Pay it Forward

I came across this fun challenge at Alise's blog and thought it would be fun to post on my blog. The first 5 people to comment to this post can expect to get a fun gift this year!

Pay it forward 2012. I promise to make something handmade for the first 5 people who comment. They SHOULD in turn post this to their blog (if they have one) and make something for the first five who comment on their post on their blog.

 The Rules:

It must be handmade by you,
They must receive it before 2012 ends.
It can be something as simple as making a friend a cup of coffee.


Ready.......GO!


Note: if you don't have a blog you are still free to play, just remember that even if it doesn't get posted anywhere it would still be a nice gesture to give something to 5 different people you care about. 

Man Candy Monday #3: Nathan Fillion

This weeks may be a little controversial. I'm not sure if alot of people have heard of him, as he's only done a few really big things. His name is Nathan Fillion.

He is currently on a show called Castle, starring as the lead - Richard Castle:

It's a police/murder show about a writer who gets involved in a case where the murderer is modeling his kills after Richard Castle's books. So, he gets called in to help find the next target. Then he gets sucked in by the female homocide detective, Detective Beckett. (played by Stana Katic - who is also sexy) So, he convinces her to let him do "research" on his new books, but really it's just to hang out and get to know her, while fighting crime at the same time. They have danced around them liking each other for almost 4 seasons now, and it is SO. GOOD. You really should watch!

Anyway...gettting back to the man candy.

Not only is he super sexy (to me anyway) he is hilarous too! The mini-series Dr. Horribles Sing-Along Blog, (also includes Neal Patrick Harris in the cast) oh my, it had be laughing my you-know-what off at him as Captain Hammer!

But, what I love most about Nathan Fillion, is his short lived role as Malcolm Reynolds in a tv show called Firefly, and the subsequent movie, Serenity. YUM.

And for the record, he has been seen with his shirt off =)

Name:
Nathan C. Fillion

Born:
March 27, 1971

From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Relationship Status:
I'm thinking single, at least there's no mention of a spouse on IMDB.
Interesting Facts:
Starred in Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place with Ryan Reynolds
Had a very small role in Saving Private Ryan playing The Other Private Ryan
Was beat out by Ryan Reynolds for the role of Hal Jordan in The Green Lantern
Started out on One Life to Live
Does voices for the Halo video games and Justice League cartoon
Parent's names are Cookie and Bob (HA!)

Notable Roles:
Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place
Firefly
Serenity
Castle

::all photos were found on Google, I'm sorry I don't have the originial sources::
Link up with Join the Gossip with your own Man Candy of the week! Click the photo below:

Weekend Planning Recap

Oh thank goodness it is Monday! Today is my Sunday, and hopefully I won't have to work tomorrow either which will be nice.

Here's how my weekend went:

Complete

Incomplete

Friday:

Indoor Workout
Daily cleaning
Baby Duty
Work on grouping photos together for Natalie's scrapbook
Work at 5:15

Saturday:
Indoor Workout
Daily cleaning
Baby Duty
Pioneer Woman 10:00 am!
Work at 4:00

Sunday:

Sleep In
Relax
Maybe go for a run if it's warm
ADDED: Shopping with Hubby's mom and stepdad

Monday:

Indoor Workout
Baby Duty
Cleaning Duty
"Unplug" for the night: no computer, no cell phone once Hubby gets home

Somewhere in there I'd like to:
Paint my nails
Plan for another Pinterest Project - I will one of these this weekend -  which one would you choose?

Source 

Cute love words using hot glue and paint for Vday decorations?

Source 

A painted cookie tray for under Natalie's humidifier? (It's starting to leak out the bottom)

Source 

Cute wall art that I need to create in Picnik before it's gone forever?

Source

Or wrapping my headphones in DMC floss? If so, I have pinkish-purple earbuds - what colors would you choose? (And my phone is purple, too)

On the blog this weekend:

52 in 52 Update (See it HERE)
Another baby project soon to be in the works (See it HERE)
The Nail Files: Part IV (See it HERE)
Man Candy Monday - I've got a juicy one! (Will be posted tonight!)


I hope everyone had a good weekend! Be sure to link up to Molly @ My Happy House and tell her all about your weekend!

The Nail Files: Part IV

This week's post is going to be short and sweet! This is my new go-to red polish. My go-to red used to be O.P.I.'s I'm Not Really a Waitress (SO me! You know, cuz I'm a server) but I just love this one so much more!



It actually looks a little brown in this photo, but I assure you it is a very pretty, deep, sparkly red and I love it so much!

I swear by Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure nail polish! It's 5 steps in one! Base Coat, Strengthener, Growth Treatment, Color and Top Coat! And now I sound like a commercial! No, but really, you're going to love it, if for nothing else then for the AWESOME new brush style! I hardly EVER get nail polish on my fingers anymore!

Great Product =)

See you next week, for my Valentine's Day nails! That way you'll have enough time to buy the polish if you want to copycat!

I'm turning into a Spinster!

