Baby 2.0

I guess it's time to make it official, we are 12 weeks pregnant with our second child. YEAH!!!

This means that my two kids will be about 23 months apart. It's going to be a handful for us, but I am sure we will make it through it. Aiden has become quite the little helper as of late and I only hope this continues for him the older he gets.

You might have noticed the lack of blogging lately. Well I am just going to say it, I am TIRED! This pregnancy is so much different from my first pregnancy (see blog on the first here,) and to say it's been an easy one would be lying! This pregnancy started out with me feeling like I had mono, though I have had it once so I am pretty sure you can't get it again. I had this horrible cold that lasted for about 3 weeks. I went to bed nightly around 8pm and slept as late as Aiden would let me. I napped with him every afternoon, for about 2 hours, and still nothing seemed to make the cold and tiredness go away.

During the awful cold, I began feeling nauseated throughout the day. I am lucky that I have never actually gotten sick, but the feeling of nausea has become quite annoying. I have a break about every 3 days, I don't seem to be as sick, but on most days I find myself complaining and whining about the sickness. I tend to get super sick in the evenings and occasionally in the morning. All food really sounds gross to me, so my husband has learned if I want something for dinner, I get it. Most of the time I just choke down whatever we are having in hopes that it sticks with me through the night.

That's the other thing I have notice, I wake up in the middle of the night STARVING. This is probably due to my lack of wanting to eat during the day, but I am so tired that waking up hungry is quite annoying. Usually I scarf down a bowl of cereal around 2am.

Ok, that is enough complaining about this pregnancy. It's not been all bad. I have still been able to keep up my working out. I run about 6-8 miles a week still, not including the mileage I put on the elliptical. In fact, this last weekend I just ran my first 5k. That's me in the green hat & crazy socks and my baby belly sticking out of the bottom of my shirt.

I have been able to get a few things accomplished around the house. I finished painting a firetruck painting for Aiden's room and painting his dresser and toddler bed. I have still a huge to-do list that I would like to get accomplished before baby 2.0 gets here:

• Finishing Aiden's 1 year album
• Painting Aiden's room
• Painting the firetruck mural on Aiden's wall
• Organizing the basement
• Planting the garden
• Designing/Painting the Nursery

I am really excited for the last one! We find out the sex of the baby in May and I am very excited for that date! It will determine the whole scheme of the nursery!

Well, that is our big announcement. Despite all my complaining, we are super excited!! I just love watching my little guy and how big his has grown up! It makes me very happy. I can only imagine the joy I feel with two little ones running around our house!

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Spring Fever!

It's official, I have spring fever. Have you ever looked up the definition of spring fever? Well, it's an actual medical term, which surprised me.

Spring Fever [sprɪŋ fivər]-  A constellation of mental changes–eg, brighter mood, positive attitude, joie de vivre, that accompany longer, sunnier days in spring.

It's been in the upper 60s so far everyday this week, and I am going to officially call it---
 It's Spring!!!


Now this may not seem to be a big deal to you, but I live in South Dakota, where winter on occasion likes to rear it's ugly head in April. I can't complain though, I love winter. I love the snow and dare I say it, the cold. (In fact, I have found I prefer running in 20 degree weather vs the 60 degree we have had of late. It reminds me of my paper route days as a kid in Wisconsin.)

As a medicine for my fever, I tend to be outside as much as I can. In the past two days alone, we have gone to the zoo, walked the arboretum, had dinners on the deck, and eaten ice cream not once but twice! I wanted to write a blog showing all the nice, new, green items of Spring around us, but alas everything is still brown. It will be a few more weeks before we see those tulips start to pop up, the grass turning green, trees budding and once they do I am sure I will  be out there with my camera taking as many pictures as I can. Until then, I though I would post a few pictures I have found online that really help cool my spring fever-- enjoy!

I love the sight of tulips popping up from the ground. It's a tiny sign that new life is being born.

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Multiple times during the day you can hear the calls of the geese flying North overhead. I love seeing all the birds fly back to their homeland. When we were at the arboretum yesterday, we saw the bluest bluebird. He was so bright blue he almost looked electric. We had a fun time watching him fly from tree to tree!

