katiehigg – Page 11

07/05

Stitch Fix Review #4

Woot woot…it’s Stitch Fix time!

I’ve had a bit of a mixed bag of Fixes since I started. Some pretty good (one not so good), but this time, my stylist, Valerie…

NAILED IT!

Last Fix I was pretty disappointed, so I decided that I needed to be a little more specific on the notes for my stylist this time. Part of the problem was that I wasn’t really sure of what I wanted when I first started requesting fixes. I knew what styles I liked/didn’t like, but I wasn’t really sure what I wanted. I just expected Stitch Fix to read my mind and magically give me pieces I would love. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that that was a silly idea.

So, I sat down and really thought about what worked and what didn’t with my last Fixes. What I wanted to see when I opened my box. — I love jeans and I kept hoping to get a pair of really awesome ones that I love, but in reality, jeans rarely fit me that easily and I have a bazillion jeans at the moment so I was just wasting space in my box to keep getting jeans. Also, I like to dress up and I like to have pieces I can wear to a more formal meeting/gathering, but in reality, I don’t wear these clothes 90% of the time so again, I was wasting precious room in my box on clothing pieces I don’t wear that often. I changed my style profile to reflect how often I wanted to receive these pieces and then I wrote a note to my stylist concerning my next fix that requested no jeans, no work pieces and maybe some maxi’s.

Let’s get on to the Fix shall we?

One look at my box and I could tell that Valerie paid attention to my requests and my Pinterest style board! I was super excited to start trying everything on!

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Casper Solid Spaghetti Strap Tank (Fun2Fun), $38

Thoughts: One of my immediate favorites from the box! I had been avoiding this style of shirt, but recently found myself being drawn to it more and more and the color was right up my alley! You can tell from the upper right pic that it’s somewhat of a tunic length so it could be worn with leggings or belted or ??? Lots of styling options!

Ultimately: Kept it! Even though I was immediately drawn to it, I was worried the pink wasn’t a good shade for me, but in the end, I loved it too much to let it go! The price was excellent as well!

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Mirena Zip Pocket Top (Kut From The Kloth), $68

Thoughts: I have a couple of shirts in this style, but none in this color. Blue is a color that goes well with my skin tone so I knew that if it fit, it would be a winner. I love the zipper pocket detail too and surprisingly enough, it’s an actual little pocket, not a fake pocket. 😉

Ultimately: Winner winner, chicken dinner! It fit and as I was trying clothes on, my daughter and my husband said it was one of their favorites.

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Antoni Diagonal Mixed Striped Maxi Skirt (Gilli), $68

Thoughts: Another piece that I was immediately drawn to right off the bat! Black striped maxi..what’s not to love?! It’s high waisted (above right pic), but it’s such a soft material that you can easily fold the waist down if you prefer (below photos). It was all stretchy material so it was super comfy on.

Ultimately: Sent it back 🙁 It was one of those, it’s-not-you-it’s-me moments. I thought the skirt was great. Good price point, great fit, classic style…but while I know that there are many ways I could have worn it, I didn’t have a ton of options in my closet and I wasn’t in the mood to try and make it work.

One thing that I love about Stitch Fix is that you can try things on in the comfort of your own home and wear them around a bit before making a decision. This can also be a bad thing because I may say yes to something if I even halfway like it because the checkout process is so simple that I think, “well, it’s already here and it’s one less thing I have to send back!”. In an effort to try and curb that thinking, I tried to think logically about it and just decided that it was a “no” this time.

Although as I’m typing this I’m already second guessing my decision! 😛

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Harvey Mini Clustered Stone Necklace (Bay to Baubles), $32

Thoughts: With that price tag, I knew this was a keeper as soon as I saw it. I loved the color & style!

Ultimately: Kept! Colors that will go with anything and a bit of a chevron-ish look to it…definite keeper!

