After a Fashion

Paleo Birthday Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 19:13:00 +0000

Today is Cody's 26th birthday!

He wanted me to make him a paleo birthday cake for today, so I went on Pinterest and found this recipe. It's a chocolate cake made out of coconut flour instead of regular flour, lots of eggs, maple syrup, and coconut oil instead of butter. See the recipe for all the ingredients.

I even made the dairy free icing!

I didn't follow the directions completely, and I learned my lesson with this cake. The directions say to place parchment paper in the pans before you put the mix into them and bake them. Instead, I used my Wilton's cake release thinking that it would work...well it didn't, and so my cake layers came out in pieces :(

But I put them back together and moved on.

We haven't cut into the cake yet, but from some of the crumbs, I think it's going to taste really good!

Happy Birthday Cody!

After a Fashion

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 20:56:00 +0000

After much thought and consideration, I've decided to change the name of my blog.

Stephy-Do was always supposed to be a temporary name anyway...I didn't really ever like that name (I felt it was childish) and I wanted something a little more grown up, and something that would make a good brand name for my future crafting/sewing business.

I am not gifted at naming a future small business. I have struggled to come up with something original that also fit me and what I want my business to be about.

So the name I came up with is "After a Fashion."

I think that this name is really cool. I'm an engineer, and I design steel structures and concrete foundations. I wanted to incorporate this somehow into my brand name because it is, after all, my background! But everything I came up with that had the word 'engineer' in it sounded wrong. My business is not an engineering company.

To fashion means to put something together, or to build something. And it also has to do with style!

I also like to thrift and re-fashion clothing items, and I thought this was a good name for that too!

So I am trying it out for a while to see.

Let me know any thoughts or suggestions!

Hunger Games Cowl/Neck Scarf

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 03:01:00 +0000

Last week I was perusing Pinterest, when I came across a video about finger-knitting. It is actually really easy. I had some black yarn and was trying to think of something to do with it when I came across another picture on Pinterest. The cowl/scarf thing that Katniss wears in the new Hunger Games movie!

I decided to try and make my own...I think it turned out well, but it's not perfect.

I may buy some more yarn and give it another go after Christmas...I may try and find one of those knitting looms to help me out. I think I may be able to figure that out (I have tried to knit before and it is too complicated).

Writing Rant.

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 23:24:00 +0000

Ok, I just have to say this.

I finished reading the Divergent series this weekend, and although I was so into these books and could not put them down, the ending just totally ruined it for me.

If you haven't read the books yet and plan on reading them then stop reading now!!!!!

I am, have been, and will always be a sucker for a love story, and whenever something tragic happens at the end like one of them dies, it makes me so angry!! And then I find myself thinking, what was the point of even reading that?

That's one of the only reasons I read the dang books! I just want everyone to grow old together and live happy lives, I guess.

That being said I understand why she did it, it just sucks.

Anyway, it inspired me to start writing my story again! I just think it would be nice to write a really engaging story like Divergent and be able to control the ending so that none of the main characters die!

So I pulled up my word file that I'm writing in and ended up just staring at it for a while until giving up.

LOL, I hate it when that happens! I was so motivated and excited to start writing my book again and then I couldn't think of how to begin. My book isn't set in some post apocalyptic time zone or anything, but I want my characters to have to go through struggles in order to be together...but they WILL be together at the end dang it!

:)

Whole30 Challenge!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:20:00 +0000

After hearing about how well my sister Brandi has been doing since starting Cross Fit and eating the Paleo diet, Cody and I decided to try it out for ourselves!

We bought a book called It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig, and I've been reading through it for the past couple of days. Cody's going to peruse it this weekend. The book talks about a lot of the science behind the Paleo diet, and it gives a challenge to follow their own version of the diet, which is actually more strict than the Paleo diet, for 30 days. Once the 30 days are up, a plan is laid out for you to reintroduce different food groups back into your diet so that you can see for yourself how different food groups impact your day to day.

The book has a lot of good information and it explains how different foods can mess with your hormones, causing your brain to think that your body is starving, and as a result tell your cells to burn sugar instead of fat for energy.

It also talks about your gut health and how certain food groups can lead to a leaky gut, allowing things that shouldn't be in your body to pass through your intestinal wall, causing your immune system to go haywire, leading to chronic inflammation which is not good.

It then goes on to tell you which food groups to avoid and why, and which ones to enjoy and why, and it includes a meal planning template and several Paleo recipes to mix and match.

