A little pre-vacation reminiscing

As I begin to pack/organize for vacation (we leave tomorrow night), I felt the urge to look at photos from the past three years we've visited. Hope you enjoy as much as I did!

2009: Seth, 2 yrs old

Such a cutie...almost thought it was Brock! ha.

Can we get much more excited?

2010: Seth, 3yrs...Brock in the oven

Soon to be a family of four

2011: Seth, 4yrs; Brock 9mos

Our Family

Mommy, look! I'm swimming!

Hey there. Come here often?

Love.

Beach time.

Can't Win 'em All

OK, so every graphic designer (and any creative professional, really) goes through this:
Client presents project, designer creates idea, client makes changes until the product no longer is good design...but hey, the client is happy.

This recently happened to me. Nothing major, just a small example. The project was a wedding invitation. I collected all the details: wedding and reception held on a farm, reception in barn, bridesmaids in stone grey color, burlap accents, mason jar centerpieces with wildflowers. Oh, and the groom's father was a well-known surgeon in the area. My mind was putting it all together and I envisioned the invite. The bride was adamant about having the mason jar as the focal point of the invite and provided a sample from Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/listing/98942691/wedding-invitation-handmade-hand-stamped) that she kinda liked, except for the floral paper. It was plain, nothing classy about it, etc. I thought I could incorporate a jar but make it look classy as well. A perfect union. I presented this:

My first attempt

Perfect, right? Mason jar, wildflowers, burlap, and grey!
The response? The mother of the bride (who was my contact for this project primarily) says: I love it, but my daughter wants something more like the sample she provided.

So, I go back to the drawing board and come up with a stripped down version, yet with the country feel I thought the bride would appreciate. Something like this:

Nope. "More like the sample." At this point, I'm thinking: why didn't the bride just order from the Etsy artist and just specify what she didn't like about it?

So what was the final invitation design? THIS.

Yep. Just screams wedding, doesn't it? Plain and simple. Apparently they are printing it on a cream paper and attaching it to paper bag-like paper then tying a ribbon of raffia around it. Wonderful. So glad I could, um, help. To each their own! Can't win 'em all.

So good I have to share

I'm calling your name.

Ok, so every now and then we run across a recipe that blows our hair back. I mean, it's so good we can't believe we've been living life without such deliciousness. Today, I'm actually going to share a recipe with you so that your life can get a little more tasty too.

Garlic bread. I know, not glamorous, but OMG it's good. It's more of a cheesy bread...enough said!

We found the recipe on blogchef.net and have been so happy we did!

Get a pen and paper and include this with one of your meals this week!

Ingredients:
1 loaf French bread (sliced in half lengthwise)*
1/2 cup butter
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons garlic (minced)
¼ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon basil
1/8 teaspoon seasoning salt
½ cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

*We get the really long loaves of French bread, so we cut the recipe in half for a typical meal for four.

Cooking Instructions**:
Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl beat butter and mayonnaise until smooth. Beat in parmesan cheese, garlic, oregano, basil and seasoning salt. Stir in Monterey Jack cheese.
Step 2: Spread the mixture over the cut slices of bread. Place on a baking sheet.
Step 3: Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
(Makes 10 Servings)

**Here again, we modified it a bit. We use the broil feature on our oven for our bread. We put the bread in plain and broil just for a minute to toast the top. Then we spread on the mixture. Broil again until cheese is bubbly. Enjoy!

Bath Time

Daddy caught the boys having a blast during their bath. (Please turn a blind eye to the nasty grout.)

30-Day Shred: Level 3 Complete!

Today was day 30 of the 30-day Shred. Yay! Gotta admit, Level 3 was hard and I found myself doing the "beginner" option for about 3 or 4 of the moves. Oh well, I am a beginner afterall. As far as results, pretty disappointing. I did manage to lose the weight gained at the beginning, but that's not news. I had Evan take my measurements this morning (pretty risky considering it's Thanksgiving weekend). I lost 4.5 inches. Three of which came from my thighs, so that's good! What's the plan from here? I'm going to reunite with my friend, the treadmill. Will probably mix in some shred workouts here and there. Hopefully this last month kicked my muscles into gear and can more efficiently burn calories. A girl can dream. Thirty pounds to go until I reach my goal! The journey continues...

30-Day Shred: Level 2 Complete

On Saturday, I finished level 2 of the 30-day Shred (Day 20). Though I still haven't lost weight, I have started to notice some firming of muscles and that I'm getting a little stronger. It's funny that on the first day of starting a new level, it seems completely overwhelming. But by the 10th day of it, it's normal and just a tough workout. Disappointed to not be seeing more results, but I'll finish this. I did just now lose those few pounds I gained during level 1. Ten more days to go! Today, I started Level 3. OMG. It's taking many of the exercises we've done already and turning it up a notch. For the first time, I nearly did all the exercises at the easier option (they have a girl that demonstrates the easier option for some of the harder moves). It would be a miracle if 10 days from now i am doing all of these moves with little difficulty. Yikes.

30-Day Shred: Level 1 Complete

Well, I have completed the first 10 days of the 30-Day Shred. As predicted, the first couple days had my muscles pretty much useless. Everyday movements became almost laughable at accomplishing. By day 4 I was no longer sore and able to complete the workouts. Some movements still are hard. Push-ups have always been tough for me. Other movements became easier and some were easy from day 1. Now, here's the frustrating part. No weight loss yet! In fact, I've gained a few. My eating hasn't changed so I'm just gonna chalk it up as part of the muscle building and hope it evens out by the end. Tomorrow will most likely kill me again as I start Level 2. Here I go again...