Happy New Year's Eve...

I have so much to do to get ready for our friends coming over so tonight I leave you with the most powerful and amazing New Year's Resolution I think I have ever heard. It comes from a website that I get daily emails from. They are uplifting, thought provoking and beautiful. You should check it out and sign up to receive The Daily Love yourself...

My New Year's Resolution

I thought long and hard about what I wanted my New Year's Resolution to be. I take my NYR's very seriously and always try my best to actually manifest them in my life. I thought about setting goals for making a certain amount of money, or to finally meet "the one", or for Love Yourself and The Daily Love to reach a certain amount of success, or for any number of "dreams" I have to come true. And then I reflected on all my past NYR's and while some came true, some didn't. I'm actually glad that some of them didn't because in hind sight some of my "wishes" for myself, though at the time seemed like exactly what I wanted, if they had actually come true it would have actually delayed or prevented my best life from manifesting. Then I thought, wow, even with Intention, and Positive Thinking maybe the external desires I'm visualizing and Intending might not be what's best for me when I look back 5 years from now.

So this New Years my NYR is to try to simply trust. It's going to be an interesting experiment because everything I've laid out below I've resisted for so long because I've always wanted to control my environment. I'm going to do my best with these, Heaven knows I'm not perfect! Well here goes nothing!

I'm going to trust that focusing on the internal vibration of feeling good instead of any external things, people or situations will bring what's truly best for me.
I'm going to trust that even if I think that many things seem to be going wrong, that maybe for the first time I'm actually feeling what it feels like for things to go "right".
I'm going to trust that the ideas I have are great, the creative impulse I feel should be expressed and that no matter what - I will always be taken care of while I walk on the path of gratitude, forgiveness and love.
I'm going to trust that as long as I am walking a path in service that the right people, places and circumstances will always show up right on time.
I'm going to trust that some of the best things in life don't show up with a grand announcement and flashy introduction but instead in humble packages.
I'm going to trust and be receptive to every situation or person that the Universe places in front of me.
I'm going to trust the Love that is trying to find me and embrace it no matter how scary it might seem.
I'm going to trust that my Creator and Source has my best interests at heart and I'm going to try my hardest to allow It's will to be done, not mine. My mind is limited in comparison to the Source, so I'm going to get out of Her way and let all things be done though me instead of by me.
I'm going to trust to show up every day not trying to accomplish everything, but just to do the best I can each day.
I'm going to trust that taking care of and truly loving myself will be the gateway to creating fulfilling relationships and life circumstances.
I'm going to trust that by healing myself will be the best way for me to heal the world.
I'm going to trust that as long as I keep focused on feeling good and take actions that help the greater good I will always thrive regardless of what the stock market, financial markets or consumer confidence is doing.
I'm going to trust that my inner guidance is the only source of truth I will ever know and that what's happening to anyone else has nothing to do with the world I am consciously creating around me.

And finally, I'm going to trust the things that bother me most for they are the true portals of discovery and the key to unlocking why I can't just let things be.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Mastin

I will be back with the ENTIRE recap of my New Years Eve!

Be Safe...

Have Fun...

See ya next year...

:)

A Whole Lotta Bakin...

So tonight has been busy.

I decided to have leftovers for dinner tonight because (like I've said a ton of times) cleaning out the refigerator is a 'top priority' in my life right now! :) But mostly because I knew that Linsey and I were going to be doing a TON of baking and I didn't want to dirty up anymore dishes than needed.

We dined by candle light this evening. It's a new tradition we're starting for 2010...What new traditions are you guys going to start for next year??

Like I said, dinner was just leftovers tonight. I promise that my food is going to get much more exciting over the next few days, but for now...RERUN!! (except I added a piece of Texas toast..)

We decided that something sweet was definitely in order. So I broke out a little something I had been hiding away for a special occasion. Don't worry - I didn't eat it all. We split it four ways and it was GREAT.

Linsey was excited - of course if you put chocolate covered rocks in front of her she's be excited!

