Enjoy Your Weekend

All my Juice Plus+ friends are at the big conference in Phoenix this weekend and I am completely jealous. They are learning some great new information about new bonuses and some delicious protein bars!!! Meeting people like Dr. Sears...I mean come on he is America's pediatrician!! I am in awe of all the knowledge they will bring back and hopefully share so we can put it to good use. Hopefully I will be able to attend the next one in Memphis?

Have the best weekend and enjoy some links too:

Have troubles with allergies? Well we don't any more.

It would be horrible to be these parents, not because I think what they did was wrong but because everyone else does.

A year without sugar? hmmmm

Vaccinations 

Marriage is work and anyone you tells you different is lying

I've been debating going back to school, but Dr. Sears as a Health Coach Certification Class? hmmm

One Year Ago: Allergies

One year ago today my son, Bubbie, was battling allergies. Not just a little sniffle here and there, not just a runny nose....NO he was battling thru tears for no reason, eyes so puffy he could barely see out of them, eye boogers, nose boogers, runny and stuffy nose, sneezing and coughing so much you would have thought a piece of his lung might come up. We went to the doctor almost every week it seemed. They had him on all kinds of allergy meds; eye drops ($100 eye drops that made him scream every time we put them in, "it burns mommy!!!" heart broken), nose spray, liquid meds to take every 6 hrs and an inhaler because he could barely breath at times. I felt so bad for my little man that wanted nothing more than to run and play outside with his friends. Who we signed up for t-ball but had him pumped so full of meds that he could barely enjoy himself thru the daze of it all. 

Needless to say it was a horrible spring last year. We received some relief from the meds and added some homeopathic methods, Hylands and honey; but it was still a very tough battle. My Juice Plus+ sponsor told me the story of her son's asthma and allergies and how he has seen relief from taking JP+. At that time I had already been taking JP+ for a year and was using it sporadically with my children. I don't know why I wasn't more consistent with them? Maybe because I still thought it was a fluke that I was feeling so much better? I was already paying for the product so I decided to go full force with Bubbie taking JP+. Two garden/green gummies and two orchard/red gummies, everyday...along with everything else he was prescribed. It felt like it was too much at times, but we pressed forward and by June he was feeling better and we lightened up on most of the meds but kept up with our JP+. As the year progressed we saw little differences in him here and there; the non vegetable eater was resisting less and tried and loved kale. He didn't seem as sick as he used to be; yes he got the sniffles during the winter but no flu or even missed school days like the year before where he got the flu even though he got a flu shot. Actually we skipped the flu shot for the whole family this year (not consciously just life getting in the way). No flu for anyone. Maybe the Juice Plus+ wasn't a fluke...It wasn't anything I could measure for you, nothing specifically that I could pin point ans say YES this is it. But...

Here we are a year later, just look at him up there! Happy smiling, able to play outside and not feel horrible. We still use Hylands, but on a as needed basis, not everyday just to live. He still has a bit of a stuffy nose, but again nothing like the year before. Are his allergies gone forever? Probably not, but does he feel 100% better than last year, heck ya! We have been doubling up his Juice Plus+ the last few weeks just to be sure we were ready for allergy season (4 of each, no worries about ODing, who can OD on whole fruits and vegetables!?). I hope that maybe next year we wont need allergy meds at all. This is a huge win for us. I was able to sign him up for t-ball again and not worry that he wont be able to enjoy himself. 

It was this little change that we made for him that made a HUGE difference. I only wish I would have listened to my own body sooner. If I was feeling better taking JP+ then of course my kids would be. Luckily the Juice Plus+ company is so committed to getting kids healthy that they have the Children's Health Study where kids (age 4 to college) can get JP+ FREE for four years, with an Adult sponsor!! That is a huge cost savings to our family, but more than that it is an amazing commitment to our kids health and well being. 

This is our story with Juice Plus+ and while I was probably the most skeptical person in the beginning I can see now how much JP+ has changed our family's health and lifestyle. Not everyone may have the same results as us, but this is working for us so "if it aint broke don't fix it"...we will continue on our JP+ journey!

