Taking it all off. Literally.

Today I was inspired by another blogger and encouraged by some friends.....I really want to share my wieght struggles and my journey to back to my skinny body back.......In the past year I've but on an alarming amount of wieght. Call it vanity, pride, self esteem or conern but its really upsetting. I think people tend to sugar coat wieght gain, being "plus size" and its so not healthy.  I want to live longer, be fit, have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby and just really I miss my old clothes!
So how am I going to go back?  How am I going to shed this weight?  Well, first of all Im not going to do some diet fad, Im doing what works for me, which is exercise and normal eating. This isnt a diet, this is a lifestyle change. Here I am a few weeks ago in size 16 jeans and XL sweater

And my adorable neice Aubri

In addition to eating heathy (Im doing 1400 calories a day) a nice mix of protien, veggies, carbs and Im doing a combination of running/walking and yoga. These are things and foods that I love and enjoy. Once I shed a signifigant amount and begin to plateau I will work with a trainer a few times a week.

The thing is right now its hard, sometimes Im tired and depressed about the weight, and its hard to run, the weight is hard on my knees and my back kills, but if I feel this way at 26, how wil I feel at 46?  Im super concerend about diabetes and heart disease.\

I will be back to update, and post before and after, I see how my friends post pics of thier growing baby bumps! Well maybe  should post pics of my shrinking lady lumps. LOL, that was corny but I couldnt resist.

I hope that I can encourage more women out there to take the weight off. Im not a skinny person telling you your not attractive,  Im just saying Im right here with you, and its simply not fabulous to be unhealthy.

Purse of the Month

So I totally skipped September. I should win the award for worst blogger 2009.  This month's purse is the winner for three reasons:

1. Its the perfect color, its a mixture of blue and gray. Im totally loving everything and anything blue and gray, and while Im not a fan of logo bags, this is a small clutch that logo is okay. I've used it as a clutch and as a mini purse in tote and its great. I love the shine the C's have on them.
2.  I'm loving Coach's new look. In recent yearsespecially with all the knock of goach bags out there, Coach has temporarily lost its luster, but In the past year or  so they really stepped it up with some fresh and chic looks, and you really cant argue with  the quality of Coach leather. Its fantabulous.
3. And lastly, this was a gift from my mentor and friend at my old Company.  She gave it to me on my second to last day and its really special to me......it reminds me to go forward, and I love it.

so here she is:

Accesorizing 101

I am have a rather conservative sense of style when it comes to my clothes. I like clothes that fit well, are versatile and can go from season to season.  However when it comes to my accessories I tend to go crazy. I love my big shoes, I love my big bags and my most recent love affair........costume jewelery.

Mind  you, growing up my mom and my aunts were big into thier gaudy gold chains and diamonds. What can I say, we are Italian. But thank goodness the Carmela Soprano gene didnt go to me. I only ever wear my wedding ring, watch and diamond studs.

Since I am not working and I am a professional student, my dress code has been rather casual, and albeit just fun. Ive been experimenting with costume jewlery.....I am nervous about the ensamble I have pulled together for a wedding in a few weeks.

Im wearing this dress

and I plan on accesorizing with:

( yes I know my nails need filled......)

as far as shoes go, Im thinking black suede peep toe Loubies ( it is fall after all) and a clutch of some sort.

What do you think?

Room #1 - The bedroom

When we bought our house, the room I was the least excited about decorating was the bedroom. While I had my linens picked out, and E and I bought new furniture before our wedding, the odd shape of the room had made it hard to decorate. My FIL, who is fabulous professional painter, came up with a great silver blue to paint our walls with, and we did an acent wall with silver stripes. If you notice in the pictures, our sleigh bed has chrome slats, so it works well.

Right now we have the bed in the corner of the room because of its odd shape but I like it.

You can see the pretty blue color and how it accents the dark furniture. Here is a good shot of the stripes:

Also in the room we have custom blinds to match the paint color and the bedding we have now isnt going to be for much longer, we are going to go with This set from Restoration Hardware:

Which leads me to my current issue.....how would you decorate and accessories the room, some faux flower, or maybe some mirrors? Im not to sure as decorating my house is not my strong suit. Please post any ideas that you may have, or if you see any cute bedding, that might go with it.

Next up: The dining room.