Regan enjoyed her portion too. :D

Jason took Regan straight to the bathtub and Linsey and I headed for the kitchen. We had a baking schedule all planned out and then we realized something disturbing...NO FLOUR!!

So we made a very quick run to the grocery store to get whole wheat flour, honey, eggs, and a brownie mix. Once we got home we got to baking. First we made...

Cinnamon Streusel Banana Bread Muffins

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour

1 t baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 c white sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 c unsweetened applesauce

1 c walnuts

3/4 t vanilla

1/3 c packed brown sugar

2 T whole wheat flour

1/8 t ground cinnamon

1 T butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups or line with muffin papers.

2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 c whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg, vanilla and applesauce. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture just until moistened and then add walnuts. Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups.

3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 T whole wheat flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 T butter until it is a streusel consistency then sprinkle topping over muffins.

4. Bake in preheatede oven for 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool and then ENJOY!!

We doubled this recipe for part of our New Years Eve goodies and they smell fabulous...

Next we made...

"Healthy" Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 c unsweetened applesauce

1/2 stick of butter (softened)

3/4 c raw honey

2 t pure vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg white

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour

1 c whole grain rolled oats

1/4 t ground nutmeg

1/4 t ground cinnamon

1 t baking soda

1 t fine sea salt

12 oz package Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips

1/2 c chopped walnuts

1/2 c dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In large bowl, mix together applesauce, butter, honey, vanilla, egg and egg white. In seperate bowl, mix together whole wheat flour, rolled oats, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda and sea salt.

3. Slowly add dry mixture to wet mixture and stir. Once mixed, stir in chocolate chips, walnuts and dried cranberries.

4. Using a cereal spoon, drop cookie mixture onto parchment lined cookie sheets and bake for 10 - 14 minutes. Let cool on wire rack and enjoy!

After we put the girls to bed, Jason and I split one opf the cookies.

We had to make sure they tasted good - no? :)

Now we're hanging out in bed watching The Notebook aka one of the best movies EVER!! I can't decide which is my favorite of these two The Notebook or Pride & Prejudice (with Kiera Knightley).

Tough call...

Just. One. More. Day...

Happy Hump day... :)

How's everyone's Wednesday shaping up? Mine has been pretty good so far. I mean - I can't complain. Woke up this morning SORE AS HELL, but  (you know) the good kind of sore. That sore feeling that says, "I worked my butt off in my workout!" :) I ADORE that feeling!!

Made it to work on time even though the roads were terrible at 7:30 this morning. Attendance at school this week gets lower and lower everyday so it's hard to judge how the day's going to go.

Had breakfast about 8:30 and it was very filling (and a little sweet too.)

After his meeting last night, Jason and the girls stopped off at Starbucks and got me the soy gingerbread latte that I was craving yesterday ALL DAY!! I saved it for breakfast this morning. Along with that (which I have decided I don't love) I had a homemade biscuit with pomegranate jelly and a veggie sausage plus a Honey Oikos with a little concoction I created. All this equals right at a quarter of a cup so it's really not too much of any one ingredient, but I mixed equal parts of dried blueberries, chopped walnuts, dark/mint chocolate chips and shredded coconut. Then I topped my yogurt with it. HOLY YUM! I was about 3 or 4 bites shy of finishing the whole thing and it was heart breaking to throw it away, but I didn't want to feel sick later so I did it... :(

Linsey spent the day helping me, doing some homework and playing Bananagrams...

Lunch time rolled around and I had three bean chili with a piece of corn bread crumbled on top. It was fairly tasty on a cold and snowy day.

Then I had a piece of homemade banana bread that one of my coworkers made. That was super tasty!

Since attendance at school has been so low I've managed to get out about an hour early everyday. Today was no exception. I finished up and as soon as Regan woke up from her nap we hit the road. I was on a mission to find a plastic cover for our jogging stroller to use while we're in Chicago, but had no luck. Target doesn't carry them and none of my jogging stroller owning friends has one for a single stroller. I really don't want to spend a fortune on one, but may have no choice. The girls were excited to go to Target though...

because that means a cookie at Starbucks for them...(like Regan's painted face?)

