This weekends Mindless Reading!Blonde Ambition by Zoey Dean. I haven't even cracked the spine yet, so I have no information to share! I just picked it up because it was pink! hahaa!
Enjoy the weekend Readers!
~Michelle!~
Hello Thursday! Another week that just seems to be flying by! I can't believe that it is finally starting to feel like Spring here in the Midwest! Yay! This weeks blog ring has us trying to get motivated! Sometimes you just want to sit back and not do anything or you just are not in the mood to create. I sometimes get so frustrated during these blocks that I just don't have any solutions on how to get back on track. A few things that seem to help me out are:
Mondays are overwhelming! I actually did manage to list some new stuff though! Head on over and check it out please!
Just a nice and light topic today! I am an avid reader, I LOVE LOVE LOVE to read alot and usually always have a book or two in my purse! I thought today I would share with you the books I have sitting on my nightstand right now, since I decided to take a break and blog. My novel is Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. I decided on this one simply because it was in the book exchange rack at the gymnastics center that my kids belong to and I had just finished reading a book, so it worked out well. I am only on page 24 as I just started reading this about 20 minutes ago! haha! So far so good! Hope it keeps up. Have you read this yet? Let me know what you thought!
My next book is the Lonely Planet Guide to Mexico. Yes, I'm Mexican and Yes, I have been to Mexico plenty of times, but I figured it would be better to be prepared this year. When we went last year, we found ourselves regretting not taking more time to travel to smaller cities and do more unknown things as well as the 'norm'. This time we are well prepared with a calendar and plotted out days and day trips and even some overnighters. It will be perfect all around. I love picking up the now well-worn pages of this book and flipping through all the cities that we can possibly make it to. Our trip is in December and we will be going for 2 weeks for the Holidays. That should be a lot of fun!
Hello Thursday! Today were are sharing our favorite shops with you! These shops also happen to be members of the EART TEAM! My first fave is EDCcollective, I have ordered from her before and her work is amazing! I love her photographs and so many of her earrings too! She is super sweet and very professional to work with. I have my eye on some other items in her shop too! She has a great selection of items to choose from in her shop, my favorites are the bookmarks, but that could be because I am addicted to reading! hahah! Take a browse around and tell me what you think!
There are too many shops to choose from on our team! haha! Another favorite one is PNKGEENI cards. She has the cutest and most creative cards and great quality! Please take a minute to browse her shop and pick up some cards for the upcoming holidays!! Enjoy!
A quick dress up revival for your shop! Change up your featured items at the top of your shop so that you can bring inventory from the back, up to the front without having to renew them! I love playing with color themes in order to get it all to flow!
Back with my end of the week report about my fruit cleanse! I am now 6 pounds and 2 ounces lighter 5 days into my cleanse. I followed a strict fruit/organic juice only cleanse and let me tell you, I do not have the boundless energy I was supposed to have! hahaha!!! I am actually finally not feeling delerious though! I will continue with the rest of the day, but dinner tonite I will most likely have a salad or soup as it is my Fathers birthday today and we are taking him out to dinner! I am really thrilled with the results and hope that this truly did jump start the rest of the weight I have to lose! I will admit that I do feel 100% healthier and I definatly did not think twice about having a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie this morning that the kids were having! It was so easy to just grab my banana and fresh squeezed orange juice! This is definately a good way to drop those stinky 5 pounds that are hanging around, as long as you continue to eat healthy! Otherwise they will just jump back on :) I hit the gym every morning along with the fruit cleanse, but I was already doing that and just getting frustrated at the lack of results!
This Thursday we are talking about the Eart Streat Team and what brought us to the team. The Eclectic Artisans Etsy Street Team is just what it says, a group of Eclectic Tastes in Artistry all brought together with 2 common goals; Friendship and Promotion. It's an amazing group of ladies that I am proud to be a member and leader of. What brought me to this team? I was a seller on an old site awhile ago, that seemed to just crumble beneath us and many of us had become friends there and still wanted to be in touch. Jenn, our former leader decided to start a Street Team of people from that site, but we wanted to also open it up to new people too! I joined straight away and became the co-leader. As Jenn got busier and busier with her shop, family and wholesale orders, she passed the reigns to me and here I am now! Trying to find a balance between shop online, shops in the real world and a family of 3 children under the age of 5 is sometimes hectic. Especially in times like this month where right after the stomach flu hit all 5 of us, we moved straight into Ear Infections, not even missing a day in between!! The good thing about this team? They all banded together and the team is still running smoothly!! Everyone works together and stuff always gets donw! I'm proud of each and every member! They try so hard and it shows. If you are ever looking for a team to join, I highly encourage you to look in EART, we are a fun, friendly group of ladies!
I have spoken before of the weight I have been losing and the success I have had thus far. I have lost about 50 pounds and am so thrilled with it! I am in a size 6 pant and I never thought I would see the day again! I still have 25 stubborn pounds that don't seem to be leaving me at all lately. I am working out every morning and still eating 1000 calories a day. I decided to try something in the past 2 days, since I have been incredibly sick and full pf negative energy. I have decided to try a 3 day fruit cleanse and see where that leaves me. I am eating nothing by FRESH fruits and drinking tea, water or organic PURE juice. There is a good article on a cleanse here. 
This thursdays blog ring asks what are we working on? This photo about sums it up for me. My kids are getting busier and busier, so I am driving around alot more, I am cooking 100% more and I am constantly making or buying something for school. Pretty much my shop has been neglected and I have barely had time to eek out new things! I am far from complaining as I love what I do with my kids and I love being a stay at home mom, it just seems my focus has shifted a bit this year! Have no fear, the shop is still up and running and I am trickling in new things as much as I can! I am in fact adding in new pieces today!!
It's time for another giveaway!! This time I am giving away a 15.00 gift certificate to my shop!
As the Valentine holiday approaches, everyone begins to make or finalize their plans. Romance is on the agenda for some, fun for others, girls and guys nights out, parties and dances and the like. Others call it a Hallmark Holiday and choose to treat it as any other day. As far back as I can remember, I would wake up on Valentine's Day and have a gift basket of goodies waiting for me outside of my bedroom door. My parents are such awesome people, that to this day I still get something for Valentines Day! haha! They just include my husband and our kids now! I knew right off the bat, that I wanted to be the same kind of parents, so we treat Valentines Day just as the other big holidays. Balloons and little gift baskets of goodies and fun. We will also be heading out to dinner as a family, most likely Japanese (our favorite) and then off bowling (our daughters favorite activity) and back at home to watch a movie (our oldest son wanted to do this). Pretty much we just do whatever the kids would like to do for fun!
