What?!? Look who’s blogging again. Yep, this girl. Look at me go. Aren’t you proud? I just can’t quit you and especially outfit posts. They’re where I started and it’s just so deeply ingrained in my blogging mind. I laugh at myself though over the stupid outfits and locations we would go to for pictures. Don’t worry, there is totally a WTF (or maybe WTHeck, sorry Mom) post coming soon. We’ll all be able to bask in the ridiculousness of the outfits I used to put together. I love it though! It’s so funny. At least today, this is legit what I was wearing. And I am for sure taking the pictures in my house because it’s freakin’ freezing out and I am too old to care about taking them outside on a street corner with a cute bag with flowers in them. Let’s just all look at this picture and shake our heads at poor, young, cold Jen from yesteryear (it was literally negative numbers in this picture. I remember because I was FREEEEEEZING!!) Bahahahhah! Oh blogging, you’re so funny!
the girls always want to get in on the pictures.
and one peaceful little corner picture for the bunch too!
OUTFIT DETAILS:
Peplum Plaid Shirt: Joe Fresh/Old (similar here, here and here)
Grey Wash Skinny Jeans: LOFT
Boots: Timberland (similar here and here)
We’d been having a pretty mild winter as far as snow goes, then the winter decided to pick it up and dump allllllllllll the snow in like a 4 day span. It’s been snowing nonstop since 9am this morning. Which has piled up on the already 15+ inches that were on the ground from the other day. And to think we almost pulled the trigger on a vacation to Puerto Rico the other day. GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! Can you tell the seasonal depression has set in? hahahaha. jk. but seriously, winter is the worst. I am good up through Christmas, but then it’s all down hill from there. Anyway, I am trying my best. Everyday we get the whole gang bundled up and we try to have some fun outside. Orion has become obsessed with the snowblower. It rocks his 15 month world! What a cutie.
Anyway, how’s life guys? I’ve been struggling hard with what to do with this blog. Aren’t we all? What is blogging now a days? It all feels so different, yet so weirdly the same. A few friends have dusted off their blogs lately and it’s been fun to read again. Sometimes I want to do the same and other times I feel like I am ok with it being totally over. Who knows. I think I would at least like to have a little more fun with it. Take the pressure off. Write random things, while sitting in bed and watching the bachelor kind of fun. I don’t really have the time to make it all shiny and fancy anymore. Sometimes maybe but not all the time. Are you cool with that? Let’s end with 5 random thoughts by Jen…
1. I am totally a coffee drinker now. Like hardcore. Send help
2. Orion has stopped calling me “mama” now it’s just full on “mom”. He says with with such force too and so demanding. It cracks me up but weirdly makes me feel like he’s 16 yrs. Can I have my baby back?
3. I’ve been a vegetarian for almost 10 years but I think I am going to make the switch to vegan (well, i prefer to say whole food/plant based) I really only eat eggs now and then. Trying to decide if I’m going to take the whole family with me or not.
4. Yoga, Yoga, Yoga. I’ve become obsessed with yoga. Seriously looking into a teacher training in Thailand in June.
5. You know what drives me crazy? Shower heads that have the water come out in a circle shape and no water that comes from the center. Do you know what I mean? It’s so annoying. Hahahahah! You look up to rinse soap off and it’s like water spraying down all around except the one place you want the water to hit. We don’t have a shower head like that, but my parent’s shower is and a handful of other ones I’ve been in lately and I just want to say whhhhhhhhhhy?
So! There you go. Random thoughts, while sitting in bed and watching the bachelor.
There are plenty more where that came from. Don’t you worry.
And I just have to say Corrine? Really? Come on now.
I’ve been really trying to step up my health game lately. After a few weeks of my stomach not feeling right, I knew something I was eating was just not doing the trick for me. I eat generally pretty clean, whole foods (I’ve always been an 80/20 kinda girl) but a bite of the kids mac and cheese here, a few of their animal crackers there and it was all making my stomach not feel great. So I’ve been trying really hard to cut out anything overly processed, ingredients I can’t say, etc… It’s been going so much better! I have been feeling great!
