Reflection::: Top 10 Lessons of My 37 Years

So Predictable: had a birthday = life reflection time.

Yesterday was my birthday so I, of course, was doing some reflection on the last 37 years. I don't plan on repeating that number aloud much over the next year. 

 I now understand why people say "I'm 30-something". yep. totally get it.

My Top 10 lessons learned (not in order, necessarily) in my 37 years:

1. Embrace the power of coffee.

2. Don't lie. Yes, easy as that. Just don't.

(side note on this one, if you don't know this already:

If you LIE to me, I will find out. I will call you out. I will hold you accountable.)

3. Be thankful.

4. Sugar is yummy but very dangerous.

5. Comfort is overrated.

6. Have boundaries with your relationships. 
Boundaries, fences with gates.
 Not brick walls.

7. My relationship with Jesus is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than what anyone thinks about me, any other relationship and/or myself. 

Don't be ashamed of your relationship with Jesus.

8. Keep your finger off the trigger, but know where it's at and how to use it.

9. Don't procrastinate. Stay organized.

    

10. Choose Joy.

So Long, Farewell...Diet Soda

~Cue the violins~

 

I did it. I gave up diet soda.  This Diet Coke (or Diet Pepsi, not ashamed that I wouldn't discriminate) loving gal put the diet soda down for good.  I wasn't addicted by any means. We don't, as a rule, keep soda in the house but when we'd go out or have friends over I'd certainly partake in a diet soda.  I relied heavily on diet soda to partner with my vodka on a regular basis.

For years I've read articles and been brow beaten by my loving father-in-law about how bad artificial sweetener is for me. 

Example: Women being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis were actually being poisoned by artificial sweetener= YIKES! They stopped "using" and all symptoms were gone!

 

My logic was: I'm terrified of becoming diabetic and regular soda and sugars are full carbs (my husband and I follow have low carb lifestyle) but at least then I can have soda.

Have you seen the calories, sugar and carbs in regular soda??? DISGUSTING!

 

So. I finally listened...I'm not happy about it, but I did it. This also includes giving up Splenda, which I was using pretty regularly.  I used Splenda in baking and my daily cup o'coffee. 

Good bye, Splenda.

 

I had ridic headaches for the first 6 days, perhaps just from the sadness of losing my friends Diet Coke and Splenda- but perhaps I was experiencing some kind of withdrawal.  The headaches are gone and I feel like my weight loss has had a jump start...related???

Maybe. Maybe not.

 

Another sad note the Sweet Iced Tea I've been dreaming about all winter will not be making an appearance on my deck this summer, as the one I love without carbs, OF COURSE,

uses aspartame [sad face].

 

Iced Water and Coffee for me.

Great.

...well, and dirty martinis- seriously people, I have to live!

 

 

Just the facts so you can check out for yourself:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/artificial-sweeteners/MY00073

 

No worries- you do what you want, I will not judge- just thought I'd share the temporary sadness, but I'm feeling much better about having real sugar, IN MODERATION, versus some mystery chemical to sweeten my world.

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

Grandmothers- a little therapy for CP~

A brief CP~  grandmother history

The most important women in my life were my Grandmothers.  I had three, (divorce makes family math complicated) my Gram Millie (my mother's mom), my Grammy Alice (my bio-dad's mom) and my Grandma June (my step-dad's mom). I was very close to my Gram and Grammy.  All three of my grandmothers died within nine months of each other. I was clearly devastated. I think of myself as someone who has her act together most of the time, but those few months wrecked me.  I still worked, I took care of things at home, I certainly didn't starve myself (clearly), I still laughed, smiled and enjoyed life but I would cry at the drop of a hat. Note: I REALLY don't like crying in front of people, I think it shows weakness...meh, I've got issues.
*this is a good example of when Choosing Joy is really important, although I might be missing my grandmothers I Choose to remember the good, I let myself feel what I'm feeling but don't let myself linger in self pity. It does no good. My grandmothers were trying to teach me that...I wish I would have understood it sooner, but am thankful that I get it now!

