Stitch Fix #6: February, 2016

Stitch Fix is a personalized shopping experience!

Go to Stitchfix.com:

1. Start by filling out your style profile - you will answer questions on sizing, pricing, color preferences, etc. You can also write notes about what you like and don't like (mine says "no tie waisted tops/tunics or boyfriend jeans).  Make sure to link your Stitch Fix board on Pinterest so your stylist can see what you like and what to send you! 

2. Order your first fix! Your card will be charged a $20 styling fee.  If you keep any item you will be credited back the $20.  You should keep at least one item or you are basically giving away $20 for nothing in return. You will receive 5 items [made up of clothing, jewelry, and handbags]. You can always opt out of anything you don't want.  Mine says no earrings/bracelets.

3. Decide what you want and what you want to send back [in a postage paid envelope-no cost to you]! You have 3 business days to do so - try everything on and go outside your norm and comfort zone!  That's what makes Stitch Fix so fun! 

You can change the frequency of your fixes and this is in NO way a subscription service that you can't get out of.  You can cancel at any time.  :)  Leave plenty of comments for your stylist on what you like/don't like.  I know some people are curious on the pricing, most items are $50-$100 range.  You can even set the $ amount that you would like to spend or tell your stylist to keep things under a certain amount.  

First of all let me start by saying that I have been doing Stitch Fix for a few months, trying to find the best stylist...and I've found her!  Ding Ding!  I love you Emily!

I do NOT claim to be fashionable although I love fashion.  I am just trying to update my wardrobe with classic, nice pieces that I can use forever.  My weight fluctuates so that's another thing I always take into account.  I bounce between 105-112/115 lbs.  That may not seem like a big deal to most people but to me it is the difference between a 0, 2 or 4.  I have all of the above sizes in my closet but lately I have been bopping around 107 lbs.  I have a super long torso. So long that tops are hard to find that are long enough to cover my bum.  :( 

Here we go:

Leopard cardigan she is talking about:

These are my items:

and my infinity feather print scarf not pictured above.

I had pinned this Blank NYC Lettie Faux Leather jacket after seeing it on the Living In Yellow Blog...so cute.  (Kept -XS)

This is another top I had pinned (did I mention how awesome Emily (my stylist) is?).  Its the Market & Spruce Xander Short Sleeve Woven Back Sweatshirt.  (Kept-XS)

Too Cute!!!  

Octavia Harmony Feather Print Infinity Scarf (Kept)

Daniel Rainn Thornwood V-Neck Blouse...in love!!!!  (Kept-XS)

Lila Ryan Liza Distressed Skinny Jean (Kept-0)

Scarf...cute right?  Aww....look at my beautiful fur baby in the background!

Omg, let me apologize for the lighting.  I'm going to figure out a better place to put my mirror to do these reviews.  These are the skinny jeans.  Note to self, lay off the King Cake during Mardi Gras!

The Xander Short Sleeve Woven sweatshirt.  Dude, this thing is so comfy and I love how at first you just think its a plain top...

and then, Bam!  Pink.  Ignore my sports bra...heh.  

I love you I love you I love you Thornwood blouse!!!!

I have been looking for the perfect moto/leather jacket and here it is!

zipped up.  Again, sorry for the lighting.

Overall I couldn't be happier and that's sometimes hard on the budget but these are great pieces!  Emily, I'll see you in a month!

Potty training is fun! Said no one, ever.

My son has never been scared to use the potty.  Honestly, he was just lazy and didn't want to stop what he was doing in order to try to go potty, so guess what?  He hated it!!!  

I screwed this experience up royally.  I would give in and quit too soon.  And trust me, kids this young are far from stupid!!  We had tried multiple times to potty train.  I tried the Cheerios, the rewards, the underwear only for a day (eww), the clapping and screaming when he would pee on the potty, etc. 

He met all the "requirements" for all the websites stating "your child is ready when....he/she does these certain 10 things."  One of them was waking up each morning with a dry diaper and I noticed around his 3rd birthday that he wasn't having any wet diapers during the night anymore.  I was also uber jealous of all the other kids in his class at daycare who didn't have diapers in their "buckets".   My coworker said as soon as I was really tired of buying diapers I would make it happen and boy was I!!!!

