My Little Ham

How do you get a two year old to take incredible adorable Easter pictures? Just place him in front of giant wooden Easter eggs that he’s been gawking over the past two weeks. Thank you Tallahassee Nursery for creating the perfect backdrop for our impromptu-pull-over-on-the-side-of-the-road photo session!

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Rapunzel, Rapunzel, stop pulling out your hair!

As long as I can remember I’ve had thick hair; it’s been every different length but always a head full of hair. I even have horrible blackmail of my sister (and she could use them on me) of an Olan Mills portrait session of the two of us sitting side by side in matching floral turtle necks with the sharpest triangle pointed bobs you have ever seen. In high school it was down to my chest and I would spend an entire hour straightening strand by strand to make it board straight. Even for a brief college “I’m young, eclectic and hippy-ish” moment I wouldn’t brush it and wear a knit headband so it flipped and flopped everywhere.



The one thing I’ve always looked forward to and reminded myself when I’m an old lady and half my hair has fallen out I’ll still be rockin’ a pony tail like I’m 15…that’s until my recent hair nightmare. A couple weeks ago I tried out this new foam home hair coloring system; I rubbed it in, waited the allotted time, and started washing it out. Standing in the shower messaging the color out I noticed hair clumping into my palms; not just a few strands but lots and lots of hair. I knew 10 minutes prior this new foam sucked because it took so much longer to rub in than the cream and would not stay foamed after I rubbed it in. I figured the worst that could have happening is it stayed in 5 minutes too long and may have burned some of my hair off. Ok burned sounds a little extreme but that’s the only term I can think of when chemicals are literally so strong they break the hair off your head. Well that night was only the beginning.


The next day my hair brush looked like I just finished brushed a horses’ mane and then the next shower it did the same thing. It’s been a couple weeks and my hair won’t stop falling out! I could reach back and tug on my curly strands and let 15 strands fall to the ground. I’m terrified my thick hair is turning thinner by the day. This same type of thing happened after I had Moses but I knew that was hormonal and eventually my hair’s body went back to normal. I know for sure I will never use the form color again but what else could it be? Any suggestions? Remedies? A little help before I’m bald would be great!

My Best Picture Top 10

I know this topic is somewhat old but I wanted to mark it down in my “life diary” so I won’t forget this time next year. Originally my intention was to see almost all the movies up for Best Picture at the Academy Awards this year. I had already seen a few before the nominations came out and the other half were on my list of “want to see”. I figured I could watch a new one each week because I had weeks between the nomination announcement to the Awards; well….that never happened. At $8-10 a movie ticket that added up to close to $50 and our finances didn’t have room for a $50 movie budget. Now that the awards are long gone I have finally seen all the ones I wanted to. Here is my list of favorites:


1. The Fighter. If you haven’t seen this movie, you need to! I had no intentions of seeing it when it first came out until it started to gain Oscar buzz. Once I saw it I’m now surprised it didn’t win Best Picture. Christian Bale is completely transformed into a drug addicted ex boxer from the North East who truly makes you believe that’s who he is. I think that’s what makes this movie so great; every second of every scene you feel saturated in this time and place. From every phrase to clothing article to car they stay completely in character and it pulls you in, deep.
2. Inception. Walking out of the theater after seeing this movie my mind wasn’t so baffled by the movie but the fact that someone is so far out there that they thought up this concept and were able to portray it to the world. I don’t know if it’s too many drugs or pure brilliance but to think of a concept like Inception and make the audience believe it is why this is my #2.
3. The King’s Speech. Being all the rage at the Oscars I was absolutely giddy for this to come out on rental this week. It took us two nights to watch it but it was really good. The relationship between the King and the speech therapist is what did it for me. Also the fact that Colin Firth does not have a stammer and to be taught (by his speech therapist real life sister actually) how to talk the way he did was pretty impressive.
4. The Social Network. This actually ties for my third place because I loved this movie. I love how the movie lets you make up your own mind if he’s innocent or guilty. I love that they made a movie about the biggest thing in the world right now, Facebook.
5. The Kids Are All Right. I thought I would never see this movie! Thanks to Redbox one night there was nothing else good to rent we had not already seen and I just took a chance. And it surprised me! I love the feel of the movie and locations they shot it in; it feels so fresh and alive and makes me want to live on their street. Gay marriage isn’t really on my list of “Stand up and Support” causes but the family dynamic of this movie is undeniable.
6. Black Swan. The biggest disappointment in my book. With all the hype I thought I could look past the fact that it was a thriller but honestly I wasn’t that impressed. Yes it was weird and all “mind gamey” but it didn’t do it for me. I thought the lesbian vibe was just to give the movie a little edge and was unnecessary. I must say I’m super impressed at Portman for training so hard and literally transforming into a ballerina for this role.
7. Toy Story 3. I don’t think they will ever top the original but it was cute nonetheless.
8. 127 Hours *
9. Winter’s Bone *
10. True Grit *
I have no desire to see Winter’s bone or True Grit and maybe one day when I’m super bored I’ll watch 127 hours. I’m happy to finally see all the movies I wanted to on the list and will hopefully have the same luck for next year’s big event!

