I love this Maxi dress!

This past Sunday, my girls and I went to the park. It was about 75 outside. These calm, sunny days, I really love living in Vegas. I bought this dress about 8 months ago, but this is my first time wearing it ever. I can’t believe its been that long. At least the weathers cool enough for me to wear it. I don’t know how women wear maxi dresses in the Vegas summer heat. I’ve seen them out there, but I could never be one of them.

Have you heard of Zuliliy? I bought the maxi dress from their website for $15. My sweater was from Marshall. It was originally a piece from Free People. I think I paid $20 for it. I have expensive taste, but I love to get a good deal.

My kids are growing up

My youngest daughter is almost 7. Her birthday is on November 1st. It seems like yesterday, that she was just a tiny baby. She’s in grade 1 and reading and writing, better then I remember doing at her age.

Times have sure changed. We teach our children to read and write at earlier ages. We teach them to us computers, iPhones, the Xbox etc. practically from birth. I graduated from high school 12 years ago and barely learned to type then. I can’t imagine how far advanced they will be from me, as they continue to grow and advance, in this technologically based world we live in.

Zoe loves to wear high heels.

My oldest daughter is 10. She is now up to my nose. Her feet are bigger then mine. Very soon, she will tower over me. I wish I could slow down the eternal, ticking, clock. That is not the case. I must embrace the change. We are forever evolving and growing, while dying, day by day. I hope that I may teach my children all that I know. I want them to learn from my mistakes, so that they will not have to endure many of the hardships, bestowed upon me. That being said, I enjoy watching them grow and develop their own skills and talents.

Zoe has an innate dancing ability, that I could only hope to possess. You should see her play Dance Central on the xbox Kinect. She’s amazing. Her math skills are way above mine, as well.

Then there is Ava. She has an innate artistic ability, that I know is party due to my own artistic and creative expressions. She’s amazing with animals as well. Never before had I witnessed a child of 9 months pet and cuddle a dog or cat instantly. There was never any excited hitting and hair pulling from her.

Hanging out at Target. Trying on shoes just for the fun of it.

If your happy or your sad get dressed up!

I absolutely, love to dress up! Most days you will find me in a dress or skirt, with my hair done all fancy and a full made-up face. Then, i’ll add earrings, bracelets and rings to boot. Most people tell me I look prettier without all my make-up, or they say they can’t tell the difference. I don’t care! I do it all for me. It makes me feel good about myself. If I don’t get ready first thing after yoga, I will not have a very productive day. When I look great, I feel great and I do great things.

If your having a bad day and you don’t feel like getting out of bed, I suggest you jump out of bed and shout with joy. Lol! (As I was reading this out loud, Zoe walked passed me. She said “seriously” and started laughing). That just goes to prove my point, if you do something to make yourself laugh, you will instantly feel a little better.

The next thing i would suggest you do is shower. After you do your hair and make-up, get dressed in your favorite outfit. Put on jewelry. Look in the mirror and say I am beautiful. I am strong. I am happy. I can do anything. If that doesn’t brighten your day, you might like to add one more step.

I do this everyday. Turn on your favorite music. Turn it up loud and dance. I normally turn my music on, right before I get into the shower. Then, I have a shower dance party. I even continue dancing naked waiting for my lotion to dry. Sorry to say, but this is a G rated site and I will not be posting pictures of me naked here. Lol!

Anyways, here are more pictures of what I wore today.

I had a very interesting time trying to take these all by myself. I set my timer on 5 seconds, which wasn’t quite long enough. Then, I tried 15 seconds and that was a little too much time. In the photo above I’m looking at my daughter, as she’s talking to me. Needless to say, I wasn’t very prepared.

I don’t think I’m very photogenic. I’ve heard otherwise from friends and my mother, most of all. I think the key to getting a good photo is taking a lot of photos. I took too many to count, just to get a couple for this blog post. I always take a lot of pictures.

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I took all of these photos plus the ones below, in order to get 5 good photos.

A Smiling Tip

I’m not good at smiling for photos. I can’t hold a smile waiting for someone to take a picture. I always look so phony. It took me years to learn what to do. The key for me is waiting. Right before the flash goes off I smile. It works like a charm every time. If your like me and not good at smiling for photos, I suggest you try my tip.

