Bits & Pieces

Wishing There Was More Time In The Day

by Angela on 11 Apr ’12

I haven’t been blogging because things have gone from normal crazy to just crazy. I promise to be a better blogger and picture taker but there is just a lot of family stuff that has gotten in the way and then there’s really just life. I feel like I have no time during the week and when it comes to the weekends I’m just tired. I know you don’t want to hear my sob story but I’ll tell you what I’ve been doing in a short list.

Ready for The Gusher... Ready for the half marathon today. Thanks to all who wished me luck! I finished. 2:52:12 Half marathon completed.

Running. Did you know that I ran a half marathon back in March? Did you know that I was extremely nervous about it? I was just going to do a 5k but the week before the race I changed to the half marathon. I was so glad that I did because it was the most rewarding experience for me since I started the weight loss journey.
I’ve been visiting my grandma, my best friends, my family. I’ve been a little bit of a warrior lately. Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi…I’ve been to them all and we have more trips coming up for the summer. Of course, when gas will be at it’s highest.
I’m training for a 6.2 mile run. I would like to finish it in 51 minutes so I can skip the lottery process for the Houston half marathon in January 2013. It use to be something I stressed about it but I guess it’s not that big of deal if I don’t do it. I just need to finish the thing.
I have continued to lose weight and I’m currently trying to help my friends in the process too. But that’s a sticky slope because I don’t want to seem like a hard ass.
I haven’t been making much of anything lately. I had a hot boom in January and February but not much after. I’m definitely a person who wants to make stuff for me and not for other people. I’ve quickly learned that..
I’ve been doing a lot of experimentation in the kitchen. I love cooking and see what I can come up with. It always makes me happy when I do something really good. My husband says I can make a meal out of nothing.

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I Disappeared Because I REALLY Fell In Love With Whole Foods

by Angela on 23 Feb ’12

in Bits & Pieces, Foodie

I’ve been MIA because I fell in love with Whole Foods. Well that’s only part of the truth, so let me start from the beginning. I went to “visit” my grandmother in Birmingham. By visit I mean, I made my mom go see her mom due to a serious medical condition that may turn out to be not that serious. All in all, I was kind of worried for my grandma and I wanted her to see exactly how much weight I had lost.

My grandmother has called me fat to my face every chance she could get since I was a young child. This was my way of sticking it to her because at this point she couldn’t say anything about me in a negative way. And she didn’t, well that’s if you don’t count that she constantly talked about how I lost my “boooob-ieeeeees” and butt. It was totally worth it the 18 hours I spent in the car round trip just to stick it to her. When she saw me, I thought she was going to have a heart attack. She was speechless and my grandma can always find the words to bring someone down.

But while I was there I re-discovered Whole Foods. We don’t have one where I live and I have to go to Houston (although I’ve never been to Whole Foods there) or Austin (where I have frequently visited the store) to enjoy the special treats they have to offer me. But I had never been to a Whole Foods like this! Which I soon came to learn that the Whole Foods in Austin I was going to just totally sucked and has been totally redesigned now. I walked in there to get some food and walked into an organic, natural and healthy wonderful. Calling me a yuppie yet? I have no problem with that because that is what I felt like in those moments.

I walked on up to the buffet and loaded up on the best kale I’ve ever had, lentils, many types of quinoa and grilled chicken. I was in food heaven. So much that I took my mom back the next morning for breakfast. I couldn’t take part in the eating of the breakfast because they didn’t have anything healthy enough for me to eat. Yep that’s right. The breakfast bar with french toast, biscuits, bacon, grits (and cheese grits), and eggs was nothing I could eat. I did enjoy some roasted veggies: asparagus and red bell peppers. But I enjoyed my mom’s face when she tasted the bacon and quickly proclaimed it was the best bacon she’s ever had. And she talked about those biscuits for two hours. I bought some vegan oatmeal cookies and my mom got some banana bread (that she continued to talk about for 2 days) and we were on our way.

So you think that’s the end of my Whole Foods story? Wrong. I learned they had a store in Baton Rouge and since we had to go through there to get home anyway, it was only right for us to stop again. So yes, we stopped at WF again and I went in and loaded up on lentils and quinoa and grilled chicken again. And my mom got to visit the barbeque bar I had told her about the previous night. We were living it up at Whole Foods. And then I spotted a low fat oatmeal raisin cookie that was to die for. I had to bring some home to my husband…and he loved them.

Now I’m left feeling empty because the nearest Whole Foods is 90 miles away…This is a very sad story and I can’t believe I even wrote this, but I’m only speaking the truth. How sad! But please, don’t make me tell you how much money I spent at Whole Foods!

Tagged as: food, healthy food, organic food, Whole Foods

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More Valentine Printables

by Angela on 9 Feb ’12

in Bits & Pieces, Something I Made, Special Occasions

I don’t know what’s gotten into me this Valentine’s Day but I’ve been crafting and coming up with ideas like no ones business. I kind of feel like a previous version of myself and I like it. I’ve been making little gifts for my friends and my nieces and nephew. First up are the Valentine’s bags:

I put together a little kiddie pack with pom-poms, pencils, crayons, markers, a cup and some fun pencil toppers. I put it all together in this cute little bag and put this cute little bag topper on it. You can download the bag topper here.

I also made these cards out of scrapbook paper and cardstock. I used a solid 12×12 piece of scrapbook paper, folded in half and cut it. Then I used the cut piece and folded it in half and the chopped off the bottom part to make a 4×6 card. I made some printables for this project also: Valentine’s Day banner and inside card stock.

Tagged as: bag tags, crafts, Valentine's Day

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Free Valentine’s Day Cards For Printing

by Angela on 7 Feb ’12

in Bits & Pieces, Something I Made, Special Occasions

I can’t even tell everyone how much I’ve been into making stuff the past couple of weeks. I kind of feel like my old self again. So here are some Valentine’s Day cards I made which you can print out on cardstock and give to your friends, family and co-workers.