The end of the beginning: Family Food Challenge

I promise I didn’t mean to leave anyone hanging at the end of last week. See what happened, and what I don’t like to announce to the internet, was Davy went out of town Thursday night. It’s now Tuesday and I don’t remember all the details but I will share the two memorable dishes we enjoyed.
Remember that whole chicken I placed in the crock pot Thursday? Well I took the other half and pulled in apart until it was shredded then added BBQ sauce. I stored it in the fridge and when the time was right we pulled in out and had BBQ sandwiches; quick, easy and tasteful!
The other meal we enjoyed was Earth Fare’s frozen mozzarella and pesto pizza. I knew all along this meal would be saved for the weekend because it took 10 minutes and it’s easy. The pizza contained four large circles of mozzarella cheese and four blobs of pesto along with cherry tomatoes and a tiny bit of sprinkled cheese. To be honest when I removed it from the box I was disappointed; it seemed pretty bare and the slices of mozzarella and pesto where mis-proportioned on the pizza. Some slices where practically naked while some were full of flavor. Overall it tasted pretty good but would have taste a lot better if it was covered with toppings.

My overall thoughts on this food challenge were very positive. After one week my body wasn’t transformed but I could definitely feel a difference; a few days into it I desired to eat better. I would look forward to and wanted to eat the new foods and felt good about it afterwards. Not once did I eat a meal and then feel sluggish like McDonalds sometimes always does. I felt good and I honestly believe it was the ingredients in the food. span>
As for this week and all those to follow….we aren’t going to strictly stay on the challenge however there are many staples in our house that will be forever changed. Things like milk, eggs, sour cream, yogurt, refried beans, ect will remain to be the items we picked out for the challenge. Other things like meat, cheese, butter, snacks will now be constantly monitored to make sure we are making the best choices possible. Although the grocery bill wasn’t as high as expected it was definitely more than we normally spend thus being the main reason we are not switching over 100%. This challenge has thought us to really open our eyes to the things we consume. It thought me that spending a little more for the good stuff isn’t such a bad idea and to remember why the good stuff is the good stuff!

Food Challenge Day #4

It seems like day #4 of the challenge came more natural because I wanted to stick with the diet and do well. I wanted to eat every meal as planned. I wanted finish the day feeling good.


Breakfast:
Me- a large grapefruit
Moses- banana (starting to see a pattern, folks!)
Davy- eggs… I think. It’s bad when we are rushing around the house in the morning and I’m completely unaware of what he’s doing. ….it may have been a PB&J.


Lunch:
Davy couldn’t shake wanting to eat out so we decided to have a lunch date….at Earth Fare! It seems silly to love a Grocery store so much but seeing as they have so many options (groceries, take out, hot bar, pizza, sweets, ect) we knew the options were limitless. We decided to split the ham & cheese Panini which came with a side of fruit and split a shrimp tempura roll. We took our lunch outside to the covered eating area and enjoyed the warm afternoon. I love going on lunch dates and I love feeling good about what I’m eating. After lunch we strolled around the wellness section of the store trying on different lotions and sampling drinks and teas they had available; Davy ended up getting two small packs of Super food mix because he liked the sample so much.

Dinner:
Thankfully I already had most of dinner made because once I got home things went a little different than planned. That morning I place a whole fresh chicken into the crock pot and it slow cooked all day. Once it cooks that long it becomes so tender and moist I literally broke it apart to use half for the meal. I was planning on cooking a side of rice and grilled squash with it but we had company come over for longer than expected and didn’t start dinner again until closer to 7. At this point I didn’t have time for any of the planned sides that I made us a spinach salad (with my FREE Organic Girl spinach) and had chicken on the side. It was quick, easy, and tasty. Moses had a side of applesauce and leftover sweet potato wedges with his chicken.

