Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
back on track!
after being away from home the majority of the last 10 days and working a full day (eating peanut butter and jelly for lunch because we had zero other options at home!) my body was craving some really good food! i went straight from work to the grocery store.
does anyone else crave healthier foods after awhile? i wouldn't say that my diet was the worst while on vacation but it wasn't the healthiest. and i drank more soda in that week that i have in months. so maybe it was kind of bad?! ;)
anyway. i'm feeling super motivated and ready to get back on track with my eating, exercise and sleeping. oh the sleeping.
i'm also finding new motivation on my health journey by following this lovely lady. jess. over the weekend she did a fitness competition (her first!) and although she didn't win, she still has the best attitude and outlook on life in general. i've been following her on instagram for quite a while now but for some reason, her motivation and success has really struck something in me lately. so i'll keep following her and it honestly helps me feel like i'm getting myself back on track. i'm not interested in any type of fitness competition or anything, but i am interested in getting in the best shape of my life. and that's kind of what she's doing. she strives to live a happy and healthy life and i really want that too! so if you are interested, she vlogs daily and seriously, her attitude is the best!!
anyway. so now that i'm home and we're getting settled back into our normal routine (we have nothing on our calendars for lots and lots of weekends to come... how crazy is that?!) i'm feeling such a sense of motivation to keep moving forward in a positive direction. and now that our refrigerator has been restocked... i'm looking forward to making some of my favorite (21 day fix approved) meals!
from looking at the photos, i'm sure you can figure out what my favorites are ;) what can i say? i find something i love and stick to it!
(i should have eaten my breakfast before posting these photos. my stomach is growling so.much. right now.)
here's to a happy and healthy day! as i type this, todd just suggested a family run/walk this evening and it kind of made my day. i'm looking forward to this day so much. and now... to eat my breakfast...
happy tuesday my friends!!
Monday, July 21, 2014
vacation hangover
is that even a real thing? if not, it is now!
if you need me, i'll be sorting through all of my emails and trying not to face-plant on my desk.
after a super fun and exhausting 10 days off, it is back to the daily grind.
on today's agenda: work, then grocery shopping (we have no.food.) and then lots of sleeping. for all of us. early to bed!
i'm looking forward to eventually being caught up and reading all of the blog posts i have missed in the last 10 days!
what did i miss?
today, i'm missing this.
the place, and the guy. he's cute.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
#thebrinksdosouthhaven2014 - our trip so far!
like i said before, i thought i would try and keep up with my photos this year and maybe even post in real-time... what in the world might that be like?!
here i am sitting on the couch with todd and jackson looking at last year's vacation post. john is taking his nap, the brink's are with grandpa at the park and we are waking up from our afternoon nap and finished a late lunch.
jackson and i are a little behind on our sleep (he is actually very, very behind on his sleep!) so we are taking it easy today. it rained this morning and even at almost 4pm, it is barely 60 degrees. so we are honestly enjoying this lazy afternoon and soaking up this quiet time.
as soon as the kids get home from the park, they'll all be running around like crazy ones once again. jackson cannot get enough time with molly and jacob. the three of them are sharing a room this year and once we get jackson back on a better sleeping schedule (grumpy baby!) they might all enjoy it even more.
anyway. after a super fun wedding weekend (more to come on that!) we left on late sunday afternoon after jackson woke up from his nap. todd and i packed while he slept and we made our way up north. it was the easiest drive and we easily made it in about three hours.
we arrived after 8:30pm and jackson played with his toys with his aunt melissa and uncle alex while todd and i unpacked the car and put our stuff away upstairs. it was late to bed (i believe jackson was asleep just before midnight?!) and early to rise on monday morning. no matter how late he stays up... this kid is up by 7am. in fact, when he woke up monday morning, he came into our room to wake us up (so he wouldn't fall down the stairs in his sleepy state!) and said, "the sun is up! the sun is up!" he was ready to go. if only we were that happy to be awake after less than 8 hours of sleep ;)
monday morning we hung around the house, played toys and had brunch and it was time for a nap.
once jackson woke up from his nap, it was time for a late lunch and off to the beach. to his surprise, molly and jacob (and uncle david and aunt megan of course) had arrived and were playing at the beach when we got there. we played at the beach from about 3 until almost 6:30pm and it was time to head to the house and clean up for dinner.
for dinner we made our traditional stop for pizza (or pasta for some people!) at the vineyard. just like last year and the year before. most of the boys shared a couple of pitchers of beer while the rest of us shared a couple of pitchers too.... of coca cola ;) and we walked back to the house. had to get the keys so we could make our (first) stop at sherman's! my favorite spot of the entire trip.
after ice cream and full, full bellies. we made our way back to the house to start getting the kids ready for bed. and after much, much fussing, crying, screaming, tears, etc. jackson was asleep by midnight. for the second night in a row. ;)
again. we're just hanging out and soaking up the quiet moments (and hopefully getting all of our sleep back on track because let's face it. this momma.is.tired.) there is much more adventure to come later in the week so stay tuned!
i hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far! what are we missing out on while we're away?!
here i am sitting on the couch with todd and jackson looking at last year's vacation post. john is taking his nap, the brink's are with grandpa at the park and we are waking up from our afternoon nap and finished a late lunch.
jackson and i are a little behind on our sleep (he is actually very, very behind on his sleep!) so we are taking it easy today. it rained this morning and even at almost 4pm, it is barely 60 degrees. so we are honestly enjoying this lazy afternoon and soaking up this quiet time.
as soon as the kids get home from the park, they'll all be running around like crazy ones once again. jackson cannot get enough time with molly and jacob. the three of them are sharing a room this year and once we get jackson back on a better sleeping schedule (grumpy baby!) they might all enjoy it even more.
anyway. after a super fun wedding weekend (more to come on that!) we left on late sunday afternoon after jackson woke up from his nap. todd and i packed while he slept and we made our way up north. it was the easiest drive and we easily made it in about three hours.
we arrived after 8:30pm and jackson played with his toys with his aunt melissa and uncle alex while todd and i unpacked the car and put our stuff away upstairs. it was late to bed (i believe jackson was asleep just before midnight?!) and early to rise on monday morning. no matter how late he stays up... this kid is up by 7am. in fact, when he woke up monday morning, he came into our room to wake us up (so he wouldn't fall down the stairs in his sleepy state!) and said, "the sun is up! the sun is up!" he was ready to go. if only we were that happy to be awake after less than 8 hours of sleep ;)
monday morning we hung around the house, played toys and had brunch and it was time for a nap.
once jackson woke up from his nap, it was time for a late lunch and off to the beach. to his surprise, molly and jacob (and uncle david and aunt megan of course) had arrived and were playing at the beach when we got there. we played at the beach from about 3 until almost 6:30pm and it was time to head to the house and clean up for dinner.
for dinner we made our traditional stop for pizza (or pasta for some people!) at the vineyard. just like last year and the year before. most of the boys shared a couple of pitchers of beer while the rest of us shared a couple of pitchers too.... of coca cola ;) and we walked back to the house. had to get the keys so we could make our (first) stop at sherman's! my favorite spot of the entire trip.
after ice cream and full, full bellies. we made our way back to the house to start getting the kids ready for bed. and after much, much fussing, crying, screaming, tears, etc. jackson was asleep by midnight. for the second night in a row. ;)
again. we're just hanging out and soaking up the quiet moments (and hopefully getting all of our sleep back on track because let's face it. this momma.is.tired.) there is much more adventure to come later in the week so stay tuned!
i hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far! what are we missing out on while we're away?!
Friday, July 11, 2014
in pictures: south haven 2013.
south haven, 2013.
please consider this jumbled mess of photos a collage of sorts. for some reason they are all out of order so my apologies! however, the photos still tell a story of all the fun we had. and i can honestly say that each year gets better and i cannot wait to see how much fun jackson will have this year. at almost three, his personality is better and better and better.
so. here's our trip to south haven last summer in a million and one photos.
it is so hard to believe that in just a couple of days we'll be back. please, everyone send happy thoughts, prayers, whatever good mojo you have that we will have nice and warm weather! we need this vacation and we are so, so looking forward to it.
hapy friday my friends. i'm hoping to keep you guys updated in real-time next week so you can keep up with our adventures. we wouldn't want you to miss out ;)
if anyone is out there reading this anyway! lol
best.icecream.ever. seriously. if you are ever in the area. go here. and you cannot beat the prices for the amount you get. and don't worry, i ate that entire ice cream cone. the whole cone and probably some of jackson's too. #sorrynotsorry
same as the last summer... no beach naps. so, we would hop in the car after lunch and drive back to the house for a little quiet time. and almost always, he'd be asleep within 2 minutes of being buckled up. post beach naps are the.best.naps. plus, look how cute he is!
we took a sunset stroll to the lighthouse. it was so beautiful.
caught you sleeping... haha
while we had quite a wait for a table at dinner... we walked around the main street shopping around. it was so sweaty hot so we found one good place with air conditioning. and it just happened to be a little wine shop that offers wine tastings. it was the perfect pit-stop before dinner! they have a "kids corner", blasting air conditioning and all the wine. it was so wonderful.
i'm hoping that we can make another visit to 12 corners this upcoming week!
these most delicious onion rings at clementine's. last year we missed out due to jackson's early bedtime. now that he pretty much stays up all night partying with everyone, it was nice to get out and enjoy the evening with everyone!
cousins eating fresh blueberries. while wearing diapers. pretty much the cutest thing.
"i want to sleep in the purple bed." is what he'd say every night. and just about every night... we'd lay together in that bed until he'd fall asleep. i treasure those moments because those (so far) are the only times we've done that. hoping that it will happen again in a couple of days ;)