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Perry Mix Striped Crossfront Racerback Maxi Dress (LA MADE), $98

Thoughts: I was pretty excited about this dress. It’s a maxi (what I requested) and I don’t have anything like it in my closet. I liked the style of the top and I liked the comfy material. Trying it on, I wasn’t especially keen on the side slit or the little half slip underneath to make it less see through. Although, I definitely appreciate the designers thoughts because there is nothing worse than finding a great piece, but realizing that you can see right through to your undies! I may have overlooked those two things if it would have fit better, but it was a little too big in the bust area.

Ultimately: Sent back. As much as I wanted to love it, it just wasn’t right. I don’t feel like the quality justified the price either.

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Shew! If you made it all the way to the end, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the detailed unboxing and item reviews. My hope in doing these is that it helps answer some of your questions about whether Stitch Fix is the right fit for you. I don’t work for Stitch Fix or get compensated in any way for these reviews, but I appreciated reading about other bloggers Stitch Fix experiences and I wanted to maybe help others by blogging about my own. If you enjoy my reviews and you want to try Stitch Fix out for yourself, please consider using this link to sign up. It doesn’t cost you anything, but I get a $25 referral credit towards my next box. 🙂

If you haven’t seen my previous reviews, you can check them out here…#1, #2, #3

And, in case you don’t know how Stitch Fix works, here’s the lowdown…

Sign up and fill out your online profile/questionnaire (be as honest and detailed as possible)
Schedule your Fix ($20)
Wait (impatiently) for your personal style selections to arrive
Play dress up in the privacy of your own home
Decide what you want to keep/send back (if you purchase all 5 pieces, you get a 25% discount!)
Check out online! (your $20 Fix fee gets applied to anything you purchase, but you forfeit the fee if you choose not to purchase anything)
Mail back your unwanted items within 3 business days in the included prepaid shipping bag

Feel free to comment with a link to your latest Fix! I love to read and see what others are getting! If you haven’t tried it yet…what are you waiting for?! 🙂

posted by katiehigg 11 Comments
Filed Under: #whatiwore, dressing room tales, Fashion, review Tagged: harvey mini clustered stone necklace, is stitch fix worth it, kut from the klocth, spaghetti strap tank, stitch fix july, stitch fix review, stitch fix striped maxi dress

06/30

Summer is finally here!

Technically the kids got out of school on June 6th, but we were in San Francisco the week after that, then had one week to catch up and start getting ready for simultaneous trips the next week…D.C. for my son & I and camp for the teen!

Last Sunday, we were up at 3:30am…headed to Washington D.C. with the other safety patrols from his school and other schools within our county. In case you don’t have safety patrols in your school, the safety patrol program is a volunteer position for 5th grade students who are respectful, courteous, on the honor roll and show leadership skills. — The AAA website can explain it better than I can. 🙂 — Every year the patrols have the opportunity to tour D.C. for 3 days and then get a day at Busch Gardens. 5 days in all to drive up there, tour the city & amusement park and then drive back.

2nd kid, 2nd safety patrol trip…no offense to anyone who lives there, but I think I’ve had my fill of Washington D.C. for awhile!

After riding in a bus all day on Friday, I was up bright and early (5:30am!) on Saturday to pick the teen up from camp. This was her first time at a weeklong camp and it will likely not be her last. She didn’t want to come home! She had a lot of fun making new friends and being away from mom & dad. 😉

As evidence of her good time…

I’m so proud of myself though. Most of our clothes and gear are unpacked! It was partly because the teen’s suitcase/clothes/bedding from camp weren’t coming in the house until they were cleaned, but whatev’s…our bags are unpacked (mostly), clothes are clean and it’s almost back to normal around here!

I’m already anticipating no early morning alarms, no schedules, nowhere we HAVE to be unless I want to be there, yoga without having to take the kids to school first, evening plans that don’t revolve around homework, lazy days of staying in our pj’s, afternoon trips to get ice cream…endless possibilities!

