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I am going to start this post off by apologizing for the lack of pictures on this blog. I couldn't take them while working out but I can definitely give you a review of this workout! 


By far this is a daunting task of a workout! Just looking at it makes you break a sweat, and makes others feel like it's just about impossible! Well let me tell you that it isn't impossible, but it is by far the hardest workout I have ever done. If you are looking to get into shape then this is definitely a workout that you will want to incorporate into your weekly workout! After the first set I was sweating and breathing heavy...of course I'm not in the best shape of my life...but even people who are in tip top shape should be breathing heavy by the third set! 


I did this workout by taking 30 second breaks in between the jumping jacks, crunches, wall sit, leg lifts and push ups and then I took a 1 minute break in between the sets. Instead of doing an 11 minute run I did an 11 minute walk around my neighborhood which was one lap for me so it worked out well! Like the bottom line says, you will feel invincible after completing this workout! 

 
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So I realized the other day that 1. I haven't blogged in about 18 million years! So to anyone who is reading this blog regularly I am very sorry! and 2. I have yet to do a recipe blog post! But that changes today, because I am bringing to you all the Banana Pudding Cake. I was inspired to look up this recipe on Pintrest when my boyfriend's brother and sister started talking about banana pudding and how they haven't had it in forever so I wanted to be able to make something for the next time we're all together to take them back to their childhood! :) 
As always the link to the original pin is attached to the picture.
HOW TO MAKE BANANA PUDDING CAKE

What You'll Need:
1 box Yellow Cake Mix
2 boxes Banana instant pudding
1 tub of Whipped cream
About 20 vanilla wafers
1 banana ( if you want to garnish, which I did not)


This cake is by far one of the easiest cakes that I have ever made. I have heard a lot of people in the past talk about how they are afraid to do poke hole cakes with pudding because they don't think anything will absorb into the cake like it does with Jello poke hole cakes, well let me tell you that you do not have to worry about this cake! It does exactly as promised leaving just a small layer on top that actually look intentional! 


STEP 1: BAKE THE CAKE

This step is pretty self-explanatory you will just follow the instructions on the box and bake it into a 9x13 pan.

STEP 2: POKE HOLES IN THE CAKE
Shortly after the cake comes out of the oven you will take the end of a wooden spoon and poke holes in the cake, make sure that you poke several holes throughout the entire cake. 

STEP 3: MAKE THE PUDDING
Again all that is going on is you will follow the instructions on the back of the pudding box. I made both boxes at one time while others may want to do one box at a time if they want less pudding to go into the cake.


STEP 4: POUR THE PUDDING ON THE CAKE
The next step is also pretty self-explanatory, you're just going to do exactly what it says to do, pour the pudding on the cake! 


STEP 5: TOP WITH WHIPPED CREAM AND COOKIES AND REFRIGERATE
I mean come on, how easy is this cake?!

The best and final step of this cake is to eat it and enjoy! Let it take you back to the summer days as a child eating banana pudding. My taste tester Steven happened to love this cake! 
 
Have you tried this cake? Do you have your own version of the poke hole cake that you want to share? Let me know!
 
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This week's posts are going to be a little bit out of order so bear with me! For our sewing tutorial of the week we are making a tote! You can never have enough totes and this one is GINORMOUS! So it is perfect for the beach/pool! (Hint: to go with this awesome sauce tote check out the pool pocket towel aka my first post!)

This website had very good instructions for making this bag and I think that our bag turned out great! However, we DID make some changes so if you would like to learn how to make an AWESOME tote that is big but has longer straps than the one in the picture on the left then keep reading! :)



HOW TO MAKE AN AWESOME BIG TOTE

What you will need: 

2 pieces of fabric 24" x 21.5" or 1 piece 48" x 21.5" (to be folded over) for the bag
2 pieces of fabric 47" x 3.25" for the straps

2 pieced of Pre-Cut interfacing 1.5" wide

My mom and I decided to cut 1 big piece of fabric and fold it over instead of worrying about pinning and having 3 edges to line up! :) 
Once you have lined up your edges (Right sides facing each other, basically the bag will be inside out once you have sewn the edges)  sew either the two sides of the big piece or the two sides and whichever side you want to be your bottom piece.
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The next step was a little bit confusing when I first read it, but basically what you are doing is, with the bag still turned inside out, going to the bottom corners and measuring out triangles in each corner, we measured 5" wide and 2" deep into the bag. What you are going to do is mark wherever you want the triangle to stop and then sew a straight stitch across. We decided to double stitch this for sturdiness because you are essentially making the bottom of the bag. We pinned the pins down the opposite direction of how the original pin has them done so that we were able to sew right over them with the sewing machine. We also pinned down the extra fabric from the seem as you can see in the picture so that the extra fabric is flat on each side instead of all to one side. 

Once you have sewn both sides of the bottom of the bag you are almost done with the body! YAAYY!! :) 

It's now time to move onto the straps! This original post did not mention whether or not they used interfacing so I am assuming that they did not, well...we did. To make the straps, cut a piece of fabric the length that you would want them, and width of 3.25 inches. 

Fold over about 1/8 of an inch onto the interfacing on each side and iron until there is a crease so that your raw edges will be hidden. 

Once you have a crease on each side, fold the strap, with interface inside, in half so that none of the interfacing is showing and iron to have a finished look. (Hint: If you can have an extra hand to push the iron along for you it makes the process a lot easier!) You will still have one open side to your strap so you will need to pin and go over to the sewing machine and close up the strap with a doubled straight stitch. Once you have done that your straps are complete! 


                         **Below is a gallery of step by step how to do the straps**
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                                                Only two steps left!!! 

The next step to this bag is to create a finished edge at the top of the bag. All you have to do for this is fold down the raw edge at the top of the bag, pin it down where you want it, and sew!


Once you have created a finished edge for the top of your bag you are ready to complete the FINAL STEP!! :) Attaching the straps is the last step, to attach them, measure out how far down you want the bag to hit you by holding the bag up to you with the straps. Once you have got your bag at a comfortable length pin them to the inside of the bag and sew them on, my mom decided to sew all the way around the strap so that it was like a square for added support. 


When you have sewn on your straps you have finished your bag! Turn it right side in and check it out! You're ready to go to the pool!

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Let me hear them! :) Don't forget! If you have a Pin that you want me to try out or have one that you've tried and want me and everyone else to know about it check out the "Suggested Pinsperiments" and "Pinsperiments From You" pages!
 
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We have all seen the workouts on Pintrest and
 wondered how effective is this
ACTUALLY going to be? The first workout that I
 thought actually looked like it
may be challenging was the "300 Abs Workout"
 promising to give you the abs of
the men in 300. Now ladies, I know that while those
abs look nice it's
not our ideal body image which is why this post is
dedicated to the men of
Pintrest! The video below is demonstrating how the
moves are to be done and the
effectiveness of the workout!
Enjoy!

 
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Hello ladies and gents! I don't know about you but I LOVE Arnold Palmers! I think that they
are one of the most refreshing drinks you can have on a summer day with a mix of
sweet tea and lemonade. For my first drink recipe I wanted to find something
that is refreshing for summertime and something that I have never tried before!
:)  As always, to see the original pin click on the picture. The sad part about this pin is that when you go to the link there are no reviews on how it tastes, it just shows the recipe and it's up to you to determine whether or not to test it out. Well that is a problem no more! I'm always here to help out so if you love Arnold Palmers as much as I do and you want to know how this drink tastes keep on reading!
 
How To make Fat Tuesday Iced Tea

The recipe of the original pin gives the measurements for just one drink, but I never drink alone! So I adjusted the recipe to serve about 10 people. To start off you will need the following items; sweet tea, lemonade, and any type of Citrus vodka, I used Pinnacle Citrus; as shown below.
The steps are probably the easiest of all drinks I've ever made! All you do is combine the three ingredients! I decided to layer the drinks as follows: sweet tea, then vodka, then lemonade. Because I'm Italian I guesstimated on the measurements until the combination tasted good; however if you are a stickler on measurements the easiest thing to do is multiply the original measurements by 10 (ORIGINAL RECIPE CALLED FOR: 2 oz. Citrus Vodka, 1 oz. Lemonade, and 3 oz. Sweet Tea) I also added ice to the pitcher to get the Fat Tuesday Iced Tea cold as quickly as possible for taste testing!
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AND THE VERDICT IS IN!!
If you are a fan of Arnold Palmers, Sweet Tea, or Lemonade then you will LOVE this drink! It is the perfect summertime refreshment on those hot afternoons! Be careful though! It is so tasty that this drink has the capability of sneaking up on you!

***DISCLAIMER***
Alcoholic beverages are to be consumed by those of legal age, if you are not of legal drinking age then leave
out the alcohol and just enjoy the classic Arnold Palmer! Your time will come to
add the kick, until then enjoy the simple things! :)
 
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WOW! This blogging thing is a LOT harder to keep up on than I thought! Sorry that my posts are coming SO INCREDIBLY LATE! I am catching up today and I am going to be a LOT better about staying on top of this! I have some interesting pins to bring you all!

So I found this pin about hair removal and with summer being here I thought this would be the perfect pin to try! Especially if it worked, which I figured it would since a GUY is using it! Pretty rare for Pintrest pins! The description stated that you wouldn't have to shave for a week after using this scrub!


The recipe for the scrub is 2 tables spoons of coffee grounds mixed with one 
tables spoon of baking soda but when I mixed this it was very messy to put
onto my leg and it was basically doing nothing so I added one tablespoon of
water as well. But the mix still didn't look like a scrub for hair removal so I
added 2 more tables spoons of water and one
more tablespoon of baking soda which made it a lot easier to apply!
Once I made the adjustments to the scrub it was time to apply! As you can see below I patted a thin layer onto my leg and at first I wasn't really sure how to go about it so I left it sitting on my leg for about a minute; however when I didn't feel anything happening like a tingle or burn I decided that I would rub it into my leg...
After scrubbing for about 5 minutes and feeling nothing I decided that I would wipe off the scrub..Sadly this is just another recipe that someone made up to trick us into thinking we might have an easy shaving season! Here are the results!