Babyland General

Sometimes, you plan things as a mom with high hopes and big expectations. But your child has other plans - like being a booger. A big, green booger. :)

This day was one of those instances.
I loved - like LOVED - Cabbage Patch kids when I was little.
The dolls, the video, the songs, the SMELL(!!!).
I mean these little dolls were toy royalty to me.
So, when we decided to spend the day at Babyland General - aka. the Cabbage Patch hospital - I was really excited for her to share a little piece of the excitement.

I wasn't expecting her to fully understand everything, but I thought she would love to see all the different dolls, and even watch a Cabbage Patch be "born."
(A kinda creepy little instance, but cute if you let it be ha :) )

But instead we arrived, and immediately watched a little doll be born. She seemed to really like it, was interested in what the nurse was saying, and the lights and baby heads sticking out of cabbage leaves. But once that girl got to walking, she was straight up, hot mess express.
We're talking - throwing $80 baby dolls on the floor and running away.
And tears lots of tears.
It was a case of toddler tired.

So, needless to say - we spent a lot of time outside of the doll hospital to avoid having to purchase several $80 Cabbage Dolls and onlookers. But even though she was a hot mess, she looked pretty cute and managed to experience a little piece of my childhood. Luckily, there's always next time - and next time, we'll schedule a nap beforehand. :)

 

On the Menu

I don't know about y'all, but I'm kinda fascinated by what other people eat during the day.

I think it's because I feel like I'm in such a routine and constantly eat the same things over and over again. But I'm always on the look out for new, healthy meal ideas for us to try as a family to spice things up in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, the things we make for dinner are really good and healthy. And I'm not just saying that, they legitimately taste good - not bland and boring like I thought healthy food was suppose to taste for so long.

Through my journey of learning to be more health conscious and through coaching, I found some really good, healthy recipes that I love and even my picky husband will eat with no complaints. I don't feel awful eating them, but I also feel satisfied when done. I don't feel deprived like I was used to for so long.

So, I thought it would be fun to share what's on our menu this week and share what I eat in a day. And maybe, y'all can snag some of the recipes that we've tested, tried, and fell in love with for you to try at home too. And I'm totally not opposed to recipe swaps going on either - this girl right here is in need of some new ones, so bring on the healthy foods!

Before I share our menu for the week, I'll give y'all a little back story.

Many of you probably already know - I lost a lot of weight doing 21 Day Fix.

Even though I've lost most of my weight I have to lose (still a work in progress), I still follow the same 21 Day Fix eating plan. Yep, you read that right. Even though I quit coaching, it's still the plan I follow. Why? Because it just works really well for me.

Totally not trying to sell anybody on the program, but my honest thoughts on it - it taught me how to eat RIGHT. After having a bun in the oven and gaining a lot of weight, my body struggled with losing the extra pounds I put on. I tried counting calories and logging my food every day, but over a span of eight weeks, I essentially got no where. Talk about a punch in the gut. It took the wind right out of my sails, and I felt defeated. Finally, I gave 21 Day Fix a try, and it was just what my body needed. I learned pretty quickly, that it wasn't my body struggling to lose weight, it was me being uneducated about what my body needed - and probably more so about what my body didn't need.

I was eating a lot of carbs - yes, beans and corn are carbs, and there is such a thing as too much cheese and avocado. Heartbreaking for a girl that loves her some Mexican food. This plan just helps me keep my portions in check, and helps me stay on track with what food groups I need to eat. Does that mean it works for everybody? No way! It might, but there are plenty of other healthy options out there. This is just what works for me, and what I find easiest to follow.

(And honestly - I might have some Beachbody coaches want to kill me for saying this - you can totally do the 21 Day Fix meal plan without signing up for 21 Day Fix - minus the workouts and group accountability if that's what you're into.)

So, keep that in mind as you're looking through my plan and checking it out in case you're wondering how I decided what to eat and how much to eat at each meal or snack. 