Do you have allergies?

Enjoy Your Weekend

If this rain would ever let up! It would be nice to see less of these forts all over the house. they were so cute at first but now they are just another thing for me to clean up. Hopefully this weekend we will get some relief. Lots to do...

Bento Lunched for the kids: Pesto Chicken sand, carrots, baby bel and homemade granola bars

Was prettier in the pan, but eggs, with spinach, tomatoes and garlic. 

I forgot how delicious ants on a log are, and even better with Justin's Almond Butter!!!

Vitamin A is good for your eyes! 

Links:

Well you know I love a good egg!

LOVE comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, genders and whatever

Cincinnati's Reds Opening Day is the bestest!

Fun idea to get a kid started with journaling and just being creative

Enjoy the day, enjoy your life!

Zoodles

A love story of how noodles and zucchini made a delicious meal...

Hehehe, sorry for some reason that was much funnier inside my head ;) Oh well, I am just getting started with the Bikini Body Mommy Challenge and while sadly I have had to adjust almost every single meal (it's my sudo vegetarianism getting in the way and trying to make meals my kids will actually eat). But besides all of that I have really liked it! I know sounds crazy but it is a great start for me, who is already a cook to just get an idea of what we should eat. She has these great shopping lists for the whole week and the meal number is listed next to each ingredient so I can take away and add quickly to the list. It is like having the blue print for the house but you have to add the wall color, trim, and maybe make a room bigger or smaller...but anyway back to zoodles. This was not one of our meals this week and actually I didn't even read her blog post on it? Bad blogger I should do that, maybe her idea is better than mine? But the title really stuck with me and I created this meal that was amazingly gobbled up by my kids!!! and me

Sliced up a big zucchini with my mandolin into little string spaghetti. Side note: should have peeled the skin off and then maybe the kids wouldn't have realized this was zucchini?

Made some homemade pesto: basil, pine nuts, garlic, parm, olive oil, squeeze of lemon and water; blend the crap out of that!

I made noodles separate and then sautéed the zucchini in a non stick pan with a little pesto so that it would get tender. Added more pesto to taste.

For the noodles I added pesto and reserved a little pasta water to help thin out the sauce and make sure everything gets covered. I kept everything separate at first pending a disaster at the dinner table. 

Then viola ...zoodle love. Pesto, noodles and zucchini and my kids loved every second of it and actually asked why we didn't have to have veggies with dinner. HAHAHAHA little did they know!

Add this one to the rotation. 

linked here:

Miz Helen's Country Cottage

http://www.thepinjunkie.com/ 

Rattlebridge Farm

Serenity Now

Enjoy Your Weekend

I think about meat a lot right now. I guess because I can't have it...but it comes up more often in conversation than I even imagined. I think i was going thru a meat detox period there for the first two weeks. I felt weak, irritable and slow? Hard to explain but at first I thought maybe it was because I wasn't getting enough protein, so I really upped my game on adding as much protein as I could to everything. Finally someone said I was like an addict going thru withdraw and it made sense. My body was used to what I fed it, meat and lots of it. Now that it wasn't getting it, it was mad. I just had to give it time to figure out that what I was giving it was enough. I talked with a doctor friend and she said that for a female like me 50g of complete proteins were sufficient. I talked to a trainer and she said that was fine but for muscle gain and weight loss I should try and get at least 100g (even eating meat that is hard). But I am working on it...if you have any bright ideas let me know!

Broccoli, edamame, caramelized onions and orzo = 20g of protien!

And now some links to make it all better....

I think a lot about this, kids should be left to their own devices within reason and I think that is very important.

I think I should sew something this weekend? I think we all should

Kid lunch box rut, fix it bento style ;)

Go Dayton (not actually a fan but all my other teams have nee knocked out so I have to route for my state)

A friend and I have been doing the Bikini Body Mommy challenge and just started the meal planner, will let you know how it goes! Of course as a veggie and primary cook I have had to alter every single step, but at least she gives me a start....

