Pumpkin Spice Latte

I'm a true lover of fall so excuse me while I revel in highs of 60 degrees, falling leaves and pumpkin spice EVERYTHING! This morning I made my own pumpkin spice latte and I thought if share my recipe with you all. I am lactose intolerant so if you are too, this is a recipe for you! 

Supplies Needed:

Small pot

Espresso maker

Measuring cup

Wooden spoon 

Fall mugs

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Pie Ground Coffee-Marshall's 

4oz Lactose Free Milk

2oz Lactose free hazelnut creamer-trader joes

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Few dashes Cinnamon

Few dashes Nutmeg

Few dashes Apple Pie Spice or All Spice

Whipped Cream

Brew your espresso (or very very strong brewed coffee) and while you wait, bring 2oz of creamer and 4oz of milk to a boil. Add spices and stir. When the milk boils, turn the heat to Lo, continue to stir occasionally for 5min. 

When your espresso is finished, pour 1/2 cup of espresso into your mug. Pour your 6oz mixture of milk and creamer into the mug. Top with whipped cream, sprinkle cinnamon on top so it looks pretty. Enjoy!

All of my ingredients are ready. *If you've never used Madagascar vanilla extract, get it next time you see it. It really does taste better than the regular kind. I got this one at target or Marshall's I think*

The espresso maker is from Bed Bath and Beyond. We also have a single serve tiny one that's perfect for just one. It takes about 3-5 minutes for perfect yummy espresso. I always cut my coffee bags, store the coffee in mason jars and tuck the lable in the inside of the jar so it stays fresh and I know what kind it is. The picture is just the label so you can find it in Marshall's ☺️

I like a lot of spices in mine so I used a few dashes of each!

This brand is Bialetti and the small one is really cheap. They have more complicated ones but I like to keep it simple.

Hot spices milk and espresso measured and smelling delish.

The sprinkle of cinnamon on top makes it official! 

Happy Fall Y'all!

Mommy Weight Loss

I have no secrets, I don't know if there are any mommy weight loss secrets really. All of the moms I know lost weight by breastfeeding and eating sensibly and it was the same for me. When I got pregnant in June, I was around 150 lbs. I'm 5'3 and normally, my heavy, after Thanksgiving and Christmas weight can get as high as 155.

By the time I stopped checking, which was at 39 weeks pregnant, I weighed 180 lbs. I went 40 weeks and 6 days so I estimated that I was close to 185lbs when I delivered. 35 lbs. is not a lot to gain while pregnant in my opinion. Some gain more, some less, and as long as baby is healthy, whatever weight I gained was fine with me.

This is one of the last pictures I took before having Maci, so let's call it about 185lbs.

When I was in the hospital, after delivering via C-section, I was encouraged to walk (slowly) and wear and girdle to reduce swelling, get rid of gas etc., so I did. When I left the hospital 3 or 4 days after giving birth, I looked like this. We're toasting to a healthy delivery and heading home. (My friend Lola brought me wine in a Gatorade bottle, what a great friend!) I was wearing an adjustable hospital binder like this.

Once I got home, I was feeling pretty good, and eating normally (for a hungry, super thirsty, breastfeeding mom). I was drinking tons of water throughout the day and every time I woke up at night to feed Maci. I was trying to get the hang of things and I could feel my belly contracting, which means my uterus was shrinking and that's how your belly gets smaller. The day we got home from the hospital, my belly looked like this.

By day 6, I started swelling and retaining fluid and looked a hot mess. Like, I went from bad to worse. All of my friends and family pretended they didn't notice. They were so nice and didn't mention how bad I looked. I was tired, groggy and swollen but in new mommy bliss so I didn't even notice until I saw this picture of myself! Wtf happened! Bigger face than when I was pregnant and bigger than when I left the hospital.

 After seeing that picture, I was ready to start walking again but I wasn't supposed to exercise for another 5 weeks. Fast forward a few weeks into mommyhood and feeling good enough to drive, I was running errands and looked like this. Not as swollen and belly going down. By this time, my hospital band was too big and I bought a girdle like this. I bought a size medium but I couldn't pull it on until a month after delivering. 

