My DIY Shabby Chic Mirror Project

Yes, you read that title correct. I, Brittney, started and finished a DIY project. Not only that, but it is a project that upon completion wasn't instantly thrown in the trash. I often joke that I am incapable of DIY projects, but the fact is that I try them. I try many! They either don't get finished or they are awful. I rank myself below an amateur DIYer, although I think this project has just upgraded me to amateur status!

I am giddy.

So here's the story.

A couple of months ago I went downtown in my little hometown and did some shopping at The Prairie Chick Market. I was admiring everything she has in her store, somehow trying to figure out how to fit an entire gorgeous taupe hutch with white milk glass into my car. Then, out of the corner of my eye I saw a mirror. It was ornate and gold and instantly an idea was sparked. For some time I have been wanting to find a pair of mirrors that were ornate and fabulous.  The odds of finding such a pair without spending an arm and leg has been the main reason why I had not pursued it further.

This shopping trip changed my whim of an idea into a reality.

I commented to Shelly (owner) that I had plans for finding a pair of mirrors when she told me she had another mirror just like the one I was looking at. It was a different shade of gold, but the frame was the same.

EXCITEMENT.

I went home that day with a bounce in my step because I had found my mirrors. The task of figuring out how in the world I was going to make them fabulous was about to embark.

Here they are. As you can see, they were mismatched color but identical frames. Allow me to bring you through my process visually to the end result:

I have a sophisticated craft room in my house. Oh, wait.  Nope. I painted them out in our storage shed on a cardboard box and piece of wood. Classy.

RESULT:

Words cannot contain the amount of joy I feel. Joy over two mirrors? Heck yes. For a very long time I have wanted to have amazing mirrors on either side of our headboard in our master bedroom and now that dream is a reality.

I'm guessing that after posting this I'm going to head on over to Pinterest to peruse for more ideas for DIY projects. The creativity gates have been opened!

Come pin with me: http://www.pinterest.com/eyeenjoy/

10 Day Detox Diet Conclusion

I've been trying to think of the best way to describe my results from my 10 Day Detox. I have created multiple posts, but they remain sitting as drafts because I haven't been able to pinpoint the most important elements from my experience without writing a novel.

The 10 Day Detox for me, has shifted my perspective about food immensely. To my own fault, I often times found myself driven to eat foods not because I was hungry, but because I was addicted to it. I wanted to eat food not because it was nourishing to my body, but because I was rewarding myself with that cupcake. Or three. Or, it was a really tough day! I just wanted to sit down and snack on some chips. It's sounds terrible to put that out in the open for anyone to read, but quite frankly I was addicted to food! Driven by food. If I exercise really hard this week, that will cancel out the bad food I ate, right? Wrong.

Becoming healthy again has never been a matter of "if," but "when." When am I going to stop buying macaroni & cheese for the kids? When am I going to stop buying Schwan's frozen foods because they are convenient? When am I going to stop buying Diet Coke? When am I going to start cooking again? WHEN?

I completely by accident stumbled upon this Detox, and it has answered every one of my questions. It is time to get healthy again, now.

The 10 Day Detox Diet by Dr. Mark Hyman is a book. I bought it off Amazon after accidentally finding it on Pinterest a couple weeks ago and it has addressed many of the reasons why it was so difficult for me to find a path back to a healthy lifestyle. The name of the book itself? Yuck, I don't like the title, to be brutally honest. It sounds like a fad diet. It should be titled, "The Road Back To Health." Yet, I am clearly not an author so my idea doesn't even count! lol

Also, what in the world sounds appealing about the word detox? Not a dang thing.

I have done detoxes before. I absolutely do not like the nagging feeling of being hungry all the time. The appeal of chewing off my arm does not necessarily motivate someone to say, "yes, let's go ahead and starve ourselves for a month and see how well we do."

No.