Two huge, HUGE, things I’ve learned in helping set a good mindset for the day, to not just eat healthy but FEEL and BE healthy is to 1. see each day as a whole. Wake up, set intentions for that one day and work towards that. If you eat something you regret, then tomorrow is a new day! No room for guilt! Have an overall health goal, but don’t be so overwhelmed by it. Day by day! and 2. Start the day with a great, empowering, build you up for success kind of breakfast!! I can’t say enough about this. I’ve never been a breakfast girl but over the last year, I’ve totally turned into one. It keeps me from looking for snacks at like 10:30am, it sets me out on the right path for the day, it helps solidify those intentions for the day. Plus breakfast foods are soooo yummy!!
I really love to drink Evolution Fresh® juice in the morning. Almost every bottle of their green juice contains over a serving of veggies. Holla!! It’s so easy to pick some up at the grocery store or at select Starbucks stores. When ever I go through the drive thru (tall misto with coconut milk!) I always ask for them to add a green juice to the order to bring home. Evolution Fresh also cold-presses their juice using high-pressure processing to help protect nutrients and taste, no heating to pasteurize it! Anyway, I love to pair my morning juice with some overnight oats (sooooo easy) and voila! The perfect way to start the day and take a sip in a brighter direction!!
January 26, 2016, Evolution Fresh launched its first ever National Green Juice Day (NGJD) to celebrate the love for green juice? This year, Evolution Fresh and Postmates are joining forces and offering free delivery of free green juice to customers on January 26, 2017 starting at 1:00 pm local time and ending when supplies are depleted. You will be able to order 3 free juices per delivery, with a maximum of one 1 order per customer. If you live Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Washington, DC, Miami, Phoenix, Orange County, San Diego get ready to order your free juice on January 26!!! And can we just talk about how jealous I am that you live in a city that has Postmates!! For the rest of us not in those cool cities, make sure you head out and get your own Evolution Fresh green juice to celebrate National Green Juice Day.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Evolution Fresh® for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
p.s….
Here is the recipe for easiest, most delicious cocao + almond butter overnight oats. In the morning before eating them, I layer in between some organic whole milk greek yogurt or coconut yogurt. Top with banana, nuts and coconut shavings!
Hey guys!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! We headed south yesterday and are spending 2 weeks down here in Florida with my family. We’re super excited to escape the cold for a bit and get some vitamin D. As usual I was waaaaaaay late to the game with my cards this year. And so it goes every year but at least I got them out and they are so cute! We teamed up with Minted again this year because we just LOVE their choices and quality. I honestly can tell every Minted card I get it mail from friends before I even turn it over. If you ran out of time this year there is always 1. New Years cards. We did that one year and I really loved sending out a little surprise after christmas to friends and 2. next year, right? Don’t let yourself have guilt over it. Some years it works out and some there is just no time. I hear ya!
We’ve done little booklets in the past but this year we went with the standard card format. I love the foil-pressed options Minted offers. They’re so festive and pretty! We left a blank spot inside the cards so that we could write a personal note to everyone. At first it felt totally overwhelming (and like the wrong choice) when all 125 cards showed up with that blank spot starring at me. But a few good christmas movies later, I was so glad we had taken the time to write something to everyone that means so much to us. And let’s talk about how cool it is to create your own personalized stamps!!! The girls thought that was by far the coolest thing ever. Thanks Minted for making ordering Christmas cards a breeze and even letting me keep my entire address book online and print out all the address right there on the envelope for me. Boom.
Sooooo a little story about our pictures. I drive by this abandoned tiny, old church when I drive Rowan to school. I’ve always loved it from a far as I drive by. When we were deciding where to take out pictures, I was all like “what about in front of that church?” The bad part is it’s obviously on someone’s property and there are no trespassing signs up. However, it’s set off the road and no one can really see if you drive up there so… shhhhhh don’t tell anyone. Rowan, our dear first born, extreme rule follower did not like this idea. She had to be bribed out of the car and even then was on high alert for getting caught and in trouble. NO harm, no foul though, right? I did picked up the trash around the church before we left.