Some of the things I’m looking forward to…

Swimming
Library visits
Museums
Visiting family
Back to the gym/workout routine
Fro-yo
Movie theatre during the day (not on a weekend!)
Rock climbing with the kids
Concerts
Baseball games
Art Walks
Jaxon’s Night Market
Lazy PJ days
Finally trying SUP & SUP yoga
Organizing and cleaning areas of the house that get skipped over often

After getting all caught up on laundry over the weekend, we have had a completely lazy day today. And when I say lazy, I mean laaaaazy. Like, watched Kung Fu Panda once, it started over with subtitles and instead of turning it off, I just muted it and we ended up letting it play all the way til the end again. Afterwards, the kids retreated upstairs to be lazy some more. lol. Maybe we’ll do something tomorrow other than be lazy, but today…I’m content with being a slug. 😛

How about you? Do you have a bucket list for summer or do you just wing it?

posted by katiehigg 1 Comment
Filed Under: local favorites, My life Tagged: summer bucket list, summer to-do list, washington dc sights, what to do in jacksonville this summer

06/25

Did you know…

there’s a brand spankin’ new hang out in town?

It’s in the heart of 5 points and it’s called Brew. You could call it a coffee shop, but it’s actually MUCH more. Right now they are waiting on their beer & wine license, but once they’re approved, it’s on like donkey kong. They’ll be selling craft beers and I heard that eventually they hope to serve pitchers of beer Sangria! Now, I’m not much of a beer girl, but the sangria?…Yes please!

It’s pretty quiet in there right now because they just had a soft open last Monday and word hasn’t quite gotten out yet…but that’s even more reason to go check them out!

Not much of a coffee drinker? Well, they have a great selection of super cool sodas (hello butterscotch beer!) and a couple of toast options as well! I had just eaten lunch when I went to grab a drink, but if not, I would have definitely tried out the rosemary garlic toast (goat cheese and jam, what’s not to like?!).

(click photo to see the menu larger)

It’s taken me years to start exploring this city I call home, but the more I see…the more I love!

posted by katiehigg Leave a Comment
Filed Under: local favorites Tagged: brew five points, coffee, espresso, five points jacksonville, jacksonville, where to go for coffee in jacksonville fl

06/23

Save Me, San Francisco (part 2)

What’s that, you say? You want more Golden Gate pictures? Sure thing!

Okay, that miiiight be all of them. Who am I kidding…I still have more, but I think that might be all of the ones I’m going to post. Those last two photos are from the sand staircase at Baker Beach. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s was a killer! Especially after our long hike at Muir Woods the previous day!

Speaking of Muir Woods…it was only our 2nd day in San Fran, but it was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a little while. The trees were ginormous and it was so quiet and peaceful (up on the hiking trail, not on the touristy main strip), we even spotted a couple of deer thanks to my hubs’ super sonic hearing! We followed a trail that we knew would take us up, but omg, at one point I thought my heart might explode. And then an older guy and an older couple came up and I suddenly got a burst of energy. 😉 I don’t super love hiking (bugs & dirt aren’t really my thang), but my hubby does, so like the ever so sweet wife I am, I participate to make him happy. I’m so glad we got there early though because when we were leaving around lunch time, that place was cuh-razy!!

I didn’t have many touristy things planned during our trip, but I did have several ideas of where I wanted to eat/drink. Some of them didn’t pan out (maybe next time!), but the ones we made it to, did not disappoint!

The Slanted Door won the James Beard award for most outstanding restaurant so of course, we had to eat there. Thankfully when I realized I needed to make reservations, there were still a couple of times available. Our reservation wasn’t until 5:30pm (the perfect time IMO since that’s when they open back up for dinner), but I’m glad we got there early because a line starts to form at the hostess stand and you have to wait in line whether you have reservations or not. Our meal was delicious, the restaurant was beautiful and the service was great! The waiter was really helpful with what items were gluten free or could be made gluten free. We ordered the spring rolls, organic chicken, caramelized wild gulf shrimp (NOT gluten free according to our waiter even though I’d read differently online, but I ate them anyway, hubs did not), cellophane noodles and jasmine rice.

