Pin-tester

I SUCK at hard boiling eggs. I never seem to get it right. They either come out undercooked or so hard that you could bounce them like a ball. I am also always left with annoying little egg shells that stick to the egg when I try to peel off the shell.

SO this week for the Pin-tester series I tested a method that is supposed to make peeling eggs super easy. The pin came from an awesome site called theKitchn, which I would have most likely never discovered if it wasn't for Pinterest.

The method which can be found here says that if you add 1/2 tsp of baking soda to the water it will make the egg shell easier to peel. I followed a simple method for hard boiling the eggs, which I found in the comment section of the post.

Final verdict:
It worked! The egg shell slipped right off. What a neat little trick.

Max loved the shell free perfectly cooked egg too. From now on this is the only way I will hard boil my eggs.

Have you tested out any pins lately that were a success...or a big flop?

On a side note: I have an awesome giveaway going on tomorrow! You will not want to miss out on this one.

DIY Polymer Clay Cut Out Heart Bracelet

With Valentine's day less than a week away I decided it was time for another heart inspired jewelry diy. The inspiration for this project came from the candy heart bracelet that I recently made. I am a huge fan of hearts so this is a fun piece to wear all year round.

What you will need:

• Polymer clay
• Razor
• Heart cutout (purchased at Michaels)
• Roller or large marker (not pictured)
• A bracelet (to use as a guideline)

Before beginning condition the clay by mashing it up between your hands so it becomes soft and pliable.

Start with a large round ball of clay and roll into a long snake like piece. Use the roller to flatten it out. Flip the piece over to reveal the smooth side. Use the razor to cleanup the edges and make straight. Measure your wrist and adjust bracelet size accordingly.

Use the heart cutout to stamp out the hearts along the piece of clay. Avoid putting the hearts too close to the edge since you will be connecting the two pieces together.

Connect the two ends by overlapping one piece slightly over the over (first picture). Gently press and mold the two pieces together with your fingers.

Use a bracelet as a guideline to make sure it will fit you and to help shape it into a circle.
Place clay bracelet on a baking sheet and bake according to clay directions. I baked mine for 30 minutes at 275 degrees.

Let bracelet cool and harden once taken out of the oven and you are good to go! If you are not a fan of hearts you can also do triangles (which looks awesome), circles or any other shape you want.

If you end up creating this please send me a picture. I would love to see your version!

Pin It

DIY Anthropologie Painted Mug

Anthropologie Verdant Acres Mug

If I had an unlimited budget I would run to Anthropologie immediately. It is by far one of my favorite stores. I love how beautifully decorated and eclectic it is. I always feel like I am in a whimsical dreamy world for a moment whenever I step inside...and then my son starts having a melt down and I am instantly brought back to reality and usually have to leave ha!

I recently spotted the mug pictured above and loved how pretty and spring-y it was. I am NOT an artist by any means but the original mug looked like it was made using water colors ( I can hang with water colors) so I thought it would be fun and simple enough to try and recreate.

What you will need:

• A plain white mug
  
• A few porcelain paint colors. You actually only need a few since you can mix colors to make other colors...duh I didn't think of this until after I got home and started opening all of them up (Sharpie markers and regular paint will wash off in the dishwasher)
  
• Two different sized paint brushes
  

Start painting on your creation. Make sure you wash your paint brushes in between each color. Once you are all finished let your mug dry for 24 hours and then bake in an oven for 35 minutes at 300 degrees. This sets the paint and will make it dishwasher safe.

My (new) mug. Even though it looks like a 3rd grader painted it, it has definitely made my morning cup of tea just a little bit more exciting. For those of you out there who are talented in the painting department you could really get creative and paint something completely unique on yours.

Pin It

Skin Care Tip of the Week *You should be doing this everyday*

Taking care of your hands is just as important as taking care of your face.

Women tend to show signs of aging on their hands first. Brown sun spots and tiny wrinkles are a dead giveaway that you may have spent too many days in the sun neglecting your hands. Living and working in Southern California I have seen this too often. I see women with beautiful faces and skin but their hands look like they are approaching 50.

It is never to late to start protecting your hands. My suggestion is to never leave the house without wearing at least an SPF 15 moisturizer or sunscreen on your hands, even in the winter.

Simple but so important!

Image source

Things that make me say yeay

A stack of recently thrifted classic books for my boy's rooms. My favorite thrift store was having a major sale and each book was only $0.10!

