Weight Loss Wednesday

Wow, how fast a week rolls around during the holiday season! Well, sure enough it's Weight Loss Wednesday, but I'm just not feeling it. Are you? It's hard to stay or get motivated for weight loss when there are so many goodies around. So how about weight maintenance? Is it even possible?

Well, sure it is! People do it all the time. They exercise, eat sensibly, and save their splurges for the special occasions. I've added a new blog to my blog list and encourage you to check it out. It's the Dish on Dieting, written by Carolyn O'Neil, a registered dietitian, whose very informative articles on healthy eating appear in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Her tips are so sound, practical and doable, and often remind me of many of the things that Weight Watchers encourages for its members.

As for Weight Loss Wednesday, this feature is going to take its own holiday break and will be back on January 7 with a renewed commitment to weight loss, and a giveaway from one of my friends on Etsy. Stay tuned!

Spotted Cow Soaps, Featured Etsy Blogger

Linda, the brains behind Spotted Cow Soaps, is December's featured Etsy Blogger. She is one busy woman, working as a school food service director during the school year, and running Spotted Cow Soaps in her "spare" time. She creates marvelous soaps, bath fizzies, and lotions. She also crochets bath puffs and wash cloths.

Get this sparkling champagne soap to ring in the New Year!!


A yummy candy cane whipped sugar scrub. This one is for a limited time only. Linda offers great seasonal products!

You're sure to find a color you love!

Read her blog and you'll learn about life in Vermont and the special offers in her shop.

Get Momentum with Weight Loss Wednesday

If you've read the About Me, or my profile in my shops or some of these very posts, you know that in addition to having an Etsy shop, I am a Weight Watchers Leader. This week marks the launching of Weight Watchers' 2009 plan which they have named Momentum. A merging of the plans formerly known as Flex and Core, Momentum harvests the best from each of these to form one exciting new plan. That's really all I can say here, but check out their website for more information or to find a meeting near you. Sign up now and beat the rush from all those making the same old, same old resolution!

In honor of the new launching, I want you to feast your eyes on this digital print that I found in the etsy shop, Orangepulp. Audrey is a digital artist who creates wonderful and whimsical illustrations of oranges. This one is entitled, appropriately enough, Momentum. According to the description in her shop, it's about the physics of oranges. I'll have to take her word on that!

Momentum

Oranges are wonderfully filling and will give you a great start to looking and feeling fine in 2009! And the oranges you see at Orangepulp have no points at all!!

O, Christmas Tree! O, Christmas Tree!

It seems late to be decorating this year, and I suppose we only have the calendar to blame. I bought the tree on Friday, and starting thinking about the decorating. Do you, or know someone who always has a different theme every year? Or changes up the decorating scheme? When I was growing up, my mom did that periodically, mostly due to the size and/or shape of the living tree that my dad had purchased.

So, this year, I gave a passing thought to having all silver ornaments, or all gold, but it was only a passing though. The trees I decorate just have to have some ornaments on them every year, theme or no theme. It occurs to me that the theme on our family tree is family history.

I want to share some of my favorites, that always grace our tree:

The angel on the left was made by me when I was in Girl Scouts back in 1971. The baby boy on the right is part of a Joan Walsh Anglund collection of ornaments. I have several (and the dolls to match).


Snoopy is from a collection issued by Hallmark in the mid-70's. I also have a Woodstock, Linus, and another Snoopy.


We have several ornaments that represent places we've lived. This one is the Jefferson Memorial surrounded by the blossoming cherry trees in Washington, D.C.


The little felt cat was made by my great aunt. I'm not sure how I acquired it. The Georgia football player represents my daughter's university, and my husband's law school alma mater, and the gourd with the chilis painted on it was purchased in Santa Fe, during a trip there to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.

This is just a small selection of the types of ornaments that just can't spend a holiday season packed away in a box. Do you have favorites that just must be on YOUR tree?

My Favorite Brownies

Well, just forget all about my previous post. This one is about brownies!! The latest Etsy Blog Carnival's topic is your favorite brownies in honor of National Brownie Day that is apparently December 8. Who knew?

This is so easy for me. I don't bake a lot, though most of my favorite dessert recipes come from my late grandmother, Wilma Lawton. There were always baked goods waiting for us upon arrival at her Seabrook, Texas home which we visited at least once or twice a year from my childhood home of Dallas. It's hard to pick a favorite among all of the delectable goodies she baked, but the brownies are easily in my top 3.

Brownie Maker Extraordinaire
Wilma Lawton

Mint Stick Brownies, as they were known by my family, have a thick, soft, slightly fudgy bottom brownie layer. On top of that is a powdered sugar frosting, flavored with peppermint extract, and colored a pale green with food coloring. This has to be cooled completely, and the final layer of 2 squares of bittersweet baking chocolate is melted and then drizzled over the top. Mmmm, they're so good!

I considered making a batch so I could take pictures, but decided against it. Maybe for a Christmas dessert, though...

Weight Loss Wednesday

It's December already, and the holiday season is upon us. But this year, we have so much more to be worried about. There's recession, bailouts, layoffs, and cutbacks, oh my! We can be thankful that the elections are finally over, but where do we turn for comfort. Before you head to the freezer for the Ben & Jerry's, or the pantry for the oreos and chips, head outside for a walk, grab a rake (or a snow shovel), play tag with your kids. Get more activity to ease the stress, and burn off some calories.

Add some humor and whimsy to your life to lighten up things. There is enough bad news, so look for places to have fun and laugh. Maybe even do some inexpensive decorating. The Freckled Hound has amazing vinyl wall art decals that are easy to apply, and so cute. This one is particularly appropriate:

That really says it all, doesn't it!

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Early Bird Creations

The final November birthday tribute goes out to Kylie, the brains and talent behind Early Bird Creations and Lil Egg Jewelry. Kylie, a jewelry maker since she was 14, creates a unique collection of necklaces, earrings and keychains made primarily with resin beads. You will see more fresh water pearls and glass beads in her Lil Egg collection. She's been seriously making jewelry for about 4 years, and making those wonderful resin creations for two.

Fen, of Bead Flora Jewels, gave Kylie the invitation to join the Challengettes when they were both participating in an upbeat business topics thread on the Etsy fora, and we're so glad she did.

Kylie is our girl Down Under, living in Forster, New South Wales, a beach town about 4 hours northeast of Sydney on the east coast. So when I asked her where her favorite place in the world is, it's no surprise that it's somewhere exotic! She says, "The first is Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo. I visited there earlier this year and it is the most magical place. Possibly because it has very little in the way of tourists and the fact that the people are just spectacular....oh and the beaches and resorts are awesome...Tequila Sunrise - that's all I have to say! The other favourite place is my local main street. It is really beachy with some gorgeous cafes and clothing shops. Lucky for me I get to spend a bit of everyday down there when I do my mailing and errands." Of course, we would all love to go visit her!!

She loves to try new foods, and her favorites are what she calls "picky" foods, "like antipasto platters, with goats cheese and sundried tomatos and marinated mushrooms." Yum!!

Kylie has three great tips for Etsy sellers... list every day so your visibility stays high, constantly work on your pictures, and finding some etsy buddies to ask questions, bounce ideas off of, and generally get support. With 100 sales just short of her Etsy anniversary (on Dec. 14), I would say that she knows what she's talking about!

I own one of her resin necklaces and it is beautiful! Check both her shops out and her blog!