This week has just been one of those weeks. It started with a trip to NYC for work – madness leading up to it and madness upon return – then an upcoming product launch that is keeping me high-holy crazed and on top of that, I’m just trying to be a mom of a 10 month old…oh did I mention that Mr. Darcy has strep throat and an ear infection? Yep, it’s been one of those weeks. Anyhoo, the following article was shared with me from a friend who said “I know this never happens to you” and, well, it made me laugh out loud —
FOR EXAMPLE:
OR
HAHA, making me laugh again. Check out the full article here: http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/photos/people-who-tried-things-pinterest-and-totally-nailed-it
I’ve decided anytime I have a little Pinterest fail, I’m going to celebrate with a NAILED IT! 😉 Thank you for the inspiration SMOSH.com!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love my daughter (aka, The Bear). In fact, obsessed is probably a better word to describe how I feel about her. But, the truth of the matter is, my body does not. LET ME EXPLAIN! Also, please don’t comment “how you view your body is how she is going to view her body” – I know all that. I already had this conversation with my skinny mother who always said how “fat” she was growing up…and recently. Trust me, tell that to your daughter who got her genes from her larger father’s side and all of a sudden “fat” is all she’ll ever be. I will always strut my stuff for my daughter and tell her how much I love my body and/or just not comment on weight and live! But there will be a day where her friends may comment on her weight or even my weight and I’ll be prepared to tell her just how incredible our bodies are – heck, my body created, carried and delivered a human being!
OK, back to the vent, I have had weight issues my entire life but after having a baby I regularly think to myself – WHY DID YOU EVER HATE YOUR BODY?! It was amazing. Well, even with the extra weight – EVERYWHERE (i swear my head even got bigger) – I still think my body is pretty incredible – it made a baby for cryin’ out loud! But there is always room for improvement especially after my pregnancy – I tore my groin muscle the day my 2nd trimester started, was put on modified bed rest for the last month and a half of my pregnancy and had a strange gestational diabetes diet that I swear was worse for me – I gained 40+LBS (the “+” represents when I stopped counting) and even though the Bear was nearly 10LBS, I still have 40+ to lose post pregnancy.
ENTER PINTEREST!
Years ago I stumbled across a Tone-it-Up (toneitup.com) workout posted by SELF.com on their Pinterest page and after months of using The Bear and breastfeeding as an excuse (although I am seriously ravenous after I pump/feed her), I’m finally starting the diet! I’m on week three and and I’ve lost more than one pound a week. WHAT?! That is AWESOME. In addition, I’m going to boot camp, running 30 minutes on non-boot camp days OR going to Pinterest to find workouts. I’ve included links to some of my favorite workouts below – great for when you are in a hurry, wake up late because you’ve been up all night with a baby, or just don’t feel like being social or going outside. Anyhoo, my goal is to lose 10LBS by The Bear’s 1st birthday – and then 10 more after that…and then 20 more because my gestational diabetes doctor told me I need to get down from my pre-pregnancy weight to be healthy – yeah, we’ll see about that!).
Here is a before and after shot + a current shot. That was my dress I wore for The Bear’s Baptism and it was the ONLY photo I kept of myself. So far I have very few photos with her and she is 10 months old! We have a family photoshoot in July so here’s to keeping me honest!
Any tips, tricks OR online workouts you regularly use? Please share in the comments!
XO, The Pinterest Woman
SO, Tracy Anderson is AMAZING – She is realistic in her workouts and expectations and her workouts seem to work. Before I was put on bedrest I did her maternity workout DVDS and they were awesome. Here are two of my faves of her (thank you Goop.com for one of them) –
Yep, that’s right, I’m a mom. I wasn’t kidding when I said I had a lot going on the last year+. While I learned my lesson and will not make any promises, I would like to share more of my Pinterest wins (and sometimes, losses) and plan to blog more regularly moving forward. For now, I’m back! Thanks for all of the follows. IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK!!!
HELLO!!! I hope you did not lose faith in me. I am SO sorry it has been so long since I’ve written. As you know, I broke my phone during the holidays. This paired with AT&T’s ridiculous $200 insurance deductible (what is the POINT of buying insurance?!) and a chance to buy a new phone for $199 in February (I have my eye on that Galaxy S), well, I am left with an old blackberry with a broken camera until Feb.
As you can imagine, the death of TONS of photos I had hoped to blog about put me pretty behind on my blogging. All of this, combined with a few virus’ (ear then stomach) and a CRAZY work schedule has lead me to take a hiatus from blogging – in an effort to get myself organized and prepared for inspired posts (I don’t want to bore you).
