Saturday, March 31, 2012

All in All...

With sweet dear friends leaving soon (the moving season is almost amongst us!), an outing into Seoul was NECESSARY. The best part... neither of my two friends have ever been to Insadong, so I was able to show them a new piece of Korea... and enjoy my favorite district, Insadong. We strolled the streets, perused the handmade markets and vendors, listened to street musicians...



We stopped for some food along the way, before heading to the Palace... avocado/chicken sandwich..yes please... share a waffle with my friends... YES please.



Pretty sure Charlotte LOVED all the walking/jumping/running she could do at the Palace. She did occasionally take a seat in one of my friends' strollers, while their little ones were stretching their legs. All in all, a beautiful day, with beautiful friends, in a beautiful place...












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Friday, March 30, 2012

Taking the World On.

The other day we received the BEST package in the world, from Charlotte's Aunt Courtney. It probably was Charlotte's favorite gift "to date"... and after you see these photos, I think you'll know why.





I'm fairly certain she feels "invincible" when she wears it, which is ALL the time. She even slept in it the last 2 nights in a row... She keeps calling herself "Super Grover 3.0" (only you devout Sesame Street fans will understand that)... so I've helped redirect, and explained she's "Super 'C' " ... taking the world on with tons of color!
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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Take a Hint Spring...

When the grass is still not green, and the trees still haven't budded, and the weather isn't quite like Spring yet... sometimes you just have to plant some "Spring" yourself, and enjoy it! Here's to hoping the weather takes a "hint" soon...


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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Happy Coloring...

A few new crayon roll designs are in the shop, to welcome in Spring. If you head on over, use coupon code: SPRINGISHERE to receive 10% off your purchase. They make fabulous Easter basket stuffers.. just sayin' ...

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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Here's to trying...

With yesterday's post being about smoothies, I did want to introduce you to another member of the family... our Blendtec. You see, right after we adopted Charlotte (and saw how malnourished she was), we KNEW we needed to jump right in, and begin feeding her EVERYTHING her body had been craving/being starved of, for nearly 4 years of her life. I couldn't imagine living on rice cereal, sugar water, and handouts... but that's exactly what she lived off of. We wanted to "up" her vitamin intake (the most natural way we could), especially since she had a really low iron count, and there's nothing better than being able to enjoy a yummy smoothie, that has all the nutrients your body needs. Now, not every smoothie that we make (1 sweet a day, and 1 green a day) has fruits in it... in fact, too many fruits, is too much natural sugar... so, we have typically have one smoothie to "snack" on, which is our afternoon smoothie (what you saw on yesterday's post), and has a hodge podge of ingredients... and a green smoothie in the morning, that has more kale, spinach and a pear or banana, coconut oil, and something else. Each day, I blend differently, never the same day after day... it's a good rule of thumb.

Now, I don't use a regular average kitchen blender. When we did our research about juicing/blending/etc... we saw two huge names come up: Vita-mix and Blendtec. These are considered high end blenders that are 5 to 10 times more powerful than a typical kitchen blender. What does that mean? Well, these babies have awesome super sharp blades and motors that can chop the living daylights out of whatever you put in the canister. Such a powerful force that the fruit/veggie's cell walls literally explode, instantly releasing all the dense nutrients and flavors trapped inside. This is to help digestion... because our stomachs (especially after eating years and years of processed food) aren't cut up for that task of breaking everything down to the same level. Yes, you can blend up a green smoothie with your average kitchen blender, but there will ALWAYS be lumps/clumps that you'll have to chew and actually "swallow" (you won't enjoy the taste), when you should be able to drink this smoothie effortlessly, and able to absorb all the nutrients. Now, I'm not here to promote one or the other high-end blender brands, I'm simply here to tell you, that if you want to ENJOY your smoothies and have them be 100% rewarding to your body, you can't do it with your typical average kitchen blender. That motor would burn out WAY too quickly for starters (if you make as many smoothies as we make a week), and you'd be pulsing for over 1 hour in order to receive the same consistency that you would receive from 30 seconds on one of the high-end blenders. For a great read on the difference between the two brands and for some great input, check out this link.

Pineapple is an excellent source of manganese, which is an important mineral in energy production. Pineapple is recommended to promote good digestion... but did you know that most of the fiber lies in the core of the pineapple? The core is usually the part of the pineapple that everyone "scraps"... but with a high-end blender, that isn't the case. This is the part that you DEFINITELY include in your smoothies. I only tell you this, because usually pineapple is one of our main ingredients for our snack time smoothie. There are many websites where you can receive information on what fruits have the highest content of specific vitamins/nutrients... I certainly won't bore you with that information.






These blenders don't take up a lot of room in the kitchen... they can be easily tucked away in a cabinet... ours sits out, because we use it often. They wash out super easily, and are dishwasher safe as well. I urge you to do your research about what you're eating, and what is giving you the energy that your body needs in order to sustain "life"... that's what I've been doing the last few weeks... and it's becoming clearer and clearer all the "junk" that I need to start cutting out, and all the "good" that I need to start letting in. It's also way easier to say than it is to do, but here's to trying... and hoping for the best.
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Monday, March 26, 2012

Sneaky 'Stache

Every afternoon we gulp down a yummy smoothie... it's definitely our favorite afternoon snack. It's our "sweet" treat for the day, with all the different fruits I put in (more on that for tomorrow's post). But since we had so much fun with mustaches, I showed Charlotte how to tie them on to the fun striped straws that we use...


I'm pretty sure she didn't understand what was going on... but then, was totally okay with it, as long as she was able to drink down her smoothie... Showing her the pictures later, she said, "oh wow, lookeee me, I have a mutash"... so I think she finally got the point.



The sneaky little bug, she totally slurped down some of my smoothie while I was taking her photo... I bet she thought the 'staches could hide what she was up to... sorry sweet pea, my camera caught it ALL.



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'Stache

It wouldn't be March if I didn't have at least one post dedicated to "Mustaches" ... I can't believe that it's nearly the end of the month... but better late than never, right? My hubby actually started growing out his mustache not March 1, but since the beginning of January, when he departed from us. Instead of dedicating only 1 month to a "stache"... he decided to grow one out, his entire 5.5 months in school, sort of as a morale booster. I'm pretty certain everyone else around him things it's just creepy. Although I miss him terribly, I'm totally okay with that mustache being as far away as it is right now. (Lovely: you MUST shave that before I see you in a few months!) Charlotte is starting to understand what a mustache is, and so I thought it would be fun to create some 'staches for her to use (in a different way). I cut out two felt mustaches, and hot glued her little hair bands to the back of them.


While out on a walk with Charlotte this afternoon, I decided to take out one of the little mustaches, and bite the elastic end, so it looked like I had some hair on my upper lip. You see, it's hard to get Charlie's attention sometimes, because she's so busy playing with sticks, and plants, and rocks, etc. But, as soon as I called her name, this is the reaction I got:


I made sure I had my camera ready... she was NOT prepared to see "Mama" with a 'stache.


She chuckled and chuckled and chuckled, and then was wondering how I had it on my lip... and then I showed her what I had created for her. She was super eager to try out her new little hair bands...


and might I say, they look super adorable...



But my main purpose for creating them, wasn't actually for her hair... you see, this little bug has been wanting to wear my rings ALL THE TIME... so by attaching a small little band to the back of the felt 'stache, I was able to create a ring for her.




and that is EXACTLY how she likes to wear her mustache... one that doesn't get in the way of smooches from Mama.
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