New home!

Hello there! Happy to see you! Thought I would let you know that I have moved. I have a new blog that has a new name. Please visit me over and fox and sparrows! It will be the same idea but a new home. I am hoping to shortly be opening an Etsy shop with the same moniker. Hope to see you there!

Sunday Songs

Nicholas my love had this song on his blog about 2 weeks ago and I love it! Who doesn't like a little Vampire Weekend? Cause I certainly do! Check out Nick's blog. He updates almost everyday! A lot of times it is a music post. He has broadened my musical horizons over the years. In a good way.

Back off Hyena!!

Hello everyone! I have been missing in action. What does the cupcake have to do with that? Yeah nothing.... but I do love cupcakes and it is Funfetti to boot! I made that from a mix and frosting in a tub. Little hint- if you pipe on frosting from a tub you will need two tubs for 24 cupcakes. Did you all notice the hyena in the background? I used a Go Diego Go coloring page for the background. Yeah that is how we do! He looks like he is eyeing my little cake. I might have to take a hyena out! UM yeah anywho. The whole point of this post is to let you know and myself know that I am recommiting to this blog. Again. HAHA! No but really. I will be here more often.

Sunday Songs

I may have already posted this video for Sunday Songs but I think it is worth another listen!

Sunday songs

I love this song! I just found out about Plan B and I already love his music. I will be doing some itunes action and buying an album. Hecks yeah!

L.O.V.E this

I might be in love with this little video! Love the song and the styling. So SO great. Not too mention that I love Zooey Deschanel

* source *

Have you ever heard of Macheesmo? If not then you are in for a treat. It is a blog by a guy named Nick- like my man so I automatically liked him! He has an awesome food blog. There are so many recipes on there that I want to try. Check it out! Especially this recipe. It is a great hashbrown casserole. I made it this morning with a few substitutions since I was shopping from my fridge and didn't want to run to the store. My version is as follows:

5-6 potatoes grated

half a yellow onion grated

3/4 cup sour cream

8 oz cheddar cheese

and season salt to taste

mix up everything and bake in a 9x9 pan @ 375 for 40 minutes. Then broil for five minutes

other than that I followed his instructions exactly. It was a nice change and it goes together crazy fast.

*the picture above is macheesmos. I can't get the food porn pics down yet. I am practicing though!

Sunday Songs

In celebration of Paul Simons new album So Beautiful, So what coming out this week I am doing one of my favorite songs of his. His new album is so amazing! It is like old Paul Simon. Like Graceland Paul Simon! It is perfect.

Invisible man!

Can you find the invisible man? These photos are incredible! These are don by photographer Liu Bolin. He paints himself and then takes the photo. Some shots take 10 hours to prepare for. How do you think someone decides to make themselves invisible? Isn't that every kids dream at some point in there life? Check out the one with the construction equipment. I had to really search for him!

source

Sunday Songs

Who doesn't love this song? Even my super rad 3 year old niece Sarah knows all the words! She is really awesome though! Funny little tidbit- When Lola was a baby and she would be really upset we could put on pretty much any Bob Marley song and she would calm right now. It still works like a charm. She is such a kick ass little fire cracker of a girl! I am a proud mama! Any way- Enjoy!

Couldn't be happier!

I just bought A Fine Frenzy's Bomb In A Birdcage album on itunes because I heard the Electric Twist song and while listening to the album I heard this song Happier. I have loved Happier when I have heard it on the radio and had no idea it was A Fine Frenzy! I couldn't be happier! HAHA! It is crazy how things like that happen.

Hey friends!

source

I have been MIA the last two weeks or so. Life getting in the way, you know? Some big decisions are needing to be made and I feel a little overwhelmed right now. They aren't life and death kinds of decisions just ones that will change our family life and my personal life. No biggie right? Whatevs! I needed something to perk me up and make me laugh and the above picture does it! I saw it on a blog and it came from this tumblr site. Is it a site or account or what? Yeah I don't really understand tumblr. Don't mind me- I am technologically challenged. And I am straight up gangsta! Just look me up on urbandictionary.com

Holy Crap!

This is crazy!! And so worth the listen. My husband found these guys on Youtube. I am so glad he did. I wish I could play an instrument like that! This is their myspace page with more info about them.

Golden Ponies!

I have decided that I am going to treat myself to something when I lose my first 10%. I think I have found the perfect thing! Golden Ponies is an awesome Etsy shop that makes shoes out of Mexico. I was amazed when I found this shop. I would love to dabble in creating shoes. My great grandpa made shoes so I figure it is on my blood. Sorry the pictures are so small! I am still learning how to do everything.

