Oh, Okay?

It's sorta funny because when I started this little blog it was at the start of my weight loss. Then I had another baby and then I started loosing again.
I don't really notice too much of a difference in how I look and it feels weird sometimes for people to be like "oh my gosh you have lost weight!!!"
Don't get me wrong it's pretty cool but at the same time it's weird. Loosing weight for me was/is for me to achieve something that I really want and it's not to be in smaller jeans. That is just an extra bonus. Although I hated saying goodbye to some of my cute clothes that are waaaay to big now.
Loosing weight is 90% mental for me and 10% physical and I really believe it will always be like that for me. The best part is in my "before" pics I felt amazing and great as people look in their after pics. Loosing weight is exciting but regardless of getting rid of the weight, which is my new term because I don't intend to ever find it again, it's about being confident in who you are. I fully believe that an intend to continue on this journey being happy with the person I am,who I was and who I will be.
Doing this little side by side deal is important for me to really see how far I have come and how making small lifestyle changes have made huge changes in my lifestyle forever.
I have a little over a month till the end of 2011 and 6 pounds to meet my goal that I set forth at the beginning of 2011 and I fully intend on meeting it and surpassing it.
I won't stop now because I have gone so far beyond what my mind would have thought I could do and that to me is as valuable as how small my jeans are now!
Mahalo

Fashion Update

I am a frugal gal if ya didn't know that already,My husband calls me cheap,haha!  I would think that he would love that but he always says "this is a plot to save money!" on most of my ideas. I don't like paying full price for ANYTHING but I love to be cute,fun and flirty with my style.

I recently ran across a Pin on Pinterest (go figure) It was the greatest idea I had seen that day,lol! It was a picture of jeans that said something like update baggy jeans to skinny jeans. Much to my delight ,if I have not already rid my closet of all my larger jeans the only ones that remain are all baggy and too big.

So, I went to this great little blog with 2 gals who share my same thriftiness and saw a posting on how to achieve said "couture" skinny jeans. Lucky Design has a great tutorial on how to do this great update to your pants.

I chose to attempt this little operation on a cute little pair of jeans I purchased for Greenlee that were actually a boys pair I bought for 3$ at a local charity consignment store.

Greens looked like a farming Charlie Chaplin in these little pants, it was sorta cute! But, they needed to be spruced up a bit.

Here are the jeans I used as my pattern for the skinny jeans. These are great little Roxy skinnies I got at the warehouse sale.



So I turned them both inside out following the directions laid one on top of the other, chalk lined,pinned and sewed up the side, trimmed excess and.... Viola!



Cute little skinnies for 3$ yay!! I am a happy mama! Plus now that I have done it with these little guys I will soon be doing them on a pair of my own!

Don't be afraid to try new things... :-)
Mahalo,
Adina

Breakfast...Favorite Meal O' The Day!

Okay so breakfast is hands down my favorite,no really it is! haha But these delightful treats I whipped up last night are beginning to sway me... but, in the ooohhh so right direction.

In addition to my fondness for breakfast and all things sweet I am so addicted to Pinterest.com it has become such a fun way to put all of my favorite things in one amazing online space. I have created so many fun,useful and yummy creations and last nights were inspired by a recent pin.

I decided that I needed to make...watch out please..."Maple French Toast and Bacon Cupcakes!!!"

Really?!!? cupcakes with bacon!?! Yes, its soooo true! I used the disguise of making these delectable treats as a sort of "Good luck on your first day back in the Army" for my husband. But, really that was just a cover for me wanting to create and TASTE the most amazing yumminess I have made since the brownie,chocolate chip cookie, Oreo bars...hahaha!

So, First I took I box of French Vanilla cake mix, mixed according to directions minus 1/4 cup of water and substituted with Mrs. Buttersworth.

Then I chopped 5 pieces of cooked to crisp bacon and folded into my mixed cake batter.

Pour batter 3/4 full in cupcake wrappers and bake for 35 mins at 325 degrees...

While Baking gather ingredients for frosting. P.S. this is the most amazing cream cheese frosting I have ever used....

1/4 cup Mrs. Buttersworth
8 oz package of cream cheese
1 stick of butter
2 cups sifted Powdered Sugar

Cream together room temp butter and cream cheese, add syrup and sugar and blend on high to incorporate air till fluffy and smooth.

