It's My Birthday and My Kids Will Cry if They Want Too

Spoiler alert... they want to.
Last night when I went to bed I had such grand visions of my birthday.
Waking up early to a nice cup of coffee and a quite house. Going for a run before I wake the kids up and get Mabel ready for her first day of school. Stopping by Dunkins to celebrate surviving another year with my favorite coffee, spending the day with my little buddy Chip.

I was so excited I went to sleep with a smile on my face....

Then I awoke to screaming. Chip woke up in the middle of the night. I closed my eyes tighter hoping he would get back in bed like he normally does, when my bedroom door slammed open.

HEY MOM CHIP IS CRYING FOR YOU

yeah okay thanks Mabel. So I crawl out of my bed to grab Chip and take one step out of the door and it starts.

"Mom why was my door close? Is it time for school yet? Why was Chip screaming so loud? Why is it still dark out? Mom I'm scared of the dark. Mom why do you have that face on? Do you still need coffee? Mom? Mom?"

AND I'M UP. No chance of going back to bed, no chance of my morning run.

Good news is I got Mabel off to her first day with no tears... mostly because I was too tired to fully comprehend what was happening.

As far as the cake I was going to make tonight it may be a bust. I tried to take Chip to the store and he had a full on meltdown so we left without everything (don't worry I got my mascara).

One thing I know is I WILL GET A RUN IN TODAY... even if I have to take this little tantrum monster with me.
 Literally still crying 

My Birthday Week!

Last night my husband and I watched the VMA's.
By watched I mean struggled to keep my eyes open after the first few awards, while asking each other who everyone was.

When I was younger I used to LOVE the VMA's. Not only was it the must see award show it also meant that my birthday was right around the corner!!
I'm actually really really excited about my birthday this year. It's on a Wednesday which means I have the day off, and it's Mabel's first day of school.
I'm going to make dinner and my own cake.
This may sound rediculous and you may think my husband is being a jerk but believe me I asked to do it. I love cooking and BAKING. I love sweets and I love to eat them even more, which is why I don't bake as much anymore.
So now I jump at any chance.
Like a co-workers birthday tomorrow for which I'm making Key Lime Cheesecake Squares.

I'm torn as to what to make for my birthday, I have a million recipes I have been wanting to try, but I don't want to go too crazy.
I also have a new woman crush on The Pioneer Woman (I know I'm like a year late) and she has a billion ideas for dessert and dinners, and breakfasts, and snacks, and life.

Whats your go to birthday dinner? Do you eat in or go somewhere special?

Don't forget there is still time to sign up for the Fall Swag Swap!!

Giveaway and Swag Swap

Hey everyone I have like no time today...sorry! 

Just wanted to let you know it's the last day of the giveaway!! Check Tuesdays post for the details 

AND 

the Fall Swag Swap is now officially open 

So check Mondays post for those details! 

Sorry no links I'm posting from my phone! 

The Cutest Giveaway

Next weekend my daughter is starting Pre-K and I'm a little emotional. Not as emotional as I thought I would be, but there have been tears.
When we are home, I am for sure a backwoods mom.
My kids run around with no shoes. My son rarely has a shirt on, and my daughters hair is wild.

Now when Mabel goes to school it's a different story. Call me crazy but I want my kid to look taken care of. I don't want her going to school in dirty clothes, or with her hair wild from just waking up, so we have been practicing brushing her hair and putting outfits together.
I wanted to get her excited about dressing nice so I got her a couple of pairs of new shoes, and a hairbrush.
I've also been telling her if she keeps her hair nice she can start wearing hair bows.
Then I saw these....

Seriously. Can I go to Pre-K. I wanted every single one.
I limited myself and got her three because if she loses them I will probably cry.

The best part is they are handmade by a fellow mother of two gorgeous girls, a little boy, and another on the way. Yes she's fertile. She's a friend of mine so I can say that.
She's also starting expanding and making maternity sashes, and customized orders for bridal parties.
Where she finds the time for this I have no frickin clue.

Mabel adores hers, and I'm super excited for her to start wearing them every dayyyy.

