Pixie’s school is the greatest school on the planet. Seriously, your kid’s school cannot hold a candle to this place. It’s the school you dream about, the school you see in books and think “That does not exist.” But it does. I played the $590 million PowerBall game with the secret hope we would win and next year she could stay at this uber expensive school and not go public. The teachers are the sweetest, most caring downright kick ass teachers ever. The learning programs the school has instilled has made Pixie grow by leaps and bounds. Read the rest of this entry »

About a month ago, my good friend Kari asked me if I would be interested in participating in Arbonne’s Fit Challenge for 30 days. I was a bit skeptical about it, but with summer rearing its ugly bikini head in a few months, I was excited to add something to my daily regimen that would bring me closer to the “ME” in my head (or my hubby’s head).

Before I started this program, I worked out between 2-3 days per week. During the day I ate healthy, well balanced small meals. At night, I would cook us a meal. However 2-3 nights a week, we would either juice for dinner (beets, celery, kale, spinach, apples, cucumbers, watermelon, and ginger) or I would make us a healthy salad. At the beginning of this program, at 5 feet 9 inches I weighed 152 pounds.

Here is my before picture:

What the program entails: delicious healthy protein shakes with about 20 grams of protein per serving that come in Vanilla and Chocolate (also available in a pre-made, ready to go shake you can grab on the run), Fit Chews which are similar to a tootsie roll and help curb hunger, fizzy sticks that you add to water for energy and weight loss, a fiber powder you can add to your shakes, a hot tea that is great in the evenings and a very detailed weight loss program including items you need to eliminate from your diet.

What I did: Each morning I would try to have a shake. For the mornings I didn’t have the time to make my own shake, I could grab one of the pre-made ones to go or I would have some fruit. For lunch, it was salads, lettuce wraps, another shake, and lean proteins. For dinner, I cheated and ate something delicious or we would juice and have a salad. I honestly did not make too many changes to my lifestyle to add this program in. I didn’t add any additional workouts and definitely did not starve myself.

I fell in love with the fizzy sticks and the fit chews. Whenever I craved something sweet, they were the perfect alternative to something like gummy bears (MY WEAKNESS!) or ice cream.

My after picture:

After having two kids, my body has not felt like it used to. Things aren’t in the same places; especially when it comes to my stomach. After doing the challenge, I’ve lost inches off of my waist and 8 pounds. Like I said, I did not follow the program to a T and I lost weight. I didn’t add any more workouts or starve myself. It just WORKS. The shakes are so good and that’s coming from someone who CANNOT tolerate pepto bismol or anything chalky like it and these shakes were not like the chalky protein shakes you might be thinking of.

Some recipes I came up with for the shakes:

Arbonne Colada
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup fresh pineapple
1/2 cup vanilla protein powder
1 cup ice
3 tablespoons fiber powder

Add all ingredients to a blender and hello tropical vacation!

Strawberry Cheesecake Arbonne Shake
1 cup almond milk
1 cup fresh strawberries
1/2 cup vanilla powder
4 graham crackers
1 cup ice
3 tablespoons fiber powder

Add all ingredients to a blender and serve with a fancy straw.

I am so SO happy that Kari turned me on to these great products. I still have a good month until our annual week long trip to the river and I feel like I will actually be bikini ready thanks to these amazing products.

If you have been wanting to lose inches from your waist line or add some healthy alternatives for your meals, I really think you would love these products.

Give Kari a call or shoot her an e-mail. She’s such an amazing person and will really work with you to make sure she sets you up with the program that works best for you!

Kari Gravrock
www.kari.myarbonne.com
kgravrock@myarbonne.com
805-402-8028

I apologize now for these. There is absolutely no easy way for me to say this. But once you have had these, you may never be the same. You may sleep with a beautiful jar of cinnamon. You may ask for the cinnamon roll air freshener at the car wash. It might even lead you down the dark delicious path of the “cinnamon roll only diet.” It’s all the rage, you know. Read the rest of this entry »

For the hubby’s birthday, I kidnapped him from work and took him to Chicago for the weekend. We haven’t been to Chicago since I was seven months pregnant with Pixie. You see, one of my best girlfriends lives in the windy city and she’s single. And knows how to have a blast. Essentially, this was a bucket list kind of trip. And since I had almost just kicked said bucket, I knew we had to go! Read the rest of this entry »

What is it with kids dumping every single damn toy out of every bin every single day? I was drowning in barbies, stepping on legos (if you haven’t had the pleasure of stepping on a lego yet, oh just you wait! Your time is coming), being run over by Thomas and the gang of Cars Land and cursing every Disney Princess to have lived.

