A Black Hole!

Ok...I'm going to preface this entry with an apology, as this is pretty much going to be a rant about the single life and one particular person who drives me crazy...which is good and bad!

We met a few months ago...he is a plant manager for a potential client (sounds like trouble already huh!). We hit it off right away, and when I say right away...within minutes of talking! Over the next week (as he was out of town) we spent HOURS and HOURS on the phone. Talking, laughing, telling stories...you know the drill! When he came back from vacation, we were inseparable! Things were great! And not great like it was a wonderful spring fling...but great like there was really a connection! After a month of the most beautiful romance, I went away on vacation (when I say vacation, I mean a trip to my mothers)...that's when it went downhill!

I came back after a few weeks to someone who had completely pulled away from me. There were no more stories, no more laughs just 2 people next to each other. It felt really weird to me. We discussed this, and of course...it was my fault! It was said that I came back from my mother's "different". Whatever! So...throughout the next couple months things have been on and off. Hot and cold! It gives me such a headache!

Finally, I decided I was tired of the cold and told him I was going to date other people...and that in fact, I had actually been asked out by someone (complete truth here ladies!!)...all of a sudden...things started to warm out! Imagine that! I however, wasn't as comfortable with the warming of things and I guess became a little irritated. We had our first fight! OUR FIRST FIGHT!!! All of these months and there hasn't even been a fight. So what do you think the outcome of our first fight was...a "breather". Ya...right in time for the weekend! Go figure!

So, after a long weekend of thinking and praying I decided somewhere in my crazy head and broken heart it was time to start letting go. It was now OK to start letting the tears fall and my heart heel. OK...so I'm doing really well with that! Then what do you think happens? Ya...HE SHOWED UP AT MY HOUSE TO HELP ME WITH A TV!! ( after he saw an FB post from another guy!) We actually had a good time (as we always do) and then the night ended and he left. A few texts later, and exchanging of FB post I go to bed! This morning I go to his FB page to leave him a little..."have a good day at work" post and he has erased everything that we've said to each other! WTH!! Is there someone else in his life and he can't let them know he was with me? Has he told everyone how much he hates me and can't let his friends see it? Am I being weird? I don't understand this man! I do not understand why I am continually being sucked back in to a black hole? I don't understand what prevents me from running away!

After all these years of being so independent. Loving the single life...this jerk hooks me like I'm a lost starving fish! I don't know what it is! Is this love? When did I become "that girl"? How do I fix myself? Get rid of that mold? I've gotten great advice from the other men in my life...FTOM...if you're not familiar with that...email me! However, that really isn't my thing! Not even close to my thing. I have guys asking me out here and there and I'm not interested! I'd rather sit on my rear end and watch sappy love story movies...WHO DOES THIS? Is this a broken heart? Or full on craziness? Do I need to heal...or psychiatric help?

No Reason Not To Do It...

Ok…so here goes my first blog entry! I was going to start out by writing my intro, making sure to include all the fabulous things about me, my 30 year old life the amazing things you can expect from me. However, I am going to tell ya’ll all about my new adventure, and maybe I’ll do the intro next time!
So, I signed up to do relay for Life yesterday! For those of you who don’t know what it is, I’ll tell you. (I can do it either individually or with a team…I signed up as a team, hoping that I could recruit a good handful of friends to do this with me!) RFL (relay for life) is a 24 hour walk/run relay for The American Cancer Society. The object of the game is, to 1. Raise money for the American Cancer Society and 2. Have you or your team, campout for the 24 hours (my 24 hrs being June 11-12th) and during this time you must have someone walking or running on the track.
When you initially sign up, you get to make your profile page, team name, set your monetary goal ECT…well for those of you who are interested; my team name is The Bushwhackers. As of right now, I don’t have anyone else signed up to my team, hopefully that will change soon! I volunteered my team to raise $1000 and my portion of that is $500, so far, I’ve raised $20 (Thanks Callie!!). Also, while making your profile page there is a section that asks why you want to participate…I thought about this for a while…I don’t know anyone who has had or currently has cancer, there is no family history, I don’t get paid to do it, nor do I get to miss work…I have to say that I don’t have a typical text book answer for this question. I want to do it because I can. I want to walk because there are people who cannot, because I am so grateful for my life and all the blessings that have been bestowed upon me.
So in conclusion (feel like I am writing a school paper) I think that if you CAN walk, or participate in any charity even, you should. I feel good. I feel like I will be making a difference. I am excited!! If you’d like to donate, please visit my personal page!
http://main.acsevents.org/goto/MsShila
Until next time…Peace and Blessings! Shi

It's time to make a difference

I'm all about philanthropic issues. I have been since I was 16 and did mission trips all over. There's something about giving back that does something to you. For anyone that knew me as a teenager, I was not exactly about being selfless then. I credit 99% of my personal growth to the experiences I had when helping others. This is a GREAT site for any one that would like to get involved but doesn't know how.


http://www.takepart.com/






This is great for someone with multiple interest in multiple causes. So many things that need help!

