My new favorite website

I want to share with you a website I have been using for the past couple weeks.  It was really helped me understand how many calories I am and should be eating.

It is called Livestrong.  Right now I am signed up for the free version.  While you don't have access to all of the cool features the website has to offer, there are enough free features to make it worth while.

First, you set your calorie goals.  This is based on your height, weight, age, weight goal, and activity level.  It estimates out a calorie number you can strive to meet each day.

Now this is tracking website that helps you determine how much you are eating and what the nutritional value of the food you consume.  If you don't like writing down everything you eat, then you will not like this website.  I always thought I wouldn't need to do that but it really isn't too hard.  There is a great database of foods with all of the nutritional value already plugged in.  Anything from fruit to brand name products to Walmart's Great Value Brand.  It is all there.  They even had my gummy vitamins!

It then keeps track of what you ate.  Although a big portion of what you look at is the calories, it also gives you an indication of nutrient goals such as fiber, sodium, protein, and sugars.  This was the part that surprised me the most about the foods that I ate.

You can also keep track of how many glasses of water a day you drink.

You can also put in your exercise and the amount of calories you burn.

As you can see in this last screenshot, the top of the page totals your daily calories and tell you how many you have left until your reach your daily calorie goal.  If you exercise at all, it subtracts those calories from your total.

Another fun feature is that you can enter in your recipes into the website, and it will generate a nutrition label.

This is my recipe for Spinach and Artichoke Lasagna Roll-ups.  If you want to full recipe and directions, head over to Beth's Journey where I found this recipe.

This is really helpful for people who like to make their own recipes, or for recipes you find online or in a book that don't have the nutrition labels on it.

When I first tried this website a couple weeks ago, I was not a calorie counter at all. However, I was frustrated that I was working out and trying to eat better but seeing very few results.  I was scared of getting obsessive about counting calories and thought I would just enter in a few days worth of food to see where I was.  Since then I have tracked my calories every day and have enjoyed seeing my progress.

Since I have started logging in every day, I have steadily begun to lose more weight.  I am not on a strict diet at all.  I still eat dessert and go out to eat, but I am realizing that it starts to add up and you have to make choices if you want to indulge yourself.  Some days I go over and I don't beat myself up over it.  I just start again fresh the next day.

Livestrong is a great tool and it even has apps for your iphone or smartphone.  Since I don't have one I still have to do it the old fashioned way, but luckily I am around a computer all day to enter my food.

I am still figuring out how to best utilize this website, but I think it would work for anyone trying to lose weight, maintain their weight, or just seeing how healthy they are eating.

On a similar note, I had a surprise last week.  I came home to an opened package sitting for me on the coffee table.  The hubby saw his name on the package and was curious, but it really for me.  My mom sent me the Rocco DiSpirito Book I mentioned a few weeks ago.

The recipes look amazing! It is so interesting to see what foods to use in place of unhealthy ones.  I bought some ingredients to try a few recipes this week.  However, I am really looking forward to making some of his desserts because he uses some very unconventional ingredients for desserts.  If I make them I will let you know if I give them my seal of approval!

So thanks Mom (since I know you read my blog religiously)!

You know you want to buy me some shoes ...

Saving money is so difficult.  Sometimes I wish I didn't have to pay bills and student loans.  I wish I could buy shoes and books and whatever else my heart desires.  No body tells you that when you grow up you make more money, but that you don't get to use most of that money.

Well here is a little list of the things I have been restraining myself to buy.

Tom's Coral Canvas Wedges

 Tom's Brown Stripe Role Sole

Or pretty much any of the classic Tom's shoes.  I have been dying for a pair of these for a while now.  Almost got some the other day but the hubby talked some sense into me.  But I think they are just adorable and I love the whole idea behind it!

This Rocco DiSpirito CookBook

I have tried one of his recipes before and was amazing.  It was a light mac n cheese and it was just as good as the full fat version.  The reviews look great for this book and I think I would love his recipes.

Tina Fey's New Autobiography

This woman is crazy, funny.  I have loved everything she has done.  If you read the excerpts from this book, you will know why I can't wait to read it.