*The Purse of the Month*

This is a new blog feature I want to do, a new purse once a month, LOL. Too some that may seem excessive but I like to diversify my bags. Also, when it comes to dressing Im pretty classic in my style, I love lots of plain, well cut clothes, thus, I like my accessories to stand out. Theres wine of the month clubs, pie of the month clubs, so why not bag of the month clubs?

This month, from Valentino's Fall collection:

Black Patent Leather Historie with gold hardware.

And its a great bag, I wore it to a recent job interview, wonder if it will bring me luck? The thing I love most about this bag is the shape and the braided detail. To some this bag may be trendy but to me, its a classic. I dream of pairing it in the fall with some dark wash flaired jeans, a long white tee and a cute cropped jacket or a long cardigan, straight leg jeans and some fab boots. Or a navy blue top, gray pants and some patent leather revas.

I wonder whats in the bag ( hahahaha) for September

Coming out ( a fabulous) closet.

Well for the longest time my blog was made private, but I decided to make it public again. I had some recent drama with some haters, but you know what, if they are going to be lame then that's on them. Please note the above image is not my actual closet.

Life has been interesting lately. I'm leaving my job in a few weeks to attend school full time, in pursuit of my BS in Human Resources management. I graduate this year, and I'm ready to dive in to my career. There are so many goals I have professionally and personally ( separate posts) that I'm ready to reach. I have a very near and dear friend who told me I should do what scares me the most.

And I am.

Recently I had my hair dyed brown by the most fabulous Aubrey at Salon Vivace in Mt. Lebanon. What do you think?

The new color makes a new trip to MAC necessary for a

new make up regime.

So my message to you my dear friends, do whatever it is that scares you, if its climbing mt. Everest, moving, finding a new job, leaving comfort zone. or whatever it is. DO IT. Even if its something as trivial as a darker hair color. God I sound all inspirational but that's my goal here.

Home Sweet Home

We've moved! It has been the one of the biggest reality checks Ive had in my 26 years! Once we closed I had big ideas for our home. Almost ideas of pure imaginiation if you will. Once we moved in, the first week of July, things started to happen. We've discovered that our shower didn't work. How did that happen? Well, we had originally planned to do a complete bathroom renovation when we moved it in, but FIL took a last minute trip to you Europe, and we had to to wait until he came back to do anything big. So we put it off. And our first night in I wanted to take a shower only to find out the there was no hot water coming out.

WTF.

Well, you can get a plumber to come out on the 4th of July. Just sayin.

That being said, I'm so happy to be home. I'm ready to attack all projects big and small. Most importantly I'm so ready to make memories in these walls to last a lifetime.

So HGTV are you out there? I have a new idea for a show. Forget Property Virgins, how about the true story of a young couple, working full time, one pursuing an MBA, the other getting her BS in HR with little free time, a modest yet flexible budget, modern chic tastes and what happens after you get the keys. One room at a time.
While looking for houses, we could build. we had a ton of options. We put in other offers and Im so glad the others didn't work out, because this is home. I cant explain it - it just is. For now.

I cant wait to see you here! The champagne is chilled and we are ready to celebrate!

xoxo

Blogs are hardwork!

You have to update constantly....especially for me since I do not have any cute babies to brag about! Catching up on my google reader this morning I realized 5 things:

a. I need to post more

b. I need to take more pics

c. I better get on the home decorating bandwagon...

d. I need a new camera

e. blogs take alot of work!

Inspiration Photos

I am really wanting E to finish the hardwood floors upstairs so I can start decorating the bedroom. I want the bedroom to have a light, blue, cozy feel. Our room is nice and sunny and light colors are definitly in order. I wish I could buy new bedroom furniture because then my room would be all white. One of my all time favorite decorating blogs, Life in the fun lane is the epitome of my style. Chic, modern and lots of clean lines. Just a place you can easily call home. She has extremly fantastic taste and her daughter is adorable.

Another site im digging is All things G&D, I love how organized this chick is and she puts together some awesome ensambles. Her guest bedroom is the inspiration for my master bedroom. It wont be exact as I have a gigantic sleigh bed but Im digging the elements.

I dont want to post any pics without her permission, but I like her taste too.

As for my dining room, I want something rich and striking. Since this is our starter home, I want to something fun and flossy. If this is your dining room, please let me know so I can credit you....and Im 99.9 percent sure Im going to go this way.

