The struggle of reality.

      Who likes to talk about their weight? No one! But that is what I am going to do, I'm going to put my self on blast. Call myself out. Give myself the reality check that I need! My weight has always been a problem, I was a chubby kid, a bigger teenager, and very overweight adult.

    The first picture is of me in kindergarten and the second is me in third grade. I would like to thank my mother for the sweet 90's clothes (why are my shorts so high??), and that the track suit is also a match to the one my American girl doll wore. At this young I was already so much bigger then the other girls and boys in my class, but back then it wasn't a big deal we all ran around and were goofy little kids.

    These are the years where my weight mattered. Where people say hurtful things about someone elses body shape, in typical teen ways of using extremely rude ways. The first is from my 8th grade graduation, I was sprayed with a fake tan, hair done up, and I wore a dress that was hard to find since no 13 year wore the size I was in. The second is my sophomore year in high school, if you couldn't tell by the awful hair and skin complexion. In high school I wore a jacket everyday, I wanted that extra layer to try and hide what I hated. I wore loose clothes and tried to avoid anything that made me stand out.

   We had to do 2 years of either dance or PE, and well I'm no dancer so it left me with no other option then to do PE. It was the worst two years ever. I dreaded going. The teachers were terrible, changing in a locker room was embarrassing and having to run in front of everyone was my living nightmare. There were certain activities I did enjoy, weight lifting and yoga. But the teacher would ruin it for me, by yelling at me when they happen to catch me not doing something to readjust my shirt, or get balanced again, or to even tie my shoe. I tried my hardest, I wanted to enjoy that small period of the day but being surrounded by people who were athletic made it hard to feel good about myself. When those two years were up, I was done I didn't want to step foot into that gym again. And I didn't, two years later I graduated and was in the "adult" world.

    This was around my 20th birthday, I was out of town visiting my friend and a few other people. We decided to dress up and find something to do, so we hit up the mall and bought some fun dresses. As you can tell mine was very sparkly and small, but I wore it anyways and did get plenty of compliments on it. Even though people were telling me how good my dressed looked and they loved it, I was embarrassed and thought I looked awful. Everyday I thought clothes fit my wrong, I tried covering up with sweaters and loose shirts.

    A few months later my sister got engaged and was planning a wedding, and I was to be her maid of honor. I made the decision to start working out, at first I was just taking walks down the road with my dog and using Wii Fit. One day I took the leap and signed up for the gym, I have signed up for this gym before with my sister years before but it was a short stint and I honestly don't think I lost anything. I was determined to work hard and look good on my sisters big day. I had a good food plan and workout routine, and I lost around 45 pounds.

   I felt amazing that day, I felt thin and beautiful. I gave myself a little break after the wedding and was going to get right back at it. The small break turned into weeks and then when I did go back I wasn't into it and wasn't putting my best into the workouts. Eventually I was barely going, and that weight crept back on.

   Then my best friend got engaged and I was determined to feel good again for that wedding. Although I didn't loose much weight that time around, but I still felt great! I did cardio and this time I added in weights. I met people at the gym who taught me more routines and taught me how to do it safely. I loved going to the gym and leaving drenched in sweat and feeling great! Eventually that slump came back and I wasn't doing my routines and barely going.

   The more I think about why I keep slipping back the more I become aware of how I wasn't doing any of this for myself! I need to come to terms that to stay strong and follow through with actually keeping the weight off and pushing through until the end is I need to do this for me and no one else.

   I have struggled for years, I am ready for the strength. It's time to make a new plan and stick with it. Take each day as it comes and make the right choices! This time it will be for me

This photo will someday be my before picture. It's unflattering and I can say everything I hate about it, but I won't. I'm going to use it as motivation to work hard and reach my goals.

Watch MyWhiskeyDreams become Reality.

The road to a good whiskey

   I picked up some mini bottles of whiskey, 3 brands and 4 different flavors, at my local liquor store. The store has the cheapest and the largest selection, of vodka, rum, whiskey, wine and everything in between. Many of us call it the Disneyland of liquor store, it is just that much better compared to may in town. It's always clean and the people are always helpful and have good drinks to tell you about and mix up at home.

   I have the store down, whiskey section, tequila section (ta-kill-ya section), rums, and then many plain and flavored vodkas. I usually stick to looking at the whiskeys and beers, and rarely venture out of that isle to look at vodkas. The only reason I do is to look for friends or family, other alcohols don't suit my tastes.

