My new love...

Let me start off by saying I am not an earring person at all... I have had my ears pierced since I was 2 weeks old but have never worn earrings. I have super sensitive ears and my ears would always turn red and start hurting shortly after putting earrings in (within a few hours). I couldn't even wear gold, but I cannot wear gold rings either. Then as the older I got the more choices for earrings they had that guaranteed that they would not cause a reaction... I would try them here and there but never liked wearing them because they felt too heavy and sometimes it felt as if they were 'ripping' my ears because of the weight of them, especially hoops!

Yet, how cute are hoop earrings? They can go with any outfit too! I have always wanted to wear them, but was never able too until now... Yep, my new love is a pair of hoop earrings made by www.silvershedstudio.com. I just got them yesterday afternoon (around 7:30pm) and put them in as soon as I opened them! They were so cute, and even better so insanely light! I even forgot I had them on last night, and fell asleep with them in, which never happens!

I highly recommend checking these earrings out if you are looking for a cute pair of light weight hoops! (http://www.etsy.com/listing/52673134/slim-line-hoops). Oh, and if you do happen to check the site out, please look at the Ear Coils... They are so neat! I love them too (yep, I have those too). They are super easy to put in but look amazing in your ears! They are such a fun design, and they are a great price for a pair of earrings! Plus, the artist at Sliver Shed Studio is really nice, and gets your order out in such a timely manner! I couldn't be happier with this purchase! Thank you Casey from Sliver Shed Studio!

Here is a not so great picture of my awesome new earrings (its really hard to take a picture of your own ears... Which i didn't know until a Little while ago!)! And on a side note... I have earrings in!!! Woo hoo, one step to be a little more girly (see my post from yesterday).

Clover my girly girl

I am up late once again and decided before I head to bed I am going to make a blog post... Tonight's post is about Clover my girly girl. Let's be honest, I am so not a girly girl... I rare fix my hair, never do my nails, and if you see me with make-up its because I am going to a wedding or something important! But my little Clover is such a girly girl, which I love dearly, because I would love to be more girly but never have the time to do the girly things!

After I got my girls out of the bath tonight I put Clover's PJ's on her first and then she disappeared as I was get Willow ready for bed... I went to find her so I could brush her hair, and finish up our nightly routine and this is what I found... I should point out that I wasn't surprised she was doing this, I was surprised she was able to get the nail polish opened! I still cannot believe she did it... I have trouble opening them sometimes!




Until next time... good night!
~Lissa Lou

Wordless Wednesday!

Vegan Apple Pie Cupcakes Round 2

So, I decided to try another round of the vegan apple pie cupcakes and do them a tad different this time around.... I did a vanilla cupcake with pieces of freshly apple inside, and then filled the cupcakes with Carmel, topped with the vegan 'cream cheese' frosting and fresh pieces of baked Cinnamon apples.

Catching up. Busy few days

Well, the last few days have been hectic for me. Although, it was super busy, it was an amazing weekend, and this coming weekend is going to be even more busy and fun!

Friday I took my grandma to the hospital for surgery and spent over six hours there. Thankfully, she did well with her surgery and now we just hope she heals well (she is all bandaged up, and we cannot remove the bandages).

Saturday I found out I was going to be an Aunt again and I got guardianship over two little boys. Some would call this becoming a "Godmother" but since the little boy's parents are not in a church, it is considered guardianship here.

Sunday, was my little Willow's third birthday... Yes, I am very sad my baby is three already! But it was a fun day. We took her to the science museum, ate a great lunch, shopped, shopped, shopped, and visited family. Her birthday party will be this coming Saturday.

I have way to much to do today so this really should be all for now....

~Lissa Lou

Wordless Wednesday

“When you look at a cupcake, you've got to smile."

I am not a big fan of sweets in general... I eat what my husband calls the boringest cereal ever because I don't like the sweet ones, or the taste of sugar, and always have been this way... Even as a small child... Yet, I do have a weakness for cupcakes! I just love them! Yes, I am a cupcake junkie! No only do I love eating them, I love to bake them.

