I Want It All

Holy doubles, Batman!!  It's your lucky day...2 posts from me in one day.  *whew*  What brought this about, you ask?  Well...while browsing the blogs I stalk, I came across four giveaways you NEED to know about!!  Sit back, grab a pen and take notes because if you miss these, you're gonna be sorry!!

Glitter is My Crack is having a HUGE giveaway!  Here's a look at one of the awesome prizes.

She is giving away to 3 lucky winners, complete sample sets of Aromaleigh eye shadows (among other things).  Ms Blix does some gorgeous looks and now you can, too.  GO HERE to enter her giveaway.  Open internationally and ends 9/11.

Libby's Pink Vanity is hosting a Bath & Body Works giveaway.  This new scent was just released August 30th, but she got wind of it being released in store last weekend so she went and grabbed up a couple just for her giveaway - *just* before it sold out later that morning!

What you see there is Dark Kiss shower cream and body cream (with a little something peeking out behind one of the bottles).  GO HERE to enter her giveaway.  HURRY!  Open internationally and ends 9/4.

Lacquer Ware for Tips & Toes is having a birthday giveaway!  What can you win?  Lots of pretty, pretty polish and some other extra goodies.

Here's a peek at just 3 of the great colors she's giving away (I have dibs on that ChG!).  GO HERE to enter this great giveaway (and tell her happy birthday, too!).  This is open internationally and ends 9/30.

And last, but not least...Nail Talez & More! is hosting a 300+ follower giveaway.  She is offering up the 12 polish ChG Vintage Vixen collection.

Ms Nikki does some wonderful nail art.  I "found" her blog through PHD's weekly challenges a while back.  GO HERE to enter for a chance to win this hot Fall collection.  Open internationally and ends 9/24.

Now you know.  And know is half the battle!!  Good luck to everybody.  I love the anticipation of these giveaways and hope to host one of my own some time in the very near future.

Listening to: Armistice by Phoenix
Mood: chilly

Just Can't Get Enough

*cue Depeche Mode*

Terrific Tuesday, Kitschies!  We all survived Monday, so let's get on with the rest of week so we can celebrate Labor Day.  The last official holiday of Summer.  Where has it gone?!

Today I bring you a recipe I tried on a whim a couple weeks ago.  I had the afternoon off (it was my birthday, if I remember correctly), so I had this already in the oven by the time the hubs and the boys got home for the evening.  In case you haven't noticed, we eat a lot of chicken.  And beef.  And a little pork.  If there's something you'd like me to try, a recipe you can't decide to try, whatever, just let me know and I'll see if I can whip something similar up! 


Chicken Chipulos
1 can (10.75 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can (10.75 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken meat
1 can (4 oz) diced green chiles
1 onion, finely chopped
8 oz sour cream
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
8 - 10 oz flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 

Combine the soups, chicken, green chiles, onion and sour cream in a medium size bowl. Set aside.

Rip tortillas into bite size pieces and layer 1/3 onto the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer chicken mixture on top, then a layer of cheddar cheese. Repeat two additional times, making sure to end with cheese on the top layer. Bake in preheated oven for about an hour and serve. 

NOTES:  I was leery of this because I don't usually like sour cream - especially warm sour cream, but I really liked it.  Here in NM, we don't buy cans of green chile.  I used chopped Hatch green chiles, and probably more than the recipe called for.  I can tell you that I used half hot and half mild and it was perfect!  I used corn tortillas instead of flour - sometimes flour tortillas get a little sloggy (to use a term coined by my son).  Since it's made in 9x13 dish, we had a lot left over and it reheated very well.  I think we had enough for at least 3 more meals!

Hot out of the oven.  This smelled so good!!!  And this is making me hungry right now. :(

The consistency reminds me of a casserole.  The flavor reminds me of a chicken enchilada, but less labor-intensive and less messy (no rolling required).

Well, I'm off to lunch.  Time to eat and then a quick run to Michael's to see if I can pick up something to store my Konad plates and some rhinestones.  Wish me luck!

Listening to: What's Left of Me by Nick Lachey
Mood: busy
    

Persistence is Key

It's Monday - again.  I had a good weekend, though it was pretty busy.  Saturday the hubs went to his monthly "power summit" and was gone from about 1:30 in the afternoon til about 1:30 at night.  I spent most of that afternoon in the kitchen making cucumber salad, cookies and dinner.  Sunday was a little more laid back, but we still had grocery shopping and laundry to do.  Last night was really nice - the hubs offered to watch the Emmys (he never offers) and I got to enjoy a glass of wine while watching the show and doing the ironing.  LOL

So.  Ever since I started this whole addicted-to-polish-thing, I've wanted to do water marbling.  I think it looks so cool.  I don't know how many times I tried and totally failed.  I don't know how many youtube tutorials I tried.  I don't know how many people-in-the-know I asked to get hints and tips from.  No matter what I tried, it didn't work.  Then I got a "craving" to try again this last week.  Let's see how it worked (or didn't).