From day to day, my belly would fluctuate size with gas or fluid. These 2 pictures were taken only a few days apart.

With the girdle on at Marshall's :)

 At 1 month exactly, I celebrated my birthday with friends at dinner and looked like this. I hadn't done any exercising other than the occasional walk. I decided that a peplum top would be my best bet for hiding my postpartum tummy. My flabby arms, however, couldn't be conceiled. No big deal I guess. My boobs were also gigantic and I had increased from a 34D to 36E.

After gettin the ok from my doctor to start exercising at around 6 weeks, I increased my walks by duration only. I still walked pretty leisurely, and it was only every few days on the greenway in my neighborhood. Here's my family taking a walk.

I looked like this.

My husband and I decided to take a vacation at the end of August with some friends and I really wanted to feel comfortable in a bathing suit. In the middle of June, we booked the trip. That meant I had 2 months to get into "shape"! I started walking more often but I knew that wouldn't be enough. I signed up for a bootcamp and this was me on day 1...sorta scared. 

I reluctantly woke up at 5am to pump before working out at 6am, then having a full day of mommy duties to do. It was really hard for me to get up early and devote that time to working out but it was only 45 minutes. The Burn Bootcamp classes were REALLY GOOD! I would go into detail about what we did but there was a lot. Basically, lots of squats, push-ups and jumping jacks...with weights. Very traditional workouts, no machines or crazy moves. The classes were full of people who just wanted to workout and not intimidating gym rats. The trainers were intense and motivating and were willing to help any time you needed a push. You can check out their website here to get specific class information. They also have a Groupon that makes it super affordable.I was really excited about my progress while in bootcamp and then I got sick and stopped after 1 month. I didn't go back to bootcamp but when the cruise came around, I looked like this. 

 

I felt comfortable enough to wear a baithing suit and I was back to 150lbs. My body is shaped totally different now but I'm really liking my new mommy body. I have loads of stretch marks on my tummy but I'm slowly starting to get used to them. I don't go to bootcamp anymore because after we came back from the cruise, Maci went through a rough time sleeping at night so I just didn't have the energy to get up and work out. I still walk with Maci in her stroller so that when I decide to workout again, I don't have to start from square one :) Today, a month after our cruise, I weigh 145lbs. I'm going to go back to bootcamp soon to tone up and just stay in good health. Hope this helps anyone who's looking to loose weight, especially after baby. Walk, walk, walk and when you're ready, try a bootcamp or group session because I really believe being in a group helped motivate and push me. 

**I'm not on any extra special diet, but if anyone is intersted in what I eat on a typical day, let me know in the comments and I'll do a seperate post on it**

Making Baby Food

I breastfeed Maci as her main source of food but she started eating solids just before turning 6 months. I make her baby food at home but I'm not a baby food snob. I make her food because I want it to be healthy and I want control over what's in it. I also think it's super cheap and super easy. I make no-frills food that she really enjoys. I'm not sure why there are baby food recipe books...

This is what I do:

For breakfast, Maci has fruit. Bananas, apples, mangos, watermelon and peaches are what she's had so far. 

With bananas, peaches and mangos I just peeled them and mashed them with a fork. I don't freeze fruits or premake them because there's no prep involved. I gave her chunks of watermelon and she slurped the juice and gummed at the fleshy part. It's one if the messier meals, but easy. Since apples are hard, I give her cold, peeled chunks in a Nuby Mesh Feeder (I got mine for $3.50 at Ross) and she loves to sooth her itchy, teething gums with them. I've also steamed and puréed peeled apples for her and served them warm. They were a little too tart for her so I mashed in a little banana and she ate it up. 

