{link} my new blog!

So I haven't blogged in the last couple of weeks because I've been working on something brand new and exciting. Drum roll pleeeeasseeeee......Big K, little k {designs}

I've had so many people contact me via email about doing custom design jobs (and sewing projects!) that I decided to make it a little easier and organized. I started with the etsy shop and facebook fan page then decided I wanted a pretty little blog to go with it. All my blog posts will now be found at: www.bigklittlek.com 

Join me there!

{drinking} again!!

i'm pretty sure when the diet experts say "don't drink your calories", they're not talking about this drink. it's a meal in itself, just in sipable form. i am in DESPERATE need of an energy boost tonight....tons of design work lined up plus i'm learning a new software that requires me to be completely focused (which never happens around my house).
Below is the "recipe" i use for my green eyed monster smoothie. it's not really a recipe because i just throw a little bitta this and i little bitta that into it, so feel free to tweak it to your taste buds. I actually tweaked this recipe from the Iowa Girl Eats blog. This is my fav daily food blog. if you haven't ever read her blog, put the kids to bed and plan on being on her site for like 4 hours jumping from post to post. lots of great recipes and info. she has a great personality that shows thru her blog (unlike mine! hehehe)

1 cup almond milk (I used the 90 calorie vanilla tonight, usually I try to put in the 35 calorie unsweetened almond milk because it really doesn't need the added sweetness that the 90 calorie added to it)
1/2 cup greek yogurt (any brand will work. i like fage)
1 whole banana
1 tablespoon almond butter
1 tablespoon sunbutter (if you haven't tried sunbutter you need to, especially if you like sunflower seeds. it's delish!)
1 teaspoon chia seeds (super good for you!)
about 2 cups baby spinach

blend that baby up and sip thru a cutesy straw (and the straw is NOT, I repeat NOT optional! it's a must have) this doesn't taste anything like spinach....more like a banana/peanut butter shake. it's soooo good for you plus gives you energy!

oh and a little sidenote before i stop procrastinating and get to work....for all my local gals into non-processed organic food:
went to kroger in paris today and got tons of great organic stuff. in fact, i filled a buggy full of NOTHING but organic foods and guess what?!! totally spent $50 less than i usually do on groceries. take that "organic food is more expensive" stereotype! word to the wise, of course they have the small organic section there by the produce BUT the organic selection doesn't end there! I found everything on my list in an organic brand sprinkled throughout the store, you just have to have your eyes open and be willing to really look for it. **disclaimer: my girls did not grocery shop with me today. otherwise i'm pretty sure i would have missed 90% of the organic goodness that kroger has to offer.
oh and a sidenote about the sidenote: just because something is labeled as organic doesn't mean you can grab it without checking the label first. there's a lot of organic products out there loaded with sugar. i don't buy ANYTHING with sugar in it. We have started using honey and maple syrup as our only sweeteners and i haven't missed sugar at all. Now Karl on the other hand is having serious withdraws but i will say he deserves a pat on the back for being a good sport. he is really trying to like what i fix. yesterday he called my food "edible"....sounds like a compliment to me!!! ;)

{ drinking } a 40 on a saturday night....again!

yep, i'm at it again on a saturday night...drinking 40 ounces of vegetable juice all at once. I crave it and usually juice at least 4 times a week but for some reason saturday nights have become my favorite night to juice a big ol glass pitcher of it.

i'm either really pathetic or really awesome, i can't decide. ;)

i feel like i deserve it though after the curtains i made for the girls room. took frickin forever but they look totes adorable. i took pics of how i did it but i'm too tired to give a step by step of how i made them right now. but i will leave ya with a pic of them and the thought of a tutorial coming soon!

ok time for me to go "veg out" on the couch! gosh i'm corny tonight! 



{random} yep that's the word for this week

ever have one of those feelings on a sunday night that your week is going to just be random and busy for no apparent reason? yep, i had that gut feeling and i was right. pure craziness this week. luckily, i did plan out my meals for next week using the plan to eat website. it really helped me to plan everything out and i will say i definitely saved major moola at trader joes and whole foods since i went in there with a list and a plan to stay under budget. we spend $300 every 2 weeks on groceries and i spent $303 total. not too shabby if i do say so myself. plus i bought extra ingredients so i could double the recipes to freeze.
to top off our week of randomness we are leaving out tomorrow mid-day for a mini vaca to the chattanooga area to visit some friends which we never get to do. i guess that's the good kind of random not the crazy kind of random we have had all week.

in going with the random theme here's an awesome video. love this song and this is really amazing how they did this.

and if that's not enough random for you, here's the parody to it. love how they make fun of the guy on the right!

