Category Archives: House/Fashion/Beauty

July 9, 2012 · 11:26 AM

T-Shirt Recycling

As many of you know, I am a true t-shirt whore. I love them and have collected many throughout the years. Since losing all of the weight I have, many of those t-shirts have ended up in bags and gone to Goodwill. There are others that I have not been able to part with or have recently gotten too big on me and I have finally found a way to still wear them and not look like a complete and total bum.

I’m sure many of you are familiar with a Pinterest, you know, that website full of neat stuff that sucks you in and eats up all of the precious time that you could have been productive in? I have been guilty of pinning many crafty things and then forgetting about them, however yesterday, I found a pin that really intrigued me and before I knew it, I was going through my dresser drawers, grabbing a pair of scissors and dusting off the sewing machine.

The pin I am referring to is a tutorial on T-Shirt Restyling or Recycling and can be found HERE. That blog also links to where she found the idea so if you decide to give this a try, be sure to visit both sites to see all of the photos!

I ended up doing two t-shirts last night and I LOVE the way they turned out. Of course I got all caught up in making them and forgot to take step-by-step photos to go with this post, but both of the blogs I mentioned above did.

There are so many possibilities for these! I used a fun cord from a pair of old sweatpants on the Star Wars t-shirt, instead of the original collar as the tutorial suggests because I wanted a looser fit to that one. I’d actually love to do the top in orange on both of these and I’m almost positive I have an old orange t-shirt somewhere I can cut up and use just for that purpose. I also didn’t worry about swapping out thread colors. I just went with plain old white on both of these and I think they look just fine. (I also stuck with white because I forgot how to change the bobbin on my machine…sssshhhh!)

I’m so glad I found this and decided to actually try it instead of just pinning it and moving on. Buying new clothes over the past 3 years has gotten very expensive, so now I have a fun new way to wear my old clothes while saving a little money!

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April 8, 2012 · 11:09 PM

Tomorrow’s The Big Day / What I Wore {Easter Sunday}

Yup! You read it correctly…tomorrow is the big day. In less than 12 hours I will be taking a major step in my weight loss journey and I’ll be having my tummy tuck with muscle repair.

The past week has been a whirl wind and with things being so hectic up at work, I didn’t really have much time to think about the procedure. I did manage to find time to make a list of things I needed from Target and pick them up, but outside of making sure I was taking my supplements as directed, that’s it.

Since we are on the subject of supplements….let me vent about what I pain in the ass they are! I feel like a junkie popping pills all day. It’s not fun and I’ll be happy when I’m 7-14 days post surgery, so I can stop taking them. 

At this current moment, I keep flip flopping between excitement, nervousness and full blown anxiety. I’m thankful that today was Easter. I had plenty of things going on to keep my mind busy, so I didn’t dwell on it all day. It wasn’t until around 6pm when people started texting me to wish me luck tomorrow, that I started to enter panic mode.

Speaking of Easter, I decided to be girly and wear not only a dress but also my 5″ platform sandals. For those of you know me, you know how tall I am in 5″ platforms (as well as how ungraceful I am in them) but I wanted to step out of the box and finally wear these shoes. I bought them a year ago in two different colors because I loved them. I swore I would wear them but they never saw the light of day before today.

Coral Dress: Old Navy, last year. Teal Animal Stripe Sweater: Charlotte Russe, last year. Sandals: Charlotte Russe, last year. Necklace: Premiere Designs about 2 years ago. 

It felt nice to get dressed up instead of just tossing on a pair of jeans and a shirt. I won’t lie, I took a pair of flip flops with me in my purse and wore them for the drive home. My feet can only take so much…they are used to my beloved Converse after all! Plus I’ll be living in sweats and I won’t have a need for shoes over the next 1-2 weeks.

I’m hoping sleep will find me tonight and the anxiety will subside. (Plus I can’t eat after midnight or I’ll turn into a Gremlin.) I have to be at the surgeons office tomorrow morning at 7:30 am, so I think I’ll be waking up around 6 am so I can shower, get into some comfy clothes and try not to be too cranky without coffee or breakfast. Sigh.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me in my decision to do this, has been there to ease my anxiety and has kept me motivated along the way. You all mean a lot to me and I’m happy to have you in my life.

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P.S. – I was hoping to have some pics of where I’ll be staying during the first few days of recovery, but we never got around to setting it up this weekend. Thankfully my husband is going to take care of all that while I’m in surgery tomorrow. I didn’t want him just sitting around waiting for 4-5 hours anyway, so now he’ll have something to keep his mind busy for a little while.