IT WORKED!!!  I was so excited!  Though it was rather labor intensive and time consuming, the end results were totally worth it.  The ring finger on this hand reminds me of the balloons we used to get at the fair growing up.

The things that I think made the biggest difference this time were I used warmer water than just "room temperature" and I used a base color.  I used Color Club She's So Glam as a base color, ChG Designer Satin and Orly Blue Collar for the swirls.

This is my right hand.  Why is it, that no matter what I do to my nails, the right hand never looks as good?  Even something as non-dominate hand as water marbling?  Especially the pinkie nail.  Seriously?   LOL  That aside, I got tons of compliments on this mani.  I loved it (the mani and the compliments)!  I didn't want to take it off, but with all the work I did in the kitchen on Saturday, I had a lot of flaking and didn't have a choice. 

I must've been feeling super creative in the middle of last week.  I did the marbling on Wednesday night and then I got a wild hair and did my eye makeup different than I usually do on Thursday morning.

I am usually a neutrals kinda gal, but this was DARK for me!  Pardon the picture - I am not good at taking eye pics.  Let me see if I can tell you all that I used.  UD Primer Potion as base.  Hi Fi Shadow Fix as primer.  Fyrinnae Warrior Mage on lid, Hi-Fi Emptiness and Lies on the outer corner and in crease and Darling Girl Cosmetics Miss Me on the upper lid.  Oh, and UD liner in Zero on waterline and upper lash line.

I'm linking up to From the Kitchen of: Mrs Bettie Rocker today for a link party.  Her blog is one of my top faves and she has a lot of different kind of people who visit her blog frequently.  Please hop on over there and check it out (and add YOUR blog to the list)!

Hope you all have a great day!  Even though it's Monday, it seems like it's going pretty smoothly.  I'm sitting here, at my work station, listening to one of our patients tell my coworker a story.  This woman - she has a different, wild story every single time she comes in!

Listening to: Goodbye to You by Michelle Branch
Mood: hungry

KONAD!!!

Happy Friday, Kitschies!  I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel that is this work week.  We're not doing anything exciting this weekend.  The hubs and his bestie are going to their studio on Saturday to do their once-a-month "power summit" where they do...I don't know what they do.  LOL  All I know is that they go to their studio and they come home.  Wow.  I'm an awesome wife, aren't I?  *sigh*  Anyway, since I'll have the boys to myself on Saturday, I'm hoping the weather will be nice so we can go to the park in the afternoon/early evening.  And I'm hoping to make some cookies with Nate, provided Mason cooperates and takes a nap.

As the title suggests, I got a Konad set and a Bundle Monster set of image plates for my birthday!  I was one happy Megan on my birthday!!  And on top of all the great Konad/fauxnad goodness, my bestie gave me a bunch of Confetti polishes.  This is the first one of the group I tried.

This is Confetti Belle of the Ball.  I had been on the hunt for the perfect light purple/lavender/lilac creme and I think this is it!  This is 2 coats with top coat taken indoors with flash.  The formula was nice though the brush was a little on the thin side.  I'm not complaining for two reasons.  1.  I got it for my birthday (I love it anyway) and 2. for $1.99, how can you go wrong?!

But I didn't leave this mani as just a pretty purple delight.  I had fauxnad plates calling my name!  I was a little nervous using them for the first time (which I did earlier that afternoon), but then I realized it was much easier than I thought it would be.  Thanks to all the stamping how-tos I read and watched before I even got my stuffs, doing the actual stamping was a breeze! 

I am not saying that this looks professional by any stretch of the imagination.  But what I am saying is that this was fun and easier than I expected.  I'm not in to the swing of things with this yet so I didn't write down the plate number, but I can tell you it's from the Bundle Monster set.  I used Sally Hansen Black Out and Konad special polish in white. 

One more picture for good measure.  This is the left hand.  On the right hand I did the exact opposite for the colors and used white on all but the index finger.  I liked how this all turned out and it wasn't too hideous for my first stamping experience.  I hope you don't get bored of the nail art I put up because I can bet you're going to see a lot more of it!