Mushroom Corn Chowder

I know it’s still hot out. Well, at least in Vegas. Our high was 97 degrees today. Our low tonight will be 70. It’s between 80-84 degrees in my house. I can’t stand it colder then 78. I try to keep it lower in the winter and always bundle up. I go threw slippers here, unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed. Still, its not that kind of weather yet. I am looking forward to it being a little colder outside. I like to be warm because I’m always cold. I love to bundle up as you can see here. I love to wear my comfy clothes. Chill at home and create things. Christmas will be knocking on our door soon. Every year we try to make decorations as a family. Its very fun. We all look forward to that time of year, but for now its fall. I miss fall. Here in Vegas, we don’t get all the vibrant shades of Autumn. It’s not cold either. Still no jackets or hoodies are being worn by my family. I still drive to and from school because its too hot for me to walk. I was in shorts and a tank top today. I was perfectly dressed for our weather. At least, I thought so. It’s just not the average fall weather I grew up experiencing.

I’m convinced that I’m not suppose to be wearing this attire in the fall. I’m not complaining though. I just have a very limited amount of time, to wear all of my winter clothes. Either way, I felt like making soup today.

Sautéing the onion, garlic and mushrooms in oil.

The celery and carrots have been cooking for a wee bit here.

It’s almost done. I can’t wait!

Now on to the recipe…

Mushroom Corn Chowder:

Ingredients:
Yield: 4-6 servings

• 3 Tbsp olive oil, or more if needed
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 16 oz mushrooms, sliced (I used baby portobellos)
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 celery ribs, sliced

• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp sage
• 1/2 tsp rosemary
• 1/4 tsp dill
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 large yam, diced
• 2/3 cup nutritional yeast

• 1 cup corn, frozen
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp sherry

• 2 Tbsp corn starch
• 1/3 cup water

• 1 cup almond milk, unsweetened

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Heat your stock pot. Sauté garlic, onion and mushroom in oil, for about 5 minutes. Then add celery and carrots and cook on medium for about 5 more minutes. When slightly tender, add the spices. Cook for about 2 minutes more.

2.Next, add the yam, vegetable broth and nutritional yeast. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for roughly 15 minutes.

3. Add frozen corn, sherry and lemon juice to the stock pot. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 3 more minutes.

4. In a separate bowl whisk together the corn starch and water. Add to the stock pot. Add the almond milk. Cook uncovered for 5-7 minutes to thicken.

4. Now eat that goodness right up.

DIY Hoodie Dye

I have this Hollister hoodie. I’ve been wanting to dye it for over a year. It’s getting kinda old. It’s a little beat up. Its not as white as it us to be. It had a few stains as well. It’s so comfy though. It may have some holes from camping trips, but I love it just the same. I’ve had it for 5 years and I couldn’t bare to part with it.

This week I decided to finally do something about it. I picked up some die from Hobby Lobby. Little did I know, this would not be my last trip there. I ended up going back 2 more times, because my hoodie wasn’t turning out to be the color I wanted.

See all the balls. Now you don’t.

I used this handy electronic device, to remove all the balls. I really suggest buying one. I bought mine from Ross’s for $5 a couple years ago. I’ve used it to make a bunch of older jackets and pants look brand new again.

Things are not looking as expected. You can follow the directions on the package if you like. I suggest going to the Rite Website before hand. They have so many colors to choose from and the color combinations needed to get your desired results. I didn’t think about it until after my first dye job left me with a blue hoodie, instead of grey.

I ended up using two packets of grey. Then, I used 1/2 a bottle of black dye. I dyed my hoodie 3 separate times. Needles to say, it’s still not grey. This purple color will have to do. At least the dye covered the imperfections. I’m not all that fond of the color purple. I still like my final results though. I was hoping to make this hoodie grey, to wear with my grey boots during the winter season. I suppose I’ll still wear it with the boots. It just wasn’t what I expected.

Now, because I was doing so much dying the last 3 days, I decided to do more. I wanted to do a more ombré effect on one of my pink hoodies. I’m not too fond of pick as well. I bought this pink hoodie, because it fit and i needed a lightweight hoodie. I thought, I might as well use the left over black dye.

Next, I decided where I wanted the ombré effect to start. I tied an elastic band around the hoodie. This helped to keep everything lined up, together and distinguish how much of the hoodie to put into the dye bath. I ended up leaving it in the dye for 20 minutes. I rinsed the dye out of the hoodie. Then, I added more black to the dye bath. I submerged a smaller portion of the hoodie into the bath. I left it for 20 minutes more. Once done, I rinsed it out again and washed it in the washing machine.

I’m really pleased with the finished product. The purple close to my face, brings out my eyes. Plus, I can now wear this hoodie with more clothes then I could beforehand.