How cute are these? I love love them!

These look like the are vintage and so adorable!

Oxfords! Oh mygosh I am in love with Oxfords lately!

AND! The best part? You can customize your colors of leather!! Holy awesome! Not to mention they are incredibly reasonable. How can I go wrong?

COME ON 23 POUNDS!!!

Sunday Songs

So I didn't weigh yesterday. Hence no post about weight loss! I had a hard week and needed a mental health day. Between St. Patricks Day and everything else I couldn't bring myself to jump on that scale. But I will be back next Saturday with a post and a good loss! In the mean time I have a song. It is a live video of Phoenix singing Lisztomania. I don't think it is the full song but I really loved this version. Enjoy!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

I love St. Patricks Day! Love it! Our family wears green and eats corned beef and cabbage with horse radish sauce. The whole shabang! Oh and this year our treat is mint brownies with green frosting. I can't wait til the kids are old enough to really appreciate a leprechaun coming to the house. Oh the fun I will have! Until then I am happy with coloring pages and little crafts. Hope your St. Patricks Day is full of luck and fun and mischevious leprechauns! Happy St. Patricks Day!

Sunday Songs

I am not a fan of Taylor Swift generally. I think she is crazy talented and beautiful but she doesn't write the kind of music I usually listen to. But this song is awesome! It makes me cry. This isn't the best quality but the song is worth the listen.

I weigh in

So I had a rough week. I was sick with a stomach bug pretty much the whole week. Which means that I ate whatever I thought I could keep down. We also didn't plan well enough. It has to be crazy easy for me or I won't do it. Plus I think that I had this idea in my head that because I did so well last week that I could be lax this week. When you see the results you will see that I really took this idea to heart. That being said I am trying to remember that this is a life long journey of losing and maintaining weight. So onward and upward! I am keeping a positive attitude and starting fresh this week coming up. Oh and I am actually planning on exercising this week. HAHA! Haven't done that yet. I figure I better start, I am starting small with going back to my Zumba class Tuesday and Thursday this week. Wish me luck!

This isn't a picture from this week like I originally was going to do but it is a sweet picture of boy baby and me when he was a baby. Enjoy! And I will be back with a current picture next week. I couldn't handle posting a current one this week! Sorry!

Previous weight: 223.4

Current weight 222.6

Pounds lost: 8/10 lb

Total weight loss: 7 and 8/10lbs

Current BMI: 43.5

weigh in #1, #2

I am going back to school....

.... Well kind of! The ladies who did Home Ec last year are at it again! It is a online course to teach you to sew. It is all the basics. I know a little but not enough. I can't wait to get started! WOOT! Go here and sign up and lets get those sewing machines buzzing! A little side note. One of the creators is Rachel and she has one of my favorite blogs out there, Smile and Wave. Go visit her over there. You will be glad you did.

Sunday Songs

I really like this song and this video. Her pink hair is so so awesome. I wonder if it is her actual hair. Hmmm... I might be searching for a bright pink wig! She carries the whole music video by herself and she rocks it. Oh please oh please watch it!

My weigh in!

So guess what?! I lost 7 lbs this week! Can I get a what what?! I am very excited. Now I know that this is not going to necessarily be the case every week but it happened this week and I am thrilled! As promised I posted pictures. I think that I will every week if at all possible. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I know I am! My stats are below. I was so surprised by how much my BMI went down. That makes me want to keep going too! Yay!

This great belly shot is definitely a motivation!

I like the pictures from the front way better! HAHA!

Previous weight : 230.4

Current weight: 223.4

POunds lost: 7! lbs

Total weight lost: 7 lbs

Previous BMI: 44.9

Current BMI: 43.6

first weigh in

Love this!

Does anyone else totally love this? I found this on scoutiegirl. Such a rad website. She has this little diddy on her site here to download for free! How cool!! I am going to be tacking this up where I can look at it every single day. cause I am allowed!!!!! And while you are there make sure you read the whole post because it is wonderful. I needed it! It is just the right amount of motivation this lady needs!

Time for a change!

This is me!

