Something I Never Really Talk About...

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Very rarely do I ever really get super serious here on the blog. I want it to be a positive place full of lollipops and puppies and meadows filled with sunflowers to frolic in.

But, I know a lot of people are struggling with what I struggle with, and I want others to know that they are not alone.

For my entire life I have always struggled with my weight. I was the lucky one in my family where I was blessed with the slowest metabolism to ever walk the face of this planet. If you gave my metabolism to a snail he would probably start to slither backwards.

In elementary and middle school I was a legit obese kid. I was called things like "tubby" and "elephant". Kids would look at me with disgust as I walked down the hallways. If I wasn't moving fast enough for them they would literally push me out of their way.

When you're a kid you don't really realize what you look like. When I reached middle school I started to obsess over things like clothes, my hair and my body. I went on a mini diet in middle school and lost about 20 pounds. In high school I lost another 10, by the time I was in my 3rd year of college I had lost an additional 25 pounds.

It was hard to lose that weight. When I was a kid I would eat snacks and ice cream and cookies and crap. As I got older I went cold turkey with all that stuff. I was eating healthy and "normal" but still had a hard time losing weight.

I was my "thinnest" in college (I used quotes because I was never ever really skinny, I looked healthy and average) I had to be super conscious of what I put into my body. I memorized nutrition facts. I knew how many calories were in bread, veggies, candy bars, soups, pizza--you name it I knew it. I was constantly mentally calculating what was going into my body.

I could never just go to a party and scarf down chips, I would place the "suggested serving" on my plate and eat only 5 of them. If I was at a birthday party I would take a single bite out of a cake and put the rest down. I remember one year for my own birthday I refused to eat my own birthday cake (i know I know I'm a turd).

Yeah, it sucks having a very sensitive metabolism, but I have learned to deal with it. I just hate when others judge my body. People assume I eat horribly or that I am super unhealthy, which is exactly the opposite.

Over the past 2-3 years I noticed something really scary. Every few months my clothes would get tighter, and tighter, and tighter. My eating habits didn't change but I assumed that maybe because I was getting "older" my metabolism took another dive down hill (awesome)

I went back on weight watchers (that was how I lost the weight in college. I had lost about 25 pounds in 3 months) I was on WW for 4 months. Over those 4 months I had lost only 6 pounds and gained 4. Again, I assumed that my body needed a different method to drop the pounds since I wasn't in college anymore so I decided to do a high fiber and cardio diet for a few months.

I was eating more grains and wheats to keep me fuller longer. I also added 1/2 hour of cardio 3 times a week to give me body that exta "umph".

I still was not losing weight, in fact I was still gaining.

I decide to try one more method of weight loss before sucking it up and going to the Dr.

I decide to do a low-carb diet (duuuude do you know how hard that was for me?! I AM ITALIAN I BLEED BREAD, PASTA AND MARINARA SAUCE). My only saving grace on this low-carb diet was the fact that I could eat cheese (PRAISE THE LORD BABY JESUS). I was eating limited fruits since some fruits are considered "carbs". I had increased my proteins filling up on chickens and fishes.

I was STILL gaining weight.

Insert panic.

I went to my Dr, he poked me a bunch of times and ran a bunch of tests and everything came back negative.

I started to bawl. I was so scared that I would just keep gaining and gaining and gaining weight. It would be different if I was gaining all this weight because I was scarfing down fried chicken, chocolate covered marshmallows and milk shakes but the truth was I wasn't. If I was gaining all this weight while eating healthy I could not imagine the amount of weight I would be gaining if I was eating junk food.

I had read somewhere that sometimes birth control pills can make you gain weight. I didn't think anything of it because I was on the pill back in college when I had lost the original 25 pounds. What I didn't realize though is that I had switched birth control brands about 2-3 years ago.