Here are the basics of the diet:

Avoid:
- ALL forms of added sugar, sweeteners, and alcohol
- Seed oils
- Grains and Legume (this includes PEANUTS!!)
- Dairy (with the exception of clarified butter)

Enjoy:
- Meat, seafood, and eggs
- Vegetables and fruits
- The right fats (cooking fats and oils, nuts and seeds)

The website Whole9 Life has lots of good references including a few different shopping lists. There is a link on the website to their shopping list which includes all the foods that you can have on this eating program, along with other helpful guides to get started with.

SO, here's to day 1 of our challenge!

Simplicity Pattern #1663 Option D

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Sat, 12 Oct 2013 16:34:00 +0000

I finally finished my first pair of pants! I used Simplicity Pattern #1663, option D.

Overall I guess I'm happy with how they turned out...there are a few things I wish were better. I used my serger to finish all the seams which was awesome!! I am definitely glad I made that purchase :)

I like the pants, they remind me of those palazzo pants, and they're comfy enough to lounge around in.

The fabric I used is 100% rayon, so it is slightly stretchy but not much and it's sort of flowy.

I ended up lining the pants with another layer of the rayon because I felt like one layer was just not thick enough. This way the legs of the pants are heavier and sit better.

The waistband is elastic so they are easy to get on and off and it makes them that much easier and more comfortable to wear.

I even used my serger to make a blind hem at the bottom!

Baby Shower Guest Book

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 14:03:00 +0000

For the baby shower, I was asked to do something creative for the guest book. I looked on Pinterest for a long time trying to come up with cute ideas. I wanted it to be something that my friend would actually use somewhere. I didn't like the idea of framing a picture with a mat around it that everyone signs, I didn't like the idea of a signature quilt...but I wanted to make something for the baby room.

Rachel told me that the theme was jungle. I came across this pin on Pinterest and I liked the idea of everyone signing something that will become part of the picture, so I started brainstorming and I came up with a giraffe with signatures on the spots!

I think it turned out so cute. I cut the giraffe out of construction paper. I also included a bible verse (Psalms 127:3) so that whenever Rachel looks at it she'll remember that her baby is a gift from God.

:)

The only thing that I forgot to do was to put the date somewhere on the picture...maybe when the baby comes, Rachel can put his birthday on it or something in the corner.

New Look Pattern 6198 by Simplicity

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 12:59:00 +0000

I had a wonderful time this weekend in Houston for my friend's baby shower! It was great to get back and see all my old friends that we had to leave behind when we moved to Midland a few months ago.

Anyway, for my gift, I made a little romper (New Look 6198) with a pocket on the front and a cute little stuffed animal giraffe (Simplicity 2613).

The romper is made out of a gingham print duck cloth, I believe. It's 100% cotton. I didn't make any alterations to the pattern at all! I cut the largest size that the pattern came with.

For the most part, I had no trouble at all with this pattern. The only thing that was difficult was the snap tape at the bottom...in Midland (although I haven't ever looked for it anywhere else before) snap tape is impossible to find. I looked everywhere I could think of.

So I ended up making it myself. I used these snaps from Walmart and fashioned my own snap tape out of it. I guess that I should have made the tape a little bit wider because it was very hard to sew around the snaps. It's all jacked up down there.

I think the instructions said something about using an adjustable zipper foot, but I don't have one of those, so I had to just do the best I could with what I had!

Overall, I think that it turned out really cute!

Simplicity Pattern 2174 Style 'C'

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 14:27:00 +0000

I really enjoyed making this dress! It was my first go at this pattern, and I have to say that it was really easy to follow the pattern instructions. The only things I had trouble with were the sleeves and the zipper. One sleeve poofs up more at the top of the shoulder than the other...I tried re-sewing the poof-ier side once, and it looks a little better, but it is still off a little bit but I'm hoping that it's not too noticeable. And the zipper took me FOREVER to put in, and I still don't think it's as clean as I'd like it to be. I think that part of the problem was that I used one of those fashion zippers with the metal teeth and I should have used the invisible zipper instead. The invisible zippers are smaller and easier to sew on.

The material is 100% cotton duck cloth. It frays really bad at the ends, so to finish the seams on the inside, I first trimmed all the seams and then zig-zagged along the edges twice.

Seams will be a lot easier and faster for me once my brand new Brother 1034D serger arrives! (I spoil myself...)

Alterations to the original pattern:

- Went from size 8 at the top to size 12 at the underarms to size 14 at the waist

My next project will be these pants! (View A)

A Learning Experience...

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 13:44:00 +0000

Over the weekend, I worked a lot on my sewing.

Last week, I made a practice dress out of muslin that I bought a while ago from JoAnn's (back when we still lived in Houston). I had also bought a whole bunch of patterns when they were on sale and one of them was Simplicity Pattern No. 1652. It's part of their Amazing Fit collection, an A-line dress with a scoop neck, full back, & slightly gathered skirt with in seam pockets. You can make the dress to have cap sleeves or short sleeves, and you can even make a peek-a-boo back cut-out if you want.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I got some fabric on sale from Hancock's here in town and I thought it would make a really pretty dress. This is the first dress I've ever really attempted so I decided to practice the pattern out in the muslin fabric first.