Blue Bottle Coffee was another place I had to visit. I even knew what I wanted to order…the New Orleans. Coincidentally, they were 1 block from our hotel! Score! I never had a problem with a long line, but I tried to go at off times.

Susie Cakes wasn’t one I had read about, but we ended up eating lunch at Blackwood with some friends and SusieCakes was across the street. Both were unexpected, but both were equally delicious! I’m lying…while Blackwood was really delicious, my cupcake was beyond yummy. I’m pretty sure I did the whole, bite and moan thing. I tried taking a photo of the cupcake, but I ate it too fast. 😛

Other eating places worth mentioning…zpizza (I think they’re a chain, but they were right around the corner from our hotel and they offered organic ingredients as well as a gluten free crust!) and our last night in town, our friends treated us to a great dinner at Epic Roasthouse. If you want a steak, that is definitely the place to go. My hubs said it was the best meal our whole trip!

K, I feel like I left important things out, but if so, I’ll just have to make a [part 3]. After a day in San Francisco, I was saying I could totally live there and my hubby was thinking the opposite. lol. Oh well, it was fun to visit! I’ll definitely be going back and will likely take the kids to all the touristy things we missed this time.

posted by katiehigg 2 Comments
Filed Under: My life, Travel, Uncategorized, wanderlust wannabe Tagged: baker beach, being a tourist in san francisco, blue bottle coffee, muir woods, san francisco, the slanted door, where to see the golden gate bridge from

06/18

Save Me, San Francisco (part 1)

We dropped the dog and kids with my mom, packed up the car and headed out. We drove about 30 minutes south and then stopped for dinner before it got too late.

With a full belly of yummy mexican food, I kicked off my shoes, pulled my feet into the seat and settled in for our 2 hr drive.

I had my iphone set to shuffle and I was singing along as usual, when the words suddenly hit me. “Hey!” I exclaimed, “How awesome is that?!” as I pointed to the dash.

Pretty fitting, considering we were about to hop on a plane to that very place!

We’ve taken plenty of trips as a family, individually, trips with one kid/one parent (hello France!), but it’s been 7 long years since the hubby and I took a real trip without the kids. The last one was to Hawaii in 2005!

I have been dying to go to San Francisco for years. I wanted to fit it into our Cali trip we took a few years ago, but it didn’t happen. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked to be checking it off my bucket list. We picked a super rad hotel called Hotel Zetta for our stay. It’s only been open about a year and from what I read online, it sounded right up our alley. (*check out my review at the end) These shots are a little glimpse of what it was like inside…

I’m kicking myself, because I didn’t get many shots of our actual room. It was small, but very modern and nice with wood flooring and modern/minimalistic furniture (actually it looked pretty close to this one, but arranged differently). The hotel had a meeting area downstairs in the lobby with a huge couch to lounge on, some tables & chairs and a full service bar. There was also a huge game room on the second level that had shuffle board, a pool table, a large plinko game and plenty of other games to entertain you!

I wasn’t too excited about the weather being chilly, but I finally understood how all the fashion bloggers wear all those cute layers of clothing 365 days a year! I bought this utility jacket and some TOMS booties in preparation for our trip and I can honestly say they were the PERFECT purchases! Pretty much my San Fran uniform.

I also bought the above scarf from lululemon before the trip. (funny story – Eric didn’t really pay attention to what I bought until I was actually wearing it and after he saw the different ways I was using it, he started calling it a “thneed“. You know, from the movie, The Lorax. Now the stupid name has stuck though and I keep calling it a thneed! lol) I probably used this thing at least half of the trip and it especially came in handy the last night we were in town when I went out to make a City Target run and grab dessert at 9pm. Brrrrrr! It was also particularly useful on the plane!

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Of course, the Golden Gate Bridge was one of my must-do’s for the trip. We took photos on three different days because it looked different each day (thank you fog) and from several different viewpoints.