Light bulb moment

I begrudgingly stopped taking my pill as a last ditch effort to lose weight. (Side note: I was on the pill for health reasons. My "time of the month" was so debilitating that I would be stuck in bed for 2 days and have a ton of other problems for the entire week. I knew that if I wanted a full time job after college I wasn't going to be allowed to take off from work 1 week every month due to woman issues. So enter the Pill)

I got off the pill about 2 months ago. I also re-started weight watchers. My mom and my friends were trying to convince me for WEEKS to get back on the scale to see my weight, but I just couldn't bare seeing the numbers go up again.

I am happy to report that since going off the pill and doing weight watchers I have lost roughly 10 pounds.

Do you hear that? Thats the sounds of angels singing sweet sweet music.

I don't want to jinx myself juuuust yet, I am hoping the reason behind my weight gain was the pill and not some other medical condition. BUT I need to log this information down to hold me accountable.

Even though I am losing weight while not on the pill my metabolism is still super slow. I eat fruits and veggies for breakfast and lunch (literally fruits and veggies, no bread, no cereal, just stuff that that literally comes out of the ground) for dinner I'll eat pasta or chicken or meat but at the proper service size. If I am still hungry after eating my dinner I try to snack on more veggies and fruits to fill me up.

Just to clarify, yes we believe the pill was preventing me from losing weight, however if I had stopped taking the pill and did NOT do weight watchers on top of it I believe I would still be at the weight I was when I got off the pill, BUT I would stop gaining the weight.

I will never ever be at a point where I can just eat whatever and not care or notice. For my entire life I will always have to count calories and be aware of what is going into my body, at least now I can try to finally lose weight! BRING IT JILLIAN MICHAELS


(ps-this is by no means a paid post by "weight watchers" this is strictly me just putting it all out there)

Yellow Heart Art's Self Esteem Campaign

 let's do gutsy things by Yellow Heart Art

I always wanted Yellow Heart Art to some how "give back". I didn't know quite how to do that. A few months ago when hurricane sandy hit long island I designed an exclusive print where the proceeds from that artwork went to help those affected by Sandy.

As much as I would love to donate 100% of every penny I make to organizations and charities the truth is I do run this business to make a living, and I need it to pay bills and other necessities.

So, I thought long and hard as to how I can help spread some happiness and give back with out going broke. I thought about what I want Yellow Heart Art to stand for and why I love to do what I do.

I realized that Yellow Heart Art is about being fun, quirky and, well, awesome. I used to be really critical of myself back in the day, and it was awful. I would try to not be too quirky or let my real personality come out in fear that people would judge me. Once I hit college I realized that this was a real stupid way of living. The more comfortable I became with myself and let my guard down the more happy I became. My self esteem improved dramatically and I found that people were drawn to the chick who tried to go sleigh riding down a grassy hill in the middle of April or the chick who would give high 5s to total strangers.

It makes me sad that there are others out there who don't fully feel happy with who they are or are suffering with low self esteem too. It's time to change this way of thinking stat!

Yellow Heart Art creates goods for you and your home with a lil bit of quirk and "umph" to it. We love it when people point and laugh at our designs. Along with our art we also want you to embrace your inner quirk!

Here's to those who doodle designs on foggy bathroom mirrors, to those who do a little jig when they're stoked about something, to those who must check that their house is locked 5 times before leaving, to those who speak to their pets in an inaudible high pitch shrill, to those whose pinky toe on their left foot might not go down all the way (I may or may not be the chick with the "freaky toe") (ok I am)

We all have things about us that make us unique, quirky and "umph-ish" (just go with it, umph is a good thing, promise)

Whenever you purchase a piece of art from Yellow Heart Art we always include a motivational postcard for you to write on and to send to others letting them know what it is about them that you love! Sometimes people are just so focused on being perfect that they forget that their quirkiness is what makes them pretty rad.

Our goal is to have everyone embracing their inner "umph"! Will you help us to make the world a more umph-ful place?

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• we launched our newest Spring 2013 collection yesterday, check it out here
• if you want to shop our "outlet" sales follow our sale shop on instagram "YellowHeartSale"

ITS HERE IT HERE ITS HERE!

