out with the old

Out with the old and in with the new! Fresh start maybe? We will have to wait & see! Big plans to do and accomplish many things this coming year! Excited & can't wait to see what 2012 brings us ALL!

On another note...

P365 Starts tomorrow. If anyone is interested in joining, click on the P365 button on my sidebar. Linking up with Laura at Between the Lines every Sunday. :)

Hope everyone has a Happy and Safe New Year!! Good-bye 2011, Hello 2012!

Talk to you all next year! :)

PS fun

Playing around on Photoshop. 

                                                                               
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  DOWNLOAD                                    DOWNLOAD

recipe :: steak with spicy brown mustard

I so did not feel like cooking today! I asked the boyfriend if we could order Chinese instead and he said NO!! Ugh!! So off to the kitchen I marched, took a steak out and tried to figure out what I was going to make on the side for the steak. We didn't want rice and beans and I was potatoed out (Shepard's Pie Tuesday night, and last night we had baked potato on the side).

Ingredients:

Butter

Spicy Brown Mustard

Garlic Powder

Paprika

Salt

Pepper

Onion

I only had Boneless Angus left in the freezer

- Rub steak with butter  

- Squeeze the mustard over steak and spread evenly

- Sprinkle Paprika, Salt, & Pepper over steak (no specific order)

*No need to season both top and bottom of steak

- Put steak in broiler

- Watch carefully (cooks fast)

- When steak starts to turn brown on the edges, flip steak over

- Pull steak out of broiler and cut 

- Pour liquid from boiler tray into a bowl & mix with Italian dressing & a drop or two of spicy brown mustard (a.k.a. homemade sauce)

- Serve steak over buttered noodle

- & don't forget the garlic green beans to top it off

- Pour some of the "homemade sauce" over entire dish

Last...

Sit and enjoy your dinner!

I was more than proud of myself!! Saved money by not ordering Chinese and dinner was GREAT!! And Ashlyn (picky eater, like mommy) ate the entire thing! I might just have to cook this one again someday. :) Healthy and gave me the energy to blog it.  I wouldn't have been able to do this if I ate Chinese.  I would probably be regretting the order and passed out on the couch! ;)

Highly recommended and a must try!! 

preoccupied?!

My boyfriends makes fun of me. Every time we do something and he sees me thinking he says, "Thinking about what you're going to blog about today?" Uh... &? When you enjoy something, you think about it. Correct?

Things/People I think about through out the day:

My Family #1 {MY DAUGHTER, boyfriend (when he's NOT around me), MOTHER, & more :)}
DD or Starbucks! {Having one of those makes my day (I'm simple, really!!)!}
School {So excited, I want to start writing papers already!! How weird is that?!}
MY BLOG {layouts have taken over my world :\}
PHOTOGRAPHY {ad ideas that will get me more customers :)}
Dinner {what am I going to feed my family tonight? which by the way was Steak with onions in the oven, baked potato and cheesy broccoli... & it was delish!!}
LIFE {in general}

And the main one of all... 

HOW THE HECK AM I GOING TO PAY NEXT MONTHS BILLS!! SOMY (story of my life). But I am proud to say, I just got a part-time job.. YAY me!!

If you want my opinion, there aren't enough hours in a day to get what you want done! UGH!! & sleeping in REALLY doesn't help!

Today I:

Slept in!! {NOT GOOD!!}
Registered for my winter classes
Watched a movie with Ashlyn
Read a little
Made dinner with Ashlyn
Cleaned up after dinner
Took the dog out
Worked out
Worked on my stephgarciaphotography.com site {soon to be up and running}
Created a new ad for Steph Garcia Photography
& played around with a new layout for this blog {hope you like the new one :)}!!

What a day!! NOT! Got a whole bunch of NOTHING accomplished! But I know I'm going to miss these days when I start working again! ;) Good thing it's only part-time (although, I would like a full-time)!

What do you think about on a daily basis and what do you get accomplished?

My latest ad for SGP

vacation?