Grandma June

My Grandma June died first, in September of 2009.  I was not close to her as I got older but when I was a kiddo I spent a fair amount of time with her and Grandpa Frank. I was a BIG Grandpa Frank fan, I loved hanging out at the Cincotta Greenhouses with him. He was gruff, hard working but he also had a wonderful smile and a very sweet side that he showed me since the moment I became one of his family.  Grandpa Frank would tell me to go get his pipe out of the drawer and Grandma June would say "no you will not"...and I was torn but I always got it because Grandpa Frank was louder.  Grandma June and I were never tight but she was always kind to me and I have fond memories of her.  I would go with her and her mother to the beauty salon- that's right, old school/smelling like perm chemicals/little old ladies gossiping beauty salon.  Grandma June made the best peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, she made really great food in general, but those sandwiches are attached to memories of having lunch with Grandpa Frank so it's all I can really remember. My cousin Chris and I would have sleepovers at Grandma June's house and it allowed the two of us to have a special cousin bond, I'm grateful for that relationship and the others that I have with my Cincotta cousins.  Grandma June always made sure Nate had a full plate and was very kind to him, I appreciated that, very much.  My "step" dad, Bob, would do anything for his mother. His sun rose and set in her, it was very sweet (maybe not always healthy, but what do I know).  When she died I was very sad for the entire Cincotta family. My heart broke for them.

The family that Frank and June Cincotta built

Gram Millie

Gram Millie died in February of 2010.  She was my best friend for, easily, the first 8 years of my life; definitely the first 4 she was my world. Gram Millie and Grandpa Mike were my favorite people (in my Minnesota world). I was at their house every-ish weekend and THRILLED to be there. I loved every minute of it. They made me feel special and loved and safe. And I needed that. Gram would sing-song all day long, really silly old songs about nothing and she breathed joy. Gram was never a good cook but everything was made with love and she could buy Double Stuf Oreos with the best of 'em.  I have so much to say about this woman that she's getting her own post as I have something that needs to be said that wasn't at her memorial service and I'm still pissed about it. I miss her, my heart still aches. She's in heaven and that's awesome, but I guess I'm a bit selfish and still need her.

Nate, Gram and I

Grammy Alice

My Grammy was the last of my grandmothers to go to go Heaven; she died in June of 2010 . She was my everything when I was growing up and would go for visitation to see my dad (the original one, Alan) in Wisconsin.  She could be a little, um, ornery on occasion and she could spin a tale like no one else I've ever known.  I'm still finding out a few "exaggerations" were not completely the truth but that was just her way...I guess I know where I get the "embellish a story" gene from.   Grammy was a hard worker, a bit complicated but most importantly a Jesus Follower. I didn't know what all of that meant, but I do now and I am honored to be her granddaughter and I miss her EVERY.DAY. I have a LOT to say about Grammy as well so maybe she deserves her own post as well...and no, I don't feel silly as a 36 year old still calling her Grammy.

 my sister Ashley, Grammy and I

So What?

I guess I just needed a little therapy.  I wanted some of my peeps (that's y'all) to know a little about these three women and how they each, in their way, made me who I am today. I am blessed to have known all of these women and that they all had something to do with raising me.  Grandparents are so very important so if you are lucky enough to still have your grandparents on this planet PLEASE find time to love on them.  They have important things to say, take time to listen.  One day they are gone and you want to call and ask them a question, but you can't...I know, I've picked up the phone.

Love and God's Peace,
CP~

Moving Mountains!

 

LET HER SLEEP

FOR WHEN SHE WAKES, SHE'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS

 

Here is a little crafty project that I did for my

Cuzzie (cousin) Danielle's baby

Riley McKenzie.

 

I found the saying on Pinterest, of course. 

 

Needed:

11x14 canvas

letter stickers for the words

paint & paint brushes

a ruler (if you are fancy, I just winged it- clearly)

Paint pens

 

Please note: I'm in this place in my life where I want to make things for people, I think it's a nice personal touch. 

 (Also note, I learned the hard way not everyone appreciates this- but Cuzzie Danielle did)

Anyway, that same place in my life is also where I'm finally letting go of always wanting things to turn out PERFECT.  It's not going to happen.  I am not perfect (shocking, I know).

 I will still try my DANGDEST (that's gotta be a word) to make whatever craft/art/food/etc. nice and personalized but I already have WAY too many gray (grey?) hairs to freak out that each letter is perfectly straight...blah, blah, blah- this makes me want an adult beverage just thinking about it and why I did not use my ruler.

 

How To:

(prepare yourself- this is super simple)

 

Adhere the sticker letters to the canvas

 

 

 

 

The rest of the letters I used a variety pack of sticker lettering

 

 

Then I chose my paint colors and began painting.  BE CAREFUL around the letters.  I tried CRAZY HARD not to let any paint seep under the stickers and thought I had succeeded...not so much. 