So many pictures of the same bridge. You’d think this was it, but no…there’s more…

But, you’re going to have to wait until the next post!

**Hotel Zetta Review – Where oh where to start?! I already told you about the awesome game room and lounge area downstairs. Our room itself was on the small side, but that’s to be expected in the middle of the city! We didn’t have a problem with the size at all. Being that the hotel is sandwiched between two other buildings, if you’re looking for a scenic view, this isn’t the hotel for you. I, personally, quite liked the close buildings. It reminded me of NY or something. I don’t know. It felt cozy. We did have to be careful when and if we chose to open the blinds though. 😉 The whole hotel is modern/minimalistic in it’s design and interior decor…which we loved! Our room had a king bed with a large wood/leather headboard, two small side tables, a minimalistic desk area with a stocked fridge (so don’t plan on using it for leftovers!), a tv on a small minimalistic tv stand, a modern sitting chair and wood flooring throughout. The bathroom was gorgeous! No tub, only a glassed in shower. As far as the service, I don’t have many complaints. The one thing I read over and over again was that the staff was very friendly and helpful and I would definitely agree with that. The only thing that was a little “eh” was that I was expecting our room to have been cleaned/replenished by 2pm when we returned back the first day, but she was just getting to our room. They offer a small incentive if you choose to forego the daily maid service, but we had a couple of things that we wanted them to take care of. I would probably say the only real “con” to the hotel would be the parking. They don’t have their own lot you can self park (although there are a couple close, but they aren’t much cheaper and they aren’t really meant for taking your car in/out daily) and to valet it’s a whopping $50 a day! Ouch. On the plus side, it was super nice to just call down to the front desk when we were getting ready to leave and have our car waiting for us outside! I loved the location of the hotel and even though we had a car, there were plenty of places nearby to walk to. Some of my favorites were Blue Bottle Coffee, Dottie’s, zpizza, Peet’s coffee, City Target…not to mention all kinds of other restaurants, it’s literally RIGHT next door to the Westfield Centre shopping mall, and there is a cable car stop only a block and a half away! This hotel isn’t for everyone, but I’d definitely recommend it if you don’t mind the few things I mentioned.

posted by katiehigg 2 Comments
Filed Under: My life, review, Travel, wanderlust wannabe Tagged: golden gate bridge, hotel zetta review, how to wear a utility jacket, san francisco, toms desert wedges

06/15

Oh hey…remember me?!

So I was pretty proud of myself for blogging on a regular basis

and then I go and disappear for a month!

Wait…I can explain!

Well, not really.

Life just got busy (I now have a 6th and 8th grader…say what?!)

and I had nothing to say really and no time to say it anyways.

But, I’m back!

and while not necessarily better than ever,

much more relaxed and ready to get back to the blogging world!

And since posts are much better with photos…

if you aren’t following me on Instagram, this is a little hint to what I’ve been doing while I was away. 😉

posted by katiehigg Leave a Comment
Filed Under: My life

05/12

Happy Mother’s Day!

I’m not much of a beach girl, but the kids wanted to go to the beach on Sunday, so that’s what we did! Because making the kids happy, made me happy. 🙂 We went to a beach we don’t go to often, but what made it super awesome was that you can drive on the sand and park your chair right next to where you park your butt! It was kinda cloudy and the water was pretty cool, but the kids had fun anyways. Then we went to my mom’s house to hang out for a little while.

I hope all the Moms out there had an amazing Mother’s Day! Whether you relaxed at home, woke up to breakfast in bed, went somewhere fun or just had an ordinary day…I hope you know that you are all intelligent, beautiful, selfless, incredible, amazing women doing the hardest job out there! If you haven’t watched the video below, I highly suggest you take a few minutes to watch it. 🙂

posted by katiehigg 1 Comment
Filed Under: My life Tagged: #worldstoughestjob, mothers day 2014, toughest interview for the job no one wants

05/10

Splurge vs Save

Remember this dress I found at Gap a week ago?

