Stripped Down to the Bone Tour 2012

April 9th 2012 = One of the GREATEST nights of my life.

It started out like any other day. I woke up, showered, picked out the perfect outfit and we were on our way. My boyfriend Hunter, and I were on our way to see our most favorite band ever, Hawthorne Heights. They were playing a rare acoustic show just a few hours away in Cape Girardeau, MO. It was extra exciting for me for a couple of reasons. Number one I’d never been to MO and we got to drive over the Mississippi River which is huge by the way. Number two I was toting around a super special crocheted plushie of JT Woodruff (lead singer of HH) and I absolutely could not wait to give it to him. I had worked so hard on it trying to get it to look just like him.

When we got there we were surprised to see a huge line down the block waiting for the doors to open, luckily we had gotten our tickets in advance. Since we bought our tickets online we got to be at the front of the line. Upon entering the building we both had to show ID and I got my hand X’d. It will probably be the last time I ever have my hands X’d at a concert since I’ll be 21 in June. I also had to pay a $3 fee for being under 21. I thought that was pretty sucky. :/

The club was pretty cool, other than the whole $3 minor fee. The name of it was Pitter’s. They had a food truck vendor parked on the street that they kept promoting. I thought it was a little strange because the truck didn’t open for business until 10 pm. The food looked really good but I was too excited to eat. I’d seen Hawthorne Heights 4 times before but this time was gonna be super special because I had the plushie to give to JT. I originally planned on making the whole band but business on my Etsy shop had picked up and I didn’t have enough time to make everyone. It was okay though because JT was the only one I saw after the show.

First some local guy played, he seemed really nervous and had to chug 2 beers just to get through his set. I don’t remember his name but I didn’t really care for him. Plus he sang about the 7/11 convenience store in almost every song he had. Then Sandlot Heroes came on and they were AWESOME. I even bought their CD after the show and had them sign it. After them Mark Rose came on. I didn’t really know anything about him but when he came on stage he explained that he used to be in Spittlefield. He was pretty good but his music was really mellow compared to Sandlot Heroes so the crowd wasn’t really feeling it. Everyone was talking through his set and I felt really bad. I danced around and took lots of pictures of him to try to make him feel better. After him it was time for Hawthorne Heights. By the time they came on basically everyone in the crowd was wasted and falling all over each other; It was actually really embarrassing. JT opened up with a quote about life. It was pretty deep. He said something about how you shouldn’t spend your life worrying about stuff. I tried to remember it because it ties in great with my life right now. I even repeated it about 100 times in my head. I was going to text it to myself but I didn’t want the people behind me to look over my shoulder and say, “Look at that girl she’s such a freak she’s writing down every word he says…I bet she has a crochet plushie of him in her purse.” haha. We were at the front, right by Matt. Matt was playing a keyboard and he was super skinny compared to the last time I saw him. Micah was on the other side of the stage playing a super pretty sparkly blue guitar. JT of course was front and center with his guitar. Eron wasn’t there though. I’m not really sure why he wasn’t there and I forgot to ask JT when I met him. They also had another guy named Mark playing with them and it was his birthday. Some drunk girls from the crowd yelled some slurred obscenities at him. Even Corndog, their merch guy got on stage and played guitar with them for one song. They sounded really good. The acoustic was super cool, but I felt like I was missing something. I just wanted them to play a hard song so we could all dance and jump around. They promised next time they come back they’d play a regular show. My favorite was when they played “Gravestones.” I was actually surprised that it ended up being my favorite because Skeletons isn’t really my favorite record by them.

After their set we asked that Mark guy if we could have the set list and he said yeah. Then I asked him for a guitar pick and he gave me one of those too and we headed for the merch table. We sat at a table and waited for the line to die down. It practically killed me to wait, especially when JT was standing right there meeting people. Finally, it was our turn. I was so scared and it suddenly dawned on me…what if he thinks I’m a creeper for even making this? I almost didn’t give it to him but Hunter told me it would be fine. I gave it to him and he LOVED it. He immediately showed Corndog and I took a picture of him with it. Then he gave me a hug. It wasn’t like one of those normal fan hugs like with one arm while cheesin’ it for the camera. It was an honest to goodness hug. It was great. Then I got a picture with him and he signed Hunter’s set list. When we asked him to sign the set list he said “You got that set list huhhh” and it was kinda funny how he sounded haha. And then we left. We totally forgot to sign up for the license plate guitar giveaway and I was so mad that I forgot. But it was okay, I still had a great time.

Later that week Hawthorne Heights posted this photo on their Twitter. It’s so cool to think that something I made is going on the rest of the tour with them. Who knows where my little plushie will end up. It’s like a little piece of me is riding around in their van.