I know a ton of you have little girls who are starting school or who are just insanely cute and need more bows.
Only have boys? Don't worry she makes bow ties too. I know, she's awesome.
Well Leah was nice enough to giveaway $25 to spend in her store (many items are as low as $6!) to one lucky reader! All you have to do is enter below! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fall Swag Swap

One of the things I love the most about blogging is meeting other bloggers. It's nice to know there are so many people out there in the big ole world that are super sweet and interested in the same things as me!

I met Erin from  Homemade Happenings when Alicia and I did our Swag Swap earlier this year. Since Alicia is taking a break from blogging, Erin asked me if I would be interested in doing another Swap with her.

Um DUH. Swaps are my favorite. Fall is my favorite. Bloggers are my favorite. I've had two cups of coffee this morning. Life is my favorite.

Anway. She got two other bloggers together, Desiree from Macke Monologues and Shelli from Beauty and the Baseball Coach and we are all bringing together an AWESOME Fall Swag Swap.

Here are the deets.
Sign ups start Thursday August 21st and all you have to do is email Ms. Erin at aemcguire@msn.com with your name, email address, and blog address.

There are a few requirements,

• You must be a US citizen
• You must be a blogger because we would like to do a link up revel! 
• There is a $20/ 5 item minimum. 

Partners will be announced Sept 2nd, you will have until September 5th to contact your partner.  YOU MUST CONTACT YOUR PARTNER BY SEPTEMBER 5TH OR YOU WILL BE BOOTED OUT OF THE SWAP.  Your swag will need to be mailed by Oct 3rd and the reveal posts will happen October 15th.

Remember Fall is seriously seriously my favorite so you should join for the pure fact that you could get matched with me and get all of my favorite things.  Let me know if you have any questions!!

#Trankthetank Bishes.

Have you all missed me?
I have been right here... doing nothing. In a total funk.
This week is the first week of my half training so I really need to get my ass in gear. I'm actually meal prepping right now as we speak. I lost track of my diet again... no real surprise there.
ANYWAY. On to better more important things!

#Trackthetank is making its way around and I'm in love with it. I just wanted to give everyone a quick update.

So it started with me, and I put it on before I even put on my make up.... woof. I wanted to keep it because I LOVE the gold glitter lettering. Seriously. I would like that writing on everything.
Then I sent it to Erin from She's a Big Star in Maine... ps send me good restaurants bish!

She said she's her own inspiration which I love. You can't love someone else until you love yourself.

Then Erin sent it to Angela from Mean Ang who lives in New Jersey so she probably eats pickles and fist bumps her way through the grocery store. I mean thats what I would I would do. Actually Ang is super sweet and I love that she is so open and honest about her journey.

Then Ms. Ang sent it one of my long time loves Kristen from Hopelessly Ever After where she gushed about her husband being her motivation. While she thought it was totally cliche I loved it and totally agreed. My husband thinking I look good makes me FEEL good.

Kristen then sent it to this bish that I hate... JUST KIDDING! Jazzy J at Fleurty and Fit is one of my fellow blogwives and we text (or used to) every day. I love her and her selfies. She brings up an amazing topic that strikes a nerve with me. When you are in the health field and I am supposed to be trusting you to make the best decisions regarding my life you BETTER be making those choice for yourself too!!
PREACH IT GIRL!

Jazzy J sent it another Blogwive THE Val at Fab Chick Gets Fit. She's kind of a big deal, and I love her because when I don't want to do another burpee and I facetime her she tells me to stop being a bitch and do it. Her motivation is also herself, and she has a damn good reason.

Val texted me in a panic for the address for the next lovely lady in line. Amy at The Crazy Wise Woman. I haven't really read her blog before but when she posted this picture I knew I had been totally missing out.

Then I caught up on her blog posts and realized her sign off is Namaste Bitches... .ummmm hello did we just become best friends?!?!

Well the tank still has a LONNNNNGGGG way to go, so make sure you stay tuned to check out my next up date. Also big news on Monday.... I'm doing another blogger swap with some lovely ladies!!

One of My Most Favorite People.