And a coffee for Mommy!!

Now that we're home I have tons to do. We leave in 4 days!!! Plus we're having Jeff, Jennifer and the girls over for a NYE party...we ARE party animals after all!! :D

What's everyone doing to ring in the new year???

Free time and a butt kicking...

Whew...
Jason is being Mr Mom tonight and I am totally letting him! First, he took ALL our laundry to the laundry mat in the freezing cold and did it ALL! I stayed home with the girls and played and had dinner. It was nothing fancy because by the time we realized we needed to eat Jason was going to be home again. So cheesy pasta with Morningstar Farms veggie nuggets it was. Of course the pasta was whole wheat shells and I added about a cup and a half of frozen peas at the last minute. Then I stirred in some garlic parmesan cheese sauce compliments of Ragu! Not the world's healthiest dinner, but far better than other options we could have gone with at the last minute.

Then Jason did the unspeakable...he took both girls to his 7:00 meeting!! What?! That's right - I got over an hour of 'house all to myself' time. So I took full advantage...I put Regan's laundry away and most of mine and then I decided to get in a quick workout. I started out looking like this...

See how happy and content I look taking a terrible picture of myself in Linsey's room. I am revelling in my new found freedom and super excited about the events to come. Then I popped this baby into the DVD player...$10 at Target!

HOLY MOLY! Now I look like this...

Not revelling anymore. Notice that I lost my shirt AND my socks. Oh wait...apparently I lost my feet in this photo too. Oh well, I started out in my cute and fuzzy hot pink life is good socks and ended up bare foot and sweating like a pig. Yes...a 20 minute workout DVD can make you sweat like a pig. I never believed it was possible until tonight!

Jason and the girls will be back shortly so I need to get my lunch together for tomorrow. It will be time for jammies and bed when they get back.

Keep checking back because I am going to have the www.relfitmama.com launch giveaway coming up very soon. I'm hoping it's before the new year!! Lots of good stuff heading this way. :)

Good night for now...

A Day Without Coffee...

What's UP?!

Hey Everyone (like I have a TON of readers :) )!! How's your Tuesday??

Mine started off at 5:40 this morning with a really great 30 minute pilates workout. Jason had a 7:00 meeting so I was on my own with the girls. we hurried around, got ready and headed off to my work. I got Regan dropped off at her class and then realized - I FORGOT MY COFFEE!!! :( I was sad, got over it and immediately got to work. Linsey had breakfast with a couple of her friends who were running around the school today and then I had my breakfast a little while later.

I am in love with my new little dishes! They are the perfect size for oats, they are microwavable AND they come with their very own lid. I have 4 of them so now on Sunday nights I can portion out my oats for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesday is too busy to reheat and then eat oats so I will find other things to bring, but these are LIFE CHANGING!!!

Linsey was with me for a portion of the day, but Jason picked her up and took her to the eye doctor. She has been blinking her left eye a ton since Sunday and she says it's constantly watering and her eye lid is slightly swollen, but after a very thorough examination the doctor has absolutely no idea what is wrong. She doesn't need glasses. There is no infection. There is nothing in her eye. Her eye hasn't been scratched - no idea. She referred us to a pediatric opthamologist. YIPPEE!!

Since I still hadn't had any coffee I was getting hungry. So I dug around in my purse and found a snack that I brought for Linsey one day last week that she never ate...so I ate it. Shhhh - don't tell her!

A little while later it was lunch time so I carefully laid it out and then devoured it. Apparently coffee is an appetite suppressant also. Who knew??

I brought cheese and crackers today with a side of Yves veggie slices to go on top and two teeny tiny cuties...

My day ended a little early again today and I'm home with Regan this time. Linsey decided to go back to work with Jason after the doctor's appointment. I think she's getting her fill of old mom...

Regan and I shared a Peanut Butter LARABAR when we got home (that went unphotographed) and now we're just hanging out until Jason and Linsey stroll in.

What's everyone having for dinner tonight?? I need some ideas...

Blogging from bed...

Quick post tonight my friends...gotta get up early tomorrow.