 

Healthy Brownies!?!?!?!

So if you’re like me, you LOVE chocolate brownies. And it seems like you love chocolate brownies even more when you’re trying not to eat them. Well do I have news for you! With this new recipe I am about to unveil, you can have your brownie guilt free!

You will need:

-1/2 cup flour (I used all purpose, but if you’re a real health nut you could try whole wheat flour.)

-4.5 Tablespoons of cocoa powder

-1/2 cup of white sugar (If you’re diabetic you can try splenda. If you’re not diabetic but you want to cut even more calories, do 1/4 cup of white sugar and 1/4 cup of splenda. That way your body will get some real sugar and relieve cravings while still cutting calories.)

-1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

-1/2 cup Applesauce (The applesauce is replacing the oil here, so you will not need to add butter or oil to the recipe. It also adds fiber and vitamins. If you do not have applesauce you can use one large mashed banana or 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin.)

-2 eggs

-A pinch of cinnamon( Cinnamon is great to help boost your metabolism. I added a bit more than a pinch, but I also love the taste of cinnamon.)

Directions:

1. Get all the ingredients in one bowl. It should look a little something like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Mix the ingredients all together really well until it looks like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Grease your baking dish to make sure the brownies don’t stick. I used olive oil because it is packed with healthy fats and omega 3′s. It is a great alternative to vegetable oil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Bake your brownies at 350 until you can stick a knife in them and it comes out clean.

5. Time for a taste test! the finished product is not going to be quite as fluffy as a traditional brownie but I assure you, they will satisfy that sweet tooth. My brother and dad didn’t really like them but my mom, and my boyfriend said they were very good. My grandma compared them to those Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies. You can add sprinkles to the top if you like. I dusted mine with powdered sugar.

Nutrition Facts Breakdown:

Calories: 87 per brownie (If you cut 10 brownies from the above recipe)

Sugar: 11.5 grams (If you use entirely white sugar, no Splenda)

Carbs: 18.3 grams

Protein: 1.8 grams

Fat: 1.3 grams

I also tried making cupcakes with a similar recipe. I used a banana for the cupcakes instead of applesauce and I added an extra egg and some baking soda. I liked the cupcakes more than the brownies, but they were both very good. My dad and brother even liked the cupcakes. My dad had 3 before I told him they were diet. XD Here’s how they turned out:

 

 

I Suck at Coming up with Titles

I started this blog with a picture that I will be keeping in mind this weekend, especially tomorrow (Sunday). Every Sunday my family goes to my Grandma’s house for lunch. She usually makes some sort of healthy-ish main dish and then we have desert. She usually makes apple pie or apple crisp. We’ve been eating apple deserts every Sunday since September. You’d think she would have run out of apples by now. haha. It’s hard to turn down desert up there though. Number one she dishes up a serving big enough to feed a family and has it ready for you as soon as you enter the house. Number two, everyone looks as me like I have anorexia when I try to say I’m not eating desert because I’m trying to get healthy. Which brings me to my next point: to be successful on a fitness journey you must surround yourself with supportive people. My family supports me in everything I do, except my fitness journey. This weekend I took some time with my mom and showed her my inspiration board on Pinterest. I told her about my goals and what I’d like to accomplish. I think I really got through to her. Now as for my grandma, she thinks I’m perfect the way I am. She always says I don’t need to lose weight, and I love her for that. But, I’m not trying to lose weight. I’m trying to get fit. There’s a big difference in the two. But in other news, in order to avoid eating desert up there I’ve devised a master plan. I am baking my own homemade low cal healthy brownies. I am baking them tonight so I will post another blog later this week with the ingredients and the results.

And of course I have a new crochet project. I am doing my first project with fabric yarn. Fabric yarn is made from any kind of fabric you have laying around, sheets, tee shirts, whatever. I took some of my moms old sheets (they had already been ripped and were headed for the trash) and I made a small, brown,  circular rug. I thought it was sort of plain so I decided to turn it into a sunflower rug by adding yellow petals to it. Well, I could not find yellow fabric to save my life. So I decided to use orange and make it a brown eyed susan instead of a sunflower. Brown eyed susan’s have small oval shaped petals, and lots of them. And the brown eye part was pretty large so I had a bit of a tough time starting the petals. I’ve posted a photo to show the base of what I’ve made so far. I plan to go around one more time with single crochet to make the petals a little more sturdy, but I’m not sure if this looks like a flower or not. Try to imagine the petals as if they were a little thicker. Please let me know what you think, I value your opinions.

