Wall Art: Bathroom Wall Decal

When deciding what to do with the wall space in our bathroom I knew I wanted something fun, yet quaint. I also wanted it to have a thin profile (that way no one would be bumping into it) due to the narrow walk-way between the wall and the vanity. The perfect solution... a wall decal (fun, quaint, and zero hazard of bumping into)!

Before:

   

After:

 

Close Up:

How It's Done:

1. Clean the surface (I just wiped the wall down a few times with a damp paper towel.)
2. Scrape the decal with the plastic card (If yours doesn't come with one you can use a credit card). 
3. Use a tape measure and level to position your decal where you want it. (You can use a pencil to lightly mark points of alignment or tape if you don't want to mark your walls.)
4. Tape the top of the decal to the wall (preferably with vertical strips).
5. Fold the decal up 180 degrees and slowly peel the backing off.
6. After making sure it's still positioned correctly, fold the decal back down.
7. Using your hands, press the decal against the wall working from the center to the outer edge. (Note: You can also use the plastic card here again).
8. Starting from the top remove the front sheet in a slow downward motion. If some of the decal doesn't stick to the wall, press it back down and apply more pressure.
9. Stand back and admire your new wall art!

Tip:
I ordered my decal online from Belvedere Designs Wall Quotes. And thanks to my friends over at Young House Love, you can get 15% off by entering the code YHL15 at checkout! Or become a fan on Facebook to get exclusive discounts and updates!

Side Note:

I actually did this decal in our bathroom before the one in our kitchen. I'm also trying to think about where I can put my next one. What can I say, I just can't get enough of them... they're fun, easy and they don't break-the-bank!

Your Feedback:
Do you have wall space in your home you just can't decide what to do with?

Garden: A Perk of Parsley

If you have parsley growing in your garden you might want to take a closer look... you may have some little visitors!

Image via Wikipedia

Can you see what Angelia has spotted?

 

 

Those are caterpillars that will turn into one of my favorite butterflies... swallowtail butterflies!

Image Via Wikipedia

Tip:
If you want to attract swallowtail butterflies to your garden all you need to do is grow host plants (caterpillar food). Growing host plants will attract swallowtail butterflies to your garden for laying their eggs. There are several plants additional to parsley that these caterpillars will munch on, such as, bronze fennel, Queen Anne's Lace and Rue.

...Just sprinkle some seeds of each of these plants and you'll have a swallowtail host plant garden!


Your Feedback:
Do you have any of these host plants growing in your garden?
If so, have you noticed any swallowtail caterpillars?

     

Time for a Get Away: California

In January 2008 (just after we found out we were pregnant with Angelia), Travis and I went on a vacation to San Diego, California. Our main reason for choosing California as our destination was to visit his brother, Jared. And there's nothing like getting a break from the cold Kansas winters to visit some place warm!

How we saved $$$:

• Booked our flights, hotel and rental car with Price Line.
• Spent a few nights at Jared's apartment. (Try to visit places where you have friends or family.)
• Bought groceries and prepared some of our meals instead of eating out the entire trip.

How to make the most of your trip:

• Plan ahead. (Ask those accompanying you for their input.)
• Research the local attractions. 
• Make necessary reservations prior your departure.

Key Note: the more you plan, research and prepare before your trip... the more FUN and RELAXING your trip will be!

       

      

  

What we did to enjoy our time in Southern CA:

• Hiking
• Surfing
• Rode beach cruisers and roller blades on the board walk
• Spent time on the beach
• San Diego Zoo
• Sea World
• Toured a public garden
• Tried new restaurants with fresh sea food!
• etc.

       

       

          

       

             

      

        

Your Feedback:

Where is your favorite vacation spot?

How do you save money when you travel?
How do you make the most of your 'get away'?


Imagines courtesy of State of California and Visit California.

Wall Art: Kitchen Wall Decal

Over the past few weeks I've been contemplating on what to do with the space above our kitchen window.