So, today I decided to make a batch of cupcakes for our dessert tonight... But not just any ole cupcake, I made vegan apple pie cupcakes (vanilla cake with pieces of apples), filled with freshly made apple filling, with a vanilla 'cream cheese' frosting, and then topped it with Carmel.

These cupcakes were made completely from scratch and they are completely vegan... But don't let the word vegan trick you... They are to die for! However, I have not tried one yet because I am trying hard to stick to my diet today! I just really wanted to back... My husband on the other hand has had 2 of them, and when I told him they were vegan he was a little surprised since they were so good!

Here is a picture... Please over look the messy presentation of the cupcake... My pastry bag had a hole in it at the base, so when I went to decorate this cupcake it turned out a mess and I had to toss my pastry bag and didn't have a backup one.

I am finally inked!

Oh yea, after waiting so ever long, I am a tattooed moma now :) I have to admit I kinda thought I was going to chicken out but I didn't, and I love it!!!! I didn't even tell my husband I was going to get it... And this trip had been in the works for MONTHS now! Yes, I can keep a secret! If you ever need someone to talk too then I am your girl :)

I have wanted a tat since I was probably 12 or so, but when I turned 18, I couldn't get one due to health issues, and then I became pregnant and between being pregnant four times, and having two children, I never got around to getting a tattoo. Yet, I have always loved them!

I have been planning on getting one since giving birth to Willow, but for whatever reasons I haven't made it yet. Last month was going to be the month! My best friend and I planned a day trip to have a pedi, lunch and then go get foot tattoos together, but the week we were supposed to go she had a fall and cracked a bone in her foot, so our trip got postponed, sadly! We were both super excited about it so we knew we were going to reschedule our trip as soon as we could.... Today was the day!

I of course I had planned on going with a moon & star design with stars for each of my 4 children, but because it was my first and I have issues with my BP (and thinner than normal blood) I was told I should get something smaller to see how my body did... So, that totally messed up the design I was going for and I had to go with plan B (thankfully I always have a plan b and had taken a back up design wiht me to the tat shop!)... So, I got a solo star on my left foot, and I plan on going back in a few months to get the moon and star design I wanted on my right foot. And yes, I do know stars are really common for tattoos but my name is Lissastarr, and yes that is 1 word, which really confuses people, but hey it gives me more rights to have a star tat on me!

Here is a picture of my new tattoo (let me know what you think)... PS over look my toes, Clover helped me paint them:

Kids make me laugh!

Tonight Clover said two of the funniest things... One perk of having children... you are always laughing! The first thing she said was after my husband said "opps I was wrong, daddy's can be wrong sometimes can't they?", then her reply was "yes, daddy can, but mommy is never wrong!" Sadly, I cannot remember what the second thing was... Maybe it will come to me in a bit! :)

Until my next post...
~Lissa Lou

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

I have decided that on every Wednesday from here on out I am going to do "Wordless Wednesday" post on here... What is wordless Wednesday? Wordless Wednesday will be when I just post a random picture(s) from that week... I won't describe the picture(s) in any way... It will just be the picture! So get ready for pictures :)

Don't just hear the music!

Music is a huge part of my life. I have always loved music and play my radio loud every day! Looking back I feel for my grandma (who raised me), because I would be up at 2 am blasting my music loudly. But to me it is much more than just hearing the song... It is the feeling I get when the music plays. I feel music in my soul. It relaxes me, it takes me to my happy place. So my thought for today is... "Don't just hear the music of life... Feel it in your soul"

I must stop staying up late!

I am not a person who is big on sleep in general... After all I feel it is taking away your life. If you stayed up an hour extra every night that is 7 hours every week that you could be doing something awesome with! I just happen to stay up a few hours late every night... Meaning I go to bed around 2am and wake up around 7am (sometimes... okay a lot of times earlier than that!).