Please excuse my messy floor. It's my bedroom floor and it's paint stained from all my arts and crafts projects.

My Life, as of Today

Okay, so in my last blog I mentioned that my New Year’s resolution was to get in shape. Well, so far I’ve not been as successful as I originally planned. I did really good at first. I even lost about 5-8  pounds. (I’m not sure because I don’t weigh myself often and my scale is really old and inaccurate.) But, then the Super Bowl came along. In my family the Super Bowl is a holiday. It’s just like thanksgiving but instead of eating turkey dinner you cram yourself full of as much junk food as you can possibly take in. I don’t even really like football but every Super Bowl Sunday I sit in front of the TV and gorge myself on junk food.

Almost everyone in my family is overweight.  It’s no surprise though because we eat terribly. For example,  Doritoes are a staple in our house. When I was 5 I remember eating an entire bag of Doritoes by myself.  We probably eat take out at least 2 or 3 times a week. When I moved off to college I actually lost weight, while most college student gain. But, I’m back home now (for a million different reasons that I’m not going to get into right now. I’ll save that for another blog haha) and I’m going to make a change starting now. I thought that by sharing my plan with you all, it would help inspire me to keep going.

On all my other “diets” I’ve counted calories and it’s worked for me, but it sucks. I’ve also tried counting fat grams but that sucks even more. This time I’m not going to count anything. I’m simply going to eat when I’m hungry and not eat when I’m not hungry. I’m also going to eat the right kinds of calories and fats. No more Doritoes for me. In fact I’m almost disgusted at the thought of them.  I’m going to incorporate more fresh fruits, veggies, and whole grains. I’ve heard that it takes 30 days to change your habits so hopefully I can keep this up for 30 days and change my life style.

My exercise plan is also going to change. I get so bored with doing the same workout DVD over and over. So I’m going to start doing my own workouts. Here’s what I did today:

1 min jump rope

1 min jumping jacks

1 min running in place

Then I used my staircase for this next step. I was listening to my ipod and walking up and down the bottom step. When the song changed I ran all the way up to the top step 5 times. Then I continued walking up and down the bottom step. When the next song changed I ran up to the top step 4 times. I kept doing that until I got down to only running up 3 times. I wanted to make it until only 1 time, but I felt like I was going to have a heart attack so I had to stop. lol.

Then I walked back and forth across my living room floor for the length of 1 song, then when the song changed I starting jogging back and forth, then when it switched I walked. I did this a few times and then I did some strength exercises.

I did:

50 squats

30 walking lunges

20 jump squats

30 side lunges

50 bridges

(repeat 3 times)

When I got done with all that I tried to make a smoothie with some of my brother’s protein shake mix but it was awful. I don’t recommend that stuff. lol

Tomorrow I’m going to do all the same cardio, but instead of doing the strength training I’m going to do some yoga stretches. I’m going to alternate strength and yoga.

Tomorrow is also going to be a challenge for me because it’s my brother’s birthday and my mom is making ice cream cake. We’re also going out to eat. I will not give in though. I am going to eat healthy, no matter what.

Oh, and if I can keep this up for a whole 30 days I’m going to reward myself by getting a new awesome phone case for my iPhone. I’ve been wanting a new one for a while.

Here’s some pictures that I saw on Pinterest. They inspire me to keep going.

Easy Beanie Pattern :)

 

To make this beanie you will need to know how to double crochet in the shape of a circle. That’s all it’s mega easy!

*Use a size k hook and medium weight yarn.

Round 1: Chain 3, Double Crochet 6 times into the 3rd (last) chain from hook. Join to form a circle with a slip stitch.

Round 2: Chain 2, Double Crochet twice into each stitch and join with a Slip Stitch at the end.

Round 3: Chain 2, Double Crochet into the same spot you just joined into, then Double Crochet once into the next stitch. Double Crochet twice into the next stitch, and once into the one after that. Continue this two, one pattern. Join with a slip stitch at the end of the round.

Round 4: Chain 2, Double Crochet into the same spot you just joined into, then Double Crochet once into the next two stitches. Continue this two, one, one pattern. Join with a slip stitch at the end of the round.

Round 5: Chain 2, Double Crochet into the same spot you just joined into, then Double Crochet once into the next 3 stitches. Continue with this two, one, one, one pattern. Join with a slip stitch at the end of the round.

Round 6: Chain 2, Double Crochet into the same spot you just joined into, then Double Crochet once into the next 4 stitches. Continue with this two, one, one, one, one pattern. Join with a slip stitch at the end of the round.