This post is going to be crazy personal so brace yourselves! I am a tad overweight. Now when I say a tad I mean like a bit more than a tad.... okay it is pretty bad everyone. I have decided however, that it is time for a change. I have to break the cycle for my kids. But also for myself. I don't want to yo-yo diet anymore. I don't want to have tears come to my eyes when I try on clothes. The shame spiral I go into when I weigh myself is almost impossible to get out of. It is time to get my confidence back and get my figure back! Or any figure for that matter! I am going to start doing the Body For Life program. You can read more about it here. The book is a good read! It changed most of the ideas I had about losing weight. The program was created by Bill Philips and it is awesome! I will give you the skinny on what the program entails. The program is 12 weeks long. It is a six meal a day plan. With each meal including a lean protein, a quality carb and two meals a day also include a vegetable. A sample meal would be a piece of chicken breast that has been sautéed, a small potato and a serving of broccoli. The best part? The free day! One day a week you can eat whatever you want. You are actually encouraged to literally eat whatever you dang well please. There are pretty specific workouts that go along as well. I am planning on doing my own workouts though.

I am hoping to have some more accountability by posting my progress on my blog. Hopefully everyone will be supportive and keep any mean comments to themselves! Haha! I am planning on posting my weight and the pounds lost every Saturday. I am also wanting to include some pictures and some recipes through out as well. Maybe a workout post or two. I would also like to do some guest posts. Hint hint!!

Now let's get down to the overwhelming scary as hell part, shall we?

Current weight: 230.4 lbs

Height: 5' 0"

Current BMI: 44.9

To get into the normal range on the BMI I have to weigh 115. Yeah I have to lose a whole person! That is the high end of the normal range too. I am not sure if it is possible for me to get that small but it is somewhere to start anyway. I feel like crying! Not only for the embarrassing and incredibly overwhelming facts but also that I am starting the journey. That feels good! My first goal is to lose 10% of my weight. I am looking at 23 pounds. Any advice and comments would be greatly appreciated!

this is the website I used for finding my BMI.

I am not being compensated for doing the Body For Life program. I chose the BFL program because it has worked for me in the past. I am in no way saying that it is the right program for everyone. There are many other ways to become healthy.

Sunday Songs

This weekend has been so wonderful! So relaxed and fun. I wish it didn't have to end ever ever! The White Buffalo has been the soundtrack of the last three days. This song is beautiful!

Dot. Worlds smallest stop motion animation!

I had to share this little video. It is darling. And tiny! I found it over at the Skunkboy Creatures. Which is a fantastic blog if you haven't seen it already!

Boy Baby

Let me introduce you to the sweetest boy alive! This is Nicco or Boy baby. He is my oldest baby. I guess he isn't a baby anymore but I like to pretend he is still a baby who can't escape my embrace! He is three and fabulous. So hilarious, kind, imaginative, smart and stubborn! I just wanted to share some wonderful pictures of my little man! I have so many more pictures to share but I figured I better start small. More will be coming.

These pictures were taken by Jason and Emily Hill. They are so talented! You can contact them from Emily's blog Jandeecrafts. I am in no way being compensated by them. I just enjoyed the whole experience with them!

Unurth is super cool!

Have you heard of the website unurth? Well if not then check it out because it is awesome! It is a website full of pictures of amazing street art. The one above is called pixel pour 2.0. The artist is Kelly Goeller. So rad! And that is just one of the bunches of really amazing work.

Sunday Songs!

I saw these guys live and they put on a pretty fun show. And they are from Utah. Yeah I love that! Please enjoy!

Awesome Esty shop!

I found this great Etsy shop today. It is called
Vintette.

She has great jewelry! I mean check out that vintage inspired sewing machine necklace! It is to die for!

and these sewing machine earrings. They may need to become part of my earring collection.

And this cabochon?! I want! I want! and the greatest thing about her shop is that the stuff is really really affordable. That is right up my alley.

sewing machine necklace
sewing machine earrings
cabochon necklace

Okay I hate this little video but the song is worth a million listens! I thought with Valentine's Day and Big Papa's birthday being tomorrow I would post our song. It is the song we danced to at our wedding. They first time I heard it I was with Nick. It was a beautiful moment between us. Needless to say it will forever be our song! Nick is all I want and all I need! Oh and just a side note- it is called Everything not you're all I want!

Spring dresses

I can't wait for spring to come! This year is the year of dresses for me. Dresses are cool in the summer and so chic. You always look more put together in a dress. YAY for breezy days and cool nights! Check these wonderful dresses out. I may have to look into re-creating some of them since my checkbook is a little tight. They were found on three of my favorite sites: ruche, modcloth and anthropologie

this yellow dress kills me! It is so June Cleaver but with a modern look.