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Spring is the time for preparing your garden for the year. We moved into this house too late in the season last year, so I am excited to get our gardens ready for the season. I have a lot of rock to move and the soil is in need of some good manure and compost, but I think our South facing backyard might produce some the best produce we have had in years. On the planting agenda-- Yukon gold potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, hot peppers,  green peppers, onions, green beans, and a huge variety of squashes for the fall. 

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The sound of running water, makes me think of Spring. We live by a pretty nice sized creek and I could hear the water rushing from it the other day all the way across our pond (which too is almost melted!) While we were exploring the arboretum yesterday, Aiden and I took a walking break to play in a small stream, that was newly unfrozen. He actually got to dip his toes in the icy cold water of the stream for the first time in his life and had such a great time doing it. 

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And my last image of spring, lemon bars. Oh how I love a good lemon bar! (Which I am desperate need of a good recipe so if you have one send it to me.) Something about citrus fruits and Spring just go hand in hand. 

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Well, those are just some of the items that make me excited for the full onset of Spring. As I am sure my Spring fever will begin to cool soon, but until then I am looking forward to the blooming around us!

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130 Calorie Sugar Free, Cranberry Orange Spice Bran Muffins

I know the title is super long, but I couldn't think of any other way to describe these muffins. I have been going through my cupboards trying to use up old things and saw that I had almost a whole box of  bran cereal. 

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No one is eating this cereal, so I decided to try to use it to make some muffins for breakfast. It's a great way to add fiber to any muffin recipe without overpowering the muffins. I played around with a recipe I found online and came up with these muffins for breakfast. The muffins are sweetened with ripe bananas and Splenda, so not only do these muffins have extra fiber but are also sugar free! And for those of you counting calories, they are only 130 calories each! They were fast to make and the family LOVED them!


1 cup bran cereal
1 egg
3/4 cup skim milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of orange zest
2 medium mashed ripe bananas (I used really brown ones I had in my freezer.)
1/2 cup granulated Splenda
1 1/4 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Place muffin liners in a 12-cup muffin pan and spray muffin liners with some spray vegetable oil if you have it. (I use silicone ones that I wouldn't trade for the world!)

2. In medium bowl combine egg, milk, oil, and orange zest with whisk. Add in very ripe soft bananas.

3. Stir in cereal and let stand a few minutes.

4. Stir in Splenda.

4. In a sifter, add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Sift into egg mixture.

5. Once combined, it will still be lumpy, stir in cranberries.

6. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

7. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown.

8. Enjoy!

The Skinny: Serves 12 @ 130 calories

Here is the nutrition breakdown:

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DIY Pantry Door Redo #2

Here is the second post on the redo of my pantry door. (See first post here.) If you remember, back in June I commented on my kitchen remodel that I had grand plans for my super plain pantry door.

After scouring the internet for ideas, I finally formulated my plan. Painting my pantry door with both magnetic and chalkboard paint. Here is my little DIY, on how I did this project.

Here is how my pantry door started out.

I decided to leave a white border around the magnetic chalkboard. I measured 4 inches from all sides,
and drew lines to mark where I wanted to paint.
I taped off the border with some frog tape to prevent any of the paints from bleeding underneath. (I love frog tape!)
The first layer needed to be the magnetic paint. I decided to use Rust-oleum Magnetic Primer as it seemed to have the best review online.
I read online that you need a good six coats for the magnetic paint to work, but after my sixth coat I found that it barely had a magnetic hold. I ended up painting TEN coats of magnetic primer. And this paint is AWFUL to paint with! It is hard to remove from your hands and has a very oily texture. I felt like I was painting with motor oil. In hindsight, I should have just bought a large sheet of thin metal and glued it to the door! This is a picture of the paint after one coat of the magnetic primer. 

After my TEN coats of magnetic primer, I finally decided it was strong enough for magnets and it was time for the chalkboard paint. I purchsed Rust-Oleum Specialty Chalkboard Paint and painted two layers of paint over the magnetic primer.
I removed the tape and the directions say to let the paint cure for three days.
I wanted to add a little more decorations to the kitchen, so I purchased a custom vinyl cut decal from Curzon Promotional Graphics. I was able to design exactly how I wanted the decal to read and layout.
I absolutely love this decal! And I love the idea that I am the only person in the world with it :)
After the three days of letting the chalkboard paint cure, the directions say to place a layer of chalk over the top of it.

