Wednesday, January 29

Milestones & Memories Among Family & Friends

Hey Friends!

I hope you all survived the super cold weather! I can tell you that down here it was freezing! So cold that like most other parts of Wisconsin, our district closed down for two days.  This meant I was stuck in an apartment trying to entertain myself.  Other than doing the usual workouts, cleaning and cooking, I decided that I was going to take this opportunity to scrapbook some pages!

Page one...the Color Run [Part 2]



I love the colors of this page!  I wanted to show how colorful and festive the run was!  Our team [The Rainbow Brites!] had a blast!  I didn't feel we needed much journaling because the photos spoke for themselves.  However, I did write in our [estimated] running time [32 minutes.]



I actually don't care for my handwriting on this page.  I need a thicker marker to journal with...I also need better handwriting!  Haha!  Oh well!


So instead of writing the title, I used good old stickers that I found randomly!  I love the dot look...they looked a lot more sophisticated than "average stickers."


The second set is from Chris and Jackie's wedding from this past October!  This set was special and therefore deserved THREE pages dedicated to the entire ordeal...after all Chris is one of my favorite cousins [our mother's are sisters so us kids were together a lot more than the other cousins] and we just love Jackie...so this page deserved a little more dedication.  

Naturally...that was stressful for me.  But here are the results!  First off...the ceremony pictures!


We didn't get a lot of photos because I was playing and the lights kept on dimming on and off.  [It was thundering like mad outside!  Which is what Chris always wanted for his wedding!].   I also didn't want to be snapping ten million photos when Kasey and Ben were taking photos.  I also didn't want to interrupt the wedding with my flash.  But nevertheless these photos captured the moments perfectly.   I was super happy I was able to add part of the invitation to the page as well.

My most favorite part was adding in the bulbs.  I am shocked on how straight I got the Stickles to work for me!



This page is from their reception...clearly lots of photos of the family! [See how I did NOT journal again--this time I typed up the title because I seriously hate my handwriting with the pen that I currently have!]


While the previous page was all about circles...this one was not.  This one has many more straight edges [my favorite] and flowers!  This page was hard to assemble because I had so many photos that I wanted to include!  

I also wanted to include better embellishments.  I added letter brands to this page as well.  The ones that I picked were done on purpose.  I wanted our first initials mentioned near both Kyle and I.  


This one speaks about "us" aka our family.  Our newest addition being my wonderful fiancé!



I also like this embellishment.  I had a hard time making the brass frame stick.  I had to pull out the cool gun.  I also glued down the ribbon.   I like how it turned out.  I didn't need to explain any further...the people above are family members...all cousins!


This page is very sentimental for me because it contains the last known photo I have of my late Uncle John, who passed away shortly after the wedding.



I wanted to include it no matter what; even if I had to reprint it because I screwed up the photo.  Thankfully I got the layout right the first time!  However, I did have a minor meltdown.  I cut up the photo of Uncle John [upper right] dancing with Chad and Kyle in half.  I wanted to feature Uncle John, but I couldn't justify throwing away the other half of the photo.  [Even though it is a picture of my obnoxious, but lovable brother.]  I felt I would be throwing a part of John away...so I salved the photo by using it in the page as well, as it's own!  That part of the picture is on the far top left of the photo below!

I love the color schemes and I think it suited the wedding perfectly!  Both events were magical times and very special moments in my life.  I am happy I now have them in my scrapbook!

That's all for now!  Stay warm everybody!

<3
Em

Monday, January 27

Thank You for the Libros

Hi Everybody!

I have been getting LOTS of feedback on my food!  Just tonight I was told by a co-worker that I have "inspired him to start cooking."  [Um, Awesome!]

So I want to start sharing some of my fabulous cooking tips and foods I have been working with!  However, not tonight!  Tonight I am going to share some of the books that I love and have motivated me to start cooking healthier in the first place! I think it's important to give homage to books that inspire you and I feel cookbooks don't get enough of it!

The top 3 books that have inspired me to cook better...

#3 <frame<by<frame Asian Cooking



This book got me to actually cook...without needing my friend Leah to hold my hand.  The pictures are beautiful and helpful, especially with the odd asian foods you don't normally see.  This book got me to go into an Asian grocery store for the first time.    I learned all about different sauces and how to use a wok properly.  I just recently found out that it is part of a series...which makes me PUMPED!  There is a baking version...perhaps I can finally try to master the art of OCD food making!


#2 Healthy Eating By Susanna Holt



This was another first cookbook I got.  I hated how she had so many ingredients for the recipes.  Once I got all of the spices though, making food from this book was a lot easier.  I also liked the introduction on how to keep whole foods and whole grains the centerpiece of your diet.    Some of my favorite recipes come from this book!  Sadly the sequel, Fit Food wasn't as yummy as this one.

And the number one book that inspired me to cook clean, healthy and yummy was...

#1 Clean Eating by Tosca Reno



I found this book at BN one day while looking for another Susanna Holt Book.  This book changed my life.  She goes into significant detail about what clean eating is, how clean eating works biologically and how to change from a poor diet to clean eating.  I read this book cover to cover that night.  I love it.   Her recipes also look good...I've yet to try one.  (I accidentally shipped my copy to my parent's house so I have to wait to get it from them before I can cook from it.)

So there you have it...three books that have inspired me to eat better!  If you are looking for some good clean food, I would easily in a heartbeat recommend these books!

Stay Warm!

<3
Em