Let me just tell you that this has been a learning experience.

First I cut out the pattern in the size I thought I needed based on my measurements and the back of the pattern. When I got it all sewn together, it fit pretty nicely around my waist, but the top was too big. I put the dress on my dress form that has roughly the same measurements as I do, and started pinning it to where it would fit.

First of all, the back of the dress was too loose at the top so I pinned the extra fabric to where it was as tight as I wanted and marked it with a washable fabric pen. After I finished marking it on the muslin, I laid it out as flat as I could and transferred the marks to the pattern.

Next I ripped out the threads where I needed to take the back in and sewed it back where I had the marks and then tried it on again. The top of the dress still didn't fit. It was too long in the front so I pulled up the shoulders a little bit and then pinned them to where the dress fell where it was supposed to and did the same process of transferring the marks to the pattern.

Then was time to sew on the sleeves. They fit pretty nicely once I was done, so I didn't change them at all...until later.

I decided to make another practice run at the bodice of the dress since I had now altered the pattern pieces and I am glad I did!

After looking at the marks I had made on the pattern pieces, I changed them up a little bit. At first, I had just marked the patterns where I had put the new seams on the tester, but to make things easier for myself, I decided to cut out the size that most closely matched the original patterns.

On the top around the neckline, my marks were closest to size 8, so I decided to start there. Since I didn't take in anything around the waist, I knew that it needed to go from size 8 at the top to size 14 at the waistline. The best way for me to do it was to go from size 8 at the neck and shoulders to a size 12 underneath the armpits and to a size 14 at the bottom. So I drew new lines on the patterns connecting them all together and then cut out the new pattern!

The skirt on the dress fit just fine for me, so I didn't make any changes to that part.

I made another practice run out of an old fitted sheet that we don't use anymore...and in the end I turned it into a shirt by shortening the skirt so it's more of a peplum type top.

The new bodice fit pretty well, except for the sleeves...they were way to tight. I had a heck of a time trying to get those stupid sleeves to fit (and they still don't...still too tight but it is wearable). I think I cut out about 10 different sleeves.

I ended up cutting the sleeve pattern up and then adding more to it to add more wearing ease following a method that I learned from a book I bought a while back that talks about normal fit issues when using a pattern and how to change them up.

Anyway, after all was said and done, that's what I ended up with. I finally made it fit decently, and then I decided not to use that pattern with the original material I bought. LOL!

I had gone back to the fabric store over the weekend and they had all the patterns on sale for $1.99 so I got to looking at them, and I started talking to a lady there that was also looking at patterns, and I told her I was trying to make my first dress, but I was unsure that the pattern I bought would work with the material I had.

I am afraid that if I try this dress with the gathered skirt with the material I bought (which is 100% cotton duck cloth) that it wouldn't work, and I think she agreed with me. She said that the softer the fabric, the smoother it will lay and the duck cloth isn't very soft.

I think I'll have to buy a softer and flow-ier material for that one. I also bought a bunch of new patterns, and one is a dress that I think may work with my material.

It's Simplicity Pattern No. 2174. I started cutting out the pattern pieces last night (I traced them onto tissue paper first so I wouldn't screw up the original after the lady I met told me that's what she does and it made sense to me). She told me that all the Simplicity patterns are generally about the same size, so I'm assuming that this dress will fit me like the tester I made, so I marked up the patterns the same way I did for the other one and I'm just hoping that it will work.

We shall see!

Weekend Get Away!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 16:09:00 +0000

Last weekend, as a celebration of being married for 2 years and for Cody's first successful semester of PA school, we decided to go on a little trip to see some of West Texas.

I had Google searched some different places we could go a while back, and I found a place called Fort Davis that looked sort of interesting. After asking around to some of my co-workers, they all agreed that it would be a cool place to go and visit for a nice weekend, so I called and booked a room at a really cool place called the Indian Lodge.

Along the way, everyone told us to stop in Balmorhea at the swimming pool which just happens to be the largest spring-fed pool in the world! The pool covers 1.75 acres, stays at a cool 75 degrees year round, and goes to a depth of 25 feet.

The pool makes kind of an L shape, this is the short side of the L on the far side of the pool. The water is more shallow around the sides on this end and it gets deeper in the middle. I stayed over here because a) I didn't want to get my hair wet, and b) I was freaked out by the really deep part.