Disclosure: I'm totally not an expert at this, I'm just sharing what works for me right now. :)

Breakfast

Meal Replacement Shake - Typically, I have my meal replacement shake at this time - especially when I'm working because it's so quick and easy to do as we rush out the door. I use a blender to mix it up, and add spinach in to give my body some extra veggies. Right now, I'm drinking Shakeology - but have been doing a lot of research on other meal replacement shake options too to try out in the future. There's not an end-all, be-all option out there for meal replacement shakes (even though I probably said there was when I was coaching). It's just my current shake of choice right now.

Snack

Red grapes (1 cup) - I have my first snack around 10am. I like having a fruit at this time since I'm not super hungry, but I know my body needs some fuel in order for me to make it to lunch. This week, I'm having grapes since they were on sale. I try and buy only fruits that are in season. If not, I'd go broke in the produce department!

Lunch

Oven Roasted Chicken Sausage & Veggies w/ Quinoa - This is probably one of my favorite lunches EVER. It's so easy and quick, plus it's so easy to make in a really big batch to prep for the entire week. I wanted something really simple and easy this week since it'll be really busy trying to get ready for our family vacation. I'll probably do a post about this meal in the future, but really all you have to do is cut up chicken sausage and whatever veggies you like, roast them in the oven and serve over quinoa. I like to have it with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt and a squeeze of lime juice. 

SO yummy!

Snack

Green Apple + Deli Turkey - I've been splitting this snack up in the afternoon. I was having a green apple with Greek yogurt as my protein, but I found that it was a lot of sugar that honestly left me feeling starved by dinner time. So to switch out one protein for another, I added in the deli turkey before my afternoon workout for an energy boost. After my workout, I've been having my other fruit for the day, which is a green apple since they are relatively cheap too!

Dinner

I pick three or so dinners to make each week. We never ate leftovers before, but the more leftovers we eat, the less this girl has to slave away in the kitchen. So needless to say, me and leftovers are pretty tight these days. Since we're going on vacation next week, I wanted to use some things up in our fridge and pantry. This is what I came up with that worked really well. I'll share the recipe links too, and yes - these are all healthy meals - even the lasagna roll-ups(!!!).

Meal One - Grilled Chicken w/ Roasted Veggies + Wild Rice

Summer has got me wanting all things grilled! I was buying chicken for our enchilada soup, so to use the other half of the value pack, I thought we could grill out one evening with some marinated chicken. We had some fresh green beans leftover from the previous week in our fridge that needed to be eaten, and I had a box of wild rice in the pantry too. I absolutely love wild rice, so instead of piling it on my plate like I used to, I just measure out my portion now before eating. :)

Meal Two - Enchilada Soup

This meal I kinda threw together. I combined a few of our favorite Crockpot soups to come up with this one, and it's pretty darn delicious. We had some enchilada sauce in our pantry, so I thought Enchilada Soup would be perfect and inexpensive too. Plus! It will last us at least two nights. (yay, leftovers!) I'll do an independent post about this goodie too, but for now - here are the ingredients, and literally, you dump it in the Crockpot for 8 hours on low and hit the road.

Ingredients: Three chicken breasts, two 10 oz. cans of enchilada sauce, one 14 oz. can of black beans, one 7 oz. can of diced green chile peppers, one 14 oz. can of fire roasted tomatoes, one 10 oz. can of Rotel🌶, one cup of frozen corn, one diced green pepper, one 14 oz. can of chicken broth, two tbsp. of minced garlic, one packet of taco seasoning. 
Serve with any combination of the following . . .
Avocado, Shredded Cheese,Tortilla Strips,Plain Greek Yogurt, Cilantro, Squeeze of Lime Juice

[Serving size 1 1/2 cups]

Meal Three - Lasagna Roll-ups

Never in a million years would I have guessed that any kind of lasagna would be healthy.

But I learned that it's all in how you make it and how much you actually eat.

I found this recipe pretty early on when I first started 21 Day Fix, and I've gone back to them several times for an easy meal that lasts us two nights. I already had marinara sauce, ground turkey meat, frozen spinach, and whole wheat lasagna noodles on hand, so this one was an easy one to add to our menu this week.

