Do it for...

Here I go again... I am trying really hard to be healthy!  Today I ate right and I went to my personal trainer... I am proud of myself.  I wish everyday could be that easy, but I won't say I am not going to keep trying.  Instead of eating out of boredom I decided to make a "do it for..." word collage with buzz words on why being healthy is so important to me.  Of course, cute clip art had to be included!

Do it for...

I am going to look to this when I doubt myself and need that extra motivation.  Feel free to use this to motivate you too!

So... what are you going to do it for?

Admit One...

What do concerts, movie theaters, carnivals, fairs, plays, comedy shows, sports events, etc.etc.etc. have in common? They all require you to have a ticket.  A ticket that, after used for admission, can represent a great memory.  So what do you do with those keepsakes? Place them on a cork board, a ribbon board, scrapbook them, or stick them in a drawer?  I've done all of the above, but recently I discovered a great way to display those keepsake tickets for all to see.  I came across a ticket shadow box on Pinterest (duh).  My boyfriend, Greg, is all about movies and he has been saving the ticket stubs since before I met him (and we've been dating 10 years, so its been a long time), so I decided to make a ticket shadow box for him.

Drum roll please... anyone?

TADA! This is the final product. 

This ticket box was really easy to make.  I used:

• A $20 12x12 shadow box from Michael's (I could have saved some money if I had planned ahead and shopped around)
• Black card stock
• Sparkly gold card stock
• Red card stock
• Tape
• Hot glue
• Scissors/ an Exacto knife
• A ticket graphic I made on Microsoft Word (as seen in the photos)
• And a saw (well... my uncle used something, I'm assuming, in the saw family to cut a small slit on the top of the box so that the tickets can be dropped in). 

I cut the black card stock the same size as the backing of the shadow box and used the sparkly gold paper and the tickets I printed out on red paper to decorate it.  I made sure everything I added was up towards the top, so that when tickets are added to the box it will still be visible.  So fun putting the tickets in the box!!

Greg's birthday gift definitely had an unintentional ticket theme this year.  In addition to the ticket shadow box I made tickets to represent presents that were not wrappable. I bought advance tickets to "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" for the IMAX theater in Providence for July 21st and a cooking class that we will be doing on July 28th.  Here are the tickets I made:

 

Now it's time to start thinking lottery tickets... cue the daily "I wish I were a gazillionaire" day dream...

Summer Eats

This month has been packed with fun activities and I've been seeing a lot of my best friend Nikki, which has been awesome!  So far I have:

• Eaten a 5.3 pound lobster
• Gone to a 4th of July party
• Gone on a mini shopping spree
• Gone to a surprise birthday party 
• Gone to the beach
• Tried veggie cheese and pepperoni
• Made cupcakes for a baby shower
• Gone to a belated birthday dinner
• Had a BBQ/camp fire party
• Made burger cupcakes
• Made antipasto skewers
• Played "Dream Phone"
• Gone to a winery
• Eaten the best garlic knots EVER

... just to name a few things ;) ... here's a visual of some of my July excitement:

Lots of summer fun and delicious-ness... and although the 5.3lb lobster was my favorite, I had a lot of fun making antipasto skewers and hamburger cupcakes to share with my friends...

Feel free to print these recipe cards so that you can share some delicious food with your friends too!

Now on to the next half of July...

What are your favorite summer eats or activities?

Veggie What?

Veggie cheese and pepperoni? I know, sounds strange... but oddly enough, not that bad... actually, pretty yummy!  For lunch today I made a simple salad and a flatbread pizza.  I used Flatout Foldit Flatbread in rosemary and olive oil for the pizza crust, Veggie Shreds "mozzarella cheese", Yves Meatless Pepperoni, sauce, onions, and cherry tomatoes.  Here's the step-by-step:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. While oven heats,  dice a small amount of red onion, cut 2 cherry tomatoes in thirds and cut 3 slices of meatless pepperoni (I made 2 slices vertically and then 2 slices horizontally... or did I do horizontally first... haha).   
3. Cut the flat bread in half and lightly spray with cooking spray on both sides.
4. Put the flatbread in the oven and allow the flatbread to crisp/warm just a little.
5. Remove flat bread halves and top with 1/2- 1 tablespoon of sauce (per flatbread), 1/4 cup veggie cheese divided, and the "pepperoni", onions, and tomatoes.
6. Return the pizzas to the oven and cook until cheese is somewhat melted (this cheese does not fully melt like real cheese as you can see in my pictures) and the flatbread is crisped to your liking.  The "pepperoni" does crisp a bit, just like real pepperoni, which was good. 
7. Enjoy your flatbread pizzas.  I had mine with a small salad (part of a romaine heart, some red pepper, extra virgin olive oil, and red wine vinegar). 

PointsPlus® value 5

You can really put anything on top of these pizzas for a yummy lunch, I bet olives would be delish...   I have also made a pizza with Flatout's Original Flatbread, which is a larger oval-ish shape, but they are a bit thinner and they do not crisp up as well as the Flatout Foldits. 

What would you put on your pizza?

Cheers!

Water... (insert water haiku here).  What can I say about water?  Water is quite boring, but it's SO SO good for you.  I've been trying to drink more water on my quest to be healthier, but I always end up chugging way too much way too fast and then I have to, ah-hem, run to the ladies room.  This wouldn't be a problem for most people, maybe just a little annoying, BUT I work at daycare and have to page for bathroom breaks.  I HAVE TO ASK PERMISSION TO PEE... ugh... and sometimes most of the time no one even comes. 

BUT ALAS!! I have found a solution that has been working really well for me (and it involves a bit of bedazzling!)

I bought three bottles for $5 each and some stick on gems from Target (the bottles just so happened to match my lunch containers that I got at Home Goods... pure bliss).  I divided the water bottles by hours in the day so that I drink a certain amount of water by a certain time.  I have to finish the green bottle by 11 a.m. , the pink bottle by 3 p.m. , and the blue bottle by 7 p.m.  With the water bottles I am drinking at least 96 ounces of water a day (sometimes more)!! I have found that by spacing out my water consumption I do not have to go to the bathroom as often as I did when I was chugging Poland Springs. These bottles are so quick and easy to make!! Cheers, to more water!

Anyone else have any tricks for making water more fun?

The original idea I found pinned on Pinterest (follow me) from: http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/