And now a question for those of you who have stamping image plates.  How do you store them?  I'm keeping mine in a small kraft envelope for now.  I picked up a container at Target for my ever-increasing polish collection on my birthday, so I'm trying to get things a little more organized.

Have a good weekend!  From me next week you can look forward to a new recipe (or two), the return of Workout Wednesday and some manis.

Listening: A bad smooth jazz remake of Imagine
Mood: sullen

I'm Not Chicken!

 Happy Thursday, Kitschies!  I can NOT believe this is my 100th post!  I just started this thing back in April.  4 months and already at 100 posts?!  Wow.  I have loved doing this, sharing my addiction to nail polish, my recipe hoarding disorder and my beautiful boys with all of you.  The blogging community is so fun (save for some of the high school drama) and supportive.  I appreciate that all of you come visit my blog and comment.  I know time is precious and the fact that you take the time out of your day to spend a few minutes with me means the world to me!!  Thank you!!  (I wanted to embed the video for Unbelievable by EMF here, but it won't let me.)

So!  What do I have for you today?  I have a great, easy, quick chicken recipe.  I made this for the fam a few weeks back and the hubs liked it so much that we're having it again on Sunday.  I got this recipe from Biggest Book of 30 Minute Meals, an awesome cookbook I got from my parents a couple years ago.


Lemon-Tarragon Chicken Toss
6 oz dried fettuccine or linguine
2 cups broccoli or cauliflower florets
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbsp honey
2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
12 oz skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
2 tsp olive oil or cooking oil
1 medium carrot, shredded
1 Tbsp snipped fresh tarragon or 1/2 tsp dried tarragon, crushed

Cook pasta according to package directions, addition the broccoli or cauliflower for the last 4 minutes of cooking; drain well.  Return pasta mixture to pan; cover and keep warm.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine broth, lemon juice, honey, cornstarch, and white pepper; set aside.

In a large nonstick skillet stir-fry chicken in hot oil for 3-4 minutes or until no longer pink.  Stir cornstarch mixture; add to skillet.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Add carrot and tarragon; cook for 1 minute more.

To serve, spoon chicken mixture over pasta mixture.

NOTES:  I used broccoli. Instead of shredding a carrot (what a PIA!), I chopped it up and added it in with the chicken while it cooked. 

I enjoyed this recipe.  Easy to make AND it tastes good!  It even makes great leftovers.  Who doesn't like that?!

Since I didn't have much in the way of pictures this time, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures taken a couple weeks ago.

This is the hubs and our youngest - Mason.  He's such a mellow little boy.  He takes after his Dad in temperament but definitely looks more like me.

I know you know who this is.  This is me and our oldest - Nate.  Nate is go Go GOOO!!!  He takes after me in temperament (can you say stubborn?) but looks just like his Dad.  Excuse the no makeup - but you can look past that because my nails are polished.  Right?  LOL

I know I said it before, but thank you so much for supporting my blog.  I have had so much fun doing this.  It has opened up a creative avenue I didn't even know I needed.  A big thanks to Makeup Zombie, aka: Ms W, aka: bestie for "making me" do this.  This is all her fault.  LOL  

Listening to:  Smooth jazz again - blarg!
Mood: happy

A Little Off Track

Wednesday!  Half-way through the day I realized that it actually is Wednesday and that's a good thing because I was thinking it was still Tuesday.  LOL  It's nice when things are a little better than you thought.

I am skipping my usual Workout Wednesday post because I'm not feeling very inspired as far as the workouts go.  But, if you want to check out Family of Shorts Journey from Muffin Top to Skinny Jeans, you can check her out HERE.  This week's topic is Tips & Tricks.  She does give some great hints and tips.  Why am I not feeling very inspired today?  I have an old knee injury that comes back to haunt me every now and then and it's back.  It's not horrible, but it's definitely doesn't allow me to jump around and do squats.  So, I just have to hang back for a little while so it can heal again.  *sigh*  Getting old(ish) sucks!!

So...instead of the workout stuffs, I'm going to show you some pretties!  Who doesn't want to look at pretties?!  Bear with me because this post might be a little hodge-podge.  I really wanted to post a recipe, but the one I have a picture for is out of a book that I don't have at work.  Let's get on with it, shall we?

This, my friends, is Zoya Delilah.  These pictures do not do justice to the beauty that is Delilah.  I picked this gorgeous red jelly with red glass flecks up with my first exchange program order.  As soon as I saw this swatched on Little Music Boxes, I knew I had to have it!

