The Shifters Car Show Corona, California 2012

We hit the road yesterday to The Shifters 20th Anniversary Car Show in Corona, California.

Nice ride up there.  I had the Ford Flex packed full of kids.  But I also had AIR CONDITIONING.  Fair enough trade off.

It took about 2 hours to get up there.  We met Marty and Nicole near Oceanside. 

Here are The Spares parked together.  From left to right:  Marty, Jimmy, Kooter & Aaron.  

It got up to about 90 degrees and there didn't seem to be enough shade to keep me cool.  Nice venue, mellow crowd, decent bands and some really nice cars.  I got to see an old car of mine.  1955 Buick Special.  I sold her in 1996 to a guy that completely changed and fixed her up.  She is covered in flames now.  

The End.

Things I make for our shop~Kooter & Flo's

You might know this already or not, I make stuff.  I really like it too.  I have some cool Virgin of Guadalupe pillows that I made right here!

Here's the link to the listing:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/85331720/virgin-of-guadalupe-handmade-custom

I make them with blue or brown bandanna backs but can always do custom colors, permitting they make that color in bandannas :)

My love of vintage sewing patterns has taken on a life of its own.  I keep trying to find new things to do with them.  I figured that I love coffee just about as much.  Why not combine the two?

(the picture won't turn the right way...)

Vintage sewing patterns that I scanned, cut, moved, dropped and dragged into coffee mug inserts.  I have four available

1940's

1950's

1960's

and the Virgin of Guadalupe!

I had an idea for an all men's pattern one but everyone thought it was weird and creepy.  What do you think?

What else would you like to see when YOU are drinking coffee????

Thanks for the time and have a super awesome weekend!

~Brin

my neighbor is rad

Got these two rad pictures from my neighbor today.  This is my driveway at home.  The car on the left is my man's 1929 Ford Model A Roadster and the other one is my 1964 Dodge Dart GT.  Don't forget the neighbor's dog, Sparky.  Life is good.

Here's a pic of the Dart by herself...

Thanks Johnny Knight!

the power of social media - fingers crossed xx

Not only did we do our first paid advertising this month - Sometimessweet.com but we also used a SEO marketing consultant to increase our views and visits to our page.  I bought a .com address so that instead of telling people, "oh, our website is etsy dot com, forward slash shop, forward slash...." now I can say, "It's kooternadflos.com" which directs you right to our shop front on Etsy.

I printed out all of our numbers (views, visits, etc.) on March 1st at 9am to be able to compare the numbers at the end of the month.  I can't wait to see what happens.

Sales are steady and the same as last month for today.  I am hoping that traffic and sales increase due to the push in exposure.  Let's see what happens!

But in the meantime, I would highly recommend Sarah Beattie's services.  She has a website, Facebook, blog, etc. and offers a variety of services for Etsy shop owners and more!  Look her up.  She even wrote a book on how Etsy's search engines work and how to use their formulas to get higher ranking and more views.  She's rad!

http://sarahsmarketing.com

http://sarahsmarketing.blogspot.com

www.DaEtsyCode.com

In the meantime, have an AWESOME weekend and see you all next week!

a free update brought to you by Brin

I haven't felt like there has been anything noteworthy happening lately hence my lack of posting.  Not much going on in the whole weight loss department.  Well, one thing; another pair of pants fit.  I do not own a scale which makes it difficult to determine actual pounds lost or gained.  So I rely on the fit (or lack thereof) of my clothes.

As I told y'all before, I was down to two pairs of pants that still fit; one navy blue, one black.  Well add another pair of black to that list.

I have been really sticking to my food plan and this past weekend I went bowling on Saturday and painted the front of the house on Sunday.  What a difference a non-pukey color makes.

Before:

After:

On another note, going to advertise the Etsy store for the first time starting March 1st.  I love this blog called SometimesSweet.com and she has advertising space.  I can't wait to see what kind of traffic it brings in.