I wore my Chaco sandals in the pool which I was happy about because the bottom of the pool is really slimy and it's hard to walk on without slipping!

The pool is perfect for scuba divers to come and practice, when we were there we saw a lot of scuba equipment.

The other neat thing is that there are fish in the pool! It's like swimming in a really clean lake (but the fish freaked me out, I was scared that they would bite me!!!).

These were small catfish swimming close to the edge and lots of tiny little minnows.

Me and Cody both thought that our parents would really enjoy it at this place. Maybe if they ever come to visit us in Midland we can take them there!

Here's a shot of the spring feeding the pool.

Here's a shot of Cody taking in the views! I didn't really take a picture of it, but in the background beyond the pool, there is a really pretty view of the mountains (well, Texas mountains...they're really more like big hills).

Once we were done with the pool, we headed on to Fort Davis.

There were some really pretty views along the way! Every curve we drove around, we were just amazed at how beautiful it was...so much prettier than Midland. And we couldn't believe that we were still in Texas.

The Indian Lodge was really neat. It's an historic hotel with 39 rooms available. They stay booked year-round. The lady told us when we checked in that if we want to get a better room next time with a good view, we need to book at least 9 months in advance. But I thought our room was great! It was nice and cozy :)

The Lodge is also located in the Davis Mountains State Park, so we got free access to the park. We did a little bit of hiking, but it was SO STEEP! It was a workout.

There was a restaurant at the hotel called the Black Bear which was pretty good. I think it was a little bit overpriced, but it was a buffet style so at least we could eat as much as we wanted. They had a really good breakfast buffet.

Here are some views from the hotel.

Here are some pictures from our little hike we did...a view of the Lodge from the top, and some other scenic pictures.

On Saturday, we drove to the McDonald Observatory to have a little tour and see some telescopes! This was so fun, and we learned a lot.

To get to these telescopes, we had to drive all the way up the mountain. Cody was surprised when we got to the top because we found out that we were nearly 7000 feet above sea level, I think that we were on the highest spot in Texas.

This is one of the original telescopes I think...it's 82 inches in diameter. We didn't go in to see this one, but I liked the seal on the building. Right behind this one, there is a bigger one that we went in to look at.

Another view from the mountain top...it was really so pretty! Pictures never do the real thing justice.

This is the telescope we got to go in and look at. It was pretty impressive. The telescope is attached to two piers on either side of it that go all the way down the dome into the mountain to keep it still when the wind blows. I know this should be more interesting to me because I'm a structural engineer and I design foundations, but it's just not really.

I'm more interested in looking at the pictures from space!!

This is actually the largest telescope at the McDonald Observatory, even though it has a smaller dome around it. It's called the Hobby Eberly Telescope. The design of this telescope is way different than the others. Instead of only having only 2 or 3 mirrors, it has a whole array of mirrors and a tracker on top that moves around so they can see more than with the others. This telescope was built with an optimal design that kept costs low.

They are currently in the process of getting a bigger tracker installed on this one so that they can see even more, because they are going to start studying dark energy in the future.

Later that night, we went to a star party at the observatory, and we learned about some of the different constellations, and then we got to walk around and look at some different things in the telescopes! We got to see Saturn which was SO COOL! I had never seen it like that through a telescope, and it was really neat.

We also saw some views of the moon so we could see some of the craters in high def. It was awesome.

Here are some more pictures from the Davis Mountains State Park!

And lastly, I have a few more pictures from the town of Fort Davis.

It was a really nice weekend!

The Juicer

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 17:47:00 +0000

This weekend after we got back from our trip to Fort Davis (a post on that to come...) Cody begged me to go to the store and buy a juicer.

He's been watching documentaries about how juicing is just so good for you, yadda, yadda.

So we went on down to Bed Bath and Beyond with our 20% off coupon and bought ourselves an Omega VERT 350 juicer. It's actually pretty cool because it is vertical, it's small, and it ejects the pulp out into a separate container so it's easier to clean.

The blade only spins at 80 RPM which is awesome because that way it prevents oxidation and the juice stays good and healthy for a full 72 hours which means we can juice at night and enjoy the next day with the same benefits of fresh juice!

When we lived in Houston, we had a juicer that we got rid of when we moved because we never used it (it was hard to clean...) so I was skeptical about spending so much on a juicer now.

But we made a pact with each other that we WILL have a juice for breakfast every single morning.

Just look at that goofy smile...he is so happy right now!

Here's the juice I had this morning:

I don't know how I let Cody talk me into this...

Next time, we'll be pouring the juice through a strainer before we put it in the jar to get rid of all of the pulp. Actually, once I got past that, the juice really wasn't that bad, a little too citricy this go round, but I did manage to drink the whole jar.