IT'S HERE IT'S HERE IT'S HEEEEEREEEEE

(yes cap-locks and obnoxious use of vowels was totally necessary) (my apologies to every english teacher out there whose left eyeball just started to twitch uncontrollably) (the twitching will wear off in about 5 hours, 6 hours TOPS. Promise)

The Yellow Heart Art Spring 2013 Collection is now large and in charge. If I were a teenage boy selling snacks at a baseball game I would be running up and down the stadiums yelling "GETCHA PRINTS, STAMPS, PLUSHES & JOURNAL OVAH HEA!"

Oh, you saw the word "Journals" didn't you? Yes, its true, we added journals to our shop! BUT this is just a "soft launch" for now. I only created one design in limited quantities to see if you all would love 'em or leave 'em. Here is how i am planning to use our new journals:

• Since its small enough to place in my purse I'd carry it on me and make note of all the fun things that happened to me through out the day, then look  back on my year-o-awesome when the journal was filled up.

• Leave it by my night stand and jot down any gnarly dreams that happened to me that night

• Whip it out every time I heard "…Hold Please" while on the phone and then spend the next 5 minutes of listening to an instrumental version of Michael Jacksons "Beat It" doodling in my book.

• Use it as a mini scrapbook to keep track of fun moments and memories. Its going to be my "catch all" for all my movie ticket stubs, concert tickets, photos and other mini trinkets.

Mind Blowing Journal, Purchase Here

Our prints got a bit of a facelift too! I still kept our signature "quirky" prints and teamed them up with some motivational ones as well.

waking up next to you print

whatever you do make it happen print

The popular "Happy Mail Day" stamp now comes in a different design as well! The square format is perfect for smaller letters and packages.

Happy Mail Day Stamp in Square found here

(pssst awesome card by Julie Ann Art found here)

Know someone whose celebrating a birthday? Our newest mini cupcake plush set would make a perfect gift!

cupcake set found here

Take a peek at the entire collection! Click on the category below that you want to visit:

New Prints | New Stamps | New Plushes | New Journal

And I'm not saying that coupon code "ONSALE15" will give you 15% off your entire purchase from now till February 22nd 12AM EST buuuuuut it might (ok it does)

We are also launching a new campaign…but more about that tomorrow!

Works in Progress Logo Design

I haven't shared any freelance work on here in a while! For the time being I have kept my freelance list super small as I try to keep building my Spring 2013 collection for Yellow Heart Art (exciting alert: The collection launches this week!)

I had to opportunity to work with Fabiane, a german blogger whose starting up a wedding blog overseas (my job is so cool I am able to work with people all over the world)

Her blog name is "Humming Heartstrings" and loved the idea of her logo design being whimsical, flowy and girly.

She showed me her website color palette and used that as my jumping point. I also played off the word "heartstrings" by literally placing some hearts on a string and "tying" them up on some letters!

Once Fabiane saw it she felt like the colors were too close to her website design. She also picked out a new font to use. So I re-worked it and came up with these 2 versions for Fabiane to choose from for her new wedding blog.

 Did I ever mention how much I love my job? Cause I do.

Guilt Free Red Velvet Cupcakes!

I've been making "guilt free cupcakes" for sometime now and I never thought to blog about 'em. They're kinda awesome yet bizarre, just trust me with the recipe ok?

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 can of diet coke (or approx. 10oz of liquid)
• Cool Whip (I used the "Lite" version)
• 1 package of red velvet cake mix
• coconut shavings (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

• Pre-heat oven to 350

• Mix together 10oz of diet coke with 1 package of red velvet cake mix. Stir till the cake mix is blended into the diet coke

• Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way with the mix

• Bake for about 20-30 minutes (or until a tooth pick is clean when poked into the cupcake)

• Let cool, take a dollop of coolwhip lite and ice the cupcakes. If you want to add a little sweetness I sometimes sprinkle on top some coconut shavings.