You still can't see the sparkle in this polish.  Both this and the previous picture were taken indoors with flash.  I believe I used 3 coats because I could see some VNL, but I'm sure you could get away with 2.

This is outdoors in direct sunlight.  I really wish I could get a better picture of Miss Delilah.  It's one of those polishes that always gets tons of compliments.  

This is a sample from the Zoya website.  Here you can see the sparkle.  I'm disappointed I couldn't get the polish to show correctly on my pictures.  Booooo!!!

My mom, who now has her own blog, knows how in to the whole nail thing I am.  She sent me a ton of stuffs (including a Konad set! WOOT!) for my birthday.  Here's one of my favorite things she sent.

I had never tried a glass file before, but all it took was one try and now I'm hooked!  And look at that!  They're hand painted with the American flag.  She doesn't know me at ALL!  LOL  She she got these at a quilt show she and my Dad went to a couple months ago and she was also hooked right away.  I know there are a bunch of companies out there, but these are from Snazzy Creations.  They're prices are reasonable and the personalized art is so cute!  I bet I'll be getting more of these in the future to give as gifts.

I think that's enough randomness for you today.  Enjoy your evening.  Get some rest.  Come back tomorrow for a yummy recipe.  Thanks for stopping by!

Listening to: I have no idea - the XM Radio at work is on smooth jazz.  Blech!
Mood: It's all good 

Have Your Cake *pic heavy*

And we ate it, too!  Happy Tuesday.  It's been a good day here at the clinic.  My co-worker, who I've worked closely with for the last 7+ years, found out that she's going to be a grandma!  I've never seen her so excited and happy!  I'm so happy for her and her daughter.  But I'm also glad it's her and not me.  LOL  Other than that...we had an awesome thunderstorm last night!  It rained and hailed and lightninged (is that a word?) for over an hour last night.  There was so much rain - you should see all the dirt on the roads this morning.  The area I live in isn't completely developed so there's lots of open land.  When we get a lot of rain like we did last night, it causes flooding - I can't imagine the mess there must've been last night!

As I mentioned before, the bestie and her gang came over on Sunday evening for an early birthday celebration.  The hubs asked what kind of cake I wanted.  He asked this *after* he'd already decided on what he was going to make, so my want wasn't really relevant at that point.  Anyway, since I didn't get much of a choice, he told me what kind of cake it was going to be (red velvet) and I told him I wanted a skull cake.  I wasn't much more specific than that.  LOL  Well, if he was only going to half-ask what I wanted, I was only going to half-help him with the rest.  Fair?  I think so!  So, sit back and relax - I have a lot of pictures to share with you.  He said he'd document the experience so I could make a blog post.  He did a good job taking the pics (and there's a lot of them)!

It started off as your basic run-of-the-mill red velvet box cake.  One round cake pan.  There was extra batter so he made 6 good size cupcakes.

He had a helper!  You've seen Mr Nate helping me in the kitchen - now it's Daddy's turn.

We have a bench along one edge of the kitchen.  It's perfect height for Nate to help with the mixing.  Daddy must be braver than me - I practically stand on top of him when he's using the electric mixer.

I guess he's supposed to be pointing at the batter in horror because it "looked like blood".  LOL  I love the look on Nate's face.

Double thumbs up!  Nate loves to help us in the kitchen and usually we're in such a hurry that we shoo him away.  He gets excited when we actually ask him to help.

All finished baking!  They did all this (and cleaned up) while I was away at the grocery store.  Daddy even let Nate stay up late until I got home (he didn't get to bed until around 9:30 that night) - partly because he was being good and partly in the hopes that he'd sleep in the next morning.  He did.  A little.  He got up around 7:20 the next morning. 

Hmmm.  It seems I'm missing a picture.  *sigh*  Anyway, this is the round cake with a wedge cut out of each side to create the mandible.  The hubs frosted it all with cream cheese frosting.  Yum!!

Do you know how hard it is to find black icing when it's not Halloween?  It's hard.  Luckily, I found some dark chocolate "brownie topping" that was so dark brown that it was black enough.

The finished decorated cake.  It looked even better than I thought it would.  The hubs really is quite he artist!

Doesn't this look great?!  I almost didn't want to eat it.  Almost.

The hubs with his creation.  I think he looks rather proud of himself.  He wanted to tilt it up a little more to show off the cake but he was afraid it would slide off the plate.

And what's a good skull without little minions?  I love the little cupcake skulls!  The cupcake on the bottom left reminds me of Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas.  LOL  The kids were happy to have their very own skull cake.  Pretty cool, huh?

