Coming Back From A Break

So I've been bad and haven't posted in a week...oops! I was super busy planning and throwing my husbands 40th birthday party here at our house, and now I am busy getting ready for a little road trip which I am so super excited about. But I have been able to find time in between packing, cleaning and getting my car expected and ready to prepare some blogs so Saturday there will be a new blog post up...pinky promise!

Fun Tanning Table

It has gotten pretty dang hot here so I thought that it was time to search the back of my closet for all my capris and dresses, but then I remember that my legs are Casper white from being hidden in jeans and sweats for so long. I have a bottle of Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer to help me out but I thought I would also try to get a little color on my legs the natural way...by the sun. I'm not a big tanner, I am actually more like a vampire and pretty much hide from the sun, but since I am thinner this summer and feeling a bit more confident I am ready to wear my shorts and tanks again and I would like my exposed skin to be somewhat tan. So every morning I have been going outside and soaking up the rays for about 20 minutes, 10 minutes on each side. But I've discovered something about myself, I get so bored and impatient while tanning! I end up bringing out a stack of magazines and my iPad (which I cant even see in the sun) to try and keep myself entertained. Plus I have my phone and my mini speaker and my tanning sunscreen and sunglasses and head phones....I end up with half the house outside with me. So I came up with a fun, cooky DIY tanning table to keep all my stuff nice and neat.

  The supplies I used were an old box (this is the only box we had but it worked cause its sturdy)...

...a box cutter, stapler, glue, one piece of a child proof cabinet lock, one piece of a plastic shoe hanger and some paint.
 It is a modge podge of supplies that's for sure.

The first thing I did was cut the flaps off of the box. I then placed a plastic cup on the bottom of the box and traced around the top of the cup, I then cut a smaller circle inside of my line. I also cut a square in the side of the box the size of my iPad.

I painted the whole box blue to try and cover up the fact that its a beer box.

While the paint was drying I cut one of the large flaps into a square. I then cut two of the smaller flaps the same height as the square.

I then folded in each side of the two smaller flaps.

And I glued them to the larger flap that I had made into a square. I then took another piece of a different flap and glued it to the bottom of these pieces making a half box.

I also folded up some of the card board to make a little iPod stand.

I then painted all these pieces blue and let everything dry over night.

Using more glue and lots of staples I attached the shoe holder, the child proof cabinet lock and the half box to the tanning box. I also stuck a plastic cup into the hole that I cut in the bottom of the box. I attached the folded up piece of cardboard iPod holder to the top of the box.

My lovely tanning table!

 I put my tanning sunscreen into the shoe holder...

 ...I hung my earphones and my sunglasses from the child cabinet lock...

...placed another plastic cup full of ice water into the other plastic cup that occupies the hole that I cut, and I put my magazines in the half box. 

I put my iPod on its awesome little holder then attached it to my mini speaker which sits comfortably on top of the box along with my cell phone.

My iPad sits happily inside of the box which makes it so much easier to see.

Its kind of a goofy thing but it is super functional and I absolutely love it! My goal is to make it out of wood here in the near future so stay tuned!

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Every day has been hard since I lost my grandpa two months ago but today is especially difficult because today would be my grandpa's 78th birthday. I wanted to celebrate so I bought a slice of pie and a candle. 

I came home lit the candle, we all sang him happy birthday then my son blew out the flame. 

We all miss him so much.....

Happy Birthday Grandpa, we love you!

Happy Birthday Blog!

Exactly two years ago today I posted my very first blog post, Hello There, which means that today is my blogs 2nd birthday...yay! My first post wasn't anything, in fact my first four blog posts weren't much of anything at all, but in the last two years my blog has grown so much and I am so proud of it. To celebrate my blogs birthday I thought that it would be nice to take a little stroll down memory lane, but I didn't want to overwhelm by posting a huge list of my past blog posts so I asked a few of my friends and a few of my family members which of my posts they have liked the best. So here are a couple of their favorites and a couple of mine... 

My Favorites

 On one of my many trips to Oregon my mom and I threw a Cars themed birthday party for my son which turned out so well, everyone loved it including the birthday boy...he still talks about it.

One of my first Thrifted Twin Threads post is still one of my favorites. It was for Halloween and it was Emma Swan from Once Upon A Time and Alice from Once Upon A Time In Wonderland and I think they both looked pretty darn close, I was and still am so proud.

One of my very favorite Curious posts is Curious In Oregon. Portland has always been one of my favorite cities, I have been exploring it since I was little, so it was fun sharing all of my favorite things to do in Portland. Plus checking out some of the sites where Grimm has filmed was pretty awesome!

Family Favorites

One of my brothers favorite posts is the Homemade Hummus. He loves hummus, he puts it on everything, so he said he was happy when I posted this recipe because now he can save money by making it at home.