TIPS AND ALTERNATIVES:

• I recommend letting the cupcakes sit for at least 5-6 hours before eating. Since you are using diet coke and not eggs or oil to bind up the cake mix it tends to fall apart right away if you dig right in. Allowing them to sit and set will let the cake become more dense and not fall apart as easily.

• Since I just make these cupcakes for personal use I tend to "ice" them as I eat them so the icing doesn't turn red from the red velvet cake mix. Also coolwhip needs to be refrigerated or else it gets super gnarly left out.

• The batter might be thick, thats ok the cupcakes will still be fluffy! Sometimes cake mixes have more or less dry batter depending on the brand, if you feel like your cupcakes are too thick or too runny then adjust the "coke to cake mix" ratio to your liking :)

• You can also make chocolate cupcakes by using chocolate cake mix and diet coke.

• If chocolate isn't your thing you can also use vanilla cake mix with 1 can of diet sprite.

• For a moist more dense cake you can also use pumpkin puree as a coke substitute. Please note you will taste some of the pumpkin in your recipe. I love to use a "spice" cake mix or a carrot cake mix with the pumpkin puree.

• I would not recommend using the cupcakes for a party, I make the cupcakes as a way for me to have something sweet with out all the fat. Dudes might not approve of this recipe, but my boyfriend doesn't mind them :)

Add Length to Your Hair in Minutes

I guess I unintentionally made this week on the blog "beauty week"? Between yesterdays skin brightening powder and now today's insta-hair posting!

By the way, before I get a ton of emails from you guys going "YOU FRAUD I THOUGHT YOUR LOCKS WERE TOO LEGIT TO QUIT" fear not angry villagers, put down the flaming torches, the photo above was back in 2009 when I decided to cut off a foot of hair and do the trendy angled "Beckam Bob". Rest assured guys my mane that is now waist long is legit.

The one thing that was my saving grace when it came to growing out my 'do was my clip in hair extensions that I  bought from Sally Beauty Supply. I had paid $70 for mine back in 2008, now it looks like the price went up to $89.  You don't have to get THIS brand, just make sure whatever brand you do buy is REAL human hair (Yes I know just look past the fact that you're wearing someone else's hair for the sake of beauty)

Here is why you need to nab a pair for yourself:
• Make sure to buy the ones that are real human hair and NOT synthetic. Think barbie hair--do you want your hair to look like Barbies? Yes the real human hair ones are more money but since its real hair you can flat iron them, curl them and wash them just like your regular hair. When the ends start to split just trim them with scissors. Mine have been with me since 2008 and STILL holding strong.

• They will help you grow out your hair when you are going through an "awkward phase". Plus it is cheaper and healthier for your hair to buy clip ins then to go to the salon and have them sewed or glued to your actual hair.

• Even when you are done growing out your hair (like me) I still wear them when I want my hair to look more polished and fuller. Usually to a wedding or a nice dinner. I even sometimes wear them in the summer when I am fighting a losing battle with humidity.

• Don't want to commit to the Ombre trend? Simply buy long hair extensions in a shade that is slightly different than your hair color. The longer pieces peeking out from your hair will give it that ombre affect. Also, if you hate it just simply dye the hair extensions your natural hair color (again you can do this with the REAL human hair extensions)

• No one can tell you have clip in hair extensions. They will be clipped underneath your hair so your regular hair will hide any clips.

How To Wear:
They are super simple to apply, and they do stay in your head all day long. They come in long horizontal strips. You just section off your hair horizontally and clip them in! There are a ton of video tutorials on youtube if you wanted to physically see how to do it.

Did i make you a believer? Are you going to hop on the hair extension train?

Must Have Makeup Staple

So as some of you might know by now girlfriend loves her makeup. To me if you're going to be investing in something that is going to be slathered on your face you might as well get something that is good quality and will last all day.

I walked into Sephora the other day and asked the woman if she could recommend anything for my under eye circles. I had gotten Sephora gift cards for christmas and wanted to let my freak flag fly with them.

