Pinterest Interests

Here’s a few of my Pinterest Interests for this week!

Source: michiganbulb.com via Jolene on Pinterest

Source: polyvore.com via Jolene on Pinterest

Source: ibreatheimhungry.com via Jolene on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Jolene on Pinterest

Source: cmt.com via Jolene on Pinterest

Jolene

I love comments and followers! It lets me know who’s reading so I can make sure to visit you in return! Feel free to add me on Facebook and Twitter as well, as soon as I have more followers to interact with on them I plan to make more and better use of them both.

What I’m Wearing

What I’m Wearing for today(ok, yes, I know it’s not my usual What I’m Wearing day, but hubby’s days off were switched this week) is one featuring a contest win! I entered a contest that Moe over at My Favorite Things was running in December, and I was one of the winners! Can’t even tell you how much that made my day when I found out I won! The prize was something from Shop Translated, which if you haven’t checked out yet for plus size clothing you must!

I had to send them my top 3 picks, and even though their selection isn’t huge it was still hard to choose 3 things because what they do have is great. Sadly a few things that I really wanted to choose weren’t available in my size, but I did manage to come up with not only 3 choices, but I went with things that are different than what I would normally wear. I figured what a perfect opportunity to go a little outside my comfort zone, and I’m glad I did!

This is the one of my 3 picks that they sent me:

I received the dress about 3 weeks ago, but as you can see it’s not exactly made for Winter, and even though we’ve had a mild one compared to what we’re used to, it is still very much Winter here as the snow last night reminded us. I knew I couldn’t wait until summer to wear it though, looking at it hanging there for 3 weeks was hard enough! I knew I had to find a way to “Winterize” it so I could wear it. Most of  my wardrobe is black though, and I still can’t decide which side of the “black and brown together” side I’m on(seriously, half say you can wear them together, half say you can’t…which is it? LOL….how do you all feel about that?).

I managed to find enough brown things in my closet and make what I think turned out to be a pretty good Winter outfit out of this beautiful Summer dress! One mistake I made though, I forgot to put some tights on underneath it and my legs absolutely froze under the very light skirt part….it will be great come Summer though, in the mean time tights are a must.

A dress that would have been outside the box for me is now something that the more I look at, the more I love! The style of dress is totally me, but the pattern is not something I would have walked up to a rack and picked out. I need to try something new more often.

Dress: Shop Translated, win, but retails for $74US(2012)

Cardigan: Reitmans, $15ish(2010)

Belt: Forever 21+, $8(2011)

Boots: Payless, gift from inlaws(2007??)

Necklace & Earrings: Avon, gift from my Mom(2010)

So what do you all think? Did I do as well as I think I did “Winterizing” this gorgeous Summer dress?

Jolene

I love comments and followers! It lets me know who’s reading so I can make sure to visit you in return! Feel free to add me on Facebook and Twitter as well, as soon as I have more followers to interact with on them I plan to make more and better use of them both.

 

Friend Makin Monday

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s questions on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Travel

1. Where did your most recent trip take you?  Last road trip was last September to the southern corner of my province. Last trip actually away from here was 2004/2005 when we went from here to Mexico, then Phoenix, then Texas…..they were moves but our last holiday before that was 7 years before, so they were kind of like move/trip rolled into one I guess lol.
2. Is there a place that you’d like to visit that you haven’t yet?  If so, where?  Oh gosh, so many! I would love to just travel all around Canada and the US. There’s places overseas I would like to visit(Scotland and Ireland, yes please!), but even if money weren’t an issue I’m a little scared to fly like that.
3. Do you travel lightly, or do you cram as much into your luggage as possible?  Well, I pack for 4 so not lightly, but at the same time I try not to take more than is needed.
4. Do your eating and exercise habits change when you travel? If so, how?  There has been a couple of times in the past that we’ve gone away and I’ve been on some sort of eating plan and it definitely never sticks while we are away. Restaurants up here especially just don’t cater to a lot of different eating lifestyles.
5. Tell us about a place you’ve been that you’d like to go back to.  Mazatlan, I absolutely adore that place and have been 4 times. With the instability in Mexico, combined with lack of money I’m sure it will be a very long time before I go there again. And my inlaws have been trying to sell their home there, which means no more free accommodation for us. And Phoenix, and Dallas-Fort Worth…..LOVE both those places too and miss them so much!
6. Do you prefer to travel at a certain time of year?  Not really, if driving of course winter is bad.
7. If you had to choose, would you go to the beach or the mountains?  I love the beauty and peacefulness of the mountains, but I LOVE the beach so it would be my pick!
8. Have you ever needed a passport to travel?  We got one for our second trip to Mexico 14 years ago, we were flying and were told if flying you were better off with one. Haven’t had one since though, which is why now we can’t even drive into the US unless we buy them(for the whole family that’s a LOT of money!)…..grrrr, so stupid that we need one just to drive across the border now!
9. Do you collect anything in your travels?  No, just pictures and memories. When I was a teenager I used to collect shotglasses wherever we went, still have them.
10. Where do you plan to go next?  We are going on another road trip here in our Province again in July and another in September…just a few nights each time….hotel rooms are expensive here!