Here's the wall space calling me for some attention...

My Thoughts: some kind of curtain?, a small shelf?, 3-5 small plates on plate-hooks? (hmmmmm...)

My Conclusion: a WALL DECAL! ...And I immediately knew what I was going to say!

Since I have a love for all things Italian, I thought this phrase would be perfecto for my kitchen!


Buon Appetito!  (Italian)

English translation: Enjoy your meal!

Before:

After:

Close Up:

How It's Done:

1. Clean the surface (I just wiped the wall down a few times with a damp paper towel.)
2. Scrape the decal with a plastic card. 
3. Use a tape measure and level to position your decal where you want it. (You can use a pencil to lightly mark points of alignment or tape if you don't want to mark your walls.)
4. Tape the top of the decal to the wall (preferably with vertical strips).
5. Fold the decal up 180 degrees and slowly peel the backing off.
6. After making sure it's still positioned correctly, fold the decal back down.
7. Using your hands, press the decal against the wall working from the center to the outer edge. (You can also use the plastic card again).
8. Starting from the top remove the front sheet in a slow downward motion. If some of the decal doesn't stick to the wall, press it back down and apply more pressure.
9. Stand back and admire your new wall art!

Tip:
I ordered my decal online from Words Anywhere. Their site is easy to use and you can custom design your decal by choosing your our phrase, color, size and font! And since I was working in such a defined space, it was great being able to measure and select specific dimensions.


Your Feedback:

Have you put up any wall decals in your home? If so, please share the details!
When it comes to wall decals, do you favor words or images?

The Cool Girls: Do They Look Alike?

Angelia and Chiara... my two biggest blessings! At 19 months apart in age, I am so excited for them to grow up together as sisters and share that special lifetime bond! I never had a sister, but I was blessed with a big brother, Grant, and we are only 18 months apart in age!

Chiara: July 8, 2010... 10 weeks old!

          

Angelia: December 23, 2008... 10 weeks old!

                                      

Your Feedback:

So, what do you think... do they look alike?

Do you share a special bond with a sibling?

Your Health: How I Got Started

A brief background on my initial interest in over-all health:

Since my early teens I have been interested in living a healthy lifestyle. My high school days consisted of running track and cross country, going to modeling school, and spending A LOT of time outdoors on our 80-acre ranch. In addition, whenever I got the chance I would research information about nutrition. Not only did I watch what I put in my body, but also what I put on my body. This interest stemmed from being introduce to Arbonne at my modeling school. You wouldn't believe how many chemicals we put on ourselves from hygiene products and cosmetics. I have also always had a passion for being active and enjoying nature!

                                               

After going to college I "loosened up" quite a bit on the way I ate. This was due to a number of reasons, such as, not having a kitchen I could use in my dorm or sorority, convenience, and social aspects. Though I did still watched what I ate to a degree (especially for a college student) and stayed very active.

What I did to stay active while in college:

• Worked-out at recreation complex almost daily (cardio, weights, classes).
• Went to the natatorium to swim laps early in the morning.
• Joined the university's running, cycling & sailing / windsurfing club.
• Participated in road races, adventure races, and duathlons. 
• Went hiking and running on the Konza Prairie.

                            

And then there was a boy...

When I met my husband in college he was practically surviving on frozen pizza, candy and soda. It drove him crazy that I didn't eat desserts. Lets just say he began to eat more healthy (especially since I would cook for him) and he introduced me to my sweet tooth (especially when it came to chocolate)... but I guess we sort of balanced each other out. 

We're playing in a whole new ball field now...

After we got married, Travis no longer had to entice me to eat desserts, although I would have to encourage him to eat some of the more healthy foods here and there. That has all changed though due to his recent diagnosis. He is now on an all fresh, organic, sugar-free, gluten-free, meat-free (with the exception of fish), dairy-free (with the exception of cottage cheese mixed with flaxseed oil), distilled water only diet... along with taking many supplements.

