My effort to “Add, Not Subtract†and be healthier overall is going well! It’s really easy to make small changes in this mindset because the small changes seem to add up fast.
Last night, I went on a 3 mile run with Brandi! And did 150 ab moves in front of the TV later. I was pretty proud of myself for actually working out when the kids are in bed – I really struggle with that. By the time they are down, I just want to veg on the couch and read or color or watch TV. But it was nice to catch up with my friend. Everyone’s schedule is now in overdrive now that school is back so it’s harder to find time to get together. Boo. Guess it’s just that time of the year.
Came home and made some pizza-pizza! With a lot of veggies. Balance, right?
The Udi’s gluten free frozen pizza is SOOOOOOOOOO good. Lots of flavor.
Breakfast was double shot oatmeal (basically, oatmeal made with coffee and milk instead of water and milk!). With a glob of unsweetened Greek yogurt on the side, which was amazing. Never done that before, but I was looking to up the protein content of oatmeal and thought of this trick. Super creamy.
And last, but not least, it was a big day in the Boyle household. Yay for school!
And, in other news, next time I go to the store, I’m going to keep my eye out for Delicata Squash. I was browsing my old recipes for some inspiration and saw this one and reaaaaally need to make it ASAP. Looks good, huh?
Yesterday, we hit the road for a spontaneous adventure – we went to the zoo!
Actually, let’s back up. First, I woke up feeling incredibly rickety and sore, so I went to a basic yoga class at my gym and stretch everything out – lots of hip openers. Oh yeahhhh.
I have decided that I am over the super sweaty, super challenging vinyasa classes. They used to be my jam, but now they just seem too… Arg, I don’t know! Too much of a super hard ass workout!? When I go to yoga, I kind of just want to relax and breathe deeply and stretch, not burn calories and feel my heart rate skyrocket. Know what I mean? Basic felt pretty damn good.
Once I was all loose and limber, we sat in the car for an hour and half to get to the zoo! It was loads of fun, as always. The big turtles are always my favorite.
Oh, and we rode the carousel! Both of the kiddos had a blast – Henry especially because he got to ride the cheetah! And I got really dizzy. I think that means I’m getting old… Hah.
And we took our photo booth picture, per our tradition! Fun to have Claire in it for the first time ever. She hammed it up.
Well, that was short and sweet, but I just wanted to pop in and say HAPPY LABOR DAY to my fellow Americans. Let’s say, “Goodbye Summer!†in style – I hope you have a great day outdoors in the sunshine.
After hearing about the Capsule Wardrobe concept for months and months, I decided to bite the bullet and do it. What is Capsule Wardrobe? This post is a great explanation (although a bit long-winded), but it boils down to this: You select 37 items (including shoes) per season, clear the rest of your closet out (either store or donate), and rotate the 37 items to mix and match outfits. The reasoning behind Capsule Wardrobe is that, since your choices are limited to what you truly love and actually want to wear, getting dressed is less stressful AND you end up more stylish.
My closet looked like this prior to Capsule Wardrobe… AHHHH!
So I pulled everything out and dumped it on the floor…
Some things were easy to eliminate from my Capsule Wardrobe. No need for sweaters or heavy jackets right now. The seasons really shift at the end of October here, so I’ll probably need to revamp my Capsule Wardrobe in a month and a half (not the typical 3 months).
I put everything that didn’t make the cut into garbage bags… I plan to sort and donate when this Capsule Wardrobe is up.
It was actually pretty easy to whittle my closet down to 37 items! I tend to wear the same favorites over and over again and everything else, I just push past and never put on. I love how airy and open my closet looks now. Much more functional!
Here’s what made the cut…
2 sandals, my grey chunks, a pair of boots, a pair of flats, and wedges
Four dresses
A navy blazer and a faux leather jacket
Black jeans, dark wash jeans, gray jeans, black moto skinny jeans, fleece leggings, dress pants, and 2 shorts
I’m actually a little under 37 items because I think I may need to add a piece in as I go through the process.
So fun, right? I absolutely love it. It’s so much easier to get dressed now!
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How’s your “Add, Not Subtract†Week going? I love that so many of you are participating in this philosophy this week – it’s all about adding healthy things in, not worrying so much about taking unhealthy habits out.
So far, so good. I feel like this mindset is so positive that it never feels like a chore – and little efforts count, too. I’m pretty busy with work this week and haven’t had a lot of time to make it to the gym for intense workout sessions (sadly), but I have managed to go on a one 2.2 mile run (my favorite loop) and lots of walks with the kids.
When I walk with the kiddos, I do a ton of walking lunges! This is one of my favorite workout “tricks†– it really takes the intensity of the walk up a notch and allows me to squeeze in some strength training.
Haha. Claire’s face!
Other little changes – lots of water. Isn’t it amazing how much better you feel when you make an effort to hydrate? And (slightly more) sleep. BOTH of the children entirely slept through the night last night, which was a miracle. Claire has fallen into a pattern of a 4:30 AM nursing session, which I cannot seem to get her to drop, and Henry was acquired that toddler habit of coming into our bedroom one…or two… or three times a night. Ugh. So an entire night of uninterrupted sleep was blissful!
Reading 52 books this year is probably not going to happen. I’ve accepted that my New Year’s Resolution is not going to be “completed,†BUT I am proud to say that no matter what my grand total is, I will have read more books this year than any other year! I haven’t done any Book a Week reviews lately because I’ve had 5 or 6 books “in progress†at the same time. I’ve never read books like that – it just kind of happened because of the nature of many of the books. I recently wrapped up three – here they are!