Well, lookie what I happened upon at Tar-jay the other day! Same style, but a different print and without the belt. It’s super lightweight, but not see through and it’s very comfy! I loved the Gap version, but the Target one is a pretty close second and seeing that it was less than half the cost of the original, I think that makes it a win-win!

posted by katiehigg Leave a Comment
Filed Under: #whatiwore, Fashion Tagged: gap, shirt dress, targetstyle

05/02

TGIF…five on friday

Oh, Friday…how I love thee.

It’s been a long week and I am ready for the weekend! My husband was out of town until last night so I’ve been single-parenting it since Sunday. It’s doable, but it’s tiring! The teen’s routine didn’t really change, but the boy and I have been getting up earlier. Between his allergies and having to be dressed for school an hour earlier than he’s used to, he’s been so tired.

Not eating gluten is getting easier, but it takes a lot more thought and planning. Before, if I got up late or didn’t have groceries, I’d just let the kids buy lunch…but now that’s not an option because not only will the kids not think about it, but I highly doubt much of what they serve is gluten free. School lunch is crap though, so this isn’t a bad thing. Before, when we’d have a busy night, I would have normally run to McDonalds to pick the kids up dinner…but not now. I know, I know…McDonald’s…doesn’t get much worse than that! I’m getting better though and cutting out gluten forces me to make better choices. Not always healthier, but better. Junk food is still junk whether it has gluten or not! 😉

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I had so many grand ideas for what I was going to get done in the house while hubby was away this week, but instead I was a…total, complete, slacker! I did manage to shower and go to the mall on Tuesday. I need some every day t-shirts and I had birthday money to spend! Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very fruitful trip. I only found one shirt to buy. 🙁

The dress on the left was really cute and comfy, but it was the only one left and defective. It was also sold out online. 🙁 And I loved this maxi…comfy with baggy pockets! It was like have my sweats on! Unfortunately, sweats are super comfy, but they aren’t really flattering. I felt like it gave me zero shape. Although, I might buy it anyways because it was so comfortable!

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Last week, it was all muffins and oat cookies for breakfast. This week, I decided to make my overnight oats again.

I used the same basic recipe I was using before, but I did a few things different. For one, I made it with less oats. Using 1/2 cup of oats was just too much food. For two, I nuke it for about 15-20 sec to take the chill off. I don’t like hot oatmeal, but I didn’t love the overnight oats super duper cold out of the fridge either. A little cooler than room temp? Perfect! Finally, I’m not sure if this adds much to the final product, but I’ve been adding a little vanilla extract. With these little tweaks, it’s pretty much per-fection! Two of the mornings, I just added honey & peanut butter, the next morning I added in banana, but yesterday morning, instead of the PB, I added mashed up strawberries with a few pecan pieces. OMG. By far the best breakfast of the week!

1/4 cup gluten free oats (not the quick cooking kind)
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup almond milk
1 packet Truvia
1 1/2 tsp chia seeds
dash of vanilla extract

The night before, throw all the above ingredients into a jar and mix them well. Put them in the fridge and when you wake up in the morning, it will be thickened up and ready for toppings.

For my strawberry one, all I did was cut up a few fresh strawberries, mash them a little to make them juicy and added some honey for taste. Then stir the strawberry mixture into your oats and top with some chopped pecans! Seriously delicious and refreshing. It kinda reminded me of strawberry shortcake.

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Have ya’ll heard of the Give it 100 project? It’s basically about committing to something for 100 days. This chick rocked push-ups for her 100 days and I can’t believe how far she came. And this chick, jumping rope throughout Berlin…awesomesauce!

They totally inspired me to do my own #giveit100 project, but the question is WHAT?

*wheels turning*

Hmmm…I know from previously doing only a 30 day challenge that running or even working out for 100 days straight isn’t going to happen. Going gluten free for 100 days might be a good goal, but I’m kinda already doing that so I want something more challenging. Other ideas…

read at least 30 minutes a day
yoga/meditation
no social media (yikes, this one would be hard, but probably beneficial. The blog wouldn’t count!)
burpees
pull-ups
no lattes

That’s all I got right now. How about you? Any ideas on what you could do or give up for 100 days?