An amazingly written open letter to the archdioceses in Cincinnati

15 more links here and well I love this site so you should too

Carol Filming right outside my office!!

Review: Sung Korean Bistro

Happy birthday to one of my big brothers, he would say favorite and I would say maybe :)

As a treat we took him out for lunch to his favorite downtown restaurant, Sung Korean Bistro. This place has all the charm of an old Korean restaurant and well the food is pretty awesome as well. Also late night this place seems to become the mecca for all the dinning industry to come and have a drink. It must be their infused house Sake. That can really pack a punch!

But today we could only come for the food. No sitting criss-cross style at the mini tables. Just a quick celebratory bite to eat. 

If you do have to sit on the floor, at least their chairs have the backs!

When you order your food they bring out a little appetizer plate that usually has three samples of very traditional Korean food. Kimchi, seaweed salad, roasted potato...all very yummy little treats while you wait. My brother and I order the same meal every time, the Dolsat Bibimbab. It is basically a hot stone bowl, like flaming hot still cooking the food hot bowl of deliciousness. They add rice, vegetables and your choice of meat than top it all off with a sunny side up egg. To kick up the heat level they add a red chili bean paste when they stir the bowl for you. Yes you read that right they stir your food for you! Now if they could just feed me too. 

This picture is steamy, that's how hot the food was. PS I had to get tofu which is not as delicious as the meat, sad replacement for their delicious meat. What is so great about the heat of the bowl is that it sort of burns the rice. But not in a gross inedible way, in a way that makes you want to eat every last bite of that rice. In fact I wont let them stir mine right away just so the rice can have a little more time to get a good crust on it. 

They do have other lovely items on the menu such as sushi and noodles, I have tried most of them. But I always come back to my stone bowl. It is comforting, warm, filling and very yummy in my tummy. 

Big thumbs up for this place if you are looking for dinning options in downtown Cincinnati! 

Guess Who Fast Tracked to VF?

I have been completely bogged down with work lately; I have officially taken on too much. I am now currently a full time mother, cook, cleaner, 9-5 worker and Juice Plus+ VF with high hopes of becoming a sales coordinator! Oh and wanna be blogger, grocery shopper, dog walker x2, part time vegetarian, babysitter, wife (whoops that came late in the list) and friend (sadly that came even later). I feel like this list could get longer but I will spare you as I am very sure that we are all fighting our own battles of finding the balance. So to say the least the world has been spiraling out of control lately. Sort of in a terrible way as I hate feeling stressed, but sort of in a good way too. I have been working towards goals and accomplishing them.

Bought pizza for everyone else, and left over salad and 

cauliflower for me = dissatisfied vegetarian meal

Goal: Fast Track to JP+ Virtual Franchise

Short JP break down:

• All JP+ reps start out as distributors; earning the difference between the whole sale price of the product and the retail price. 
• Next you work to become a direct distributor (about 10 sales) and that is when you start earning commission. 
• Next comes VF where you earn retail sales profit, commission and performance bonus. 
• I choose the fast track method, which comes with extra bonus money.
• I had sixty days to get 1 other person signed up to be a distributor and about 20 sales between the two of us; STRESS-ola

Double JP+ capsules for stressful days in my smoothie and in my body

Initially for me I was still grappling with the idea of even asking my friends to purchase JP+ let alone asking them if they wanted to join my team and sell with me! It took me two years of taking JP+ to even consider the idea of selling...It is a scary thing to sell. Luckily I have an AMAZING sponsor and JP+ as a company has made everything easy for me...like really too easy, do they just like giving me money? After throwing two parties and being able to tag myself and guests on to other parties in the area I was able to reach my goal! I stressed a little bit at the end trying to get that last sale to push me over. But honestly I shouldn't even call it sales, I feel like I am just sharing what is working for us with luckily some awesome research to back it up. You can either buy into it or not. I say at the end, every time I talk with someone new about JP+,  "If you walk away with nothing more than the idea of eating more fruits and veggies and drinking more water, than I have done my job!" That feels like the truth, it is the truth and what I really want. I understand that for some it might be expensive to purchase JP+ and for others they wonder if the benefit is real even with all the research. That is their choice to make but I am glad that I gave them the choice. 