Food Challenge Day #3

Day 3 of our challenge went a little something like this.



Breakfast:
Me- Bowl of Kashi cereal with Organic Valley milk
Moses- Bowl of dry cereal 
Davy- gone before we woke up so unknown!

Lunch:
Leftover Mexican night….and sweets! When I received an Earth Fare email coupon for a FREE container of organic baby spinach with a purchase of $5 I knew the sweet gods were telling me I needed to go! I picked up some more bananas, more yogurts, my free spinach, and a cannoli from their bakery. Oh the Earth Fare bakery, why must you be so wonderful? I debated caving in for a pint of Ben & Jerry’s or gelato but I figured the cannoli could be eaten and forgotten in one swoop. Needless to say it satisfied my sweet tooth and WILL BE the last sweet I purchase this week….hopefully.

Dinner:
The side item was sweet potatoes cut into cubes tossed in olive oil and baked. Until last year I never really knew how to pick out a good sweet potato; I always thought the ones that were oozing should not be eaten however that’s hardly the case. The darker they are the better and if they are oozing that means they are even better. Thankfully I picked up 3 small potatoes and when I cut into them they were a nice bright orange with a little white juice pouring out from the center.
For the main entrée we had turkey burgers (1 lb package found in the packaged meat section) with shredded onion and zucchini mixed into the patties. I’ve always loved to add vegetables to turkey burgers because they make them extra juicy and flavorful. I seem to always forget however those soft juicy patties should not be placed on the grill because they start to fall into the grill grates. They were not a pretty sight but tasted great (next time I’ll remember to put them on the George). I placed the burgers on toasted bread with big leafy lettuce and ranch dip I made using the leftover Organic Valley sour cream and ranch seasoning I had. The warm burger paired with cool ranch and sweet potatoe wedges was the perfect meal for the warm spring time night we had.

Last night was the first struggle we had with staying on our food challenge. Davy made the suggestion of going out to eat and I could hardly say no. We had the cash, we had the time and having someone else bring us dinner sounded a lot better than cooking it! I thought back to my original intentions last weekend and what this challenge meant to me. Yes it was so easy to drive thru a fast food line or munch on whatever is on sale but what is that doing to my body? I feel like I’m constantly failing in the eating better/ exercise department and I need this week to prove to myself I can stick with something. I can make the right food decisions at every meal and feel good about where my food is coming from. So I said no to eating out and Davy quickly agreed. We cooked up dinner while playing with Moses on the back porch and happily ate our dinner; feeling good about the choices we are making.

Food Challenge Day #2

Day 2 of our Family Food Challenge a little more interesting because it was our first time cooking a meal with all our new ingredients. I feel like I did a great job picking out the right products when I went shopping over the weekend because every time any of us want something we seem to have it. Well almost everything…. I want sweets, like always, but chose not to buy any because I need to train my body to want healthier things (like fruit and yogurt) instead of chocolate and sugar. Depending on how the rest of the week goes I might have to go pick up a healthy sweet treat from Earth Fare but my goal is to stay away altogether.

Breakfast:

Davy made us all a big batch of scrambled eggs

Lunch:

Davy- Chicken salad sandwich and peanut butter and strawberry preserve sandwich

Me- Chicken salad on a salad. I have this amazing ranch dressing I was going to put on it but the creamy-ness from the chicken salad acted like dressing and it was oh so tasty!

Snacks: (between all of us)

Banana
Chobani yogurt

Kashi dark chocolate coconut chewy bar 

Mixed nuts  

Dinner:

I was excited about converting this meal to a “thought about” meal because this is a staple in our house that’s eaten on a weekly basis; Mexican Night. Normally it’s chicken soft tacos with rice and beans and this is how it broke down Earth Fare style:

• Whole wheat tortillas found in the freezer section near the frozen entrées
• Chicken breast sliced up
• Sliced bell peppers and onions
• Sliced avocado
• Organic Valley sour cream (surprisingly only $2 for an 8oz container)
• Amy’s organic vegetarian refried beans

The final verdict…..wonderful! I was most curious about the refried beans because they were thinner than our normal brand but incredibly flavorful. Normally we have yellow rice as a side item but after walking the rice isle for 10 minutes I couldn’t find any. I was surprised but figured if they didn’t sell it then we weren’t eating it. Moses never mentioned the rice and Davy actually said “I’m full even without the rice” after dinner.