Don’t worry, I have QUITE a few things I am already preparing…as a teaser here are a few pins that have inspired me the last few weeks:
My promise is to be back and blogging before the end of the month. And a promise to blog at LEAST once a week! I hope to inspire as much as all of you have inspired me!
A little shout out to Charlotte for a recent text message that lead to inspiring me to post again. Thank you for reading dear readers!
WOW, what a week! This Christmas was absolutely wonderful – I had a TON of extended and immediate family time, loads of auntie time with the cutest little nephew a woman could have (and there is still more to come!) and nommmmmmmed on some of my FAVORITE treats, meals and snacks…I’m left feeling loved, content and FULL! 😉 Unfortunately while prepping for the holidays with a few The Pinterest Woman (TPW) recipes, I cooked my phone…whoops…so I lost a ton of photos that I hoped to blog about this week…so come with me on this journey and please excuse me for not having step by step photos!
As for this post, I want to focus on GIFT GIVING!
Gift giving was so much fun this year…not only was I more confident in purchasing gifts for people, I also had a nice time scanning Pinterest Wishlists for a few surprise gifts for people. I also received a few gifts off of my own wishlist – that was pretty cool ;-). Makes you realize who actually visits your boards! ha! As for being more confident in my purchasing of gifts, I always stress out when I need to purchase someone clothes. It is tough to know what is someone’s style when maybe it isn’t your style. As you may remember from my shopping posts with Carrie and Charlotte, Carrie LOVES to redo her look. SO, I had so much fun shopping for her gift this year.
Knowing she is a fan of AnnTaylor LOFT AND that she has loads of pants which she purchased during our most recent holiday trip, I headed to the LOFT for top options! Carrie also loves advice on how to put things together, but since my own personal style needs Pinterest, I figured, I’d pin a few ideas for her and put it with her gift…enter REAL LIFE PINNING!
Through Microsoft Paint, I made three TIP pages of the same size and put together a little three page book (sorry, I lost the final photo in the accidental cooking of my phone)
I purchased the maroon sweater with a dark pink top (see top right photo) and gold and purple bracelet set. I then snapped a few shots of the sweater on display in store AND pinned a photo of the top online – with a few additional tips for how to pair the coordinating top with her cute new pants, this gift was a HUGE hit! While I don’t recommend gifting clothes with tips on how to wear it for everyone, it is a fun way to gift someone clothes who ASKS for the advice or tips ;-).
I hope you and yours are having an absolute fabulous day! As soon as the madness of my favorite holiday dies down, I promise to share the details of my Pinterrific Christmas! In addition to utilizing great Pinterest staples like the sweet potato hash, apple cider, and outfit planning, this year Pinterest gave me a go to recipe for non-holiday meals, holiday snacks that are not sugar filled AND it even helped me put together a few surprise gifts!
Our tree!
Merry merry…and since it is Christmas I just want to thank you all for being such supportive readers and inspiring me on a daily basis.
How can you NOT love this song…Frank+jingle bells in the background, and a catchy spin on a GREAT holiday favorite…Frank’s Jingle Bells could definitely be pegged as my favorite holiday song. I hope you enjoy it as much as me!
Today is my company’s annual holiday luncheon and we have reserved the wine room at San Francisco’s Boulevard for this spectacular event! I CANNOT WAIT and I’m thoroughly enjoying a morning filled with Christmas Carols in anticipation of the fun that is about to be had!!!
BTW, if you are looking for a nice, upbeat holiday CD, the soundtrack to ELF is pretty fabulous. It mixes up the carols with regular songs (perfect for those of us with non-carol people in our lives) YET it stays upbeat and happy the entire way. I MAY have gotten caught FULLY rocking out to it this morning on my way to work ;-).
Happy Holidays Dear Readers! “I love those J-I-N-G-L-E BELLS!”
Back in October I shared my easy, yet protein filled, breakfast ideas with you and I have a new tweak to share for the EASY 4-Ingredient Greek Yogurt Pancake Recipe. After an epic trip to Trader Joe’s (does anyone EVER leave TJ’s without a HUGE cart full of food?!) I was ready to carb-out with my bad self…I don’t know what it is about the holidays, but comfort food and delicious breakfasts ALWAYS sound good to me. After a memory jog on my “NomNomNom” Pinterest board, I knew what I was going to do with my TJ’s Greek Yogurts – PANCAKES!
As you may remember, this recipe calls for only four ingredients:
1/2 cup flour (I use whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1 container of greek yogurt (your favorite flavor – I used TJ’s Vanilla Bean)
1 egg
I used blueberry the last time I made these, but the TJ’s VANILLA BEAN Greek Yogurt makes a DELICIOUS pancake…seriously, SO good! I’ve heard Honey flavored works as well….
