The 3 Day Cleanse

Back before I was pregnant Chase and I decided to embark on a cleanse. An intense 21 day juice, raw vegetables, shakes, pills cleanse. It was designed to completely reboot your system and get your body back on track. Sounded like an awesome idea! After approximately 30 hours on that cleanse I quit. I couldn't do it. As Chase and I sat in our living room almost lifeless because of our complete lack of energy in addition to the hateful words we were exchaning due to our extreme HANGER we decided to give up. We weren't ready for that level of cleanse intensity. But I have always wanted to give some kind of cleanse another try.

Fast forward to a couple months ago when I came across Skinny Limits. I don't even remember how I found them but I was intrigued by their products. It turned out one of our raw chef friends had some ties to them and she told me all about how awesome their juices are. She got me very excited to try it out! Plus, they offer a 3 day cleanse. Not 21 days --- 3 days! Much more up my alley. So I contacted them and they graciously offered to send me their 3 day cleanse to try out.

I opted to start my cleanse after we returned from our vacation to Boston. This was an eating and drinking delicious things vacation so my body would definitely need a good cleaning out. The package arrived on Tuesday and I was set to start my cleanse the next day. Because their juices have no preservatives or processing you have to start within a day of receiving your juice. Just fresh raw juice, how cool is that!



Day One:
This was definitely the hardest day. I ignored the recommendation from the kind folks at Skinny Limits to wean myself off of caffeine before starting. I opted to just go cold turkey and boy was that a mistake. I had a super intense my brain is going to explode headache that lasted into the wee hours of day 2. I really felt like I was dying. I couldn't even tell if I was hungry or not. I was pretty much wiped out by the headache and spent the day either struggling to focus on a task or curled up in the fetal position on the floor. Don't let this scare you away, just let it scare you into easing out of caffiene if you are an addict like me.



Day Two:
Much better than day 1. This was probably the best day in terms of feeling good. I did have to commit to full on chugging my juices because I wasn't super in love with the taste. I think this is mostly because I have a weird thing about cucumber -- I hate it. Others who sampled my juice thought it was good. But I powered through this day taking down all of the juice and even playing a kickball game. My energy level actually felt really good. I felt fresh!



Day Three:
On day three the hunger pains set in. I hadn't really been affected by this on day 1 or 2 so it kind of took me by surprise. My body wanted to eat food! I also got behind on my juices in the morning becuase of a meeting so I know that was part of it. I just kept telling myself I was almost there, I had almost made it. We even went to dinner with some friends to an Italian restaurant where I indulged on water. Lots of water. I know, I am crazy. Who goes to an Italian restaurant when you can't have anything. Apparently me. I would not recommend this. But I was proud of myself for not giving in to the smell of fresh garlic and site of oozing cheese and completing the cleanse.



All in all it was great! It took a lot out of me the first day but I am very glad I did it and I would consider doing it again for sure. I would definitely recommend weaning off of caffeiene prior to the cleanse, you will feel a lot better in the beginning. I also had some raw carrots in the afternoons between juices to chew something and get a little boost. I ended up losting 3.5 lbs which was a nice bonus (but I assure you I have put back on).

Skinny Limits has a great product and I also love their story. They are extremely dedicated to making great quality juice and it shows. They were also very helpful and sent me sweet notes along the way to see how I was doing. In addition to being a great group of people I also liked that their juice had no preservatives. They make all the juices themselves in their own kitchen, nothing is done in a warehouse. You can definitely count on fresh handmade juice!

I will definitely be juicing again!

Skinny Limits offered to send me their 3 day juice cleanse at no cost in exchange for a review of their product. All opinions and statements about my expeirience are my own.

If you want more information about Skinny Limits and their products you can visit their website, Facebook page and Twitter page.

29

Last week I turned 29. Truth be told, I feel old. It might be the fact that I am out of shape, or don't get enough sleep (my own fault) or don't eat as well as I should BUT no matter what the reason, I definitely feel old.

I think it also might have something to do with the toddler that I am chasing around from sun-up to sun-down. At the end of the day I literally fall into bed. Exhausted. It makes me feel old.

But then there are times when I feel young again! Like playing kickball, staying out until the wee hours of the morning, sliding down the slides at the playground, throwing the frisbee around at the park.

And I realize, age is just a matter of perspective. So instead of dwelling on feeling old I am going to focus on being young! Because really, 29 is young - even though when in middle school I thought 30 meant you were basically on your way out. ha!

To start my 29th year I surrounded myself with family and friends, good food and drinks and lots of laughs!

To 29!

Simply Fall: simple/modern fall decor

Fall is by far my favorite time of year. It doesn't hurt that my birthday happens to be in October, THE best month. Something about the crispness in the air and the smell of something hearty cooking in the crock pot. In Dallas Fall takes its sweet time getting to us but that doesn't mean I can't make my surroundings feel like Fall as soon as the calendar hits October.

My aesthetic is self described as modern rustic. A mix of timeless mid century with straight lines and a minimilist outlook but with a bit of rustic charm thrown in. Who knows if anybody else thinks it looks good but I like it. So when its time to decorate for Fall I like to keep it pretty simple. Nice oranges and yellows, some warm textures and pumpkins. Lots of pumpkins.



hello. and welcome.



Pumpkins! I will admit, I have even added a few more since this photo was taken, along with a ginormous purple mum. I added some fun gold and black touches to a few of the pumpkins to liven them up a bit. And of course we will be carving one of them.



The entryway is one of my favorite spaces in our entire house. It always feels so clean and tidy. Mostly because we never actually DO anything in that space. (ignore my husbands drill)



I enjoy mixing real pumpkins with "fake" pumpkins in different textures and materials. Including paper.