Round 7: Chain 2, Double Crochet into the same spot you just joined into, then Double Crochet once into the next 5 stitches. Continue this two, one, one, one, one, one pattern. Join with a slip stitch at the end of the round. At this point you should sit the hat on top of your head and decide if it is wide enough for you. (or for whoever you’re making it for) It shouldn’t be wider than your head because it will still expand slightly in the next steps. If it is not wide enough repeat the pattern we’ve been working on but Double Crochet twice into one stitch, then once into the next 6 stitches.

Round 8: Once the hat is wide enough for your we will begin making it taller. Chain 2, Double Crochet once into each stitch all the way around. Join with a slip stitch. Repeat this row until the hat is tall enough and fits you well. To make the hat slouchy simply add more rows. For the hat pictured above I did 20 total rounds.

**To ensure a snug fit switch to a size J hook for the last 2 rows and Double Crochet once into each stitch. To finish of chain one, cut yarn, make another chain and pull the yarn all the way through the chain. That should form a small knot. Now just weave your til piece into the previous stitches.

Labor Day Extravaganza Sale!!!

On my etsy shop ( www.doodlebumpkin.etsy.com ) I am having a buy 2 get one of equal value  absolutely free. Plus I am still running a 10% sale when you use the coupon code DOODLESALE10. Don’t forget to check it out and take advantage of the deals while they last! The offer ends Monday at 11:59 pm.

Top Ten Beanie Hats for Hat loving Nerds- Part I (via Mom’s Basement)

Check out this blog about beanies that I was featured in!

I told you I was a freak for any beanie. Well, I've been holding it back but the monster wants out. The monsters that live on my head, or yours if you'll let them. Here they are in all of their glory and with all of my beanie loving heart. Which one is your favorite? Check back next week for Part II. Number 10: Showing the Mushroom Kingdom some Respect! Do you relate more to the 1UP shroom, or the DOOM shroom? We also can't forget Mario's best fr … Read More

via Mom's Basement

Munchkin Hat!

Hey everyone! I just had to share this awesome pattern I found for a baby hat. The hat is called a Munchkin Hat. It’s like a cute little elf hat. It would make a great photo prop for a new baby! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this pattern. It’s super easy to follow and has very detailed instructions. What I like the most is that the pattern is worked in colored stripes, but you never have to cut your yarn! You have to check this out. Here is the link: http://neannersshop.blogspot.com/2011/03/crochet-munchkin-hat-pattern.html

If you have any probs you can ask me or just comment of Neanner’s blog. She is the pattern writer after all. I have to give her major props for this pattern. The hat is available for sale now on my etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/79832914/munchkin-hat-newborn-6-months-baby-boy

This hat even inspired me to make some matching baby booties. The pattern for them is my own and I will be posting it very soon. The booties are also available in my shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/79831620/baby-boy-booties-newborn-12-months-blue

This is my first go at making baby stuff and I love it! The baby items are so small and cute, and I can make them in one sitting. I love the Munchkin hat set so much that I made up an extra one and sent it to my friend who is about to have a baby boy.

I hope everyone enjoys this post! Happy crocheting!

Just me!

Greetings bloggers! Since this is my first blog I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Olivia, I’m 20 and here are 20 fun tid bits about me:

1. I’m a Christian.

2 .I’m very opinionated.

3. I love my boyfriend.

4. I love my family.

5. I love music.

6. My favorite song right now is “You Lie” by The Band Perry.

7. I love to crochet.

8. I have my own online shop where I sell handmade crochet. ( www.doodlebumpkin.etsy.com )

9. I love doing makeup and hair. (I’m about to start school to become a cosmetologist.)

10. Even though I love makeup and hair, I’m not a girly girl. I love fishing and camping and playing with my 3 dogs.

11. I just bought a new convertible.  (It’s new to me. ;])

12. I live in TN with my boyfriend, but I’m from NY.

13. I have a stuffed monkey named Nanners, he’s pretty awesome.

14. I like to make lists.

15. I’m really tall (5’9) and I hate it, but I’m learning to cope.

16. I’m a natural blonde but my hair is currently dyed red.  (It’s been almost every color of the rainbow.)

17. I like to keep up to date on current events.

18. I have a tendency to be super hyper.

19. I’m an anti-bullying advocate.

20. I’m writing this blog because I love to talk and I have lots of interesting stuff to tell y’all about!

Now that you know a little bit about me, I’ll tell you what I plan to blog about. I will be sharing some free crochet patterns equipped with pictures to make following along super easy. I will also be spotlighting some hair/makeup tips. And of course I will be sharing my strong opinions about whats going on in the world, and asking for y’all to share yours too. I hope I can meet some super awesome people on here. Feel free to comment and introduce yourselves!