Nights just happen to be my weakness when it comes to eating... I want to snack at night... And tonight I caved and had chips... Way to many chips! After I rocked my diet yesterday and today, I caved over greasy not so great chips? What is wrong with me?!?! I will not fall off track the rest of this week.... I will not!

I want to get to my goal weight so insanely bad right not it is not funny, yet I am so so so so so far away from it that it seams impossible... But I must get there!

~Lissa Lou

What does it mean to have 2 little girls?

Having two little girls means lots of PINK, crazy fashion styles, never slowing down, lots of attitude, tons of shoes and dresses, and at least a million hair-bows.

Today we started working on Willow's big girls room. Which means lots of painting for me, taking out her toddler bed and putting in a big girls bed, new decor, etc. I will post before & after pictures once we are finished.

Also today both of my girls decided they wanted their ears pierced and after side-tracking Clover about it for a few months now I finally caved and let her get her done first, once Willow saw Clover's ears she had to have earrings too so we took her and got hers done as well. I decided not to get their ears pierced as babies and had always said once they were old enough to ask me to have their pierced and actually wanted to wear earrings, then I would let them. Clover started asking a few months ago but I kept putting it off because I just wasn't ready and wasn't sure how she would react... But after 3 days of her asking me all day, I decided she was ready and really wanted it done. I dropped Willow off at my grandma's house and we sat out to have Clover's ears pierced... She didn't fully understand what would happen and she HATED the noise the ear piercing gun made but a few mins after her ears were done she was in love with her new Minnie Mouse earrings (I let her pick out what earrings she wanted, and she decided on a pair of gold Minnie Mouse ones). We got her a little surprise for being such a big girl and then we went to pick up Willow. Willow noticed Clover's ears right away and started asking for her own earrings... And I said what the heck, and we took Willow and let her pick out a pair of earrings too. She also decided to go with the gold Minnie Mouse ones. And she is also in love with her new earrings and so very proud of them!

Here are pictures of my girls with their new earrings and one of Clover's ear piercing outfit (yes, she HAD to wear this outfit to town to get her ears pierced)! I still can't believe they are getting so big on me!

Determined

I am flat out determined to get under a certain weight before October!!! I must do it for my health... both mental and physical. I did start a new diet on Monday of this week but I kinda have been cheating every day... Meaning I haven't stuck to the diet once all week! But today is a new day and I have stuck to the diet so far today and I will stick to it the rest of today, tomorrow and Sunday! Hopefully I will like what the scale has to say on Monday morning! Wish me luck.

~Lissa Lou

My day of freedom!

So yesterday was a day of freedom for me... Clover was supposed to be in surgery yesterday morning but due to her seizures they have decided it would be best if the waited until she is of 'better health' to do the surgery.

This was such a huge relief for me, because I was super nervous about her going through another surgery. However, I had already lined up a sitter for Willow, my mother-in-law who wanted to go ahead and watch both girls yesterday so I could get a few things done around the house... I had planned on painting Willow's bedroom, but my slacker butt did not get around too it... Instead I decided to watch "Remember Me".

The movie was good... A total chick-flick for sure which is something I rarely watch... After all I am a horror movie junkie! The one thing I really liked about 'Remember Me' is the ending... It was totally out of no where so you couldn't figure the movie out. Which is always a major plus in my book since I normally figure movies out a few mins into them.

I have to say I enjoyed the time off.... It was super nice to just do nothing! However I will be making up for that today... And today is going to be a super crazy hetic busy day.

Well that is all for now... Maybe I will do something super fun today and post abot it later... heck I doubt that will happen since my day is to busy!

~Lissa Lou

Hi, I am Lissa Lou and I am an addict!

Yes, it is true I have addictions... More than one to be honest with myself. Honest is a good thing so let me talk about all of my known addictions.

