Dress Dilemma,,,

In July we're off to sunny, hot and financially floundering Greece.  I'm beyond looking forward to our annual summer in the sun. Mama needs a tan and a holiday beyond badly. We're a part of some special events while there including the baptism of our good friends daughter.  We're going to be her God-parents and for Greeks this is a super HUGE deal because God-parents (Koumbari) are like family forever.

Greek baptisms are a major production. A big event in a child's life that is celebrated with the same enthusiam as a wedding. Hundreds of guests and huge reception-dinner after parties are completely standard. Many people spare no expense and hire professional photographers, have lavish dinners, live music and bring in entertainers or clowns to keep the kids occupied so the adults can drink and dance the night away. It's a good time.

{after a baptism outside the church- balloons for the kids to take home}

{at a friends baptism in 2006}

{at the after party}

{At our boys 2009 outdoor baptism reception}

{My son's God-Mother and my sister-in-law at the reception}

But as the God-Mother (Nona) what am I going to wear?  A lot of the women in Greece are as fabulous as they are glamourous and I need to look great while still dressing appropriately for the church. I'm torn between 3 dresses that I have and honestly none of them really excite me.  My practical side says don't go too crazy and  that I should wear something sensible that will look good in photos 20 years from now. 

I'll pair the black dresses with black patent heels and the pink and grey dress with nude heels. And of course I'll accessorize (heavily) and have on enough makeup to pass for a drag queen for it to last all day in the heat. 

Which dress would you choose or should I go for something completely different? 

Help a sister out...I'm totally open to suggestions!

H and M comes thru again...

H&M is proving to be my go-to spring/summer store. While I'll admit that sometimes it can be a bit too

Euro-23-year-old-ish, most of the time their styles are totally doable for just about anybody. I'm loving their bright colour-blocking pieces (though I didn't buy any this time) and their summery pastels and whites. Even better, the prices are ridiculous- they're practically giving their stuff away.

However,

Dear H&M, please start steaming your merchandise before you hang it on the racks. This was a seriously wrinkled haul and Mama hates ironing!

{I'll get my Chloe inspired bag on the cheap, only 10 bucks! }

{ Roar for more animal prints}

 {This top is black not grey but my Nikon disagrees}

 {Ughhhh,  ironing blazers suckssss -why do you do this to me H&M?}

 {pretty in (peachy)pink}

 {White pants are the epitome of summer. But since I practically live at the North Pole I almost never wear them here. These ones are heading to Greece with me}

I'm finally wrapping my mind around the idea of warmer weather clothing. The farmers almanac says it's supposed to be a "super hot year" but I'll believe it when I see it.  Right now I'm still hoping my garden/flowers don't get killed by our cold nights, we're still having frost warnings. Even in June there's no guarantee that we won't get a bit of snow...

But today the sun is shining and its 23 degrees Celsius out. I'm off to the greenhouse to buy more plants for my flower beds- I might wear my white pants.

I'm on Latisse....

I finally broke down at my last doctor's appointment and asked for a prescription for Latisse- the eyelash growth miracle liquid.  Of course my GP had never even heard of the stuff before so after I explained what it was he gave me a referral to a dermatologist.  

Bring on the ridiculously long lashes please!

{Falsies are great but I want the real deal. Is it unreasonable to want this look all the time?}

{Before: short and boring- my lashes without mascara or false lashes}

{Miracle growth in a little bottle? Better be....}

I'm hoping that this overpriced little bottle of magic will make my lashes grow insanely long, thick and dark. They're already curly but just average length. I'm a pro with falsies but I'm tired of putting them on. As for the price, it's not cheap and I know you can by "generic" Latisse-like products off of eBay but I wanted the original prescribed from my dermatologist and not some knock-off coming from who knows where in China.

Stay tuned for After pics, I'll document how things looks at 4, 8 and 12 weeks. I'm excited!

Bravo Italian Vogue!

Check out the gorgeous June 2011 cover of Vogue Italia magazine. The ladies are smoldering with sexiness and I'm thinking that even Sophia Loren would approve. 

 These girls all happen to be plus size models from Ford+ and the Wilhelmina WCurve agencies.

I love that Italian Vogue is willing to show women of all sizes without the edition being specifically about the inclusion of "plus sized" models.  

It's just a photo-shoot with curvy models and it's no big deal. As it should be...

image Vogue Italia, Photographer: Steven Meisel

Where would I wear this?

