12/12

Monday Motivation

Let’s talk lululemon.  For those of you who haven’t heard of lululemon, they are the makers of some amazing workout wear.  I found them a couple years ago and now I hate to wear any other brand workout pants.  They make all kinds of gear, but their pants are A-mazing!   However, in addition to their super awesome workout wear, they have this cool manifesto that they print on everything from the reusable bags that they put your purchases in to shirts and pants.  There’s some really great advice here and since it is the end of the year and all, maybe you’ll want to add one or two to your New Years resolution.  😉

 

Here are some of my favorites from the manifesto…

Happy Monday!!  Let’s kick this week’s butt!!

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12/02

Random Post Friday…

Apparently I’m not very good at this whole blogging thing.  I feel like I have a lot I want to say and then I sit down to write a post and….*crickets*.  So in an attempt to actually post something I figured I’d just go with a bunch of randoms…

Random #1

I just love taking my computer into the Mac “Geniuses” where they wipe my HD completely clean only then to realize that apparently it’s not a HD problem.  What?!  Yes, I have a back-up, but what a PITA it’s going to be to get all of my programs re-installed.  :o/  And because a blog post needs pics, here’s one I thought was appropriate for this specific random…

Random #2

I had to have my blood taken again today.  Apparently my last test showed I was low on iron so we’re testing again.  I used to really hate getting my blood drawn, but after having two babies and other various procedures that scare me more…having my blood drawn seems like a walk in the park!

Random #3

I’m slightly obsessed with this amazing kettle corn I got at Whole Foods the other day.  Other than the kids having 1 serving each, I ate the entire bag!  It is so freaking good!

Random #4

I’m not happy with this sickness crap I’ve had going on the past couple of weeks.  It’s made me incredibly lazy!

Random #5

I love this time of year and hate it at the same time.  I get so caught up in the have-to’s that I forget to enjoy the warm fuzzies of the holidays.  I’m determined to get Christmas shopping done early so I’m not stressing once Christmas gets closer.  Speaking of Christmas shopping, I decided to take Boo (my 8yo) to Target and make a visual list of all the stuff he liked.  Soooo much better than pen & paper.  😉

Random #6

According to my 3rd grader, we’re the only ones in the school who do not have our tree up yet.  😛

Random #7

We have an elf…his name is Manny.  You’ll be seeing him very soon.  He’s late coming to visit us, but that’s okay, b/c I’ve been known to be late once (twice MAYBE!).  I hope he is still a good boy and doesn’t get into much trouble.  If you have an Elf on a Shelf, you have got to go to the bookstore and read the adult version, Elf off the Shelf!  I found it while we were browsing Barnes & Noble one day, so I sat my hiney on the floor (that’s the best part about browsing the bookstore ya know…plopping yourself on the floor and reading whatever it is you just have to read at that moment) and read the whole thing.  It is hilarious!

Random #8

I watched Water for Elephants & Crazy, Stupid, Love while I was sick this week.  Both were VERY good!  Crazy, Stupid, Love shows Ryan Gosling ripped and shirtless and it has the super cute Emma Stone in it…nuff said…go watch it…now!  Water for Elephants was dramatic and hard to watch at times, but a very good story!

Random #9

A couple weeks ago hubby & I watched the first 2 seasons of Misfits on Hulu.  It made me want to work on my british accent.  The only words I’m any good at are the naughty words like wanker or phrases that won’t be funny or understood when said out of context.  I used to really impress the kids with my fake accents when they were younger, but now they realize how bad I am at them and just laugh at me.  Which is okay.  I laugh at how bad I am too.  😉

Random #10

I was hanging out in iTunes and I found a super cool app called Stachematic.  It detects faces and adds a mustache.  Fun!!

I was anxious to try it out so I just grabbed the first pic that caught my eye on my phone…umm, yeah, sorry to my sweet little niece for giving her a mustache.  lol.  She does look pretty cute with it though.  😉

And when my crazy girl saw what I was doing she was happy to lend her face to the camera. 🙂

K, I think that’s all for the randoms today.  I just installed a WordPress app on my phone so I can blog little snippets whenever I think about it.  Let’s hope it works to keep me active on here.  I won’t be posting many in-depth posts while my computer is in the shop.  Hopefully it doesn’t take too long to fix it!