I took the proactive by the book Mommy approach and created a reward chart for each of my little rugrats. Read the rest of this entry »

Buggies bit Pixie tonight.

CRAP.
Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a long year so far. Who am I kidding, it’s been a long 6 months. This week is the first week I have felt somewhat pulled together. The first week where everyone is healthy, my laundry isn’t overflowing, my bills are all paid and the house is clean.

After the Harvest Festival in October, the holidays pushed me into overdrive. I made 3,000 cookies in less than 10 days for some clients, it was Pixie’s birthday, Christmas, New Year’s and then I had to go on an iodine free diet to follow up on my never-ending past of Thyroid Cancer. For a month I couldn’t eat anything with iodine (aka flavor) which basically means I could eat tomatoes and steak (which are both a hundred times better with salt). Since I didn’t feel like I was eating really good food, I wasn’t inspired to cook. And what i did come up with, wasn’t worth posting as it would have been so much better with salt. Hence the lack of recipes on here. But my scan came back with great results and I was feeling healthy. For a short time. And then… my body shut down on me. I had a serious stress overload and I ended up having emergency surgery (we’ll leave it at that). That was about a month ago and like I said, I am finally feeling healthy, pulled together and ready to come back with renewed energy to Mommy Bistro.

While my life was unravelling, a wonderful company put a large smile on my face and brought tears to my eyes by making me a custom, beautiful necklace. They captured me SO spot on. They included my family, my past and my future all in a simple and elegant piece. I wear it almost everyday and as it hangs over my heart it gives me a little added strength to conquer everything I come up against. I am constantly stopped and complimented on the necklace and I thank Shawn and the Urban Sparrow team for creating this gorgeous piece of jewelry for me. It could not have come at a better time in my life. They specialize in tons of different hand stamped necklaces and bracelets. I suggest you click your way over to Urban Sparrow and place an order for your mom, sister, friend, or wife.

www.urbansparrowdesigns.com

Here is some information about their company:

“We specialize in creating hand-stamped jewelry for women who have a sophisticated fashion sense. We firmly believe that the way to happiness is in celebrating our individuality.

We welcome you to join us on our wonderful journey, embrace the beauty of life and make a statement with Urban Sparrow!

All jewelry is stamped by hand and represents a unique piece of individual craftsmanship. Custom orders available upon request.”

You can also call them at:

805-732-8369 or
805-558-6245

What IS IT with Tupperware? Every time I put a piece away, I neatly stack it nestled from large to small and lids to the side. Then I close the cabinet door and I SWEAR to you, those plastic little lunatics have a good time, make babies and those babies throw themselves around in a deconstructive manner. Read the rest of this entry »

What a busy few days it has been! On Friday I had the pleasure of recording a little blurb for KEYT morning news out of Santa Barbara. I had so much fun! Granted I got up at 3:30 in the morning and my bleary and puffy eyed little self had to be in Santa Barbara by 5:30 but who cares! It was a blast. The lovely Lisa Carey who is handling all of the PR for the event was with me as well. You can see a clip of it here. Read the rest of this entry »

About five years ago, Jessica and I catered an Italian themed engagement party. We did a food test first with our hubby’s and then for the client to make sure everything was delicious. And to give us an excuse to get together and cook. And drink wine. One of the items we served was this Harvest Soup. Actually at the time we called it Tuscan soup. It’s so easy and so yum. A great starter for Thanksgiving. Or serve it in a shot glass with the crostini poking out. Or make a big ol’ whopping bowl all to yourself for dinner. That’s what I would do. Read the rest of this entry »