Wheatless Energy Bites

There is a coffee shop that I often visit after Molly and I go around Greenlake. It has good parking and is on the way to the place I pick up my Mom from her cardio rehab program. The coffee is good but their snacks are even better. 

They have these Wheatless Breakfast Bars that are delicious but at $2.50 a piece, I knew my addiction to these bars would be hard on my wallet. After reading the ingredient list, I decided to re-create these at home. I'm so glad I did because these are a delightful little treat for both Molly and me.

Wheatless Energy Bars

Makes 14 bars

Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup peanut butter (or almond butter)

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

1/4 cup chia seeds

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper. 

2. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.

3. Using a rubber spatula, spread the mix into the prepared pan.

4. Refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight before cutting the bars into 14 pieces.

5. Enjoy with a nice cup of coffee or tea.

Pinterest Thursday - Flavored Waters

I'm always looking for more ways to drink more water. I'm pretty addicted to sparkling water (Cascade Fresh Lime from Trader Joe's) but sometimes I run out and can't get to the store to get more. Plain tap water is pretty good in those times but flavored water is even better! This pin caught my eye because I happened to have all the ingredients in my fridge and they needed to be used up. 

I filled one jar with a sliced up orange, lemon and lime. The other jar with frozen blueberries, half a sliced lime and a sliced lemon. 

Then because I don't have a proper muddler (which is hard to believe considering just how stocked my kitchen is from my previous job), I used a wooden spoon to muddle the fruit a bit before adding ice to the top of the jar. 

I shook the jars around a bit and put on the lids. I let them sit overnight in the fridge and in the morning I had delicious flavored water without any sugar (other than the natural fruit sugars) or other unnecessary ingredients. 

I'm almost tempted to give up my sparkling water just for these flavored waters. Nah, I don't think I'll be doing that anytime soon. I like the carbonation too much. However, these waters are a great alternative. 

The Wednesday Links from Around The Web 5.29.2013 Edition

Canned Peaches Are As Nutritious As Fresh. Really?

Bridge collapses over 1-5, North of Seattle This is a road that I take often! It's scary to think of a major bridge collapsing but lucky everyone got out alive.

Billy Joel on Not Working and Not Giving Up Drinking

What happens when you wrong dial a game developer Hilarious!

100 Websites You Should Know and Use

Bedroom Re-Do!

When we moved into this house two and half years ago, we decided to prioritize which rooms were decorated when in an effort to use our money wisely. We had moved from a 600 square foot condo into a 2,200 square foot house which meant we had a lot of extra space. I now wonder where all that space went and we are still in the midst of decorating our "new" house.



We started with the dining room since we were hosting Thanksgiving that year and I wanted it to look extra nice. Then we moved onto the den and made that into a "man cave" though with the addition of Molly, the room is now covered with toys. I also spruced up my laundry room and still have plans to paint floor one day. When we did Molly's room, we also spiced up the kitchen with new paint.



In January, I decided it was Scott and I's turn to have our room done. We didn't want to spend a lot of money but we wanted the room to have a lot of pop! We talked about inspiration and settled on an Amsterdam theme. We wanted a feeling of Amsterdam in our bedroom, from the colors to the artwork.



I then visited my favorite place, Home Depot to find the perfect paint color. After narrowing it down to two, I came home and painted them on the wall. While mulling over the two paint choices, I decided to paint our closet. The previous owners had removed some sort of wallpaper border in the closet, leaving a long strip of ick. I spackled and sandpapered my heart out before applying a nice clean coat of white paint.



We debated a bit more on the paint color before settling on the dark purple. We decided to do the wall behind our bed with the purple and finish off the other walls with a crisp white. The painting took me over a month to complete. I tackled walls during Molly's naps and on weekends. We lived with our bed in the middle of the room for a very long time. It was annoying to have one's pillow fall off the bed in the middle of the night. That is when we decided that a headboard was very important to us. We talked about making a headboard but when I saw a white, tuffed headboard on The Foundary for an awesome price, I knew it was going to be better to purchase one than make one.



We next moved onto the curtains, the previous owners had left these hideous roman shades. While they worked to block out the sun and provide privacy, they were not something we wanted to keep around. Window treatments are notoriously expensive though and I was not interested in spending $500 for some curtains.



After a lot of research and a lot of discussion, we decided to go with cheap vinyl roller shades paired with some sheer curtains. We found the roller shade at Home Depot and Ikea had an ingenious corner curtain rod which was perfect for our corner window. I added four curtain panels and it was complete!



I also found some fun frames which we are filling with photographs from our honeymoon in Paris and Amsterdam. I replaced our non-matching lamps with two matching lamps in brushed nickle and purged our room of any unnecessary items. That was a BIG trip to the Goodwill!



We are so happy with how the room turned out. We're still looking for some artwork for the wall across from our bed as we fell the one photo is a bit lonely. The most important lesson I learned from this project is that home improvement projects take two to three times as long with a child. Everything just takes longer with a child. I'm not building that into all of my future plans.

Beach Combing at Golden Gardens

Late on Saturday night, I noticed a tweet about low tide and beach naturalists at Golden Gardens for Sunday. I told Scott that we should head down to the beach in the morning to check out the sea animals and show Molly the low tide. Scott had never seen low tide at Golden Gardens either so he was excited for our beach adventure. 

We packed Molly and all her stuff up for the beach. She insisted on wearing her backpack and we couldn't leave without her bucket! 