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11/28

Happy Belated Turkey Day!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving blog world! I hope everyone had a safe & happy holiday. We’re lucky enough to have two awesome places to celebrate Thanksgiving, but unfortunately they’re 2hrs apart so we have to pick just one every year.  This year was Eric’s family in Georgia.  We had a great time!  It had been awhile since everyone had seen the kids so everyone was saying how big they’d gotten.  One of the things about going to GA for a visit is that they boys get to have fun shooting their guns.  They always love that.  I was going to go this year, but I was too lazy from all the yummy food.  From what I hear though, my baby boy was a pretty good shot!  My FIL took a few pics I think so I’ll have to see if I can get a copy.

It was hilarious this year because both Eric & his twin brother are doing Movember.  Movember is something that was started to create awareness for men’s cancer, specifically prostate cancer.  How it works is that on November 1st you start with a fresh shaven face and then you grow a mustache throughout the month.  You create a profile page and people can donate to your stache!  Here’s my hubby’s page if you feel inclined to donate!  It’s a great cause!  www.mobro.co/erichigg  Any donation helps!  🙂

Most everyone thinks he looks creepy or out of character with a mustache, but his grandma was LOVING it!  She just kept saying the whole time how handsome he looked and he better not cut his hair or shave his mustache.  lol.

Here’s a progression from his usual daily look and his current look…he was going for a Tom Selleck stache so he’s been growing his hair a little longer to match the mustache.  Please donate…it will make putting up with this look worth it!  I’m ready for my clean shaven, short haired hubby to be back!

I hope to be blogging more regularly in the coming weeks.  I’ve been a big time slacker these past few days!  Eating whatever I can get my hands on because I need to meal plan and get to the grocery store, but I’ve been too lazy.  As of 5pm last night, my Fitbit said I had only gone 1100 steps.  OMG.  That is horrible.  So since I needed to go to Target and it’s only a little over a mile away, I figured I’d just walk up there.  My girlie & I had a nice little walk up to Target and then grabbed some fridge/pantry necessities (only necessities because, remember, I haven’t done my meal planning yet! :()  Anyways, Eric had to come pick us up because I thought we were going to have too many bags to carry all the way back, but it turned out that the load was pretty doable so I wish we would have just walked back home.  But also, I told Eric we could bring home 5 Guys for dinner if he came to pick us up.  I know, 5 Guys…it’s super bad for you.  If it makes me look any better, I eat my burger with no cheese, I pull off the excess bread and only put ketchup on it and we ordered a regular size fry for the 3 of us to share, which we only ended up eating about 2/3 of.  Good news was that it got my step count up to over 5000 steps.  Yay!  Not a fantastic day, but a mile & a half I wouldn’t have walked otherwise, so I’ll take it.  😛

I don’t have many pics this time so I’ll post some pics of my comfy skinny jeans I bought the other day.  I have a new obsession I think.  I fought the trend for a long time because I could never find any that didn’t make me look like I was stuffed into a sausage casing.  I finally figured out that I need to look for ones that say they have a curvy fit.  These are my latest wardrobe addition.  Comfy/casual skinnies!  They are Silver brand and the jean material is SO soft.  Bonus is that I tried on my usual size and I ended up going down a size because of their curvy fit!  Gotta love that!

* I bought the jeans at Dillards, but this is the brand/style, Silver Suki Skinny.  The top is the Button Bateau Sweater from The Limited.

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11/22

BlogLovin’

See that cool piece of artwork that says “bloglovin'”?  Well, bloglovin’ is a nifty place where you can keep up with all the blogs you like.  If you want to keep up with mine, click the link below or the one other there ————————-> anytime.

bloglovin

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11/22

It’s Friday! (well, for the kids anyway)

Hola internet!  Just wanted to check in for a ramble session.  It’s Tuesday and the kids have the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving so I’m not sure I’ll be posting much.  I haven’t worked out so far this week.  (bad Katie!!)  My throat has been bothering me since Saturday and honestly, I’m a big believer in giving your body time to heal.  So, since I haven’t been feeling 100%, I’ve been taking it easy.  Maybe I’ll take the pup for a walk this afternoon though since it’s nice and overcast outside.