I missed out on PHD's weekly nail challenge this time around - first time in 10 challenges! - but here's a link to this week's gallery: Song Inspiration.  She's going on vacation next week so there won't be a challenge this week.  I get a little break so I'll be back on the game for the next challenge.

Listening to: Forever by Kenny Loggins (OMG look at that hair and beard!)
Mood: workin'

Purple POW!

Happy Monday, Kitschies!!  I hope you had a good weekend.  Mine was busy!  We went hiking on Saturday and on Sunday, my bestie and her hubs (and the kiddos, of course) came over for an early birthday celebration.  The hubs made me the most awesome cake!  I almost didn't want to cut in to it.  We had fun on both days (pictures/posts to come soon) and I got a BUNCH of new nails stuffs!!  And, as always, Ms Wendi's makeup looked gorgeous.

I have an ever-increasing backlog of images to go through and prep for the blog.  Luckily, I have some things already done so I can bring you today's post. :)

A couple weekends ago, I told Nate, my 4-year-old son, that I was going to wear purple for my next manicure and he was going to pick which one I was going to use.  So...I gathered up a bunch of my purple polishes and I let him pick.

Here were the choices: Milani Hi-Res, Orly Fantasea, Zoya Yasmeen, Ulta After Hours, Zoya Ki and Zoya Mimi.  I knew right away which one he'd pick.  Or at least I thought I did.  But I was right - kinda.  He first picked Milani Hi-Res.  What 4-year-old (even a boy) wouldn't pick the most sparkly color?  LOL  I asked him if that's the one he wanted and then he changed his mind.

Nate looks pretty proud of his final choice.  He went back and forth between this one and Orly Fantasea.  Really, though, he couldn't have gone wrong with any of those purples.  Out of my entire collection, I have a disproportionate amount of purple.

The one!  This is Zoya Yasmeen.  This is such a gorgeous color!  I used this as my tip color for Makeup Zombie's Dark Faerie submission and I was excited to try it out as a full mani.

This is a couple coats of Yasmeen (I can't remember if it was 2 or 3, but probably 2) and top coat, taken indoors with flash.  I had to wait a couple days to get an outdoors sunny shot because we had a some cloudy days.

But here she is in the sun.  Such a gorgeous deep, jewel-toned purple.  The Zoya website describes Yasmeen as dark blue-toned purple base with very strong red-toned medium purple shimmer and hints of gold duochrome. The ultimate complex purple for maximum drama.  I couldn't agree more!  I could not stop staring at this one.  I'll definitely be wearing this often during the Fall and Winter months.

This week should be moving along at a great pace, but if today is any indication, it's going to DRAG!  I don't care how slow or fast it moves, I just want it to be cooler!  Today it's forecasted to be in the mid 90s.  But...there's hope!!  It's only supposed to be in the mid 80s for the rest of the week.  I don't know about you, but I am so DONE with Summer!!!  Have a great rest of your days, Kitschies.

Listening to: Are You In by Incubus
Mood: Happy birthday to me!

And the Oscar goes to...

Happy weekend, my dear Kitschies!!  I hope you've had a great one so far.  Instead of the lake, we decided to go on a couple little hikes in the Sandia today.  It was nice and cool up in the mountains - it was a shame we had to come back home to 90+ degree heat.  We got lots of cute pictures, which I'll post in the near future.  Tonight I went grocery shopping (WOOT!  I'm living the dream!) only to be held up for about 20 minutes waiting in line for a sobriety checkpoint.  It hadn't started too long before I got there but they already had 5 or 6 cars pulled over.  They didn't even check me!  *sigh*  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're doing the checkpoints, but I was grocery shopping for gosh sakes!  Either way, I made it home and now I'm ready for bed.  But I have a lot of stuff to do around the house since we weren't home all day.  Joy.

Anyway...it's the post you've all been waiting for!  I received 18 entries for the CSN Stores gift card.  I used random.org to pick a number.  That number was 12.  And do you want to know who number 12 was?

Image by FlamingText.com

Ms Kimberly is the owner of a great blog: Libby's Pink Vanity.  I hope she enjoys the $40 gift card to CSN Stores.  I want to know what you pick out!  Drop me a line at megharmeyer @ gmail . com so I can give you the details.

There ya have it!  I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.  The hubs is in the kitchen crafting an awesome birthday cake for me.  I'll definitely be posting pictures sometime soon.  Also keep an eye out for another giveaway from me (I've surpassed my 100-follower mark).  Happy blogging!

Oh, honey, honey

T.G.I.F.F!!  We made it (almost) through another work week.  *whew*  I ate waaaay too much at our office's birthday potluck and I'm sleepy.  Now it's on to the weekend and we have some things planned for a change.  The hubs and boys and I are going to Fenton Lake tomorrow for some sun and fun - I hope the boys will be able to play in the water.  It might get a little muddy, but who cares?!  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.  I'll be picking my giveaway winner some time this weekend and I promise to announce the lucky duck by Sunday evening, but probably before that because my bestie and her hubs and pack kiddos will be over for dinner for an early birthday celebration.  And, in there somewhere, I'll have to work on laundry, various chores and the weekly grocery shopping.  It's going to be busy but it'll be fun.

Today's recipe comes from one of my favorite blogs: Mrs Bettie Rocker.  If you don't know, she's a vegetarian but she cooks meat for her husband and two young sons.  How great is that?!  I have tried quite a few of her recipes and I have loved every single one of them.  This recipe is no exception.  And I'm trying another one tonight, too.

Honey Dijon Chicken
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup Dijon or spicy brown mustard
3 teaspoons curry powder
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Dash ground cayenne pepper
4 split chicken breast halves, bone-in, skin removed or left on

In a bowl, combine the honey, mustard, curry powder, butter, and peppers; blend well. Wash chicken breasts and pat dry. Trim away any excess fat and remove skin, if desired. Arrange the chicken breasts, skin or meaty side up, in a lightly greased baking pan. Coat the chicken with the honey mixture. Cover with foil and refrigerate for an hour or two.

Bake the chicken, covered, in a 375° oven for 45 minutes. Remove foil and baste the chicken. Continue baking, uncovered, for 30 minutes longer, basting every 10 to 15 minutes.

NOTES:  I used 4 small-ish boneless, skinless chicken breast halves and cooked for the stated time.  I think because the pieces I used were smaller, the chicken came out a little dry.  I'm sure if I decrease the cook time, it'll be just fine.  Otherwise, this had great flavor!

Since my giveaway will be finished tonight, I'll remind you about another one.  My mom is hosting her first giveaway on her blog, Stray Stitches.  She's giving away quite a bunch of stuff - a great first giveaway!  You have until August 30th to enter.  CLICK HERE to go there.  LOL  She also does some great recipes (I may be a little biased), so go check her out!

AND!!!  I <3 this one!  I just learned about a big giveaway from one of my other favorite bloggers: Nailstah!  Why the giveaway?   To say thank you (you're welcome, Miss Annie).  It's almost her birthday (she wants to share).  And it's about time.  LOL  She is giving away quite a bit of gorgeous polish - get your hands on some and go HERE to enter her giveaway.  

Listening to: Cars by Gary Numan
Mood: stuffed!!

I Fell Off My Pink Cloud

"I fell off my pink cloud with a thud."

Elizabeth Taylor

I love it!  Don't you miss laying on your back in the middle of a sea of green grass while looking up at the clouds and trying to decide if that cloud looks more like a hippo or a bear?  I know I do.  *sigh*  Gone are the carefree days of childhood.  It kind of makes me sad.  But then I realize I get to experience some of those great things again through my boys.

A while back (seems like forever ago now), I saw this wonderful color on Let's Go Sparkling, I knew I HAD to have it.  Thus started my stalking of quite a few Walgreens.  But, after many failed attempts, I stopped looking.  Sad Megan.  Then...last week (I think it was last week) while on lunch, I happened to wander over to the cosmetics section at the Alberstons across the street from the clinic.  And OMG!  They had it!!  I plucked it off the shelf so fast - you couldn't even see my hand - that's how fast it was!  LOL

This is Sinful Colors Forget Now.  It's a pretty, pretty hot pink with blue-ish/purple-ish glass flecks.  So pretty!!  I applied 3 coats because I had quite a bit of VNL, but if you're not quite as picky, you could definitely get away with 2. 

My only complaint about this one?  Shrinkage!  That's right, ladies.  Shrinkage doesn't just affect men.  I don't know if my FDTC (Seche Vite) is to blame or the polish itself, but I did have noticeable shrinkage.  It looked like I did a really bad job putting on plastic nails.  I will try this color again and maybe use a different FDTC or give the SV another try.  Oh...like the little black striping?  That idea was stolen from my bestie: she texted me a pic of her mani a while back and I loved it - so I had to "borrow" the idea.  This picture was indoors with flash.

This was the post that almost didn't happen today.  I went to work on this at work this afternoon and realized that I forgot to add these pictures to my flash drive.  *sigh*  So, while I'm making this post, I'm also baking some chocolate chews for the office potluck tomorrow (recipe to follow in the near future).

