Merry Christmas!!

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My week according to Instagram!

Last Friday, I went down to the eastern shore for work, got a little muddy, but weather and view was perfect.








Eric and I made a big joint purchase and got a Wii! It's great, we have played Mario every night since.




My adorable boyfriend got his haircut and bought his first Ravens shirt cause it had his last name haha.




Want to take your pic with someone other than Santa, there's Rudolph at Bass Pro Shop!




Love the illustration on this book! And its Peter Pan! I had to buy it!




Booked our NYC trip for this weekend!! I am beyond excited to go up there around the holidays with all the pretty lights and decorations. I even made a little folder with info on New York. I'm a dork.




Party City had the exact holiday photo props I was looking for!! I'm creating a holiday backdrop/photo booth for my 2nd Annual Ugly Xmas Sweater party!








My dog, Gizmo in his "Reindeer in Training" costume.




New ornaments! Love!

Turkey Cookie Nameplates

I took on the challenge of trying to create these Turkey Cookie Place Cards from Bee in our Bonnet and I think I did an ok job for it being my first time working with royal icing to decorate cookies.

This is what Bee in our Bonnet's cookies look like (much better than mine):

And here is my try at them:

I had a great time creating the cookies and loved how they turned out in the end.  It definitely took me about 3 or so hours, but it was worth it.

I also created these Ravens cookies for the big game tonight against the 49ers.

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Today I am thankful for:

- My wonderful family; they are there for me no matter what.  And I'm so glad that my siblings and I have such a great relationship with our parents, they are like our best friends.

- The love of my life, first and only love, Eric Smith! 

- My close friends, I can always count on them.

- Traveling with Eric, it helps to give us a break from the normal 40 hour work week and keeps us sane.

- My three dogs, Sammy, Ginger and Gizmo!

- Having a full time job...even though I hate having to pay bills every month, working full time helps me to feel a sense of responsibility for myself and for mine and Eric's future.

- "Future Talks" with my love.  It make me so happy when we randomly talk about how our life will be in the future together.  I'm so glad to have found someone like him! March 30 will mark our 6 year anniversary and I couldn't be more happy!!!

- Cupcakes/Baking! I love that I found something I am passionate about..finally! I'm actually looking into going to culinary school next year! Super excited!!

Skinny Apple Cobbler

I really want to make this Skinny Apple Cobbler soon.  The recipe is from Skinny Taste and the pictures make it look so good and it's lower in calories compared to regular buttery apple cobbler!

So true...

Yum!

Sticking to eating healthy at work during lunchtime - having Healthy Choice chicken noodle soup, yum!! At least some of the healthy stuff actually tastes good!


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Hunter Wellies!

My latest obsession...Hunter Wellies!  I really want a pair of these! Eric....Christmas?? :)

I need to keep GOING!

Today is the 1 week mark for my diet/workout plan.  I'm definitely proud of myself for sticking with it so far, but I just need to keep focused and make sure I pick up the pace.

Yesterday, my brother made dinner for us from this recipe for Turkey taco lettuce wraps that Bridget found.  They were so yummy!!  I will definitely be making them again soon!

I'm off to the gym now...going to do elliptical, bike, and some ab exercises.  I will admit, I have thought about not going for the past 30 minutes, but I am getting my butt up and going!! I can do this!!

Many, many scarves!

I just put up my wall of scarves today! I love all the colors! And it just means that Autumn is here and Winter is soon to follow...I can't wait for bonfires, possible NYC trip, and all the holiday festivities!!

Sticking with it!

Day 5 in my workout/diet plan and I feel great! I've been eating good and have been keeping up with working out. I just need to get past Day 30 and I know it will be a breeze from there.
I'm really proud of myself for sticking through so far, even though it's the beginning, I know I can keep this up!
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Attempt at late night tennis session

Eric and I tried to get in a late tennis session after we watched our new favorite show Whitney, but it didn't turn out how we thought it would. Turns out the park we usually go to for tennis decided to turn their outdoor lights off at 10pm! Grr. So we attempted to play for about 20 minutes and then I did a few sprints and lunges. It was a short workout cause of the darn lights being out, but I did do some sit-ups when we got home and even got Eric to do some!! Can't wait to get a good workout in tomorrow after work!

