Mamavation Monday: The Outside Edition #NeverGiveUp

One of my goals for this year was to move more and spend more time outside with my girls. As I am writing this, I am at the park with my girls. As much as I wanted to walk here, the schedule of the day doesn’t allow that. Over the past few weeks I’ve gone missing from the Mamavation Sistahood. We’ve been trying to buy a house (we’re in Escrow now), I’ve started a new business (I’m now a Pampered Chef consultant), and still trying to get my girls to dance (we’re behind a week), plus all of our normal activities: school, errands, etc. It’s both a crazy and exciting time in our lives at the Rosati house.

As Summer approaches I am looking forward to getting back on track with things. Although, to be completely honest, I’m not really sure what “on-track” looks like anymore. I feel like I am constantly putting out fires- and the biggest one is the one that gets my attention at the moment. So today, I am trying to find a balance between working on homework (I’m 2 weeks behind) and trying to get outside with my girls. So I brought the books and the laptop to the park, while my girls are running around playing. Hopefully soon I will be in a place to run around with them, or at least walk to the park for my exercise, but I don’t see that happening until after we move in to the house.

A friend of mine just got some new camping equipment for Mother’s Day, and thinking about moving into the house reminds me that I have a TON of camping stuff that has sat in storage for 6 years. Maybe we can actually get to it and USE it this year. The girls are old enough I think we could work it out. Definitely something to talk to the Hubs about. There is usually a Pirate Festival in Ojai in late Summer/ early Fall that might be fun to camp at. Hmmmm…. something to think about.

On a side note, I got an email from my church that included an amazing story of a man who overcame several personal struggles in his life, and learned to walk again, despite what doctors had told him. It’s a very inspirational video that truly shows the power of believing in yourself. If you have a moment, please check it out.

With love,

 

KR

Handmade Holiday Update

When browsing through my site, I realized that I never sent an update on how my last minute projects for Christmas turned out.  The stockings that I started three days before Christmas were surprisingly easy.  I had been avoiding doing them for a couple of years because they seemed so difficult.  I tend to do that, get caught up in some sort of pre-project anxiety because I’ve never done it before, I know nothing about it, or it just LOOKS hard. Since the year before I gave my stockings to my mother I was forced into tackling this project or else NO ONE in my house would have stocking for Christmas and that was just unacceptable.  Here’s how they turned out:

Not too bad.  All I did was take the Star Wars stocking I bought for Peter, traced it off, added a seam allowance and sewed it up!  Pretty simple!  Then I found these adorable letters at JoAnn’s that I hand tacked on.  The tree skirt, I also attempted during my creative rush three days before Christmas, is still sitting in it’s pre-project anxiety state and has been renamed “the ugly beast!”

And there it sits.  On my cutting table, taking up quite a bit of space while I avoid it.  I’m supposed to quilt it, but quilting seems so HARD.  Ugh!  Maybe I’ll get motivated to tackle it before Christmas gets here.  I’m not sure if I want to hand quilt it or machine quilt it.  In my mind, machine quilting is so much easier and faster.  Since I have no experience in quilting I have no idea if this is true or not.  But so far I’ve been to afraid to ask, or jump in and try it, so here it sits, as it has sat for 3 months now.  Waiting for me to get so annoyed with it that I will actually pick it up and finish it.

Recycled Makeup Rocks the Runway

I recently got this in an email from a friend in Mary Kay.  I thought this was so cool I just couldn’t keep it to myself.  Recently at a Mary Kay Leadership Conference, four fashion design students were allowed to make dresses from Mary Kay packaging materials, products and sashes in what appears to have been a competition.  The Mary Kay sales force voted on which dress was their favorite and there is a pic of a guy holding a check so I’m assuming it was some sort of competition.  Below are some pictures sent to from the event along with the info sent to me on each design.

The dresses were on display in the Mary Kay Building in Dallas, TX and there is talk of showing them at Seminar in 2012.  So while the rest of us are not lucky enough to see these in person, if you are a Mary Kay Consultant, you are in luck.  If you go to Seminar this year you might get an up-close look at these recycled beauties!

The winning gown, by Isaac Spry, includes Mary Kay® Mineral Eye Color clamshells and Compact Powder Brushes around the hips and black and pink satin sashes to create the bodice and fluttering elements on the skirt. The necklace and earrings include TimeWise® Age-Fighting Moisturizer bottles, Classic Basic skin care tubes and Compact Powder Brushes. Spry’s satin creation won at both Leadership Conference 1 and 2.

 

 

 

 

This shimmery pink and turquoise gown, by Marian Collier, is made from 700 Mary Kay® Mineral Eye Color pans and 600 Bella Belara® Eau de Parfum cases. The fur stole is made from 400 Compact Powder Brushes, a Cosmetic Organizer Bag, three Brush Collections and 100 zipper pulls from the Bella Belara® Eau de Parfum cases.