Hope everyone is healthy and happy and doing well.

it's been a bit

so i haven't posted in a lil' while and i thought i owed y'all an update.  I have just put in my second order with Herbalife which means I have been at this for about a month now.

Truth be told, I cheat.  I have been REALLY trying to be good and i gotta tell ya, when I am, i can tell a difference.  my problem is dinner.  i cook for three kids and one hungry man.  i try to find something that, if i take away most of the carbs, i can eat with them.

last night we had chicken quesadillas, beans and rice.  i skipped the rice and had some beans (about 1/2 cup) and 3/4 cup of chicken i did in the ol' crock pot.  i also put about an ounce of cheese on top of the chicken and had about 10 tortilla chips, which i used as a utensil to eat the chicken and beans.  i went online to log my dinner last night.  everything was going great, i was at the right amount of calories, until i added the damn chips.  now, granted, they weren't 10000 calories or anything but they did take my over my goal caloric intake.  lesson learned.  but DAMN those chips from Pancho Villa's are AMAZING!  especially with chicken and beans.

haven't weighed myself in days so i don't know what's up with that but clothes are not as tight and i feel good.

i have decided that weighing yourself is lame.  there are too many factors involved with getting an "accurate" number.  weigh yourself at the same time of day....take into account how much you think you clothes weigh (really?!?!  who has ever weighed a shirt and pair of pants?!?!?!?)...plus if i was working out or doing anything exercise related guess what?  muscle weighs more.  so that would throw it all off.

i think it's about how your clothes fit.  mine are still tight and lame.  so i am trying harder and working at it better.  my nutrition coach told me that she had a client that broke an ankle and was couch-bound.  the client, who didn't exercise, stayed on the strict food plan and lost weight.  shit, if she can do it laying down, i should be able to also!

that's all for today.  have a lovely week.

Eight glasses of water per day. Minimum

So my goal is to drink eight glasses of water a day.  Not 8 bottles of water, 8 cups of water; that's only four bottles of water.  So far, so good.  The only side effect is that I am peeing all the time.  Soo, I figured I needed my own stall in the bathroom.  I am there the most.  Here is what I envision when I think about it!

Granted it's not permanent...yet.  But in my mind, it is engraved in there. Queen of the Throne!

Thank goodness that's over...

Back at work and feeling really good about the new year.  

I realized a couple things.  I eat better when i am working.  i drink more water and stay on my schedule of eating better when i am at work.  vacation makes me eat shit, crap, junk at all hours of the day.  i have no schedule, no clock, etc.  

So I can handle the weekends.  I just can't do a whole week and two weekends and stay focused and strong about eating right and enough.  I want to do projects, and clean and Etsy and all.  But I have learned that I will eat the closest thing to me when I wait too long and am hungry.  I need easy, high protein snacks ready to go at all times!  

Given that fact, I have found my new snack and I am loving it.  Cooked chicken.  Yeah, that's all.  I used the crock pot over vacation and am hooked.  

Easy Speasy Chicken 

throw frozen chicken breasts into crock pot

one or two cans of cream of chicken soup mixed with water to make creamy

dump on top of chicken.  use water to fill the pot enough to cover the breasts (haha, i said breasts :)

turn on high for five or six hours.  

drain sauce.

shread or cube chicken

put into tupperware in frig.

VIOLA!  Instant protein snack ready when you are!  No more searching the cabinets or frig.  Add to cottage cheese with pepper on top or Tapatio.  OY VEY!  It's good.

skip the granola

not really seeing the results and i know that i am the only one to blame.  I have been cheating.  We went to my folks last night for Hannukah and i ate beef brisket with gravy, latkes with applesauce and sour cream, greenbeans in butter, carrots and sweet potatoes with sugar and a rum and ginger beer.  oh! and the piece of cheesecake....anyway, it's my fault.

so instead of beating myself up I am just getting back on track.  today, i skipped the granola on the greek yogurt and just sprinkled some cinnamon.  going to have a shake for lunch instead of my usual steak and lettuce salad, cause i just want to eat it all.

