Book

I've been ordering books for inspiration. Sometimes we get stuck in a rut and need that little boost. I discovered SARK  what a hoot this woman is. I highly recommend reading anything by her.  I can not wait to have time to really sit down and work in my journal using some of her techniques.

I've been so caught up lately with working, planning out classes etc  and meeting with realtors ( still looking for a building) that I've neglected my blog. Also in the process of re-doing both of my bathrooms. Have the new floor and toilet in the master bath now it's almost time to Bring on the paint! Hmmm what colors to choose?

Chicken Marsala and Journal

I have been doodling on this page off and on for the past 2 weeks. I think It's finally completed. There was no prompt for this, it's just a page = )  I love color!  I only used a pencil, pitt artist pens, neocolorII crayons and markers.  I couldn't turn the last picture right side up after it was loaded.

It has been a great week so far! Here it is Saturday already, wow where does the time go?

I made some great recipes this week I thought I would share one.

Chicken Marsala

1/4 t. ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup flour

4 chicken breasts, boned, skinless (5 oz.)  Thawed and pounded out to about 1/4 inch.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup Marsala wine or Marsala Cooking wine

1/2 cup chicken stock, skim fat from top . I use Tones Chicken stock

3/4 to 1 cup fresh mushrooms

2 - 3 green onion chopped

1 t. fresh chopped garlic
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

Directions:

1. Mix together pepper, salt, and flour. Coat chicken with seasoned flour.


2. In a heavy-bottomed skillet, heat oil. Place chicken breasts in skillet and brown on both sides. Then remove chicken from skillet and set aside.

3. To the skillet, add wine and stir until the wine is heated. Add juice, stock, and mushrooms. Stir to toss, reduce heat, and cook for about 10 minutes until the sauce is partially reduced.

4. Return browned chicken breasts to skillet. Spoon sauce over the chicken.

5. Add green onion

6. Cover and cook for about 5-10 minutes or until chicken is done.

7. Serve sauce over chicken. Garnish with chopped parsley.

8. Serve over whole wheat cooked spahgetti noodles.

Yield: 4 servings--Serving Size: 1 chicken breast with 1/3 cup sauce


Fat: 5.8g

Carbohydrates: 10.2g

Calories:282.9

Protein: 42.8g

Finally a great place to find Good brushes! I found these Denman brushes for $10 they also carry Mason_Pearson brushes as well. http://www.folica.com/ is the website. I found sooo many things at great prices! I just thought I would share, tee hee!   = )

From the heart

Wow that a week it has been! I worked on my next journal prompt  (from the heart)  and I think I'm finished with it..but are we ever really finished?

I chose a two page spread

Here she is holding a little card

With a message inside

For this project I used gesso, matte medium gel and liquid mixed with acrylic to create a matte glaze, acrylic paints,crackle,gold leaf foil, stayz on permanent ink pad (black), 3 rubber stamps, pitt artist pen xs in black. ( I want more colors) I also did an image transfer with wording using omni gel and a transparency sheet. This didn't turn out so well as I was impatient and smeared it. Pretty simple but I do like how it turned out.

I enjoyed this journal page and can't wait to start on my next one!

I have good news to report, I worked all day Tuesday 9 hrs. on my feet and ordinarily my back would hurt so bad after that I couldn't move the next day but I really think the little blue balls are doing the trick! I was up and at 'em Wednesday and was out running around all day no problem! YAY!!!

For me this is huge!

My husband finally purchased me a new laptop and I'm trying to adjust to Windows 7. So far I really like it, it's very user friendly. I can't wait to dive into more programs and see what I can create. No longer will it take me a million hours to wait for uploads! Doing the happy dance!

Now I will go enjoy the rest of my Saturday, busy busy day ahead! 
Everyone have a beautiful day!

Miracle Ball

So I've been suffering with back pain for a really long time.. almost too long to remember back. At least 3 years or more. I've sought help through doctors, had MRI's, tried chiropractic, massage therapists and I've been working out with my trainer for 6 months and have had some relief but still I have back pain. I'm sure this will be an ongoing thing for the rest of my life( herniated discs, degenerative arthritis and a twisted disc blah blah blah) and I am prepared to deal with it; however I refuse to let it take me down! I want to be able to stand behind the chair all day and not have any pain. Is it possible?  I did some research and discovered these little blue miracle balls. Yes, I said it; blue balls! I love them! No pun intended.lol  I've only had them a couple of days but I've tried a couple of the methods in the book for pain relief and Oh My GOSh what a difference already! I used them this morning under my hips during my work out as well.Today was Ab day. I have no pain!

