For The Health Of It {photo food log day 2}

Alright, day 2 of my photo-food-journal-ing efforts.

Despite feeling like I ate pretty well yesterday, I actually gained 1/2 a pound. Annoying.

I'm gonna go ahead and chalk it up to the fact that I'm retaining water, or something like that.

Here's what I ate today:

I started out the day with a 20 minute pilates video and chai tea.

{good earth vanilla chai, two packets of truvia and a splash of 1% milk}

After showering and getting ready for the day I ate two pieces of Dave's Killer Bread...my absolute favorite!

Around 11 or so I snacked on a handful of candy conversation hearts. This is the first time I've had them all season. Clearly, I'm a fan of the yellow and orange.

While I was making my lunch I snacked on 1/4 cup of pistachios.

For lunch I had a fruit salad made up of pineapple, strawberries, grapes and 1/2 a banana.

After Isaiah's nap we went on a 3 mile walk {and stopped to play at a park}

I came home and had the other 1/2 of my spaghetti squash with a little olive oil, salt & pepper and some grated parmesan cheese, served along with a salad and some left over asparagus.

And for good measure, I polished off the rest of Isaiah's snack cup.

I actually didn't eat the pretzels, but I did eat the raisins, peanuts and bunnies.

On to tomorrow.

If the scale goes up again I'm gonna be pissed.

Just sayin'

Should've Been...

Today, I should have been 16 weeks pregnant.

I really try hard not to say should, because I do have full confidence that everything has happened perfectly, and for a reason. But that doesn't necessarily make me forget about it.

I've actually been doing really well with everything, but today has been a little hard for some reason.

Maybe because 4 months is somewhat of a milestone. Maybe because this is when I really started to show with Isaiah. Maybe because I was soooo looking forward to feeling my little one inside of my belly. Maybe because this is the time I would have been able to find out the gender.

Whatever the reason, today has been just a little bit harder.

Source: sherbetblossom.com via Alex on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Alex on Pinterest

On a more positive note, I really do feel like this is going to be an amazing year. There are lots of new and exciting things to look forward to, and I can't wait to experience it all with my little family.

I've appreciated your kind words, prayers and continued support.

Tomorrow is a new day :)

For The Health Of It {in photos}

I love food.
There, I said it.
{In case anyone didn't already know this little tid bit about me}

So, I've run into a little issue. I've gained 8 pounds. EIGHT pounds, people.
While I was going through everything I was also eating everything. Turns out, the holidays are a super convenient time to find junk food.

Anyway, I'm ready to get rid of it.
In the past I've been able to cut back for a few days, be disciplined and then the weight comes right off.
Well, not this time. I can't even get to the 'be disciplined' part because I'm too busy eating.

I've tried tracking my food and calories through my fitness pal, but it hasn't worked. So, I thought about doing an online program like weight watchers.

The thing both of these have in common? Measuring out/weighing/knowing how many calories are in EVERYTHING you eat.

Let's just be honest, I'm having a hard time putting down the peanut butter and pretzels....how am I supposed to track every single calorie?!

So, my compromise? Pictures. Yep.
Instead of making a food log, or measuring everything out, I'm just going to take a quick cell phone picture of everything I eat. I don't take a picture of it, I don't eat it. Good enough in theory, right? I don't plan to go all crazy and deprive myself, just looking to get a little self control back. If I want a treat, I'm going to have one...just not 61984.

Until then,  you can look forward to daily posts including all the food I've eaten.
Exciting, I know.

Here's to kissing these 8 pounds{and maybe even a few more} goodbye!
If any of you have fitness tips & tricks, healthy recipes or anything along those lines I'd love to hear from you! alex.heater@hotmail.com It would be super fun to do some fitness features on the blog!

Let's get started with what I ate today:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie

Mid-Morning Snack: grapes and strawberries 

Lunch: peanut butter lara bar and an apple

Afternoon Snack: carrot sticks and sugar snap peas with tatziki dip

Dinner: 1/2 a small spaghetti squash with veggie-packed sauce and salad

I finished things up with a mug of hot chocolate and a rolo :)

Confession: I did have about 5 pretzels and a little bit of peanut butter {ugh, why is that so good?!} in between lunch and my afternoon snack. Really, that's a vast improvement from yesterday. Hey, Rome wasn't built in a day!