But this detox? This detox was the first time I stepped away from addictive foods that had somehow crept into our lives and made themselves at home. And these addictive foods weren't cookies and brownies. They were bread, granola bars, cheese, chips, crackers, noodles!!

Of course I still crave things, of course I would love to snack on chips or something sweet. Yet, I've learned that my brain is no longer hardwired to demand those foods because I literally detoxed my body from them. I can actually use willpower to make decisions that my brain was hardly giving me the chance of doing prior to this experience.

Detox. This literally was a detox. I experienced headaches and fatigue the first couple of days. My body ached, I felt edgy and moody. My body was recognizing that the addictive foods were no longer being presented. It's shocking to read through my journal entries in the first couple of days, because there was a degree of discomfort. Not hunger. Not starvation. Physical discomfort from not eating addictive foods. Then, like a cliche romance novel, after two or three days into it a cloud was lifted from my head and it all felt immensely clear.

Willpower works for me now, because I no longer "need," the foods that were preventing me from being healthy. The book helped me to let go of the guilt and punishment I was giving myself for not being strong enough to just stop eating bad food. The book helps you every day through the detox, and provides recipes, resources and ideas for doing more than just adjusting your food intake.

There are supplements that Dr Hyman sells through his website, but he also outlines what each supplement is suggested, so you can find your own if you so choose. There are also daily baths each night during the detox using Epsom salts, baking soda and Lavender essential oils. The first few baths I sat there, putting in my time, trying to figure out what in the world these were for. Fast forward: Now I look forward to my bath. It's a form of meditation, healing, relaxation. Something that I wasn't allowing myself to do in our fast-paced lives. This book is so much more than just food.

The food itself? What does the detox involve? I have eliminated the following from my diet entirely: gluten, dairy, sugar, artificial sweeteners, fruit, sodas and juice. If you are asking yourself, "what's left to eat?" after reading my list, you are not alone. I was TERRIFIED to try this detox. (previous blog post: I Am Terrified To Try This Detox) So many things were flying through my head. How will I be able to feed my family? How am I going to stay full from eating vegetables all day? What in the world am I getting myself into?

I say with 100% confidence that it is worth every moment. I am now eating some of the healthiest and delicious foods I have ever eaten - mostly because my tastebuds now taste a smoothie with blueberries and strawberries and recognize it as the sweetest and delicious thing possible. Instead of eating a blueberry before this detox thinking it was a little sweet, bland or bitter in comparison. Well no kidding. A blueberry in comparison to pure chocolate? Or to the sweetest of sweet artificial sweeteners? Poor blueberries don't stand a chance. Not unless you reprogram your tastebuds. Healthy food simply tastes better after this detox. I lost 8.5 pounds during the ten days. That floored me. I wasn't expecting it.

This detox also made the connection for me - one I've heard a million times. We are what we eat. I truly believe that. My mood, my energy, my outlook, my attitude, my physical existence are all exponentially better because of the foods that are nourishing my body, instead of foods that were draining the life out of me.

This detox has made quite the impression on me, clearly. I can't seem to stop talking about it! Yet, another gigantic change has not only been for me. But for my family. To smile when my son asks me each morning if he can try my shake or smoothie I'm making that day. To watch my kids gobble up green salads and chopped peppers on their plates before even touching those remaining baked french fries that will never be purchased again. To have my husband tell me that he looks forward to every meal now, and that he feels great. To see him stop drinking Diet Coke - HUGE. HUGE HUGE HUGE.

Life is feeling very good. :)

The detox doesn't end here, either. The book suggest three options for a 6-week transition phases back into the real world. 1) You can keep going with the same detox diet. 2). You can do the same detox diet but re-introduce legumes. 3). You can do the detox diets with re-introducing non-starchy fruits and legumes back into your life. Then, after those six weeks, you can start to slowly re-introduce gluten, dairy and other foods back into your life, if you so choose. This book doesn't leave you hanging. It is truly designed to help.

