Mamavation Monday Week #5

Still no change, sitting at 139.5 lb, so I didn't take a picture of it, I thought to spare everyone to look at my socks lol

I'm a bit worried on how I'm going to keep up with this resolution. With the move coming, I know there will be days that I will forget to eat and days that I will over eat. But I guess I will get plenty of exercise moving boxes around, right???

That's what I keep telling my self anyway!

This week sponsor is Earth Footwear

And this week question is: What does “wellness” mean to you?

Well (lol), for me wellness is very spiritual, come from the inside, from your soul and you feel it when everything is in balance in your life, your weight as well!
I hope to get to my "wellness" status pretty soon after the move is over.

A little edit: A nice member of the mamavation sistahood, let me noticed that even tho my weight didn't change, I could have shredded some inches off my body.
This is a duh moment for me, since I didn't think to take my measurements when I started, so I'm doing it now:
Waist: 32" (how did this happened???? ah, right, KIDS)
Hips: 42.5" (I thought I was running out of measuring tape!!!!)
Bust: 36.5" (Can we switch hips with bust???)
Thigh: 23" (oy vey!)

Time to change!

Yesterday was a shocking and interesting day.
I went to pick up the mail and found a note from my landlord saying that he needs the house back and we have 60 days to move out.

My first reaction was a mix between panic, shock and anger and I still feel that way I must admit.
I cried my eyes out thinking how in the hell we are supposed to do that, but I guess there are worse things in the world right??

I've been unhappy with the place I live for a while and many times temped to dump it and find better, but never had the monetary disposition to do it.

Now it doesn't matter, money or not, we'll have to find another place to live until the next landlord decide we have too move at a very bad time.
This is how the world roll, the people with money have the power. The people that have to work their butts off to pay all the bills in time, are nothing in the eyes of the world, just few anonymous faces to fuck over at the first opportunity.

We are going to be all right, I try to repeat it to myself and deep inside I know it, but the next 2 months will be a living hell.....oh wait! We have been leaving in hell for the last 5 years, never mind then.

Tomorrow we'll start the hunt for a new place that will not cost an arm and a leg: we already scoured the newspaper ads and seems that we'll have to settle for something much smaller for the same price we are currently renting, which in my opinion sucks. I love the space, you know?

I will have to go and ask about my business license, since I work from home, changing the address will be like changing job: chances are that I will have to start all the paperwork all over and aside for time (that really I don't have to waste), I really don't see myself spending another $180 to keep up with a business that gives me a profit of $20/month. Doesn't make any sense. So, I'm still unsure what's going to happen there. I will probably have to close down for a while, probably for the rest of the year? We'll see.

I apologize for this post being so gloomy, I plan from tomorrow to only look at the bright side, but for today just let me worry about it.

Giveaway winner

The winner of my giveaway is

#1 Basia Marie said...

My favorite is definitely the crocheted cupcake purse in strawberry and vanilla- mmm!
-Basia :)

Congrats!
Off to shoot you an email with you pattern attached.

Thank you to everyone that entered :)

Friday Giveaways Love

Last day for my giveaway! We'll have a winner tomorrow :)

Click here to enter

Now it's your time to link those giveaway up and good luck!!

Since MckLinky is going to charge starting next week, unless I can find something else for free, this is going to be the last one.

Gabriel's update

I thought to write about what's going on on Gabriel's world since it's been a while that I did that.

My followers know that he started a new school at the beginning of January. He did miss one week because of a cold, so he just completed his third week in this new school today.

We already started to see few little changes here and there and I can tell Gabriel is much happier and thus healthier.

Of course, there is still room to grow, but it's so much better compared to the drama and destruction that was going on before Christmas.

I'm so proud of my little guy, for all the efforts he's making and all the changes he had to endure and his teachers are too (yup he has a whole team working on him!)

And I can't even start to describe the sense of relief and safety that we all feel, knowing that we are all working in the same direction and in the same path, at school and at home......simply priceless.

Plus tomorrow we are going to have a Parents night out.....do you know how long it's been since me and hubby had a night date??? Well, if you please tell me, 'cause I can't remember!

Handmade Wednesday Store & Blog Hop!

Are you trying to get your Crafty Blog and/or Store off the ground?

Looking for more followers for your crafty related blogs?

Looking for more people to “favorite” your store?

Are you looking for new hip and original crafty stores?