Like a seagull trolling the skies from above looking for something sparkly to snag for their nest, I spotted this shirt while flipping channels last Wednesday night.  I couldn't take my eyes off of Carrie Underwood's ridiculously shiny disco-ball inspired top that she wore for the finale of American Idol. I don't normally watch Idol but what she wore during her duet with (unknown Idol finalist?) was beyond eye-catching and fun.

Apparently Carrie works out her legs a lil bit....

After searching the interwebs high and low I've found out that the top is by Vince ($295.00).  Khloe Kardashian wore the same top in gold during the opening credits of her show Khloe and Lamar.

Vince sequined cropped tee  

 Vince sequin tank

I'm thinking this would be great to wear while we're in Athens this summer when we go out for drinks. The flashier the better! Perfect with white skinny jeans and heels (though I highly doubt I'd ever be able to pull it off with shorts and heels as my legs look nothing like Carrie Underwood's.)

But if it's good enough for reality TV "stars" then it's good enough for me!

images via Google, Khloe Kardashian

It's the final countdown...

Yup, it IS the final countdown and no I'm not talking about the "Rapture" end of world type thing.

It's the final countdown for massive weight loss before our annual summer vacation to the sunny beaches of Greece. Cue 80's rock band "Europe" and their 'epic' rock anthem of the same name, "The Final Countdown."...

Ok so is the tune playing in your head now? Let that set the scene for you.

 Mama is waging all out war with these 10 lbs I've gained over our long never ending winter. 

Health and fitness will prevail as the beach takes no prisoners. 

We've got too many important events coming up that require mama to not appear as a stuffed frankfurter in a cocktail dress. All the Spanx in the world can't help that much...

The only option when executing tactical warfare is to bring out the big guns.  No carbs.

more non-subliminal imagery by Mama

Don't worry, I'm not going all Atkins on you and eliminating anything with even a trace of sugar. I'm still eating plenty of vegetables and fruits, including lots of fresh berry's.

But I will say that I've eaten more eggs, nuts, bacon, turkey burgers, lettuce, and full fat salad dressing in the last week than in the last 3 years combined. 

The fact is that I actually lose weight when I cut out my beloved carbs. AND IT'S SO HARD. Pasta, wine and bread actually bring me joy. I'm no heavy meat eater so giving up carbs seems unnatural.

But based on the blood type diet by Peter D'Adamo, Eat Right 4 Your Type, according to my blood type which is O, I should basically become a carnivore. 

Blood type O is believed to be the earliest human blood group. Directly descended from the cavemen. 

mama's ancestor, Great Uncle Eats-no-carbs

Here the "prescribed" diet is low-carb, high in meat and fish, low in dairy. And type O's should work out like a Mofo. 

So no carbs and lot's of exercise eh? This is sounding pretty basic to me. I think just about anybody would lose weight this way. Thankfully I've spent no money on this book/diet plan. 

So far things seems to be working pretty well, I'm down a few pounds and not feeling hungry at all.

BUT

My birthday is tomorrow, my son's birthday party is on Saturday, and we have a Baptism and party to attend on Sunday, then another birthday celebration on Sunday nite. 

It's going to be a cake/wine/desserts carb-fest.

But this is war, and the beach doesn't care how good that cupcake tastes. Am I right?

This post is what my blogs name is all about.

images via google

Tasty little bun

I'm in love with the top-knot/bun hairstyle that's so popular right now.  It's quick, fun and still manages to look put together and chic. No wonder half of Hollywood is using this as their go-to red carpet up do.

 Sadly the hair-gods always let me down and once again I'm faced with a cute look that I can't really pull off because my hair is so thin. Boo to fine hair. 

I've tried backcombing and twisting my hair to make it appear fuller but usually my completed bun looks more like donut-hole than an actual donut.  

images via Teen.com and google

Apparently there is a new simple hair product by Conair that allows you to build up your bun. It looks a lot like a pot scrubber pad but it allows you to swirl and pin up your hair into a cute bun type style. Of course it's not available here in Canada yet but when it is I'll be all over that.  In the meantime I suppose I could hit up Walmart and search for a brown or black coloured pot scrubber...yeah I'd go there.

via Pretty Petals

Do you really get what you pay for?

On Saturday I visited my stylist for a much need hair colour and trim (dusting my ends only.) Since I went back to a solid dark brown colour last year I'm glad to say that my days of enduring hours in the chair with highlight foils are over. Though I can't seem to go more than 6 weeks without desperately needing to cover my grey roots. (Yup I'm complaining about my hair once again...)

