Friday, January 29, 2010

What am I doing on a Friday night? cheating

So I sized up the competition over at the blog hop Pixel Perfect is having and felt like I did not do the best I could with my hasty edit last night. I learned some things looking at the edits others created (which I feel like this post was designed for) and I knew I could do better, lets give this another try:


BEFORE:

AFTER

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Photo Edits...entering a contest!

So I entered my first BLOG HOP over at http://www.pixelperfectblog.com/2010/01/show-off-your-edits.html This is so fun! I love editing photos. Check out some of the other edits people have done.....they are pretty amazing..I have much to learn.
BEFORE:

AFTER:

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Ready for change (in hair that is)

Okay I am finally going to my stylist to get a new do. It has been a really long time since I have vistited her. I love change as you will see in the series of photos below. I have rocked a lot of dos in my time that is for sure. This time around I think I am going to shoot for a "very" layered shag that resembles a mullet. But a rockstar mullet no less! I have extrememly thin hair and I think that shaggy do will work, but I will have to let my stylist make that decision for sure. NOt sure about color...I might chunck in some lighter colors in a dramatic not so highlighted way. There is a couple pictures I have been drooling over that I will put at the end (these are pictures of Violet Bella from her blog: http://violetbellasworld.blogspot.com/). Let me know what you think! So without further ado here are the many hair styles of Nikki: ENJOY! (yes that preggo pic has pink extensions, HA)




Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

To Raw or Not to Raw


That is the question. I have recently been feeling a lot of not so good things. Let me list a few in no particular order for you: fat, lazy, sluggish, bored, slow, gross, toxic, sick! As most of you would certainly agree with me, none of these above mentioned adjectives are conducive to a healthy lifestyle. This is why I would like to make some changes. Like a lot of people I was thinking with the new year I would start my "New Year's Resolution" phase and get exercising and eating healthy to just fall into place and become my life! Wow, that sounds really nice and thanks to all the infomercials and gimmicks that are offered to go along with the new year it will be a piece of cake (bad analogie considering no cake will be allowed) Yeah right! That is so hard to do. I am an absolute creature of habit and nothing more. It is so hard to consciously eat right and keep up a routine that is completely active at all times. Frankly, I like to sit on my couch, open a bottle of cheap wine, start the DVR programs rolling, and put my laptop in position to FULL BLOWN COUCH POTATO EXTRAORDINAIRE! There I said it, that's honest I am feeling lazy because I AM lazy. You would think this is an easy thing to fix.....just get off you lazy ass and do something different. Not so easy my friends.

In an effort to find new tactics to start my resolution I have been doing a little research. I need to teach myself to be healthier, education is a powerful thing! I read about people changing their life by diet, and I don't mean fad diet, I mean real diet....as in everything that goes into your body and being conscious of reading labels (which I never do) of the food you consume. For someone like me this would not be that simple. As I mentioned before about my Creature of Habit problem, it is not like I will just go home and throw out all the bad food and go to Whole Foods with an open mind and stock up. First of all my family would absolutely freak out! Second of all I would just stand there staring at the pantry and the fridge like, "what the hell is all this weird stuff"! I am actually a really good cook, I love to prepare fresh homemade meals for my family and they are generally happy to eat it :) I just don't have a lot of recipes that don't contain starch, carbs and heavy sauces ( umm yummy my mouth just started watering....SEE!).

In my research for healthy living I keep coming to the same topic of whole foods and RAW foods. To me, raw food does not sound appetizing? I think of it this way.....let's take carrots for example. Raw carrot vs. buttery, seasoned, warm, soft, cooked carrot. Okay really, if you can choose the raw you are seriously something. That something is what I am trying to figure out how to BE!!!!!! One of my favorite blogs to read is Poor Pitiful Pearl. She is a holistic, organic artist, wife, and mother of sorts. Not to put labels, but those are not to shabby in the label department if you ask me. She does these really awesome Green Drinks. She is a fan of the Raw Food Detox Diet and she seems to be pretty centered and super HOTT to boot. I know that there is no way on God's green earth I can give up all the cooked foods that I really enjoy, but I need to make small changes and that may mean giving one meal a day to the RAW FOOD GODS to get me started on this challenge. I recently emailed her to ask her advice on what type of Green drink to try and this is the recipe that she gave me:
oh yes... i highly recommend "raw food detox diet". book
and the green drink that she suggests:

5 stalks of kale
i head lettuce
nub of ginger
apple
lemon

in a juicer... you will be AMAZED!

good luck.. let me know how it goes!Poor Pitiful Pearl
OK, first off where do I get KALE? Anyone? Whole Foods is no where near me and I don't know where else that would even be available. I called my Grandmother who I know got a juicer that is still in the box for a gift about 2 or 3 years ago. Thank you Grandma for letting me borrow your Jack LaLanne Juicer this week ( I pick up on Thursday)!

So, please send me your good vibes and your positive thoughts on what this could do for me. I would love to hear if you have any good raw or whole food recipes too! I really want to make a diet and lifestyle change that will improve ME, without changing ME. Well, I wouldn't mind if my dress size changed a little bit. That would be okay :)


Blessed,

Nik

Best Contest Ever!

You must go check out this interview with one of my FAVORITE artists in this world! I't none other than Poor Pitiful Pearl; http://the-sunshine-studio.blogspot.com/2010/01/hall-of-fame-poor-pitiful-pearl.html
She is giving a $30 gift certificate to her shop and I drool over this stuff on a daily basis. Check her out!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

5 weeks off the blog and a Contest!

I really need to start back up here at the blog world. I get so caught up, keeping up with others blogs I need to focus on my own. I have so many ideas to blog about and I have a laptop at home now, so maybe this week I will get on it. Times are pretty busy at my house right now....Mon= Zach's soccer, Tues= Mom's Yoga, Wed= Kayla's riding lesson, Thur= Kayla's dance, Sat= Kayla's soccer. WHOA! Zach is also working hard on his graduate program and that takes a lot of computer time in the evening, this might be why I am finding it hard to blog right now. Don't you worry your pretty little heads though. In between my new workout schedule and this crazy life I am adapting to right now I am going to revamp my blog and I have some great pictures I have been working on with my new LIGHTROOM 2 editing software. I just entered a really fun contest to win a free blog makeover here: http://designerblogsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/giveaway.html
Happy Blogging...see you all very soon:)