Monday, May 21, 2012

~I am my experiment....~

Hello everyone!!


Happy Monday to you! :)

 We've had quite the run of beautiful
amazing weather here.....it's been in the 70's
and 80's...for about 2 weeks!

unbelievable!


well.....I have been quite busy....

busy with the Linen Shoppe
busy with gardening...rearranging, 

digging up & planting....typical spring stuff...

and busy supervising Mr. T & T painting the patio,
busy with birthday parties, chauffeuring kids, laundry, 
grocery shopping, feeding the family, , feeding cats, the dog,
the racoons, possums & such.....yes there's a story there...:)


and....busy with.....

my experiment....




this is a little clue......
no no no...!
def. not my body!! just in case
anyone should have a moment of sheer insanity
and think this could possibly be meeeeeeeeeeee! :)

(but it is a clue.....)


k, now you want to know right????



you are curious....



I've piqued your interest......



hee hee :).....




ok.....so you all know maybe that
I had a birthday a couple weeks ago....

and waaaaaaaayyyy too much of this stuff....




well and I've shared with you my desire to 
get in shape & I've been running, working out etc...

but not terribly consistently...


and the eating wasn't terribly consistent....
well let me rephrase that....

eating consistently ... yes!
eating the right food consistently....no!

especially if there was any birthday cake in the 
vicinity....


so there was this little gadget at the gym
that I've had my eye on for some time....

and with my birthday & all....
and my sudden laser beam focus
on wanting to get in shape & lose the fat 

really not sure where that came from ~ but
thinking it could be from the fact that I'm not 
getting any younger & really no time like exactly

right now

to get my body back to where I want it.....


ok...alright....my experiment....





this is the cool little gadget...I was referring to...
it's called the "bodybugg"
I think they actually used to wear these on the
Biggest Loser....

well Mr. Ticking and Toile (love him!!)
gave it to me
for my birthday.........and.................it's......

so  t o t a l l y  cool !!!!

it tells me:
how many calories I'm burning all day,

(it has a very high tech kinda arm band thing that apparently is the "most accurate devise outside a clinical setting" for measuring this via all kinds of ways....click here for more info!)

everyday....shows me on a little watch display thingy...
and it comes with a program that I plug my 
eating into....and shows me my calorie deficit...

so you all know....3500 calories equates to one 
pound right? 



at the very beginning when you set it up you tell
it what kind of caloric deficit you want per day...ie..
how much weight you want to lose per week...

(along with a lot of other stuff...like weight, bmi, height,
age etc...) 

and then it tracks for you those numbers, and
what your nutrition looks like.....
so each and everyday I plug the bodybugg 
into the computer
& it downloads my activity, and I plug in what I ate
& voila!  it shows me how good I did!

ok...so...a week into it I needed to weigh
myself....and...

I was literally having a little talk with myself
regarding this little guy...



telling myself ...."ok you know 
muscle weighs more than fat..." 
"you can't let whatever that number says trip
you up"
"your weight can vary at any time 2-5 pounds"
etc.... etc...blah blah blah....;)

but....

according to the bodybugg.....I should have lost
2.3 pounds last week......

so I daringly step on the evil rotten device scale .....ready to see.....

if my experiment on my own
body

is working.....?

~working out 6 days a week~

  weight training 3 days a week,
cardio & abs on the other 3 days....and eating clean...
 relying on my bodybugg....
and relying on the so-called calorie deficit that
I did in fact experience.....

so is it working.....?

................drumroll.................


yes!

I kid you NOT....
I lost exactly 2.3 pounds the first week!....

wow!

crazy!

I'm sold!

and very motivated!



so based on my calculations .....
if I keep it up...no no no...
as I keep going

I will be 37 pounds lighter
by the end of August!

I'll keep you posted
on my progress....

and I was actually.....

almost
almost  
almost
almost
almost

considering starting another
blog to track my progress
and results
and share stuff?!

maybe
maybe
maybe
maybe....;)

anyone interested in this sort of thing?

~*~


and now because I cannot
bear to leave you with absolutely
no 
decorating inspiration
whatsoever.....

here's a little something...;)


have a fantastic week everyone!!!



xoxoxo,



Shellagh


{all images via pinterest}












Thursday, May 10, 2012

~patio plans~

Hello everyone!!!

How are you doing???


 I am doing great!
the weather has been totally amazing
for 4-5 days now & expected to
continue for another week!!

are you kidding me?
really?
pinch me ~ please! ;)
75-80 degrees and just perfect.....