One of my very best friends, recently made a huge life change.
She up and moved to a whole new city in a whole new state.
Then she immediatly regretted her choice, but I told her,
Just hang in there.
There are not very many times in your life when you have absolutly no ties, no obligations, and nothing holding you back.
I wouldn't change my world for anything but I do wish I would have taken more advantage of those moments in my life, when they were presented. 
I also mentioned to her that a great way to document this time in her life would be to start a blog.

I also talked her into letting me interview her and share her blog with you all!!
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Do you remember how we met?

Yes. Sort of. You always remember things better than me, but it was at St.Pats and I was in 7th grade and you were in 8th. We didn't get along at first...but then, maybe after a bus ride home or something we did? haha

Our moms forced us to be friends because we were both on the basketball team and needed to car pool...but close!! haha. It's crazy that we only went to school together for a year but stayed friends for almost 14 years. Why do you think we stayed so close?

Because you are really good at keeping in touch? Haha I don't know. I mean we did end up going to the same college years later, but I think we always had a relationship like we were sisters. Not always hanging out every day or weekend, but always being there when we needed each other.

Awww so true! I've always considered you my sister, even when you stole my online boyfriend....

Oh God. Ryan Leavy or something right?

Bahahahaha yes!! 

Of course I can remember his full name but not how we met.

Priorities... 

Speaking of remembering, there was one summer when you decided to totally focus on your health, and you nailed it. I remember you doing pilaties and eating weird noodles and looking amazing. It's crazy but thinking about you that summer STILL inspires me. Do you still strive to live a healthy lifestyle?

I do still strive to be healthy but it's an eb and flow for me. Once I get on track I feel great and I WANT to work out and keep eating great, but once I get a little lazy its so hard to get back in the saddle. Right now I'm focusing on mental health and doing things that make me feel like I'm living a full life. Learning new skills, helping with fundraisers, starting a blog! Doing things that make you feel happy and good about yourself are all part of being healthy too.

Speaking of starting a blog! You just made a major life change and started a blog all about it. What's the scoop?

It's a food blog where I deep fry everything. Just kidding. It's about growing up. I'm from a small rural town in New Hampshire and lived around that area my whole life up until this past March. I finally pushed myself out of my comfort zone and moved to the city.
It's a brand new blog with only a few posts but it's just a way for me to share my experience about becoming the person I want to be.

I may be biased but I'm already in love with it. I'm so proud of you and I can't wait to see where this journey takes you.

Me too. I think it will be really cool to look back in a year or two and see how myself as an individual has changed.

Maybe it will turn into a pregnancy blog... 

....

Well a girl can dream! Either way I'm proud of you and I think people will really relate to your story and enjoy following along! Thanks for allowing me to share it and I apologize for the old pictures!!

Dorothy and I at my wedding.

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Dorothy blogs over at  Breaking Through the Chrysalis so go check her out!!

Come back tomorrow for my fitness update, and to find out where the #trackthetank has been so far!

Bake sales

I'm having my very first bake sale at the end of this month to help raise some money for CHaD, and let's be honest

I have no idea what I'm doing.

I decided to have it be donation only which I hope does not bite me in the bum.

I have lots of people who have offered to bake things which is nice because that means I won't be spending a lot to raise a lot. 

I also roped in two youngins to sit with me and help the day of. 

They even agreed to putting up a sign that says $25 donations = 10 push-ups from the volunteer of your choice and $50= 10 burpees. 

I'm hoping that by having two young ladies I will be Scott free!! 

So I still need some advice. 

How or should I advertise? Posters around town?

What is your go to bake sale buy? 

If you've done a bake sale before what are some tips? 

All suggestions welcome? Especially ideas for other fundraising events! 

A WHOLE Different Recipe.

Originally today I was going to share a recipe for energy bites, but we had a crazy crazy weekend full of family, food, emergency room trips, cows, and fried food.
Needless to say I did not make to the grocery store to get all the stuff... or anything.
So I had to make due with what I had around the house and I remembered Brandi posting an instagram or something about sweet potato waffles.

I decided to give a go, and they were fricking amazing/ horrible.
How is that possible you say? Well the taste, and the ingredients were amazing. No added sugar, no dairy and no gluten.
Seriously. Amazing.