On to tomorrow!

Valentine's Day In A Mason Jar

I was pretty excited to incorporate mason jars into this years Valentines festivities.

And, I have a thing for chocolate covered pretzels.

Let's be honest, the way to my heart is via salty and sweet.

Give your Valentine some home made love this year.

For this tutorial you'll need:

pretzels

melted milk chocolate

colored melting chocolates {I used pink and white}

sprinkles - optional

wax paper - makes clean up easier

 mason jars

scrapbook paper/doilies

pearl embellishments/bakers twine/ribbon

Melt down the milk chocolate pieces. Hold on to the bottom 'loop' and dip the pretzels. Let some of the excess chocolate drip off and then lay it on a piece of wax paper.

Repeat a zillion times.

Next, melt down your first color of melting chocolate.

Dip a fork in the melted chocolate and drizzle it over the pretzels.

Do the same thing with the second color until you can see both colors over the chocolate.

Once the chocolates have dried, pull each pretzel up and break off all of the random stiff pieces using your fingers.

You'll have a pretty little pile of chocolaty covered pretzels when you're done!

{you  may want to eat about 3...or 57 of these at this point. I know I did}

Since I had leftover of the pink and white, I decided to dip some more pretzels and sprinkle them with some little hearts.

For decorating the jar, I cut a doily and piece of scrapbook paper into a heart shape...

And scavenged up some fake pearls {from the $1 bin at JoAnn's} to embellish the jar.

I traced the inside of the mason lid to make a circle on some scrapbook paper.

Wrote a little love note and then screwed on the rim.

Fill the jar with pretzels and hot glue the doily and paper heart on. Tie the pearl strand in a knot, and you're done!

I made a few variations and I'm happy with the way they all turned out!

A cute way to spread some Valentines cheer.

{along with a good excuse for some chocolate covered pretzels}

Salt.Chocolate.MasonJars.

I'm in.

Wordless {ish} Wednesday: Snapped

When I'm in the shower, nothing is safe.

Like, not even the crayons.

"Look, mommy! I snapped all a 'dem!"

Hummm....good thing I was thinking about doing some melted crayon art?

I'm linking up with:
and then, she snapped, baby baby lemon, the paper mama 

Our Week - My Phone Came Back From The Dead!

This is a little late.

But if you follow me on facebook, you already know that my new iphone  took a swim...

...in the toilet.

{and no, my toddler is not to blame}

Well, after 3 full days in a bag of rice, I think my phone may have come back from the dead.

Insert jumping up and down, cheering and an ear-to-ear smile.

Note to self: do NOT put your phone in your back pocket before going to the bathroom.

Anyway, on to our week!

Ever have one of those days where dry shampoo saves your life?

I have one at least every week.

Baked donut holes...easy and soooo yummy!

Apparently, it was a good play date...didn't even make it home awake.

Avocado and tomato sandwich for dinner!

Homemade Valentine treats! Tutorial here.

Shaving. We're starting him young.

A little electric guitar.

Roasted veggies and parmesan over quinoa!

The most amazing magnetic blocks ever.

National wear read day!

An uh-may-zing sunrise. The picture doesn't even do it justice.

Feeding the duckies!

We attracted a pretty good crowd. What can I say, we know what the ducks like :)

  My sweet boy.

And his best buddy.

Monkey bar master!

A gorgeous day at the park.

Shortly after we got home from our park adventure is when I decided to teach my phone how to swim.

Hoping hubby gets home soon so we can go figure out the final verdict as to if my phone is alive or not.

I'm really hoping it is.

I'm linking up with a good life.

Wordless Wednesday:Taking A Break

We've been taking breaks around here.

I guess it comes with the {almost} 2 1/2 year old territory, but someone's ears have been having a hard time listening to mommy and daddy.

Lately, I've been having Isaiah stand in a corner with his hands behind his back for about a minute.

{Is it bad that it's seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen?!}

Well, we had dinner with some friends last week, when Isaiah arranged a toy to look like this:

And then proceeded to get my attention saying:

"Look mommy, the animals! They aaaaaaaalllllll taking a break."

I laughed and felt bad at the same time - is that possible?

I'm linking up with:
and then, she snapped, baby baby lemon, the paper mama