Apply frosting as you wish and top all cupcakes with chopped bacon pieces.

Next step....eat them, enjoy them and repeat as needed....:-)
Mahalo!

Powers Thriftin!

Our little Greens would like to be a particular creature for Halloween. So, while Mike and I were driving around today we decided to stop in a local thrift store to see what they had in their costume section. Well, we didn't find a costume but I found two fabulous accessories under 10$ and Mike found a child's dream toy!
My first score was a jade color,open-claw bracelet. $4.99 :-)
Second score pony hair,animal print Steve Madden peep-toe flats. $6.99:-)
Annnnnd then Mike found... A talking,scanning,credit card reading... Cash Register!!! Haha $4.99 :-)
Not really sure who's more likely to have more fun playing with it mike or greens, but either way it was a total score!!!

Mahalo!
Dina

Zoo day!

Amazing LA weather today encouraged an outing outside,of course!!
We have a house guest with us,mikes sister,sherry. So, we decided to go up to LA and visit the Los Angeles Zoo. We arrived at the zoo and much to our surprise the parking lot was empty and we parked close going right on in.
Our first stop was the meerkats, alligator and flamingos. As we viewed these animals we were met by so many people saying "let's go, I wanna see the real animals!" this was so funny it was like I'm pretty sure these are "real animals!"
We moved along and found those animals as well and ended up having a lovely day! Greenlee loved everything and was excited to see them all. It's so fun to see her face when they would roam towards the front of the exhibit.
Such a fun time and another fun adventure!

Mahalo!

Check that off!

So, yesterday I ran in the Long Beach Marathon...what?!?!?
Crazy!!!! :-) I still can't believe it! As I approached the day I knew I would complete it but I had no idea how the race would go!!
I started the race with a smile and my husband! Seriously it was a great morning we were a little tired but determined to take on the race!
The sight was absolutely beautiful as the sun rose over the city. It was a perfect morning to run and it stayed that way right up until about 30 mins before I finished.
I started out in the back and I mean the back of the 2nd wave of starts... I paced myself at that point because I knew I had 13.1 miles ahead of me.
The amount of people,port-a-potties and energy was a little overwhelming to say the least! As soon as i started going I found a great steady pace and it felt awesome. I found myself smiling the entire time which felt very odd I couldn't comprehend how I was actually doing this! Lol that feeling carried me through the whole way.
As we headed over the bridge the first of my little inspirational sights caught my eye. There was a man wheeling his heart out in a wheelchair going up the bridge to the other side of the harbor. Here was a man who was enduring the same discomfort as others were but in very different way. At this point I said wow I'm given the ability to run this race in great health using my legs,it was what I needed at mile 3.
I looped around The Queen Mary an came upon a man who had to be in his 70's just chugging along he had a shirt that said "why be nrml" in this crazy font it was sooo funny and again another boost.
Throughout the next 6 miles I came across people wearing inspirational quotes and bible verses. I came across a lady wearing a shirt that said "my body was tired but my heart was not." I love that these little messages where so great and really allowed me to be thankful and maintain excitement through the whole thing.
I got to the 10 mile point and I got a little overwhelmed first that I was a part of this and second that this was the furthest I had ever run. I thought of where I had come from and that never in a million years did I think I would do something like this. I started to get a little emotional and I had to pull myself together because I wasn't quite done yet!
The last 3 miles oh sorry 3.1 miles I saw people at the aide stations getting help,1 lady on a stretcher, 1 lady Hooked up to EKG on a grass beltway and a lot of people walking,talking, 1 lady stopped to by a big gulp...lol so much going on.
At this point you also rejoin the people who were doing the full marathon... Here I realized and said I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to ever do a full marathon but it was encouraging to say to myself I can surely go 3.1miles further if these people have run so many miles more than I have!
It was awesome to run down Ocean blvd and approach shoreline dr where the turn was for the finish line!!! I was almost there and as I was about to cross I looked up and saw mikes smiling face waiting for me!!! Ahh I love him and it was so cool to do this with him and have him there at the end to tell me how proud he was of me and how well I did! It was awesome!!
I can now check off my list doing a half marathon and find the next race to be a part of and look forward to!! It was one of the most fulfilling things that I have ever done by setting a goal and actually completing it!