If you said yes, to any of the above questions, you’re in the right spot!

We had a great first week of our blog hop! After giving it more thought we decided to change the title from Wednesday Etsy Blog Hop to Handmade Wednesday Store & Blog Hop. The change will allow any owner of a handmade-crafty store to join and link-up! So feel free to link-up!!

This weeks CO-HOSTS

Each week we’ll spotlight one Etsy Blog & Etsy Site picked at random via Random.org to be included in the next week’s Wednesday Handmade Store & Blog Hop Linky!

{Blog} The Steady Hand

{Store} Liberty Original Etsy Shop

How will the LINKY work? Easy!

1) Enter your blog and/or store into the appropriate Linky below!

*For the STORES link, please specify what type of store: ETSY:, ARTFIRE:, etc.!

2) Follow any blogs or stores that interest you!! We’d love if you’d follow the Hosts & Co-Hosts!

3) Grab our Button and Linky Codes to share with all your Bloggy and Etsy Friends!

*Please remember that our blogs are Family Friendly and any thumbnails or links that we feel are inapproriate will be removed*

<center><a href="http://blueeyedblessings.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/cori_shelley/HANDMADEWEDNESDAYBUTTON.jpg" /></a></center> Add Your CRAFTY Blogs Here!

Add Your STORES Here!

*don’t forget to include what type of store (Etsy, Artfire, Personal, etc!)

Share the love on Tuesday: Diane's Dangles

This weeks Featured Artisan is Diane's Dangles!

Diane has wonderful creations for you to see in her shops.

Not only does Diane creation true treasures she is dedicated to promoting her fellow artisans which is a wonderfully kind act!

You can find Diane's Dangles on:

Artfire

Twitter

Facebook

Blog

Daine also has a 2nd shop on Artfire called BeadSouk... take a peek there too!

Mamavation Monday Week #4

No changes to report for my week #4 of my journey in the Mamavation Sistahood

I worked a bit harder during the week and found my balance between the water goal, the walking goal and the coffee addiction. But then the weekend came and....well, I just had an hard time keeping up. But at least I didn't gain anything.....phewww.

This week, Mamavation is sponsored by Fiber Plus that is posing an interesting question.
How are you getting more fiber in your diet this New Year?
I found this question very intriguing 'cause I struggle a lot with my fiber intake. I know fruits and veggies have fibers, but I must admit that sometimes I lack so bad that I have to take the powder. I do love the Berry Yogurt Crunch cereals from Fiber Plus and I plan on stocking up, because I think it's a yummy solution to my fiber intake deficit.

I’m writing this post as an entry to a blogging carnival sponsored by Fiber Plus. I will be receiving free product in return.” at the bottom of your post.

Friday Giveaways Love

Surprise!!!
A small giveaway for my readers that are prepping for Valentine's day!! My crocheted heart shaped scrubbies pattern in PDF format, fresh written from my Pattern category.

Prizes Details:
One lucky winner will receive the Crochet pattern Heart shaped scrubbies PDF file, valued $2.50

How to enter:
Please leave a separate comment for every entry for increase your chance of winning!!

1) You must go through Crocheted Little things studio and comment back here with a link for your favorite item with your name and contact information.
2) Blog about this giveaway and receive ONE extra entry! Just come back here and leave a separate comment with your blog link.
3) Twit about this giveaway and earn ONE extra entry. Be sure to put @piccoladonna before your twit, so I will know you did it :)
4) Sign up for my newsletter: leave me a comment telling me you did.
5) Earn TEN (10) extra entries by purchasing something from Crocheted Little things studio. Just come back here and tell me what you purchased along with your contact info to claim your extra entries!
This giveaway will last for 1 week and will end January, 28th.
Winner will be announced on January, 29th, at which time I will contact the winner to get shipping information for delivery.
If the winner does not contact me within three days, I will appoint another winner through another random number drawing.

Now it's your time to link those giveaway up and good luck!!

Handmade Wednesday Store & Blog Hop!

Are you trying to get your Crafty Blog and/or Store off the ground?

Looking for more followers for your crafty related blogs?

Looking for more people to “favorite” your store?

Are you looking for new hip and original crafty stores?

If you said yes, to any of the above questions, you’re in the right spot!

We had a great first week of our blog hop! After giving it more thought we decided to change the title from Wednesday Etsy Blog Hop to Handmade Wednesday Store & Blog Hop. The change will allow any owner of a handmade-crafty store to join and link-up! So feel free to link-up!!

