Hi friends. Happy Thursday. It's a good old fashion rainy day here. I dig it.

What's been up around here? Just the normal summer time fun! Charleigh's vocabulary has taken off and she is starting to talk a lot more. She also had her first all girl meltdown when her favorite pair of shoes didn't fit. Ha! She is an 18-month-old energizer bunny and it's a lot of fun. She's working on counting to 10, ABC's, and colors. Her daycare does a ton of teaching. She is happy when I drop her off and happy when I pick her up. That's a good feeling.

I'm actually leaving my current company after a year and a half between two agents and going back to my old company. The transition has been smooth and welcomed. I won't be working for my old boss, but instead a new boss at the old company. Did I lose you? 

Last night was taco night. I have been a vegetarian for over 3 years now and the only time I miss meat is taco night. However, last night, I made great strides in the vegetarian taco concoction dilemma. Black beans, FRESH Maryland sweet corn roasted with garlic salt, paprika, and pepper, Spanish rice, refried beans, and avocado. Like the picture above, only no sour cream. I am allergic to that.  People always seem curious about Greg and what he eats. Ladies and gentlemen, he's from Wisconsin, he's a meat and potato sort of guy. I make taco meat for him of course. I make meat for him all week, every week. I don't have any problem cooking it for him and now Charleigh too. It's just a personal choice for me.

Float on...
 

The time I pretended I could cook

Randomness

Happy Thursday folks. Friday is starting to creep back in! Yay!

Have you ever noticed that when you call a business with a pre-recorded message, it always says something like, "Please listen carefully as the menu options have recently changed." Have they ever not recently changed? Why is every recording like this?

I'm having my first little dinner party this Saturday evening. My old boss/mentor and his wife are coming, along with an old coworker and her husband. This is the first time I have ever done anything like this and I'm looking forward to it. I've planned the menu, now I just need to clean and cook! Should be fun.

You know your an adult when... you have dinner parties.

Sunday is Mother's Day! My second one ever! I shall celebrate by playing the first round of playoffs in my football league! We have made it to the playoffs every year that I have played with this team, but always feel short of the championship. Could this be our year? Fingers crossed!

Float on...

Advocare 24-Day Challenge: Day 23!

So I've been doing the Advocare 24-Day Challenge. You can read about the challenge itself here. Today is day 23! It has included a 10-day cleanse phase and a 14-day max phase. YES! I've almost made it. Tomorrow will be my last day.

Side note - I'm not reviewing the product for anyone or any company. Just doing it to share with you!

I did it because I needed some help. Normally I am a pretty healthy person. I've been a vegetarian for years and I love to workout, but I had fallen into a rut and was literally eating a bowl of Goldfish crackers and a string cheese for dinner at night. Literally. Not so healthy. I was taking care of everyone else in my family but me. I also may or may not have been baking cookies far too often : ) I wasn't getting the nutrients I needed, not to mention I was seriously lacking protein. I felt like a big pile of goo with no energy.

As a mom of a 1-year-old and an on-the-go husband, I simply canNOT be a big pile of goo. Nope.

Advocare, through it's comprehensive supplementation and nutrition program, restored my discipline. It made me fall in love with fresh fruits and vegetables again. It made me put myself first more often and gave me natural energy. I have loved it. Here are a few pictures of my progress. Tomorrow I will have the final day 24 picture.

Day 1. Self-took bathroom picture. Classy! That lower gut has got to go!

The scary fiber drink during the cleanse phase. You mix it with a few ounces water and chug as fast as possible. Doesn't it look like cornmeal? It's thick and gritty, but has a citrus taste and isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Scouts honor! It was the worst part, but the Spark energy drink (that you can barely see in the Ziploc bag) was a pleasant surprise. It was fruit punch flavored powder that you mix with water. It tasted amazing. I could drink it every day for the rest of my life and be happy. It's that good.

Day 3.

Here's what I have eaten for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. I normally don't eat eggs, but made an egg-ception (see what I did there?) for this challenge to get a quick blast of protein before workouts. I've been eating every few hours and haven't felt hungry. I've noticed that at night is when I have been craving junk the most because that was what I had been eating before starting the challenge. For dinner I'm doing brown rice, black beans, whole wheat pasta, veggie burgers, etc. Just trying to keep it clean and simple. (I made the most awesome clean french toast casserole last week with egg whites and whole wheat/whole grain bread!) I'll be honest... I've cheated twice in 23 days. By "cheating" I mean I caved and ate some of Charleigh's Vanilla Wafers. I don't even like Vanilla Wafers that much. I haven't drank any beer or wine. I've worked out 3-4 times a week. I've been drinking about 100 ounces of water a day. Basically I am a fish now.

                                                                           
Day 1 (again) compared to day 17. Day 17 = down 8 pounds. 3 inches from waist.

Like I said, tomorrow I'll show day 24's picture and results. I ain't going back to my old dinners of Goldfish crackers and string cheese after the challenge, but I'll find a happy medium. Float on...

Clean Eating Blueberry French Toast Casserole

 Need a quick, healthy, AND delicious dinner idea? Why not make breakfast for dinner! I made the best french toast casserole. You'll need all the ingredients you see above (not pictured unsweetened almond milk) Take a loaf of organic whole wheat bread and cube it up in a pan.

 Add cinnamon and blueberries.

Pour 8 eggs whites, 1 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, and 1/4 cup organic maple syrup or honey over the bread and let it all soak up for about 15 minutes.

 Bake at 350 for 45 minutes and waa lah! My family went nuts for it!

And Charleigh was double fistting it! Ha! Bon appetite! Float on...