*Since I wrote this yesterday I ended up deciding on yoga for 100 days. I may add pull-ups too, but I’ll start simple for now.

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Annnnnd, because I apparently have the musical taste of a teen girl, this song has been on repeat this week (and last week…and the week before)

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Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

posted by katiehigg Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Five things, My life

04/24

Punching gluten in the face

*Sorry in advance for this massively-wordy-with-only-one-photo post

I told my husband a couple years ago that he should look into cutting his gluten back or even going gluten free. Just reading the sensitivity symptoms, I thought it could maybe help him. Last year, he finally (when he thought of it on his own of course because he’s a MAN!) decided to try it and did really well for awhile. He felt better and could tell a difference when he introduced it back into his diet. He fell off the wagon for a little while, but recently decided to go full throttle again. Now, he’s a type A personality. Jumps in with both feet kinda personality…an all or nothing even if it kills him type. SOOOO very opposite of me. I’m a think it till it’s dead, gotta introduce it slowly, need to have a plan that I’m comfortable with type. Although it can cause a little friction at times, I like to think I’m the ying to his yang and vice versa. As opposites, I feel like we balance each other out.

Up until now, I’ve been fine with his dietary needs/wants. He tells me what he wants from the grocery, I get it. He hasn’t really cared if I made something specific for him or not. Actually I tried a couple times, but he wasn’t really that interested. So I just let him be and let him figure out what he’s eating.

Recently though, he’s been reading Grain Brain and I’m about to bash him in his brain if he doesn’t stop saying, “this guy [insert nutrition advice]”. I’m a big fan of moderation. I think everything in moderation is okay. But, my husband has been feeling really good without having gluten in his diet and he’s convinced me that we should all try it. Now, if you’re old hat at not eating gluten, you’re probably thinking, no problem! But since 80% of my kids’ diet is apparently gluten filled, it’s turning into quite a big undertaking for me. I spent hundreds of dollars this past weekend and went to three different stores, shopping for gluten free items to replace some favorite foods and also buying ingredients to make my own gluten free items. I’m trying to take it one step at a time, but it seems really overwhelming right now. My son is embracing this new way of eating, but the teen is being teenager-y about it. On Monday, I made their lunch sandwiches with gluten free bread without telling them. I was certain the teen wouldn’t be pleased about it so I didn’t even bother asking how their sandwich was, but surprisingly she offered up that she liked the “new” bread better than the regular bread.

Say wha?! Color me shocked people. Seriously, I can’t figure her out sometimes. When I expect an attitude, she doesn’t have one, when I’m not expecting it, it comes out of nowhere like a sucker punch to the gut.

Anywho…

here’s what a typical day for the kids was like (don’t judge…molly homemaker, I am not!):

breakfast: cereal, pop-tarts, or waffles

lunch: sandwich, chips/crackers, granola bar, cheese, fruit

dinner: meat, veggie, starch

Well, let’s see, there are no breakfast items that they were eating that didn’t have gluten and they don’t want eggs & meat for breakfast.

Lunch was 50-75% gluten

Dinner was usually 50% gluten depending on if their meat was breaded or not.

*sigh*

HUGE undertaking

While I know that it’s better and we’ll be eating overall healthier, it’s overwhelming. I feel like all I do is think about gluten-effing-free! I’m sure it will get easier and I’ll use that to comfort me when I’m curled in the fetal position, with a vacant expression, obsessively rocking back and fort while repeating, “does it have gluten?!” “why does everything have gluten!?”

Oh, did I mention that that stupid Grain Brain has my husband nitpicking how much sugar we’re eating too? Seriously?! I can only handle one dietary restriction at a time and the kids need to be crossed over SLOOOOOWLY. I’m already having them make a huge lifestyle change. I’m all for limiting the excess candy and whatnot, but leave my freaking gluten free baked goods, smoothies and FRUIT alone!

