Birthday: #33 Was Awesome!

I had the most awesome birthday this year! I didn't do anything spectacular, no big trips or surprises, but I had an amazingly wonderful day with the people I love most!

On Thursday my sweet friend Wendy took me out for a relaxing early birthday pedi and some lunch at Kincaids! Hellooo relaxing! Who says you can't have riesling at 11 o'clock in the morning? We had a great time gabbing 100mph while making sure to stop often enough to thank the nail gals for their amazing work!

Then I decided to push through that afternoon and hit up Crossfit for a 10,000m row. Hey, I wanted to make up for the extra cals I'd inhale on Friday. Thankfully my girl Megan was there to give me some support, as well as her hubs Jeremy...they got me started on a positive note! #blisterhell

Friday was my actual birthday, and I had a FABULOUS lunch with an awesome group of friends at one of my fave spots, Brio! 

These are seriously the sweetest, most fun, "real" girls I know, and I cherish my relationships with each one of them! I definitely missed a few that couldn't make it...ahem Em, Morris, Bauer! ;) I thought a nice, sunny, 11am lunch on the patio would be great. Ummmm, fail. It was balls hot before noon LOL. These sweet girls toughed it out though...love them! :)

Me, Lisa, Jess, Megan, baby Tegan, Jaclyn, Wendy, Laura, Hayley

 

Jaclyn and Wendy were melting on their side of the table...this was right before we left. Look at their expressions...they were thinking "good Lord Sarah let's go with the pictures, we're dyyyying". LOL

Lisa (from PA) underestimated the Texas heat at 12:00 on the patio. Next time she'll sport a cami and bikini bottoms instead of a tee and jeans. I met Lisa through her mom's group a few months back, and we have a BLAAST together! #pumpkinbutterrr!!!!

Jessica (brunette) is pregnant, hot and probably silently cussing me right there...LOL. Look at Tegan's face, she's like, OMG it's hot mommy!

Laura (shades) is pregnant with twins, gorgeous, and probably cussing the heat as well...in her sweetest, kindest tone of course. :) I wish I could wear fedoras like Hayley. My head is too big. Hayley is always stylin'!

My beautiful friend Jessica (pregnant with baby boy!) and Megan my awesome CrossFitting buddy. We like to get tortured together.

 My strawberry basalmic chicken awesomeness salad...with pecans. #win

Aaand, this is my sweet Wendy and her gorgeous, flowing red hair. Wendy and I have been best friends since like high school, and our sons are just a couple of weeks apart in age! She teaches in my district and lives in my neighborhood too! 

We ate our lunches, I took a million pics and opened a ton of sweet gifts from my girls. Then the server surprised me with a little glass of chocolate heaven with a candle. 

Feeling the love!!!!

After Brio, I walked over to one of my favorite "professional and LBD attire" shops, WHBM. I tried on a few cute things and modeled for my girl Jaclyn. C'mon...acting like you're 12 and trying clothes on is always fun! 

I left the Southlake Town Square for the day, and picked up my sweetie pie. I was SO excited to see him! Here he is as soon as I picked him up. Obviously he's more interested in his cold milk cup than seeing mommy!

When we got home, my friend Emily told me to check my mailbox, and there I found another perfect bday surprise! Check out this little book...Emily knows me too well! This is a perfect book for us LOL! Thanks Em! Hilarious...

Michael got home around 6 or so from work, and we talked about movie, nice dinner out, etc., but we decided to lay low and stay in. We were both pooped from a long week, and we wanted to hang out with our little man. So, Marcos' thin crust veggie pizza was my birthday dinner, and it was DELISH! This place doesn't disappoint. Helloo fetaaaa...

I caught the sweetest picture of the day here, when Kyle was smelling my flowers from Jess. They're so bright and happy! I LOVE bright, fresh flowers. He loved them...is this not adorable?? #meltsmyheart

This past year has been wonderful. I think year #32 was the best yet. A lot of things have changed in my life, and I've changed a lot myself...all for the better! I can definitely say that I am happier at this point in my life, than I have ever been! I'm embracing all of my blessings and living each day to the fullest. I have wonderful friends, an amazingly supportive husband, a healthy, sweet boy and the best family ever! Blessed beyond measure!

Cheers to 33!

"It's SO Good": Fooding, Cooking, Devouring

My husband always laughs at my lack of adjectives when I taste foods. I would love to have my own "Woman vs. Food" show like ole' Adam, but I would fail at the awesome descriptives. All I can ever get out is...