Hmmm...I think it's time to try again.  This time I wasn't going to give up.  The Taurus in me took over.

I took everyone's advice. Every day when we got home from work/school the diaper came off and big boy undies went on. It was messy. He was pissed when I would make him go potty.  He would cry and I would cry.  I sucked it up and as a friend told me "you are the boss, not him."  I stuck to my guns. He would play in his pee on the floor.  He didn't care if he was wet.  I was losing my mind.

This continued for about 5 days then bam, it happened.  Just like that.  He didn't want to be wet in his diaper and I wasn't caving and he knew it.  I just had to stick to it and be the boss. 

Mommy and Kingston both won. 

Here is my potty trained little man enjoying pizza for his first day of daycare with no accidents.  That was 2 weeks ago and still going strong!  

Lesson?  I think the reason that they fail sometimes is because WE fail.
I gave up too soon.
I wasn't trying hard enough.
I was so concerned with the mess.
I thought he would just "get it."
I expected him to just do it without accidents.  So it wasn't him after all.  It was me.
I was the issue and it took me a while to learn but hey, we got this!  

Drops the diaper.  Drops the mic.  Does a cartwheel!

It's been 4 years....

And I'm back!!!  I cannot wait to catch you guys up on my life!!!  I'm the proud single mommy of the sweetest 3 year old, I'm a distributor for Young Living (an amazing journey) and there's so much more. I'll be posting soon about Stitch Fix, Young Living and my goals for 2016!  

crockpot italian chicken

Source: homeiswheretheholmansare.blogspot.com via Toni on Pinterest

Crockpot Italian Chicken: 4 chicken breasts (brown before adding to crock pot!!!!), 1 packet Zesty Italian dressing seasoning, 1 8 oz. cream cheese (softened), 2 cans cream of chicken soup; Cook on low for 4 hours. If sauce is too thick, add a little milk. Serve over pasta.

This was an amazing recipe and so easy!!!!

Asian glazed chicken thighs and soy sesame sugar snap peas!

Ok, these may be my new favorite recipes!!!

The Asian chicken thighs came out perfect and so did the sugar snap peas!

Two very easy recipes and so yummy! Much better than chinese food from the restaurant! This took absolutely no time at all. 25 minutes, super duper cool!

My favorite recipe. Sausage, peppers, onions and potato bake.

A classic Italian recipe, this is by far my most favorite thing to cook!!!!! I'm sure it would be fantastic with deer sausage!


Ingredients

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 pounds Italian sausage links, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
4 large potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced
2 large green bell peppers, seeded and cut into wedges
2 large red bell peppers, seeded and cut into wedges
3 large onions, cut into wedges
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the sausage until browned. Transfer the cooked sausage to a large baking dish. Pour 1/4 cup of olive oil into the skillet, and cook the potatoes, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 10 minutes. Place the potatoes into the baking dish, leaving some oil. Cook and stir the green and red peppers and onions in the hot skillet until they are beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the vegetables to the baking dish. Pour wine and chicken stock over the vegetables and sausage, and sprinkle with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Gently stir the sausage, potatoes, and vegetables together.
Bake in the preheated oven until hot and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot.

HAPPY EATING!!!

Deconstructed cabbage casserole

I made this today after seeing it on Kalyn's Kitchen blog. It looked and smelled amazing! I didn't add Paprika like the recipe calls for, only Tony's (which I wish I would have added more of) but overall it was a decent recipe. I'd give it a 3 1/2 out of 5.

Juice #1: Carrot Tang

My first juice with my juicer! I really thought I would like this juice because of its 3 ingredients:

1 carrot
1 grapefruit
1/2 inch ginger root

It was.....mmmmm.....just ok. Nothing great. Definately woke me up that morning! I love love love grapefruit juice but I think it was the ginger with it that threw my taste buds off. :(

Alton Brown's Superfood list

The other day Josh recommended I watch the Dr. Oz show because it was going to be about "Why women are so exhausted." Of course that explains me perfectly! I'm always so tired and never have energy so I figured I'd give the old Doc a shot. In this show he talks about how none of us eat right, shocker!!! lol!

Halfway through the program Alton Brown comes on and introduces the way he lost weight and kept it off by eating healthy foods. He explained exactly what foods we should have daily and what foods to completely avoid. It was very interesting!!!