   I have had tried a good handful of whiskey in my few short years of being able to purchase spirits. There have been a few hits and many, many misses. Let's just say alcohol is not cheap! So when I first started buying I got cheaper whiskeys, that gave me probably the worst hangovers I have ever had! Then there are those good ones that I have purchased more then once, or use more for just drinking. Baking with whiskey is just another great use for it!

 

   These are the different brands I have sitting on my shelf at home right now, well minus the mini's, those are long gone. As you can tell some are unopened, barely drank, or almost gone, just a slight indication of what I like and don't! I'm going to start with what I don't like. Get that bitter taste outta here.

   Black Velvet, Jack Daniels Tennessee honey, American Born, Jim Beam and Crown Royal are just a few on my list I will never buy again!  The American Born was one of my last purchases, the flavor is sweet tea. I was excited to try the new moonshine whiskey brand that just came available in my store, the guy even said how great it was as I checked out. I came home and mixed it with some lemonade, kind of like an adult Arnold Palmer. That was the worse Arnold Palmer I have ever had! I didn't get the sweet tea flavor at all! I shouldn't have to say much about Black Velvet, if that's what you drink, I beg you to go out and try something new! The others I just couldn't handle the after taste. The Jack Daniels tastes like when you have chewed on a toothpick for too long and have a lingering taste there of cheap wood. I haven't had Jack Daniels in a long time, and I couldn't remember why I didn't care for it, and once I drank that mini I knew. It gives me such a sour stomach! I don't know what it is about it but it makes my stomach turn and uneasy.

   I don't want a funky after taste and I don't want it to burn. Of course all whiskey burns but at different degrees, from just a warm feeling, to questioning if you now have third degree burns running down your throat.

  Most of my favorites just warm me up, make me shake my head and take another shot.

   My top favorites at the time are Yukon Jack and Ole Smoky. I first picked up Ole Smokey after seeing a commercial that played while I had the show "Moonshiners" on. I have tried a few flavor such as peach(pictured), pineapple, cherry that has maraschino cherries soaking it up and apple pie. Though Ole Smoky has many different flavors its hard to get my hands on them! I need to try the lemon drop, hunch punch, pina colada and get this they have pumpkin pie flavored! That must be a great fall flavor.

  Yukon Jack was a random buy and I am glad I picked it up! Jacapple smells just like apple skittles! And when you take a sip, or shot however you drink it, you taste apple right away with a warming burn down to your stomach. Long after you get it down you can taste the crisp apple linger on your tongue. I picked up a mini Wicked hot and when I opened it reminded me of those hot cinnamon balls I use to get when I would go out trick or treating, the ones I instantly threw away. I'm not a huge fan of cinnamon flavored alcohol unless I mix it with a hard cider and get an apple pie flavored drink. This could be compared to the popular Fireball whiskey, but they have different tastes. Wicked Hot doesn't burn as bad as Fireball which burns like big red gum, Wicked just has a mild cinnamon burn.

   If you are looking for something more sweet or for a whiskey to bake with, look for Bird Dog. I have baked with the blackberry to add another level of flavor to some chocolate cookies, and I have a maple just waiting for me to crack open and create something delicious! I picked up a mini peach, peach is one of my favorite flavors. I open it up and instantly smelled peach rings! The sweet sugary smell you get when you open a package of peachy-ohs! Taking a drink it was very sweet and tasted just like a peach soaked in whiskey. Although overly sweet whiskey isn't something I would drink regularly, I would bake with any of these flavors knowing it will taste good and not stand out too much.

Although I have just tried a few of many brands and flavors, I am always on the hunt for new ones that stand out.

Be on the look out I have so much more to come.

MyWhiskeyDreams become Reality.

DIY: Chalk paint and distressing a chair

Turn an old boring wood chair into something colorful and "new" again!

What you will need:
Wooden chair (or whatever furniture)
Sand paper- 220 and 100 (fine and medium grit)
Paint brush
Paint any color
Matte clear spray paint
Plaster of Paris
Water
Plastic container(2)
Stirring sticks
Rags

   I got my chair on a local Facebook resale page for only 5 bucks! It was an awesome deal for a sturdy, barely dinged up chair! Garage sales, thrift stores, and antique shops all work as an option of finding a chair, or even an old dining room chair that's sitting in storage or the dusty garage. I have two chairs I will end up doing and using for photo shoot I will be doing in the near future!