 

 

 

 

 After the paint dried I carefully peeled off the stickers.  In order to correct the places where the paint did seep I took a white paint pen (LOVE PAINT PENS! MORE ON THOSE LATER) and was able to clean up the lines nicely.

 

 

 

 

This is the sweet, sweet baby girl that will be moving those mountains-

stay tuned for that...give her a few years, she's brand new.

Riley McKenzie

 

I'm Not a Material Girl

When I was ten years old my Grammy brought me to an antique store.  She wanted to get me something special to last me years, that I would get use out of and find joy in. We found a beautiful 60 year old, at the time, vanity and bench.  Sadly, I don't think I have any pictures of it.  After I loved on it until my 31st year it was time to say goodbye.  We just couldn't fix it anymore...the poor thing was always losing it's legs and the last two years it was sitting on blocks of 2x4s. We put the vanity out of it's misery. 

Now, I know we shouldn't get attached to "things" and I'm usually really good about that- but that vanity was extra special, a wonderful gift from my Grammy.

Living the last 4ish years without a proper place to do my make-up and hair just hasn't been the same, so I started the hunt for a new vanity.  8 months later I found one on Craig's List!

I documented the process of refinishing it:

 

BEFORE

 

The day I bought it

(nothing special, right?)

 

 

Wrong!! Look at the inside of it- LOVE the pink velvet.
 I cleaned this up the best I could.

Rough sanded it

 

Top

(Bianca's all about the photo bomb)

 

"Dry" painting

(don't saturate the paint brush, just get the bristles barely wet) 

 

Top 

(and I did add a thin coat of Poly on it to protect it...from me, I'm a spiller)

 

I should have taken a pic of the hotttt mess I was using to hold my make up and jewelry but I was too excited to get it out of the bedroom;
I did take a pic of how I was storing my girlie goodies post antique vanity.

__________________________________________________________________
 

AFTER

 

And here is is done and set up!
Nate was able to save the mirror from the antique vanity. 
He took the giant & heavy wood frame off it and secured the mirror to our wall.

 

 

Inside!

(sorry about those cords on the ground...gotta plug in curling irons and such)

 

Ahh...girlie goodness is BACK! A place to put "stuff" and a place that is just "mine".  For an only child I think I share pretty well, but there are some things a girl should just get to keep to herself and have a pretty way to keep them.

 

I'm excited to start the next project which is a gem of a chair to go with this "new" vanity.  I found the chair at Goodwill, yes Goodwill, for only $6.99. 

 I will refinish it as well and recover the seat in a fun pattern.

 

 

 

 

 



Fashion. Marchesa. Best.

I do not pretend to understand the world of Fashion.  I do understand that there is a difference between Fashion and Clothing.

Thank you Project Runway for teaching me that- because REALLY no one in their right mind would wear 98% of the creations that appear on that show. 

I must share my FAVE designer of ALL TIME:

Marchesa - those ladies are BRILLIANT!

Yes, Chanel, thank you for the best pink suit of all time.

  (Jackie Kennedy rocked the $hit out of this suit!)

And yes, Burberry, a tiny whole would be in my heart if I did not have your

 brilliant plaid print embedded on it.

                           But Marchesa (Mar-kay-sa) takes the cake. Every time. The designs are feminine, classic, yet forward thinking, and simply beautiful.

 'Nuff said.

Watch this: http://www.marchesa.com/

Here's a sample of a Marchesa gown

Check out the shoes and boots too. Gorgeous!

What Read You?

Here's the scoop on The Phillips' current reading- July 2012

Nate is reading the following

 Summer reading is not a top priority for Nate- there are fish to be caught!

Therefore, IF it rains, Nate can be found reading one of these:

 

________________________________________________________________________

Christina is reading the following

Firefly Book Club

Monday Night Christian Women's Book Club

Just because I am loving this author and I need to know what happens!  This is the second book in a trilogy.  The author, Karen Kingsbury, as numerous series based on the Baxter family.  Great plots, wonderful consistency, easy read. 

 http://www.karenkingsbury.com/?url=home

My favorite place to read is on our deck.

Iced tea in hand and feet up!

(Minnesota is having ridic hotttt weather right now,

so the couch- fully reclined of course- is working fine too)

HAPPY READING!!!

Tell us what's off your book shelf and in your hand right now!