We've been giving his little lists a shot and I'm feeling better about my food choices. Here they are below:





His presentation was quite intriguing. Check it out for yourself. He also gives a recipe for a low cal chocolate pie....mmmmm!

Juice head...the good kind ;)

So I got a really cool Christmas gift from my honey. :) I'm so excited to use it!!!! As you can see he also bought me the BIG BOOK OF JUICES to help me out with recipes. I'll post recipes as I make them and let you guys know how they taste. Here are just a few of the ones I can't wait to try!

I'm back....with a great cookie recipe!

But I can't take all the credit.... A Tasty Kitchen posted this on her blog first. :)


There's only 4 ingredients in this recipe which I love love love!!!

1 cup Nutella
½ cups Sugar
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1 whole Egg

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Blend all ingedients together well. Form into 1″ balls. Place on a cookie sheet. Press down firmly with the bottom of a glass. Bake 7-8 minutes or until set. Cool. Don't overcook!

These cookies come out tasting like the edge of a brownie crust with the inside chewy. MMMMMMmmmmm....

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I've been organizing my sewing supplies and will be posting some more blogs soon!

Lemon Creme Bars

A wonderful Betty Crocker recipe that I made for Easter. So yummy!!!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cold butter
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® oatmeal cookie mix
1 egg
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/4 cup lemon juice


Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 8-inch square pan with cooking spray.

In large bowl, cut butter into cookie mix, using fork or pastry blender. Stir in egg until mixture is crumbly. Press half of cookie mixture into bottom of pan; bake 15 minutes.

In small bowl, stir condensed milk, lemon peel and lemon juice until thick. Spread over baked crust. Crumble remaining cookie mixture over top. Bake about 25 minutes longer or until light golden brown. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until set. For bars, cut into 5 rows by 5 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Tips:
You'll need 2 medium lemons to get 1/4 cup juice.

Cut bars into bite-size squares and serve in mini paper cups.

Use fresh lemon juice for the best lemon flavor

Allergies....i'm sick of you. Go away!

I have the worst allergies!!! Living in South Louisiana this time of year is a nightmare for me. :( I've tried everything...benedryl, Allegra, Zyrtec, nose sprays, Chlortabs, neti pots (which help a ton), and any other allergy medicine you can think of. The only thing I have not done is have allergy testing but that's definitely in my future! Neti pots have been a great relief except that when I use them too often I get ear congestion so I can't use this method daily.

I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to tree pollen......especially Ligustrums! Thanks to every Tom, Dick and Harry for planting these in your yard...almost every allergy sufferer is allergic to these trees!



We went to Drug Emporium yesterday and found this stuff:


I decided that for $9 it was worth a try and so far it's worked like a charm...for the past 28 hours. It's a sublingual drop that tastes like vodka (check out the alcohol content on the label) but not half as bad as swallowing Nyquil. I haven't had any side effects like I do with every other allergy medication and especially NO DROWSINESS!!!! yay! I'm crossing my fingers that this little bottle continues its magic! I sneezed once today instead of 40 times like usual. I even checked the pollen count and saw that for the next 4 days it'll be in the "very high" range. The next few days will prove if it works or not. I'll update later! I hope this post can help others with allergies. Maybe this product can help you too. :)

My favorite dress of the night...Oscars 2011

worn by Scarlett Johansson.

What a great color choice!!! So nice to see something other than beige and black and red....




how fabulous right????

Oven Chicken Stew

Thanks to Kay Campbell, I've been using this recipe for quite a while! It's quick, easy and tastes so good.

Here's the recipe:

1 fryer, cut up (or a bag of chicken thighs or breasts)
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 can water
1 stalk celery chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
1 tablespoon kitchen bouquet (I use more because I LOVE the flavor and the dark gravy!)
chopped onion tops (handful)
chopped parsley (handful)
optional: onions...i love love love onions so i added 2 small chopped ones to this recipe!

Heat oven @ 350 degrees. Spray 9 x 13 baking pan with nonstick spray, place chicken in single layer. Season to taste (if you like things spicy, this is the time to add a little cayenne!). Combine remaining ingredients together in a bowl and pour over chicken. Bake for about an hour and 15 minutes covered. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes and Enjoy!