I don’t like change. I’ve was a bit (okay more than a bit) of a holy terror this past weekend. 🙁

*big sigh*

So, I thought I’d share what I’ve found helpful so far…

This blog has been uber helpful…Gluten Free on a Shoestring. I made her easy oatmeal breakfast cookies at the beginning of the week and also one of her flour blends that I later used to replace the wheat flour in this zucchini banana chocolate chip muffin recipe. Both recipes were delicious and kid approved! Plus, the muffins are only 150 cal and 4g of protein. Holla! Now I don’t have to feel guilty about eating 2 of them. 😉 I also bought one of her books that has a homemade goldfish cracker recipe! I was never much of a baker, but maybe it’s inside me somewhere because I want to make everything on her site!

Against the Grain is also a great site. I bought her book several months ago when I was going to help the hubs try some new things, but I haven’t gotten around to trying any recipes yet. There are a ton of recipes on her blog that look great though.

A blog that I enjoyed following, Iowa Girl Eats, has recently been diagnosed with Celiac disease so all of her recipes from here on out will be gluten free. Woohoo!

I know that convenience foods are not very healthy, but they are an essential in this house. I’d love to say that it’s going to be only homemade goodies, fruit & veggies all the time, but I’d be lying. I’m trying to limit them, but I’ve been thrilled to find some really great packaged items in the store and most of them I found at my Target or Publix.

Goldfish Puffs
Annie’s Organic Bunnies (cocoa & vanilla, snickerdoodle and ginger snap)
Annie’s gluten free mac n cheese
Kind healthy grain bars
Glutino pretzels (the chocolate covered & yogurt covered are SOOO good!)
Udi’s pizza
Canyon Bakehouse for bread (it’s surprisingly soft after you defrost it!)
Barilla GF Pasta (not an everyday thing or even every week, but this pasta was kid approved and great as a treat when you feel like you’re missing out on all your favorites. Great taste & texture!)

Of course, there are items that we usually eat that are gluten free as well.

Larabars
Greek yogurt (Chobani for the kids and Fage plain for me)
Cheese
Eggs
Fresh fruit
Veggies
Chips (A lot of brands are gluten free, you just have to read the label. PopChips are a favorite of my sons and the Terra Sweet Potato w/Sea Salt chips are downright delicious!)

So, as you can see, with a few replacement items and checking the ingredients in what I use for dinner, breakfast is our most challenging meal. And eating out of course. Eating out just plain sucks and as much as I hate to admit it, we ate out a LOT. :o/ Don’t even get me started on all the sneaky places that gluten hides.

I’m currently still on the hunt for more breakfast options. The kids are enjoying the breakfasts this week, but I’m not sure if they’ll still be excited about the same items next week. I have had pretty good luck with gluten free pancake blends, but neither of them really want pancakes for breakfast during the week. The teen will eat boiled eggs so I made some of those for her to have this week with the oatmeal breakfast cookie.

Disclaimer: No one in my family has been diagnosed with Celiac disease. I am not an expert. I’m just sharing what I’ve found through online researching. In case you are a Celiac and are rolling your eyes at me because I’m so clueless and possibly think we’re jumping on a bandwagon. First of all, that’s your opinion and you’re certainly welcome to it. However, I feel the need to say, we aren’t doing this as a fad diet or to lose weight. My husband felt a world of difference mentally and physically when he took it out of his diet and felt it’s affects when he introduced it back so he thought it could maybe benefit the rest of us. I am constantly fatigued, have brain fog and some attention problems. Now, is gluten my problem? I don’t know. But the only way to find out is to eliminate it and see if I feel a difference with it gone and then see if I feel a difference when it’s reintroduced back in. Plus, after realizing how much gluten we ate in general, it can’t be a bad thing to cut it out where we can!

posted by katiehigg 7 Comments
Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged: gluten free, going gluten free, grain brain, how to start cutting out gluten