After my earlier post I had a quick snack while playing with Linsey. I tried the new LUNA bar flavor and have to say I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but not as flavorful as I was expecting. I won't go searching for these anywhere, but if I run across them I might buy a few more.Don't buy them expecting to get a peppermint burst though!

Jason and Regan got home shortly after and we quickly got down to everyday/after work activities. Sadly, our couch still STINKS and I'm pretty pissed off about that! We have been spraying it with vinegar and sprinkling baking soda all over it then letting it dry and vacuuming it up then repeating the entire process. I think it's getting better, but when you put your face to the cushions - WHEW!! :(

Jason made dinner tonight - or heated up food to eat (as he stated very clearly) because we had veggie burgers and fries tonight. They were super tasty and even the girls ate them without complaining. I had a Gardenburger tomato basil burger with muenster cheese melted on top and then he grilled some red onions to put on top of that. HOLY COW(less) :D

We each had a little bite of chocolate after dinner because who doesn't like a bite of something sweet after their dinner?? I know I do...

Then the girls got nutty...I think they may have issues with sugar!!

Yep...those are my girls. As crazy as they are - we still love them (most of the time!)

Everyone's in bed now and I'm ready to watch a little television and crash out. I leave you with the image of what is taking place in my living room right now.

Good night blog addicts...pray for my couch!!

Red Bowl Monday...

Howdy Folks!!
How's everyone's Monday going so far?


Breakfast
I made Sunday oats last night, but did something a little different. I upped the protein value by stirring in two egg whites towards the end of the cooking process and I have to say they were a little more fluffy this morning. Maybe it's all in my head, but either way they tasted yummy.
I had about 3/4 c of Sunday oats, 1/2 c vanilla soy milk, a scoop of the All Natural Peanut Butter & Co white chocolate wonder, about 1 T slivered almonds, a drizzle of maple syrup, 1 T dried cranberries. and 1/2 of a pear chopped. YUM!

The day went by like a breeze (surprising since I was solo today) and I even was able to help Linsey with some of her school work that she brought home to make up for the days she'll be missing next week.

Lunch

It wasn't anything exciting (sorry - I'm trying to clean out the fridge) but it was still good. I brought more leftover vegetarian shepard's pie and then drizzled it with hot sauce. For a "dessert" I sliced up an apple and sprinkled cinnamon and brown sugar over it. It's almost as good as a piece of apple pie...even though my favorite part of the pie is the crust!

I have gotten quite addicted to these Ocean Spray water bottle mixers. My favorite one is the Cran-Pom.

OH HOLY YUM!!

One packet is perfect in a 20 oz bottled water.

While I finished up Linsey snuggled in MY jacket, listened to the radio and played with her Rubik's 360...yowza!! She hasn't completely figured it out yet, but she's getting there. Today she managed to get two balls in their correct spots before having to start over. I must admit...it's kind of addicting. :)

I managed to get done with work a little earlier than usual so Linsey and I are using the quiet time to hang out together. Jason's going to pick Regan up on his way home from work. She was just waking up from her nap when we were leaving so we figured she could stay, have snack and play outside with her class until Jason got there. The day went by like a breeze today. Linsey was a big help and now it's done. :D

Hope your day is going great.

Three more days until another long weekend!!

Oh Sunday...Again.

Hey Guys...
Today has really brought me out of the "holiday spirit" and back into the real world that I live in. I'll just give you all the dirty details in the order of which they happened...
Whee I left you was getting to house work and lunch. Lunch was leftover chinese food (as earlier predicted). we're leaving next Sunday to go to Chicago for a few days so I'm trying to make sure ALL the food is eaten before we go. I hate to see food go to waste and don't mind eating the same thing multiple times in a row. So I did just that. I finished off my Christmas chinese of vegetable fried rice and spring roll with a little spicy mustard and sweet thai chili sauce. It was still just as tasty!

Afterwards I required a little something sweet. A reeses peanut butter Christmas tree and york peppermint snowflake hit the spot. Thanks a bunch Santa...

