Love- it's that time of year where you are packing up the car every other weekend to go THIS place or THAT... and somehow along the way, your goals of crushing a 10K (or rocking a bikini) slip to the sidelines. Am I right?
Well. First off... you can ALREADY rock that bikini, love. The only way to truly have a beach body is to: A) put on a bikini and 2) go to the beach. DONE!
But I get it, love. I set quarterly health goals for myself and sometimes, it seems like the SUMMER is a test for my own will-power... can Amber hit her goals this summer, we shall see! It's like American Ninja Warrior... but I'm a contestant, LIFE is the battles and my goal is to CRUSH a marathon come September. Okay, nothing like American Ninja Warrior... but you feel me, right?
Last summer, I thought I was in a run for my money when our little man had intense lokomat therapy in the big "city" every other day for 12+ weeks... which...
Basil and I have a love/hate relationship... I love all the benefits of basil + it hates to grow in my herb garden.
Not really.
I just struggle with growing parsley and basil... which folks tell me are the two simplest herbs to grow. My issue is the herbs do amazing then we get 3-4 days of torrential downpours of rain and when I go to check on them once the sun comes up... they have given up on life. { sad face }
So. In order to solve this problem... I have repotted my plants (aka. purchased new ones) and moved them indoors near our sliding glass doors so they can get optimal sun but protected from the heavy rains!
Now my biggest concern is keeping those tiny 4yr old hands off my plants!!! Ah well...
Let's dive deep into BASIL to find out all it's goodness + ways you can start using it... in your kitchen as well as in your beauty regimen!
How to select the right basil?
Opt for organic, fresh...
Wow. Let's be real for a second, love. Growing up, I never learned about make-up... which is COMPLETELY odd considering I grew up in the South, right? However, my mom wasn't big into makeup so... it's not something I learned. Not saying that's bad or good... just my story.
Now. In full honesty, there are a few things I NORMALLY use such as:
And that's typically it....EXCEPT if you count chapstick. Does that count? Anywho. Now that we have a little one that's growing up curious about make-up and all things FANCY, I'm learning in my 30's about beauty products + teaching her as I go!
Most importantly, we are talking about how beauty, true beauty is all about KINDNESS... and feeling confident in your skin. we talk about how our unique features make us special... and how taking care of our skin starts from...
Blueberries remind me of the hubster... see his side of the family use to have a blueberry farm + I got pretty spoiled. Each summer, there would be gallon ziplock bags of freshly picked blueberries for the taking. DELICIOUS!!!
And whenever we head out to a farmer's market, fresh berries are always a must (along with cut flowers). It just reminds me of a time when we were first dating... back in college... getting free food (like the blueberries) from family members who felt pity for us broke college students.
His family would send me home with blueberries... and my folks would send me home with a case of tuna fish (because my dad would have a SAM's club card)! HAHAHA!
Fish + blueberries... not a good combo, I'm not recommending it here.
{ insert: gross face }
Let's divert from this subject and dive a wee bit deeper into the goodness of blueberries + recipes which don't include fish! You are welcome.
How do you select BLUEBERRIES?
In an article, I read it's more beneficial to snag...
Dude.
Seriously. In today's world it seems something is always competing for our attention... the news, podcasts, social media, etc. Something is always happening + wanting to be seen. But you know what... something has ALWAYS been happening. Right? And the world kept turning.
Last fall, the hubster + I sat down to take a look at some of the things we wanted to box up and take with us... some things we wanted to store... and other things we needed to either donate or trash.
The task made me think of other things we needed to either take with us... or trash. And that was our habits. How can WE be more present as a family? How can we focus on the NOW... before our Gillies, the twins, are packing up their own things to head out on their own.
A few habits we decided to take with us:
family dinners... unplugged
Saturday morning outings to the local farmer's market (when in season)
Sunday church service
starting the day with meditation and prayer
...
This smoothie recipe is one of my favorites and one I have almost every single day. We do change it up a wee bit here and there because, to be honest…. I typically share my smoothie with the Gillies, our twins and some days they ask for chocolate or berries to be added. And I’m not going to rock that boat because with smoothies, it’s a way I can sneak in some extra greens and superfoods! You feel me?
Anywho. This smoothie recipe, like I said I make almost every single day… no matter if I’m traveling- I’ll even check my luggage to make sure my nutri-bullet makes the trip! So, I decided to write out the recipe for members in our Biohacker Babe Community— and maybe YOU would want to know, too!
Now, I snagged this recipe from the book, Body Love… which is AMAZING and you can catch my FULL review here! There’s tons of delicious recipes + many more smoothie recipes I snag for when, like I said, the Gillies ask for chocolate or...
This smoothie recipe is one of my favorites and one I have almost every single day. We do change it up a wee bit here and there because, to be honest…. I typically share my smoothie with the Gillies, our 5yr old twins and some days they ask for chocolate or berries instead. And I’m not going to rock that boat because with smoothies, it’s a way I can sneak in some extra greens and superfoods! You feel me?
Anywho. This smoothie recipe, like I said I make almost every single day… no matter if I’m traveling- I’ll even check my luggage to make sure my nutri-bullet makes the trip! So, I decided to write out the recipe since my ladies in our NO BRAINERS community asks me what it is quite often— and maybe YOU would want to know, too!
Now, I snagged this recipe from the book, Body Love… which is AMAZING and you can catch my FULL review here! There’s tons of delicious recipes + many more smoothie recipes I snag for when, like I said,...
The other day a friend commented on a post of mine on social media asking if I had heard of the “FAB4Smoothies” because some of my recipes were quite similar.
Now. Honestly, it wasn’t the FIRST time to hear about the “FAB4Smoothies”… I heard about them and their creator, Kelly LeVeque over a year ago on a Rachel Hollis podcast. Then again recently on another podcast, although, I can’t place it right now.
Anywho.
THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM… so I searched on Amazon for her book, BODY LOVE and snatched it up! This past week, I wrapped it up and placed the book on the shelf… but not before I tabbed a few pages, highlighted and tried a LOT of the recipes!
Tidbits you might want to know… Kelly LeVeque is “celebrity favorite health and wellness consultant” which is...
Wow. Talk about being REAL with the title... when stress kicks me in my lady bits. And this wee bit of a blog post is all about being real with you but mostly with myself.
See. Like most people, when January rolled around, I realized I needed to start focusing on my health. I noticed my gut was a bit unhappy with my life choices: not sleeping, not eating enough calories, not drinking enough water, getting anxious over things I have no control over, saying “YES” to things that weren’t my focus or getting TO my goal!
So. I designed a plan…. something doable. Focusing on what I could control which included:
saying “NO” to things that weren’t healthy for me or my goals (business, personal, family, relationships, faith goals)
drinking MORE water and hitting my water intake goal (ie. at least 1/2 my body weight in ounces: so my 140lb frame needed at least 70oz of water...