For dinner, Maci has a veggie. She's had pattypan and yellow squash, sweet potato, carrots and avocado. Ya, avocado is a fruit but it's savory in my opinion so I feed it to her at night. When she's having avocado, I just cut it in half, mush up one side and feed it to her directly from the shell. I store what she doesn't eat in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator (with the pit) and give it to her the next day. Storing the avocado with the pit, helps it to stay green longer. Just like a banana or apple, it starts to turn brown after it's opened) One avocado can last us 5 days because she doesn't eat much yet. The squash came from my Mom's garden. I peeled and chopped it into 1inch or so pieces and used the Baeba Baby Food Maker to steam then purée it. I did the carrots the same way. I wasn't at home when I made sweet potatoes so I peeled and cubed one large potato used my Mom's double boiler to steam them. I added the water from the pot to the potatoes after they cooked for about 15 min and mashed them with a fork. One potato was enough for about 2 weeks for us so I froze half of it.

Here's Maci having her first bite of solid foods, a banana! We had no baby spoons so we used this tiny spatula from Walmart that I still like to use. It's soft and flexible so she can gum on it. It's also easy to wipe the food from her face with this. Dr. Brown's has a spatula spoon but i've never tried them. I just ordered some Nuby Weaning Spoons because I really like the flexible tip instead of the hard ones. 

 We use the Stokke Tripp Trapp Highchair in Walnut 

We have the Baby Set in walnut and the Cushion in Silhouette Pink

Here's my pattypan squash that we grow in my parent's garden. It actually has no taste so I only gave it to her for about a week before we moved on. It's good when sautéed with salt and pepper for an adult though! 

Here's my Baeba Babycook. The one I have is from 4-5 years ago,  it was my sister's. They have a double one now which is cool but this one works just fine. It takes about 15 minutes to steam a full basket of veggies. I haven't tried meat in here but you can use it for that too. After it steams, you dump the veggies from the basket back into the container and purée it. You can add the water back in if you need to thin it a little. Only one thing to clean!  I also like the Kalorik Baby Gourmet, which I gave to my sister as a gift a few years ago. It's on a ridiculous discount on Amazon right now for $30!

Here's my Mom's double boiler setup. (I couldn't be bothered to find the right top) On the top, I used the steam pot that has holes in it and the regular pot on the bottom. Here's something similar. I don't have a double boiler but I do have a rice cooker that does the same job. 

I got these 3.5oz containers at Target for $2.19 for 8. They are the perfect size. She only eats half of one at every sitting but I'm sure it'll be a whole one in the next month or so. There's something so gratifying about a set of full containers in an even number all ready to eat!

So for a pack of 8 containers- $2.19
One sweet potato about 1 lb- $1.00
We'll round up to $3.50 even though I also got the containers for 5% off from the cartwheel app)
$3.50 made six, 3.5 oz jars. Gerber sells a three pack of sweet potatoes, 2.5oz jars for $2.94. Can't beat making food!

**Quick tip: Freezing veggies is really convenient for us. I can defrost the containers in hot water bath half an hr before i want to feed Maci. What's even more convenient is storing the veggies in breastmilk storage bags. We don't have a large freezer so the back take up only a small amount of room and can be frozen flat and stacked together neatly. When you're ready to thaw, place the bag in a hot water bath for 10 min then empty it into a bowl.**

Dry, Tangled Hair Rescue

Since about 2 months into my pregnancy, I noticed that my hair texture was changing. It became really straight and extremely easy to manage. It also grew very long, even though I used heat every month to straighten it. I straightened it because it normally takes me a looooong time to detangle my curly hair in the shower. When it's not straight, I wet my hair in the shower every few days, if not every day. (Because it's relaxing, not for any healthy hair reasons) I wet my hair often but don't comb it often...see where I'm going with this... Tangles tangles tangles when it's finally time to comb! Well, I had no patience for that while pregnant because back hurt, tired, rather eat, shower can't be as hot as I want etc. Straight was just easier. I could wash, dry and straighten it an hr because it was unusually easy to manage. Bun at night, waves in the day.

 Fast forward to my postpartum self. My curls are growing back, and my hair is very long but the ends of my hair are dry and straight. (I will be getting my ends trimmed next week) I also have less time in the shower because baby...see where I'm going with this... Tangles tangles tangles.

Here's my hair straightened after baby.