Eat well. Get outdoors. Be active. Love, Laugh, Live!


Your feedback:
What health topics are you interested in learning more about?
Do you watch what you put in or on your body?
What is your favorite exercise / outdoor activity?

Travis Update: 2nd, 3rd, 4th... Opinions

Given current treatment options for brain cancer (or any type of cancer at that) you basically have 3 choices: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Since radiation and chemotherapy are both toxic (http://www.peopleagainstcancer.net/facts.asp), we are considering surgery, doing a lot of research, taking the natural approach and most importantly PRAYING for healing and guidance!

Here's a good analogy:

"Imagine that you own a house that is absolutely perfect and beautiful with all the necessities, except that it has some rodents inside. When you call the exterminators, they tell you that they won't be able to target just the rodents, as these rodents are of an especially stealthy breed. They tell you they're just going to set off a series of explosions in your house that may kill the rodents. They warn you, "Oh yeah, it may destroy some of your house in the process, but, hey, you want those rodents out of your house, right?" There's probably no way you would allow that; instead, you would do some research and find other, more specific and less generally destructive ways of getting rid of the rodents."

(Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/012727_chemotherapy_cancer_treatments.html)

Recent Events:
June 14:  Receive call from MD Anderson saying they would do surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible.

June 18:  Meet with the neuro-oncologist from St. Luke's, Dr. Salacz, for the second time. This appointment was a lot more encouraging then the first. Waiting to get more pathology information before deciding a method of action. Recommended an approach of not 'playing your cards too soon' when dealing with a slow growing tumor, which we agreed with.

June 22:  Received the biopsy report back fom Mayo Clinic, which just confirmed what we already knew... Oligodendroglioma, grade II, no 1P 19Q chromosome deletions.
June 28:  Received call from Duke saying they would do surgery and their surgeon thinks they can do a complete recession! Although in reality a 'complete' recession when dealing with the brain is nearly impossible. It would be more accurate for them to say they think they can remove 'most' or 'the majority' of the tumor. None the less, this was great news!

June 29:  Phone interview with neuro-surgeon in San Fransisco, Dr. Berger. He said he thought he could remove 90 - 95% of the tumor and recommended surgery within 1 -2 months. He also told us that given its location (right side, below the motor stripe) side-effects would be temporary weakness of his left arm and leg, possibility of one week of physical therapy, worst case scenario 85% of movement returned within 2 months and 100% returned within 6 months.

June 30:  Call from neuro-oncologist at St. Luke's, Dr. Salacz, after reviewing biopsy slides with their pathologist. He said if he had to put a decimal on his 'grade II' tumor, he would call it a '1.75'. This was great news since that tells us its probably even slower growing! He also said that the tumor probably started 10 - 15 years ago, which means Travis has probably had this tumor since he was 10 - 15 years old! It makes you wonder what started it in the first place. He also noted that he didn't think surgery would be worth the risk unless his surgeons thought they could remove at least 90% of the tumor.

What's next:
July 6:  Dr. Salacz will be presenting Travis' case with the 'tumor board' for the second time to discuss surgery. We will then meet with him at 10am to hear their opinion.

Thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray!!!

Travis Update: First Oncologist

On June 4 we meet with a neuro oncologist (at St. Lukes). A lot of his focus was discussing different seizure medicines which I wasn't too pleased about... I want to focus on getting rid of this tumor not covering up it's symptoms! He then pulled up the MRI image and told us that he thought the entire section that the two surgeons had told us was swelling was actually part of the tumor! How can they not recognize the difference between swelling and a tumor?! I sure hope he's wrong! Also, in my last post I mentioned that we never received a call regarding information from additional tests... well, the oncologist had those results and informed us that there was no 1p 19q chromosome deletion, which in English means the tumor may not response as well to chemo. So, as you can imagine by the time we left the appointment I was feeling pretty discouraged.