{blogging} how do i not have time for this?!!!

i am frustrated. i can't figure out where all the time in my day goes. i am a stay at home mom!!! i don't understand how the working momma's out there do it all. i see all these cute blogs that are updated daily without fail. one.day.that.will.be.me!
ahhh!!!
ah ok, i'm stepping down off my soapbox to show you the cutest baby toddler in the world. for realz.

first time with pigtails. ooooohhh so cute!! it makes her look big though and that makes me sad.
what else makes me sad is this: karlie says to me today, "you know mom that me and kenna are going to get big and leave one day and then it's going to be just you and daddy." {sigh} oh karlie i know. mommy just don't want to think about that, like at all.

and so yesterday i had to completely tear apart a throw up infested car seat. and no, not just take the cover off and wash it. i mean, take the whole thing apart and soak it in soapy water. poor baby keniston was in the backseat saying "ah oh" in the cutest little baby voice (it's practically the only thing she says) and when i looked in the rear view i said "ah oh" too. completely covered in throw up. i was only taking a quick trip into town, everyone still had jammies on, no diaper bag, nothing. and the kid was throwing up like nobody's business and then crying because she didn't like it all over her. Good times.

almond butter apple sandwiches got me major bonus points with my girls. karlie hugged me and told me how good of a momma i was for making her such a yummy lunch. sweet girl! we have been eating really good this week. karl has even liked the suppers i have fixed. I made a peach cobbler that i couldn't believe i actually made because it was so good (and healthy). and i have made banana bread that was super yummy and thanks to my neighbor for bringing me the biggest zucchini i've ever seen, we made zucchini bread. Tonight I have been canning blackberry jam with the help of a no pectin/no sugar recipe i found on 100 days of real food. that website is seriously my bible when it comes to learning about eating clean. so much useful info packed into an easy to follow site. lisa leake is definitely someone i admire.

so phase 1 of "opertion big girl room" is complete. i painted the walls this awesome shade of blue and i'm super proud of myself for picking it out all by myself. it's hard when you have a color in your head and then you start looking at all those swatches, it gets to be too much. everytime i end up picking the wrong shade. BUT not this time!! the exact color i had imagined, painted on the girls walls with a little help from a little helper.

i also built this really cool chevron bench for the girls. it was super easy to do. basically just upholstered a piece of wood and then bought legs and the leg screw set from lowes. i spray painted the legs and then screwed them into the wood. easy peasy. the legs may or may not be uneven. just sayin. ;)

now on to my next project CURTAINS. not just any curtains....floor to ceiling curtains. pretty sure they are going to be a pain to make but i'm soooo ready to get some curtains up in their room. they have a beautiful sunburst style window but it catches the sunrise and as soon as the room gets light, karlie will wake up and come in my room to tell me that the sun is up. aren't kids great?! love it. so yes, curtains are at the tippy top of my priority list.

oh and one last thing.....my bestie found out today that she is having a GIRL!!! i am sooo excited for her. she needed a girl (not that there's anything wrong with boys so don't send me hate mail). i can already imagine what this little girl is going to be like, blonde hair, green eyes, shy and spunky when no one's looking. i am so happy for her and can't wait to hold that sweet baby girl especially since my girls are big now. (sidenote: i'm pretty sure i'm immune to baby fever....finally. it's kinda like the chicken pox only i had to get it twice in order to build up my immunity)

{getting healthy} my plan of attack against processed foods without going overboard

