Operation Get Hot

Guess who has a birthday coming up? This old hag. And by coming up, I mean I am just two and a half months away from turning 29. That is correct. I am about to embark on my last year in my roaring twenties. I cannot believe I just typed that. I swear it was just yesterday I was getting depressed over turning 22. WHERE DID THE LAST SEVEN YEARS GO? It disturbs me greatly how quickly time passes.

Cousin, bro and I on my 22nd Birthday/College Graduation. Mama is not that size anymore. Can we say goal weight?

Do you want to know what is more disturbing? My cellulite. My arm jiggle. My stomach rolls. I am not even exaggerating. I am the largest I have ever been in my life. No, you are not getting a photo. Just use your imagination.
So with a big birthday on the horizon, I thought now is the perfect time to get super serious about ¨operation get hot.¨
Fat + birthdays = deep, dark depression.
You may have noticed I do not have the amount of free time I used to (Instagram is the new blog, OK?). I am running out the door every single morning to get to work at a decent hour. I do not get home until 7PM or later depending on what errands I have. So I just have to make time.
Last week I had no lunch, didn't get home from work until 8PM and allllllll I had my sights set on was plopping my fat ass on the couch and pressing play on that remote. My head said gym but my heart said Real Housewives. Something in me snapped and you know what I did? I worked out anyway. I put on 4 shades of pink, grabbed a water bottle and I. just. did. it. And you know what else? I felt a hell of a lot better after that work-out.

Guess what else happened after I just did it? I worked out 5 times last week. I'm not saying one week made me hot, but you have to start somewhere. I'm sick of wishing for it. I have to work for it and time is ticking. One only hopes my arm will one day get back to my 24th birthday arm:

So what about you ladies? Have you ever had an argument between YOUR head and heart about losing a few? Tell me in comments! Entries will be pooled between participating blogs and two lucky winners will be picked at random to each win a $1,000 SpaFinder gift card. Nice!

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: "#SweepstakesEntry"; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 6/13/13 – 6/30/13.

Be sure to visit the Slim-Fast brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win! 

Don't forget to check out Slim Fast on Facebook!

Miracle Red Wine Stain Remover

I have slowly but surely been trying to decorate my new apartment. I guess it's not so new anymore, but that's neither here nor there. After I moved in, I searched high and low for a living a room rug. And by high and low, I mean I scoured the internet for months. I finally decided on a rug I wanted from Overstock when low and behold, the one I had my eye on sold out. Your standard first world problems.

Defeated, I put my rug search on the back burner. That was until I stumbled across exactly what I had been looking for the entire time at Target for only $79. Yes, this Maple Fretwork 5X7 rug was only $79. Here she is:

Ignore the atrocious balcony blinds please.

It was love at first sight and exactly what I had my eye on. I'll have to tell y'all about my TV stand purchase and assembly in another post because that is a new too. Naturally, I spilled RED wine on my brand new rug a few weeks later. Would you expect anything less? I tired everything to get it out, but to no avail. I wanted to cry and I almost considered buying a new rug. I mean, who am I?

I can't remember who told me to try Wine Away, but someone did and I need to send them a thank you gift. I bought the 12 oz bottle because it was only a few more dollars than the 2 oz. I sprayed the solution on my several weeks old stain (bescause yes, I'm lazy, and it took me that long to buy it) and the red wine literally started disappearing in no time. I didn't even have to really blot it. I'm telling you, the stuff was magic.
The red wine was on the CREAM pattern and on the beige and you would never know. Do you see a red wine stain? I don't.

I purchased mine at Total Wine, but you can totes buy online. Linked in the paragraph above.

Everybody knows you use Wine Away to get out red wine stains. Duh. Get ya some and thank me later.

[RECIPE] Mock Mashed Potatoes Using Cauliflower

I typically don't get home from my Skyrobics trampoline class until almost 9PM at night. I go straight from work to make it to the 7PM class. Since I am getting home so late these days, I am trying to limit my carb intake so at dinner, which resulted in me finally trying this dupe for mashed potatoes.

I saw Laura from Laura Must Lose Weight vlog her recipe and I was still skeptical when I watched it a few months ago. And if you've never tried this, then I'm sure you're going to still be skeptical after I tell you how great it was. I don't blame you. But I'll also tell you that you are missing out. This stuff is legit. I Instagrammed a photo of the mashed cauliflowers and I had a few requests for the recipe, so here you go. It's super easy to make.

You need:

1. A head of cauliflower, chopped
2. One ziploc steam bag (can be found where the oven bags are)
3. 1/2 C of cottage cheese
4. 1 clove of garlic minced
5. salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Put chopped cauliflower in ziplock steam bag and steam for 5 to 6 minutues or until soft
2. Mix all ingredients in a blender and blend untill smooth
3. Enjoy!

 

I served mine with zesty tilpia and sauteed mushrooms (I use a slight variation of that recipe). I didn't use oil for any of this, just fresh lemon and lime juice, salt, pepper and mrs. dash original seasoning. BAM.