This weeks CO-HOSTS

Each week we’ll spotlight one Etsy Blog & Etsy Site picked at random via Random.org to be included in the next week’s Wednesday Handmade Store & Blog Hop Linky!

{Blog} Little Hatchlings

{Store} Rebecca’s Whims

How will the LINKY work? Easy!

1) Enter your blog and/or store into the appropriate Linky below!

*For the STORES link, please specify what type of store: ETSY:, ARTFIRE:, etc.!

2) Follow any blogs or stores that interest you!! We’d love if you’d follow the Hosts & Co-Hosts!

3) Grab our Button and Linky Codes to share with all your Bloggy and Etsy Friends!

*Please remember that our blogs are Family Friendly and any thumbnails or links that we feel are inapproriate will be removed*

<center><a href="http://blueeyedblessings.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/cori_shelley/HANDMADEWEDNESDAYBUTTON.jpg" /></a></center> Add Your CRAFTY Blogs Here!

Add Your STORES Here!

*don’t forget to include what type of store (Etsy, Artfire, Personal, etc!)

Share the love on Tuesday: Jewelry by NaLa

This weeks featured artisan is Jewelry by NaLa!

NaLa has truly unique creations.. works of art you can wear!

You can find NaLa at:

Etsy

Blog

Twitter

Facebook

FlickR

NaLa also hosts a wonderful group on Facebook call Handmade Harbor!

Mamavation Monday Week #3

Week #3 of my journey in the Mamavation Sistahood.
No change in my weight and I didn't expect any.

I realized there are 3 things that I'm trying to fight all together:
1) My coffee addiction, you can read about here
2) The goal of drinking 2 liters of water per day
3) The goal of walking 30 mins per day

While I was trying to drink as much water as I could, I had to cut back on the coffee and the symptoms of my addiction threw me off completely. I couldn't focus on anything the past week, I forgot about an important doctor appointment for my daughter and missed a deadline......not good! And the 30 mins walk was really difficult to implement 'cause all I wanted to do was sleeping all day.

While I realize the 3 points above are all important and relate one to the other, I can't do all 3 together, I always end up neglecting one or 2 of them.

So, I decided to go a little bit easier on me and concede my self the second help of coffee as long as all the water as been down. I guess will be kinda my reward for drinking the 2 liters per day. This way, I will still have my sanity and can implement the exercise on my routine.
When I will be well on track with the water and exercise goals, I think kicking the coffee addictions will be easier to handle.
Time will tell :)

Friday Giveaways Love

Now it's your time to link those giveaway up and good luck!!

Newsletter #16

Happy 2011!!

 

Hi there to all, this is Lu. Here it is newsletter #16.

Another year is behind us and I hope 2011 will be full of wonderful things for all!

I have many many things to tell you!!



What happened?



After 10 months of hiatus I decided to re-open my Etsy shop and re-lauch it in another direction: I'm proud to announce that some of my patterns are available for sale and I will be adding more in the next months.

Free patterns and tutorials will be available every week on my ArtFire blog. Check it out and watch out for video support coming soon!



Take a pick of my 50% off sale and take advantage of hot prices! The money will go to support a dieing Arfire artisan. You can read about the details on my blog.



Least, but not last, if you are an Etsy seller and you'd like to promote your shop and your blog, me and Cori from Blue Eyed Blessings are hosting a blog hop every Wednesday.

Come and join us!

---

What's coming up?



Crocheted Little Things had a wonderful season on Artfire! I "almost" reached my goal on 100 sales, I'm currently seat at 99. Wanna know a secret??? My 100th sale will have a free gift along with their purchase....would will be the lucky recipient? One way to know!!



Stay tuned for Valentine's specials coming up next month!

 

Wednesday ETSY Blog Hop

Are you trying to get your Etsy Blog and/or Store off the ground?

Looking for more followers for your Etsy related blog?

Looking for more people to “favorite” your Etsy store?

Are you looking for new hip and original Etsy stores?

If you said yes, to any of the above questions, you’re in the right spot!

Blue Eyed Blessings and Crocheted Little Things are excited to announce the start of an all new Blog Hop featuring YOUR ETSY BLOGS & STORES!

How will this work? Easy!

1) Enter your blog and/or Etsy Store into the appropriate Linky below!