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March 28, 2012 · 8:25 AM

What I Wore {Anniversary Dinner}


Yesterday, my husband and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary by going out for dinner to a local restaurant. I have been sick since Friday with some kind of strange stomach bug, so this is the first time I’ve put any form of effort into getting dressed for a while.

Black 3/4 length sleeve shirt: Old Navy, Grey tank top: Target, Black and Grey Scarf: Charlotte Russe, Jeans: Charlotte Russe, Boots: Charlotte Russe
(You can tell I’ve been sick in this photo….damn I look tired!)

It was chilly out yesterday so I was happy we didn’t go anywhere super fancy that called for a dress or heels. I like feeling pulled together but casual and this is certainly a step up from the sweats I’ve been rockin’ for the past 4 days.

Hope everyone had a great day!

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March 18, 2012 · 9:30 AM

What I Wore {Friday Night: Dinner and the Mall}

While this outfit isn’t super exciting, I am head over heels in love with this shirt. I was aimlessly wondering the clothing section at Target the day I tried on the dress and it caught my eye. I don’t know if it was the color or the fact that it is part of the Converse One Star line, but I had to try it on.

I was surprised at how well it fit and I loved the color. I also loved the fact that it is girly but not floral. I have a major thing for neutral and earthy tones, so this fits in with that while bringing a slight pop of color.

Shirt: Target’s Converse One Star line, Jeans: GAP

The shirt looks pink in this photo but it’s actually burgandy.
I love the detail on it and just tossed on my black “boyfriend” sweater I bought at Target cause it was chilly.

 This is just an example of little changes I am trying to make to look more “pulled together” while not putting a ton of effort into getting dressed. I’m realizing I can just as easily slip into a shirt like this, as I can into a Star Wars t-shirt ;)

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March 11, 2012 · 12:27 PM

What I Wore {Shopping & A Wedding}

Yesterday I took a shopping trip up to Target. I’ve been there a few times over the past 2 weeks and I’ve found myself drawn to the spring dresses they have on the racks. While there, I grabbed the Jason Wu dress I have on in the photo below, along with a few other spring dresses, a shirt and a bathing suit (GASP!).

I’ve noticed that I am finally used to grabbing the proper size from the rack for myself. I used to always grab a larger size and I think that as I become more comfortable in my new skin, the reality of my actual size is setting in.

This is me in the fitting with the Jason Wu dress on. As cute as it was, it didn’t fit right and this was the ONLY one left.

After my shopping trip at Target, I had a wedding to get ready for. I always hate getting for weddings, especially when I am unsure of the type of place it is. I knew it was a casual event but I never want to go somewhere and be overdressed or under dressed. I am a fan of blending in with the crowd since I don’t handle attention well. After trying on multiple options, this is what I decided to go with:

Teal Dress: Old Navy (Last year), Zebra sweater: Charlotte Russe (Last Year), Shoes: Madden Girl

Close up of sweater and dress

Close-up of my shoes…which are heels…nothing crazy, but they are heels.
(I also love that the weather is warming up and my tattoo can see the light of day again.) 

I have to admit, I’ve had fun putting more effort into getting dressed. I’ve even had fun trying things on…including the bathing suit which was a pleasant surprise. Tapping into a new side of myself is proving to be enjoyable, and I look forward to making more strides in self acceptance.

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March 8, 2012 · 8:06 PM

What I Wore Today {A Taste of Spring}

Today we had a nice taste of spring weather … it was 74 degrees this afternoon! As a result, I decided to actually change out of my gross work clothes before running errands. I opted for one of the girlier shirts I purchased last year, it has ruffles and flowers on it…GASP!

Floral Shirt: Forever 21 (last year)
Jeans: H&M
Sweater: Target (You’ll see it on my a lot…it’s comfy)

Close up of my shirt…it might be the “girliest” thing I own.

I gotta stay true to who I am….Chucks on muh feet!

 I’m actually looking forward to buying new clothes for the spring and summer this year…and becoming a little more girlie in the process.

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March 1, 2012 · 8:40 AM

Trying Something New

Recently, a few of the ladies I follow on twitter have been doing a “What I Wore” blog each day and I found myself enjoying it and wanting to participate. The issue? a) I didn’t feel my blog was built for posts like that and b) well…I’m a jeans and t-shirt kinda girl.

I started thinking about these two things and I realized that there is no reason why I can’t dress “cute” every now and then. Most times I’m headed to work and I don’t wear anything good to go there as it would just get ruined. However, if I go out to run errands at night or on my day off, I can put a little effort into my attire. The other thing I started thinking about was that I can fit that kind of stuff into my blog. It’s part of my journey and I am able to fit into clothes I like now because I have busted my butt and lost all of the weight I felt I always needed to cover up under baggy, shapeless clothing and sweaters.