Mahalo!

Up the mountain!

So, we woke up this morning and of course in true Adina fashion we needed a lil adventure for the day!
So we went up the mountain to Lake Arrowhead!
Such a nice little drive up 40ish minutes from our house...
I'm a total breakfast gal so we headed to Belgium Waffle Works, right on the lake. I had the waffle and eggs and mike had fish and chips! So yummy! Greenlee had the brunch combo consisting of my Bfast and mikes lunch!

A wonderful time feeding the ducks on the dock and walking around in the village...and of course a milk and cookie break to top of the morning!

Just Because

I love that we do so many things in life for certain reasons but there are somethings I love doing just because. I love not having any intention or expectation of response or something in return but the pure joy that comes from the journey or the end result. The Lord is working always but more so in myself then I have allowed him to it seems or may be the simple fact that I am just being still long enough to feel it.

The last month I have lost an additional two pounds and am so beyond content with that at this point which makes me smile. I have eight additional that I would like to loose but could really take it or leave it :-). Spending more time at home and being able to do more things with Mike and the girls is so where my heart is. Time is sooooooo (really not enough O's,haha) much more important to me and precious at this point. Which is really answering my question of fulfillment and where it comes from and to me the way I live my life as a whole is my fulfillment.

and then there was Pinterest.... haha! My job allows for a lot of downtime and therefore I am a full fledged addict. Alas, this has lead to inspiration beyond belief and I have started a couple projects just because. Because Greens wanted a cake at her pretend party where the guests of honor are Mickey, Thomas, Toby, Queen and Mater and the rest of her car/tractor/big rig/transportation vehicle collection. I also just felt like making a cake because I had not done one in far too long....

First layer carrot cake with cream cheese butter cream

rolled out some fondant flowers in orange, my fav color of the moment, and my all time fav green!

Yay Greens cute little party cake!

I also decided Greenlee needed a new little dress so I proceeded with craft time after the girls were asleep and had maybe 2 ok 3 glasses of wine...haha!

of course "choo choo" dress

I saw this fabric and knew that we needed a dress outta this stat!

So that was my night super fun and Just because my only intention was a smile on Greenlees face. I guess I lied when I said I didn't expect anything because I knew she would love both and be smiling and that's all I ever really want for her always!

xoxo

Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Its wednesday night and I weigh in tomorrow morning! This eve can bring on so many feelings as the pending weigh in looms over the remaining hours till my feet hit the scale! On this night though IM SOOOO excited to weigh in which I love by itself. The fact that I am excited means so many things to me. This week has been awesome I found myself at the beginning getting a little relaxed because of my great loss last week. So I then re pumped up and took the reigns even stronger to hopefully have a repeat of last weeks great number. I also experienced the great "runners high" me?! really?! I have always heard of it but couldn't quite grasp the concept until monday morning! It was phenomenal!!! I took it all in and told myself after I wiped the tears" never ever forget how amazing this feels!" I really truly felt like I could do anything and I also told myself this feeling is only gonna increase and get stronger as the time goes by and I get stronger and more in tune with the way my body reacts to the exercise.Crossing my fingers and knowing that I WORKED it this week only gives me confidence to keep going, harder and stronger!

What a difference a year makes!

So, here I am a year later from my last post somethings have changed and some things havent. The biggest thing that has changed is that about 20 days from the last post I found out I was pregnant with our little pineapple Penelope.
I now am the mommy of 2 beautiful girls that run my life. I am also still on the quest that is going to fulfill my life personal and career wise. I went to Fullerton college today to petition for Readmission to school because of the failure that was my into to business final,lol. I was about 3 days post par tum with Greenlee and had to report on campus for a final...not so exciting.
I went to campus today with a new sense of confidence and 2 babies, that alone was funny, and turned in my papers and already heard back from school today that I was readmitted. Praise God.
I have completely put this in the Lords hands and I am not going to try to take it back from him. I have started on this path and am already seeing God do a tremendous work in me both physically and spiritually. I have a feeling he is really molding me into what I need to be to take on this next chapter of my life which will be filled with excitement, temptation and some turmoil. Its amazing how God can work in all situations and facets of our lives when we let him be the leader and ruler of it.