One of my husbands favorite posts is the Ultimate Breakfast Skillet of course. He loves Village Inn's Ultimate Breakfast Skillet so when I made it for him at home he was stoked, I now have to make it for him at least once a month.

One of my moms favorite posts is the Valentines Day treasure hunt that I did for my son. She said that it is very cute, creative and sweet.

Friends Favorites

My first friends favorite post is my Last Day Luau. He said that the food looked amazing and everything else looked like a lot of fun, It made him want to play like a kid again. He also told me that he thinks I should leave the sign up on the door all year round.

My second friends favorite post is my Kate Middleton Thrifted Twin Threads. She said that she really liked this look because it was cute and simple.

My third friends favorite post is my Snow Day Stair Workout. She told me that its just so practical since all you need are stairs.



Blogging is one of my very favorite things to do and doing this blog has helped me in so many ways. It is my outlet, my escape, my pride, my imagination, my creativity...it is me! So cheers to my blogs 2nd birthday and cheers to many many more years of doing what I love to do....blogging.

Please check out everything my blog has to offer 

(Beauty, CO & Beyond, DIY, Favorites, Health & Wellness, Holiday, Kids, Recipes, Style, Themed and Tips) 

and also let me know which of my blog posts is your favorite! 

Life

If you are one of my blog regulars, or if you just stop by from time to time, then you might have noticed that I didn't post a post yesterday. This is because I really have nothing new to post right now. Life has been very hard and very busy and I haven't had the time to create the blogs that I had been planning on posting and I have pretty much posted all of my back ups, hints all the recent recipe posts.

On April 1st I got a phone call from my family in Oregon telling me that my Grandpa's doctors had given him only 24 to 48 hours, my Grandpa had been battling liver cancer for the last two years, so I threw some stuff in a couple suitcases and my family and I took the first flight that we could get out of Denver. We landed in Portland early Wednesday morning, April 2nd, and drove straight to my grandparents house to say our goodbyes. My grandpa passed away that night surrounded by his family.

I spent 3 weeks in Oregon with my family helping get done what needed to be done and trying to cope with my Grandpa's passing with everyone else in my family. 

 I miss you grandpa...so much!

I am now back in Colorado and trying to get back to my regular life but its hard since my life isn't what it regularly was, every day it gets harder because it becomes a bit more real. Blogging is my outlet, it is something I really love to do and it will help get me through this tough time. I am looking forward to getting back on track and getting new posts posted so stay tuned!

Draw My Life

A long while ago I watched a few "Draw My Life" videos from my favorite YouTubers. It was pretty cool seeing what other peoples lives are like and what others have gone through all over the world. Since my 30th birthday is only two days away I thought it would be fun to do a Draw My Life post so I could share my 30 years of life with you in a fun way.

• I was born on January 13, 1984 in rainy, beautiful, green Oregon. 
• My family: dad, mom, me and my little brother.
• I was so super shy and quiet when I was little. I would hide behind my dads legs whenever someone tried to talk to me.

• Being as shy and quiet as I was I was not social AT ALL so all through elementary and middle school I only had a few friends.
• I spent most of my time hanging out with my friends, swinging on the bars, roller skating, take pictures, writing silly stories, listening to music and making up secret clubs.
• But in High School everything changed. My friends made new friends and most joined sports teams or school clubs but my insecurities and shyness held me back and I started to suffer with depression. Going to school was torture and I dreaded every day. I had Tums for breakfast almost every morning.

• The only place I felt happy and comfortable was in my room doing the things I loved: listening to music, watching movies, drawing and writing short stories and poems. 
• But at the end of my freshmen year I met a girl and her and I became best friends, we were inseparable! She introduced me to her group of friends and I finally felt like I belonged.
• My junior and senior year was when I got my first real boyfriend, my first car and I got my first and second job. My first job was a temporary position pushing papers at my dads office and when that job ended I started serving food at one of the local colleges. Oh and this was when I first dyed my hair dark!

• In 2002 I graduated high school.
• But I had no idea what I wanted to do next.
• So while I tried to figure that out I spent all of my time either with my boyfriend or at work.

 

• But in 2003 my boyfriend and I had broken up and I had quit my job serving food and I could not find anything else to do. And because I had spent almost all of my free time with my boyfriend I really had no friends.
• I needed to get away from the stress in Oregon so I decided to visit an old friend in California. He was a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton. While I was there he introduced me to his group of friends. We all had a fun time together and I kept in touch with a few of them after I got back to Oregon.
• Right after my 20th birthday I moved in with some family in northern California. I figured there would be more opportunities for me down there and I wanted to be closer to my friends in southern California. Every weekend I would drive down to Camp Pendleton to hang out with my friends.