I guess they help to re-align and elongate the spine. I will continue to use them daily, it only takes about 10 minutes total a day. You can even lay on them while watching TV. The key is breathing and relaxing. Who knew? I will update in a couple weeks about these little miracle balls and see if they are still working. So far so good though. I'm excited!

I have so many journals going ( food journal, exercise journal, art journals, etc. ) I hope I can keep up with it all!  lol

I promised myself I would do better with my blog this year. I really dropped the ball last year. Not that many people read it but still it feels good to write about stuff and share thoughts.

Today I will spend with my daughter teaching her make up techniques and goofing around doing girly stuff. I hope to do some art as well. I feel my creativity coming back some. I have to thank my dear friend Missy for always being there to kick my butt into gear and keeping me motivated to do some art! You're the best!

I'm off to be girly now! Have a wonderful day filled with laughter and love!

A little peek at my next Journal entry. I know I know I said layers and collage I still plan to do that as well.In fact I may completely re-do my first journal entry or make another page at least. I don't feel like I put that much effort into it. I was in complete doodle mode.

I just had the urge to sketch last night, we will see how this one turns out!

I got a new exercise ball for Christmas to work out on, this one makes #3. lol  If you are looking to purchase one I highly recommend the Bally burst resistant exercise ball. It is much tighter and it doesn't lose air. I absolutely love it. My trainer even wants one! I've been playing around on it and doing stupid tricks. Hope I don't hurt myself! Ha Ha...The things we do to entertain ourselves!

Boom Boom Boom

BOOM BOOM BOOM! Nothing like a little Black Eyes Peas to get your day started!

 I was a good girl today, I woke up, ate my packet of oatmeal and my bowl of special K with blueberries. Didn't smoke before my workout. I did have a cup of coffee; that's just an automatic get out of bed and no one mess with me until I've had a cup requirement.
Today Ashley ( my PT )  has my focus on arms.
OMG one of the things she had me do was a press with a hammer curl and a row in one movement and to save my life I couldn't do it right. My brain went into complete retard mode. It was comical to say the least.  My workout ended with 100 tricep extensions and 100 bicep curls. Yeah I won't be lifting my arms later! HA

So I guess this is my first journal entry of 2010. I did end up switching to the moleskin. I have been challenged with no place to do my art. You see my art room doubles as a spare bedroom and well, I've had company for quite some time staying in there which is fine but I cannot focus or do my best when I don't have my supplies handy or my little corner of the world to do it in. It just doesn't work for me. I guess this will continue to be a bit of a challenge for me for awhile since I don't always stay at my home either. I spend alot of time helping take care of my mother and I drag my stuff back and forth. I wish there was a simpler method to this. And I'm rambling. So here it is I haven't picked up a paint or watercolor in months and I know I should have been regardless; however I am doing it now. I only allowed myself to work with my Neocolor crayons, colored pencils, Pitt artist pens and my Sakura Gellyroll pens oh and a few artist markers. I guess I wasn't in the mood to draw I was in doodle mode for this because words kept popping into my head faster than I could get them down.The prompt was Winter and what does it mean to me? To me it is new beginnings. The weather turns cold and everything becomes dormant. Time to regenerate. Kill off the bad ju ju. Just as it does in nature.

 I felt like bright cheery colors this day instead of the monochromatic colors of winter. Bright colors tend to make you happier. I tend to get more depressed during the winter months but I've discovered that taking vitamin D everyday seems to help ( thanks mom!) It makes sense given the fact that we absorb the majority of our Vitamin D through natural sunlight and the days are shorter in the winter and we aren't out in the sunshine near as much.  Yep that makes alot of sense! 

My next journal entry I will challenge myself to layers and more of a collage style.

I wish the snow wasn't melting outside, I'd really like to get out my camera and take some pics of icicles and trees! I hear we are supposed to have more snow this week so this will have to wait. Meanwhile I'm off to clean up my little art mess and figure out what to make the hubby for dinner! Hmmm Chicken?

Coco Vine and Turkey meatloaf

I've been trying new things and over the Holidays I went to Arkansas with my family and spent a couple of days. Went to Eureka Springs. I love Eureka Springs, that is where Greg and I got married. On our way there we saw this HUGE building and it was called Macadoodles and we even commented on the name, come to find out it was a huge liquor store and wine cellar. So on night we decided to go see what they had. Oh My Gosh the wine selection was absolutely huge!  I made away with a bottle of Coco Vine which happens to be a Dutch chocolate red wine made in Holland. So we took it back to my nephews, chilled it and sipped on a small glass. It was terrific! You can't have a very big glass of it because it is so rich. Its like drinkinga very rich Chocolate Martini.

