I updated my “about me” page with my “before & after” pictures in case you want to see what I looked like when I was a tad…chunky.

Moving on.

Over the weekend I tried to get crafty. I am not crafty. At all. My parents are both extremely creative and talented in the crafty department. Case in point, I saw a cool shadow box on Etsy that you put all your wine bottle corks in. It was about $400 though so I sent a picture of it to my parents and they cranked it out in a few days. And because they are creative and crafty, my mom added a cool vintage looking map to the background because she knows we like to travel. See, creative.

We love it! Granted, it will take us approximately 300 years to fill it, ha! Those are all our corks we have in the bottom there. I think we have about a dozen.

Anyway, I really wanted to make this bracelet I found online because I love it but it’s $30! And remember, I’m kind of a cheapskate so I thought I would try to make it myself.

Isn’t it cute?
So I worked up the ambition to go to the craft store. I am lost in craft stores. There were men in that store that really knew their way around because I could hear them telling their wives they “found it!”. All I could think was I really can’t imagine taking my husband into Hobby Lobby!
Once I found the bead section it took me about 45 minutes to find most of the supplies I would need for this project. Seriously, I was sweating in that aisle for a long time! Once I picked out everything I needed I calculated the cost and it was just as much as buying the dang bracelet! So I put everything back and went on my way. The next stop was IKEA which honestly didn’t go much better. After that I decided I wasn’t going to run any more errands until after Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, here is a very Thanksgiving-y recipe that will satisfy that craving for pumpkin pie any time of year!
I thought I invented this concoction until I googled it and found about 15 versions of this recipe. I guess I’m not that original. Oh well, I ate this every day last week and I’m already looking forward to my 3pm snack knowing this is what I’m having!
Here’s the worst picture I’ve ever posted. Behold the magic bullet cup sitting on my desk…

Pumpkin Pie Protein Shake
1 cup ice
1 cup (or so) unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or soy, hemp, coconut etc)
1/4 cup (or so) pureed pumpkin
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I switched to Sun Warrior because it’s cheaper than Vega. See above re: cheapskate)
1 tablespoon flax oil (optional)
1/4 teaspoon (or so) pumpkin pie spice (if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice mix together equal parts cinnamon, cloves, all spice, ginger and cloves)

Combine all ingredients in magic bullet and blend!

I used more than 1/4 cup of pumpkin once and really regretted it so use caution when eating straight pumpkin!

Have an excellent Thanksgiving week!