So, I'm starting to think that having a baby has turned me into a spinster! I want nothing more than for my Hubby to have a good enough job that I can stay home and learn how to crochet/knit, (what IS the difference? I don't really know) scrapbook, and complete my newest obsession - a quilt for Natalie using her old onsies!

The quilt is something that I am REALLY super excited about. I've never made a quilt before, but my mom and her best friend made one for me when I was really little. Here is a picture of it:

Isn't it cool!! When I was little I would pretend that I was "typing" using the big bar shaped square at the bottom as my space bar! You can tell my mom was a secretary and that I've loved typing since I was very young!

On the back, she used fabric paint to write down my "stats" and some "favorites" on some of the squares on the back. Here is a picture:

And close ups of the top right corner:

I just love it. So, I thought I really need to make Natalie something similar! I have a good many of her onsies and sleepers that I loved WAY too much to get rid of when she outgrew them. And I know I will have many more to come throughout this year. So, I thought how cool would it be to include those in the quilt and memorialize that for her?? SO cool. So I need to start mapping out how I want to do it. Do I want the alphabet and numbers on hers too? Or do I want it to just be cute and girly? Do I want it to have a color scheme, even though her onsies are ALL colors and patterns? Or do I just want it to be crazy and fun?

I also just found these materials that I had: (I heart Care Bears bigtime)

I have a huge mural type for the front - which I could put squares of her onsies around.

This material that I could also use for squares to tie everything together

And these individual squares to add in as well. What do you think? Care bear themed?
Here are a few more patterns that I was thinking about:

Now keep in mind that I'm not actually going to QUILT. I just want to sew them together and then stitch some ribbon or knitting string through at an even interval to secure the batting inside, like my mom did on mine. MUCH easier than sewing the whole quilt after you piece it together and looks cute too! And it will of course have some personalized squares just like mine.

So what do you think? Squares, zigzags, (the zigzags will be squares as well, just the pattern will be zigzagged if that makes sense) or circles?

And another thing, how much should my sewing machine be able to do? I need to buy one but I'm a little overwhelmed by price and brand.. There's a Singer 23 stitch machine on Walmart.com for $90, and a Brother 17 stitch for $80. There's a Brother 26 stitch on Target.com for $85, and a Singer 10 Stitch for $82. I'm looking to keep it around $100 - $150. Any advice on how many stitches I'm really honestly going to need, and which brand is better?

52 in 52 Update: Week 28

I last updated on January 13. To view that post click here. To view my list, and the "rules" if you'd like to start your own list, click here.

#47 - Complete the World's Longest Sodoku Puzzle. Still working on this, just haven't had time.

#24 - Complete my recipe book. I'm debating about changing my mind on the recipe book again. I can't decide if I want to use a binder or the books my mom got for me. What do you think?

Here are the books and how I've been writing stuff in. (Notice the Pioneer Woman Cookbook? Can't wait till her new one comes out!)

Here's what the inside looks like:

And a close up of the card:

Now these are great don't get me wrong, but when I run out - that's it. They don't make them anymore. So, that 's a potential problem.

Source

But with a binder it'd be so easy to just tear a recipe out of a magazine and pop it in a page protector. Voila! But then I'd feel the need to type and print out all my recipes. I just don't know!

#1 - Rename all photos, organize and delete duplicates. I've been working on this a little, but that's mostly because I've started keeping my blog photos separate, and it is so much easier to organize by dates.

#2 - Scan old photos. I found my old photos, but still haven't even started scanning them in. I really need to get started. Eventually I'll have to do Mom's and Hubby's mom's too.

#44 - Get a budget plan together and stick to it. Still in progress. We are almost caught up on ALL of our bills, so a budget should be able to come together pretty easily here soon!

#33 - Create family wall in living room. Still in the planning stages. I'll post more on that soon.

#11 - Complete the Couch to 5k Program. I haven't done much lately, since it's been so cold. I am planning on going to check out a gym once we get our car fixed.

#17 - See 180 lbs on the scale. Still 20 lbs to go!

#42 - Buy the remaining nursery items not received from baby shower. They are in my online cart on Target.com ready to be purchased still. I hope they don't sell out.
A few that I would like to start soon are:

#9 - Reorganize DVDs.
#22 - Cook 12 new recipes.
#28 - Throw a SuperBowl party. This is not happening. I don't even want to WATCH the SuperBowl this year.

So what do you think? Cookbooks or binder? Handwritten or typed?

Who has a good recipe that's man-friendly that I can try for one of my "new recipes"?

Let me know!!

Weekend Planning (1/27/12 - 1/30/12)

I will be linking up with Molly @ My Happy House and Gia @ A Life In Progress for their Weekend Planning post link party! I'm so glad that Molly is back and hosting again! Join in with the linky at the bottom of this post or comment here about your weekend plans.