Confessions of a Fit Foodie blog is one of my absolute FAVORITE places to find yummy healthy meals. They're all 21 Day Fix approved too, which is nice for the 21 Day Fixers. But really, my husband likes most every meal I've made from her blog, and he's not worried about healthy eating one little bit. It's been such a game changer for us in the evenings. 

I like to add an extra veggie with this one, so since zucchini is SUUUUUPER inexpensive, I'll roast some in the oven while the lasagna bakes.

Spinach and Sausage Lasagna Roll Ups Recipe

So, that's it y'all.

Easy, healthy, and yummy.

What are some of y'all's go-to healthy weeknight meals or snacks?

I'd love to hear them!

Our Summertime To-Do

It's summertime and the living is easy.

And that girl right there, yeah - she's been living it up.

I'm not even going to bother telling y'all how nice it is to have summer's off as a teacher. 

Because quite frankly, my non-teacher friends might give me a good ol' kick in the rear.

All I will say, it's really, really nice.

(but totally deserved after a long school year, am I right teacher friends?)

I feel like through all of the end of the school year chaos, with Harper getting sick so much over the past year, with me putting home life on the back burner - follow up post about why I quit Beachbody coming next week by the way! - I feel like our house has been held up by sticks and string. We look like we have our life together when you walk in, just don't open any cabinets or closets. Can you say JUNK CITY!? So, my hopes and goals for the summer are to get back on track, simplify our home and clean the dang thing. So come the end of July, when I'm in full on back to school mode, we won't be living in hidden junky chaos. 

But through all of the house chores, I want to make sure our time this summer is used to the MAX.

I want Harper to have fun and for us to make memories as a family. I want Cody and I to focus on our relationship. I want to visit friends and family. I want to take care of myself and grow. There's just so much to do, and if I don't write it down and set some goals, this sweet little time of year will quickly slip away and I'll be in back in the classroom before I know it.

So, I've set some goals, a to-do list if you will, to help us kick TOTAL BUTT this summer. I thought it would be fun to set it up like I did my 101 in 1,001 list - just not as lengthy. :)

Start: May 24, 2017

End: July 26, 2017

Family Fun

1. Food Truck Friday

2. Have a picnic at the park

3. Pick blueberries/black berries

4. Play in the sprinkler

5. Go on vacation - Rosemary Beach

6. Visit Babyland General

7. Take Harper to the Game Ranch

8. Have a cookout with family

9. Celebrate July 4th

10. Make cookies with Harper

11. Take Harper to have lunch with Daddy

12. Visit with Nannie

13. Go to the Farmer's Market

14. Have family pictures taken

15. Go get ice cream

Cody + Me

16. Celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary

17. Have a movie night

18. Go on TWO dates in July

19. Have a parent's night out with the besties

20. Read a book together

Friends

21. Splash pad!

22. Attend friend's birthday party

23. Have a cookout with friends

24. Play outside past bedtime (Harper's, not mine :P)

Personal

25. Workout five-six times a week (at least)

26. Eat healthy

27. Read six books

28. Take time for myself (blogging, workout out, relaxing, etc.)

Home Cleaning

28. Maintain clean kitchen

29. Pick up living room/playroom daily

30. Clean bathrooms once a week

31. Pick up Harper's room daily

32. Clean and maintain our bedroom

Simplifying

33. Organize kitchen cabinets + junk drawers and under sink

34. Pack away some of Harper's old toys

35. Organize foyer closet

36. Organize hall closet

37. Pack away Harper's old clothes, organize closet

38. Donate household items to Goodwill

39. Organize guest room and future playroom

40. Organize/simplify below bathroom cabinets

41. Donate old clothes, organize closets and drawers

_______________

I've kinda already knocked a few things off of this list since I posted it later than I wanted, but hey - nothing wrong with getting a little head start on our summer to-do. :) 

What's on y'all's summer bucket lists? I can't wait to here and maybe add to ours!