I think that about wraps it up! My conclusion feels like I am only touching the tip of the ice berg. There is so much more I could talk about it in detail, but I think this post is starting to turn novel-worthy.

Please come and check back to this blog soon. I am so very excited to share photos and recipes of some of the foods I've been eating and making. I hope that I might somehow help or inspire someone else out in this big world to simply think, or try something different that could potentially change something big in their lives.

Recipe Photo Previews:

 

 

 

Diamond in the Rough

There are some workouts that feel like you're chewing gravel.  The kind that you just want to put your time in so you can claim to have done it.

Tonight was NOT that night.  Tonight was one of those strangely fulfilling workouts that was more than the motions.  From the moment it started to the moments shortly after, it made me smile.  A real smile that wasn't all teeth or a cute expression you'd make for a picture.  It was a smile that held excitement in the pit of my stomach as I started pedaling with the sun on my face.  To breath in the smell of leaves and grass and flowers.  A smile that felt like breathing in the smell of springtime crabapple blossoms.

On my warm-up ride to the gym to do some weights I came across my favorite crabapple trees of all time.  They are in full bloom and they did not disappoint as I approached them.  It's that blink of a moment in the spring when the flowers are full-bloom and smell so sweet and fresh and deep.  Tomorrow they'll probably start to blow away petal by petal in the wind.  Tonight they held on so beautifully for me to take in.  Thank you, pretty trees.

My 30 minutes of weights felt good.  After a weekend of literally lopping evergreen branches (that was a lot more work than expected) I felt a little sore and my sets of reps were a welcome ache.  After I did some upper body, a few squats, and some inner & outer leg work I hopped on my bike-cycle.

If you know where I live, you might have a deeper understanding of this statement.  My town smelled like flowers tonight.  It doesn't always smell like flowers.  I'm not simply being corny and artistically ridiculous, either.  The town literally smelled like crabapple blossoms and lilacs every turn I took. That is something to behold!!

All in all, I wanted to remember this workout tonight.  To save for a rainy day.  That next time I find myself chewing gravel I can remember how worth it, and rewarding a hard workout is.  So that the next time, I might find myself with a diamond in the rough, like tonight.

This is what it's all about folks.

Oh!  and I biked 11 miles at an average speed of 14.45 mph.  My biking app says i burnt 863 calories not including my weights!  That's kind of neat.

Now it's time to drink my Post Workout Recovery shake and watch the season finale of the Voice.  Woo!

THIRTY

HEY WORLD!  I'm thirty.  Thirty years old today.  Wooooo!  It is a good day.  Lastnight my husband surprised me with my early present.  Thus?  Here we are today.

I have a few cryptic words to express, so bear with me.  If I do in fact, have any readers at all, who might be reading this, I will say one thing.  NEW YEAR'S!!!!!!!!!!

Back to my regularly scheduled nonsense.

Today I had an amazing birthday.  I can say with utmost honesty that I wasn't expecting my 30th Birthday to be my favorite.  Yesterday I was literally nervous.  I told Adam that I felt like I wasn't living up to my expectations of where I wanted to be when I turned 30.  Seriously.  I haven't lost all the weight I want to lose, but you know what?  I'm still me!  Even if I'm a little bit fatter than I'd like, I may as well try to enjoy myself.

Tonight I was able to spend time with the people I love the most in my life.  My sister-in-law threw me a birthday party and it was so specific to me in the smallest of detail that I can't even describe it.  All the way down to the lemoncello infused champagne with the raspberry ice cube (it's hard to see in this picture, but that raspberry was literally created into an ice cube for the purpose of chilling my lemoncello infused champagne).

Did you notice that slice of cake?  Oh yes.  That slice of cake (alongside the homemade ice cream and lemoncello infused champagne with the raspberry ice cube).  Yeah.  that piece of cake came from this.  Made from scratch by my husband's grandma (who truly feels like my own grandma). 