This elegant mermaid dress, by Janice Chow, was made using TimeWise® 3-in-1 Cleanser boxes, Mary Kay® Mineral Eye Color in Precious Pink, gift bags and Eye Liner boxes. The headband and a dainty clutch purse also feature Eye Liner boxes.

This dramatic gown, by Tian Justman, is a waterfall of TimeWise® 3-in-1 Cleanser and Moisturizer tubes, with Travel Roll-Up Bags, Compact mirrors, Compact Cheek Brushes and TimeWise® Night Solution Bottles. The tiara and fan also feature TimeWise®3-in-1 Cleanser boxes, Compact Mirrors and Compact Cheek Brushes.

I know the pictures are really small so it may be hard to see, but some of these dresses look like they were made out of fabric.  You would never know until you got really close, that they were made from product boxes and packaging materials.  So clever!  There is a similar challenge every year at the California Community Colleges Fashion Symposium that is a recycled/ upcycled challenge.  Students are to take materials found in a thrift store and re-use them to create something new.  They are encouraged to use as many old pieces as possible, not spend more than $50 and the only new materials are to be closures, buttons, zippers, etc.  I can’t wait to see what they all come up with.  I’ll try to get a ticket and share the runway with you.  Or… if you are in the So Cal area, order a ticket and I’ll see you there!

TFE Files- Oscar Edition

Addy was taking her nap during most of the Red Carpet on Sunday.  BTW, guilty pleasure, I only watch the Oscars for the red carpet.  I want to see all the gowns.  I usually haven’t seen any of the movies nominated and my chances of seeing them after are still pretty slim to none.  If it isn’t on Netflix instant stream I probably haven’t seen it.

Anyway, kids are VERY honest.  Brutally HONEST and my almost 4 yo is no exception.  She has very strong opinions already and is about as sassy as the day is long.  When she woke up I had her watch the red carpet with me.  I told her to give me a thumbs up if she liked the dress and a thumbs down if she didn’t like it.  While I didn’t agree with all of her opinions here are the unedited comments.

1.  Stacy Kiebler- THUMBS DOWN  “I just like the flower, but I don’t like it’s bottom.”  (She means the train).

2. Livia Firth-  THUMBS UP  “I like the purse.  And I also like the ruffles on the top.  But I don’t like the boy.”

3.  Sandra Bullock-THUMBS DOWN- ” I like the bottom, I like the back, I like its top.  I don’t like the curly shiny stuff”

4. Michelle Williams-THUMBS DOWN “I like it’s top.  I like the ruffle (she means the peplum), but I don’t like it’s bottom (she means the skirt).  I don’t like all this stuff (she circles the layers on Michelle’s skirt).  But I do like her necklace”

5.  Kristen Wigg-  THUMBS UP “I like this”  (Points and circles entire dress on screen).

6.  Penelope Cruz-  THUMBS UP-” I like the things that goes down by her elbows”

7.  Tina Fey-  THUMBS UP- “I like this.” (Points to peplum)

There you have it.  Oscar Fashion from the POV of a 3-year-old.

Mamavation Monday: The Detox Edition

This week we were all sick in the house which made getting up at 6am and working out a difficult task.  I ended up sleeping 8 or 9 hours each night which is much more than I usually get, but I figured that with my body being sick I needed the extra sleep to get rid of the bugs.  I didn’t stress over it too much, instead I just listened to my body in order to get well.  I didn’t do much in terms of working out either.  This week, although it is almost over now, I am trying to be more mindful of what I eat and how often I move/ exercise.

On my way over to Michaels Craft Store this week (this seems to be a weekly trip) I decided to stop into Fitness 19 and check out their facilities, class schedule and rates.  I really miss doing the yoga class at LA Fitness.  The rates are really reasonable compared to the other gyms in the area and I like that I don’t have to sign a contract and I can be locked into my rate so my fees will never go up.  They have an on-site kids club so I don’t have to worry about babysitting for the kids.  At only $10 a month, I think I am going to go ahead and sign up.  One of the difficult parts of trying to workout at home is doing it when the kids are asleep.  Lately I’ve been trying to get up before the girls so I can do this, but it seems that the earlier I get up the earlier they get up and the whole REASON I got up early in the first place has already been defeated before I had a chance to start.  Ugh!  I’m hoping this may  be a solution to my problem.  Besides, it would be nice to get into yoga, pilates and Zumba again.  They even have a class on Hula that sounds really fun!

The Mamavation subject this week is detox.  I have mixed feelings about this, only because last summer I tried a temporary detox diet that was supposed to help clean out your system and boost your metabolism.  The diet, probably because it was such a drastic one, made me so sick that I couldn’t get out of bed.  I think it is important to be mindful of what we put into our bodies, but I do not think that drastic changes are the way to go.  Like everything else in life, it needs a balance.  If you are thinking about going on a detox diet start slowly so your body has a chance to adjust to the changes.  I believe that you are less likely to end up sick that way.