Nearly three years later I'm going to do another 30 day challenge. A friend of mine from college, Dana, sent me a message asking if I was interested. I told her I need a good kick in the ass to be motivated. So I figured this would be a good way to get myself ready for summer. I haven't felt the best about myself in a while, so I'm making a plan to eat healthier, exercise more, and be more mindful of myself. I did my measurements and compared them to last time I did this, surprisingly they were nearly identical. I was shocked. I feel bigger than I did back in 2015, but I guess it's all in my head! |
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![]() Wildtree - Blue Apron - Hello Fresh Let's start by saying I love to cook. I find it relaxing and enjoyable. Trying new dishes and finding what my family likes gives me a sense of accomplishment. Don't worry; I have made other accomplishments in my life other than dinner on the table! hah However, day after day I find it harder to pick recipes. I get bored easily. I can't eat the same meal over and over in a short span of time. I like variety. Don't get me wrong, I love my favorites too! But with two kids now, I have a little less time to thumb through recipes books. For a couple of years, I did Wildtree. I am now alternating between Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. So here's my personal opinion and breakdown of all three. WildtreeThe concept I liked behind Wildtree is that you attend a Freezer Meal Workshop. You bring your meats and prepped veggies, plus a ton of freezer bags. At the party, you add the spices, seasonings, and oils (all Wildtree brand) to the bags. Recipes and directions are provided. When everything is in the bag, you double bag it, go home and toss it in your freezer. I became a rep because I liked the product. I never marketed myself. I just did workshops with my friends and neighbors when they needed more meals to stock in their freezer! I stopped being a rep because of their policy changes. I no longer sell the stuff, so I can assure you that I am honest in my feedback ;) Pros
Cons
Overall Cost
*Click on the first image to enlarge and you can cycle through them to read the captions/explanations. Blue ApronWith Blue Apron they send you ALL the ingredients you need for recipes except for oil, salt, and pepper. Pros
*Click on the first image to enlarge and you can cycle through them to read the captions/explanations. Hello FreshHello Fresh is VERY similar to Blue Apron. Meals are sent to you on a chosen day of the week. There are just some minor differences between the two. Pros
Cost
*Click on the first image to enlarge and you can cycle through them to read the captions/explanations. In the end, I like them all. I've stopped doing Wildtree because I am finding Hello Fresh and Blue Apron to be a tad more convenient. They are, however, more expensive. Strangely... I've tracked my grocery spending for the last two months, and surprisingly it has not gone up (I place BA and HF in my grocery budget). It's staying right about $150 a week for groceries, which is what we averaged before the meal delivery programs. So, for now, I'm going to continue alternating (based on the week's menu) with meal delivery. I recognize that some of my Pros and Cons are very specific to me and may not happen to others, but I'm just reporting the whole picture! If anyone is interested in trying either Blue Apron or Hello Fresh, I can send you a FREE week! Here is the LINK to the Hello Fresh Code. Just send a request below for Blue Apron. Let me start by saying that I am posting this late. I completed this program right before I left for a trip last week. I typed most of it then. Twenty one days ago (Monday, July 6th) I started the 21 Day Fix. Have I seen results? Yes! Did I stick to the program 100%, no. I stuck to the eating plan Monday-Friday and did my best on weekends, but I slipped up a few times with some treats on Saturdays and Sundays. As far as workouts go, I have never been good at workout videos. I like to dance and I do better when I follow dance moves versus pushups, lunges, etc. So I didn't stick to those very well either. I would say I did pretty good, considering I didn't follow the program to a T. Before After Chest: 30.5" 30.5" R. Arm: 10.5" 10" L. Arm: 10" 10" Waist: 32.5" 30" Hips: 36.5" 35" R. Thigh: 21.5" 18.5" L. Thigh: 21" 18" Total Inches: 162.5 152" Weight: 124.6 118.2 As you can see, I've leaned out a bit in the midsection. This was my goal with trying the 21 Day Fix. I was not trying to lose weight, just lose the baby fat that's been hanging around for 2+ years. I plan to continue following the meal plan and exercising regularly to see how much further I can go! AfterBefore I came across some nice food related items last week. I am always looking for something that make my life a little easier without creating too much unnecessary waste. So I wanted to share these with other moms and dads. ![]() I have been slowly buying little things on sale that my son will need for school. This August he will be attending a pre-school for a few mornings a week. The kids eat lunch at school and so I bought a Pottery Barn Kids Backpack and matching lunchbox when there was a 40% off sale in May. I wanted to find a container that fits in the lunchbox, so I don't have to use plastic baggies every day. I found the Sunsella Bento Boxes on Amazon. It came as a four pack for $14.99. The reviews were good and they don't have yucky chemicals. You'll notice that there is room on the side for a drink pouch or box. My plan is to send a thermos with water (we haven't introduced our son to juice yet).
Yesterday I posted about rehabbing a dresser I found (brand new) for very cheap. I'm not sure if it's a true rehab because the piece was new, but I changed the look to match my son's future big boy bedroom. The dresser itself was $150 (in the store it would be $500 + delivery charges). I bought it from a neighbor who purchased it from the store 6 months ago. See the post HERE.
Below is my finished product. Nothing majorly different, but I feel like it is a much better fit for my son's future bedroom and it's nautical theme. The dresser was $150. The six knobs, rope, and construction adhesive came to $38 at home Depot. What do you think? Before, just in case you didn't see my post from the other day.