•  I had become close to one of my Marine guy friends and one day we decided to get married. In true Military fashion we ran out to the closest court house and said "I do" as fast as we could.
• Our honeymoon didn't last long because a month after we were married he was deployed to Iraq with no return date....it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through.
• While my husband was gone I moved back to Oregon to be with my family. Soon after I moved to Oregon I ventured south to Texas where I lived with another Marines wife. A couple months after moving to Texas her and I moved back to southern California to wait for our husbands to return from Iraq.

•  In January 2005 my husband finally returned home from his deployment.
• Life was fun and amazing for about a year but then most of our friends started moving back to their home states because their time in the Marines was over. This was pretty hard on my husband an he seemed to get pretty depressed which was hard on our marriage, he didn't want to do anything anymore.
• The day after Valentines day in 2006 he left again for a 6 month deployment, saying goodbye this time was just as hard as it was the first time.

•  Since my husband's 4 years in the Marines were going to be up after he returned home from his deployment I moved out to Colorado, where my husband was from, to get a job and settle down since Colorado was where we were planning on spending the rest of our lives.
• One of my husbands old Colorado friends introduced me to one of his girlfriends and her and I were inseparable from the start. She introduced me to a whole bunch of amazing people. All of us would spend almost every weekend together watching our friends cover bands play. There is nothing like live music...I love it!
• In August 2005 my husband returned from his deployment and joined me in Colorado. We moved into our own apartment, I got him a job and he went back to school.

•  But all the time that my husband and I had spent apart had taken a huge toll on our relationship. We were now two totally different people who didn't have anything in common anymore and didn't want to do any of the same things. To this day I believe my husband was suffering with P.T.S.D. but he did not want to get help so I guess I will never know for sure. Towards the end of 2006 we got divorced. 
• After my divorce I moved back to Oregon to be with my family. 2006 was a very hard year for everyone in my family! We had to deal with my divorce, a family member struggling with addiction and a close friends death. 
• But something good did come out of 2006. I got a job as a teller at a bank and that is where I met my two very best friends and we are still as close as close can be today!

•  I loved being around my family again and I adored my friends but I really missed Colorado so in October 2008 I moved back.
• I got a job as a teller at a different back and I started hanging out with all my old friends. One of those friends was a guy named Jason. We started dating not long after I moved back, we had so much in common. We enjoyed watching anything that had to do with sports, going out to watch our friends band play and just lounging around his house watching movies.
• It wasn't long until we were crazy in love and expecting our first child. We were also parents to 5 very crazy, cuddly boxers.

•  In March 2010 we welcomed our beautiful son!
• My husband and I have been common law married since 2009 but in 2013 we made it totally official. So now I am for reals married to my love who is fun, funny, a very hard worker and very loving....he still likes to take me out to watch live music! I am still a stay at home mommy to my very hyper, fun, mischievous, sweet little man. We now have 3 crazy, cuddly boxers and one tiny, rambunctious pug mix who is my baby! We love going on as many adventures as we can as a family. I have some very close amazing friends and I am obsessed with blogging! Needless to say I am very happy with the way my life turned out and I cant wait to see what this year has to offer!
• I hope you enjoyed reading about my crazy spontaneous life! I am sure there will be a lot more craziness to come and I cant wait. Also thank you for visiting my blog! Feel free to stay awhile and check out what else I have to offer!

A Gift For My Grandmama

Today I would like to tell you a little bit about someone that means a lot to me...my Grandmama. 

My Grandmama was born and raised in Bois Colombe France which is now a part of Paris. Her and her family survived World War II and the stories she told us of her childhood were pretty amazing and totally surreal....there were sawdust cookies, clothes made from curtains, Nazi's taking over every house but theirs, a Nazi General taking my Grandmama to Germany to be his children's nanny and a dangerous escape back into France. My Grandmama and my Grandfather met after the war while my Grandfather was in France for work. They were married then moved to the United States were they settled down in California and raised 3 children. My Grandmama was an amazing person who lived through so much and spent her free time volunteering, cooking, doing crossword puzzles and sewing. Today my Grandmama would of turned 92 years old, sadly she passed away four years ago. In memory of her and to celebrate her life I made my family some French Crepes and my husband and I had a glass of champagne (one of her favorites) in her honor. 

(crepe recipe)

I think of my Grandmama every day and today, her birthday, I wanted to do something special to remember her. 

  Nous vous aimons et manques tellement. Joyeux anniversaire!

Family First

If you follow my blog or just stop by from time to time you have probably noticed that I haven't posted anything in about a week. Like I said in my August Favorite's post my son and I took an impromptu road trip to Oregon to spend some time with my Grandpa who is battling liver cancer. Being with my family has been my number one priority lately so my blog has been put on the back burner for the time being.