So I've noticed I !DON'T! blog at all when my boyfriend is around. Won't happen again!! ;)

So I hope everyone had a GREAT Christmas. Ashlyn had a blast and SANTA got her everything she asked for + more. Santa was good to me too. I didn't really ask for anything, but I got a NEW blender. Remember the two I mentioned in my post before this one? Well, the one I got was pretty much the two in ONE!! Shakes are back on! :)

And as for the rest of my Christmas, I got a couple other awesome things!! :) Lottery tickets and scratchies were part of the rest of Christmas. Won a couple of bucks, NOW just waiting to win the big bucks! Talk about The Key to HAPPINESS being [simple], money doesn't buy HAPPINESS, but it will sure buy me some stress free moments, and that is HAPPINESS! :) Wish me luck! :)

ON ANOTHER NOTE...

Super excited to start P365, I have sooo many ideas!!

&& 

Steph Garcia Photography has a NEW Special.

CHECK IT OUT!!

no more shakes

My blender broke! :(  Well given the fact that the blender was PROBABLY as old as I am (hand me down from mom), I think it was about time I started thinking about actually buying one. If the jar didn't crack the motor would have gone sooner or later. Closer to sooner than later!

At least I now have a reason to actually spend money on a new blender. Its a toss between two different blenders. Not sure which one I actually want to add to my wish list, soooo... I actually put both of them on it. ;)

Softbox vs External Flash

So here's a question for whoever can answer it.  Softbox or External Flash?? I have softboxes!! Do I really like carrying around with them and having to put them together for a shoot or taking them apart after a shoot? NOOOO!! I was thinking about selling my softboxes and investing in an external flash, but I think I might just keep my softboxes in studio and carry around with an external. I think thats the smart thing to do. Give studio a chance and if they just sit there and collect dust then maybe I'll just sell them. But seriously, which one is better??

vs

a [NEW] year & a new [ME]

So I did some Christmas shopping today!! :) Exciting!! && I bought myself a little something.

I have a New Years resolution that I have started already. Two actually! NO MORE SMOKING, not even socially and I would like to lose 50lbs (+) I started them both and hope to complete my weight loss goal by the beginning of 2012 Summer. That being said, since I can't make it to the real thing, I made it come to me! And boy did it kick my butt today. Twenty minutes and I felt like I jumped in a pool. ONLY twenty minutes and I'm already starting to feel like a new me! :) Felt GREAT!!

to switch or not to switch...

So the question is, should I go ORGANIC or not?  Well I'm in a bit of a panic mode. I have a DAUGHTER!! And well she is going to be seven years old. And well, I was doing some research this weekend and found out that girls are going through puberty a lot earlier now-a-days because of certain hormones in the chicken and milk that we eat and drink.  And then I read that young women on an organic diet develope a lot later in life, like say 12-13 years old, which is what I'm used to. This one is going to be a short blog, but really... I need your help on what I should do to avoid the inevitable (Ashlyn going through puberty at seven... I want to CRY!!) If the first stages of puberty are being noticed NOW, like RIGHT NOW, do you think its too late to change up the diet so that she isn't becoming a little lady at the age of seven and a half or eight years old? If you or anyone you know have any experience with ORGANIC FOODS, can you please fill me in.

only ten days left

I'm so excited for CHRISTMAS!! So when I was at TARGET the other day (went in for STARBUCKS & came out with STARBUCKS & TARGET bags, UGH!! TARGET always does that to me!) I bumped ;) into the CHRISTMAS ISLE... & bought MORE CHRISTMAS ornaments. Mind you, my CHRISTMAS TREE has been up for about three weeks now & decorated for the same amount of time. But I promise, I am finally done with my CHRISTMAS TREE.  So TREE is done! & Ashlyn put her letter for SANTA together... & she even drew him a picture. :) I'm raising a writer and an artist

on a roll :: part 2

So today was Part II of yesterday.  More purging!!  Makes me want to move :) & no coffee, AGAIN!!  We cleaned the PLAYROOM.  I didn't set up STUDIO, but I did move my equipment to the room (which is a start).  While cleaning up I found about FOUR DIARIES!!  FOUR?! And all between 2007-2008. Haven't written in one since.  I don't even remember writing that much, but I do remember writing is what kept me sane.  & to be honest, since I started this blog (or at least started working on my design for this blog) I feel more CALM, RELAXED, & anything else that fits in the category!  Blogging was much needed in my life!  I actually look forward to the time I can sit down and just pour my thoughts out on my BLOG!  I feel like I'm always running around and then get upset because when I sit down I feel like I didn't get anything accomplished. I stress over the smallest things!!  & get this, I quit smoking four months ago!  I'm not going to lie, I have had an occassional cigerette here and there, but thats a social smoke. It was hard at first, you know dealing with the stress and not having that cigerette to fall back on, & sometimes I really wish I had one.  Not too sure if there was a study on cigerettes relieving stress, but it sure helped me with my stress.

