Another Awesome Giveaway!

Naptime Diaries always has THEEEE best Giveaways...which is why you see blog posts on it so frequently...
(It gives me extra entries into the awesomeness!)

Some of the beautiful things being given away this time are:.....


Beautiful Prints






Gift Cards and Shop Credits

and Beautifully Hand Crafted Goodies!!









And this is just SOME of what you can win!!! Go to Naptime Diaries to see the rest!

Best Friend EVER!!!!

I seriously have the best friend ever.

sipping a coconut in Hawaii!

This is my Beautiful friend Kay . Kay and I haven't gotten to see each other this month as we haven't had group, she's had a wedding, I'm headed off on vacation...and...Life. Life has just been getting in the way.

We text as frequently as we can which usually ends up to be every other day. Yesterday we were texting and though I was having an alright day, I had a VERY crabby Monkey. Today Kay texted to see if Monkey was doing better and I honestly told her that though he wasn't as crabby, he was very whiney and intentionally naughty. (Can you say Hello Terrible Twos at 14months?!) I went on to tell her that "I really hate to say this but I so need this vacation!....I seriously feel like crying." Kay: "Hm....well I have an errand to run, what if I run that then come over and kidnap him for an hour or so and go on a walk...give you a little break."
I let her know that our good stroller wasn't here and all that I had was an umbrella stroller. After her telling me that she didn't care and that it would work fine, I balled.

I cried pretty much on and off until she got here to steal Monkey away and when we hugged I started to lose it again.   I have the best friend EVER!


Knowing I had roughly an hour I went to work on things around the house preparing for the up and coming vacation. I worked and texted Dowe telling him how thankful I was that Kay took Monkey but how guilty I was feeling at the same time. Pushing through it though I was able to get a lot done. Then I heard it....


Thunder!   Oh...No.... My dear sweet fried and son are out on a walk and there's a random storm coming in. I texted her to see if they needed me to go pick them up. Knowing I had her car keys and car here made it better knowing I could go pick them up if I needed to. She told me they were chilling out in her parent's van. They had walked to the park where her mom was playing music with a group of people.




Then she sent me this:

To which I just laughed.
They eventually arrived back at the house, safe and dry. Kay and I talked for a bit before she needed to head home and Monkey needed to go to bed. It was so nice getting to spend some time with her and to have a little break.


So tonight...don't forget to thank God for those dear sweet friends He has placed in your life.
People like Kay who God placed into my life right after Monkey was born.

Hot Lemon Water Detox

What is a hot lemon water detox you ask?
Well...Its just that... Hot Lemon Water.

Want to do it for yourself?...

• Take a 1/4 of a lemon and squeeze it into a NORMAL sized mug.
  (I say normal because my mom's and my favorite mugs hold more like 2.5 cups of coffee instead of the real one cup.)

• Leave the slice of lemon in your mug and pour really hot water over it.
  I send my water through my coffee maker simply because its easier to pour it from there.

• Let it all steep for roughly 30 seconds to a minute...or until its cooled down just enough to drink.
  
• Drink the lemon water as hot as you can stand it....I'm not quite sure what it is about the temp but the hotter it is the better it seems to work.

How many times a day and what time of day?

My hubby is doing this once a day first thing in the morning before eating breakfast.

My mom does this in the evening just before bed.

I am doing this 3 times a day. First thing in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once in the evening.

Remember, I am only doing this for 4 days this intensely. I did it just before my wedding with my mom once a day in the evenings for around two weeks. The length of time is really up to you. Also the foods you choose to or not to eat while doing this detox is also up to you. I am trying to mostly do a raw foods detox with a little dairy and very very little meat. Before my wedding I didn't change anything about what I ate. That is all really up to you. :) Hope you enjoy!

Detox Day One (and) Two.

Before I go into how the first two of four intense days of Detox are going I have to let you all in on a little secret... (shh don't tell anyone....) Dowe is doing the detox with me! Now I will tell you he is not doing as extreme of a detox as I am but he is doing a daily morning hot lemon water with me. :)

I began the detox Tuesday morning with a nice hot steaming mug of Lemon water!

YUM!

I then made lunch for the boys and something else for me. The Boys had a Chicken Alfredo and I make my own white sauce for it. One of my favorite things ever...(Why do I do these things to myself!)
I decided to allow myself to have some plain cooked chicken on my salad so I didn't feel like I was completely cutting myself off from everything else. However, I was very surprised when the Alfredo wasn't even appetizing to me. I also made a side of coleslaw planning for that to be a big part of my lunch. I was pretty sure Monkey wouldn't like it (he didn't) and Dowe doesn't normally like coleslaw but LOVED this!

I shredded some purple cabbage, carrots, broccoli stems, and one zucchini....a little white vinegar, a little sugar (guilty!), and some salad dressing and it was amazing. (Sorry can't give an exact recipe cause I don't measure anything....Dowe hates that about my cooking as nothing is ever EXACTLY the same again.)
I also ate a salad and some snow peas for lunch.

Due to having to take our car to get the oil changed which required me to take Dowe to work my lunch was cut short. So I quick threw the rest of my salad into a plastic container, grabbed a kiwi, knife, and a small thing of yogurt along with some plain, whole, raw Almonds. The above mentioned were eaten over the rest of the afternoon.
At my moms later in the evening I had two ears of corn and a little more chicken.

Now I must confess to you all that I had an Almond Joy Ice Cream with my mom and Monkey at the local FAVORITE. (Something I have only had once from there this summer as its an hour and a half drive from where we live.) Normally I would have gotten a medium but I only had a small and allowed myself to fully enjoy this treat! :) And I also had two more cups of Hot Lemon Water.


Day Two! (with pictures!!!)
I'm sorry that Day One didn't have hardly any pictures! I really need to get better about that.
I did better today though I promise! :)

First thing Hot Lemon Water. :)
Then...Breakfast....

Oh My YUM!!!!

Vanilla Yogurt, Fresh Strawberries, and Sesame Seed covered Almonds.

Lunch:

ohh the veggies!

Don't judge here but the only way I will eat raw broccoli and cauliflower is with SOME kind of dip. So I made my own Dill Dip. Sour cream and dried dill weed =Instant dill dip :) 

Also that bowl of stuff is the left over coleslaw from yesterday. 

For snacks I munched on some snow peas and almonds. 

Tonight I must confess I was feeling rather hungry and so I decided to have two ham and cheese roll ups with mustard and horseradish sauce. :) 

I am currently also working on drinking my Third cup of HLW for today. 

How am I feeling you ask? Well I am already feeling so much better! I feel less bloated and a little more energy. I was up in the middle of the night with a screaming baby so I can't yet comment on the less tired part. But I really am noticing a difference already in how my body feels. Here's to hoping I can continue at this pace for the next two days! :)

That's it! In the morning I am off to buy some Lemons!!!

Back a few blog posts ago I told you all how I want to:

• Take  better care of myself so I can take better care of my boys.
• Look mad hot for my husband for our anniversary trip. This means being able to wear whatever Pre-Baby stuff I have that he would want to see me in for our little get away sometime this summer. (Possibly including a 2-Piece Swim Suit....GASP!)

Well I have been doing this on and off I guess. No where near as consistent as I want to be in taking care of myself. And I never did get around to doing much in the way of exercising other than the walks monkey and I take. Those count though right?...I get a good sweat on ;) haha. Anyways...not the point.

The point is that over the last few weeks I have noticed I have been overly tired, bloated, having issues with acne again (sorry TMI here), and just over all feeling blah!

Jami over at Call Me Blessed posted that she is doing a detox. I decided that is exactly what I need to do to get all of the toxins out of my system and get myself feeling better again!

I am not doing anything overly crazy or big but I am going to buy lemons!

My mom for a long time would drink a glass of hot lemon water first thing in the morning and I didn't quite understand why.  Until just before my wedding (Two years ago!) I realized I had randomly put on a few pounds out of nowhere and was feeling rather stressed out. My mom told me that it was probably just from all of the stress and so we did a Hot lemon water detox together for a couple of weeks before my wedding. It  was AMAZING. Within a couple of days I felt SO much better. 

Well here I am...2 years later...Getting ready and excited for the hubs and my first trip away without the baby. First time alone away from our home together since getting married!... And I feel yucky. :(

So for the next few days I am planning to do a Hot Lemon Water Detox and a Get Raw Diet. I will be attempting to eat only RAW fruits, Veggies, and Nuts for the next 3-4 days to get myself feeling over all better about me. :) 

Along with some MASSIVE amounts of Chaos Cleaning! 

I don't want to come home from the vacation feeling horrible about how the house looks. 

I don't want to waste the precious time I have alone with hubs worrying/thinking about how icky things look at home.

I want to just relax and enjoy my vacation time when it finally gets here. So I am off to go clean more tonight before Dowe gets home and get ready to go to my mom's tomorrow to help her get the house a little more "baby ready" as she is taking Monkey when we go. :)