I'm not sure what to even make of this weekend. Things have been hectic around here with not having a car, so we can't do the things we normally do on the weekends. Here's my best shot at my weekend plans:

Friday:

Indoor Workout
Daily cleaning
Baby Duty
Work on grouping photos together for Natalie's scrapbook
Work at 5:15

Saturday:

Indoor Workout
Daily cleaning
Baby Duty
Pioneer Woman 10:00 am!
Work at 4:00

Sunday:

Sleep In
Relax
Maybe go for a run if it's warm

Monday:

Indoor Workout
Baby Duty
Cleaning Duty
"Unplug" for the night: no computer, no cell phone once Hubby gets home

Somewhere in there I'd like to:

Paint my nails
Plan for another Pinterest Project (Valentine's Day related?)

On the blog this weekend:

52 in 52 Update
Another baby project soon to be in the works
The Nail Files: Part IV
Man Candy Monday - I've got a juicy one!

What are you up to this weekend? Whatever it is have a good one!!

Waist Watcher Wednesday: Week 4!

This is a weekly link party for everyone wanting to get back in shape, where we can post/comment our stats and offer each other helpful advice, workout ideas, what works for you, what doesn't and just generally support each other so that when we think about giving up we will have bloggy friends to lift us up again!

So, I will post one inspirational thing, a workout that I want to try, or something workout related every week, and I encourage you to do the same! Let's inspire each other into getting healthy this year and making our waists disappear!

**********************************************************************

I'll be honest with you, things are not going well for me. I gave up these past two weeks, and haven't done much of anything. We have alot going on family-wise (my husband is had surgery today to remove a lump in his neck, and this past week our car broke down) and therefore work-wise (not being able to get rides to work because it's our only vehicle), and it's been very stressful around these parts. (money is tight because we now have to pay car repair bills) So, when life gets in the way, I don't do the things that I know I should because I'm too busy "stressing out." I eat badly, I don't exercise, I mope around and snap at my husband,  and I get discouraged when I step on the scale and nothing happens. So, because of that, I am going to share this photo with you:

I need to get back into it. Snow on the ground is not an excuse. Ice on the ground is a teeny bit of an excuse, but only for the first day or two. Stress is not an excuse. The car being broken down is not an excuse.

I WILL GET MY BUTT BACK OUT THERE THIS WEEK!
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How did you do this past week?

Me - as stated above, not good. I hope you all did better than I did! I am in a rut right now, and need to climb back out.

Weight: 202.8
Previous: 202.6

TIPS: Weight yourself at the same time every time (morning is best) in the same type of clothing (or nude) on the same scale to get the best results.

REACTION: At least I didn't GAIN.

BMI: 33.6
Previous: 33.6

TIPS: Use this website to compute your BMI

REACTION: No change.

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[If you'd like to participate]

Blog about your weight loss goal, frustrations, struggles, accomplisments, weigh-ins, whatever you feel! Then come back here and link up in the collection at the bottom of this post. And while you're here grab the WW Wednesday button to use on YOUR blog!

[If you want to add the blog hop in your post]

If you want to participate in the hop, just click here and copy and paste the link into the HTML of your post! That's it! Simple!

[A litte something extra]

To make things a little more fun, each week I will choose a random linker to put up as a STELLAR WAIST WATCHER OF THE WEEK. You will get a button with the link back to your blog and it will stay up for the whole week! How cool is that?

I plugged in last weeks link ups into random.org. This weeks winner is: Lacey @ Little Miss Nerd Girl! Congrats Lacey! =) I hope to see you linking up this week too!

[Encourage each other]

Check out the other linkers and leave them a comment with some kind words! We are all going to need a kick in the pants or a hand to help us up throughout this process! It will also keep us all accountable if we know our bloggy friends are watching!

Don't forget to grab the button on my sidebar and show the blogworld that you're a waist watcher!

Linking up here:

Product Review: Sweet December Hats!

Back on December 5th, I entered a contest on an awesome blog:





The contest was for a hat from the very talented Bethany from Sweet December Hats.

{Etsy} {Facebook}

I was so excited about this, because it was just starting to get cold, and Natalie could REALLY use a great, not to mention cute, hat to wear. Every hat that I had put on her head was either too small or just didn't fit her head right. So, I immediately went to her site and started looking around and finally settled on this one: 

It was perfect! I couldn't wait to get it. And Bethany agreed to send me an additional flower for free!

I will say this, I definately ordered the wrong size, because the hat was WAY too big for her when I received it. She needed some time to grow into it a little bit, and I'll be honest it is still huge on her. But, I really think that next winter it will be perfect on her head! The quality is just fabulous. It is nice and thick and I'm sure that it is very warm and cozy. And it is SO cute. Want some proof?

Ask and you shall receive!

Isn't it just adorable!

Thank you Bethany, the hat is PERFECT and I can't wait until next year when she can really wear it to death! (and look super cute doing it!)

If you would like one for your little one, go to Sweet December Hats on Etsy!

They have a few adorable hats for boys like this one:




Adorable headbands:

And super cute themed hats:

I want all of these! Go check it out! You won't be disappointed!