This is a photography book – I absolutely love the Humans of New York Facebook page. This is the first HONY book, and you can tell how the longer interviews were still evolving in Brandon’s mind. Most of the book is photographs with single sentence or two ‘mini interviews’ with some of the subjects. Not the longer interviews you see today (which are so popular and I love). I really loved the book, and some of the photos and blurbs really did move me to tears, but it doesn’t have the same emotional impact as the FB page currently does. There’s a new HONY book coming out in October, and it promises longer interviews, so if that’s what you love about HONY, I’d say to hold out for that. But still, this is a beautiful book, fun to flip through, and would be a great coffee table or guest room book!
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars. Amazing, but I was left wanting more.
This book is written by my friend, Brittany of A Healthy Slice of Life! I bought it after Claire was born because I wanted to refresh my mind on Baby Led Weaning (a style of feeding where you let babies self-feed instead of using purees). Brittney is well-known in the blog world for her creative kid meals, so I was excited to read this book.
This book is GREAT for someone who wants to be introduced to the concept of BLW. It’s rather short, but the information is concise and well-written. It gives a lot of information on how to get started with basic BLW principles and answers many of the common questions and concerns about the method. I think this would be an ideal book for a new parent or would be a nice shower present in conjunction with some baby bibs and sippy cups! I wish it had more recipes, but I know that you can find that at Brittney’s blog!
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. For what it is (an introductory guide), it’s perfect. I would be even better if it had more recipes or more information about transitioning BLW for older babies. I liked that it was written by a mom who uses the method with both her kids, as it felt really relatable.
Here’s a fiction book that I just read! This book was HAUNTING and SCARY and really engrossing. Here’s the Amazon plot summary:
In 1919, Rachel Rabinowitz is a vivacious four-year-old living with her family in a crowded tenement on New York City’s Lower Eastside. When tragedy strikes, Rachel is separated from her brother Sam and sent to a Jewish orphanage where Dr. Mildred Solomon is conducting medical research. Subjected to X-ray treatments that leave her disfigured, Rachel suffers years of cruel harassment from the other orphans. But when she turns fifteen, she runs away to Colorado hoping to find the brother she lost and discovers a family she never knew she had.
Though Rachel believes she’s shut out her painful childhood memories, years later she is confronted with her dark past when she becomes a nurse at Manhattan’s Old Hebrews Home and her patient is none other than the elderly, cancer-stricken Dr. Solomon. Rachel becomes obsessed with making Dr. Solomon acknowledge, and pay for, her wrongdoing. But each passing hour Rachel spends with the old doctor reveal to Rachel the complexities of her own nature. She realizes that a person’s fate—to be one who inflicts harm or one who heals—is not always set in stone.
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. The reality of life for the orphans in the 1920s was so scary, so terrifying, and so disturbing that I almost stopped reading – super trigger-y, especially for a mom of a little baby girl. But I’m glad I plowed through because the end of the book was great – there’s a big plot twist that is unexpected but satisfying.
What have you been reading? How’s Add, Not Subtract Week going? Anyone else working on their New Year’s Resolutions?
Seriously – where did the summer go?! It was SUCH a good one. I’m sad to turn my calendar over to ‘September’ and say farewell to our summer fun. I think of all the great things that we did as a family this summer, the Fourth of July race + kids’ race with our friends was my favorite!
Seeing Henry dash forward with such determination and grit will definitely rank high up there in my 2015 memories.
And… now it’s time for back-to-school! And that means back to packing lots and lots of lunches. Here are some ideas for mix-and-match meals that Henry loves. Every now and then, I throw in a special surprise like cinnamon applesauce, trail mix, or chocolate-dipped apricots. These fun new Del Monte Fruit & Veggie Fusions, which are bits of fruit packed with real vegetable + fruit juice, are also a fun choice. <—More on those, plus an awesome giveaway, below!
Fun flavors, huh?! These are a huge hit with the kiddo.
Strawberries, tomatoes, edamame, pizza.
Tomatoes, blueberries, cashews, crackers, and cheese.
Blueberries, raspberries, chickpeas, cucumbers, and cereal.
Some thoughts on packed lunches: I try to pack a variety of stuff because it’s SO hit or miss. That’s one of the reason that I like the bento box – it encourages me to put a little bit of a lot of stuff in there. One day, he will eat raw broccoli and tomatoes with gusto and the next day, he will eat nothing but crackers. You know? But I figure, the more often I put food on his plate and the more he sees it, the more likely he is to eventually eat it. Also, at his school, nuts are okay in most classrooms, which I’m thankful for because we eat a lot of nuts. I make his lunches a little small because he has a healthy snack an hour or so before. And although it’s fun to get creative, we also do a lot of peanut butter sandwiches – a lot!
To celebrate the Fruit Fusions, Del Monte is giving away some SUPER prizes. Fellow parents – Tweet or Instagram a picture of your super kid with the hashtag #ShareTheSuper. You could win weekly prizes, including a grand prize of $2000, a custom backpack, and more! You can learn more about it at ShareTheSuper.com.
What was the most super part of your kids’ summer?
This post is sponsored by Del Monte. Thanks, as always, for reading sponsored posts. I appreciate it a lot.