In my heart my goal has changed as I have pushed to fast track to sales coordinator. Yes the money has been nice, but the new friends I have made and the feeling I get that I am actually helping people with their families health is way better. See I do "buy into" the hoopla! My family has seen noticeable differences, I don't have to read the research to know that and that is enough for me.

Salad, zucchini steak and sweet potato mash with avocado = very satisfying 

Moving forward I am trying to let go of the stress and be happy with the progression of my life. This was just one goal and I nailed the first piece. I just have to keep focused and enjoy the journey. 

Quick plug: Message me on Facebook if you have been thinking about over extending yourself lately and want to have warm in fuzzies inside like me :) I have the inside track to the most fun team in the Cincinnati Area!

Onward and upward!

Last Week

This is how last week went, and how this week is lining up to be...better blogging tomorrow.

Enjoy Your Weekend

Read this article and you will understand the above line. Also understand why this week I just didn't have the time to blog as much as I would have liked. Real work got in the way and well life. I guess I can't do it all :)

Have you ever over extended yourself before?

Review: St. Williams Fish Fry

Yes it is that time of year again! When all the Cincinnatian's gather underneath each church to enjoy a good old fish fry. During lent this is really the main event each Friday church's boast about their amazon fish fry offerings, trying to gather more than just the usual parishioners. They have music and local radio stations and celebrities stopping by to boost sales and hopefully raise money for the church. In fact for some churches this is a bigger money maker for them than their annual fund?! 

My hubs family attends St. Williams so this is where we usually end up each week. I guess I am bias when I say that their fish fry is the best. Yes we have tried others, and while I am not a big fried food anything girl I like St. Williams and that might be for one reason...they have crab cakes!!! I feel like all the fish fry's offer the same pretty basic items; fried anything fish, but this is the only crab cake in town. 

The kiddo shares the shrimp platter with her brothers and then she works the bake sale or helps deliver food. We are not members of this church but they welcome her help with open arms and she loves it, even makes a tip or two. 

If you have never attended one of Cincinnati's many fish fry's I highly recommend you do. You may not make it out to St. Williams on the west side but there are plenty to choose from around the city. Some you go for the food and others you go for the good company and a time to sit with the family and just relish in the season. Fried food may not be your thing, but like I have said before I love arbitrary rules (only eat fish on Fridays). It makes for a nice family tradition :)

Genius Smoothie Moment

I absolutely hate cleaning my blender, getting it out and using it all together. But with this Juice Plus+ Complete Smoothie kick I have been on it has been a necessary evil...well until now! I found something that works a little bit quicker for me in the morning and is also very easy to clean. 

TADA!!!

I grabbed the glass from my french press thru all my ingredients in (today was raspberries, JP+ vanilla protein, and my two orchard and two garden JP+ pills with coconut milk) and used my immersion blender to whip it all together. Quick and easy! Clean us was the even easier since I run the dishwasher everyday (product of three kids) I put the glass in the wash rinse the blender in the sink or put water the glass and blend that up with soap and every thing is clean no washer needed!  

It felt very AHA! for me this morning :) don't know if this would work with the green smoothie though since they need to be chopped up pretty finely but perfect for today's smoothie.  Quick update on the smoothie train: delicious and filling (even with just milk and protein)!! Maybe I will even weigh myself this week? 

Enjoy your weekend

Explain to me why the kid who eats right only gets a tiny ladder and the dog walker wins the game? Doesn't seem fair to me. hahaha oh well this weekend is lining up to be pretty fun. I am helping a friend work her Tower Garden table at the Learning Through Play conference downtown. It is a great event where they focus on open-ended play to help children learn to love learning on their own. Gardening can be a powerful tool for learning at any age!