 

 

 

But I promise as soon as I get settled back into my Colorado life, which will be at the beginning of October,  I will get back to blogging and posting every Saturday, Wednesday (Weight Loss Wednesday) and also every third Thursday of every month (Curious In Colorado). I have a lot of fun, fit and helpful blog posts coming up so stay tuned!

Tweet Tweet!

To try and reach more people I started a Twitter account, I thought it was time to become a tweeter! So if you have a Twitter account feel free to follow me for updates on my blog, my adventures and my life! 

https://twitter.com/MommyMiaa

I'm also on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/MommyMiaa

Victory On The Voice

My husband and I are big fans of The Voice. I have never been into any reality show, especially a reality competition show, but for some reason I really enjoy watching The Voice. The judges are awesome...and not bad to look at...and the talent is amazing! Plus my husband and I like to make the show a little more interesting by making bets on who will be crowned The Voice as soon as the blind auditions start. My husband won the bet last year by choosing Cassadee Pope, I choose Terry McDermott, but this year we both won because we both bet that Danielle Bradbery would be The Voice as soon as we saw her blind audition! 

We both think its awesome that Danielle won and I cant wait for her to make a record. We both think that she has a long career ahead of her and we are both totally jealous of her voice...we both wish we could sing so badly!

 

So congratulations Danielle and keep doing what you are doing because what you are doing is amaze balls! 

(If you watched the show you'll get it)

Me being the nerd that I am watching The Voice finale! Go Team Blake!

This Ones For The Rockers!

I love rock, especially older rock, so I was stoked when my friend told me about his radio station The Noize Faktory! It is an online radio show where he plays classic rock from the 60's all the way to today. He plays the rock songs you know and love, lost classics and new music from new bands! He just had Tony Cardenas -Montana, the lead singer of Twenty Two Hundred and the former bassist for Great White, on his show a couple weeks ago. Plus during the show that will be posted on the 28th he will be interviewing Todd Kerns who has a new CD out and plays bass for Slash! The Noize Faktory is now one of my favorite radio shows so I just had to share it with you! 

Go give it a listen, you wont be disappointed!!!

Website - http://thenoizefaktory.com/ 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/noizefaktory

Get To Know Me Tag

I saw this tag on a couple other blogs and thought it was a fun idea and a great way for you to get to know a little more about me! 

Get To Know Me Tag

1. Are you named after anyone?

Yes, my middle name is my Grandmama's maiden name.

2. When was the last time you cried?  
Just the other night when I was thinking about a family member.

3. Do you have kids? 

Yes, one very active little man.

4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself?  

Yeah. I think I would be a fun person to hang out with and a great person to chat with, especially since I am very good at keeping secrets...shhhhh!

5. Do you use sarcasm a lot? 

Pretty much always!

6. Will you ever bungee-jump? 

Heck NO! I am terrified of heights and jumping from an extreme height with my feet tied to a rubber band just to plummet towards the ground head first does not sound appealing to me at all!

7. What’s your favorite cereal?  

Trix. Silly Rabbit Trix are not just for kids!

8. What’s the first thing you notice about people? 

Their smile.

9. What is your eye color?  

Hazel.

   
10. Scary movie or happy endings? 

Scary movies scare the heck out of me so I would have to go with happy endings. 

11. Favorite smells?  

Cinnamon, Vanilla, Bath And Body Works Butterfly Flower and Ralph Lauren Romance.

12. Summer or winter? 

Winter. I'm a freak that likes when the sky is dark, plus I love the rain and the snow. 

13. Computer or television? 

That is kind of a tie! Both bring me the same amount of happiness!

14. What’s the furthest you’ve ever been from home? 

Hawaii.

15. Do you have any special talents? 

Does being naturally extremely clean and organized count as a talent?!

16. Where were you born? 

Oregon.

17. What are your hobbies? 

Photography, Blogging, Cooking, Crafting, Cleaning....

18. Do you have any pets? 

Yes, 3 boxers and a pug mix.

19. Favorite movie?  
I have a lot! Empire Records, Cry Baby, Practical Magic, Tombstone, The Wizard Of Oz, Back To The Future 1, 2 and 3...

20. Do you have any siblings? 

Yes a younger brother.

 

21. What do you want to be when you grow up? 

A great mom! I also want to be successful in whatever I decide to do!

Please Like!

I created a Facebook page for my blog! When you LIKE my page you will be able to stay updated on the blogs I have posted and the blogs I will be posting. Its also the best place for you to request blog posts you would like to see!

So please click here www.facebook.com/MommyMiaa and LIKE my page!

Sorry.....

Sorry I haven't posted in so long! Sickness hit our house and it hit it hard! All of us have been sick for over two weeks but we are all starting to feel better......thank goodness! There was one good thing that came out of laying in bed for weeks and that is the long list of blog post ideas that I came up with! I will go back to posting two days a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, next week so stay tuned!  I am excited to get back at it!