This Little Piggy Went for a Walk…

And her mother played with her camera!  Wait doesn’t that make me a sow????  Anyway, I decided to go for a walk because I still can’t figure this .COM to .ORG business out and I am still frustrated.  I got my kid to be my unwitting model and she is still a bit salty but I’m chalking that up to tween angst.  She is after all still grounded!  Please don’t ask! LOL

I came up with this in Photoscape and I must say that I am pretty pleased…

Photoscape is so darn fun.  Once I finished up this I thought about those scarves that I bought the other day at the Somali mall and the fact that I haven’t b/vlogged about it yet.  Thus the following .gif was born!  So yeah, all of the scarves you see here were purchased at Somali malls in Minneapolis.  I’m telling you these are the best deal in the TC!  $4 a piece and these babies are not small.  They are the big 40×40 size that the Somali women use with their hijab.

I hear you all saying that this has nothing to do with my blog, but really it does.  All this playing around in photoscape and playing around with my camera is going to help me bring you a better end product.  I promise I’m not giving up even if I don’t post as much as I did in the beginning.  I’m just getting my stuff together!  And with that, I’ll leave you with a money shot.

Link to instructions for the money shirt are aqui…

Can Anyone Help Me???

I am so confused and I’m getting frustrated.  This is what I am working on today and I feel like I am STUCK!!!

Back to the Gym…Again…

UUUHGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!  You know why I wish I hadn’t stopped going to the gym?  Because it’s so flipping hard to start back up!!!  That is why I am sitting here typing this post 30 pounds heavier than I was in February.

Now before I start being too hard on myself, I did quit smoking and that is a large part of why the weight came back on so fast, but that really isn’t any excuse for me to not have been going to the gym for the last several months.

So I have to get my behind in gear now and get a plan going.  Now that I am working 12 hour shifts, two things are going to change.  The first is that I will NOT be working out on days that I work.  I will be walking the stairs again on a regular (yesterday, I did over 150 steps!) instead when I work.  The second, is that I will have a lot more time to go to the gym when I am not working because my days off are now in three to nine day stretches at a time!

I would like to say that I will be going to the gym everyday that I don’t work, but to be honest, I know that I won’t do that because on a day like today, my body already hurts from doing the stairs and 24 hours working in a 48 hour period.  So maybe I will take a day off after my work stretches and then get to the gym.

Also, I think that I am going to get to add a bit more variety into my workouts.  While I adore my personal trainer, I can’t expect that he be around for every calorie I burn, but at the same time, I love having company when I work out.   Therefore, I am going to pick up a ten class card for Core Power Yoga.  There are two very near where I live and I have co-workers who are more than willing to go with me.  I expect that it is going to be so challenging and that my co-workers are going to give me a lot of crap.  I also suspect that it is going to be a blast!

Another thing I am looking forward to is being a non-smoker while working out.  I have to admit that last year while I was always proud of myself for the strides that I made, I always felt like I was setting myself back by smoking.  That was why I would never take my cigarettes in my purse with my when I went to work out.  Now there are no more setbacks and I don’t have to feel all kind of ways because I came home from the gym and had a cigarette!

Wow just typing this post is actually getting me excited.  Like I said, my legs are killing me from all those steps yesterday, but I think I’ll go for a walk today.  Maybe I’ll even post some pics from the neighborhood….

My First Giveaway!

I am having my very first giveaway on my Youtube channel.  This giveaway is to celebrate three months smoke free for me next week and there will be THREE lucky winners!  Watch the video and read the information box for the rules and enter on in.  The prizes are humble and non-hair related, but they come from my hands and my heart.  Thank you so much for all of your support and encouragement!

Also, starting today, you should see more activity from me on here and on Youtube.  My work schedule change has taken effect and I will have a lot more time to devote to doing this thing right and I can’t wait!

The prizes are all done!  They just need a wash and they are on the way out the door on Monday!  Thanks again to everyone who entered the giveaway!

My Week in Styles

Two weekends ago, I put some mini twists in my hair.  As always, putting them in was a marathon pain in the neck, but the end result was so worth it.  I did however wash them right away and was then left with fuzzy twists.  Now exactly what I wanted right away, but that was what I had.  So I decided to challenge myself to style these twists every day that I had them in my hair.  I ended up styling them for an unheard of 10 days!!!!  As I sit here typing up this post, I so desperately need to wash and deep condition my hair it isn’t funny.   I think I’ll do a caramel treatment today but then I’m thinking it’s already after noon as I am finishing this.  I guess I’d better get a move on then.  So above is my little collage of the styles for the week.  Or click and watch the video with more detailed pics of the various styles I did over the week.  Thanks for checking in!

Product Review-The Tangle Teezer

Yes I jumped on the bandwagon.  I have really been feeling like a tool lately I must admit.  Oh well, on to the review!

Coming Up Next…

So currently I am working on a post about cash flow projections and how they can help you manage your money more efficiently.  I also have a few hair posts in the works as always including a Tangle Teezer review.  Lastly, Since I have gained 26 of the 29 pounds that I lost, I have a new weight loss plan for the rest of 2011.  I’m really excited about rolling it out!  So please stay tuned.  There will be a surprise posting by the end of this day!

Sorry…

I’m sorry I have been gone so long.  People have been asking me where I have been and I’ve been here, I have just been unmotivated.  That is why the fifth item on my reinvent list is follow through.  I did very well for the first few months then I just sort of fell off.  To be honest, at first I took a break because I was thinking about how I could improve this blog.  There are a few things about my blog that I am really unhappy with but in order to change those things, it will require a bigger commitment from me.  When I realized that, I ran.

One thing that I learned though was this, I really like blogging and youtubing.  I came back because I missed it so much!  I had never felt so official before.  I really felt like I was making strides in taking over control of my life.  With that freedom though comes some responsibilities.  I can’t run just because I’m scared, that was why I even started doing this right?  To get out of that habit!

I’ll be honest, in my experience, it’s this coming back part that is the hardest.  So I feel as though I am facing my biggest challenge to date now.  I’m gonna keep trying though because like I said, this is so much fun even if it is work!

So what have I been up to?  I am almost 2.5 months smoke free!  I am so excited about that.  However, I have gained back 26 of the 29 pounds that I lost last year.  I’m really trying not to be to upset about it because I gained it back because I quit smoking.  It isn’t surprising, but it isn’t acceptable either.

So I have been easing back into working out as well.  I’m back on the stairs at work now and I have been doing short Bodyrock.tv type workouts at home again.  I am thinking that I need to start recording them as more motivation as well.  I can’t quit and I will blackmail myself if need be!

Financially, I have been very complacent as well.  I am still contributing to my 403b but that is about it.  I haven’t really been sticking to my budget and I haven’t saved anything more that the $1,000 emergency fund.  But hey, I haven’t touched that and the rent is paid on time.

Not much to brag about but that is where I am at.  I’m back, and I’m doing everything that I can to stay back!!