I think though, from now on we will stick to recipes to make sure that the grassy flavors don't overpower the other flavors.

Wilton Method of Decorating Cakes: Session TWO

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 16:32:00 +0000

Well, the second session of my cake decorating class was....OK. And I only say that because I had planned to decorate a 2 layer cake, but after all was said and done, it turned out to be only 1 layer. Frosting the top and sides of the cake and making it nice and even is HARD. Especially if you have a lot of crumbs you are dealing with.

So first things first. I made my cake from scratch using this recipe that I found on Pinterest. I had never baked a cake before that called for soda pop in the recipe and I thought it sounded good! I used a Zevia coke instead of real coke because their is ZERO sugar and ZERO calories!!!

For the frosting, I made my own buttercream (it is soooo good) using this recipe:

1 cup butter (I use the Land-O-Lakes brand)

1 pound of pure cane powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp meringue powder

First, cream together the butter and vanilla extract, then slowly add the powdered sugar and meringue powder until combined!

I went ahead and made two batches of the icing.

Now for the cake, note that if you are planning on making a 2 layer cake, the batter should be spread evenly between the two pans. At first, I was only planning on working with one layer of cake (I used a 2" thick cake pan and was planning on cutting it into two 1" layers in class), but then I had a lot of batter left over so I decided to just bake a second layer.

In the first class, the instructor told us that it works better if you bake the cake at 325 degrees instead of 350 degrees.

I didn't have the same amount of batter in each pan and so the second one did not get as big as the first one, as you can see below.

This is how my cakes turned out! The one on the bottom is the one I ended up using for class.

In class, I learned that one of the most critical things to get right when icing a cake is to get the consistency of the icing right!

The top and sides of the cake should be iced with medium-stiff icing. By the time I got to class and had worked with my icing to make it smooth again (I had stored it in the refrigerator and so it was hard), it was too soft, so I had to add a LOT of powdered sugar to it to make it stiffer. If the icing is too soft, it will pick up the crumbs off the top of the cake and it will not dry as fast.

I didn't want to waste cake, so I saved the layer I didn't end up using and smeared the last of my green frosting on top. It's not very pretty, but it doesn't taste half bad. I had bought a lemon creme pie filling to put in between the two layers so there is some of that in this cake.

The one I decorated doesn't have any filling.

Ta-daa!! Here is the finished product!

(In case you are wondering, it's a cup-cake with green frosting and a purple base...STACI)...

Summer Mummers

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 14:58:00 +0000

This weekend, Cody and I experienced some of Midland's traditions. A couple months ago, I bought tickets to Summer Mummers.

The show was held in Yucca Theater in downtown Midland. This theater is pretty cool - the inside of it is all old-timey with the balcony and everything!

Summer Mummers is a melodrama with the classic hero, heroine, and antagonist. I think the theme is different every year, but it's always the same basic story where the hero has to come in and save the heroine from the antagonist.

So this years theme was a magic show. The hero was a good magician who gets transported to Midland from Las Vegas by the antagonist (an evil magician). So the hero gets to know West Texas and Midland and is invited to have his own magic show at the Yucca Theater by the owner who is the heroine.

Yadda, yadda, yadda, you know how it goes. The antagonist gets jealous of the hero's new magic show and comes to Midland to hold the heroine captive and try to take over the show.

So part of the Summer Mummers tradition is popcorn wars. Everyone gets these huge bags of popcorn and whenever the bad guy comes out, you're supposed to throw popcorn at him.

But really, people just throw popcorn at other people.

Whenever people would run out of popcorn, they made hats out of the bags. These guys in front of us had their popcorn bag hats on and were dancing around during the intermission. Pretty entertaining.

I had a huge bag of popcorn dumped on my head by a complete stranger.

Not gonna lie, I wasn't the biggest fan of that...there was SO much popcorn.

It looked like snow, and this isn't even at the end of the show. This was the end of the first act!

Did I say there was a lot of popcorn?

Cody was sad at how much popcorn was wasted. I don't think I saw him throw one handful...I think he ate a whole bag by himself.

Overall, the show was entertaining, however, it was sort of ruined for me by the people in front of us WHO WOULD NOT SIT DOWN!!! It was so annoying! I couldn't see anything that was happening on the stage while they were standing up.

I threw lots of popcorn at them.

It was a good memory of our lives in Midland though :)

Chevron Backpack

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 01:16:00 +0000

This weekend I decided that it was time I had a new project. I found this tutorial and thought it looked easy enough. I think it turned out pretty good, I am not completely happy with the top drawstring...I thought that it would work out differently.

Usually, I'd just rip it out and re-do it, but it took me forever to sew the band on the top of the bag and so I will just live with it how it is.