All morning I was smelling something funny in the living room and couldn't pin point where it was coming from until after lunch when we all sat down to rest a minute before finishing up the house work. That's when we realized what the cat had done...You all remember Maggie right? The sweet, adorable cat that Jason rescued from the freezing cold winter temperatures and gave a loving home...well - Maggie hated our dogs. She wouldn't leave whatever room she was in no matter what because of them. Even if we them shut in the kitchen with the baby gate she wouldn't go near the kitchen doorway. Sadly, to get to her litter box she had to do just that. Well, she refused and decided peeing ALL OVER my couch was a much better option!!! AHHHHHHHHH...so we spent the afternoon spraying our couch with Febreze pet odor remover and when we realized that wasn't going to work we took desperate measures. Jason looked up online what to do to fix it and then left the house to go to the grocery store, but on his way he (lovingly) dropped Maggie off at the Humane Society. She can't possibly live in a house with two dogs if she won't even go past them to go to the bathroom in her litter box. DON'T JUDGE! The ladies at our local Humane Society told Jason that as cute and loving as she is she will find a good home in no time. :) Linsey was a little upset at first, but realized that she wasn't happy living with the dogs and this way she can find a dog free home to live happily ever after in. And now we're working to rid our home of the smell of cat piss...

I do feel quite guilty, but am sure she will find a much better home and be super happy somewhere else. At least we saved her from the cold and the snow...right?

Moving on...all the craziness of the afternoon caused us not to get the laundry done, but while Jason was gone I kept Linsey occupied by playing Bananagram's with her. It's actually a pretty fun game, but she beat me every round!!

Once Jason made it home from his day of unexpected errand running we had dinner. Leftovers again, but different ones this time. We had leftover Shepard's Pie and made a new spinach, walnut and feta salad with dried blueberrues and balsamic. It was yummy an VERY filling. I spiced it up quite a bit with some of Jason's habanero sauce. That stuff is H-O-T!!!

Now we're doing a little last minute house work and getting things ready to go back to work (boo hoo) tomorrow. I hope that everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend and isn't too bummed that it's quickly coming to an end.

Until tomorrow...

Oh Sunday...

Good Morning...
Sunday is upon us and it's kind of depressing. There has been all the build up to the holiday and in a matter of minutes it was over. We have moved back into 'real life' and tomorrow brings going back to work. :( I can't complain too much though because we only work 4 days and then we're off until January 11th!! Chicago here we come...Sunday January 3rd!
Anyway - I kind of left ya hangin last night, but after a veg out session on the couch with the family and this little baby as a substitute to dinner...

We all ended up going to bed pretty early. It was much needed sleep after the crappy night of sleep the night before. Anyway - that was a little piece of my (affectionately called now) vegan pumpkin pie pudding topped with a few little scoops of my very own ice cream flavor...peppermint cookies and cream. The flavor combination was much better than I had anticipated actually. And the whole thing left me feeling full all night.

This morning we woke up to this...

Sadly it won't be enough damage to put off work one more day. St Louis is pretty used to snow by now and it takes more than an inch or two for my work to shut down due to weather. I guess I can handle 4 more days. :D

While Jason and Linsey worked on their puzzle at the table and Regan put one together on the floor...

I did more motherly duties - like make a lovely pot of oats for my loving family!! Blegh...I'm not that mushy really. Lately though I feel like Donna Reed or Carol Brady for all the home cooking and baking I'm doing. I wish I had more time to do it everyday. Being a stay at home mother would be fantastic, but it's just not realistic right now. Anyway - here's my super yummy bowl of oats with half a banana, a scoop of the All Natural Peanut Butter Co.'s White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter (it's starting to grow on me) a handful of chopped walnuts, a drizzle of honey and a shake of cinnamon.

We took the Christmas tree and all the decorations down after breakfast and now the house is slowly getting back to normal. We're going to have a quick lunch of leftover chinese and then Jason is off to do laundry while Regan takes a nap and Linsey and I play Bananagrams.

Enjoy what's left of the holiday weekend.

Real world comes back tomorrow... :(