The worse one is my addiction to shopping. Oh yea, I am a total shopaholic! It sounds silly but if you have seen the movie "Confessions of a Shopaholic" then you have had a peek inside of my world. I was never a 'shopper' until after I had Clover. Once I had a baby girl my shopping went out of control and I have never found control of it. But I should state that I do not have credit cards! If I do not have cash then I do not buy it! But they are so many cute outfits, shoes, toys, etc for little girls and I am always buying new stuff... In fact after I finish this blog post I am going to run by my office and then coming home to do a little online back-to-school clothing shopping for Clover!!! But honestly I will buy anything if I like it... and I am always shopping! Yikes, I hate to think how much money I have spent over the past 10 years on stuff I did not need and should not have bought.

Another addiction of mine is downloading music... and again I should state I do pay for it! Which could go along with my shopping addiction. But I just realized that I have spent $70 this month on downloading music... However, music is a huge part of my life so it is something I cannot do without!

I am also addicted to high-heels... Yet I never wear them! I can't walk in them but dang I love them! I have to have them! I really need to start cleaning my house in them so I can learn to walk in them and wear them out and about! Although, where would I go in my tiny country town?!?

Well, I really need to run to the office really quick.... But I will be back (to shop & blog)! :)

Lator gators,
Lissa Lou

Down 4

So, I told you I would be annoying you with my dieting ups and downs and this post is just that... An annoying diet post!

I do weekly weigh-ins and they are always on Monday mornings. So, I wanted to report I have lost 4 lbs since last Monday. Which is really good considering our big cookout last night. I expected to see a +1 or +2. I am thankful I am down and I am going to work even harder this week!

You can only ever be you!

So many people spend their time wishing for things out of their reach, or wishing they were someone else... But in reality you can only ever be you!

If you want something in life bad enough you will find a way to get it. If you want to change then change, if you want to try something then try it, if you you want to live, then live fully!

In today's world so many people take the simple way out. Life is not about simple. Life is about living! My new moto is "NO EXCUSES!". From today forward I am not going to make excuses... I am just going to do things! And I think I already started living this way just a bit a few days ago when I decided to go red... I had been blonde my whole entire life and never thought about dying my hair but always loved red hair, after hearing my sweet little Clover ask me to "get red hair like Jessie"... I just did it... I could have had made a hundred excuses but I didn't... I just did it. It felt great because it was a crazy thing for me to do... Yet, it wasn't all that crazy (women dye their hair daily in America... but not me!).

So many people are unhappy and find any and everything they can to use as an excuse... But not me ever again. I am just going to focus on living and not wasting my time wishing my life away...

Which also brings me to my big goal... LOSING MY WEIGHT! I really need to get my weight down to do the things I want out of life... So, starting today no excuses... I am just going to do what I need too so I can live! Wish me luck. I do not fair well at diets... Obviously, or I would not need to lose weight!

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy Independence Day America!!! With every Independence Day comes our tradiontal cookout. Here are a few pictures from today:

Lissa Lou the Redhead!

So,I have NEVER dyed or even thought about dying my hair before. However today my sweet little Clover asked me if I could have red hair like Jessie (the cowgirl from Toy Story). I had always wanted red hair, but have been blonde my entire life, yes, I am a nature blonde, and didn't want to 'risk' a coloring woo. After hearing her sweet "pleaseeeee mommy, get red hair" I caved... And now I am a redhead... I do what to point out that I wasn't brave enough to do a permanent color, so I did one that is supposed to wash out in 28 washes.... Here I am as a newly dyed redhead:

Finally a post not about my kids...

Okay, I know I am not the most interesting person ever... But I finally have a post to make that isn't about my daughters... However, I am sorry to say it is kid (and craft) related...LOL!

My best friend's daughter just had a birthday (she is the same age as my oldest daughter) and she loves the Wizard of Oz! For her birthday I wanted to do something special besides just giving her the Girl Scout Daisy vest I got her (she is going to be a Daisy this fall) so I decided I was going to make her hairbows... I LOVE hairbows on little girls. Here is what I came up with for her: