Gettin' Better with Age

Today is my birthday! I turn 34 years old today. It's not really a benchmark age or anything, but it does have me thinking about age. As I climb the hill towards 40; I never really worry about getting older. I just want to feel the best I can for the age that I am.  I am blessed to have wonderful friends and family, a body that allows me to be active, a beautiful home, the best husband, happy kids, and food in my kitchen. So, would I want to go back to being 22 years old? No way! That would mean going back to the hungover days, of being broke, college apartment living with 3 other people, eating tuna fish pasta everyday, and not at all living healthy. I am the happiest I have ever been in my life. So CHEERS (insert virtual alcoholic beverage here) to another year of more of the same!

Southern Girl loves Silverwood!

What a glorious weekend! I hope all 3 of you reading this blog (Haha) had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Although it was not forgotten why we celebrate this weekend, we didn't visit one memorial. We did however, have a great time visiting family in Idaho. The Hubs family is from northern Idaho. His hometown is about 2 hours south of the Canadian border. This is very far north for this southern girl, but it's so beautiful! Lakes, mountains, and good people. Although his hometown is a stone's throw from Canada, it has a lot of the charm from back home. (Minus mosquitoes large enough to tap the keg at your party). The mountains remind me of the north Georgia mountains, people wear cowboys boots, (although they wear them with jeans much longer during the year), and they also listen to country music! I love this, because I'm sure that a lot of the people in Idaho have never been to any of the places that country songs often sing about. They don't have Six Flags over Georgia, but they do have Silverwood! We were lucky to get to go this past weekend to celebrate R turning 9 years old. It's quite a bit smaller than Six Flags, but they have plenty to wear out the kids, and a couple of giant roller coasters. R was a little too scared to give them a try, but there's always next year. If you ever have the chance to go... jump on it! If you are lucky enough to have sweet family there with you; count your blessings.  xo

Where has CIVILITY gone?

Something happened today while I was at the mall with my mom friends that has me asking the question... Where has civility gone? Gen, Damaris, and I had finished our morning mall boot camp workout. We decided to grab a coffee at Starbucks, before heading down to the play area with the little ones. Gen and I were standing in line gabbing while Damaris was keeping an eye on the kids when she asked me "What drink are you getting?". I told her my usual Grande skinny caramel macchiato, and she tells me she thinks she is going to get a Tall, decaf, soy, vanilla latte because she's nursing, and she can't have caffeine, or dairy. At this point some guy in line beside us who I will refer to as "A-Hole" says to Gen... "Didn't you just workout?"  She tells him yes, and he proceeds to preach to her why she should not be loading herself up with all of those calories after she just worked out. He tells her what she "needs" to be ordering is a plain coffee, adding her own sugar substitute to it, and that she should to be skipping the sugar all together. Saying that he should know because he "used to weigh over 200 lbs, does acupressure, and has a nutrition background". We were shocked! So shocked at his not-so-helpful insult that we didn't say any of the things we should have like, "Why is this any of your business?", "She is free to order whatever drink she pleases", or "Shut up. You are being rude!".  This had me angry at myself for a good 30 minutes afterward. I kept wondering why I had not said any of those things to this obnoxious man. I then realized it's because I was raised with the "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" rule. Why do people feel the need to open their mouth, and say what comes to mind with everything these days? The Hubs and I have had this debate before. He believes that people in the south are much less direct about things in person, but still thinks or talks about it behind closed doors. While he believes people out here are just more honest. I personally think that it comes down to needing a little good ol' southern "couth".  If it's going to be rude, or hurt someone's feelings... Keep it to yourself! You don't need to embarrass someone at your every urge to get a point across. I think that it's a sign of maturity to be able to hold your tongue from engaging people you disagree with, or don't like. It's called civility, and "A-Hole" could use a serious dose of it.

My week with a drunk?... Oh it's my 3 year old.

Whoa! This mom is tired after today! Is it Friday yet?  I don't know what has gotten into my 3 year old Misses this week. Maybe it's the crummy weather returning, maybe it's just a toddler spell, maybe it's the moon phase, or maybe she's just being 3. Whatever it is, it feels like we have all been living with a drunk for a week. One minute she's happy; the next minute she's crying. She wants this... Nope! She doesn't want that! She's falling down, she's up and jumping, and jumping, and twirling, and... Oops! What's she doing? Oh, she's pretending to be asleep on the floor! It's been crazy! Days like these make for some interesting trips to the grocery store, or to get your oil changed at the dealership. I guess it's a little funny when she keeps banging on the windows to get the attention of the construction workers. Right? Timeout anyone? Hopefully it will be over soon, and she'll be back to her little sweet self.  I pray.  ;)

On the other hand... The Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale started today!  Maybe I can escape for a little "mommy time" soon. Get out there ladies!

         

Baked Banana Oatmeal Squares

Today I will be sharing one of my favorite snack recipes that I have been basically living on these days.. I love food, and I will eat anything. I don't count calories, but as a rule of thumb I have always tried to make more good decisions than bad when it comes to eating. These baked oatmeal squares are quite good. I LOVE them! There is also SO many ways to vary this recipe that switching it up it super easy, and I do that often adding peanut butter, apples, and so on... These are also low in calories. At just over 40 calories a serving, you can go ahead and have more, and not even feel guilty. It's healthy! 

Baked Banana Oatmeal Squares

Ingredients-  1 1/2 cups quick oats

                      1 to 1.5 medium ripened banana

                      1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

                      1/4 cup fat free milk

                      1/4 cup brown baking stevia blend sweetener

                      1 tsp. baking powder

                      1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

                      1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mash banana until smooth and most lumps are gone. 

Add applesauce and egg to banana mixture, and mix.

Add cinnamon and mix well.

Add oats, baking powder, and "brown sugar" stevia blend sweetener.

Add milk, and mix well.

Spread mixture in a greased 8X8 baking pan.

This part is totally optional, but I like to crumble a little bit of Splenda brand brown sugar blend on the top for good measure. :) ( The calorie count does not include this step.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Slice and eat!

These are totally yummy, and if you do end up consuming the entire pan in 24 hours, and you are curious about the calorie intake. It's 487 calories. I won't say why I know this. ;)  

                       

Signs?

So another weekend has ended, and the first day back to the "real world" is coming to a close.  Our weekend was pretty low key. We did a lot of hanging around the house, and going out to breakfast. This is the first weekend in awhile that we have been able to do that.  The Hubs works long hours during the week, so therefore I am at home with kids a lot during the week. This means that when the weekend comes I am ready to bust out, and go do something together! Often what happens is I book up all of our weekend with stuff to do, and with soccer commitments, the Hubs gets little downtime. It's good to have a weekend every now and then for him to rest up. This is the last one until Father's Day. ;)

One thing that we did get to do this weekend was watch the solar eclipse! It was awesome. Portland was cloudy much of the day, but the clouds gave way a little just in time for a little sun show. I took this picture with my camera through my sun glasses. Such the photographer! Ha!  It was pretty cool though.

Here is something that was NOT cool. I paid $4.20 a gallon for gas this morning! This is getting out of control. To boot, the rain has returned for the week. Yuck! I talked myself out of running in it this morning. Clearly I have been spoiled by the weather lately.  

Solar eclipse, rising gas prices, and rain... I hope these are not signs of any kind!  :) 

                  

Friday FAVES

Happy Friday! Today I am going to leave you with a few favorite things that I have been loving this week. Then I will be leaving you to head out and enjoy the beautiful weather of the weekend, before the rain comes back next week. Sigh...
I hope that you all ( or my mother who is the only reader of this blog) have a wonderful weekend!

This week I am loving...

Michael Kors Rose Gold Watch for fall.  I love the rose gold, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to commit to it just yet. I may end up just sticking with a traditional gold, but I have visions of a new Michael Kors dancing in my head.

I love the look of bright and neutral oversize clutches. The woven texture in this Tory Burch one is awesome.  I'll be on the lookout for a similar one.

The Hubs and I have been watching episodes of the last season of Rescue Me almost every night this week. That Tommy Gavin is dysfunctional entertainment at it's best! 

Iced coffee with coffee ice cubes. Sounds simple, but it has changed my world! I drink iced coffees every afternoon in the summertime. The downside is the watering down of the coffee, but that's no longer a worry for me! YES!

Baked banana, and peanut butter oatmeal squares. These things are so awesome that I polished off the whole 8x8 pan in 24 hours by myself, but it didn't matter because they're totally healthy! Maybe I'll share the recipe later for you. 

HAPPY WEEKEND!!

Workouts and Brenda Braxton

All in all, today was a pretty good day! The sun is shining here in Rain City again! We are about to break a record of the most consecutive dry days in May. Can you guess what the record number is? 15.  The Georgia girl in me laughs about this, because back home this is very normal. The Oregonian in me however, knows that there is absolutely nothing funny about a long, cold, and wet spring. Thus, we all celebrate! I get a kick out of Spring around here, because all of a sudden the weather gets nice, and people come out of the wood work. It makes me wonder every year... Where have all of these people been all winter??? I know the answer.

My usual weekly routine has me waking up at 4:45am to have some coffee, throw my running clothes on, and get out the door for a short run before I can change my mind. The Hubs (my husband) has to be out the door for work by 6:15am, so it's early or never for me. That's okay because all the sunshine we've had around here lately has totally revived my running spirit! I do love to run, but I would never classify myself as "a runner". The farthest race I've ever done was a 15K (9.3 miles), the farthest I've ever run is 13.1 miles on Nike+, and I only did this to see if I could. I just don't really enjoy the run after the 1 hour mark. (Shhh... don't tell!)  Anyway, I tend to get into a runners rut every spring when the weather is still terrible, and running outside in the rain all the time JUST.PLAIN.SUCKS. Not this spring though! It's been pretty nice. Off I go! 

Today I also met two of my mom friends at the mall for a little workout. My friend Gen, just had a baby, so we've been meeting at the mall twice a week so I can administer a good ass whoopin' workout for her and Damaris. I bring hand weights, and we have our little ones in tow. They love to run around together while we workout. It's so much fun! For all of you moms who need a place to walk or workout during those dreary months; head to the mall! Our local mall opens the doors at 6:30am for walkers and such. If you don't mind a few elder onlookers; you can get a great workout at the mall, especially on those benches. :) While we were there, we saw Brenda Braxton our local KGW news anchor! I watch her every morning, so I wanted to say "Hi" like I know her, but of course I don't. If you ever wondered what she does between the morning and noon news, she sits quietly doing work at a table having coffee at the mall.

Back home to make lunch, clean a little, pick R up from school, playground play, home again, dinner, and.... DONE! Well, at least until bath time. ;) 

Home Sweet Home

To introduce myself... I am a married, soon-to-be 34 year old, stay-at-home mom of 2, currently living in Portland, Oregon. I am originally a girl from the south; born and raised in Georgia. In my 20's I decided to throw caution to the wind, and move out west with some friends once while I was young. I thought to myself... "What's the worst that could happen? I could hate it, and have to move back home."  Well, that was in December of 2001. I have since been blessed to have met my husband, gotten married, had 2 kids, and built a house in the city that we call home. I haven't looked back. Well, I can't say that's true at all. Although, I don't miss Snellville, Georgia, I do miss my family all the time. I also miss the southern accents, warm southern nights,  long summers, sweet tea, the beach, cook outs, cicadas at night, and on and on... However, this is my home sweet home for now, and I am very blessed in my life. I am writing this blog because these days are so busy that I can hardly remember what I had for lunch yesterday, and this is a good way to keep track and look back to remember the little things in my day to day life. In this life of a rain soaked girl from the south...