Other than that, I am really happy with the way it turned out!

For the outside, I used a chevron print duck cloth fabric from Hobby Lobby, and for the bottom piece and the liner I used a faux leathery fabric.

This was a fun little project! I love bags, and especially backpacks.

I can't wait to take it out somewhere.

Wilton Method of Decorating Cakes: Session ONE

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 15:46:00 +0000

I went to the first session of my cake decorating class this past Monday.

My take on the class was that it was slightly boring/disappointing, although I did learn a lot of information that I didn't know before about how to bake a cake, and the differences between icing consistencies (like if you want to write letters with the icing, you need a softer consistency and if you want to make petals or something like that, you want a firmer consistency).

Towards the middle of class, we learned how to prepare the icing bags and the different tips you can use to make different designs. She also went over how to hold the bag and different hand positions to use when you make different designs.

And at the end of class came the fun part! We got to practice decorating sugar cookies that we were all supposed to bring with us to class.

The different techniques we learned in session 1 were stars and dots. I think that my stars are pretty good (they are not very hard), but my dots could use a little bit of work. It's hard to get them smooth on the top and still look like a dot.

I am looking forward to the second class because we were all given homework to bring a cake with us next time to practice on! We are also supposed to prepare our own icing to use. We are going to practice cutting the cake in to two layers to put a tasty filling in between the layers.

We each got course booklets to review, and there is a recipe for icing in there that we're supposed to use. However, it calls for vegetable shortening (Crisco) and I refuse to use that. Hello, the name of the recipe is Butter cream Icing. Last time I checked, Crisco isn't butter.

So I will be modifying the recipe. It tastes better if you use real butter anyway. For the first class, we used the Wilton brand ready to use icing. I had never used Wilton brand icing before, and I do not like how it tastes.

I asked the instructor if that would be alright to use butter instead, and she said that it would be fine but I may need to add extra sugar to make it the right consistency.

Whatever, more sugar is like my middle name.

Did I Mention...

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 12:58:00 +0000

I got bangs the last time I was in Sherman??? I went in for a trim and decided I wanted a change!

What do you think??

We Made it Two Years!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Tue, 06 Aug 2013 17:48:00 +0000

Cody brought me these flowers today because it's our second wedding anniversary today.

I wish you could record smells because these flowers smell SO GOOD!

I love Cody so much, and I absolutely can not imagine life without him. He brings me so much joy and laughter because of his cute little quirks and funny things he says (and all his made up words), and just his care free attitude and take on life.

And as much as I'd love to go on and on about how these have been the best 2 years of my life and they've been filled with so much joy and love, I have to say that although they have definitely been a really good 2 years, not everything has been all fun and games.

I'd like to take this time to say that marriage is hard.

But if you're willing to put in the effort, I think that God will surely bless you and bring you all the happiness and joy in the world!

So Cody, we have a long way to go, but here's to a great 2 years, and many more to come!

Food/Exercise Diary Continued

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 13:56:00 +0000

Since I posted about my food/exercise diary a couple weeks ago, I've figured out that I want to do something with the data I'm collecting. I want to see what it means and really track it and figure out what it all means.

How do the calories we eat and the calories we burn by exercising really affect us? How do you know if you're burning enough calories to lose weight? Etc.

Being the nerd that I am, I did some research and then set up a ginormous spreadsheet on Google Docs so I can update it every day.

I can even forecast out when I should hit my goal weight by estimating exercise and food that I'll do and eat every day based on the two weeks I've been tracking so far.

I learned from this website the difference between gross vs. net calorie burn. Exercise machines like the elliptical will tell you an average gross amount of calories burned during your workout. The gross calorie burn is the total amount of calories burned during any activity you may do during the day.

But, did you know that you are continually burning calories throughout the whole day? Your body burns calories all the time to digest food and keep your body functioning properly. These calories are called your resting metabolic rate (RMR). There is another formula you can use to determine what your RMR is on the website mentioned above. I entered my info into the formula and figured out that I burn about 1560 calories per day no matter if I exercise or not.

So, if you are tracking your calories in order to lose weight, you need to know the proper way to do it. One pound of fat contains 3500 calories. In order to lose one pound, your body has to lose 3500 calories.

If you are only tracking the gross calories you burn during exercise, you will become frustrated when you aren't losing the weight like you thought you would because you have been overestimating the amount of extra calories you are actually burning off during that exercise.

The correct way to track the amount of calories you are burning (I even confirmed this with Cody and he was so proud of me!) is to follow this formula:

Total Calories In - Total RMR Calories Out - Total Net Calories from Exercise Out

To calculate the total net calories from exercise, I use a heart rate monitor to tell me what my average heart rate is during exercise, and then I use a formula to tell me the gross amount of calories burned.