"It's SOOO Good!"

So a few friends have been asking me lately what all I'm cooking/eating. I've tried really hard to cut out all processed food from our diets. Only real, natural, whole foods up in our house. I don't follow my own advice 100% of the time, but I do my best. All veggies, meats and eggs I buy are organic/grass-fed, and most likely from Homestead Farms. LOVE that place!

I love taking pics of food. I'm weird like that. :)

How pretty is this swiss chard? Fresh swiss chard from a farmers market or co-op will taste MUCH better than any you buy in a store. You can def tell a difference. Heat a pan on medium, add olive oil, garlic and crushed red pepper. Saute for about a min. Add leaves, cover, check after 5 min. If it looks dry, add some water. Flip leaves over, cover again, check in 5...taste for preference. Add salt and butter to taste. Delish and crazy nutritious!

Homestead farm eggs, sauteed shrooms, onions and red bell peppers, pepper jack cheese, sprouted Ezekiel bread. Fresh, organic eggs are much darker yellow than store bought eggs, and taste just slightly different, incase you haven't tried them. I've cut WAY down on even organic, natural grains, but I cheat with my Ezekiel bread.

Justin's maple almond butter on sprouted Ezekiel bread. It's about 200 cals for 2 tbsp but it's great protein, right! :) Uh, YUM.

Central Market cafe spinach salad...always a WIN.

My nemesis.

Grilled chicken w/lime, cauliflower w/garlic, onion and cheese (due to baby mishaps I had no time to mash), and parboiled/grilled sweet potatoes with lime, cayenne, salt, pepper and cilantro. YES.

Homestead Farms haul: all natural chicken, bacon, pork chops, tamales, beets, swiss chard, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, peaches, squash. I'm about to make pickles with the small cucumbers! I love that place.  

Fro-yo is another nemesis. I mean, it's only about 35 calories an ounce, and I get about 5-6 ounces...so that's not terrible for a delish dessert? Or, lunch, as seen in this picture. White chocolate mousse fro yo, coconut and pineapple. Aloha baby!

Carrot chips...throw some sliced, slightly salted carrots in a convection oven for about 45 min...voila! Healthy carrot chips! Mine were a tad thick, but still great! Use a mandolin slicer for making any type of zucchini, carrot, or similar chip...I just cut them into strips this time. Don't add too much salt, because as veggies cook down they shrink/dehydrate and you'll end up with salt sticks if you add too much. These are so much healthier than regular chips. Kyle loves veggie chips!

Delish grilled sandwich: Ezekiel bread, peppered turkey, swiss cheese, colby cheese, sauteed mushrooms, pickles, grilled onions, and romaine lettuce. My hubs is a huge fan of this. YUMAAY.

How fresh is this? Green lettuce straight from the dirt into my bag! LOVE!

Veggie and bone broth stew...fresh zucchini, mushrooms, cauliflower, celery, onion, carrot, garlic, seasonings, and a soup bone from Homestead. The bone marrow and broth that results is FULL of amazing nutrients: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, collagen, and much more. Totally a superfood! Here's more info on bone marrow benefits. I'd like to incorporate some kind of bone marrow soup at least once a week.

Carrot, kale, cucumber and apple juice. Looks and sounds gross, but CRAZY nutritious. I try to juice at least 1-2 times a day, especially in the morning. Anything with citrus and ginger is an amazing energizer!!!

My awesome friend Lisa and I hit up eatZi's the other day. I threw down this amaaazing tomato and mozzarella salad seen in the pic. She grubbed out on some amazing salad and picked up some eggplant goodness for her hubs. We will def be hitting up eatZi's on a regular basis. 

Rosemary dijon mustard grilled chicken, grilled sweet potatoes, and (TADAA) portobello mushroom cap stuffed with spinach and cheese. (I could eat this three times a day, everyday.)

I've always loved some yogurt, but my friend Lisa calls this her "yogurt bomb"...I always love a good name! I threw whatever I had into a bowl: greek yogurt, strawberries, Kashi cereal crumbs, banana, honey, cinnamon, pumpkin and nutmeg. So good!

I'll begin posting about all the healthy meals and treats Kyle' been eating lately. Kyle eats super nutritious, whole foods, and we're having a blast watching him taste so many new veggies and fruits lately with his big boy molars. Yes, yes, he's still super chubby, but hey, it takes a lot of work to slim down those adorable chub rolls, right?

Foodie love,