I can't sleep so I'll blog about the time I got lost hiking

So it's Saturday night, well technically it is now Sunday at 12AM, and I cannot sleep. I can't be 100% sure, but it may have something to do with the 3 naps I took today on accident and a Starbucks energy drink I had at 8PM. Never mind the fact I am supposed to be up at 5:45AM for a 5K. Yah, I don't know who I am either. I don't run. Like at all.

Lately I've been obsessed with this workout class called Skyrobics. It's an hour long cardio and toning class at my local trampoline park and as an ex-gymnast, it is right up my ally and actually a workout I look forward to. Not to mention it is super low impact on my joints and we all know I don't have the best ankles. Last I left you guys, I was going to hike Red Rock Canyon here in Vegas.

By the way, if you want more regular updates on my life out here in the Wild, Wild West, then make sure you follow me on Instagram (@thebargainblonde). I certainly update that much more frequently than my blog these days.

Anyway, I survived hiking Red Rock but not without some hiccups. Our 1.5 mile hike turned into 8 miles. Yes, 8 miles. And no, that was not intentional. Trust. The trails aren't marked so somehow, someway, we ended up off course and 4 miles out from our starting point. That meant we had no choice but to hike the 4 miles back to our cars. I have never been so happy to see my car in my life. The views were gorgeous and I can't complain about the exercise, so I chalk it up as a successful outing getting lost and all.

Do you guys ever go hiking? Before moving here, i never realized how gorgeous the mountains are in Las Vegas. I never, ever get tired of looking at them every morning and every night. It's one of my favorite things about this city. See people, there is more to Vegas than The Strip. So there. I miss you guys (as usual).

 

January/February 2013 Recap via Instagram

It's been a long time since I filled you in on what I've been up to. I just realized I have not really done any sort of life update since my Christmas recap. With March (yes, March) upon us already, I thought I'd do a brief January/February recap. Not only for you, but I like to be able to look back on my blog and remember what I did and where I've been. But mainly for you, of course. Is anyone even still out there?? I feel like I completely fell out of the blogging universe.

January began with New Year's Eve. I swear I passed out before midnight. Yes, my first New Year's Eve in Vegas and I was in bed before midnight with Nyquil and Reese's teddy he left behind at Christmas.

If this isn't an attractive NYE look, I don't know what is

I've enjoyed my new owl coffee mugs from West Elm that I got for Christmas.

I've perfected at home soak off of gel nails without ruining your nails. Tutorial anyone?

essie marshmallow topped with sally hansen shall we dance

I think after 6 months of living here, I've officially learned how to navigate my way around the Las Vegas Strip.

stuck in morning traffic

It's been a while, but you may remember that since I moved here, I was using my coffee table as a TV stand, I finally bought a TV stand from Joss & Main a month of so ago and I was very proud of myself for putting the entire thing together all by my lonely.

Do we approve?

Have a few FaceTime sessions with the nephew:

Finally put pictures in picture frames in my room 3 months later.

Saw George Strait in concert at the MGM when an old college roomie was in town.

pre hair trim. Can't even fit my hair in the picture it was so long. #michelleduggarhair

Decided it was finally time to trim my hair. If you know me at all IRL, you know I am psycho when it comes to my hair. I've had several traumatic experiences throughout the years and finally found an amazing hair stylist who I've been going to for the past 6 years in Dallas. Well, I could not wait any longer, so I went to a new person here. I was not traumatized from new hair cut, but let's just say I'll be flying back to Dallas for my next one. No pics, sorry. Maybe soon. Don't love it. Actually, that experience could be it's own post.
I'm in the stages of planning a baby shower for my bestie who lives here. She's due very soon. I just sent invites out a few weeks ago. Here I am watching The Bachelor (don't love any of the girls this season) and addressing the invites:

Have come to the conclusion, no where is off limits for gambling or boozing in Vegas. When I was getting my prescription filled on Valentine's Day, I had to shake my head when I saw this while I waited to check out in line at my neighborhood CVS.

Only in Vegas

And most recently, I spent last weekend relaxing. I made an enormous omlette on accident, went to the grocery store, painted my nails and made my slow cooker beef stroganoff, which I've every night since Sunday except last night because we had a work dinner. (single girls who live alone problems)

Mushroom, onion and bacon omelette with a side of freah Whole Foods salsa

Essie Strawberry Shortcake

As much as I love this recipe, after 4 days in a row of it for dinner ... I'm ready for something else

That about sums up January and February. Like I said, it's not too exciting. I leave you with a pretty picture of the sunset from my balcony this past Sunday night. I love the mountain sunsets here. One thing you cannot get in Texas.

The pictures don't come close to doing justice

TGIF. Everyone have a great weekend! I'm going hiking at one of those gorgeous montains Saturday afternoon for the first time. Wish me luck, and please have the paramedics on standby. Thank you.