There are times in a person's life where they realize you are surrounded by people who make your heart burst.  Even if they bust your chops, or do things that take your breath away.

Let me just shut my mouth while you enjoy a few photos of the rest of the evening.

Wooo!!!!  Thank you, to all who was involved in my birthday today, truly thank you!!!

My Heart Feels A Little More Full Today

It is the eve of my 30th birthday.

There are a lot of emotions that go along with that statement.  Tonight at the liquor store (chyeah.) the nice gentleman said, as I was about to walk out the door, "I was about to card you, but ...." and I just about jumped over the counter to hug him.  I don't think he realized I am soon to be moving on to the next decade.

Ha.  What a way to start this blog post.  Considering the fact I'm supposed to be on my 24-day challenge.  Whoops!  We stopped at the wine and spirits store on our way home from picking up my early birthday present.

My husband has single-handedly made my heart fill up a little more today.  He bought me a keyboard for my birthday.

Now, before you begin to think about the keyboards from the 1990s (with the flappy keys) and the crappy beatbox that starts when you push an aqua-colored button, just stop.  Apparently technology has not slowed down even when it comes to world of music.

Background:  My dream is to own a white baby grand piano.  That is still my dream, but realistically we are not in a position to drop 20K+ on a piano.  We have to buy summer rec passes for the kids and monthly payments towards our mortgage.  Someday, when I find myself bored and wrinkled, I will probably be in a position to buy my baby-grand piano.  But that day is not today.

Instead, I was presented with something that, at the moment, is BETTER.  Wait, is AMAZING.  It's a keyboard.  It's a keyboard that feels like a piano when my fingers brush over the keys.  I literally press down on the keys and there is a resistance like a real life piano.  It's a keyboard that has probably 4 billion features and stuff, and things, and. Even though I know a small fraction of what this keyboard is capable of, it's is now a part of my family.

It's a keyboard that allows me to turn the volume super duper low during nap times.  It's a keyboard that lets me throw on a pair of headphones so I can jam out while Adam is watching TV.  It's quite literally THE PERFECT piano I could ever ask for during this phase in our life.  My kids can learn on it.  and if they break it, they will only be grounded for a week for ruining a keyboard instead of a couple of years for breaking a baby grand.

It's brilliant.  and it's now mine.

And while Adam was still assembling the pedals, Sam plopped himself down and was creating a symphony in his mind and my heart just about couldn't contain itself and burst into a million pieces.

I'm ready to turn 30.  I welcome my birthday that is approaching within the next hour.  Because now I get to sit down to my piano and play songs that bring peace and joy to my heart.  That I can now share with my family.

I haven't played since college!  That's over a decade ago!!!!!!!

As I sip on my Mike's Harder Lemonade I feel a huge surge of happy.  There is an amazing little keyboard across the room.  Waiting for me to brush off the cobwebs in the part of my brain that has carefully tucked music away in, and is ready to open back up.  (Did you know that you physically cannot forget music?  Our brains apparently remember forever.)  This makes me happy, especially since I started piddling away tonight and played four songs that I haven't even thought about for over a decade and tonight I played them.  Obviously with extreme room for improvement, but it happened.

I love you, Adam.  There is no way I can simply say, "thank you," for this present for my birthday.  When I say that I feel like my heart feels full tonight, I don't think I can express it.  It's fulfilling a hope and dream to have music in our home while we raise our children.  That they might latch on to some small piece of hearing music and grow and feel love with it.  They might not ever play, but to know that they grow up hearing ME play is the most I could ever hope for.  If they sit down and decide that they want music in their own lives, well.  That means my heart just filled EVEN FULLER.  How is that even possible?  I feel like "my cup runneth over," is exactly how I feel right now.

In a few days I hope that I will have been able to find some coordination within my fingers again, to begin communicating through music again.  In the vessel that I've been using since I was in the first grade, that until tonight has been greatly missed.  LIFE IS ART.  and a huge part of that art is suddenly back in my life.