I took this picture to show how you mix the dry and wet ingredients separately. But if you look closely, you might be able to make out the black specks in the Vanilla Bean greek yogurt…mmm, TJ’s sure knows how to make dairy products ;-).
This time around I added 1/4 cup of oatmeal with 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour INSTEAD of just 1/2 cup of flour…it added a nice and filling element to these delicious little breakfast delights!
After flipping them a few times, I enjoyed them ALL – seriously, I ate two, then brought two to work…and I totally nommed them down…so bad…but OH SO GOOD ;-).
While I like my pancakes a bit crispy on top, Mr. Darcy does not. SO, my new goal is to make these look prettier AND not to make them so dark…Mr. Darcy approved ;-).
SO, in short, my recipe is now a 5-ingredient Vanilla Greek Yogurt Pancake and they are OH SO GOOD…and filling! Oh and they are EASY. I’ve made these the last two mornings before work…perfect!
Happy Noming Dear Readers!
XO, Karen
Yes, that is a Santa toy. Even Harper loves Christmas!
I hope you all had a lovely weekend! This Friday marks my last day in the office until the New Year and I could not be more excited – CHRISTMAS IS HERE!!! Last year my colleague introduced me to “Christmas Smell”:
Simmer apple juice with cloves and cinnamon on the stove for about 30 minutes prior to guests arriving to your home…and boy does it make your house smell DELICIOUS!
However, that was my problem, it smelled delicious, but the floating ingredients made it gross to drink. SO, this year I pinned quite a few apple cider recipes in hope of creating my own “Christmas Smell” – that I could consume as well ;-). Over the Thanksgiving holiday my sister-in-law introduced her special apple cider recipe tweaks that I HAVE to share with you!
First and foremost, it is cooked in the slow cooker. This cooking technique gives your home a nice holiday smell AND, if your slow cooker has a “warm” button, you can enjoy it all night long at a piping hot temperature! The recipe is as follows:
Ingredients for ONE batch:
1-Bottle of APPLE CIDER
2 Teaspoons- WHOLE CLOVES
2 Teaspoons – WHOLE ALLSPICE
2 Sticks of Cinnamon
A few thin slices of ORANGES (we used three to four each batch)
Directions:
Poor apple cider into slow cooker
Drop cloves and allspice in a tea ball or cloth (keeping the spices from floating in the cider) into slow cooker
Float cinnamon sticks and oranges on top of cider (at one point we ran out of oranges and put orange juice in. It actually worked! The straight orange is the best option, but good to have a last minute option just in case).
Cook on LOW for 4 Hours
Serve immediately or keep “warm” and enjoy throughout the night! (We went through it pretty quickly, so my sister in law just added more of the above ingredients throughout the night and allowed them to cook for about an hour before serving the second batch).
FOR A LITTLE HOLIDAY KICK – add a shot of rum to your apple cider!
mmmm…
NOT ONLY does it make the house smell DELICIOUS, you can drink it too!!!
Happy Holidays dear readers! I hope you enjoy noming on this delicious drink this holiday!
XO, Karen
UPDATE: My colleague sent me, what sounds like, a DELICIOUS holiday recipe and I definitely plan on making this over the holidays…and possibly incorporating my above apple cider!
Holiday Mule
2 Parts Vodka
1 Part Fresh Apple Cider
1 Part Ginger Beer
Squeeze of Meyer Lemon Juice
Stir/Garnish with a cinnamon stick, sized appropriately to your glass
This afternoon my colleague shot around a note asking for holiday cookie recipes – she mentioned those that require little prep or time would be ideal…A woman after my own heart! Easy cookies!!!
My colleague shot around the following email and I had to share with you dear readers – first, because I am having a hard time pinning it, so I’m blogging so I can pin it, and secondly, because when it comes to food, this colleague NEVER steers me wrong. He wrote:
“The Santa Rosa Press Democrat does a Holiday Cookie elimination challenge every year and there are always a few winners in the batch. Here is the link to this year’s winners: http://www.biteclubeats.com/holiday-cookies-2012/
And I’ve made this one a bunch of times since it won in 2010: http://www.biteclubeats.com/melting-moments-cookies-holiday-cookies/ It may sound basic and boring, but it is ALWAYS a crowd pleaser. Super easy and steals the spotlight from everyone who spent all day scraping dough from the grooves of a cookiecutter.”
Melting Moments Cookies…mmmm
I am TOTALLY making this recipe! Happy noming dear readers!
The Pinterest Woman 