I kind of  pushed my diet over the holiday but not excessively but now I am back on track. My biggest challenge is eating 6 small meals a day and eating clean. Who wants to eat salad in the winter? I was in the mood for home cooking today since it snowed last night and it is bitter cold. I was craving Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. So I decided to try my hand and making a meatloaf with ground turkey. WOW you couldn't even tell the difference.  There was little to no grease when I pulled it out of the oven. I used:


2lbs ground turkey
1 pkg dry Lipton onion soup mix
1 can tomato sauce
Ground whole wheat bread crumbs (4 slices in food processor)
2 eggs
1/2 t. sea salt
1/2 t. black pepper
1 t. all purpose Greek seasoning
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 chopped onion
1 green pepper diced


Mix everything in a bowl reserving 1/3 can tomato sauce. Form 2/3 of the mixture into a loaf and flatten, make a shallow indention across the loaf and add cheese. You can add any kind you want. I have to use 2% slices or Fat free. Today it was 2%. Spread remaining meat mixture over the top of the loaf and seal the edges. Pour remaining tomato sauce over the top. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.  Perfect!


For the mashed potaotoes I added a little chicken broth, heated milk, garlic powder, salt and pepper. No fat! I didnt even miss the butter. 


Now it's on to working on my new Journal. I did make the first page yesterday but wasn't pleased with it at all and I'm not sure if I want to continue using this particular Journal. It is made of a textured watercolor paper. I may switch over to a regular moleskin. . I can always make another first page. I feel sooo rusty. I will continue to push myself though even if it looks like poo at first because I know the more I do it, the better it gets! Heck by spring it ought to be a masterpiece! In my world anyway :)

Winter Hair Care

The dry brutal cold winter weather can really wreak havoc on your hair. Here are some tips to follow to help eliminate your winter hair woes.

1. Use a good moisturizing sulfate free shampoo in the winter. Sulfates have a harsher detergent and can dry out the scalp in the winter and cause more flaking.

A)Try not to shampoo everyday. Shampooing your hair can strip your hair of its natural oils. Those oils help to protect your hair and keep it shiny and smooth. Sebum production slows down in colder weather so it isn't necessary to shampoo as often.

B)I naturally have oily hair myself and I've discovered Tigi rockaholic Dirty Secretdry shampoo to get an extra day without shampooing. There are several dry shampoos on the market but this one smells fresh, clean and doesn't leave much of a powdery look. Remember to brush through the hair after applying a dry shampoo.

2. Deep condition your hair weekly! There are numerous deep conditioners on the market. Find a good moisturizing one that suits your hair type your stylist can recommend one for you. An easy way to do this at home is simply shampoo hair, towel dry, apply conditioner, wrap your hair in plastic (a small trash bag will work ) and place a heated towel on your head for 15 minutes. * just tumble towel in the dryer until it is hot* Rinse and proceed with styling.

3. Use a daily leave in conditioner! This is important to moisturize and protect your hair daily.

4. Blow dry hair on a cooler setting. Heat will cause the cuticle (outer protective layer ) to open slightly. By using a cooler temperature and blowing the hair down the strand you can eliminate un-necessary damage and protect the integrity of the hair. Be careful not to over-dry the hair, this too can cause damage and frizz!

5. When using a flat iron or any heat tool it is extremely important to use a thermal protectant. There are several professional protectors on the market. These products are designed specifically to protect hair from heat styling and UV rays. my favorites are Aquage Beyond Shine and Redkens Iron Silk 07 Ultra Straightening spray.

There are several remedies for static in the hair. Most are simple. Keep a dryer sheet with you and rub on hair. Spray a little hairspray on your brush before brushing. You can also spray your brush with a little static guard and run that through your hair.

2010

So here it is 2010 and I look back and wow I haven't posted in 6 months!

I don't really have any of the usual new years resolutions, I'm already dieting and working out with a personal trainer. I do intend to work on my art more this year. spend more time with friends and take more road trips. I'm counting my blessings everyday. I have a very busy year ahead of me as many of us do. I have goals to reach in different areas of my life both personally and professionally. I know with perseverance and a positive attitude I will reach these goals and boy I can't wait!.

The nature of my blog will probably change some since I am into many different things and have different projects in the works. I will post healthy recipes, fitness tips that I have learned and have been working for me, beauty tips and current trends. The progress of my business venture ( crossing fingers ). Of course it will always include anything art!

I've also committed myself to working on a 2010 art journal project with Missy ( www.shabbygirl.blogspot.com/ ). and will share the progress throughout the year!

I hope 2010 fills you each with happiness, well being, love, laughter, total fulfillment and lots and lots of art!

Peace and Love to all! Happy 2010!!!