Now it’s your turn! Don’t forget to go to All the Weigh to share a link in the comments!  Happy Monday friends!

Jolene

Bacon Cheeseburger Salad

Good thing it’s recipe day, because do I have a simple yet yummy one to share!

A hamburger is my absolute favorite food, I could eat a hamburger every day and not get sick of it. I’m not eating bread though, ok, once every week or two hubby and I are going out for a Five Guys burger and eating the bun, but it’s like the only carb we eat the whole day and the only time we are eating out. This definitely helps keep the constant burger cravings at bay. No, I’m not one of those overweight people who would go and eat multiple burgers and fries a day, never have been. If we go out for a burger I will only eat one other small meal that day, and depending on the burger I can’t even always eat the whole thing in one sitting. I don’t know how people can eat that much, I might be overweight, but it usually doesn’t take much to fill me up.

Anyway, I love burgers so much that even that yummy Five Guys burger every couple of weeks doesn’t completely keep the burger cravings away. I found a recipe though that does and I can have as often as I want!! While searching for low carb recipes(I’m addicted to recipes, I search for them almost daily!) last week I came across one on www.food.com called Low Carb "I'm Dying For A Burger" Salad. Basically you throw all the toppings you like on your burgers into a salad and voila, there’s your “burger” without the bun. So, does it taste like a burger? You bet it does!! I made it tonight for dinner and it was absolutely fantastic! I’ve eaten a burger before and just discarded the bun, but somehow with all the ingredients mixed together like this it tastes more like a burger than doing it the patty and toppings way.

You can make this any way you want, just do it how you like your burgers. You don’t have to be doing Low Carb to enjoy this, it’s just plain yummy! Makes for a great lunch too, I sent hubby to work with some. I’m not going to include amounts for the ingredients because it’s one of those recipes that you just throw in however much you want of everything. This is how I made mine:

 

Bacon Cheeseburger Salad

(inspired by Low Carb "I'm Dying For A Burger" Salad by Not-2-Sweet)

Ground Beef

Onions, chopped

Garlic, minced

Liquid Smoke

Bacon, cooked crisp and broken into pieces

Lettuce(I use Romaine, it’s better for you than Iceberg and has more flavor)

Tomatoes, chopped

Onions, sliced thin

Pickles, sliced

Cheese, shredded(I used marble)

Mayo

Mustard

Ketchup

Heavy Cream

Brown ground beef with diced onions and garlic, add in some liquid smoke.

Toss together bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, onion slices, pickles and cheese.

Mix together mayo, mustard and ketchup. Add enough cream to thin it out a bit so it’s more like a pourable dressing.

Toss meat, salad mix and dressing mixture together. Warm in the microwave for about 30 seconds to wilt the lettuce a bit.

Enjoy!!

 

Jolene

What I’m Wearing

It’s Wednesday! Hubby’s off! He’s taking me out for lunch! Yayy! Oh, and he got his T4 last night so I did his taxes early this morning before going to bed and money is on it’s way to help pay down the credit card! Yayy!

Here is What I’m Wearing today! Decided to wear something I rarely wear, had this top for a long time and this is only the second time I’ve worn it….still can’t decide if I really like it or not LOL, it’s like a faux wrap style, it’s a little loose in the bust area so I don’t like the shape it gives so much….makes me look a little saggy LOL. The skirt I wear a bit in summer, but not a lot because it likes to scoot up and I always have to pull it down…gets a little annoying.

Skirt: Reitmans, $10ish(2007)

Top: Addition-Elle, $10ish(2008)

Boots: Sears, $40(2011)

Tights: Forever 21+, $6(2011)

Bracelet: Dollarama, $1.25(2011)

Necklace & Earrings: Avon, don’t recall price

Jolene

(meant to post this before going out but forgot to hit publish….oops )

 

Valentine’s Day

I don’t add Facebook statuses much these days, but I added one today on my personal account for Valentine’s Day. I think it about sums up what I think of Valentine’s Day:

“I have the best Valentine because he knows I don't want overpriced flowers that will die in 2 days or overpriced chocolate that I won't eat, he knows I don't want money wasted on a day that is made for retailers to make more money. He tells me he loves me no matter what day it is, he takes me out for lunch or dinner when he knows I need a break, he brings me home my favorite coffee because he knows it makes me happy, he strokes my head every night because he knows I have troubles sleeping and it helps relax me, he's there for me when I have nobody else and need a shoulder for anything. He does things because he loves me no matter what day it is, not because someone labeled a day and said he should. Those are the things that make a good Valentine, and mine is the best.”

 

Happy Valentine’s Day

Jolene

Pinterest Interests

I haven’t spent quite as much time on Pinterest the past week, until early Monday morning while I was waiting for hubby to get home from work and went a little crazy on it. It’s the perfect time killer when you’re too tired to do anything else.

Here’s my Pinterest Interests for this week:

Source: stainedglassandmore.com via Jolene on Pinterest

Source: polyvore.com via Jolene on Pinterest

Source: electriqueboutique.com via Jolene on Pinterest

Source: eatingwell.com via Jolene on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Jolene on Pinterest

Source: cutoutandkeep.net via Jolene on Pinterest

Jolene

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