My first Amazon.com purchase. I must have been hiding under a rock because I had no idea you could buy stuff like this on Amazon. It is a giant map (obviously) that is going in the baby's nursery. We are doing a world traveler theme and I have been having so much fun putting it together.

I have been SO good this pregnancy by not giving into my naughty cravings...but sometimes you just have too. Yes that is heaven in a little box and I enjoyed every last bite.

Lemongrass incense. You either love incense or you don't. I love it.

Lettuce is starting to grow in our garden. This makes me happy :) Homegrown lettuce is my absolute favorite.

What makes YOU say yeay?

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

New blog series: Pin-tester

I am such a huge fan of Pinterest. It is a beyond genius concept. I could seriously spend tons of unproductive hours on there pinning away everything that makes my heart do a little skip.

What I have personally noticed is it can easily become a black hole (a fun black hole) of things that you pin and never do, make or buy for the most part. Who's with me on that one?

So here is how this new blog series is going to work...each week I will be testing out either a recipe, beauty tip, DIY, cleaning/organizing idea etc, that I have pinned on Pinterest. I will then share here on the blog how it turned out and what I thought about it (completely honest opinion).

Each week I will of course always link back to the original source not back to Pinterest because giving credit to the Original G is important.

So lets get started with the first Pin-tester of the series: The Miracle Mask from College Fashion.

Ahh scary I know! My poor son screamed when he saw me.

If you have been reading my blog for a while you are probably aware that I am an esthetician who LOVES diy skin care so I knew this was something I needed to try asap.

The mask recipe, which can be found here is made up of honey, cinnamon and nutmeg, which are all great ingredients for the skin. I left the mask on for 30 like the directions said and this is what I thought...

Pros:

• Smelled amazing. After I removed it my face smelled like a delicious cinnamon bun for the remainder of the day.
  
• Super easy to mix together and I had all of ingredients in my cupboard.
  
• My skin felt soft and tighter after I removed it.

Cons:

• It was as a pain in the butt to remove.
• My skin was a little itchy and red (from the cinnamon) but I also have super sensitive skin while pregnant so that was most likely amplifying things a little.
• It got everywhere! It was on my camera, in my eyelashes and dripped down my shirt ha...I was a sticky mess after but at least I smelled good :)

Final verdict: I liked it. Not sure if I would necessarily call it a miracle mask but it is definitely worth trying.

Have you tried this Pin? If so what did you think?

A really close call...

Max holding his hands together as we say a prayer. At the end he always shouts "Ahhhhhhmen!" Melts my heart.

About a month ago my OB called me pretty late on a weeknight. She usually waits until the morning to call so I knew something was up. My 24 hour urine test (not a fun test) results came back with a really low amount of protein (or something like that). She said she was very concerned because this indicated that my kidneys are not functioning at optimal level. This is what every diabetic fears.

How could this be, I wondered?! I take such good care of myself and my blood sugars are in excellent control. My Dr. said it was most likely due to having diabetes for so long and it was finally catching up to me. She determined that the pregnancy was most likely amplifying everything and she was afraid it was the beginning stages of kidney failure. She gave me the number to a specialist and told me to call first thing in the morning.

I hung up the phone and cried hysterically. I want to live a long healthy life and see my children grow and be there the entire way...possible kidney failure would put a major dent in that plan.

I called the Nephrologist (kidney specialist) in the morning but I could not get in to see him for almost a month later. Apparently a lot of people have kidney problems.

In the past month I have never prayed harder in my life. It's ironic how when something could be wrong you suddenly beg God to listen and answer your prayers. I just knew in my heart that this was not God's plan for me.

I only told a few close friends and of course my immediate family what was going on. I tried to go about my normal routine this past month but this has been on my mind the entire time.

My appointment with the specialist was last Wednesday. The doctor walked in, shook my hand and looked very confused.

He sat down and said, "I am sorry you had to drive all the way down here but I have gone over and over your tests and blood work and your OB simply read your results wrong." He told me I was as healthy as could be and how refreshing it was to see a healthy pregnant type 1 diabetic. I jumped up out of my seat and gave him a big hug (probably not what he was expecting)! That was the BEST NEWS ever. I told him he seemed like a great doctor but I hope to never see him again.

I got in my car thanked God, cried (I cry a lot) and called my husband to tell him it was all a huge mistake!

I truly believe in the power of prayer and having faith even when prayer and faith seem useless.

I hugged my husband and son a little longer than usual when I got home from the doctors. This whole experience made me realize how precious life really is and not to take anything for granted...EVER. In a split second things can change.