Well, we wish everyone a safe, healthy and happy holiday! Merry Christmas from us to all of you!!
xoxox
Back in October, we headed the quick 3 hours north to Montreal to celebrate Kev’s birthday. This was our 3rd time visiting and every time, we fall in love a little bit more. What a crazy cool and beautiful city. There is soooo much to see and do! We never get to do it all, but it always makes us excited to come back the next time. Whenever we travel with the kids, we pack the stroller and just walk around as much as we can. The kids are pretty used to it by now, and have become quite the little explorers as well. We do cycle through the stroller quite a bit. Each one getting a little rest while the other one walks or gets held. It’s a big team effort!! The bummer was that it was pouring rain one of the days we were there. We made the most of it though and checked out the Biodome (is anyone thinking of Pauly Shore now?). It was such a cool place! The kids had a great time! You get to walk through all these different ecosystems and see animals and really great exhibits about each one. Totally worth a trip if you are visiting!
The fall colors were really putting on a show for us that weekend. It was gorgeous! I could wander around all day there. Every turn is another charming little street to walk down. Have you ever been? What are you favorite places to go, see, eat?? Always looking for recommendations for the next time!
When we started homeschooling this year, I knew our library needed a good jump start. I went on a hunt for all the beautifully illustrated, full of information, awesome kid books. I wanted to fill our school room with books that sparked their interest and imagination. I wanted to have books there and ready when they asked questions about all the different things we would be learning. Oh man, there are sooooo many wonderful books out there!! My amazon cart is always full with new ones but here are our top favorites so far this year. If you have any in your own collection that aren’t on this list, please let us know! I would love to keep adding more!
I’ve always been a bit of a fitness hopper. Never really finding a perfect match that I felt super passionate about. Yes, I run (ran) a lot, but it’s mostly just to complete races. I love the accomplishment of finishing a race. I love that medal, but the training is always challenge. I would feel so exhausted by the running schedule, that I wouldn’t put any other effort into cross training. My legs would feel strong but nothing else. After Orion was born, I really wanted to find something that helped me feel like my best self. I didn’t have a weight goal in mind but just wanted to feel healthy and strong. In between my pregnancies with Finley and Orion, I started going to a hot yoga studio. I had enjoyed it but hadn’t been very consistent. I figured I would start there!
Guys! I can’t not express how much I LOOOOOOOOOVE going to my yoga classes. You can totally do yoga at home but there is something so rejuvenating about getting out of the house by yourself, to a dark, hot room and sweating it all out. Ahhhh my soul! I count down the days until I get to go again. It’s been such an awesome journey to work towards. At first I know it can feel so awkward! You don’t know the names of the moves or the flows and you may feel super inflexible (hand held high here!) or even the teacher may not be a great fit. I challenge you to stick with it! To ttry different classes, teachers, etc… till you find something that fits. Every week I am trying to step forward, to dig deeper, to stretch further (I want to do the splits!) to be open to correction and to learn more. Step by step, right? I love it so much that I’ve even been thinking about taking my instruction training certification.
No matter what the scale says (I say we all throw our scales out!) if you feel strong and healthy on the inside, I promise it just oozes it out of you. Confidence flows into every part of your life. A bonus for me is that I can model joy, passion and a healthy relationship between food and exercise to my girls.
Where are you trying to #StepForward in your life? Exercise? Eating? Organization? Minimalism? Patience? Generosity? There are so many areas we could all be working on. I would love to hear about it in the comments below or over on the Famous Footwear Instagram
Welcome to my personal lifestyle blog. It features topics such as motherhood, family life, fashion, cooking, and all sorts of adventures. I hope you enjoy what you find!