Then, I subtract the RMR calories burned for that period of time. For example if I exercised for 1 hour, then I would subtract my RMR (1560 calories) divided by 24 hours which is about 65 calories. So if the gross amount of calories I burned during an hour was 700, then I would subtract 65 and the net calories burned would equal 635, and this is the number I record.

Here is a screenshot of my spreadsheet:

If anyone is interested in this spreadsheet, let me know and I'll send a copy! I think that it's really going to help me stay motivated to keep it up and reach my goals!

It's already helped me...yesterday I worked out in the morning, and then when I got home from work, we ate a big supper, and after entering in all my numbers for the day (I apparently ate a lot yesterday) I got my butt off the couch and went to the gym for some cardio. And before looking at my spreadsheet I was NOT motivated to go.

TV Shows

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 18:03:00 +0000

There are some new TV shows out on my list to watch this year that look to be pretty good!

First up is Siberia on NBC:

I've watched the first few episodes of this show and I must say that I find it fascinating. It's like Survivor, but it's in Siberia and there are no rules...no games...just a group of contestants who have to survive in the Siberian forest through the winter.

And the best part is that it's scripted! It's not reality TV, it's all made up. And it's pretty good so far - all these weird things keep happening to the group.

Next up is Under the Dome on CBS:

I've not seen any episodes of this one yet, but I've heard some good things about it. It's about a town that gets a mysterious dome put around it and they can't get out and no one can get in. Apparently, there is some kind of nuclear bomb or something that gets dropped on the country around the dome and everything around them gets destroyed and leaves them in perfect shape...

It has my interests piqued.

Then we have The 100 on the CW:

This one is about a group of people who were living on some kind of space station after a big nuclear holocaust or something like that on Earth...it's been a really long time since anyone's lived on Earth (supposedly) and the people on the space station can't survive much longer so they send a group to Earth to see if it's inhabitable again. The catch is that they send the prisoners they had on the space station, only one of them isn't really a criminal or some business like that.

And then they find that they aren't alone when they get back to Earth....imagine that.

The CW has more new shows, but I think this one looks the best.

And here we have Agents of Shield on ABC:

The Avengers, need I say more?

These are the newer shows that I've been excited about, but of course we have the ones that are returning this fall to look forward to as well!

Revolution, Bones, Nashville, Parenthood, Once Upon a Time, Revenge...these are just a few that I'm excited for!

Chevron Quilt Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 20:32:00 +0000

This weekend was my sister-in-law's bridal shower in Sherman! She told me that she really wanted a hand made quilt, so I decided to make one for her. She told me that she really likes grey and white chevron, so that's what I decided to do. I made the back a dark navy blue. It turned out to be the best quilt I've done to date (this is only my 3rd one).

Here is a mini-how-to for this quilt:

First of all, I used 80 (9" by 9") squares (10 rows of 8). I think the finished quilt was about 76" x 72" (these aren't exact dimensions because I can't remember for sure!

So, on to the how-to:

(1)

First things first! ALWAYS pre-wash your material. Right after I got home from the fabric store, I threw my material into the washing machine. When it's done washing, I throw it in the drier with a fabric softener sheet to make it nice and soft. When the material is dry, iron all the wrinkles out.

Note: make sure you don't wash lights and darks together in case they fade/stain the lighter colors!

(2)

I figured out a much quicker way to cut out the squares this time around. For the first quilt I ever made, I used fat quarters and I cut out all the squares individually. This time, after ironing the fabric, I started folding the material over and over again until I got it down to a nice square. (If you do it this way, be sure to flatten out all the layers so you don't have folds in the middle of one square when you're done.)

Once the material is all folded up, lay a 9" by 9" square piece of tissue paper on the top and pin. Next, use the rotary cutter to trim off the edges. You should be left with a nice pile of uniform squares.

Maybe I'm a moron for not figuring out how to cut squares like this sooner, but I felt like I had a revelation when I finished cutting squares in about 10 minutes instead of 2 hours!

(3)

Once all the squares are cut, stacked one grey square and one white square on top of each other, pin them together, and then draw a straight diagonal line from one corner to the opposite one, creating two triangles. Next, sew two straight lines on each side of the diagonal (see below).

Next, take the rotary cutter and cut on the drawn diagonal. When you unfold the pieces, you should have two squares with a grey triangle on one side and a white triangle on the other (see below).

(4)

Arrange the squares in the pattern you want for the top of the quilt. Sew blocks together to form 10 rows in the pattern you have selected. Sew individual rows first, then combine them.