  Anyway, I love the finished result at the salon... but for something that seems so simple- application of one hair colour, why the heck does it still cost so much? ($175.00)

Honestly any monkey could apply one colour, and yes I understand it's a salon-quality product but does it really make that much of a difference from a box of Nice and Easy you buy at the drug store?  Logically I'm thinking yes but sometimes I still wonder. Am I being hosed by my stylist because I'm afraid to try colouring my own hair at home? 

It's easy, but is it nice?

And of course he always has to tell me how he's going to rescue my terribly dry ends with a deep conditioning mask/treatment/glaze while I'm being rinsed out at the sink. Am I going to say no to this?    "No I don't want your deep conditioning treatment that will make my over-processed hair look fabulous again..."

No one ever says NO to the deep conditioning treatment!  

Who knows if it really does anything except give them a reason to charge you more.

Why is the salon so expensive? It's not like The Zohan is at work here

So the point of my post is, would it be crazy to try colouring my hair at home? Some friends look at me like I've grown 3 heads and stepped back into the dark ages when I even suggest it.  

What do y'all think. Providing I select the correct colour for me, is it possible to screw up a simple one colour dark brown hair dye job at home? Share your experiences please!

yet another reason I love wine...

Mother's day was full of high's and low's last weekend. I managed to put out my back and woke up Sunday morning in A-GON-Y. I seriously could barely drag myself down the stairs to make breakfast for the fam. Ironically was that not the one day other's should be waiting on me hand and foot making their mother or wife breakfast? Apparently not.  Fortunately after a few hours and a few muscle relaxants everything started to feel better. We had my whole family over for dinner and I barbecued up a storm and I'm fairly certain that while a Sauvignon Blanc-muscle relaxant combo isn't advisable, it's most definitely enjoyable!

 

NO PAIN

Flowers from my boys

Husband decided to spend a buck and is catching on to this whole 'buying your wife nice things really is a good lifestyle choice' way of thinking...makes me smile.

Happy wife, happy life. In theory anyway!

Hope you all had a fabulous mother's day weekend celebrating the special women in your life, including yourselves.

Massive Weight Loss 2011...

Finally. Finally the sun is shining and we're having spring-like weather. I can hardly stand it!  This week I've already been out walking with the kids, playing soccer with them and hitting up the park (more outdoor activity than the last 3 months combined.)  How was I supposed to play soccer when my backyard was covered in snow until recently?

I'm turning over a new leaf. Fitness Mama is on the scene. More regular gym visits, fresh veggies, bbq'd fish and chicken, working out outside (walking and possibly even, gasp, running.) 

12 lbs to lose in 2 months. That's the goal kids. 

I've got 2 baptisms, 2 weddings and 2 showers to attend in the very near future and it's time to shed my winter fatness. 

It. is. ON.

What's my motivation? Actually I"ll take it anywhere I can get it. It seems like everyone in Hollywood is shrinking their asses and getting skinny. First there was the wave of pregnancies and now there's the weight loss epidemic. What's in the water down there?

 Mama's next y'all.

Jennifer Hudson at the Mary J.Blige Honors Awards. Girl is just getting better and better. I believe I've found my fitness role model...

"American Idol" season 6 winner Jordin Sparks is skinny now too! She's obviously feeling pretty great about herself since she tweeted this pic.  Bold move Jordin.

Hollywood funny-man Seth Rogan slimmed down for his role in the "Green Hornet"

Chubster/joker Jonah Hill has lost 30 lbs and is still losing for his roll in "21 Jump Street"

Sara Rue recently lost weight on the popular diet plan Jenny Craig. How cute is she?

Former Cosby kid and That's So Raven star, 25 year old Raven Symone has also jumped on the diet bandwagon and is looking ay-mazing.

Even the perpetual yo-yo dieter, Kirstie Alley is looking pretty darn good after losing 60 lbs, partly through her time spent on Dancing with the Stars. She admits she has another 30 to go but she's getting there.

Lord knows if 60 year old Kirstie Alley can do it then so can Mama. I'm not looking to drop 6 sizes here, just the unwelcome pounds I've gained through this ungodly long winter. 

I'm always a little shocked at how hard losing the last "10 pounds" really is. Like ridiculously challenging?

I've lost mountains of weight after my babies but I'm always stalled/stumped at around 10-15 lbs before my "goal" weight. Why why whyyy?

Enough complaints. It's go time.

images via Just Jared, Splash News, Google Images