Muerta, Vida, and Me!

My birthday gift this year from my wonderful hubby was finishing up (or at least for now) my half sleeve! I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out! I'm in deep deep love with this beautiful piece of art! This entire piece will always hold a special place in my heart for what it represents. And I am very thankful to my better half for doing exactly what that banner says and loving me through my darkest moments! Like this tattoo you will always be a part of me and who I am!

Weight Loss Update

So obviously I'm an extremely sparatic blogger, I think this is due to the lack of readers I have, but regardless here goes today's post. I've been trying my damned hardest since having Leighton to lose the baby weight and well I've finally reached my goal!! Well to an extent anyway! I'm back down to 147 lbs (I was 144 when I got preggo and was at 235 when I gave birth). I am very content with my progress, now it's time to tone and tighten, but that's another story! So typical quesetion is: "How did you do it?". Well the old fashioned way....sorta. Exercise wise, I did a lot of treadmill running and walking. I've come to learn that I loooooooooooooooove running! It's a great source of stress relief and just plain fun (for me anyway)! Diet wise I just did a lot of portion control and ate a litte more often throughout the day. Aaaaaand last but not least, yes I did take a metabolism booster. They aren't ideal and safe for everyone, but I KNOW my body, I KNOW what helps and what doesn't, so yea I did take that extra "cheating" step, but like I said I was still dieting and exercising regularly. Every once in awhile I did have some lazy weeks, but I really think those helped as well. Dieting and exercising is stressful at times. Always pushing yourself and striving for results sucks sometimes and when you don't get those results you want sometimes you get discouraged....buuuut don't let that stop you COMPLETELY! Don't get discouraged and don't give up! You'll be happy you didn't in the long run! I promise!!!!! Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!!

Makeup Palette on the Cheap!

So I have about 24 MAC eye shadows that I've been wanting to depot and put into the 15 pan palettes that they sell, but unfortunately I'm never able to make the hour trek to the nearest MAC store to buy some. So with my upcoming trip to CO, I was trying to figure out a way to make my own palette so that I could take all of my shadows with me! Aaaaaaaand VOILA! I was able to figure something out with the help of my loving hubby! We searched our local Michael's craft store for something durable, yet compact to keep them in and found small plastic photo cases by Recollections (above)! So we picked two of those up, magnet sheets (though I would recommend getting thicker ones if you can find them), and a 1" hole punch (the video tutorial I watched recommended using a 3/4" hole punch, but I couldn't find one!). I'm assuming each container will hold about 15-18 shadows, which is the same as a MAC palette if you don't pop out the plastic divider part, but I paid $10 for both containers and the rest of the stuff mentioned above! So myself and my makeshift e/s palettes will hopefully have a fabuloso time in CO when we leave Monday!! Yippee!!!!!!

Skin is IN!

Just wanted to put up a quick run down of some of my favorite skin care products that I use. I have oily/combo skin, redness, enlarged pores, and of course breakouts! YUCK! Sounds like a skin care nightmare doesn't it?! Well it is! Luckily I've found a few products with the help of general skin care knowledge, product reviews, and suggestions from skin care reps at work! So here goes:

1. The Clarisonic!!!! As I'll probably say numerous times throughout this post, I am a HUGE skeptic when it comes to products! I have to see to believe! So when I was first told about the Clarisonic, all I could think was "Yea, yea, yea I'm sure it works." So when Christmas rolled around and I had Sephora gift cards to splurge with, I decided this is what I was going to get! And boy am I so glad I did! Not only did it give me the most amazing cleansed feeling it helped other products (treatments and moisturizers) work better! Definite must have in any skin care routine!!!

2. Murad Clarifying Cleanser! Around January of 2011, I started having massive breakouts on my forehead, which was very unusual for me. Granted I've always had the normal hormonal breakout when Aunt Flow came along each month, but nothing like this! Little did I know I was pregnant, but that's besides the point! I started using the Clarifying Cleanser and omg I was in LOVE! I've been using it ever sense, yes even during my pregnancy. It does have 1.5% or 2% (can't remember which off the top of my head) salicylic acid, which some doctors suggest not using during pregnancy, however I did numerous reviews and talked to a few people, it's more so recommended not to use in a treatment product because it seeps deeper into the dermal, where as the cleanser is on your face for no more than 60 seconds. Now though I love this and love the way it works on my skin, not everyone is meant to use a salicylic based wash! You may find that glycolic acid (which is basically nothing but a sugar based acid) or benzol peroxide (what's used in Pro Active) works better on your acne prone skin, it's just to find it out on it's own! And another note! If you start using any of these types of washes, GIVE THEM TIME! Within the first 2 weeks you'll more than likely notice additional breakout because it's purging the dirt, oil, bacteria, etc out of the skin. In other words IT'S WORKING!!!!!