If you are interested in doing more local charity events, than by all means, start something! I'm hosting a blood drive in a couple weeks from my subdivision. There are so many organizations that just need volunteers. If it's something you want to do, email or comment with questions. I would be HAPPY to help anyone wanting to get involved in their city.

PARTY THEME/IDEAS

So my AND Kristi's B-day is coming up (May 1 and 2) and the planning has started. Last year we waited too late to start and it didn't really materalize the way we imagined. Anyone have any ideas that we could do? Themes, outings, etc..??? We need some help!

OBSESSED WITH SUPERMARKET TABLOIDS?

As I begin this quest to save money, yet maintain my lifestyle, I had a bit up an Epiphany today while deciding on which smut magazine to buy. Then it hit me. How much do I spend on tabloids? UUGGHH. It's a shocking number than I will not post on the web. I've single handily taken out an entire rain forest with just last years purchases. So, what's better than saving money and being green at the same time? NOTHING! This is my NEW way of staying in the know about things I really have no business knowing. They are updated FAR MORE than the magazines and absolutely FREE!

We all know about perezhilton.com, however, there are other sites from bloggers that have all the celebrity gossip you need.

http://www.tmz.com/

http://thesuperficial.com/ is AWESOME, but not censored, so be careful.

http://www.celebrity-gossip.net/

http://www.celebritygossip.com/



You can also get a lot on the tabloids actual websites! It's like watching T.V. on http://www.hulu.com/ (which is my favorite, BTW)

Here's some good magazines that post great websites!

http://www.okmagazine.com/

http://www.starmagazine.com/

http://intouchweekly.com/


Otherwise, you can just continue checking my blog, since anything worth knowing, I normally post. Good day. I said "GOOD DAY!"

This was NOT so fabulous, in my eyes

Sianara Saltare :(



I'm aware that America's Best Dance Crew IS a competition, and every week someone WILL go home. It doesn't change the fact that I BAWLED after watching two crews give 100%. MY TWO FAVORITE CREWS in the bottom two (Bluprint and Saltare) is what seems to happen everytime I think they are safe. Even though I knew it was going to happen, Saltare being sent home was a big blow. They do something noone can do AND they can dance. I've actually heard through the digital grapevine, that their parents have been receiving "hate mail" for them, saying they don't belong on ABDC. Haters keep hatin' because I have a feeling this will NOT be the last we hear from Saltare


Watch the FULL EPISODE

America's Best Dance Crew (Season 5) - MTV Shows

Best mac-n-cheese this side of the Mississippi

I realize with the way the economy is that it seems cheaper to run out and buy a box of mac-n-cheese for .99 cents from your local grocery store.......but why just settle for that boxed powdery stuff? For a few cents more and just an extra 3 minutes of your time you and your family could be enjoying gourmet tasting mac-n-cheese! You will definitely get smiles and praises when you serve this! And you will feel better knowing that you made this and know exactly what your family is eating!

Ingredients

1/4 block of Velveeta cheese

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup elbow noodles

1 tbs butter or margarine

Fill a pot with hot water, add a pinch of salt and elbow noodles. Boil on medium-high.

In a sauce pan cube up a 1/4 of a large box of Velveeta cheese. Add the margarine and whipping cream. Simmer on low heat. Make sure you constantly stir until all of the cheese is melted down. This is easy to scorch so be careful!

Drain the noodles and add back to the pot. Stir in your cheese mixture and serve!

The cost of all ingredients is approximately $9.....however there is enough of these items left to make 4 more servings at a later time. So for four 1/2 cup servings you are looking at about $2.25!

Ramona and Beezus!!

My FAVORITE books and television show when I was a child is soon to be release as a movie!! Ramona books were my obsession, even though I related to her older sister rather than Ramona. This is something I will go to see even if I can't find a child to use as my excuse. Can't wait!