Up the water intake, decrease the food intake.  rinse and repeat. 

carry on...

the weekend: eat, drink, barf, drink more water.

well the weekend mornings were great!  stayed on the shake and supplements, no problem.  even kept up the water intake on saturday.


then we went to a thanksgiving re-do holiday party on saturday night.  i ate a bunch of different stuff (honey baked ham, green bean casserole, desserts, booze, dips, etc).  i brought some artichoke-diced chile dip with reduced fat wheat thins.  the dip was made with fat-free cream cheese and fat free mayo, so not horrible.


i drank a lot of moonshine too.  how do you even find a calorie intake for homemade hooch?  anyway...then at about 4am, i woke up and barfed, brushed my teeth, went right back to bed.


how do i figure that in to the intake?
did i barf up half of what i ate and drank?  a quarter?
so i didn't track saturday after about 4pm.  no use.


back on track today and figuring out what to eat for lunch :)

Day Two (Officially)

So far so good.  Yesterday I stayed on task, took my supplements, stayed within my calorie/protein/fat/carb intake.  Drinking 8 cups of water a day and not feeling hungy at all.  I am supposed to be drinking protein shakes for breakfast and lunch but yesterday I just had to have real, dead food.  So I split my lunch salad from Tender Greens into lunch and dinner.  

Had to make the kids and man a different dinner but it was cool with me eating my salad.  It's all based on my attitude.  I don't make a big deal out of it and so it's not a big deal. We all still sit at the table and have dinner together, which is the most important part for sure.

I must thank Crystal Light, for without it, I would NOT be able to drink this much water.  Sorry plain water, nothing against you, you just get pretty fucking boring after the first bottle.  Thanks to my friend, Crystal Light, you can taste like Fruit Punch, Orange, Pomegranate Cherry or Green Tea, therefore making you consumable in much larger quantities.  

Just need to figure out what to make for dinner tonight so that I can stay on task and my family can eat like normal.  I am guessing a baked chicken, veggies and some kind of starch that I will not be eating :)

Already blew my calorie count and it wasn't even mid-afternoon...

I guess my mistake was two-fold today.

One:  I used two scoops of protein powder in my juice this morning instead of one.  Breakfast was about 600 calories - bad.
Two  I ate the whole salad from Tender Greens, which I should have split up into two and eaten the rest for dinner.  Lunch was about 700 calories.

But I think that my biggest issue is my coffee creamer.  I use ALOT of it and it has a LOT of calories.  Sugar-free creamer-here I come!

All in all, I can't complain about the day though. Stayed on track with water consumption, so that's a plus.

And all of my Herbalife stuff (protein powder, supplements, vitamins, etc.) came in the mail today.  So, actually, tomorrow is my first OFFICIAL day therefore today doesn't count.

Day One Food

So I think the biggest thing that I am learning is that I wasn't eating ENOUGH.  That's right people.  I was only eating three times a day along with a couple cookies and three thousand cups of espresso with creamer.  So I should be eating five times a day and eating smaller portions.  And more WATER.  Much more water.

Today I had a protein shake for breakfast at about 7am
Greek Vanilla Yogurt with a handful of granola at 10am
Mixed greens, feta, strawberry, walnut and chicken salad at 12pm
And now I am snacking on exactly 24 raw almonds.  Not 25, 24, get it straight.

In the meantime, I have only had two cups (really 16oz cups) of coffee/espresso today instead of my usual five or six.  Strangely I feel less jittery, SHOCKING!  And I have substituted the coffee for water.  Three bottles (16.9 oz) of water to be exact.  Plus one cup green tea, which I have been told to drink by my new nutritionist.

All I got to say is what is for dinner?  Wishing it was buscuits and gravy but we know that ain't what's happenin' at my house....probably the rest of my salad from lunch.

I gotta say it's weird to say that.  I usually would eat the whole salad.  But now I have broken it down into two meals and I think that's just dandy, thank you.

Thank you to everyone's support...it helps to tell people what you are doing so that you keep to it.  Being accountable.

