10 on Tuesday | Foods I Eat [Almost] Everyday

Hey, hi, hello! It's time for 10 on Tuesday and I'm on Spring Break! Woop! Woop! 

I pretty much eat the same foods almost every single day (which is not as boring as it sounds, I swear!) and heeeeere they are! 

O N E | Avocado. I can eat avocado plain, but my absolute favorite is avocado toast. I would love to open a food truck that sells fresh juice, with avocado toast on the side--there is just so much you can to with avo toast!! (do you see my passion obsession here?!).

[avocado + tomato + goat cheese]

T W O | Apple cider vinegar. (+ elderberry syrup + lemon).  AKA the "breakfast shot." This would also be included at my food truck. Hello, I need to get this thing rolling (pun intended). Every morning I mix together a tbsp of ACV, a tsp of elderberry syrup and a splash of lemon juice and water, and I never get sick. Promise!  

T H R E E | Oatmeal. My favorite way to eat oatmeal is with a dash of sea salt and extra virgin olive oil. If you think oatmeal is boring, try it with some evoo and you will change your mind. 

F O U R | Eggs. During the week, I'll eat them hard boiled as a quick breakfast or morning snack. On the weekend, Erik makes us bomblettes (bomb omlettes). 

F I V E | Bananas. I'm not the biggest fruit fan, but bananas are my fav because they're not too sweet and go wonderfully with my next favorite food...

S I X | Peanut Butter!! I basically survived on peanut butter while I was pregnant with Sofia, and just recently let her try it for the first time. Can't say I was too surprised with how much she loved it!

S E V E N | Hummus + Veggies. This is the perfect afternoon snack. A little bit of protein, salt, and crunch.

E I G H T | Cheese Sticks. Another one of my favorite snacks. And who doesn't love a cheese stick?! (or two). 

N I N E | Lean protein. Chicken, ground turkey, salmon. We eat one of those with some veggies for dinner every night. Unless it's pizza night, of course. 

T E N | Wine. Because it's usually necessary. And have you seen all the studies about the benefits of red wine?! ;)

Happy Tuesday! xo

Friday 5 | When My Husband Tweets

My husband has a Twitter. My husband is not fully aware of how Twitter works. 

His Twitter feed is a series of tweets to celebrities; and he is left utterly baffled when none of his A-list friends ever respond to him.

Today I bring to you my 5 favorite tweets composed by @erok5150.

O N E | Although Tom Schwartz once retweeted Erik (big day in our house!) Kristen Doute of Vanderpump Rules finds his wit and charm less amusing. 

T W O | Because just imaging Erik (whose preferred music is rap) jammin' to Selena Gomez makes me LOL.

T H R E E | I mean this. 

F O U R | And then this. Should I be concerned or no.  

F I V E | I'm sure getting back to Erik's tweet is on the top of Obama's to do list.

Happy Friday! 

Sofia Belle [17 Months]

17 Months on the 17th. Kind of cool, amiright?!

We are so so lucky this little lady is ours. She has brought more joy into our lives than I could have ever imagined. She is sweet, sassy, and FULL of personality. 

[17 month update]

stats: She is right around 27 lbs. and I'm not quite sure how tall she is. At her last appointment she was 31 inches, so I'm guessing an inch or two over that now.

eating: She is still a pretty good eater. Although she has decided her high chair is for the birds and she'd rather sit at the kitchen table like a big kid, which I love and hate all at the same time.

sleeping: Still sleeping a solid 12 hours. Holla! And she takes one afternoon nap which lasts about 2 hours.

likes: Elmo, bubbles, being outside, being chased around the couch, music, dancing, reading books, animals

dislikes: Taking off her shoes or if you put the wrong pair of shoes on her. Girlfriend has got OPINIONS. 

words: Little Miss says so much, and can pretty much repeat anything you say. Which is awesome until you're holding your child and drop your cell phone and yell, "SHIT!" and then pray she didn't catch what you said (she didn't! mom win!!)