Lucious Lemon Chicken

If you are having those in-laws or that special guy over for dinner and you want to impress them with your culinary skills.....this is a great recipe! I came up with this about 2 years ago and everyone just raves over it.....what they do not know is that it is incredibly easy to make. This recipe will serve 4-5 adults generously and costs under $25 to make!

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast

1 lemon

1 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. black pepper (I prefer fresh ground)

1/2 pint of heavy whipping cream

2 c. italian bread crumbs

1/4 c extra virgin olive oil

3 c rigatoni pasta (I use wheat)

1/2 of a medium white onion

6 medium portabella mushrooms

1 small zucchini

1/4 c italian dressing

2 tbs. butter or margarine

1 cup italian cheese (blend of asiago, parmesan, mozzarella)

Fill a pot half way with hot water, add a healthy pinch of salt and then add your pasta. Boil on medium until pasta is cooked....yet firm (al-dente).

Cut onions & mushrooms length wise. Slice zucchini in 1/4 inch pieces and saute on low in a pan with 1 tbs. of olive oil on low heat.

In a small sauce pan add the zest of one lemon (grated skin of lemon), salt, pepper (about three turns of the grater) and your heavy whipping cream.....set your naked lemon aside....you will use this later. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes. Add 1 tbs. flour and whisk until there are no clumps. Return to low heat.

Take chicken and trim all of the fat and ligaments from it. Lay the chicken flat on the cutting board and press down firmly on it with the palm of your hand. With a sharp knife cut the chicken through the center making 2 thin pieces of chicken with the 1 breast. Dip the chicken in egg and coat with bread crumbs. Add 1/4 c olive oil to large saute pan and cook chicken approximately 12 minutes on each side on medium heat. Assure that the chicken is cooked thoroughly and is browned on both sides. Take the lemon and squeeze all of the juice onto the chicken and let simmer for about 2 minutes. (not only does the lemon and an additional zing to chicken but it also helps to clean the pan...lemon is a natural grease cutter)

Remove your pasta from the heat and strain. Place pasta back into the pot and toss with butter or margarine. Add your sauteed veggies, italian dressing and cheese and toss until evenly coated.

Bring your lemon sauce to a high boil for about 1 minute while steadily whisking it... so it does not scorch Pour over each piece of chicken individually. Enjoy!

Chardonnay compliments this dish nicely. Recommended is Sutter Home ($6-$8) or Woodbridge ($7-$12) both are available at most local liquor and wine stores.

Onions are not your enemy

As everyone knows Onions are used in almost any recipe. If you are anything like me you dread the teary eyes you get from cutting them and the smell that sticks with you for over a week on your hands. Well fear the onion no longer! Before you are ready to use the onion place it in the freezer or soak it in ice water for about 15-20 minutes....and Viola! No more teary eyes! Now to get that dreaded onion smell off your hands you can rub your wet hands on the inside of your stainless steel sink. If you do not have a stainless steel sink then you could use a steel bowl or any other stainless steel items you have laying around the house. Another good way to help eliminate the smell on your hands is to make a paste out of 1 tsp. of dishwasher detergent (cascade), 1 tsp. of ketchup and 1 tsp. of lemon juice.

These tips also work for garlic, chives, leeks and any other pungent veggies!

Diaper Cake How-To

~Diaper Cake~
Here are the supplies you will need to get started "baking" your diaper cake centerpiece:

•Approximately 50 medium size disposable diapers. The cake I made used 48 diapers
•A large platter on which to build the cake. I purchased a 16" plastic party tray
•big bag of rubberbands
•Approximately 8 feet of 2" wide ribbon for finishing the tiers.

•Assorted baby necessities such as pacifiers, teething rings, combs, brushes, rattles, bibs, diaper rash cream, themed items ie:firefighter items were used with mine my best friends husband is a fireman and so is baby room decor!
paper towel roll
hot glue, glue gun

This next step is the most time consuming portion of this project.


• roll with the decoration on the inside
•secure with a rubberband(small ones work best)

You will be creating three tiers for this cake. It would be helpful during this part of the process to have an extra pair of hands helping you hold things together as you begin placing diapers together

Begin with the bottom tier

•take plastic tray glue gun , glue paper towel roll and 3 rolled diapers stuff 3 diapers into papertowel 1 will stick out top. glue papertowel roll into the middle tray standing up with diapers inside, the diaper sticking out is the top.
•take a large rubber band and an already rolled diaper put large rubber band around papertowel roll and place already rolled diapers inside until you have enough all the way around bottom of paper towel roll.that will be your bottom tier.
•do the same thing to the middle and tiers.... when you started with the paper towel roll the one diaper that stood out top is included in top tier...