So, here are three outfits I wore this week. I seem to be attracted to stripes lately (probably because overweight people and stripes were always a no-no). I’m taking baby steps with this stuff and to be honest, the victory is in the fact that I’m not wearing a sports or Star Wars t-shirt.

I wore this Saturday night to a neighbors house for a get together.

Animal Print Shirt from Forever 21 purchased 2-years ago
Black cardigan from Target purchased this year
I wore a pair of dark wash jeans and boots with this. 

I wore this on Sunday to go grocery shopping.

Striped shirt – purchased at Target last week.
Grey sweater – purchased at Target a few months ago.
Jeans from Charlotte Russe purchased last year.
Shoes which you can’t see are a pair of grey Converse (my favorites) 

Yesterday outfit was worn to do some training at work, for a trip the mall and lunch with my husband.

V-neck t-shirt from Target – purchased this year.
Striped sweater from Target – purchased the other day.
White scarf – purchased at Five Below
Jeans from H&M – given to me by a friend to serve as goal jeans (they sat on a shelf in my closet for a long time!)
Purse – I believe I bought that at Target 3 years ago. 
Shoes – which you can’t see are a pair of UGGS – I know, I know…they’re comfy and it was chilly so get over it! 

Here you have it….my attempts at putting some effort into my attire. To some, this is super casual but to me, it’s slightly out of my junior high school boy comfort zone. Maybe some day you will see a major pop of color, a skirt and some heels….but don’t hold your breath on that one.

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 A special thank you to Jac, Beth and Amy for inspiring me to put forth a little effort. It’s time I realize I don’t have to hide behind clothing and I can use it to show off all of my hard work.

P.S. – I have no idea why some of my captions wouldn’t center on this post. All of my setting seem correct on here, but I’m late for work and can’t fight with it anymore. Sorry.

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October 5, 2010 · 4:32 PM

Experimenting with Sport Beans…


During the past week of Insanity, trying to find balance between meals and workout times has been a challenge. I’ve found that I have to wait at least 2 hours after a meal to begin my workout or I will puke. The problem with this, is that I’ve been eating every 2-2.5 hours since beginning this program, so I end up running out of energy halfway through my workout and struggle to finish.

While talking with my #insanecrew the other day my beloved coach brought up Sport Beans. I had never heard of  them before so I instantly started asking questions. I found out that there is this whole group of energy aids out there that runners like ranging from Sport Beans to some stuff called GU. Apparently you take them before a hard workout and they give you the energy that you need to make it through without a big meal…SCORE!

Of course I hunted down these beans and bought a few bags in various flavors, along with some GU to test them out and see if they actually worked.

Last night was the big night…I decided to test out the Sport Beans! I flipped over the bag, read the directions and started chomping away on them 30 mins before my workout as directed. Some of the flavors were quite icky (yes, I used the word icky) while the fruit punch and berry were actually quite good. I grabbed some water since you are supposed to hydrate while using them and started my workout.

Fast forward to the halfway point were I felt the beans sitting in my chest and I was as jittery as a junkie who took too much speed! I had TONS of energy but couldn’t hold a plank pose to save my life cause my arms were shaky and I felt sick from the sweetness of the beans.

Of course when my workout was over I told my #insanecrew about my experience and found out that I shouldn’t have followed the package directions. It seems that eating 3-4 beans as I’m waiting for the disc to load is all I should have done…..can you say oops?! (Or should I say “Thanks for the heads up tweeps!”)

Lesson of the Day: Don’t eat a whole package of Sports Beans to do an INSANITY workout unless you want to be a jitter-iffic mess for the rest of the night/day.

Today I tried them again for Pure Cardio and I only popped 2 beans as I pressed play. I had plenty of energy for the workout, didn’t feel hungry at the halfway mark and didn’t get jittery at all. (Insert the “SCORE!” I was searching for.)

By following this modified way of using them I give them a huge thumbs up and thank my coach for telling me about them. (Even if I wanted to kill him last night for not telling me this sooner to ignore the package directions.)

For those you interested in Sport Beans here is some info or you can go to their website. I also found out that they make Extreme Sport Beans with caffeine. I guess I should be grateful I didn’t chomp down a whole pack of those last night!

Sport Beans™, from the makers of Jelly Belly® beans, are specially formulated to fuel your body before, during and after exercise.

  • Simply explained, Sport Beans are Jelly Beans formulated with carbohydrates, electrolytes and vitamins B and C
  • Eat one packet with one to two cups of water about 30 minutes before exercising
  • During a long workout, eat one packet every 45 minutes
  • Eat after a workout to replenish muscles of depleted carbohydrates

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