Whole30 Week 4 Update (+barre3 Challenge)

Today is my final day of Whole30 and I'm so excited! I can say that I did this. I will admit right here to having a real latte a day or two ago. It was so good. I was in yet another coffee shop and the idea of having black coffee or an almond milk latte literally turned my stomach. Before I knew it, I had a short latte in my hands and happiness on my lips. So maybe I didn't do it 100% perfectly but I'm counting it as done. 

This was the perfect reset for me. I curbed my sugar cravings. I returned to food prep. I learned that I comfort myself with food way too often. I lost just over 9 pounds and gained so much energy. I'm planning to taper to an 80% Whole30 20% Non-Whole30 plan as I reintroduce foods. I need to lose more weight and I love my energy levels but I can't eat Whole30 100% of the time. It is just too restrictive for me. 

As for the barre3 challenge, it was great! Tomorrow is the last day and while this week has been a bust for workouts, it did help me get myself back on the exercise train. I was sick this week which made getting to 6 a.m. barre3 classes a struggle. My goal this year is to exercise 4 times a week (minimum). Some weeks (like this one), I am not going to do that but I think if I try for it most weeks, I'll do great. I love exercising and I plan to join ClassPass again soon to try out some new options. I'm also hitting up CorePower Yoga, Orange Theory and another studio for their free weeks soon. I want to mix up my workouts to keep them fresh while still continuing on with barre3. 

And with that, two goals have been crossed off my 2016 Goals! 

New Camera, Renewed Passion

I've been lax taking proper photos of my children. The purchase of new camera has renewed that passion though. Today when my little monkeys decided to play dress-up as they do almost every afternoon, I decided to document some of their antics.

One of their favorite things to do is wear their bike helmets in the house. Safety first!

I have a feeling that I'll be taking more photos, more often now that I have a fancy new camera. It feels good to be reconnecting with my passions. 

A Hawaiian Voice, Mom Hacks and Ways to Simplify Are This Week's Links From Around The Web

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: The Voice Of Hawaii This is the song I sing to my girls when they can't sleep. It almost always brings tears to my eyes. 

Mom Hacks for Around the House  I need to do so many of these! 

5 Tips for Taking Better Photos with Your Phone Sometimes the only camera I have with me is my phone and I want to take great photos with it too. 

Common Photography Terms Always a nice refresher

10 Ways to Simplify Your Life I complied a nice, short list of ways to simplify. I think they are pretty great! 

Depression Screening Recommended For All Pregnant Women, New Mothers Being a new Mom and being pregnant are so hard, hormonally and physically so I'm thrilled to hear that depression screening is being recommended. This is vital! 

Whole30 Week 3 Update (+barre3 Challenge)

I'm just 6 days away from completing two of my goals for the year and I am psyched! I am most excited about the end of Whole30. I am loving how I am feeling and I have really re-set myself but I am feeling the pressures of the restrictions. We like to go out to eat on Saturday nights for dinner and now my husband just sighs and says, "where can you eat?" While I anxiously look up menus and say, "not there. Nope. Not that. UGH!" I have discovered some great places to eat. For instance, the Portage Bay Cafe has this really awesome Farmer's Hash made with a variety of fresh vegetables, roasted onions, potatoes and herbs along with eggs and different meats. So good and so Whole30. You can even leave out the meat if you'd like to go for a vegetarian option.

I was telling Scott that I am enjoying a lot of things about Whole30. One is getting back to Prep Day. It really helps our week if I can take a hour or two on Sunday to prep ahead for the week. I pull meat of the freezer, I roast vegetables, I make hardboiled eggs and some salads in jars. I'm definitely going to keep that up. The salads in jars are key. Those salads mean I have a good, veggie filled lunch which I really enjoy.

I've been enjoying barre3 class as usual and it has been awesome having a goal of 4 workouts a week. I've been doing it too even with the challenges of Scott's travel, sick children and other mis-adventures. My biggest lesson is scheduling my workouts and committing to at least 4 workouts a week. I have some ideas on how I'm going to shake up my workouts in February but for now, I'm thrilled with getting my 4 barre3 workouts in a week.

I actually got in 5 workouts this week which was awesome! I attended a SoulCycle Pop-up Event which was sponsored by Target. It was so, so, so hard and I keep thinking about what a fun workout it was. I mean, I thought I was going to die at the 22 minute mark but I made it the full 45 minutes with only one stop to shake out my numb feet. My feet always go numb in spinning class which drives me nuts. I wonder if I'm doing something wrong.

Have you tried SoulCycle? What did you think of it?

Bad Ass Moms, Simplifing and Retreats Are This Week's Links From Around The Web

This woman is an inspiration! Such a bad-ass!