I just love this time of year....
sunshine ~ garden is started to bloom
birds are chirping.....heaven!


do you remember last year when I
posted about garden traditions?
.......no? (like I totally expect you all to
remember this....hahahaha)
you can check it out here
I mean if you just can't get enough of my babbling....;)

well we have the fabulous (for me at least!!!)
tradition of Mr. Ticking and Toile
offering his beloved services for
a n y
garden project I've been pining for as a gift
to me for Mother's Day & my
birthday.....


it's my love language.....service....
build me a fence, plant me some roses,
construct an arbor, plant me a tree....
and I will know you love me! <3

the lawn was kinda scraggly
recovering from buckets and buckets of rain
when I took this picture, but you can see
the split rail fence on the right
and the arbor next to the house....


each done a year at a time....to make his wife happy....:)

so these little acts of service are something I really look
forward to each year....but believe it or not ~
I almost forgot about it until yesterday!!!

so this year....Mr. Ticking and Toile is we are
painting the back patio.....woo-hoo!!
we've been wanting to build a deck but that will
be awhile so this will be an interim step....

kinda like the looks of this.....
but not too interested in all the work that would
entail...ya know?


I know you've all seen this picture~
and it is by far my ALL TIME favorite
patio inspiration photo....

aside from highly coveting the amazing table...
I am loving the color of the patio floor ~
even though it's wood & ours is concrete...

you love?


so this is close to the shade I want to paint...
maybe a little more grey....

we have the same kind of ceiling/overhang...
painted white as well....

I think it will really brighten up the space....
so if all goes as planned
we will have a brand new patio (so to speak...)
come Monday....


did I tell you I planted a bunch of lavender all
around it last year????

they have gotten sooooo big
& I
simply cannot wait
for them to bloom!

for me it's all about fragrance.....
ohhhh feed my senses please....;)


I'm really excited to see it bloom......
and really really excited to have a freshly
painted patio...to relax on.... while drinking in
the yummy fragrance..... 


hope you all have a fabulous Mother's day!



xoxoxo,



Shellagh





Tuesday, May 1, 2012

~darling diy cabin redo~

Hello everyone!

Happy Tuesday to you!
I seriously cannot believe it's May already!!

I came across this totally adorable
cabin makeover & just had to show you!

I am loving the the wood tones & boots with the 
greys......nothing better!


everything in the cabin was done on a 
 s.h.o.e.s.t.r.i.n.g.
budget.....to start off they pulled up 
the unsightly carpet and simply painted
the plywood subflooring with
Behr's Porch & Floor Paint in
"Shaded Hammock"


in the kitchen the owners removed the upper
cabinet doors & gave everything a fresh coat
of white paint....

oh don't you just LOVE that island????
So ADORE it & those storage bins...


in the living room ~ craigslist strikes again....
a cute cane sofa from the 20's gets
reupholstered with drop cloth fabric....
the chair & ottoman are from IKEA bought
at Goodwill...(SCORE!)
the totally awesome pull down map
she found on ebay for $30!!



they got super lucky & found this amazing
french pillow on close out at Restoration Hardware...
for get this....$24.99!
and the cute jars for $5!
the jars look so perfect grouped together!


after falling in love with the same table
at Restoration Hardware....
but not wanting to spend $3000 to purchase it ~
they got the free plans from
& made their own using a truckload
of free lumber!


and the chairs were a score as well....
$25 each....but needed to be repainted
because as found they were bright yellow....

I absolutely love the house numbers
on the stairs.....repainted from
brass to aqua....


isn't this home just full of inspiration???
doesn't it just make you want to start redoing
e  v  e  r  y  t  h  i  n  g  
around you???
and jump on craigslist/pinterest/all blogs
at the same time??? for more inspiration??

wait!!!
cuz there's a couple more pics to show you...

so hang on before you run out to Home Depot....
cuz you may want to buy some pipes at the same
time you buy dropcloth & house numbers....


look at the adorable desk???
yep ~ made with steel pipes found at Home Depot....

got your list together yet??
don't forget to stop at the salvage store for
some old doors & casters cuz you will need them
to make this.....


ok....I am seriously scoping our house to see
where I could   p  o  s  s  i  b  l  y
install doors like this!
are you loving absolutely everything here??

one more little eensy weensy project you could
do the minute you leave me a comment ;) 
I'm sure you've got all the supplies on hand....


cutest little lampshade makeover
using mod podge & dictionary pages....
love it.

ok....I am done...
you may now go completely insane
redoing your home...
go on now....
don't be shy....:)

are you thinking about it??
are your wheels turning??
I know mine are....:)

Have a great week guys!!




xoxoxo,


Shellagh



{all images via Country Living}
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