Some Links to make the day go faster!

Words are a powerful thing, be careful what you say.

I try to use as much of the fruit and veggies we buy but I didn't know I might be throwing out the most nutritious parts?!

Quinoa is a super food/protein, that the whole family can agree on!

The most gorgeous man from my childhood is also a vegan, I'm very impressed and well he has an Oscar now.

Debating doing this cleanse, bought the online book and the pictures alone were worth it!

I'll admit that I have not always been the most understanding when it comes to food allergies since I love all things food, but this gave me a little perspective.

"We can choose every day whether to let life's little inconveniences make us miserable, or we can choose to smile and carry on. Better still, we can decide to try to make the world a better place; to lend a hand instead of pointing a finger."

Play a learning game this weekend! Even on the iPad :)

Vegetarian Days

OK so I am only two days into being a vegetarian (I guess actually a pescetarian since I am allowing fish) and I wanted to give a quick update. My meals have been going like this:

• Juice Plus+ Complete Protein Shake for Breakfast 
• Fruit or veggie snack
• Sensible Lunch
• Fruit or veggie snack
• sensible dinner

Lets summarize this in pictures...

First day lunch: left over quinoa, mixed with arugula, red peppers and radishes. I put a little tikka masala sauce on it too. I would say DELISH!

Dinner: Green chili roasted chick peas (literally thru a can of green chilies in a skillet with the chick peas and some garlic with a little water and roasted them) served over top red peppers, cottage cheese and broccoli. Chick peas were great, but what was I thinking with the cottage cheese?!

Lunch day two: This was a recipe from that cleanse I mentioned. I don't know if I am ready to go full throttle on the cleanse but I am definitely going to be adding some of the recipes during my veggie stage. 

Dinner: I was in kid transit mode between tutoring, soccer and a volleyball tournament so we had to eat the shoe leather subway. Not completely terrible, but I had to get every veggie there was just to fill the thing up! Of course Kiddo got bacon on hers and shoved it in my face every second she could; the little bugger. Sadly they lost their game but we ate mini DQ Blizzards to make up for it. 

For breakfast every morning I have been making different variations of the Juice Plus+ Complete Protein shake. These have been surprisingly filling. I am actually testing this shake as a weight loss technique? I work out pretty regularly but have plateaued with my weight loss. I really hate the idea of a diet, I mean I hear diet and I want to eat a pint of ice cream... So this has worked out nicely since it has just become a meal replacement and it is full of good stuff for me! I will let you know how it goes, I mean I am only two days in folks. 

Could you give up meat?

Quick Cute Baby Shower

I just had to share a quick post about my friends baby shower this weekend. It is always such a good time to get together with these girls. We don't always hang out and party like we used to and life has really taken us in different directions but it is nice to be able to show up to these events and pick up right were you left off. I haven't always felt like a part of the group sometimes. 

After high school I moved away got wild and crazy, came home got more wild and crazy and got knocked up and disappeared. I made the choices and am happy with where I am now and happy with this close friends I have now, but sometimes it is hard to feel a part of a group when you don't see them all that often and don't have those "stories" to tell from back in the day. I Was the first to have a kid so I left the party early. Lost a lot of friends because of it, but I guess it means the ones I have now are better? I hope so, but I digress. Baby shower...very fun and cute. They Threw it at Tres Belle Cakes, the cutest little bakery shop in Reading. 

Yummy food provided by Tres Belle

Baby boy presents!!!

Three kinds of puppy chow in the cutest doggy bowls! Cake bater was my favorite!

A dog made out of flowers, too freaking cute!

Rolled diapers a must and cute wash cloth puppies. 

Slugs, and snails and puppy dog tails; that's what little boys are made of. We have a couple of favorite baby items in our house; peek a boo blocks, the bumbo chair, honest diapers, and cars, lots of cars. I have a solution for those toys that make too much noise too. 

What are your must haves for baby?