Mom of the Year Moment

We’ve all had them. Those Mom of the Year Moments, where you see your kid letting the dog lick the cracker she’s eating and then eat it herself but are like, “whatever kid, build up your immune system” or when you’re sitting on the floor drinking wine and your child pummels into you and spills wine all over your clothes. And hers. Yep, those moments.

Sofia loves playing with anything and everything, except her toys (of course). However, I will give the gal some credit and say she loves books. But I digress, one of Sofia’s favorite places to play is in the pantry, which is fine and dandy because she can only reach the bottom shelf where all the spices (in plastic jars) are. Letting her fiddle with the spices buys me 5-10 minutes to prep dinner, tidy up the kitchen etc. so I don’t fight her when she insists on opening up the pantry to find her most coveted “toys.” 

While she was playing in the pantry the other day and I was unloading the dishwasher, I noticed she was blowing raspberries. “Oh how cute,” I thought, “she’s doing such a good job entertaining herself!” But then I took a closer look and realized she was just kind of spitting, and her tongue was sticking out, and she was kind of swiping it with her hand. And then I realized in her other hand was GROUND RED PEPPER. SHE GOT GROUND RED PEPPER IN HER MOUTH. (And wow! My 16 month old was able to unscrew the lid of ground red pepper!). I quickly tried to wipe off her tongue with a paper towel (because that works, right?) and gave her some milk to help lessen the heat. She recovered in a matter of minutes. Me on the other hand, took a bit longer as I let it soak in that my child ingested red pepper on my watch.

with a face like that, how can she ever get in trouble?!

Tell me I’m not the only one. What’s your Mom of the Year Moment?

10 On Tuesday | Things I Wish I Was Better At

I love a list (you should see the notes on my iPhone) so I'm linking up with Karli over at September Farm for 10 On Tuesday, and presenting you with 10 Things I Wish I Was Better At.

O N E | Organization. Overall my house is pretty clean, but almost nothing NOTHING is organized. My kitchen cabinets are a disaster, our laundry room is madness, and every closet-a catastrophe. 

T W O | Being less awkward. Small talk is so not my forte. A couple months ago, I saw one of my coworkers out at a store (she didn't see me) but I thought, "Hey! I should go say hi to her instead of avoiding her!" And immediately regretted it, because after the initial "hi!!" I was like oh god now what do I say? "It's super windy today, don't ya think?!"

T H R E E | Curling my hair. Like I'm 27 years old and I just don't get how to do it, and all the YouTube videos in the world couldn't save me.

F O U R | Braiding my hair. Along the same lines as curling my hair, I've watched dozens of YouTube tutorials (I even wasted Sofia's entire naptime once) but it's just not happening for me. 

F I V E | Baking. I am a fabulous cook, but an awful baker. And I know my problem. I hate measuring things, and that's kinda sorta necessary when baking. I once attempted to make Erik's grandma pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving, but had to throw the loaf away after I taste tested it and realized for the umpteenth time, I'm no baker.

S I X | Reading. Okay, it's not like I can't read (I am a teacher, after all) but I want to be that person who reads a new book every month or enjoys reading before bed instead of watching Vanderpump Rules. I recently (2 weeks ago) started reading a new book, but so far have only made it through the prologue...

S E V E N | Running. I soooo want to love running. The weather outside is gorgeous, it's something I can take Sofia to do with me, and overall running is just plain good for ya! But each time I try to get into running, I make it about a month before I start thinking this is really boring. Like, I've seen all these trees, bushes, and cacti before and have heard this song on Pandora 200 times.

E I G H T | Time management. Literally I can't wrap my mind around how anyone has more than one child and gets anything done. Oh wait, they probably have better time management skillz than me. (this is one I'm really truly working on getting better at because I want to do all the things!).

N I N E | Putting away laundry. According to my husband, "Laundry is so easy, just set it and forget it!" Ya okay, and then what? Wait for the laundry fairy to beam down and do the daunting task of actually putting it away? I'm trying to remedy this by doing smaller loads of laundry throughout the week instead of one huge load on Sunday, which inevitably leads to a Mt. Everest of clean, unfolded laundry for the next several days.