How Journaling Can Change Everything The barre3 challenge is more than just taking a certain number of classes, it is also about bringing more mindfulness to your life and this article is just one way the challenge is reminding me to do so.

The Washington Park Arboretum is one of my favorite Seattle parks. I talk about its magic on Seattle Refined

10 Ways to Simplify Your Life Another article I wrote for Seattle Refined about simplifying. It helped me start to simplify more.

I'm attending the Made to Create Photography Retreat in March and I am so excited. It's going to be so awesome!

Secrets of People Who Don't Have Clutter I keep re-reading this and hoping it will rub off on me.

Weeknight Dinner Reboot: 4 Non-traditional Foods, 12 Delicious Meals Some meal inspiration that I wrote for ParentMap

Whole30 Week 2 Update (+barre3 Challenge)

This was a good and bad week. Good in that I ate pretty well, thanks to my stellar prep session on Sunday. Bad in that getting in enough barre3 classes was a struggle. I skipped class on Sunday due to my 14 hour travel day on Saturday. Monday, I got into the studio for a great class (and Maggie rocked childcare) and Tuesday, I woke up early and did an online workout. Wednesday, I wasn't feeling so hot so I promised that I'd workout on Thursday which lead to me promising to workout on Friday which didn't happen. I did go to a studio class today which was awesome as usual and will be attending another one tomorrow. Luckily for me, the barre3 challenge goes from Monday to Sunday so I'll be eeking in with my 4 workouts.  I'm looking forward to getting 5 in next week since Scott will be in town and won't be messing with my early morning schedule. 

I had some great meals this week.  Alice Currah posted this awesome Thai Curry Soup recipe with veggies instead of noodles on Facebook this week and I literally ran to the store for the ingredients. It was so good! 

I also made some barre3 chocolate truffles to have on hand for snack attacks and they were so helpful on Tuesday night when we arrived home late from swim and I was starving! I popped one of these in my mouth and it kept me going long enough to make a delicious dinner. I'm halfway through this journey and while there have been many times I've wanted to quit, I haven't. I have already learned that most of my issues with eating good food is 1) time and not prepping in advance (salads in jars have been a lifesaver this week!) and 2) eating due to boredom or wanting a treat. I can solve those issues. 

Whole30 Egg Salad

I've been craving and egg salad sandwich for days. Days! I haven't had one in years and the last recipe I used called for delicious sour cream. Since I'm only halfway through my Whole30, I knew sour cream and bread would be no-go's so I decided to whip up my own egg salad recipe. It's not pretty but it is delicious! 

Whole30 Egg Salad

Servings 2-3

3 Hardboiled Eggs, chopped

2 Tablespoons Paleo Mayo

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

1 teaspoon harissa

1/4 cup chopped tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives

3 green onions, thinly sliced

Mix together in a bowl and enjoy over a bed of lettuce!

A Day in The Life Photo Challenge Coming Sunday, February 14th

Starting in a month when you wake up, take a photo every hour (or more) to document your day until you fall asleep that night. You can join the Flickr group and/or tag your photos #adayinthelifephotochallenge on Instagram.

1. Here are some guidelines (adjust as needed for YOU!)
2. From the time you wake up until the time you go to sleep...
3. Take at least one photo an house (but you can take more!).
4. Post your photos to the "A Day in the Life" Photo Challenge Flickr group when you can. Posting your photos throughout the day as you take them is great (so we can see what everyone is doing in real time), but no worries if you cannot post until later. 
5. Your photos do NOT have to be self-portraits.
6. Include the time of the photo either as the title of the photo or in the description. (i.e. 9:45 am Hilarious Hand Holding! My friend and I had to walk really, really close to each other.)
7. Use your phone or camera - whatever you want to use to capture your day, however ordinary or extraordinary it may be. 
8. Have Fun! 

Since this is my eighth time doing this challenge, I'm going to shoot in color on my iPhone. I'm excited to document Valentine's Day since it will be a fun holiday day. I've set up a new album on my Flickr photostream for February 14th's challenge which you can follow here: A Day in the Life 2.14.16(I currently have a photo of Molly sleeping so you'll know you are in the right place). Can't wait to see your photos and your day next month!  

Girl Scout Cookies, Money-Saving Ideas and Reading are this week's Links From Around The Web

Beer Pairings for Girl Scout Cookies Every year I enter a Girl Scout recipe contest and yet I've never properly thought about what kind of beer to pair with their cookies. 

Crucial Money-Saving Charts You Wish You Knew About Sooner These are eye-opening and helpful! 

29 Parenting Hacks that Are Serious Game Changers I love hacks, especially ones that help me as a parent. 

How to be a More Mindful Parent Great Advice!

This Year's Most Anticipated Books I've already put a ton of these on my reading list. 