She took one look at me and said "Ok, I don't know what you're doing now, but sweet heart it aint workin'"

All I could hear in my head was Emma Stone from "Easy A" going "oooooohhhh buuuuuurrrrn"

Sure enough I looked in their mirror and saw 2 yellow stripes under my eyes glaring back at me. See, I try to place myself in situations where there will only be dimly lit lighting. Ya know, romantic restaurants after 6pm, the movie theaters, dungeons...

I had no clue that the setting powder I was using for my under eye concealer was leaving a yellow tint behind. But its ok, something magical happened in Sephora that day. The florescent lighting that was along the perimeter of the mirror I was looking at had started to part and illuminate a glow and I swear I could hear angels start to gently sing in the background when the make up artist showed me this.

Dear Laura Mercier: If we ever cross paths I'll be the girl with the fabulous under eyes and awesome dance moves. Just putting that out there.

This setting powder is amazing. There is no pigment, its just an iridescent powder that is meant to brighten your skin. It leaves your skin looking like a mob of pixies came along and did the macarena on your face.

No, thats a good thing. Just stay with me.

I was skeptical at first since there was no pigment to this powder, but thats the point. It's meant to let your natural color come through and just give it that little extra "Umph".

It can be used as an all over powder or just as a setting powder for any cream or liquid foundation.

This is officially going in the beauty vault-o-awesome. It's not meant to cover any discoloring or blemishes, but it helps to brighten your features once placed on top of any concealers you use.

What are some of your new beauty faves?

Some Hearts For You!

Valentines day is almost here! I wanted this weeks friday freebie to include something "valentines day appropiate"

I hope you all dig hearts.

Multi Hearts Background for iPhone 4 and all other smartphones

Multi Hearts Background for iPhone 5 and all other smartphones

Just open up this blog post on your phone, tap the image with your finger (so it opens at full size) then press and hold and save it to your phone's camera roll! Please remember these are for personal use only, let's all play nice and use them for just that :) artwork can not be copied, used or produced.

 

Also to stick with our valentines day theme today I think I'll share a very sweet and romantic conversation that Bubs and I had the other day

Bubs: We don't have a song, right?
Me: *blinks*

Bubs: *cringe*

Me: Naw Steve, we've just been dating for 5 years but we don't have a song or 3.

Bubs: I knew immediately when those words left my mouth that I was going to regret asking this. Why do I do these things to myself?

Me: I'm not saying you have to show up tomorrow with a dozen yellow roses and some swedish fish, but I am saying that I wouldn't hate it.

sigh.

Win a kitchenaid mixer!!

Hi My Loves! 

Do I ever have something special for you today!! 

To celebrate Valentine's Day, Newlywed Moments is teaming up with 30 other bloggers to give away a KitchenAid Mixer!!

I would whip up some oreo mini cheesecakes in this bad boy for bub's for valentines day if I had one!

One lucky reader will win this white-colored KitchenAid Classic Series 4.5 Quart Tilt- Head Stand Mixer, valued at $229.99! The winner will be announced on Valentine's Day.

Valentine DIYs!

So, confession alert. I do enjoy Valentine's day. Maybe its because it do own a shop called Yellow Heart Art so I might be contractually obligated to dig any and all things involving hearts.

(psstt if you see something you like please pin these items from their sources not my blog, thanks! all items are linked to their sources below the image)

crochet heart tutorial found here

Make your own printed heart jeans found here

(shut up with this tutorial, ALL my clothes are going to be covered in hearts now. Boyfriend, you've been warned. Things are gonna get super girly all up in hurr)

DIY arrow bracelet found here

(wearing this definitely beats the alternative of having some obese baby stab you with a sharp object)

DIY heart sequin shirts

(my inner drag queen needs these) (bet you didn't know I had an inner drag queen) (it's ok neither did I)

Pattern Heart Tights

DIY vintage arrows found here

(ok, seriously with this? These need to be hung all over my studio) (do you hear me? all.over.my.studio)

Happy valentines day!

(side note: none of these photos belong to me and have been linked back to their webpages)