this is what happens when i have too much free time to think on the beach....i come up with crazy, life altering stuff. i have actually had this on my mind for awhile but got to really think about it and research it while my toes were in the sand. fyi, the beach we were on had wifi. maybe i'm still living in the stone age but i thought this was a big deal. i was able to sit in my lounge chair on the beach with my feet in the water all while pinning to pinterest, facebooking, researching healthy stuff all on my ipad. i was as close to my heaven as i think i have ever been! ;)
so yes, i had time to think. think about all the crap we eat on the daily. think about the "treats" i reward karlie with. think about the poptarts my husband eats at work for breakfast. think about all the sugary juice we drink. think about the crazy hormone feed animals we eat. think about the diet food i have been stuffing down my throat in an attempt to lose the baby weight.
so i thought and thought about it. now don't get me wrong we (and by we i mean me and my 2 girls) eat pretty good/healthy. we usually have eggs or bacon or granola with greek yogurt for breakfast. some sort of veggie sandwich for lunch. snack on popcorn after nap and so on. but even getting "good" isn't enough anymore. bacon is full of nitrates. eggs come from hormone raged chickens. greek yogurt has sugar in it. our bread has too much crap in it (sugar, white flour, corn syrup, etc). so i started researching options and this is what i have concluded....we can eat (basically) the same stuff we were eating before BUT i (me, the mommy, complete ruler of food in our household) am going to have to spend alot of time in the kitchen. and for those who know me and know about what i do know that i really don't have extra time in the day to spend in the kitchen, and really who does? everyone is busy. i'm a complete dabbler...i do graphic design both commercially and free lance. i sew both personally and for others. i am a stay at home mom to 2 girls under the age of 4.  my husband drives 2 hours a day to work so he isn't here alot to help out. i'm trying desperately to lose the baby weight so i have picked up running 3-5 miles 4 times a week.
it's overwhelming to add the kind of planning and dedication that eating clean is going to take. BUT it's worth it. i want my kids to be the healthiest they can be. i want to be healthy for my kids and make sure i'm around for many years to come. and i want my husband to be healthy and around for many years to come (although he's fighting this healthy eating, i know i will eventually wear him down!)

 {my husband thinks he is hilarious, changing my menu board. hard to read from this pic but it basically says i'm starving him. my personal fave was wednesday: "make some sweets that aren't sweet". poor husband of mine.}

it's hard eating clean when you live in a small town, nearly impossible unless you really do some planning ahead. organizing and planning meals ahead of time is where i'm at in my journey of getting healthy. i came across a really cool service called plan to eat. i'm using their 30 day trial and so far so good. i like the way it's set up and it seems like something I might actually use. ideally this is what I would like to do....
once a month do a big shopping trip to whole foods and trader joes to buy the bulk of my food for the upcoming month. Then do a marathon cooking day where I make up several meals and freeze them. Then use our local walmart for small stuff like their selection of organic veggies and eggs. i was actually kinda surprised at what i found when i was shopping "clean" at the local wally....chicken, hot dogs, bacon, deli meat, frozen chicken fajita strips, raw honey, organic eggs are all things i bought that were what i considered to be clean.

i love my family and i plan to fight the battle against disease, cancer, obesity that stems from what we are putting in our bodies...i want us all to be happy and healthy for many years to come. and that doesn't mean i won't occasionally let my family eat out or have sugar BUT i plan to make our normal day to day food be good clean food that helps our bodies be the best they can be.

{recap} family beach vacation 2012

whew!! the last 2 weeks have honestly been a blur. we returned home this past saturday from a week long trip to our favorite vacation spot (when i say "our" i mean everyone in my family except karl, he hates the beach, weird i know). fort morgan, al, the calmer next door neighbor to the well known beaches of gulf shores, al.
rental house on the beach for a week? it doesn't get much better than that. we slept late. we lounged at the beach. we swam. we built sandcastles. we ate crab and shrimp. we played in the sprinklers. we chased the ice cream truck....daily. we napped. we went on a treasure hunt with priates and princesses. we celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary. but most importantly......we road in the car for 12 hours without crying, once. i'm one happy (and blessed) momma!

 {horrible day for a photo shoot because of the storms/wind BUT we did end up with a great beach picture}

 {my sweet family-p.s. keniston hated the sand so no cute toes in the sand pics for us! boo!}

 {the cousins....not the best pic in the world but what do ya expect with 5 kids under 8. you get whatcha get.}

 {this sweet booty turned 6 months while we were at the beach, and he LOVED the sand.}

 {this "cracks" me up!}

 {the outdoor splash pad. so much fun!!!!}

 {my dad fished most of the vaca and caught a huge "red" but he also caught a hook in the arm and had to come home early to get my mom to help him get it out. i probably would have passed out if i would have seen it!!}

{my cuties in their yellow polka dot bikinis} 

 {kenna preferred to stay in the lounge chair instead of the sand}

 {this girl LOVED the sand and the beach, although she preferred going to the swimming pool}

 {she wouldn't let go of that ball the whole time she was in the pool. very possessive little stinker}

 {build-a-frickin-fortune-in-fluff}

{one of my favorite parts of vacation....getting to watch the blue angels practice. simply amazing. so proud to be an american!} 

{outside the original oyester house. she was terrified of this gator a couple of years ago now she loves it}

 {they figured out real quick that if they waved money in the air the ice cream man would stop.}

 {ice cream man, highlight of their day, everyday we were there

}

{karlie kissing her treasure she found at the pirates and princesses breakfast at The Hangout}

Beach Vacation 2012, success! I miss you already, beach. Hope to see you again next year!