My make shift mantle (we have no fireplace/mantle!!) is my absolute favorite. I removed some of the "every season" items and added in layers of Fall. I did a couple quick diy canvas art and filled the bird feeder with candy corn. Throw in a couple pumpkins and perfection!



Not overdone, just simple and clean Fall tossed in a few key places around the house.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Molly: 22 Months

38 days. In 38 short days my tiny little baby will turn 2. Unbelievable. I have no idea how that happened. I look back at pregnancy pics, newborn moments, her 1 year birthday and it all feels like it was yesterday. The days never feel long anymore. They are moving at lightning speed. And it takes everything I have to just stop. Stop for a small second and make sure that I take a mental picture of right now. Because right now is going by way too fast for me. In 38 days Molly will be 2.

In almost every way Molly is every bit already a 2 year old. In all the good ways - and all the bad challenging ways. But I must say, these last few months have been by far the absolute best. We have had so much fun together this summer. For every frustrating moment there have been a thousand amazing moments. I know I will never forget this summer. Me and my little sidekick. Having a blast.

So what is Molly up to at 22 months. Well, a lot. All at once. Girl does. not. slow. down.

• Puts her hand on my face and gently pulls me to look at her, just to make sure she has my undivided attention.
  
• Jumps. Loves to jump. All around the house. Off of things. On to things. Jumping all the time.
  
• Has started to play "mom." She likes to pat her baby dolls, check for poop and then change their diapers, put them down for naps. Its so cute!
  
• Loves watching us play kickball. She goes to most of our games and cheers us on. Plus she also loves to run the bases after the games.
  
• Homegirl loves to sing and dance. Some of her favorites right now are Row Your Boat, London Bridge is Falling Down and Wheels on the Bus and Old McDonald. She knows most of the words to each and their accompanying dance moves.
  
• Language has exploded. She repeats, in clear understandable words, everything you say. And I mean everything! We have to watch ourselves. She is very good at asking for things in complete sentences, telling stories about what she did at school, singing her songs and being sweet. She can also count to 5 (sometimes 10) and say part of the ABCs. She is also very polite, using Please and Thank You correctly.
  
• Really enjoys playing with friends. Its so fun to watch them actually play together. It can get quite roudy though!
  
• Can be quite the little love bug when she wants to be - giving out lots of hugs and kisses. XO

I can't believe I am about to be a Mom of a 2 year old. It happened so fast. We love you Molly to the end of the earth and back. We couldn't imagine our lives without you in it. XO

Stats:

 Weight-Around 25lbs
 Height- 32.5"

In mostly 24mo or 2T clothes.

Likes:
Playing on/in Daddy's truck
Being a Mommy to her baby dolls
Coloring in her coloring books
Making art at school
Cupcakes!

Dislikes:
"No" of any kind
Having to sit in the highchair at restaurants
Not being allowed to climb UP slides

Firsts/New Things:
Has learned all of the colors really well and can identify them easily
Counts to 5 and sometimes 10 (skips 3 every now and then)
Playing in the toddler pool

Words/Talking:
Constant talking and picking up of new words. Expresses her wants really well. Tells us stories. Repeats absolutely everything!

Eating:
Going strong. Not too picky.

Sleeping:
No changes here, going strong. Has slept through the night since she was about 8 weeks old with little regression. She is getting very good now at letting us know when she is ready for her naps and bedtime and goes down easily. Still a bit of a crankster when she first wakes up.

Teeth:
14 teeth, 4 top/6 bottom/4 molars.

Summer Recap: Fun in the Sun!

This was Molly's first summer as a toddler. She could walk, talk, play in sandboxes, slide down slides, eat ice cream, run through the sprinkler etc. All the really fun stuff you get to do when you are a kid and the summer heat is on. Longer days, more activities, later bed times. It doesn't get much better. And I was excited to share this first summer with her.

About 2 weeks into the summer season it gets so stinkin hot in Texas that you already start counting down to Fall and you don't even want to get outside. So much so that I have made the statement that our next house MUST have a pool. It must! But since I vowed that this would be a summer to remember we had to find ways to beat the heat. Like a trip to the lake!

Our first big summer adventure was a trip to my cousin's lake house on Lake Livingston. It was definitely time to take Molly on her first lake trip. We headed down for the weekend and enjoyed catching up with family around games of dominoes, lazing around stretching out the morning hours, eating lots of good food and of course spending lots of time on the water!

 













Molly was a HUGE fan of the whole trip. It took her a lil bit to get used to the life jacket but once she did there was no turning back. Especially when it came time to jet ski. She couldn't get enough and kept asking for more. So excited that she had a good time because we will definitely be visiting the lake more often.

When we couldn't make a weekend trip the lake we turned our evenings into our own water adventure park. Lots of time in the baby pool in our backyard, even putting her slide into it for our little daredevil. And you can't have summer without a slip n slide (even when you are an adult).



We also spent a lot of time at local area spray parks. Dallas has some amazing parks and Klyde Warren Park is a fantastic park tucked in the middle of the bustling city.



Molly also discovered her favorite summer snack...POPSICLES! She loves them and asks for one at least 5 times day.



As we enter into Fall and leave the Summer behind its a little bittersweet. This was Molly's real first summer. Her first time to really enjoy the season as a little kid with all its adventures. We ate way too many popsicles, stayed up way past bedtime and made some awesome memories. Summer 2013 will definitely be one I remember.

Now on to Fall with its cooler temps, pumpkin patches, football, crock pot meals and many more adventures with our toddler in tow!