T E N | Singing. My singing has brought my daughter to (sad/scared) tears. Enough said. 

Monday Motivation #700by7

Hi friends! I’m teaming up with Erin from Living in Yellow to complete 700 minutes of exercise by April 7. And bonus! Anyone who logs 700 minutes by the 7th will be entered in a contest to win $100 cash. I feel like my physical activity has been lacking (nonexistent) and I haven’t been mindful of my diet lately, so this is the perfect reset. And HELLO, swimsuit season is right around the corner here in Arizona.

A couple weekends ago, my husband and I were watching Shark Tank (one of my fav shows) and the creators of Sworkit were featured. I was hooked (pun intended) immediately. Sworkit is a free app (you can upgrade for $) but so far the free version does everything I could hope for. Basically, you pick if you want a strength, cardio, yoga, or stretching routine (or you can do a combo of all 4) and then choose the time you want the workout to last for (5-60 mins). I have been getting up when my husband does for work (5AM) and completing a 20 minute Sworkit before I get ready. Sometimes it’s kind of painful and hitting snooze sounds a lot better, but I never regret it and it gives me a little burst of energy to make it through my busy day.

After work, since the weather has gotten so nice, Sofia and I go for a 30 minute run/walk around the neighborhood. I load up her stroller with puffs and a bottle of juice, and she is pretty content with that and the scenery (because girlfriend is not the biggest fan of her stroller). Bonus amusement points if we pass any woof-woofs (dogs).

The days I exercise and eat (mostly) healthy, I feel SO much better. I have more energy, I am more productive, and overall am just a more pleasant person. I don’t like the idea of “dieting” I think it’s more important to live a healthy lifestyle, and I would love to share more on what's worked for me and some of my favorite foods/meals. But that’s my plan amigos, and I hope you join me too! 

Happy Monday!

***this post is not sponsored by Sworkit, I’m just kind of obsessed***

Friday 5 // Things My Mother Taught Me

I think it's about darn time I introduce my mama to the blog! Sure, she's made some appearances here & there, but that just won't suffice. My mother is a saint and this is what she's taught me.

O N E // Birds are unpleasant creatures that should be feared. Nothing will send Susan screaming (okay, that's kinda a lie, lots of things will do that actually-shadows, "sneaking" up on her, lizards crawling up through the drain of her bathroom sink) like a bird will. There were lots of episodes in parks, on beaches, where birds invaded our territory and my mom quickly abandoned. One time, when I was about 10 years old, a bird flew into our house. My mom ran out of the house, leaving my younger sister and I not quite sure what to do...because OBVIOUSLY we were afraid of birds too. In case you're wondering, our neighbor had to come over and chase the bird out of our house with a broom.

T W O // You can make a poor man's tomato soup using ketchup and water. I have mentioned this to Erik countless times throughout our relationship, but we have yet to try the ketchup water soup. (because how expensive is normal tomato soup anyway?!)

T H R E E // Gas stoves are very dangerous and you will blow up if you use one. I had to have been 6 years old when one day my mom told me to draw a picture of myself. And then told me to rip it up. She explained to me this is what would happen if I ever touched our gas stove. I am 27 years old and I still will not touch a gas stove.

F O U R // If something is on sale (ex. 2/$5) it doesn't mean you have to buy TWO!! Silly me in the grocery store thinking that I had to throw 2 of everything in my mom's shopping cart to get deals & steals. A glaring look from mom & a quick math lesson taught me you can still get said discounts, even if you only buy one of whatever is on sale, imagine that! I taught Erik this lesson recently when he almost bought two 3 packs of gum and I threw one out of the grocery cart at checkout (because who needs that much gum?! me, probably actually). Erik looked at me confused, until I explained to him what Susie had taught me long ago. He was amazed.

F I V E // (I saved the best for last) Don't make a sex tape. I'm not kidding. She told me this. And she might try and deny, but she did. She even had a reason, "Because they always get out." 

Love you, mom!