   After picking up my chair I headed to Home Depot, any store that carries home repair supplies should do, and picked out paint colors and grabbed the rest of the items needed. I chose to do one Gliddens Granite Grey, and this one is Gliddens Sea of Turquoise. While they mixed those up, I went and grabbed everything else, luckily its all in one area.... But I didn't know that at the time, I was wondering the isles looking for sand paper thinking it was near sanding tools and the wood. After stopping and asking someone, they pointed me in the right direction. I picked everything out, grabbed the paint, checked out and headed home.

   The next morning I started my project! Left my pajamas on from the night before, put my hair into a bun and was ready to get dusty. I started by sanding the chair using the fine grit sand paper (220), I wasnt looking to get down to the original wood color. I just wanted to rough up the surface and get the shine from the previous finish off, just enough to make the paint stick. After getting all the nooks and crannies sanded I wiped the dust off just using an old shirt rag and an air compressor to get the tight spots. Using an Air Duster usually used to clean a keyboard would work too, just want all that dust off.

   Once I didn't see anymore dust I mixed my paint, I used a chalk paint recipe I saw online and it was more then enough to cover a chair. I probably mixed enough to cover a set of 4 chairs and still have a little left over, so if you mix this up please readjust to fit your project.

DIY chalk paint:
1/3 cup Water
1/3 cup Plaster of Paris
1 cup Paint
*Use measuring cups that you don't use for food.

   In a plastic container, that they sell near the paint, mix the water and Plaster of Paris together until completely mixed, then add the paint and mix until combined. Grab your paint brush, I used Wooster Pro for all paints and stains, and you are ready to paint your chair or any other wood furniture.

   I started with doing the legs, so I flipped the chair and went at it. This paint mixture dries pretty fast so work fast applying the first coat. The first go around I made it a pretty even thin coat making sure I got the paint in the curves of the wood work. I let it dry for about 10-15 minutes before going in with a second coat. This time I did a thicker coat, making sure to brush it on going with the grain of the wood. After letting it dry I gently flipped it and did the same thing first coat, letting it dry and going onto a second thicker coat. For the seat I did a third coat to even out the brush strokes and get rid of marks from painting the back rails. After getting it even I let it sit for a couple of hours and dry completely

   After a day at work I came home and cut small squares of each grit level of sand paper. To me, this was the worst part of the process. I wasn't sure if where I was making the distressed marks were in the right spots, but in the end where you place them is up to you. I went on places that looked warned already, I took the medium grit sand paper and roughed the paint up enough to get to the wood. After getting a size of wear that I liked I went over it with the fine grit sand paper to smooth it out. After a few spots I noticed that it was looking too uneven with the paint the was barely sanded. So I took part of a shirt rag and rubbed over each spot to blend out the color and look more like it was naturally warn down. You don't want each spot to be the same, make different shapes, use different pressure to make the marks harsher or less barely scuffed marks, and get the places you think no one will see!

   Once I was done with the distressing I wiped the chair down to get the paint flakes and dust off and sprayed it with the matte top coat just to give it a completely flat finish. If you don't want a matte finish you can use a glossy finish, or even a glitter spray! But for me matte was the way to go so I don't have any reflection when I take pictures.

And you're done!

Just one of many projects done.

MyWhiskeyDreams Become Reality.

Introduction

  

 I'm a 23 year old, soon to be 24, female named Stormi. After many years of "thinking" about what I want to do with my life, here I am, still just thinking. One day I had a quote pop onto my instagram dash between cute puppies and a delicious looking plate of food. It read, "The distance between dreams and reality is called action".

   So here I am taking action, exploring what may be my future! I always loved taking photography classes in high school and messing around with a “point and shoot”. Then, for Christmas of 2014, I decided to invest in a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera. Since then, I have been able to play around, learn more about the camera, and how to capture beautiful pictures. Whether it be of a bright flower, my silly puppy buddy, Boone, or my family and friends letting me pose them and create a special memory. But boy, oh boy! There is so much more I need to learn.

   Along with the photography, I want to explore fun & crafty projects to use as props, new recipes for baking (I have one major sweet tooth), and new meal time ideas, as well as adult beverages (containing whiskey, of course), and whatever else this world may throw at me.

Come join me and see MyWhiskeyDreams Become Reality.