{It was not a good day for me... and it didn't help realizing first thing that morning that my car had been broken into in our own drive-way the night before... My front passenger side window was broken and my purse was stolen!}

As some time has pasted I am feeling more positive now... remembering the power of our awesome God and reading about cures from natural sources!

We are meeting with more oncologist during these next few weeks.

Please continue to pray! Pray for guidance to the right oncologist and the right treatments, and for HEALING!

Travis Update: Please Pray for God's Healing

My hubby, best friend and love of my life needs your prayers!!!

Last August (2009) Travis started having partial seizures in his left arm. The first one actually happened at church while we were listening to a sermon. My first thought was that it was a muscle spasm since it happened the day after he dug the window-well, but when they kept occurring (around 5 times a month) we started to think that maybe it was epilepsy. So we decided Travis should see a neurologist but that we would wait until after the first of the year for insurance reasons (We were going to meet our deductible the next year with the birth of Chiara).

In March he finally got in to see a neurologist whom ordered an MRI and EEG, although he didn't have the test done until May 10 (after Chiara was born, thinking it would be better insurance and payment wise). A few hours after the test were done we got a call from the doctor telling us they found something (Travis took the call, all I know is that the words abnormality and tumor were used) and that they wanted us to schedule an appointment with a neurosurgeon... Travis had a brain tumor! Definitely not what we wanted or expected to hear!

So, the next day (May 11th) we meet with a neurosurgeon (at Shawnee Mission Medical Center), he informed us that the tumor was located on the right side of his brain just below the motor strip (not somewhere you want to operate on) and that it was about the side of a grape (thus likely slow growing since his seizures began in August). He then recommended we have a brain biopsy done soon rather then 'wait and watch' given that there was swelling in his brain around the tumor.

After visiting with another local neurosurgeon (at North Kansas City Hospital) we decided to go with the first one we met with to perform the biopsy. The day of the biopsy (May 19) we arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am, after the doctor performed the biopsy he informed us that everything went well and Travis was able to go home the next day (our anniversary, May 20) by noon (Thank you, Lord! And thank you everyone who was praying!). Later that day we got a call from the surgeon telling us the tumor is an Oligodendroglioma. After googling 'oligodendroglioma' we were discouraged, frightened, sad and scared (going to the internet was not a good idea).

At this point we had a follow-up appointment scheduled with the surgeon for June 1 and were expecting a call with more results from additional testing (which never came). So, we filled those next 12 days researching natural / holistic treatments (Travis is now doing the Cellect-Budwig Protocol), shopping at Whole Foods, ordering products online (masticating juicer, essiac tea, MonaVie, apricot seeds), trying to sort things out with Travis' work, enjoying the outdoors / getting sunlight and exercise (running, taking walks and sailing) and most importantly PRAYING!

When we went back to meet with the surgeon he was very positive, which made me feel much better. He told us that Oligodendrogliomas were one of the more favorable types of tumors to have, that it was stage II (which is low-grade), and that it tends to be very responsive to radiation and chemo. Why didn't it tell me any of this on the internet? Hopefully we continue to hear encouraging news!

We are now scheduling appointments with local oncologist and researching oncologist around the country.

My favorite picture of us: Dance lessons just before our rehearsal dinner the evening before our wedding!

Please pray for Travis! The power of prayer is amazing! Pray for healing and guidance!

Chiara Anna Belle

We are excited to announce the arrival of Cool baby girl #2! Born Monday, April 26 @ 9:22 pm, weighing 7 lbs. 3 oz. with the length of 20 inches... The same weight and length as her sister, Angelia, when she was born!

Our first family picture...

Birth Story:

I was 6 days past my due date and 1 day from being induced when I went into labor... It was around 4:30 pm when I started having regular contractions and in less than 5 hours I was holding our precious baby girl!... I was dilated 5 cm. when we arrived at the hospital near 7:00 pm and in less than 2 1/2 hours she was born!