Here is the door covered in chalk. 

And wipe it off with a dry cloth. 

Finally, we are done! The door turned out great! I repainted the rest of the door white to brighten it up and switched out the door handle to one that can be locked. (To prevent a certain toddler from emptying the pantry!)  I love the way the decal adds some cute decoration to my kitchen, and we actually use this board quite a lot!

Aiden isn't quite old enough to know how to use chalk, he more eats it then anything, but I think eventually he will love drawing on this door. He plays with the magnets while I cook, which has been a nice distraction to him trying to go through my cupboards. The hubby likes the door because it's a good way to keep track of what we need to buy at the grocery store next time we go. It has become a real  lifesaver around the kitchen and I am glad to have another project checked off my list of things to do around the house!   

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Unhealthy Eating/Drinking Habit Confession

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With Spring and Summer quickly approaching, I (along with many other women across the country) am thinking more about eating right and focusing on healthier habits.

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One of my favorite ways to gain inspiration for this (and basically anything else) is to peruse Pinterest for healthy eating tips and exercises. Pinterest is chock-full of great motivation and tips for keeping your cravings at bay. However, as I go through all of these great tips and ideas I can't help but feel complete mortification when I realize how badly I eat sometimes. Actually, I seem to have the biggest problem in what I choose to drink.

Here is the very real but very embarrassing truth: my typical day consists of coffee in the morning (1-3 cups), caffeine in the afternoon (sugar-free Red Bull or Diet Coke) and to end my day, a glass of wine. This is as I said, a typical day for me. How HORRIBLE is that?! To sum it up I am totally addicted to caffeine and then top off my day with sugary wine.

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I realize this is so not good for me. It just isn't healthy. But here is my issue: I love drinking it so much, and since it all fits into my daily calorie goal, I have no motivation to stop. I suppose it's like smoking or any other bad habit; if you don't really, TRULY want to quit then you don't. And I just don't want to :( I love coffee, diet pop and wine. As long as I'm within my calorie goal, how do I feel motivated to stop? The scary info about ingredients in these items doesn't even deter me. I should say that I think a lot of my bad food/drink habits are the factor of emotional eating or drinking. I work and attend graduate school FULL TIME. Sometimes I feel like coffee is this happy, little victory in my morning... and the same with the other drinks. Again, what a horrible habit. Clearly I have to learn to channel my emotions into different outlets. Some of you may think, "I've never done that!" but can you honestly say you've never had a time when you looked forward to relishing a special meal? Particularly after a stressful week at works or after studying for hours on end? I think it's an easy trap to fall into. Unfortunately if I'm honest with myself, until I'm finished with grad school all I can realistically do is cut back on the bad stuff instead of eliminating it all together.

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Do you have a shameful food or drink habit that you can't seem to give up and frankly don't want to?

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~Christi

Sophisticated Finds: Beauty Product Miracle "BB Cream"

My Sophistication Muse, Audrey Hepburn

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Sophisticated Finds revolves around my favorite beauty discoveries, techniques, fashion trends and anything else "pretty" that catches my eye. I look forward to sharing these ideas with you and hope to hear your suggestions and feedback as well! I am no expert at beauty or fashion by any means but perhaps that will make my thoughts more relatable. Simply put, I'm just a girly-girl navigating my way through the fabulous finds I come across.

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Have any of you ladies heard of the new-to-America product, BB Cream?
BB Cream (aka Blemish Balm, Beauty Balm, Blemish Base, Beblesh Cream) is already a huge success in Asia but it is just starting to drift over to the
United States.

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From everything I've gathered, women in Asia love it simply for all of the many benefits packed into just ONE product. BB Cream is said to combine the benefits of primer, blemish coverage, skin tone correction, and lotion IN ONE PRODUCT and I am pretty sure there are certain BB creams that include even more benefits than this!
If you'd like a more thorough description you can read about it on daily glow.
The more and more I read about it the more I wanted to try it.
And well, you know me, I gave in ;)

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I wanted a BB Cream that woul control my t-zone (my ultimate goal!) while providing some of these other great benefits. After a little "Googling" I settled on Etude House BB Magic Cream (Refreshing) which is for oily skin.

