Weekend festivities

I was so tired yesterday! I felt like I worked 24/7 the last 3-days and needed another day to just relax.

On Saturday, we went out for our normal family walk in the morning and then took JOE to her swim class. She had a lot of fun with her daddy. Next week, it's my turn to go in the pool with her.

Afterwards, we did the household shopping and went back home to clean up. I got JOE cleaned up and then I cleaned up myself. Then I headed out to get some outfits for JOE while J watched JOE. She is getting taller and most of her clothes are too short on her so we needed to get her some Fall items. We have been so blessed that up until now, we haven't had to pay for clothes for her except for an item here or there.

I was TIRED when I got back but J wasn't feeling well so it was JOE and I for the rest of the evening.

Sunday, I decided to start the new week with a new attitude. I FINALLY finished pumping last week Sunday. Made it to a little over 10-months. I have enough milk in the deep freezer to get JOE through her first birthday and after a bout of mastitis, I was ready to start working on getting my body back before #2.

I am going to start by replacing one meal a day with a green smoothie. My first green smoothie ever! It was spinach, grapes, blueberries and pears.

It actually was quite drinkable and I didn't gag. I did learn that I had TOO MUCH in there! So I decided to half the items and use the smaller cup. Today is day 3 and so far, so good.

On Sunday, JOE and I went for a long morning walk after watching the service online. Then we got cleaned up and headed out to lunch with my very good friend.

Here are JOE and her Aunt Kelly enjoying some smiles after lunch.

On my way home, JOE fell asleep so I didn't have the heart to wake her up. She slept for a good hour and half so I decided to take advantage of that and make throw pillows for our couch. 

Overall, it was a full and busy weekend and I feel like I could use a day off! Oh well...back to the grind I go. Another weekend will be here before I know it :-). 

Have a fabulous week!

Refashion DIY: Wrap skirt to 3/4 length skirt

I decided to venture into the world of adult sewing. BUT before doing that, I decided to first refashion something and make it into a skirt that I can wear. 

I have had this wrap skirt forever. It must be at least 12-years old! But I could never part with it because I have always loved the material. I am glad I saved it. 

So this is the original wrap skirt.

I used another skirt I already had that fit and cut it up with a 2-inch allowance just incase. 

I sewed a zipper on the side with the v-cut in the picture.

Final skirt. Not bad for a first go at my first DIY adult wear :-).

This is the side with the zipper. I re-attached the side ropes because I want to be able to tie a bow with it to cover the zipper somewhat.

Front view. These pictures were taken at night at the end of the day so I didn't want to include my wrapped and not so flattering look :-).

Expertise needed: Comfortable beginner. I only say comfortable because I added a zipper. It was my first time doing that and it took a little bit of effort. I finally ended up hand-sewing one side of the zipper because it just wasn't coming out right.

Total approximate cost: $0.00! Cost me nothing. I already had the material at home.

Time spent sewing: 1-hour. Would have been less if I didn't have to keep re-doing the zipper.

Feedback: I am glad I am able to use this material again. I have a few African materials that my mom has given me over the years that I haven't had a chance to wear to any events because there aren't that many. I am glad I can still make use of these materials as an everyday wear. 

When frustrated, throw pillows! Another DIY

It was a very busy weekend and I needed an outlet so these pillows were my outlet :-). 

I looked at some pillows at Marshalls, Bed Bath and Beyond and Home Goods and just was NOT willing to pay the price. So I decided to get some fabric from Wal-mart and make them myself using instructions from Pinterest. 

They had pre-made pillows at the right size but those cost $6.99 each! So instead, we got these for $2.50 each and I used the stuffing.

Expertise needed: Beginner...you just need to know how to measure and use a sewing machine.

Total Approximate Cost: $24 for 5-pillows. ($7.50 for the pillows used as stuffing and $16.50 for all the sewing materials)

Time spent sewing: This took a total of 2-hours. I did them all while JOE took her afternoon nap.

Feedback: I am new at doing invincible stitches. That's what's needed to close the pillows. I am still learning and will watch a few more YouTube videos to perfect it. I will do more pillows again in the future.

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Back in the day...Mini-moon in New York

I was reminiscing about our honeymoon in 2011. We first went on a mini-moon to New York for a few days in April right after we were married and then we went on our actual honeymoon to Paris in June of the same year. We wanted to have awesome weather when we went on our honeymoon so we could enjoy the outdoors and we sure did.

But before I blog about our honeymoon, I wanted to first blog our mini-moon cause we had so much fun. It was just a few days after we'd gotten married. We hopped on the train from South Station in Boston to New York's Grand central station. It was so nice to travel care-free and just enjoy being newly weds.

This was an interesting ad. Why? Because if I can read this, I don't need to learn English!

We didn't make it onto Ellis Island because we didn't buy tickets ahead of time and by the time we got there, they were sold out. Oh well...we planned on going there later on that year but we never did. Life happened I guess :-).

Yup...still had the newly wed glow :-)

Our first real dinner as husband and wife. 

Top of the Empire State Building

New York, New York!!!

The beautiful Skyline.

Gotta take a picture here when you come to NY. We looked so young!

Welcoming teddy.

It was nice viewing these pics again.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Foolery: Things that made me go hmmm...

My heart bleeds for the victims and families of this tragedy! I work in DC so this hit close to home. I actually interviewed at the Navy Yard a few years back but declined the job because it did not offer a telework option.
What would possess someone to do something this horrible? What bothers me more is the fact that according to the news, he has a pattern of misconduct. If that was indeed the case, why wasn't he arrested and kept in jail after several infractions?
These victims were people serving their country. They did NOT deserve this.

Since the holidays are coming up and some folks will be renting cars. Take note of this. Car rental companies will now be using smart technology as opposed to foolish to determine if the gas tank is really full. No more eye-balling it by the folks who process your return. Make sure you fill up as close to the return location as possible to avoid charges.

On to other positive news. Good for this woman! As someone who also has a long name (by American standards), I think everyone should be able to write their name in full. Granted as an IT person, this is a computer programmer's nightmare when it comes to making changes to their programs to allow for this length but I think everyone should feel like they are recognized and shouldn't have to conform to the norm of shortening their names or coming up with a new shorter one.

Hurray for diversity!