100 Books Read in a Year I gotta say, I'm impressed. I'm pretty sure that I couldn't do this. 

January's 10 on 10

This month's 10 on 10 happened on a very chill day at my house. The day before I traveled to Spokane for my Grandfather's funeral and then back home. It was a long 14 hour day but I'm so glad that I was able to go. We started off the day by blissfully sleeping in. My Fitbit said that I got 11 hours of sleep! That has not happened since Molly was born. 

I've been avoiding my chicken chores since it has been frigid outside or raining. Today was a beautiful day and the sun was out early warming the chicken area. I restocked their food, filled up their water and cleaned out their coop. It's going to need a deep clean when Spring comes but for now, the coop is looking much better. 

Molly dragged out a bunch of her toys from the den to the living room and stacked them up on the couch. She then demanded that I watch her performance which consisted of her mainly waving her wand around while yelling things. 

Scott went out to get lunch and returned with amazing salad for me. I'm not sure if it was 100% Whole30 compliant but I decided not to investigate. I can say that was delicious and I really enjoyed it. 

After lunch, Scott and Molly enjoyed some time on the toy filled couch. Scott left for a business trip so Molly was trying to soak in all her Daddy time. 

Then it was time for Scott's chores. Molly helped out by watching Scott wrangle the recycling. We're still trying to catch up on the recycling from Christmas. All of our Amazon boxes have created quite the chore. 

While Scott and Molly were dealing with the recycling and Maggie was napping, I tackled some food prep. I made two salads in a jars, some meatballs, sweet potatoes, hardboiled some eggs and made some barre3 chocolate truffles. I feel ready for the week! 

I went back to my bedroom to put something away and found Mel-B lounging in the sunshine. She has taken over this rocking chair and blanket as her quiet place. 

When Maggie woke up from her nap, we read a few books. She's really into this Danny and the Dinosaur book. 

Molly asked me to take her picture while she pretend slept. She's pretty good at it! One would almost believe she was asleep until she popped up to yell, PRETEND!

The girls ended the night bouncing off the couch and telling each other stories. I love the bond that these two have. They really enjoy each other. 

Be sure to make your way around the blog circle to see what everyone else was up to on Sunday. Next up - Lauren! 

Owen Read Burgess

On December 12, my Grandfather passed away just days past his 93rd birthday. He was a kind, generous and knowledgeable man who always had time for others. He outlived his first wife and his second son (my father). He left behind his wife, three sons and one daughter along with multiple grandchildren and great grandchildren. 

I attended his memorial service this past Saturday in Spokane where the Army gave him funeral honors which included folding the American flag and playing Taps. Almost his entire family gathered at the church to honor him. I read the Gospel of John 14 for him but stumbled when I got a bit choked up and lost my place due to the tears in my eyes. 

The best part of his service for me was hearing the stories from his sons and daughter-in-law. They relived stories that made us laugh and some that made us groan. Some were new to me and others were old tales that had been told, time and time again. 

My grandfather came from a time when money was tight and you had to know how to fix things yourself and he knew how to fix almost anything. It was a skill that he passed along to my Father and one that my Dad passed along to my brother and tried to pass along to me. (I'm much better about just calling someone else to fix it which means my brother now gets those phone calls). 

Last May, I loaded up the girls and we headed to Spokane for a visit. I knew his days were getting shorter and I wanted to make sure that we saw my Grandpa for a happy visit. The last time we had seen him was when my Dad passed. The girls had a fantastic time and while it was an exhausting trip for me, I'm so glad that we visited. I was able to have a good chat with him. 

May God grant you peace, Grandpa. 

Whole30 Week 1 Update

I've almost made it through my first week of Whole30 with angst, hulk-angry and discomfort. Yesterday I was so done with it that I didn't even want to eat anything. I was BORED with food and couldn't even summon the energy to dream of donuts. I posted on a FB group about my angst and was quickly lifted up. They even checked-in with me this morning. It was a big boast!

Tomorrow I'm flying to Spokane for my Paternal Grandfather's funeral (more on that later) and will be flying home later that night which means I need to pack all my food to take along with me. I spent about 30 minutes prepping things today. I made two of the same meals - two hardboiled eggs, some cashews, a big salad with beets, oranges, tomatoes and turkey. I decided to go with guacamole as my dressing since it isn't a liquid and will be easier to transport. For snacks I've packed an apple, trail mix, a That's It bar, some almond butter and dried coconut. I'm going to eat a banana for breakfast along with a larabar. I may have packed more food than I need but I'll be gone from 5:00 a.m. to about 9 p.m. so I want to make sure I'm set up for success.

Next week comes with more challenges. Scott will be gone on business so I'm planning to spend some time on Sunday before he leaves prepping food for the week. A prepared fridge is the key to success! I'm also hoping some of that tiger blood shows up next week because I'm so tired of the hulk anger feelings.