Why I Quit Beachbody Coaching | Part One

Sharing this has been on my mind for awhile now - two months actually.

Without blogging though, I wasn't sure how to share this story before now.

But since I've hopped back into the blogging world, it feels like the time is right.

I have so much that I do want to say, but feel like if I threw it all into one post it would feel overwhelming and get lost. So with that being said, I'm breaking this chapter up into a few different parts, starting today with why I really started coaching to begin with.

I'll kinda rewind a bit to the end of July.

I was really struggling losing my baby weight, and was the heaviest I had been - without a baby in my belly - in my entire life. It was taking a toll on my emotional well-being - I wasn't present in my life with my family because I felt so insecure about my health and my body. I felt very stuck, which is the absolute worst. I was introduced to Beachbody - 21 Day Fix specifically - and made my mind up that I was really going to stick with this program, take it seriously, to see if it would really work for me. And it did - it really did. I was amazed, shocked, felt incredible - I finally felt unstuck and healthy. I share about my first two round results here in a
P O S T.

With signing up for 21 Day Fix, I also signed up for Shakeology - meal replacement shakes that are recommended with all of the Beachbody programs. When I signed up, I was offered the opportunity to sign up as a "discount coach" - saving me money each month on my shakes, which seemed pretty pricey at first glance. I was all about saving money, so I said "yes!" to being a discount coach no problem. At this point, I had no desire to coach anybody - I couldn't even get my own health and fitness in check - I was strictly in it for the discount.

After my first two rounds, I was approached about taking my discount coach status up to actually coaching. My sister was interested in the program after hearing about my results, so why not slide her in under me as a coach. I wasn't sure what the whole coaching thing consisted of, but the idea of making money doing what I was already doing sounded good in my book. It seemed as simple as posting about it on social media and making money. That's it. And honestly, the idea of making money came at a really good time. We were struggling a little bit financially since I took twelve weeks of maternity leave (unpaid weeks). I felt the need to contribute to our family, and as stressed, I would be doing what I was already doing anyway. So, by the end of August - I signed up my first two discount coaches - my sister and best friend. I posted about becoming a coach H E R E. 

After saying "yes!" to coaching - all of a sudden I was in a whole new world that I didn't even know existed - the world of network marketing. The only social media account I had was Instagram, so I really had no clue how flooded it had become with independent business owners trying to make a few extra bucks. Suddenly, I joined Facebook, started participating in team calls, was invited to coaching groups and trainings, and I was posting  multiple times a day about my health and fitness journey trying to convince people why they should take their health and fitness seriously too. 

Posting daily was NEW to me. I maybe would post every day, but sometimes not at all. The same girl who wouldn't post pictures of herself hardly with her family was all of a sudden going selfie crazy showing off her tiny little "guns" and sharing pictures of what she looked like sweaty. I was posting about why I was coaching - to change lives - nothing about making money, which was really the real reason I started to be honest. In a matter of one to two months, I went from an insecure new mom to confident, selfie posting, transformation picture sharing, flood your Instagram and Facebook account salesman without trying to be "too salesy." It was pretty freaking incredible how fast my mentality changed once I was I entered Beachbody world.

^ looks SO annoying now and embarassing ^

But I really think part of why I said "yes!" to coaching was to make money, but I feel like I also needed a purpose. I had started a new job in July - EIP teacher at a new school - I wasn't in the classroom like I was used to and I had no friends yet at my new school. I was searching for something to give me meaning since I felt so weird and out of place about not having my own classroom, plus losing my familiar teaching community. Coaching kinda just slid right in there at the right time. 

Eventually my business grew and I was seeing so much success. I was seeing my bank account be deposited with money I never thought I would get. I was staying up super late, I was adding strangers on Facebook, I was messaging girls and trying to convince them that they wanted to feel as amazing as me too. I was a completely different person. And then one day - I had enough.

Catch up on reading...

Previous "Why I Decided to Become a Coach and Why I Decided to Quit" posts below.

ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR