Friday, April 29, 2011

Getting Healthy



  
    I, along with my hubby, are embarking on a new adventure. A diet. OK, so diets are probably more of a challenge than an adventure, but an adventure sounds much more fun. We have been talking about wanting to take a vacation this summer to somewhere with beaches. I can't wait, but I'm seriously not comfortable with the idea of wearing a bikini right now! Ian and I decided to lose some weight, so we can feel confident and healthy with our hot beach bod selves.

      Now. I am generally a healthy eater, but I know I am not at the ideal weight for my height and body type. I've always hated diets, but this is changing the way I eat for life, rather than a short and pointless diet. I found a book on amazon the other day called The 17 Day Diet by Dr. Mike Moreno.  The whole idea of the diet is to get your body off of sugar and excess fat, and train your metabolism to work faster. There are four cycles of 17 days in the diet. Each one you switch what you eat to keep your metabolism from slowing down..

I figured this would be a fun series to blog about. I can share what works and what doesn't, and share a bit of my (hopefully) successful weight loss journey! I'm hoping to share a few meal ideas that I come up with that go along with my diet! Oh, and my husband may make an appearance on here, since he's doing the diet as well :).

Here are a few snapshots from the week:

I have not had so many vegetables in one week before. It's pretty intense, but I love it! And guess what? I've lost 3 pounds since Monday. I think Ian is down 2, gooo hubby!

Stay tuned for recipes and more weight loss updates!

xoxoKelsey

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Lipstick and feathers.



 Here is a bit of an outfit post, and a quick hello! Today was a red lipstick day. Wearing red lipstick is just the best sometimes. It perks me right up and makes me feel like I can conquer the world. I also wore these awesome peacock earrings that were handmade by a good friend of mine, Katrina. I've worn them twice now, and I am seriously in love! I have a million peacock feathered things, and these might just be my favorite.

Want some of your own handmade feather earrings? Go to my friend Katrina's etsy shop ----
----> feathers! 
She is just getting started, and it would be awesome if she got a few more supporters!


xoxoKelsey.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter fun!

Hey there!
I hope you all had a happy and wonderful Easter. And for those who don't celebrate, I hope you had an awesome weekend! We spent the day yesterday with at my sister-in-law's house, and got to sit down and relax. Sundays are usually very busy for us since we are so involved with our church, so we were so blessed to have a nice change of pace yesterday! I love Easter. It's so nice to have a day to celebrate what Jesus did for me. It's also nice to have a day allows my candy obsession to be justified!

A few snapshots from the day...



Can you tell we are a bit in love with our nieces? Ian even let Annie feed him trifle, even though it got all over his face. So much love.

This picture is my favorite....Ian was pretty tired from having to be at church so early in the morning. So cute :).


This song is a tradition in Ian's family. His mom would wake all of the kids up every Easter with it playing throughout the house. We listened to it yesterday, of course. It is an amazing song, and I've had it stuck in my head all day long!




xoxoKelsey.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

What a day.




This is how my past two days have gone down: (see pictures above for reference)
   Arrive at salon.
     Fuel up with caffeine.
     Mix color.
     Cut hair. 
         Go home late.     
     Repeat to self, "I love my job" ten times to try and remain sane.

That pretty much sums it up. It's funny to how the things I love most in my life, can sometimes be the things that wear me out the most. But I am blessed and am extremely thankful even for the crazy days that never seem to end. A crazy day is better than no day at all, right? 
OK, I'd  better go, my brain is feeling a bit fried!

But it's never too fried to remember to add in a small little outfit post, courtesy of my iphone. 




Hope your past few days were filled with fun and craziness, just like mine.

xoxoKelsey.

P.s. How amazing are these wedges from Anthropologie??? I'm trying to make up excuses for why I desperately need them...

Monday, April 18, 2011

Sunshine


Sunshine has finally made an appearance here. I love the feeling of it shining down on my face, and soaking up some extra Vitamin D. I'm crossing my fingers that this sunshine will stay around for awhile, and give everyone in Seattle a much needed break from the gloom.


Hope you are all getting some sun-filled days as well!

xoxoKelsey.









Saturday, April 16, 2011

Things I've learned.

 I was reminded of something very important this week.

Loving people the way Jesus loves them is the most important thing in the world.

And unfortunately, it's easier said than done. There will always be people who you dislike, or who make you angry and feel like you want to say something really mean to them! But this week I was reminded that Jesus loves me, despite the fact that I am imperfect in many ways. If He can love me with all the sin in my life, I surely can love others to the fullest.  I don't know where most people are going through that I meet on a day to day basis, but I've decided I need to try my hardest to love them in the hopes that it will make them feel the love of Jesus.


And if this is not the sweetest example of love, I don't know what is:

       Flowers from a sweet little 3 year old who's hair I cut all the time. My heart melted!


Hope everyone had a wonderful day/week! Here's to loving others!

xoxoKelsey

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Kids.

Last night, Ian and I were in bed giggling and talking about the silliest things. Those are my favorite moments. We forget about responsibilities, about being adults, and about the stresses of life.

The best part of the night was when Ian decided to make a bet with me.
 
"I'll bet you my two dollar bill, and my superpower."

He was actually kind of serious. I literally was crying from laughing so hard.

I love you, Mr. Thanks for staying up late with me while we giggled like little kids <3.



xoxoKelsey.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Computer meltdowns and Macarons.

Hip hip hooray!
 I am finally able to blog again. My computer decided to be really rude, and stop working on me. It literally won't let me do a thing. It's already missing two of its buttons, and now this? We are no longer on speaking terms.

 Ian let me keep his computer for the day, so I can catch up on blogging and everything else computer related. Thank goodness too, I was started to feel detached to the world.


I spent a good five hours baking in an attempt to making the absolute perfect Macaron. My recent goal in life is to become an amazing baker. Or at least a kind of decent one, ha ha. So I wanted to try something a little bit different. OK, why did no one tell me how insanely difficult is is to make these little sugary treats!? If you've never had a macaron before, you need to head to your nearest french bakery and try one. They come in a million flavors, and are filled with buttercream, jam, ganache, and all sorts of fillings.  Naturally, the French have created and mastered the macaron. These treats have only four ingredients in them. And of course, I thought four ingredients would make this an easy afternoon. 
 As you can tell from the craziness of my kitchen, they were pretty intense. Macarons require a very delicate handling of your meringue (egg whites and confectioner's sugar). My arm felt as if it was going to fall off after all the egg beating I did.  I think I made about 4 batches or so, and finally think I have the hang of it. I filled mine with a simple vanilla buttercream frosting, and a chocolate frosting as well!
This is the batch that came out almost perfectly, despite my inability to make them all the same size!
And this is a failed batch, which I some how overcooked and undercooked all at the same time!
They are the prettiest little pastry. Not to mention they taste amazing!! If any of you are interested in a recipe, I can post the one I used. And for my gluten free friends, they are made with almond flour!

                            Here's to slowly but surely mastering the art of baking!

I'm hoping that I am able to get back to regular blog posts soon, my computer is being looked at and hopefully will soon be in perfect shape again!

xoxoKelsey.

Thursday, April 7, 2011


Today is Ian's birthday! It's also National Beer Day. Which made him pretty darn happy.
Tonight we are celebrating with family and friends at a bar that has about 150 beers on tap. Fitting, right?
Happy Birthday, husband. Here's to 100 more!
xoxoKelsey.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

A little hello!


Hello lovelies! Just saying hello while working away at my salon! I've been working like crazy lately, which is good but exhausting. I've really come to appreciate and admire people who run their own businesses. This is my first time working for myself, and it's pretty exciting. I'm dreaming of a nice warm vacation as a result of all this work! Maybe also because I'm really tired of all the rain here, haha. 
Anyways, hope everyone is well! Hoping to post something a bit more interesting later today :)

Here's to rainy days, hard work, and dream vacations!
xoxoKelsey.