You can see my dry, straight ends here.

The product that I can 100% count on in the shower to detangle my hair (so I can comb it) is Macadamia Oil Deep Repair Mask. I wash or rinse my hair, squeeze it out a bit, GENEROUSLY apply the mask then shower shave etc. After I shower, I comb my hair with a wide tooth comb while the water runs through it. I use my trusty Denman brush next to really get all of the tangles out. Done! Some days, I leave the mask in for a day or 2 before I rinse because I'm just a conditioner junky. When I rinse this stuff out, my hair feels really soft and moisturized. I love it and I'm positive it will help me have healthy hair again. 

Here's The denman brush I use. I got mine from Sally's for about $10

Ulta and CVS sell the repair mask for around $36 for a 8.5oz jar. This stuff is expensive and worth it but I buy mine on Amazon. $16, comes to your door, order more when you start running low. Perfect. I've also seen the line at Marshall's and TJ Maxx but I've yet to find the repair mask there. 

**Ever since about 3 months postpartum my hair and hairline have been falling out like crazy. I read it would happen so I'm ok with it, although it's really not cute. It's starting to grow back so hopefully soon I'll have a hairline again. I haven't done anything to try to grow it back because it's hormonal and I'm just gonna wait it out.**

You can see how much has fallen out in this picture :(

**Yes, I'm nursing in this picture and I'm one of those people who feels comfortable feeding my baby in public. There's a whole seperate discussion surrounding that**

I Have A Baby...

The last time I posted, I was anxiously awaiting a little bundle of joy. She was chillin and came almost a week late 3/4, 7lbs 3oz. at 12:24pm via C-Section. I was geared up to push but after an overnight hospital stay with contractions as close as 4 or 5 minutes, and a subsequent epidural, progress stopped and baby's heart rate was dropping with each contraction. I turned from anxious to worried in .2 seconds as I was scared for her life and mine under the knife. My family was with me and we cried and prayed together for a healthy baby and it all turned out fine. Seeing her little face was the best day of my life and it was the beginning of my new life as a mommy! 

I joke to my cousin (who encourages me to keep writing) that this will basically be a baby blog because I literally never shop for myself anymore. So if you get tired if seeing my baby's picture or hearing about her, forgive me, she consumes my thoughts. I love her unconditionally. She literally keeps me from sleeping, eating, exercising, staying up late with my husband, going out with my friends, traveling and fitting cute clothes but I would not trade my new life for anything.

I love being her mommy and those things it mentioned aren't lost, just occur less frequently in my life. I have noticed that I can do more the older she gets and that's encouraging. Also, I have tons of mommy friends now and it's great because they don't mind if I cancel because "we had a rough night" "I don't want to put on pants", "I haven't showered", " we're napping"...they get it! They are the lamest excuses but they're real. Ok enough about me, here she is...my beautiful, sweet Maci Eden.

**Will carry out the list of posts I promised from my previous post...just maybe not as fast as I'd planned. Maybe during naps?**

If you're still out there, still reading and still care, thank you. 

40 Weeks Pregnant

When people say you're pregnant for 9 months, they are lying to you. If you go full term, you are really pregnant for 10 months, which is basically almost a year of growing another human being inside your stomach. I wasn't prepared. I mean, my husband and I were trying to get pregnant, I've seen my sister and sister-in-law and friends go through it but I still wasn't prepared.

I'm so thankful to have my first pregnancy be such a great experience. It really is the most amazing thing to know that you're growing a tiny baby. It's also one of the scariest things I've ever done. I'm responsible for the well being of this child inside of me and that's an amazing responsibility!

On the other side of that spectrum, my body has changed so much it's scary. Not just the outward appearance but also what I like to eat, how fast I get out of breath, how my skin behaves and even how often I poop! (I know, tmi) but when you've known yourself for 29 years, you can easily predict your body's responses right. Then all of a sudden, everything is different. Every day, something new happens that your body has never done before. It's a learning process and I've been enjoying it.