I see cutesy rehabs on Pinterest and Facebok all the time and think "Pshht, I don't have time for that!" Well, I am going to attempt to turn a girly dresser in to a more masculine piece for my son this week. I recently got a hold of a brand new white dresser for super-cheap! It would look great in my son's nautical room. Only problem is, it has a girly wave pattern under the top row of drawers. I was initially going to paint the wave blue to match the nautical theme. Then my mom came up with an idea to buy some thick rope to cover the girly wave and switch out the knobs for metal ones that match the other metal elements in his room. So here are the before photos... I started working on it yesterday, but I haven't finished it. I need to refine the details. The new knobs are loose so I think I need some washers and the rope needs to be secured better! Stay tuned for the final product. :)
It can be hard to post photos of one's self for the world to see. No matter what body type, we all have those trouble spots that we don't like. I didn't decide to start this process to lose weight. I am starting it so that I can tone my body in the places I feel that it needs it as well as develop healthier eating habits. Click on the first photo and you can shuffle through them in a larger size (if you really want to see me that close!) As you can see I am not overweight, just lumpy in some places. My belly never went back to it's original state after having my son. Want to see what my belly looked like, exactly 3 years ago? The picture on the left, that was the day I found out I was pregnant with my son, July 1st, 2012. The picture on the right was about 1 month prior, with my husband on the right and my long time friend in the middle. What am I doing to do this? I am attempting the 21 Day Fix. Join me on my journey to get my body back before I get lumpy again ;)
![]() Okay, so my son is nearing 2.5 years old now and I never really did much to get myself back in shape. I did lose most of my baby weight, but I was left a little soft and lumpy. So now, before I travel down the road of motherhood again, I have decided to do something to help myself. I am starting the 21 Day Fix. Many of you know I am not a fan of these programs, but I figured I'd give this one a shot because so many people swear by it. I am not officially starting it until next Monday. Before I start that I am doing a little Belly Buster group. For five days I am eliminating all added sugars. only naturally occurring sugar is allowed. I am pairing it with some ab blasting exercises! Until I looked over the list of "added sugars" I never realized how awful our food is for us! Half of the items in my pantry and refrigerator have some form of added sugar to them. What a disappointment. So I went for a quick shopping trip and brought the list with me. It took me an hour to get a few items for this week, but I was proud of the fact that I stopped and carefully read each label! Do you want to see the list of added sugar??? 56 Different Names for Sugar from Women's Health Magazine. Feel free to follow me over the next month and see my progress :) Back in November we randomly put our house on Zillow's Make Me Move to see what we could sell it for. Four weeks later, it was sold and we had moved out! It happened fairly quickly, we did not expect it to actually happen at all. We did it just to play around. Now five months later we've settled in to our new home in a new city, but not far from where we were. This meant creating a new play space for my son. I have to be honest, I wasn't as motivated this time around. Probably because I was unpacking boxes and arranging an entire home! The new house has one bedroom downstairs, we chose to make that the playroom because it's the main living floor. I used a lot of the same furniture but incorporated a few new things.
The room is set up different and slightly smaller than the old play room so I had to move things around a number of times to get it the way I wanted. These photos show a messy room because my son was just playing in here a few minutes before snapping the photo. I love that he can play and then I can just shut the door if people come over. No, not with him inside... No mess to be seen behind a closed door! the closet is filled with unopened toys, a bookshelf with my old classroom picture books, arts and craft supplies, and larger ride on toys.
![]() Last week I saw a post on my Facebook feed from a newly wed girl I know. Her post named a few things that she would never do once she becomes a mom. It got me to thinking about all the things I said I would "never" do. Becoming a mom changes you. I used to hear this all the time and, frankly, it scared me. I worried that I would lose the parts of my that I loved. The things I enjoyed would be stripped from me. I wouldn't be able to do "cool" things. Life would change and I'd be stuck at home on a Saturday night. I was worried about venturing down the road to parenthood. Two years in to this gig and I have to say that I love it. Yes, my life changed. It changed for the better. I don't care that some of my friends are out at bars, clubs, fancy restaurants on Saturday night. Frankly, none of that even interests me these days. I didn't lose the parts of me that I loved. I am still me. I still get to do the things that make me happy. I have a new joy in my life. My son. I love seeing him happy. I love doing things with him so that he learns about the world around him. Do you know what the most exciting part of my day was on Saturday? My son said "What do I hear?" when a neighbor was mowing his lawn. That may not seem like a big deal, but two year olds are supposed to START saying two-word sentences around this time. He said a FOUR-word, complete, sentence! It was awesome. To people without kids, this probably sounds lame. I can honestly tell you, that as a parent these moments are amazing. If you're not a parent yet, you'll get it one day, I promise! The mommy wars are real unfortunately. It seems like everyone wants to be that perfect mom. Perfect doesn't actually exist. Everyone's perception is different. What is my definition of the "perfect mom?" It is someone who works tirelessly to do what is best for her kid(s). It's someone who admits that she was wrong about what she used to think about parenthood and laughs about it with her friends. It's a mommy who is always learning and doing better. That is the perfect mom, no matter what path they take with their child, as long as they are working in the best interest of their child, in their particular situation. Oh and guess what, sometimes that "perfect mom" is really a dad! I know I had certain ideas about being a mom and they have changed dramatically over the last two years. Experience makes you wiser. You change your mind on a lot of things as you mature and jump head first into this crazy thing called parenthood! Here is a State Farm commercial that reminds me of this whole topic as well. No I was not paid to put this up, it just reminds me of this post I saw the other day... |
AuthorAfter teaching elementary school for nine years I was given the opportunity to stay home with my son. To learn more about what brought me to this point- read my About Nicole page. This blog is dedicated to the adventures of being a stay at home mom and how to fill the days with fun and love. Archives
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