This is what my rows ended up looking like. Note, every other row will have a slightly different pattern in order to make the chevron. When you sew all the rows together they should look like this:

(5)

Once the top of the quilt is sewn together, lay out the material for the bottom of the quilt and pull tight so there are no bunches in the material. Next roll out the batting, and then lay the top over that.

Carefully start safety pinning the layers together. I start by first pinning the corners and then working my way down the sides and then fill in the middle, but it's really up to you however you find this easiest.

(6)

Once all the pins are in place, roll the edges of the quilt to make it easier to fit into your sewing machine. You can do whatever pattern you like for the quilting, but no matter what pattern you do, you should start somewhere in the middle of the quilt and sew outwards making sure all the layers are flat under the needle so they don't bunch up.

For the stitching on this quilt, I did a little pattern on the grey stripes, and I left the white blank. Here's what I did:

(7)

After you've done all the quilting your little heart desires, cut all the strings where you picked up the needle, and then take a straight edge down the side of the quilt and cut off all the excess batting to make a nice straight edge on all sides of the quilt.

(8)

Cut strips for the binding 2 1/2" thick to go around the perimeter of the quilt. Always cut extra so that you have enough binding to turn the corners.

Once you cut the strips and sew them all together in a continuous string, iron it in half longways and sew it to the quilt! You may need to find a tutorial to teach you how to attach the binding. I don't find it to be that difficult, but the first time you do it can be tricky.

(9)

You are done!! Happy quilting!

Quinoa Burgers

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 17:35:00 +0000

I don't remember if I've shared this recipe on my blog or not...this weekend, I'm going to my sister-in-law's bridal shower and all of the guests are supposed to bring one of our favorite recipes to put in a recipe-book for her. I remember making this recipe and thinking it was just so good, so I put together a cute graphic to print out to bring as my entry.

It's a great recipe!

Recipe found here.

Cake Decorating!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 14:41:00 +0000

I've always wanted to learn how to decorate cookies and cakes, and I finally decided to take a class! Last night I signed up for the Wilton Cake Decorating Course 1 at the local Michael's Craft Store.

Course 1 is split up into 4 sessions, 2 hours each. I bought the student kit that goes with the class last night, and I couldn't wait until I go to the class to open it up! There is a lot of stuff that comes in this kit (see the picture below).

In the first course, I'm supposed to learn a lot of stuff!

- How to bake a great cake for decorating

- How to fill and hold a decorating bag

- Decorating bag pressure control

- Icing consistency

- Dimensional decorating

- Drop flower

- Piping gel pattern transfer

- Rosette

- Shell

- Pompom flower

- Shaggy mum

- Ribbon rose

- Printing and writing on a cake

- Guidelines for elementary cake design

My first class isn't until August 5th and I can't wait!

For the first class, there is a whole list of things that I have to bring with:

- The decorating basics student kit
- 1 can of Wilton ready to use decorating icing
- 6 plain flat cookies
- Apron
- Pen and paper
- Scissors
- Sticky notes
- Damp cloth

Quite a list! I'm excited to show off my home-sewn apron!

I also need to decide if I will try and make my own cookies from scratch or if I will buy a mix. My goal is to try and make healthier treats...so maybe I'll try to make a healthy version of a cookie?

I am so excited!

Food/Exercise Diary

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 17:19:00 +0000

For the past few months, I've been trying to lose 5 - 10 pounds and I haven't been doing so well on my own, so I decided yesterday that I am going to do my best to cut out cheese and bread from my diet since I eat a lot of cheese and I love, love bread (and I'm supposed to be wheat and gluten-free anyway).

I figured that a good tool to help me stay on track is a food/exercise journal.

I don't know about you, but every time I decide to start logging the food that I eat and the exercise I do each day, I always start by trying to log it on my phone.

I have used the lose-it app for the iPhone in the past, and in college it helped me lose about 20 pounds!

Unfortunately, now whenever I try to use it, it only lasts for about a day and then I start forgetting about it. So this time, I thought maybe it will work for me if I use a good old fashioned journal with pen and paper.

My friend went to Paris and brought me back this journal, which is nice and pocket sized so it fits in my purse, so I decided to use it. See below on how I set it up!

For those of you who may be interested, I have also created this graphic to help, you can print it out and create your own journal, or you can just follow the guidelines and set up your own in a journal you may already have!

Here's to hoping that I can follow through...Enjoy!

Pic-monkey Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Mygrant) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 13:45:00 +0000

I was bored this morning so I started playing around with a picture of myself that I took yesterday. I hardly ever wear make-up, and I had zero on yesterday, so I added some lip color and blush on my cheeks! Then I softened up the photo a little bit because I took it from the iPhone and the picture looked a little grainy to me.

I know it might not look very good, but hey, it's fun to play around sometimes, right?