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I should also mention that from the "research" I've conducted there is a very big difference between the new BB Creams in the American market and traditional BB Creams found in Asia. Garnier and Clinique have recently come out with their versions of BB Cream but from what I've read they are really just tinted moisturizers. I was very much intrigued by Clinique's version but then I read it had fine glitter in it. Glitter or shine of any kind is a no-no if you have oily skin or a t-zone and want to avoid drawing attention this (i.e. products like Revlon Photo-Ready Mousse won't help shiny skin). Unfortunately, Clinique was out. Anything else I read about Garnier's BB Cream was unimpressive as well. When I looked on Sephora the only other options were out of my price range. SO this is how I ended up choosing Etude House BB Cream and I was able to purchase it via Amazon since it is not sold at stores in the USA. (**UPDATE: I was able to find it with cheaper shipping on EBay!) I know this will turn some of you off because you can't buy it at your local drugstore or ULTA but honestly, I was so happy with this product I wanted to right a review about it.

So what exactly did I love about the product? I should say I haven't been using it long enough to notice any improvement in the overall condition or tone of my skin. We'll see if I notice this later. So far I have really enjoyed the ease of the application and the coverage. You can apply it with your fingers like tinted moisturizer but I like to use a foundation brush. The coverage is a little better than a tinted moisturizer but it isn't heavy or cakey, which I love. It only comes in one color and it goes on a little light at first but it miraculously adjusts to your natural skin tone. Also, a little goes a long way so you won't speed through this product.

My absolute FAVORITE thing about this product is that it is the very first foundation type product that I have tried that does not leave me with a shiny t-zone by lunchtime.

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The first time I tried it I could NOT believe it when I checked its wearability mid-day. NO SHINE! I do like to set it with the E.L.F. Mineral Booster Loose Powder I suggested before but even without it the typical t-zone shine was nowhere to be found.
BEAUTY PRODUCT BREAKTHROUGH! WOO HOO!!!

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Yes Ladies, I was jumping for joy ;)

Since BB Cream is making it's way through brands like Clinique and Garnier I can only hope in the next year or two Drugstore brands will develop their own versions. We'll see what happens! Until then I had to let you know about my latest discovery.

Have a great week, everyone!

~Christi

DIY Pantry Door Redo #1

Back in June, I painted the cupboards of my new kitchen black (Kitchen Redo #2: Black Cupboards & Some Extras) and planted a little bug on my plans for this super plain pantry door.

I have been gathering my ideas (thanks to Pinterest and Houzz) and have found so many cute ideas for a plain pantry door and I thought I would share a few with you.

At first I was thinking about a chalk board door. Great for writing future menus, plans, grocery lists, and a place for Aiden to draw. I loved the curved arch on the door below. However, I have a flat door so I am not sure how that would work on my door.

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Here is another chalk board door. I love the way they have used chalk markers to decorate the door. I think the chalk is great, but I think of the chalk mess and wonder if it's all worth it.
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Then there is this super cute framed magnetic board that could be attached to the front of my pantry. The only problem I see with this is it might start looking cluttered. (BTW have you checked out the blog I got the image from, thehouseofsmiths.com, it's pretty awesome!)

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I saw this photo below and though I know that it's a front door of someone's house, I really liked the illusion of a frame the squares added. I thought it might add a nice little decorative feel to the door without looking like a strange black door in the kitchen.

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Then there is always the option of a dry erase pantry door like the one below. Very cute with the paisley pattern on the door, but then again I have a flat, ugly door. Also, I am not sure I can trust my toddler with markers and I would like this door to serve as an activity space for him while I cook.

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And finally, I could always go with the cute frame option: one cork, one dry erase, and maybe one magnetic. I think this idea would be very cute, but I worry about the toddler ripping off the frames attached to the door and how do you attach them when you have a cheap, hollow, door like I do?

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There are so many cute ways to redo your pantry door out there, the ideas are endless! I guess decisions have to be made and I will show you what I decided to do on the next blog about the door!

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