So the day I found out I was pregnant, I looked like this. I was dying my hair and I took a pregnancy test while the color was processing. (Yes, I dyed my hair while pregnant. 3 or 4 times actually. (after this time, I switched to a brand with no ammonia) I went to check on the test and got the best news, it was positive! I decided to take pictures, knowing I would likely never be the same :) So at this point, I was already a month along with no symptoms.








Today, I look like this. I'm happy at 40 weeks and 1 day and anxiously waiting for a pain to hit me. I've never been so excited about being in pain!!




This was yesterday, on my due date. I joked with my sister that I dress like I'm going to the gym on purpose but I really went to Starbucks, then walked around the mall :)

This video is from last night. My husband works out after work and I do the video for about 30 seconds then I sit down! I count it as my exercise since I put in the effort to stand up lol. Anywho, the black stuff on my face is a clay mask that I was spot treating with. (I've had terrible acne since being pregnant. We'll talk about that in another post.)

I'm hoping I won't be posting anymore pregnancy shots. Just me and baby shots...cross your fingers for going into labor tonight! Follow me on Instagram @GStarMi. I'll post baby's pics there first :)


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Changes

Since my last post, so very long ago in June of 2013, there have been a few changes in my life. If you're not following me on Instagram, you wouldn't know that I am pregnant! I was actually due yesterday, February 27th. That day has come and gone and I am now waiting (impatiently) for a sweet baby girl to arrive. Since I have so much idle time, I figured I'd start blogging again, as I have so many updates for you all! I hope you all are still interested in what's going on because I'm beyond excited to share with you!

I think I'm going to start with:

1. what I look like today...pregnant at 40 weeks
2. Jump aaaaaalllll the way back, almost a year ago and post my wedding pictures
3. pictures from my shower and bachelorette party
4. a few home decor pictures, since that what's I've been doing while pregnant
5. Post a nursery tour
6. Pregnancy stuff, what I wore etc.
7. Whenever the baby decides to come, l will definitely write about her :)

I can't wait to talk with all of you again :)




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The Worst Part of Getting Married

What have I done? I've made a terrible mistake! Can I have a do-over? Is it too late to change my mind?

These are all of the questions that are going through my mind as I stand at the Social Security Office, application in hand. Who decided that this is the process for a newlywed to change her name? Wtf am I here for? I feel like I am the only sane person in line. Other folks are looking like they are running from the law, up to no good, changing baby daddies and so forth. The cop that lets you through the METAL DETECTOR just gave me the screw face and said "are YOU here for a new social security card?" Like, ma'am you might be in the wrong place!

I made the mistake of deciding to hand deliver my marriage certificate, thinking it would be no problem to fill out a one page application, show my ID and give it to someone sitting at a desk. Wrong! It's like the DMV but worse in here. Smells like a mingling of cultures and looks like an intake room at a prison. Like row after row of full chairs waiting with a number. I've been here for 15 minutes and I haven't even gone through the security check yet.





So I was next in line to be frisked and took the opportunity to offer a sweet smile to the older cop. Blinking up at him, I politely asked him a few honest questions.

1. Is there a separate line for people turning in marriage licenses? No.

2. How long have people been in here? Hours.

3. Should I just send in my application? No, because you also have to send in your actual drivers license.

4. Is it less crowded on a Monday? No, you should come15 minutes before we open or 15 minutes before we close.

Thank you sir, seeya next week!



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Location:Executive Center Dr,Charlotte,United States

A Little Life Saver + crushing on Renny Vasquez

So, in my quest to make my wedding a success, I decided not to have my hair and makeup done professionally. I'm the type (like a lot of you) that wants a certain look and other people just seem to make you look like they want you to look. The professionals are really good at what they do but have never really been good a what I want them to do. On my wedding day, i don't want to be disappointed, look different from my normal self, have to fix what I already paid for etc.

I'm not worried about my hair, i do it all the time and know how to make it last all night. My makeup, on the other hand, never seems to last as long as I'd like it to. I've always relied on Instagram and YouTube to get ideas and tricks of the trade when it comes to makeup. This morning, I was looking at Renny Vasquez's Instagram and I was like HOLY....his models were looking terribly flawless and natural. I said to myself, "Mia, this is what you should look like at your wedding".