3. Peter Thomas Roth Sulfur Cooling Masque! I just starting using this one about two/three months ago and I love, love, love the way it makes my skin feel! What's great about it, is that it can be used as a 20 minute mask or an overnight spot treatment! It has a very nice cooling affect and the smell is amazing (at least I think so!) So here's my disclaimer for this, no it is not a miracle product. No your zit will not be completely gone in the morning (pst there's not such thing as an overnight zit be gone product!), however it does help reduce the redness and swollen area!

4. Kate Somerville Dermal Quench Liquid Lift! OMG, OMG, OMG! Not only is this an awesome anti-aging product, it also helps to even skin tone (I noticed drastic redness reduction in just two days), and makes your skin feel as smooth as a baby's bottom! It has amazing instant gratification and long term as well! I don't know what else to say about this product except you MUST give it a try!

5. Ole Henriksen Blue/Black Berry Enzyme Mask!!! This is a product I've suggested to numerous friends, clients, and even my hard headed anti-skin care using husband! The same time I was having breakout issues, I was noticing dry patches around my jaw and mouth area, big bummer! A co-worker suggested that I try this mask to help shlub off the dry skin and by the next morning it was gone!!!! I stinking love it! And so has everyone I've suggested it to! Hands down one of my favorite masks ever!!!!!!

6. Kate Somerville Oil Free Moisturizer! If you need an awesome oil free moisturizer this one is slowly but surely taking the cake for me! Not only is it light weight but it also helps to mattify and tighten the skin a bit as well! You can use it as your day and night time moisturizer, but I do suggest pairing it with a SPF for daytime use!

I haven't included an eye cream, because I have yet to find one that I am really and truly happy with! Suggestions?! Please leave them!!!! All products mentioned above are available at Sephora or sephora.com! I'll be compiling a list of favorites for other skin types that will be based on reviews and suggestions from friends, family, and clients! Hope anyone who stumbles across this enjoyed the suggestions!!!!!

Gettin a Little Peacocky!

So it's obviously been quite a bit of time since I've posted something (and yes I still feel like I'm just talking to myself), but as you can see I've been quite busy with a special little one! I just wanted to share the creative bug that's bitten me! I made this peacock tutu last night and had to subject Leighton to a ton of picture taking!!! She seemed to enjoy it though!!!!! Hope all is well out there in the world! Promise I'll try to update more often!!!!

Just Another Manic-Depressive Monday

Ok not really, well yea really, but for good reason! I did the most horribly depressing thing today...got on the SCALE! Que the sad violin music please! So it's time to start that good ole weight loss journey yet again! Goal weight 135-140, starting weight...198! YUCK! I guess it's better than my original post labor weight which we will not get into! But anywho, weight, why is it always a woman's worst enemy?! Anyone who knows me, knows I've struggled with mine my entire life. I've been the overweight kid in elementary school and the borderline eating disorder adult. It's been an extremely difficult emotional roller coaster ride and trying to find a method that takes the weight off and helps keep in off is an even harder ride. Don't get me wrong, I love working out. I would stay in the gym all day if I could, unfortunately I have work, house work, a husband, a baby, and I even get to sleep sometimes! If you know of any way to balance all of that out, please let me know! Until then I'm going to go enjoy a piece of chocolate cake! Ha ha!

Conflict of Interests?

So with the new year vastly approaching us I decided it was time for a "new" me. Of course like everyone else's resolution one of mine is to lose weight (having gained an enormous amount from the pregnancy) and with that I want a new wardrobe. After looking through like a billion pins on Pinterest, I compiled a board full of looks that I'm pretty much in love with. I'll call my style "Prepster Mom", but here's where my conflict comes in. Along with a new wardrobe, I'm thinking about getting a new tattoo...but not just any small cutesie little tattoo, a half sleeve! I've done some looking and finally decided on a concept. It hasn't hit the drawing board yet for personal touches, but all in all I'm pretty set on what it's going to look like. So I guess you're all still wondering where the conflict is since I still haven't mentioned it. I still want to be that tattooed funky fun person, but with a very soccer mom look...is that weird? Yes, no, maybe?