This orange has got to be my favorite color lately. I love the pattern of this dress.

Look at that rose pattern! Oh how I love it!

This is a darling dress. I particularly like the flutter sleeves.

This dress is beautiful. I really like the red and white and the pleats on the skirt are so unique and fresh.

This is my favorite one out of all of them! The colors are more fall than spring but the fabric and style are so so gorgeous!

That is denim people! How cool is that?

yellow dress

orange dress

rose floral

flutter sleeves

red and white

fall colors

denim

Chocolate Valentine Bowls baby!

Quickie Valentine post! How cute are those chocolate heart bowls? I am in love with them. They are from you are my fave. Cute blog with freaking cute ideas! Some of those heart baking pans are making it on my shopping list for sure. Can you imagine little heart corn breads or cinnamon rolls? I heart that idea!

Check out the chocolate heart bowls here!

Sunday Songs!

You could be my punk rock princess! A fun song that reminds of Nicholas and I in when we were in high school for some reason. Anyways.....

Looky looky what I made! Skinny ties!

I was inspired to make some skinny ties for Nick after I saw how crazy expensive they are! What can I say? I am all about the deals. Then along came this tutorial on design mom. What are the chances? I have been sitting on this little project for a while but I finally got around to it and I am glad I did! They are super inexpensive and crazy easy to make. Two of my favorite things! I spent 4 bucks total on the two ties at the DI and already had the notions for making them. I say 4 dollars for two silk skinny ties is not bad. I am already wanting to make a bunch more. No tie in my house will be safe! I am even planning on miniaturizing some ties for the Boy baby. He loves wearing ties when he sees daddy wearing ties! Maybe I will be getting some myself. I think I could pull it off. I wish I had taken some before pictures! They were eighties style wide ties.

Oh and if you haven't already you should really check out design mom! It is a great site. She has wonderful ideas and new posts all the time!

Check out my killer pictures! HA! That was a joke people! I asked Nick to channel his days modeling for Nordstrom's! Apparently he forgot how to do it in the last twenty years! You get the idea though, right?

Nice wrinkled shirt, eh?

He is awful sexy though! I like his wiggle! He he!

Sunday Songs

Good good song. This is Scarlett Johansson and Pete Yorn. Great duo. Give it a listen!

Valentine Dessert on Jandeecrafts

How cute is this? It is a twinkie! I am so excited to do this for the kids on Valentines Day! I might not be able to wait until then to do it though. Early Valentines dessert? Who says Valentines only has to be one day? Check it out and other cute projects and crafts at the ever awesome Jandeecrafts! I check this blog once a day cause it is so great! One of my favorite posts is this one. Hilarious!

Sunday Songs

Love love loving this song right now!

Attitude of Gratitude Tuesday

And also for Cookie Monster! You hear that Sesame Street?! What is the world coming to that cookie monster has to change his name and image?

I am greatful today for COOKIES!! And for all the fantastic blogs and websites that share their delightful recipes. How i love cookies! Let me count the ways!

1. They are an individual little dessert

2. They are delicious

3. There are about a million different ways to make cookies

4. They cook up fast (usually)

and and and....

These are recipes I am currently wanting to try

Kevin and Amanda's Mascarpone Oreo Snowflake Cookies

My Kitchen Cafe Sugar cookies

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

I have already made these and holy hannah! They are delightful!

Cream Cheese Snowball Cookies

There are so many wonderful recipes out there! So so many that I can't even list them all here! It is time to get out there and get a bakin' people! Crap! I think I am out of sugar..... well I will be dreaming about cookies tonight at least!

Sunday Songs

Any one else absolutely in love with Zooey Deschanel? Cause I have to say that she is one of my lady crushes this year and every year since I first saw her pretty face. This music duo is so fun! It is Zooey Deschanel and Matt Ward. This is how they describe their music on their website:

She & Him make music for an eternal springtime, when the temperature is warm enough to go riding with the top (or at least the windows) rolled down and the radio turned up.

How true that is!

Stove Top Popcorn! Oh yummy!

My family has a tradition every year of having popcorn and fudge on New Year's Eve. We always have microwave popcorn. Well this year I decided that microwave popcorn was just not good enough. No more film stuck to the roof of my mouth thank you! So I got on the google machine and looked at about a gazillion recipes and tutorials for stove top popcorn. I made 2 big batches a couple days before New Years Eve (and an obscene amount since then!) to test it out and figured out how to make it perfect! It was surprisingly easy. I will never use microwave popcorn again!