Now its time to be snazzy!

•I measured ribbon and hot glue a tiny strip and place around(it will sit on top of rubberband that is showing)
then I used fireman items to decorate including a cute fireman badge in the middle!! Be creative ladies and have fun!



-Kristi



Here are some more pics I found online for different decorating ideas. Check out photobucket if you can't decide on your colors or decorations.

The Price of Beauty??

So, the idea for the show is GREAT! One problem, in my eyes, is that you have a culture show being hosted by Jessica Simpson. She is not exactly the most educated person to be traveling the world and representing the American woman. I did enjoy watching the show, mostly for the same reason I watched her last show. You never know what she's going to say. This is mostly funny, however, as a person who has traveled the world and know how important it is to be "culturally sensitive", I had to CRINGE when I saw her gagging like crazy after trying some of the locals' food. I learned that NO MATTER WHAT YOU EAT you smile and say "Thank you!". These people have very little so when someone offers you food, it is a compliment. No need to insult, even if it's by accident. WRAP UP - I will probably continue watching (thanks to my lovely DVR) but I would've LOVED to see someone like Reese Witherspoon or Sarah Michelle Gellar host this. Judge for yourself!

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

Tired of smelling Fido?

So I know that everyone at one time or another has had an odor or two in their house. Be it from pets...that dinner that you cooked last night that just won't go away or having been gone on vacation for a week and your significant other forgot to take the trash out before you left! Sighhhhh....well a quick and rather inexpensive solution to your madness is to take about 2 cups of water and put it into a pot. Add about 1-2 table spoons of whole cloves and 2 sticks of cinnamon and simmer on the stove on low. This will not only eliminate any odor fast and effectively but will also leave your home smelling wonderful. Any Dollar store carries dried cinnamon sticks in bulk (about 1 dozen sticks) for only $1.00 and you can buy a container of whole cloves from any Whole Foods store for about $3.00 for a .25 lb. container.

Cost: Approximately .25 cents per use

There's a difference between self-improvement and INSANITY

Anyone that knows me will tell you I am not against plastic surgery. If there's something that a person can do that will make them feel better about themselves, then I say go for it. However, THIS is something I have a problem with.

Watch and read




It's like Heidi should have her own Lifetime movie. The obsession and measures she went to when she was already such a beautiful girl. She litereally looks like a blow-up doll and with the future work she is planning, she is going to look like Frenchy from Rock of Love, soon. Really Heidi? Do you WANT to end up as a phone sex spokesmodel. Yuck. This, in my opinion, is NOT fabulous.

Impress for Less

There's nothing I find more depressing, than window shopping at the stores I once frequented. The way things are for EVERYONE right now, means replacing Gucci for Target. However, there are so many places that you can get the fashion you crave without spending your car payment. Here are some of my favorite steals and places to score them!




Candy Cane Dress

$26.50!!
This is a GREAT dress for going out or for a semi-formal event. I'm thinking about getting it for my reunion.

http://lulus.com




Ruffled Skirt only $10.40




http://www.gojane.com/42903-skirts-ruffled-elastic-waist-skirt.html

Casual Stripped Dress
$10.50



This will be GREAT when the weather gets warmer. I had a tunic that resembled this last year and I wore it OUT! It's super easy to just slip on and GO!

http://www.forever21.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=FOREVER21&category%5Fname=21%5Fitems&product%5Fid=2070988065&Page=1#


And of coarse, my favorite, mark. has GREAT deals all the time. Right now they have hair products for $5.00 each!

I LOVE my Next Day Hair



http://sarianneparker.mymarkstore.com/

Welcome to the Fabulous Life

There is NO REASON that every domestic diva shouldn't have the glamorous life she wants and dreams of. Dinner parties, cocktail hours, themed events all seem like something too expensive or stressful to tackle with all the other daily burdens that come with running a household. This blog is going to attempt to change that. Everything from recipes to party ideas to relevant book reviews. This is not your mom's Tupperware group. This is going to be submissions from myself, as well as other woman attempting to glitter up their life with something more than watching Real Housewives of Orange County. You can get the most out of your life without spending tons of money. Please comment with ideas or even request of things that you would like to get more information on or even learn how-to-do. Like for example, I would like to learn how to make diaper cakes. They are sooo expensive to order and seem easy enough to make myself. Hopefully, I'm not the only person out there looking to better themselves, as well as their social life.