Another plus is that I shopped for healthy snacks and breakfast foods today!

Moving on...

It's amazing what can change in the matter of a year.
Keeping my head high and moving forward in my life! The best thing to do!!

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211 days to go...

Day 2 of my new workout/diet plan went well, but I definitely need to improve!  I am just starting out, but I wish I could keep up with everyone.
We did a 2 mile walk with sprints and lunges at the end.  Bridget is showing me how to do new exercise techniques and I'm so grateful for her help!

One thing that I really need to improve on is eating breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2 healthy snacks everyday.

My boyfriend, Eric also went tonight, which made me super happy!  He pushed me to run when I didn't want to...most of the time, I decided to just walk, but I can't wait til I will be able to run the entire 2 miles without stopping.

Here's a couple pictures from the walk today!

Workout day 2

I'm ready to workout!! I'm in a great mood on day 2! I'll check back in after my workout, hopefully I can keep up more today on the 2 mile run.


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November 1 = Day 1

11-1-11 marks Day 1 of a new, healthy, better lifestyle for me.  I have 213 days until my long term goal - to lose a good amount of weight by the end of May 2012 so that I feel good about myself and can hopefully finally wear a bikini!!

Some short term goals: 

- eat breakfast daily (I hardly ever eat breakfast)

- plan out my meals and don't snack on bad food

- notice a difference in my body by Thanksgiving

- workout at least 5 days a week

Today, I went on a two mile run walk...let me be honest.  It was my first day getting back into working out after a long time, probably at least 6 months.  I tried to run a little, but I am so not used to running...It's been too long since my last time doing any type of exercise.  I feel horrible that I didn't have the determination to get up and exercise after so long, but I am happy to plan out my long and short term goals so I can look and feel better in 2012!  I am also glad that I have someone else to motivate me while I go through this!  My friend, Bridget is working out too and motivating me to lose weight and eat better!  It's great to have someone around to push you when you don't want to continue.  I definitely wanted to give up today during our walk, but she pushed me to keep going and push to finish!  I am excited to progress each day and be able to run those 2 miles all the way through some day!

Here's a pic from our walk, just as the sun was going down:

Can't wait for tomorrow and the day after that and after that!  Sooner than I think, it will be 213 days later.  I WILL keep this up, I have to!

Spider cupcakes

Happy Halloween!!

Spent some of my night creating these cute things:

Lace Ruth Dress

I am in love with this dress!!  I got the Fossil catalog in the mail today and I was surprised to find that they  sell clothing, shoes, and accessories now!  This would be so cute this holiday season!

BBQ cupcakes

I love these cupcake toppers! I couldn't wait to use them!

An afternoon downtown

My family and I went to downtown Baltimore this afternoon to enjoy the amazing weather and get lunch. Here are a few instagram pics from the afternoon.









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21st Birthday Cake request

I am starting to get requests for my cake creations now and it is making me super happy, nervous, and excited to bake/create!

My older sister, Kelli showed a woman at her work the recent cakes I have made and she requested a cake for her daughter, Hannah's 21st Birthday.  She gave me a few details on what her daughters likes and let me run with it, so it was a lot of fun to do!

Hannah's sorority is Chi Omega, favorite color is purple, and she loves the Philadelphia Eagles, so I worked off of that!

We created a pearl like border around the bottom of both tiers and then used pearlized powder to make the pearls and "happy birthday hannah" sparkle.  And the owls turned out so cute!  We were worried when we started to make them, but they ended up looking adorable and we even added little bows on each one's head.  To add a little touch of Hannah's sorority and favorite team, the owls are holding little flags: "Go Eagles!" and "Chi Omega!"

And Kelli found a cute martini ornament at Kohls that we used on the side of the cake!

We were up super late making the cake and then had to finish it the next day in order to deliver in time, but I absolutely love the finished product!!