Supplies:

A large heavy bottomed pot with a tight fitting lid-

I used an enamel cast iron dutch oven.

A great big bowl

1/3 c. oil-

you want to use one that handles high heat

such as vegetable oil, canola oil or peanut oil.

1/2 cup popcorn kernels-

I used the cheap bagged kind and

it worked perfectly!

1/2 cube to a whole cube of butter-

I used a whole cube because I

made one batch right after the other.

So only 1/2 cube for one batch

Salt to taste.

Pour your oil into your pot. You just really need enough oil to give the bottom of your pot a good coat. Start with your pot on the stove on high heat. Throw in ten or so kernels of corn. Put on lid tightly. Wait until the kernels start to pop and throw in the 1/2 cup popcorn kernels. Put the lid back on and remove from heat for 30 seconds. Then put your pot back on stove and turn heat down to medium high. Prop open lid and start shaking that baby!! Keep on shaking until you hear 1-3 seconds between pops. Take it off the heat and pour right into the big bowl. Immediately put butter in the still hot pot and melt the butter. Do not put it back on the heat or the butter will burn. Then pour over popcorn and stir it up. Then put some salt in there to taste and mix it up again. Enjoy!

Couple of notes:

*I have seen recipes that say you can leave it alone while it pops and just shake it after you first put the kernels in but I found better results when I shook it the whole time.

*I made the mistake of propping the lid of the pot towards me. Not a good idea! It gets pretty active and I got steam burns and splatters of oil shooting me in the eye! Yes my eye!!!

* The 30 seconds off the heat makes it turn it out so well! It helps bring the temp down enough so you don't burn the popcorn.

*Oh and don't use margarine! No only is that kind of gross but the popcorn soaks it up so you will have soggy pieces right next to pieces that are dry and plain. Sorry for all you margarine lovers but I am a butter advocate! It makes everything better!

Sweet Heart wreath!

To be totally honest I am posting this so I can remember that I want to do it and which blog I found the tutorial at. I love this wreath! It is right up my alley! It came from the idea room. It is a great great blog with lots of tutorials and recipes and the like. Check out the TUT for this wreath here! I am excited to do some Valentine crafts. Valentines Day is Big Papa's birthday so decorating and doing some crafts with the boy and girl babies is pretty much the only celebrating I get to do! Any one feel bad for me? Ha HA!

Attitude of Grattitude Tuesday

Oh the joy that is Nordic Ware's Baker's Joy! This stuff is the best! I bought two funfetti cake mixes from Target the other day. They were .44 cents each. Yes my friend, you read that right! Forty Four cents!!! Granted they were holiday ones. So all green and red but I couldn't have cared less cause they taste the same and that taste is oh so good! I baked one with Baker's Joy and one I greased and floured the pan. Guess which one turned out perfect and the other had pockets of flour on the bottom. I had to peel the bottom off the one so I woulen't get a mouthful of flour. It was not pretty! The Baker's Joy cake kicked the hand greased and floured cakes hiney! Hands down! I probably over greased the one pan I didn by hand. And really I could have probably done just fine with hand greasing but why bother? Especially when baker's joy is awesome and relatively inexpensive? I was going to add a link to get a coupon but every place online that has a coupon for it requires you to sign up to get their emails and emails from a million different sponsors. Not my cup of tea! It is only 3 or 4 dollars at most any grocery store and considering how little you need it is still a fantastic deal! You can even order it online here if you want! I am so grateful for creations like these!

*note: I am in no way being compensated by Nordic Ware. I just love the product!

Sunday Songs

I have already put this song up once but this is the music video. This song makes me almost cry every time I hear it. Not sure why but there you go!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!!

It is 2011! I hope your new years eve was fantastic! Mine was quiet and fun. The only thing I would have changed is I would have dressed up! I kept thinking I should but never did. Oh well! Now I need to figure out what my resolutions will be. I have so many to choose from this year! What resolutions do you have this year? Help a girl out!

New years day at my house growing up meant the Bitner family party and hoppin john. We have hoppin john every single year. Hoppin john is a black eyed pea, carrot, bacon delight! It traditionally is made with a ham hock but my mom always put bacon in it. You put it over rice and it is so good! They make it onthe south and it is supposed to bring you good luck! Who doesn't need a little lucky charm every once in a while? Oh it sounds wonderful right now! What traditions do you have on New Years Day?