ON ANOTHER NOTE...

I'm thinking about JOINING SCENTSY!!  I was introduced to Scentsy a little over a year ago and I absolutely love Scentsy!!  I love my warmer, but it's so old its OUT of STOCK!!

I think it might just be time to add a new warmer to my life! :) Maybe I'll get one for Christmas.  Well, I ordered three new Scentsy bars.  Can't wait to get them. THANKS LAURA!! ;)

I'm all over the place tonight, well, always... I write exactly whats on my minds. I really do need to find a school that offers MIND ORGANIZER 101 and TIME MANAGEMENT 101. But here I go again...

I bought three new books today for my KINDLE!! :) I traded in a couple of my college text books on AMAZON a couple of weeks ago and I received CASH credit on my AMAZON account. I would much rather receive cash for my trade-in's but AMAZON CREDIT works for me too, I guess.

I believe I am going to start "Why You do the Things You Do". Can't wait to find out why I do the things I do! :)

on a roll

I am finally just sitting down !! All day without an ounce of coffee. How did I manage that one?! Last night I went to bed thinking. First step to being happy is a clean house. Problem is, my house is already clean. So... what did I do? I still cleaned! :) When I worked at Planned Parenthood we PURGED patient charts. In other words, got rid of patient charts that were no longer patients. So, I purged all the junk in my apartment. I opened the closet and if I haven't used it since I first threw it in there, guess what?! To the trash it went. Boy did it feel good putting things in the trash! I mean I get in this type of mood about once a week ;) but it felt extra good today!! And while I was at it, boyfriend and I rearranged the living room and it looks AWESOMMME!! 

And now.. I'm having a Frappuccino!! :) FINALLY!!

Tomorrow I am attacking Ashlyn's playroom. Thinking about eliminating the PLAYROOM and setting up STUDIO in it. She doesnt even play with her toys anymore. Just like mom, shes's into blogging, but on paper and she's ONLY going to be SEVEN! ;) I think I might just be raising a future writer.

still have NO idea what I'm doing...

I'm still working on my layout. :)

So, I had an all right weekend. Missed my daughter like crazy!! She was at her aunts house and they went to Hershey. :) Wish I could have been the one to take her, but she had a blast and thats all that matters! So we were at CHOP today [Children's Hospital of Philadelphia]. Ashlyn's cast was removed today.

For those of you who aren't sure why she had a cast to begin with:

We drove six+ hours up north to attend a birthday party in Massachusetts and Little Ms. Ashlyn [SUPER GIRL] didn't realize she forgot her cape and THREW herself off a slide.  Instead of SLIDING DOWN, she FELL off a six feet high slide. :( 

Now she has to work on bending her arm [arm in same position for about six weeks]. BUT SHE'S a CHAMP. Just happy she was able to have the cast removed before Christmas. Now she can wear her dress without any problems. :)

figuring things out

So they say the key to happiness is simple. I'm still trying to find that key because apparently I'm stuck in difficult.  There are many departments in life. Well my life...  I am a daughter, a single mother to a wonderful six year old girl, a college student, I was working full-time till I was recently laid-off, so now unemployed :(, a friend to less than a handful of wonderful women, and lastly a girlfriend. Yes, I am 25 years old and I am NOT married. Yes I have a man in my life, hard working and tries his hardest to provide for the three of us, but we have yet to decide whether we are going to spend the rest of our lives together. There are many things in MY life I have yet to figure out! Time to get to work and figure out how to get my hands on the key to happiness! Sometimes I wish I could just draw or write out a plan on how I think and would like my life to be, tricky part is actually following that plan.