point hindered much progress.  But I've found a lot of inspiration and the pain has subsided thanks to Divine intervention and I took a picture of myself the other day that I called my ''before pic''.  Twenty five lbs is so doable. Last year this time it was 50lbs.  Being in the 180s pregnant was hard but being in the 170s and NOT pregnant broke my heart.  I was too embarrassed to take pics with my newborn!! I've typically been in the low 120s or teens and I'm positive I'll be there again. 

Anyway, I've made time to work out at home, no excuses and now it's time to do the same for my soul and make the damn time to craft!

Oh yeah, the reason I came here tonight! To blog about a super sweet giveaway from Poor Pitiful Pearl. Go to the her page and participate for a chance to win!

$50 PPP Bucks that can be used on anything in the store { custom, sale item or already made item }, 50% off coupon towards anything in the shop + one free custom item, your pick

That is all. Goodnight.

Living in Small Spaces

Sometimes I feel like I live in a teepee. I have one large, great room where we do all our living- sleeping, playing, diaper changing, etc and the ceiling is two stories high with a spiral staircase going up. upstairs are two rooms, one is my studio and the other is a GIANT closet that serves for storage, music making, and husband dressing. Alas it is next to impossible for us to child proof an open spiral staircase and the upstairs studio at the top of it is like a loft without a solid wall. So in the interest of keeping my monkey safe, we mostly live downstairs, in the giant room beyond the kitchen.

Its nice to be so close and not separated in other rooms like a nursery.  We just took to a family bed and didn't even get a crib. She slept by me in the hospital even. Once she could roll over we made it a floor bed, which Montessori recommends.  I can catch those early morning smiles and its awesome to not have to descend stairs to pee in the middle of the night.

Bringing another person in has meant getting rid of a lot of stuff both in the name if child proofing and just plain space. Keeps me on my hoarding toes because I do love stuff, lots of it. Never met a garage sale I didn't shop.

I've made her a corner but really the whole space is hers. Colorful, interesting, and stocked with something to play with. 

I like being so close with no need for a baby monitor. I think it's how all families once lived and now are moving so far away from. 

Why my purse leaves red marks on my shoulders.

'First Aid'
Love this little bag, 25¢ at a garage sale.  Vicks for breathing, hand sanitizer (used sparingly, I prefer hand washing), tiger balm (not a miracle cure but decent), ibuprofen, lighter, hand creme,  canker x (so hard to eat when the inside of your mouth is erupting), sunscreen, eye drops for sudden iritis, lip sunscreen, monk fruit sweetener, mint, burts bees lip balm, wonderful lemon cuticle creme.

Four of these items are for afflictions directly associated with UC

Makeup Bag- $1 bag thrifted.  Lip stain I got as an impulse buy. Does not last ten hours or anywhere near that but decent for a clearance item and lasts through errands. Ulta lip gloss, dark compact powder to match face to body, two concealers (one belongs in makeup case), Bobby pins, rubberband, Ulta eyeliner in halo (great for highlighting), Ulta lipliner in flesh, Lancome eyeliners in black and brown Kohl (so smooth and way to sharpen) 

The Office- notebook for church notes and the back pages are for lists, pink and purple felt tip pens, Sharpie, black pens. I have a thing for wonderful pens and school supplies period. Every fall I just have to go down every single aisle. It gives me some weird high. Day planner (this is in the bathroom today. I smashed the living daylights and guts out of a disgusting palmetto bug with it. Google them, they're HORRIBLE)

Baby Necessities- diapers, wipes, various snacks (yogurt melts, baby cookies)

Loose- wallet, eye lash curler (goes in make up case but got left behind after a 6am in-car primping), keys, Burt s bees resQ ointment, wedding ring (not THE ring, I have a large, rotating selection of rings I use as my wedding ring), Burt s bees tinted lip balm (love it but was expensive and wouldn't have gotten it if they d had the price there), carmex lip balm

Friday we had pizza at our fave spot where all ingredients are locally sourced with another family.  It was to be the last time we'd see them as they were moving in a few days. It was a wonderful time and turned out there was one more day to hang out!

Spent all day yesterday helping these great friends load up for their move to Austin.  Their girls and Nova get along so well and had a great time playing. This allowed me a chance to have a much needed beer break on a hot humid day.

Through intermittent rain, a close call with a possibly egg filled Black Widow Spider, and drenching sweat the guys filled the truck as I watched cartoon network and helped sort kids toys. Whew!

Afterward we got treated to amazing food at a Mediterranean Deli and explored a next door used book shop.  Can't wait to make the trip to Texas and see their new home!

My first (official) mothers day was great! I got a card early in the week from my mother in law with a check (tattoo fund??), and got a much needed watering can along with some herbs and potted flowers from my mom. Since it was a gorgeous day we walked around downtown after church, looking into the little shops but passed on the food truck rodeo for dinner at a super fancy bbq restaurant.

I love my hair and the dress I made in this picture even though poor Nova was making a face from the sun. But it was my day so I'm using it anyway.

What I'm debating:
Hamsa Hand tattoo
Finally get my Mary shaded
Touch up bird on back of neck

I'd feel super guilty spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars at a time so I'm gonna go with just one. Also need to find an NC artist I like......

Lights

Some people look too hard for signs and neglect their responsibility in making decisions.  Other times things happen to alert us to some life changing events.  And of course there are people who can find a "reasonable" explanation for everything and completely dismiss activities of a realm/dimension beyond our own.

That I can recall I've had three such experiences.  The first was in 2006 and was not a single sign.  It started when I had bought a pack of Tarot cards- one of those kits that Barnes and Noble sells that included a book with the sealed deck; it was on clearance and I decided why not.  I was excited to open the packaging but before I did said a prayer that if God had a message for me I would receive it, as I often do before approaching the Bible for a random passage read.  Looking through the cards I realized that one was gone though they were sealed in plastic and came from a box that was also sealed.  I quickly looked up its meaning and it was that I had put a lot of time into something but it was time to move on.  I had actually been meaning to break up with someone for a while but was dragging my feet- we had been together for a while, i was scared to be alone, you just get comfortable even in a bad situation.

Yes, God, I know, I know.

Shortly after he left town to be with family and since I was scared of the dark (seriously) I slept in the living room on the couch.  I was doing some cleaning and came across a card from a deceased relative I had forgotten about and it just touched me; I felt like I was protected.  I made a point to turn all the lights off that night and I felt safe and comforted.

When I woke in the morning, the light was on.  The light switch was in the on position.  I found it to be really weird especially since I had recently been having trouble with a light switch in another room sparking whenever I turned it on though the electrician found nothing.

Anyway, then Alex and I got together, getting engaged like 12 hours later and married a few months after that.  Big Life Change.

Second time, years later, the lights for half the apartment would go off and on like crazy.  While this was happening I became pregnant with Nova.  Big Life Change.

Third time, I started waking up to an upstairs light turning on.  I was pissed cause I assumed the cats were sneaking past the barricade and possibly sleeping on my fabric or eating my beads. (they are forbidden to the enter the studio).  Until it happened before my eyes.  OK.... at this point I expected something to happen.  I was hoping it was to win the powerball =) Instead, an uncle who I loved as a grandfather passed and I got news a great friend is moving many states away.   This could be how my life is changing now and bringing me to reconsider living in the moment and appreciating change, or maybe something else will come.

Just something thats been on my mind recently.  '