Etsy Blog: Follow Blue Eyed Blessings and Crocheted Little Things via Google Friend Connect [GFC]
Leave us a comment so we know you stopped by, and we can return the favor!

Etsy Site: Make Blue Eyed Blessings and Crocheted Little Things one of your Etsy Favorites!

2) Follow and/or Favorite the 2 blogs above you in the Linky! Give their Etsy Blogs & Etsy Site’s some love too!

3) Each week we’ll spotlight one Etsy Blog & Etsy Site picked at random via Random.org to be included in the next week’s Wednesday Etsy Blog Hop Linky!

4) Grab our Button and Linky Codes to share with all your Bloggy and Etsy Friends!

*Please remember that our blogs are Family Friendly and any thumbnails or links that we feel are inapproriate will be removed*

<center><a href="http://blueeyedblessings.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/cori_shelley/linkybuttondone.jpg" /></a></center>

Add Your ETSY Blogs Here!
Add Your ETSY Sites Here!

Share the love on Tuesday: Heart and Sow designs

This weeks Featured Artisan is Heart and Sow Designs!

Wonderful creations for you! "Sowing Seeds of Love"!

You can find Heart and Sow designs at:

Artfire

Etsy

Blog

Facebook

Ecrater

Zibbet

Bonanza

Mamavation Monday Week #2

This is my second week and my second post for the Mamavation Sistahood and as you can see I lost 0.5 lb. I was 140 lb last week and now the scale reads 139.5 lb, black on grey!

I must admit I was really surprised, wasn't able to be constant on my water and waking goals. But I also know whatever effort I made, was certainly more than usual, and evidently enough to make a little difference.
I know that I will always be able to find excuses, loose the focus and motivation, but I will try to remember that it's possible and I can do it!!

Now onto to work harder to loose more of at least keep this 0.5 lb off :)

Happy Birthday to my Gabriel!!!

Cannot believe my little boy turned 7 today!! 7!!!
To me it's amazing how much he's growing.
It is a very gray and rainy day today, just like 7 years ago, when a little scared face was gently bundled in my harms for the first time.

Thank goodness Gabriel is not so scared any more but the love still stand!!

Happy birthday son! I'm happy that you're growing and had fun today.
In the back of my mid tho, you'll always be my little man and even if you grow up one day and we find ourselves distant, I will always remember the first time that I hugged you with much love.

Friday Giveaways Love

Now it's your time to link those giveaway up and good luck!!

Epiphany

Thought I'd share a little something that I miss from Italy tonight.
January 6th in Europe, we celebrate Epiphany.
This is a Cristian celebration, as Christmas is, in which we commemorate the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi.
In commercial words, this translate in exchanging of stockings full of sweets and chocolate, or charcoal if you've been naughty. Kinda like Americans, use to do for Christmas, but in Italy, we separated the 2 and I think it's kinda of nice, 'cause after all that Christmas is done and said, you're still something to look for, instead of being of lumped together.

Courtesy of torinosathomethefoodconnection.blogspot.com

The pagan symbol of this festivity it the Befana, that supposed to be a very old woman flying on a broom. She's pretty much the female figure of Santa Claus that delivers chocolates and small gifts.

The Epiphany is also last festive day of the holidays in Italy, which means most European places (schools and such) will reopen doors just tomorrow.

I used to be pretty good about eating my chocolates a little bit at the time during the whole year, looking forward to the next Epiphany. You can understand how much I'm bummed right now that in America there is no such thing.

I also thought this collection that I made around Christmas time, goes along pretty well with this post! Enjoy :)

Shocking Stockings

Curated By: Crochetedlitt...

ArtFire.com

Indie Design

A shop I love: PDthree

Mandala Mirror #4 Handpressed Pocket Mirror, $4 by PDthree

On New year's Eve I was browsing in the forums on Artfire and BAAAAM I saw this! I could I resist to such beauty and perfection??? I couldn't!!

And this is how I came to know Michelle, the sweet owner PDthree and I was super excited when the elegant package came to my house!

The mandala is PDthree's original design, and is not just pretty - but practical too. Feeling stressed? Just pull out your mandala mirror and let yourself be drawn into its center, releasing stress as you focus on the mandala.

Is already tacked in my purse with my latest purchase: the chocolate lip balm that I blogged about last week!

Also a little shout out to Kayla from The Eclectic Element that sent me the cutest Christmas card! Read on her blog how she made them!