However, Im thisclose to doing a light blue on the wall with houndstooth accents. Isnt this chair darling? I dont think I could pull it off with the red walls.

I would have custom curtains done and custom chair covers for the chairs at the tables and possibly a runner.

then on a wall I would do a frame wall...I think it would look unique with the red paint.

New House

Well, we did it. I'm not going to post pics yet. But Ive seen amazing blogs on a board I frequent showing how they transformed their houses into some gorgeous homes and I hope to be follow in their footsteps.

Our first home in rather modest, but its the perfect size for E and I, and a dog, and hopefully a little peanut. Its not our forever home, just a starter. Its wierd, all of a sudden I cant wait to get out in the back terrace and sweep dead leaves and water my peonies. Im so excited. We've already closed but we are waiting to move because we have a month work of work a head of us:

The to do list.

• Major Bathroom renovation. first on our list and new everything. this must be done and will be started this weekend.
• Sand and re-finish the hardwood floors in the master bedroom and computer rooms.
• Build shelves for closet in computer room as that's where my purses will live.
• Paint master bedroom a silver sage-ish color and in the office maybe a bright blue or something. its a smaller room.
• The 3rd and our future peanuts room is in perfect condition, painted and new carpet., just waiting on peanut. LOL
• Hang photos down the stairway
• Living room, paint vertical stripes in a oatmeal color. You buy two of the same color paints in different finishes ( matte and satin) and paint. Buy window treatments, buy a mirror for above the couch.
• Buy some new frames for photos.
• Do a photo/frame wall on one of the walls
• mount our insane big TV over the fireplace.
• See insanely big mirror which is there now on craigslist.

Dining Room:

• Do chair rail and wainscoting.
• Paint top half red.
• I originally was going to do a black/white damask accent ( window treatments, wall hanging's, chair covers and reupholster two chairs) but after watching Tori and Dean ( I love them) on oxygen last night I'm thinking of accenting with black and white houndstooth instead of damask. thoughts?
• Buy a mirror and a wine rack

Kitchen

• Move Gas line, thus move stove
• Add more cabinets and a microwave over the stove.
• Ceramic tile on floor.
• Add a dishwasher and more counter space
• buy a d-shaped sink and new tall facet
• Hang wine themed accents. That's my theme, wine how fitting.

Basement

• Install new front loader washer and dryers
• buy or build a shelving.storage system.

Garage

• Install automatic door opener.

Outside

• Pull weeds
• clean dead leaves.
• Buy a hanging plant
• and honestly the front yard is overwhelming, so next year we are going to hire a landscaper to figure out what would work. I don't have a green thumb and Ive honestly killed ever plant I have ever owned.

This weekend, Im going to post the before pics and Im welcome to all suggestions

Things I'm loving up on.

Khaki linen trouses.

White and black polkda dotted anything.

Nude pumps

My signature headbands.

And ritas italian ice.

What are you loving up on?

So my blog is not is so fabulous.

Sunday night while doing my homework I often take breaks and read my friends' blogs to see whats going on with their lives. I think its important and with the photos that are included in posts its like a visit at 2 am...when I am available.

Free time is so much of a luxury to us these days....I am taking 9 credits this semester, working full time, going to the gym, and we are still house hunting. We know this is our year...and unfortunately this morning had a deal not go through... the seller seemed a tad on the delusional side so as of this morning we are back on the prowl. Yuck. People suck. Seriously.

E is doing well at work and school. And he doest it all while looking good. LOL!!!

What else?
Well I'm going to be an Aunt again this year....2x! My SIL is expecting a little boy and my Brother and his Fiance are expecting a little girl May. I'm so excited. Especially for all the clothes I want to buy for my niece.

Lastly, when I created this blog I did it to showcase my finds while shopping, and the fabulous and flossy things we did, and my chic lifestyle. Well I still am chic and fabulous...but when it comes to flossy, reality sets in and in these tough economic times, I want do my best to show how a girl can still be classy and fabulous. However, she doesn't have to spend a fortune. Unless of course, Christian Louboutin, YSL and or Theory are involved. And I just want to blog about my life in general....if that's okay with you guys?

Well what are the blogging topics to come:
Being a wifey
Quick and easy spring transitions.
What to wear!
Yummy Burgh Food
Home Sweet Home.
Britney

Xoxo,
Sami

Happy Valentines Day!

****Spread the love*****