Music for Monday

Monday!  After a long holiday weekend I'm ready.  I did my grocery shopping at Whole Foods and stocked up for an entire planned week of healthy healthy food. I'm so ready.  I'll report back on Friday how well I actually stuck to the plan (cross your fingers please). 


And now that Thanksgiving has come and gone its officially Christmas season. Bring on the snowy days, the holiday music, the Starbucks, and the shopping!  Bring it Monday.

Giving Thanks

Yesterday was  Thanksgiving, but can I give thanks a day late?  I wasn't feeling so thanksgiving-y before. I wasn't with my family. I have a list of things to do that I have procrastinated.  Long week. Unsuccessful in the diet department (most likely the guilty cause for my bad attitude ya think?).  And I spilled ice cream down the front of my favorite Gap on sale sweater. Rrrrr.....

Today I woke up and it was beautiful outside and I felt like dusting off my bad case of the bah hum bugs.  Thank goodness for brand new days of second chances. Hallelujah for the body's natural ability to cheer up after a good nights sleep.  I explored this amazingly gorgeous place that I'm calling home right now, Utah.  Note to self: add more exploring to my to do list.   Also, add purchasing winter boots to the list cause....yeah I don't think those flats will cut it much longer here.  No matter how much they go with every outfit. 

I hope your day was wonderful! And if not, I wish you a wonderful night's sleep and a happy, thankful morning tomorrow :)

kickin my butt

I bought the 30 Day Shred from Jillian Michaels and it better be shredding something cause its making me work!  I'm on week 3 and loving it. Well hating it during...but loving it after.  I'm not very sore afterwards, but you keep moving, no breaks for 20 minutes and it makes me sweat sweat sweat. Sexy I know.  


I haven't lost any weight since I started but I blame that on the ice cream I've been chowing down on.  And the pizza I ate definitely wasn't on her suggested meal plans. So turns out that eating well in conjunction with the videos is pretty important.  Good to know.


But I'd recommend this for sure. I have a hard time with videos because I lose interest quick but this is super fast and she's super motivating.  I'm feeling strong. Verdict: I'm sticking with it for now.  


I also saw on a weight loss show that a girl had a goal to run a 10 minute mile.  Now, she's heavier than me so I was pretty curious to see if I could do it.  I did it in 10 mintes and 14 seconds tonight and I was breathing pretty heavy. So new goal...working on running a faster mile!

Music for Monday

I woke up much too early today. Anytime the sun hasn't come up yet it's much too early, but today beats even that.  On the upside, that means I get to stay in my warm bed instead of hitting snooze every 5 minutes.  Meiko is definitely on my staying in bed playlist this morning and here's one of my favorites from her.  After a few more of her songs, I'll get out of bed soon....ish. Happy Monday! 

Pumpkin Muffins

Tis the season that I can't control my urge for Pumpkin Muffins...and I have yet to find a recipe that beats this one.  So moist!  And chocolatey!  I balanced out my guilt of eating all 24 myself by reducing the amount of sugar to 1 cup instead of 2.   I didn't miss that 1 cup at all so if you feel adventurous....reduce the sugar even more.  Or try no sugar at all (then tell me how they turned out please and thank you).   Thank you mama for the recipe.  You've got all the best ones! 

Pumpkin Muffins:

Beat 5 eggs

Add:

1 cup oil

16 oz. pumpkin puree

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking soda

2- 3oz packages of instant vanilla pudding

Mix until creamy.

Add:

dark chocolate chips to taste (I use the whole bag.  Yep that's right. The whole bag. Back up off me) 

Bake @ 350 in a greased or lined muffin tin for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Yields 24 muffins.

I found out that each muffin is packing almost 250 calories.  That would have been nice to know before I destroyed the whole batch by myself...in a matter of days.  But they're just too good to ignore when they're sitting there on my counter begging to eaten.  Don't say I didn't warn ya.

Music for Monday

I need extra rad music on Monday to get the motivation to roll myself off the side of the bed (cause then there's no real choice other than getting up).  This beautiful song by Carla Bruni is doing the trick for me today.  Yes it's in a different language. No I dont have a clue what she's saying.  Yes it's still awesome.  If you don't speak French then you can make up the meaning for whatever you'd like.  You know how you love songs even more when it seems like the lyrics were written solely just for you and saying exactly what you're feeling.  Perhaps she's singing about love or sadness or....whatever you want to make it yours.  For me I think she's singing I'm beautiful and awesome and I'm not wearing pants. 

And if you do know French.....please! Tell me what she's saying!  

Pattern Play

So I'm thinking bringing some more patterns into my room could spice it up a bit and I'm smitten with the stencils from Royal Design Stencils.  Especially this one...

So patterns are on the brain lately.

From Lotta Jansdotter 

From Liz Korutz

Music for Monday

I can't get enough of the cover of this song.  No judging, but I might have put it on repeat....and then I might have listened to it 30 times in a row.  It might be my new favorite thing. 

Ella Mae Bowen - Holding Out For A Hero

Speaking of awesome things.  Kiersten Holine is awesome.  She's one of those being discovered still artists with the most incredible voice, I'm in love.  She has lots of covers on youtube if you fall in love too.

Kiersten Holine - Dreams

I'd wear that

Home sick this weekend with a cold.  No fun, but it does give me a guilt free excuse to stay in bed, throw back glass after glass of my favorite Simply OJ, inhale Halls Defense Vitamin C (has to be the citrus flavors!) cough drops like they're candy, and look around online.   Here's the results of my findings.

 

Purl-Wise Pullover from Anthropologie

Rock Star Jeggings from Old Navy

(I own a pair of these....okay 2 pairs....and I can't get enough! Holy super comfort Batman)

Isis bohemian necklace by Roots and Feathers

Espresso knit flats from Famous Footwear