Reusable Produce Bags

I love my reusable grocery bags, but still feel so wasteful with those plastic produce bags.  Plus it might make me want to try going to the Farmers Market again.

I could use a new dress from Delia's since I have weddings to go to this summer.

Although I don't really need an excuse for another dress.  I have really been digging dresses lately.

But, if I get the dress I will also need some new sunglasses.

However, if I don't get the dress, I think I still need the sunglasses anyways.  Oh and they are only $6.  You can't beat that.  I pretty much only like getting my sunglasses from Forever 21 because all the other ones break on me (and I may be a little cheap thrifty).  It's a little suspicious that the $6 sunglasses last longer than the expensive ones...  Too bad for me CoMo doesn't have a Forever 21.

And I want this little girl

Some day of course! Can't resist sassy little girls in big sunglasses.

Puppy Love

I mentioned before that although we are not interested in having children right now, we do want puppies.  Like really want puppies.  Like sometimes it is all that we can think about.  It can get pretty intense and obsessive.

Part of the problem is that when we came out to Columbia we planned on getting a dog right away.  We even chose an apartment that would allow pets.  However, since I didn't have a job right away and we were saving all our extra money toward the wedding, the dog didn't happen.  After we wedding we thought about it and realized that we would only be in this apartment one more year regardless of if we stayed in Columbia or not.  As you can see from the apartment tour, we don't have a lot of space and really would like a nicer place after the hubby graduates.  So we thought it wouldn't be a very wise decision to invest in the pet deposit if we would be leaving soon.

At this point we have been talking about getting a dog for over two years, and have put it off for many reasons.  Right now I think we are sick of putting it off.  We are waiting until we find out the hubby's job situation, in case we have to move, before we get a pet, which is killing us.  But it doesn't stop us from looking ....

Our ideal dog - small, white, and furry.  We just can't resist those little terriers like Westies, Yorkies, or Malteses.

And I like my dogs in glasses.

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A typical day in the life as a Pickel usually involves multiple messages including pictures and videos like this:

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And even sometimes a little piglet or a penguin

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If that isn't enough cuteness for you check out this website: Cute Roulette.  I could spend all day on there.

Yes, it might be obsessive at times, but I don't know how much longer we can wait!

Letting the creative juices flow

Some days I just feel like I need a creative outlet for my energy.  My job is a desk job which is boring and monotonous and when I get home I like to do something artistic, which may be the reason I started this blog.  Even though I am not traditionally artsy in the drawing and painting sort of way, I like to think I am a pretty creative person, most of it centered around organization.  Although it may not seem like it, it takes a lot of creativity to find the perfect spot for everything and put things in their place.  You can't take me into a store without me eying the plastic storage containers.  Have you ever been to the Container Store?  For me that it like heaven in a store!  But organization is not fulfilling as a hobby.

In the past I have enjoyed scrapbooking.  However, I haven't done this in a while.  I have been having a hard time to stay motivated and inspired.  I feel like I resort to the same layouts, and it just seems boring to me.  Not to mention my supplies are not easy to access, so every time I want to scrapbook it is a mess getting everything out.  It seems to be I need to apply those organization skills to my scrapbooking stuff, but without the space it seems pointless right now.

So, what has been my creative outlet been since I stopped scrapbooking?  Well, I put all my efforts into wedding planning.  I made all the save-the-dates, invitations, programs, seating cards, table numbers, etc.  Not to mention DIY-ed flowers and planned all the decor myself.  But now it's been about 9 months since the wedding, and nothing has really filled that void.

Lately I have been pining over two major investments.  They have been put on my wish list for a while, even making an appearance on my wedding registry and my Christmas list.  Yet, they have yet to appear on my doorstep.

The first is .....

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A sewing machine!  Yeah, I know - completely random, but I so want one.  I have seen so many cute projects around that it think I could totally handle.  Some are easy, some more complicated, but it would be fun to learn how to do this -plus you can always use a sewing machine to fix hems and buttons.  Luckily for me I have a great sister who got me a sewing kit for Christmas!  So I have been using that to fix minor problems!  Still, I want the whole thing!

The first project I plan on doing is an emergency survival clutch.  I am guilty of carrying a "mom purse" with tons of stuff in it, but would love to put it all together so I can actually find it.