I’m pumped today because I found a dress for the hubs’ work party in a couple weeks.  It’s always so stressful trying to find something that I like.  Today just happened to be a good dressing room day.  You know, as opposed to a bad dressing room day, where everything you try on looks horrid and you feel fat?  Today was the direct opposite of that!  I love when that happens!  I find that when I like what I’m trying on that apparently I need photographic proof that it looks cute.  (Anyone else do that?…No?…Just me?)  The poor dressing room attendant chick probably thought I was doing something crazy in the dressing room because I was in there forever.  Anywho, I found my dress for the party so it’s all good!  Now to find shoes & jewelry!

So, since I’m a freak and take pics in the dressing room, I thought I’d share my dressing room finds from today…I didn’t buy the outfit on the right, even though I LOVED it.  I think I might go back or order it online with a coupon code or something.  I was worried the blue pants would go out of style, but I like it so much that I’m not sure I care if I can wear them a year from now.  😛

Both outfits are from Express.  🙂

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11/22

Almond Dream Yogurt

K, so I guess I’ll start with a recipe I started using a week or so ago.  I got the idea off of Facebook, I think.  I’m a member of several groups so unfortunately I don’t remember who exactly mentioned it, but someone said they mixed greek yogurt, protein powder & some peanut butter.  So, I gave it a try and this was my creation.

(6/2012) Edited to add…I’ve been making this yogurt a lot lately and have changed the proportions slightly.  The new ingredients/measurements will be in bold.

The ingredients…

1 individual container of Fage 0% Greek yogurt (6 oz) – Now using only 4 oz*
1/2 scoop of protein powder
1/2 tbsp of almond butter – 1 Tbsp*
a couple drops of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp honey – omitted*
2 packets Truvia – 1 packet*
Sprinkle of cinnamon on top

You mix it all together and in the end you have a super delicious, protein packed breakfast or snack!  Add some fruit or granola topping for added nutrients.  You can see in the picture that I added banana to mine.

Nutrition Stats (without the banana):

Calories 213, Carbs 20g, Fat 5g, Protein 29g, Sugar 12g, Sodium 133mg

*If you chose to make this recipe with my updated changes marked in bold with a *, the new nutrition stats are as follows:

Calories 223, Carbs 13g, Fat 9g, Protein 28g, Sugar 7g, Sodium 153mg

A couple of extras you might be wondering about…

There are a few different types of protein and there are many different brands.  I usually use Jay Robb’s Whey Protein blend because it uses Stevia to sweeten it and it is fairly clean (clean = not a lot of junk put into it).  I ran out of Jay Robb though and picked this one up quick one day.  You can use whatever protein powder you have on hand.  If you don’t use protein powder, I haven’t tried it, but I’m sure this would be just as tasty without the protein powder.  The protein just gives it a nutritional boost for those of us that want to add it in.

Here’s an article from LiveStrong about why you might want to use a protein powder supplement, Why Use Protein Powder.  Here’s another article from LiveStrong on who should use it.  Like any supplement you need to do your research and talk to your doctor if you have any questions.

I used almond butter because the nutritional stats for almonds seem to be more favorable as opposed to peanut butter, but you can certainly substitute some natural pb in place of the almond butter.

Hope you enjoy!  Let me know what you think!  Oh, a little warning, I like my stuff SWEET so if you’re not such a sweets person, you may want to start with just one packet of sweetener and then do a taste test.  🙂

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11/07

Hi…

Welcome to my new blog!  I’m excited to start posting about nutrition, fitness, new recipes, photography, and anything else that sounds like fun.  Take a look around and come back soon because I’ll be posting my first real post very soon!

And because a blog post isn’t any fun without a pic, here’s one to start us off…it’s ME about to get my workout on in my new t-shirt!

Get your own “Healthy is the New Skinny” tee at HNS Blog!  Click “merchandise” to order.  BTW, it looks like I bought this one right before they started selling a new design.  I might have to pick up the new design too!  😉

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