It's not about what you COULD do tomorrow. It's about what you actually DID today..

I am so clever... Figured out that one all by myself...
It's been so hard to get motivated to work out. Keep telling myself tomorrow I'll do it... Tomorrow I'll make a change.. But this morning I woke up and I thought to myself.. It's now or never. You can't live your life in the future dreaming of what could be. I want to be happy right now. So I got up and removed a pile of clothing from my ab lounge.. I don't know what's more embarrassing.. That I have an AB Lounge? Or that I've used it as clothing storage for the past year? Anyways I did 50 sit ups and then I did my feet exercises (they are soooo boring... but my poor feet are feeling better after I do them so I think they work). I showered, got dressed and went to work. Work wasn't completely horrible today so it actually went by pretty fast. I leave at 4pm now which makes a HUGE difference for me. Now I get home at 4:30 instead of 6pm which I did when I left at 5. And I hate sitting in traffic!


When I came home I stared at my bike which has been sitting on a trainer in our living room for the past couple of weeks. I swear it's laughing at me everytime I walk by... But today I actually changed into my bike clothes and started biking. I felt great! And by great I mean sweating like a pig and being out of breath... I only rode for 30 minutes but it's a good start. I also lifted some weights for my arms (got to keep up the momentum!) and then stretched out a bit. Overall I feel like I actually did something positive today instead of just complaining.

I just had a nice sallad for dinner and I feel very motivated to jump into my studio to get working on some stuff! YAY! I think I can actually do this! No more fat TESS!

TODAY'S WEIGHT: 61kg
WORKOUT: YES
PORTION CONTROL : YES

ps I'll upload photos tomorrow morning (forgot my camera at work..). But I promise I'll spare you from seeing me in my tight padded bike shorts.. Yuck!

Tadaaa My New Kiln!!!!!

Wait a minute...Something is missing.... WTF! Where is my window??? I can't believe I have waited so patiently for my new little friend to arrive only to discover it has the wrong door on it... Boooooo!! I am really bummed out. I've written artfulcrafter to let them know and I am just waiting to hear back from them... Their Customer Service had been less than satisfactory and I won't be shopping with them again...

STEP 1 Etsymetal Charm Swap 4

I am participating in the Etsymetal Charm 4 and I was having the hardest time deciding what to do. I finally landed on an enameled charm. I just bought a Paragon SC2 kiln (which should be arriving any day now) so I started preparing my little copper discs.

I have to make 22 charms and they have to be done by the end of august (I think). So I used my new stamp with my pretty logo from Infinity stamps. I love how detailed it is and I am very happy with that purchase.

After stamping all 22 charms on the back I drilled the hole for the jump ring. Since I will be enameling the pieces I needed to do that now... cause ofter wise I would have 22 useless charms after firing them :o)

After drilling all the holes I added some texture to the back and domed them. And all that is left now is the fun part! I think I am going to do a clear enamel on the back (which will be the side you see here) and then I want to play with some different colors on the front. I kind of want to do a bunch of different colors cause I just got some new ones in and I have been dying to play with them.


One thing I've been playing with is fusing glassbeads to the surface of the enamel and this photo is of some label pins that was a custom request. So I think I might try that with some of the charms. I have to say I am really nervous about this swap. There are some seriously talented members of Etsymetal that is participating and I really hope that they will like my charms when they are done! Heck, I hope I will really like the charms when they are done!!!