Cheers for now!

<3 Brin

I am overweight and I am doing something about it.

I have never been a small girl, ever.  I was 5'10" by the time I was in tenth grade and towered over just about every boy in school.  My usual weight is about 155-160 at its best.  I now weigh 170 pounds and do not fit into most of my clothes.

Excuses I could give you as to why I have gained weight:

1.  I had shoulder surgery in September and I have been less active

2.  I used to go rollerskating for a couple hours at least one night a week.  Now I spend that night at a friend's house eating massive amounts of food.

3.  I don't make time to exercise.

4.  I like eating, a lot.

5.  I am 39 and my metabolism has slowed down.

The truth of the matter is that I am lazy AND like to eat.  

I don't like myself naked anymore.  I don't like the way clothes look on me.  I can't take it anymore.

Today I am starting to take control of this situation.  I am on a path to better eating, smarter eating and looking better.  And whether you like it or not, I am sharing my path to getting my body back!  

I called my friend Krissy Krash, from the LA Derby Dolls last week.  She is a trainer and she has her own business called Active Nutrition, working with a company called Herbalife.  She has taken this career and her love and passion for roller derby and started a program for skaters called Derbalife.  She is changing lives and bodies all over the place.  

www.ichange.com/user/krissykrash - register for free and learn how to reach your goals through good nutrition! http://hotterinyourhotpants.wordpress.com/ Got questions about fitness, nutrition, derbalife, life? Ask me here!http://formspring.me/KrissyKrash ✖ ☠✖ www.twitter.com/Krissy_Krash ✖ ☠ ✖ www.shopherbalife.com/krissykrash ✖ ☠ ✖

She is going to help me.  So here we go....

As of last night here are my measurements:

Bust 42"

Waist 32"

Hips 43"

Arms 12"

Thighs 25"

I am not sure how this is going to work but I will be chronicling my journey to a better, hotter body.  

better at blogging...

here's today's confession...i wish i was better at blogging.  the actual act of doing it...actually sitting down and typing words that may interest someone.

SO, although this whole thing was supposed to be about helping promote my store on Etsy and networking and making connections, I am shifting gears.

Recycled Thank You Notes

Each and every order I sent out for Etsy has a handwritten "thank you" note.  I think it's classy and I would appreciate it.  I had two orders to send out today and realized that I was out of note cards BUT I had a bunch of cool envelopes without notecards.  So I decided to recycle the envelopes and make them into Thank You cards.  I think they turned out pretty good.

Have a rad day!

New patterns are up! Check them out!

Just got a TON of new PATTERNS

I am crazy about patterns.  I just bought another huge group of them and I can't wait to start sifting through them.

call me crazy but i can't wait to get started!  there are patterns from the 50's, 60's and newer with some cool Western styles as well. Stay tuned for new listings!  have a super rad day 'cause i am!

I just got a rad batch of vintage patterns in the mail!!  OMG!!  I am out of my mind!  Lots of pieces to count and match up but that's the fun part!  I especially like it when I find out that they are UNCUT and unused.  I wonder if there is a term for people that like paper goods.  I would be that person.  

I am fascinated by any old paper pieces.  I found the original final inspection record for my house from 1958.  I love to see the handwriting and see that it survived.  Paper is so fragile and yet, 53 years later there it is.  A record of a time long past.  It's very cool.

ANYWAY, back to my scoring.  

Here's an overall shot but I have some favorites already!

And this little number is so cute with the matching skirt!

So give me a few days to sort through it all!  Have a great weekend!

New Patterns Going Up today

So I scored some patterns over the weekend and have finally sorted through them, matching and counting pieces. The cool thing is some of them are completely unfolded and uncut. Somehow, someone bought these almost 50 years ago. They never even opened them much less make them. I like that. So now, whomever buys it will be the first one to use it even though it's 50-60 years old.

So, all you people who are not following me, here's some pics of what I got coming up!

A super cute pant suit from the 40's!