DON'T FORGET!!!  You only have until tomorrow evening to ENTER MY GIVEAWAY!  Please click on that link and sign up to win a $40 gift card to CSN Stores.  I will announce the winner some time this weekend.

Have a good rest of the evening.  Remember, one more big sleep and it's FRIDAY!!!

Workout Wednesday - Part 3

Happy Wednesday, Kitschies.  I don't know the reason, but I was in a bad mood this morning.  I'm going to blame environment.  I "cheated" and had a green chile cheeseburger for lunch from one of my favorite fast food places for lunch and that pretty much instantly made me feel better.  LOL  But, I'll probably be mad at myself for the cheating later on this evening/tomorrow morning.

As in last week's Workout Wednesday post, I am linking up to A Family of Shorts' Journey from muffin top to skinny jeans.

The topic this week: What's working for you?  Well, at this point, I'm going to say: not a lot.  I have been pretty strict (at least 90% compliance) with the Cornerstone meal replacement program and working my butt of (kinda literally).  But, for whatever reason, the scale is not budging.  Not one bit.  I started at 180 pounds.  This morning I got on the scale and it was 180.4 pounds.  Not only that, I rechecked my body fat percentage on Monday morning.  I started at 35.1% body fat.  This last Monday it measured at 35.4%.  It increased?!  It didn't go up a lot, but it went up nonetheless.  *sigh* 

At this point I'm pretty frustrated.  I've been doing the 30-Day Shred 6 days a week.  I've been watching what I eat - no processed foods, no fast foods, etc.  All this and everything is gradually going up.  So.  This is the new revised plan.  Much like Ms Amanda from A Family of Shorts, I am going to adopt a new lifestyle.  The docs I work with constantly push a low insulin modification diet.  The hubs calls it Dr Kaufman's diet (he tells ALL of his new patients this is the way you should be eating).  Dr Kaufman calls it the Cave Man diet.  Here's the basics of it:

1. Eat smaller, almost snack-type, meals throughout the day (you really shouldn't allow yourself to get really hungry), with 1/3 of it being protein and the rest (2/3) being fruits and/or vegetables.
2. With each meal, eat lean protein (chicken, fish, turkey, etc), raw fruits and vegetables.
3. No refined carbs (basically, nothing white): sugar, flour, cookies, cakes, candies, pies, crackers, pretzels, potatoes, corn, pasta, cereal, chips or sodas (even diet sodas).
4. If you eat rice, it should be wild rice, not white or brown.
5. Dairy is ok as long as it's not "low fat" - this includes milk.  There have been studies that show that 2% milk has been linked to certain cancers.  Whole milk, though higher in fat, has more nutrients your body needs.

I've done this diet before and it works.  It's slow, but it does work.  It really is a lifestyle change.  And after a few months, I start feeling better, sleeping better and my clothes fit better.  How many times have I reached for a meal that's pre-made because it's easy (and usually pretty cheap)?  No more of that!  Smaller portions and "whole" foods will be my new goal.

On a higher note...I checked my measurements on Sunday (chest, biceps, waist, hips, thighs and calves) - I've lost anywhere between a 1/4 and a 1/2 inch on each of the areas measured.  This is kind of encouraging, but it's just not enough for me.  I am on L2, D5 (or is it 6?) of the 30-Day Shred.  It is taking me everything I have to get my butt doing this exercise in the evening.  I really don't like to exercise, but I'm making myself do it because I know it'll be worth it in the long run.

Here's my question of the day:  If you're on a weight loss journey, what is working for you?  And if you've been on a weight loss journey, what worked for you?

And don't forget!!  You only have a couple more days to ENTER MY GIVEAWAY!

Listening to: Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden (meh!)
Mood: discouraged 

Tag! I'm It!

The awesome Liz from Icomatic's Nails tagged for this fun survey. Liz does the most AWESOME nail art - go check out her blog and drool over her skillz.  This is my second post for the day, so consider this a two-fer Tuesday.

1. Have you ever felt so disappointed in a nail polish you wanted to throw it out the window? And why?
Unfortunately, yes.  :(  It's China Glaze Blue Sparrow.  I had seen a picture of it by Lextard on Flickr and it just glowed!  When I saw it at Sally's, I had to have it.  I used it and I was not impressed.  Not even a little.  This was before I knew about the infamous neon finish.  If it was just that, I could've lived with it.  But...the formula was super watery and it took about a million layers to make it completely opaque.  OK.  Maybe not a million, but definitely more than my usual 3.  I didn't take it back, but it sits at the very bottom of my "trieds" bucket.