The beach was covered with people and most importantly, beach naturalists. I have been on the hunt for starfish for YEARS! I've seen them at the aquarium but never in the wild. I quickly asked the naturalists if they had seen any starfish and if so, where could I find them. They pointed me down the beach and said to check in the tide pools under the big rocks. 

We headed down to the far end of the beach, an area that is usually covered in water. It took us awhile to make it down the beach as Molly felt the need to inspect every speck of sand, every piece of seaweed and all the rocks. She even met a few doggies along the way and got in a few pets. So pretty much, Molly's mind was blown by our beach adventures before we had even found anything cool!

Just as we were getting tired of walking and looking for my elusive starfish, we found a hoard of them! Seriously there were over 20 in one tiny little area. It was amazing. I started snapping photos and we helped Molly sneak a feel of one of the starfish. Her eyes lit up when she felt the rough yet slimy skin of the starfish. 

After I got my fill of the starfish, we headed back to the car. We spotted some trains on the tracks above the beach. Molly stared at them as they passed high above her head. She is fascinated by trains. 

We were also lucky enough to spot a Heron munching on some lunch. The naturalists told us it was a fish even though from our vantage point, we could have sworn he was eating a snake. 

If you are interested in checking out the low tides in Seattle, you can find more information on the Seattle Aquarium Website. Molly, Scott and I are already planning our next beach adventure! 

Sunday Favorites

Just a few of my favorite photos! Enjoy!

1. Untitled, 2. 20 :: 52, 3. I'd rather be, 4. Whit's Knits: Pin Loom Coasters, 5. I found an incomplete list of Jay-z's 99 problems this morning. @welikeyou does this belong to you?  So far, the list contains 44 problems, but 30-44 are penciled in. Keep it going! #psugd, 6. first harvest, 7. kew, 8. samsplosionedit, 9. #yeahgirlyeah - smudgy mirror edition, 10. 137.365 - remote, 11. Who's got two thumbs, spells things with extra Us, & just passed her citizenship test? THIS GIRL., 12. an sk weeknight dinner, 13. perfect nursing top-1.jpg, 14. big breakfast, 15. Pink scraps, 16. Stacey had a Birthday, 17. Today we shot at Petersham Nurseries and it was all kinds of beautiful..., 18. dolly., 19. Untitled, 20. reds, 21. blues, 22. 1,280 one-inch hexagons, 23. Horses, 24. Some deliciousness from a beautiful shoot day with the dream team @jossherd73 & @schonnemann, 25. Food Revolution Day! These beauties are courtesy of the Meringue Girls #FRD2013

18 Months with Molly Pop

18 months? Who said that you get to be 18 months old? That sounds so grown up!



You are gearing up for the terrible twos and I'm not sure that I'm ready for them. They are going to be ROUGH but I think they are also going to fun.



This past month was one of ADVENTURE! It started with a fun trip to the Zoo to check out their new exhibit



We took Grandma with us and the both of you had a grand time. You even conned her into getting you a new stuffed animal, a penguin!



In early May, we headed up to Vancouver, BC so Mama could run her 1/2 marathon. You and Daddy cheered your little hearts out! It was fun seeing you along the course.



You also made a new friend in Vancouver, OT! He was very smitten with you and you were fascinated by him.







After a few days in Vancouver, we headed up to the Sunshine Coast to enjoy a few relaxing days of fun before ending our trip in Whistler. You did OK with all the driving but we were quite thankful that we decided to hold off on a trip to Banff until you are much older.



We swam in a glacially cold pool which you loved. I did not enjoy the experience. It was too cold!



We took you on a fun hike where you actually hiked most of the way! You sure do have a lot of energy.



On our way back, we stopped in Bellingham and you got to hang with Cousin Katie! The two of you are so cute together.



You have become quite the fearless child this month. You have always been without fear but now you are jumping off the side of the swimming pool without making sure that I'm there to catch you, climbing onto tables and dancing like a fool and running as fast as you can. I both like and dislike this fearless thing. I'm not sure if I could encourage it or not!



We had a few visits to the Zoo this month and we even took Daddy on one of them. I love going to the Zoo with the both of you.



We have your 18 month well check next week so we'll find out exactly how big you are then and get your final vaccination shots until you turn 4. Now that is awesome!

Your vocabulary is really exploding and you are really engaging with people. You say Hi to everyone and Bye Bye when we leave. You are still such a little social butterfly and love engaging with new people.

As always, I'm thrilled to have you as my Molly Pop! You are such a wonderful, full of energy, drives my nuts child. I couldn't have asked for a better one, even when you break me. We love you, Molly Pop! Keep up the excitement!

Happy Birthday Scott!

Today is Scott's Birthday and I thought it would be fun to make a Top 10 Great Things about Scott List! 

Top 10 Great Things about Scott!

1. He is a WAY better Dad than I could have ever dreamed. Molly is lucky to have him as her Pop Pop!

2. He's wicked smart!

3. He's hilariously funny (especially when woken up earlier in the morning)

4. He works hard so that I can stay home with Molly and he thanks me for staying home.

5.  He's very supportive of those he loves. One recent example: He watched Molly every Sunday morning for the past four and half months so I could go do my long run. He never complained. He drove up to Canada so I could do my race and cheered with Molly as loud as he could. 

6. He's always thinking of a better, more efficient way to do things. 

7. He can tell you the name of any actor/actress and what films they've be in. 

8. He's easy going. He'll go along with just about any plan that I come up with though he does draw the line at some of my crazier ones. 

9. He's crazy creative!

10. He is the best husband! Long ago, my Mom made me make a list of what I wanted in a husband. When I met Scott, I knew he was the one because he was everything on my list and more.