Here are some of his pictures from Instagram. These girls look so great!
His website is HERE and you can find him on twitter, facebook and Istagram

I saw that he was using and airbrush system called Belleto so I thought I'd at least try to get the same one that he uses. That's a step in the right direction. I can't get him but I can use some of the same products. I'll have to do my best with what I have to work with right? So I checked out the website and the systems for about $500 a piece for the starter kit. For that much I might as well hire a professional! I'm a girl who likes a deal so I kept searching and found out that Belleto was on Hautelook today and I got the whole thing for $110! Score! I got the dark kit with yellow undertones, I think. I figured I could do my Mom, Gma, sister, cousins and friends with it.

If you're looking for flawless coverage for big events or light coverage every day, you might want to look into this while it's on sale. Check out Belletto Studio to find your color and HauteLook for the sale. hurry though because it ends soon!

Engagement Party!

My fiance and I had a Halloween engagement party on the Saturday before Halloween. When I first brought up the idea, Al wasn't too happy about it. He didn't want Halloween and the costumes etc. to get in the way of celebrating our engagement. I felt the exact opposite. The only reason we would be having a party was to celebrate our engagement, so to me,  the attire or date didn't make it less about us. Well, in the end, we had a great time, all of our friends were dressed up in really funny costumes and we have great pictures to remember it all.

I have always been a huge fan of Halloween. As a little girl, my mom always took us trick-or-treating. We lived in a great neighborhood where everyone participated and it was a blast. When I was 6, we moved into a small neighborhood where nobody did trick-or-treating. Lucky for us, my mom and dad used to take us back to our old neighborhood so that we could trick-or-treat. When I was about 11, we had this huge, ugly conversion van (sorry Dad, but it was ugly...he loved that van. Secretly, so did I). My parents would invite all of my friends to pile in and they would take us all to my old neighborhood and we'd have the best time! Well when I got to the 8th grade, I finally decided that I was too old to go trick-or-treating so my mom agreed that I could have a Halloween party! I was so excited and we turned our garage into a spooky...garage? I dunno, it was fun. Cobwebs, bats, dry ice cauldrons, skeletons, black lights, the works. My friends and I had a blast, so we did it every year. Fast forward to my grown up self, I have a warm place in my heart for Halloween. I tried to explain this to Al but he just ended up agreeing to it...probably to shut me up about it! lol

Here are a few pics :)

Here's what our invitation looked like...

This is the front of the invite (I love sugar sculls)

The invitations were inside this paper bag with a candy bag that I stamped with this cute little skull. I hand delivered all of these invites to my friend's doorsteps. It was a little creepy for them to find something random on their porch but that just adds to the Halloween theme right? 

I saw this in a magazine so I did it with a few of my friends. They are just spray painted shoe boxes.

Here's how mine turned out, before we added the pumpkins, bats, spiders, skulls and lanterns 

I made these lanterns by spraying vases white and putting halloween tights over it. The vases were from the dollar store, the tights were from Walmart. 

My Mom and I had the best time planning our costumes :)

Here's Al shopping for beverages...Frugal McDoogle! 

Here's a little treat for our guests to take home. 

Our friends was very generous and let us have the party at her house.
These are some of the decorations that we put up outside.

I made my costume the day before the party by gluing all of the leaves around my parent's house (that my Mom didn't want anymore). I also bought some leaves from the dollar store. 

and this is me trying on my top and being sad that I still had to make the bottom :/ 

Here's how my Eve costumed turned out. 

This is my super cute older sister dressed as a little girl at a sleepover. 

Here's the cake that our friend made , or actually, this is after we ate the top two tiers :)

I love paper lashes...it's like when's a good time to wear them? Halloween! 

Flo and Steve Urkel 

Here's my friend who was a peacock.

Sha nay nay lol!

Edward Scissorhands 

Cher and...a guy with an afro wig :)

Al was Grandmama! lmao