2. What are your top three favorite nail polishes?
That's a hard one!!  Of course I drew a blank of this one, so I had to go digging through my collection.  In no particular order (and for the moment): China Glaze TTYL (blue holo), Zoya Charla (mermaid in a bottle) and Color Club What a Shock! (alien slime green). 

3. What is your favorite online store?
I don't know that I really have a favorite, but I'll use Etsy as a whole.  And Bath & Body Works.

4. Is there anything you'd like to share with us that you haven't shared before?
Gah - this is the hardest question tonight!  I once drove from Bakersfield to San Francisco (250+ miles ONE WAY) to pick up my boyfriend, slept for two hours, drove back home and made it back in time to go to work.  That was a LONG time ago and that was a LONG day.  Ahh...memories.  Youth is so wasted on the young.

5. What is your favorite song of the moment?
That would definitely have to be from Silversun Pickups - but to choose just one...?  This is Future Foe Scenarios.  I wish there were a proper video for this one but there isn't (that I could find).





There ya have it.  Who am I going to tag???


CHRIS from LACQUER WARE FOR TIPS AND TOES

Go Fish!

"Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, then it is disgusting."

Dave Barry

Totally awesome Tuesday, dear Kitschies.  Monday has come and gone (thankfully) and now we can move on to the rest of the week.  Nothing exciting or new to report in my neck of the 'hood.  Oh!  We finally had a thunderstorm last night.  Not a whole lot of thunder, but we did get a bit of rain.  It made the morning cool, which is nice.

I love trying new recipes.  I do not love fish.  Anybody who knows me will tell you this.  But, the hubs and the two boys like fish, so being a good wifey/mommy, I make it from time to time.  I make an awesome salmon on the grill!  We had some frozen Tilapia fillets in the freezer so I went on a hunt for a good recipe.  Usually when I make fish, I make chicken with the same ingredients for myself.  I don't mind the smell of most fish, but I'm just not down with the taste.  Kinda strange coming from a California girl.  LOL

Easy Tilapia with Wine & Tomatoes

4 (4 oz) Talapia fillets

salt & pepper to taste

4 Tbsp butter

3 cloves garlic, pressed

4 fresh basil leaves, chopped

1 large tomato, chopped

1 cup white wine

Pre-heat grill for medium-high heat.

Place the Tilapia fillets side by side on a large piece of aluminum foil. Season each one with salt and pepper. Place one tablespoon of butter on top of each piece of fish, and sprinkle garlic, basil and tomato. Pour the wine over everything. Fold foil up around fish, and seal into a packet. Place packet on a cookie sheet for ease in transportation to and from the grill. 

Place foil packet on the preheated grill, and cook for 15 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Open the packet carefully so as not to get burned from the steam, and serve. 

NOTES:  I had a hard time keeping the wine in the little packets, so I double wrapped each fillet.  I used minced garlic instead of pressed - if you use pressed, it would probably give a more garlic-y flavor.  I didn't have fresh basil or a whole tomato so I used dried basil (however much looked like enough) and a can of diced tomatoes, divided evenly among the 4 packets.  I really liked this on my chicken.

BONUS RECIPE

Buttery Lemon Spinach

2 (10 oz) bags pre-washed fresh spinach

2 Tbsp garlic, minced

5 Tbsp butter 

2 Tbsp lemon juice

Rinse the spinach and place the leaves into a microwavable serving dish. Add the butter, garlic and lemon juice. Cover with plastic wrap. Steam in the microwave until the butter is melted and spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap and toss to distribute seasoning before serving. 

NOTES:  Again, I didn't have the fresh ingredients so I used frozen chopped spinach.  I liked the flavor of this, but the consistency was a little off.  I think it could've cooked for a bit longer.  I halved this recipe because I knew it wouldn't be that big a hit with the hubs and the boys (I was right).  

The usual suspects

Ready for the BBQ  (Funny story: My coworker came up behind me when I was loading this picture and she said it looked like a person climbing on to an iceberg.  LOL  I guess it kinda does.)

I can't remember if this is chicken or fish.  Either way, it was good!

 Our healthy, (mostly) low fat dinner

The hubs said if I ever want to leave him, I won't have to tell him, I'd just have to make a dinner out of nothing but the things he hates.  LOL  Good to know.  So...here's my question to you:  Is there a food that you just will NOT eat?  Has there been something you didn't like but somebody made it different and now you're a convert? 

Listening to: Loving You is Easy by Sarah McLachlan

Mood: rumbly in my tumbly