So what was the horrible part?

The part where I attempted to make them in the waffle maker. Yeah, pass.
I even read the fine print in the original post here where she says you can skip the hassle and make these as pancakes on a pan, but I decided to beastmode cowboy and make my husband use the waffle maker... haha.

Note the mess from the regular waffles....

So after realizing that the waffle maker wasn't the best we (he) finished them up in the pan.

Either way they were frickin bomb, and I will for sure be eating a lot of these for the next few months.

Here is the original post with the full recipe.

My First 10k

and the last time I run the Rindge Road Race.
The hills..... oh my word the hills.
The course was in the next town over and I have never run in that town, not even once.

I don't know any of the roads in Rindge, I didn't even really know where the race started.
I was super nervous but my friend/trainer/life coach was running too and she just keep encouraging me. She ran the race before and she lives in the town so she knew the course. She knew the hills, and her wonderful, loving, supportive husband told me even his truck struggled on this course.
Before I could even think twice about it we were off and running and by that I mean Sarah was a blur in the distance and I was casually trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

The course was a double loop which was entirely uphill. If you want to know how that is possible, so do I .
Seriously.

Like I said I don't know Rindge, or the road's but I did notice a theme as I was trying not to pass out. Every road we turned on was named something Hill.
Like
This is a Really Long Steep Hill Road
or
This is Entirely Up Hill Road

I ran the whole thing, ran up every single one of those damn hills, and it felt great. After I caught my breath and starting seeing straight again.

It did however make realize a few huge things.
I will not be running the Jaffrey Half next weekend, I'm just not ready and I wouldn't enjoy it,
and I need to MAJORLY incorporate hill training into my training for my CHaD half in October.
Ugh.

First things first.
BAKE SALE!!!

Come back tomorrow to help me plan my first ever bake sale!

My Next Steps.

So for those of you that follow me on Instagram you probably saw that I was "gifting" myself the 21 Day Sugar Detox for my birthday.
I've been hemming and hawing about this for the past few days.
It really bothers me that I have to buy a $28+ book in order to eat better.
I KNOW HOW TO EAT BETTER.
I just am looking for every excuse in the book including convincing myself that I DONT KNOW what I'm doing to continue to eat crap.
UGH I am so frusterated with myself.
But I'm not ready to totally give up on myself yet.
I'm giving myself another chance.
I'm going to do my own form of sugar detox.
Before I go any further I wanted to give you guys an update on my anxiety.
I saw the doctor and I told him everything. I told how I feel when I'm trying to go to bed, I told him I was worried about getting on medication. I told him I physically and mentally feel better when I eat better and he sat there and listened to it all, then he said
meds.
Not just any meds, but Klonopin. If you've never heard of it, it's a sedative. I immediatly told him I wasn't sure and I didn't really feel comfortable taking a sedative and his answer was
just take them.
So I tried and this was me.

How the hell am I supposed to work a busy job and take care of my kids while I'm literally melting.
I decided they were not from me.
Then I decided to listen to what I was sitting in that room telling a doctor.
When I eat better I feel better.
Duh.

So starting on Monday (because you can only start diets on Mondays) my neice and I are cleaning up our acts. We are cutting out processed foods, cutting WAY back on sugars and carbs and making healthy choices. Simple as that.

So for the first week this is my meal plan.

Breakfast- Smoothie usually almond milk , banana, pb, and protein powder.
Snack- Home made energy bites (recipe on Monday!) or hard boiled eggs
Lunch- Greek Chicken Pita Pockets, or Turkey Veggie Chili
Snack- Almonds and an apple or hummus and Green peppers
Dinner- Salad with tuna, turkey burgers, or steak and veggies.

For drinks I am sticking to water with a little lemon and coffee. I have to figure out something with my creamer. Either cut way back or cut it out all together. We shall see.

As far as working out. I'm still going strong! I'm running my first 10k race tomorrow and I'm pretty excited about it. I think there is going to be a lot of people I know at this race and that is such a change from all of my races last year where I was the only one!


Alright thats all for now. Come back Monday for my Energy bites recipe and a little catch up with the #TracktheTank!