Check out the tutorial on TidyMom.  She made these out of potholders!

Then eventually I would love to try my hand at quilting.  I have a bunch of t-shirts I have saved from my childhood and college with the intention of making a t-shirt quilt, which I think might still be at my parents house, maybe?

Recently I saw this quilt and fell in love. I must have this!

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The second big item I have been dying for is a Digital SLR camera!

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I have been using a basic point and shoot camera forever now! Mine has even crapped out a bit (I got it for my 16th birthday) so I have taken it upon me to claim the hubby's as mine own.  It is a nice camera but I feel so one dimensional. 

I have always been drawn to photography.  It just seems so real and easier to appreciate and understand.  For a while in high school, I experimented with photography and Photoshop.  I even helped start the photography club at my school.  Since then I let it fall to the wayside, along with other things.  I would love to get back into it, and really explore it more.  Understand the basics of focusing, lenses, and lighting to make my pictures better.  Yes, I understand they are not exactly cheap, but everyone has their splurges!

So, if you are willing to donate to the Sarah needs a sewing machine and SLR camera cause, please message me for my address!  I will gladly give it to you!

Green with Kitchen Envy

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Although I am only maybe 1% Irish, you don't have to be Irish to celebrate St. Patty's Day.  One of my favorite aspects of this holiday is dressing up in green, one of my favorite colors.  Although looking through my closet, I barely have any green clothes anymore.  It might be time for a shopping trip ....

This new found love for the color green has been a pretty recent development.  I am not sure when I exactly decided that I loved this color and would decorate my whole house in green if I could (although it does rival my much beloved yellow and grey theme).  However, I realized it when registering for our wedding, and having the hubby point out that I am picking out a lot of green things and he doesn't particularly care for that color.  Ouch. How could he not like my favorite color, and how could I still work this color into my decor without him caring.  Hmmmm.... Ah yes, the kitchen.

The kitchen is pretty much my domain.  I do a majority of the cooking (like 99.9%) and I actually enjoy it.  While on the weekdays I enjoy simple meals, when I have the time I love to try recipes that involve zesting and my food processor.  The hubby mostly uses the microwave to heat up leftovers or makes Kraft macaroni.  So if there was one place in the house I could display my love of green, it would be there.

Right now my kitchen is not ideal for my needs and wants.  We live in a pretty small apartment and the kitchen is the smallest part about the place.  It lacks counter space, cabinet space, pantry space, and needs to be updated.

(Although I don't think I am helping much by taking bad pictures.  It is so hard to get the light right in this place.  I will figure it out eventually)

 I am just dreaming of our next place with a bigger kitchen!

One of my inspiration kitchens is over at House*Tweaking.    I love the white cabinets with modern hardware, and the butcher block island!  She even has some green accents in her kitchen!

(For this picture and more)

I also like different parts of these modern kitchens I found at HGTV

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Now finally on to some green eye candy.  I already have a few green accessories but I could definitely benefit from more.  I don't even have my favorite green accessory out.

My Green Calypso Pitcher from Crate and Barrel that is hidden up in my cabinet right now.  I think I might need to find a better place for it.  (And yes we opened up wedding gifts and took pictures in the car because we are cool like that.)

So, What's on my wish list?

(Crate and Barrel)

(Crate and Barrel)

(I love salt and pepper shakers - Pier 1)

(Mojito Glass Set on sale- I'm In! - Pier 1)

(Green Herb Pot - Pier 1)

(Anthropologie)

My dining table right now is nothing to be desired.

We have been without chairs since the hubby moved out of his apartment with his friends back at school.  So we don't even eat at the table, we have dinner at the coffee table every night.  I can't wait to have a table where we can sit down and enjoy dinner together.  Maybe at a table like this:

(Crate and Barrel)

(Ikea)

(With a place setting like this - Pier 1)

(Or plates from World Market like this)

And some fun art prints to hang:

(Tessyla etsy)

(I don't drink tea but I love tea cups - michellechristina etsy)

(this would be fun for the dining area - pixiepixels etsy)

(might be a little bright but I love the wording - D6andco etsy)

(another wording print - ZavalicksDesigns etsy)

Was that enough green for you?