Author: Lindsay Ingalls

Get ready for rambling….

I never really disliked Mondays, I always thought of them as a new day, a new week, a fresh start. That was until I had kids and realized that Monday is now that day of the week when I am once again on my own, Edith refuses to nap, nothing ever gets done and well basically I have learned not to plan on anything for Mondays. I actual overtime came to dread Mondays and by the end of the day I was ready for a glass of wine and a maid.

Don’t get me wrong this post isn’t complaining about Mondays because while I dread the no nap I am actually learning to embrace Mondays. Instead of Mondays being the day that I dread I actually am trying to go with the flow and take Mondays as they are, a day to send time with my littles. While I still try and check things off my to-do list and I attempt to get Edith down for a nap I also have come to terms with the fact that 90% of the time Edith won’t nap and I might not get anything on my to-do list done. Instead of feeling frustrated and like a failure (that’s an entirely different post) I have decided that I am making Mondays the day that I will soak up the time with my littles; a time where I focus on them and me and not on the pile of dirty dishes or mountain of laundry. 

This year is about letting go. Letting go of expectations (or at least the over the top ones). Letting go of things (like literal things we have just too many things). Letting go of fears and instead letting in life, love and happiness. Focusing on what I can control and letting go of those things that I cannot. 

I guess you could say one of my goals this year is to let go. I have a number of other ones as well that I’ll share with you in a non-365 blog post. 

Who else deals with the Mondays? How do you deal with them? 

Goals for the day: Get outside. Do 2 loads of laundry. Do 2 loads of dishes. 

Eats of the day: Roasted sweet potato topped with sauteed kale, cherry tomatoes, tahini sauce and zatar (I really should have take a photo- p.s. if you’d like to see What I Ate Wednesday post let me know in the comments below). 

Quote of the day:

First off let’s all just say Happy Birthday to Neil who turns the big 3-4 today! Sending him lots of love today. 

Anyways onto today’s blog topic: DietBet. As you know I hosted a game back in November and while I didn’t lose the 4% body weight (that’s part of the goal of the game for those of you who might not be familiar) I did find the experience to be an overall positive one. I found myself focusing on me, my health and ultimately I saw results despite the scale not dropping very much. 

I had thought about hosting another game but when I saw that Emily was hosting her own game I decided to jump on board and participate. I have to be honest and say I let December get the best of me and I ended up back up four pounds and definitely let my workouts and healthy eating slide. That being said I am basically back at the same starting position as I was in November but this time around I know how much of a positive difference DietBet made on my life that I am ready to take it on again and hopefully drop the weight. To help matters I am starting my Quarter Marathon training today. It’s kind of a crazy, big day but I am ready to take it on. 2015 is going to be my year I can just feel it. 

Let’s rewind a minute and talk a little more about DietBet because I’m going to tell you the name of this game really turns me off. I am not about being on a diet and I really just don’t love the word because it is often associated with crash diets, extreme diets and temporary ways of eating. For me my diet is not at all about any of those things but rather a lifestyle. My diet is what I eat everyday and while I try new proportions of things you will find me eating a (usually) healthy plant-based diet. I actually wanted nothing to do with DietBet for the longest time simply because I didn’t like the name or the idea of a game around losing weight but once I tried it I actually found myself having fun, feeling inspired and now I am at it again – this time simply as a paying player. 

I don’t have before photos to show you right now because well they are just a hot mess. I ended up getting my weigh in photos in just under the wire last night and they are crazy looking. I’m glad only the DietBet Refs (and Neil and myself) are the only ones to see them. I’m going to have Neil take photos of me and I’ll share them later this week. I’m also going to take measurements this time around. So there it is round 2 of DietBet. 

Goals for the day: complete run #1 of my training plan and make it through the first day home alone with the kids in nearly two weeks. 

Eats of the day: Big bowl of greens, sweet brown rice, refried black beans, veggies and avocado. 

Quote of the day: No Matter How Slow You Go You Are Lapping Everyone On the Couch. 

Good evening! This post is coming later than I had planned but it’s only 9pm PST so I am coming in just under the wire. We have been out partying the afternoon/night away and by partying I mean spending time with friends enjoying drinks and sweets and laughs. 

Neil turns 34 tomorrow and in honour of his big day I decided to plan a surprise get together with a group of our friends. I worked out a plan with friends of ours to invite us for beers and burritos, a dinner date we had already discussed doing, in order to hopefully spare any suspicion Neil might have. So our friends invited us and I secretly invited a bunch of other friends to join us. Unfortunately the Mexican food truck we had hoped to have dinner at closed so we changed the time to an afternoon event of beer/drinks and cake (and fries for those who were lucky enough to indulge). 

Neil was suspicious because it’s not a huge surprise that I like to throw him surprise birthday parties – side note this is the third or maybe fourth surprise party that I have thrown and on the years I didn’t throw one we have been on a mini vacation. Anyways he had his suspicions and of course he was right but that didn’t matter because we still had a great time chatting with friends, enjoying beers (just one for me), eating vegan chocolate mousse cake from Whole Foods and watching our girls play together (the boys are 5 and 6 months old so they just hung out). 

After the gathering we decided to head out for dinner for Neil’s birthday and we ended up getting Bamboo Sushi <– so good and then Neil and Edith wanted Salt & Straw so we indulged and shared some vegan ice cream as well. I can tell you right now I am stuffed, exhausted and happy. I am however dreading going downstairs to weigh in and take my photos for my DietBet game that I am participating in that starts tomorrow (more on that tomorrow). And now this is where I quickly have Neil take my photos and I go to bed because tomorrow is the first day back to the grind and mama needs her sleep. 

The birthday boy and his little man

Goals for the day: Successfully pull off Neil’s birthday party. Check. 

Eats of the day: Bamboo Sushi- yummmmm. Chocolate Mousse Cake – double yum.  

Quote of the day: Success is like reaching an important birthday and finding you’re exactly the same. – Audrey Hepburn

I woke up this morning feeling kind of crabby. It hit me like a pile of bricks that today is Saturday and that means it’s the weekend and that Neil heads back to work on Monday. It also means only two days to get as much checked off the long list of household ‘to dos’ that we haven’t tended to the past 10 days. I know I shouldn’t be crabby because we have had an amazing time but I can’t believe we haven’t accomplished anything on our list (yet). 

Today I had to take a point from a girlfriend of mine who was telling me the other night after hosting our New Years Eve party that she sometimes likes a little mess because it means sending her husband to the other room with their toddler to play while she just zones out and clean. This is not something I often do but today I knew I needed to make myself a cup of tea, put Alder down for a nap and send Edith and Neil upstairs to play (which was easy because Edith asked Neil to go upstairs before I had a chance to send them) and then just zone out and clean.

While I didn’t make as big of a dent in my tasks as I had hoped I was able to bake a batch of banana bread, do a load of dishes, organize the pantry and clean up the coffee station before Alder woke up. It was so nice to just focus on the task at hand and not my little ones and in the end I cleaned up (a little) and my mood brightened. Now it’s time for a lunch and The Good Wife break with the hubz before getting back to my ‘to do’ list. 

Pass the coffee. I swear for the past week I have thought it was Sunday. I actually woke up yesterday and groaned because I thought it was Monday which meant Neil was back to work but alas it was on Thursday. Today I woke up thinking it was Sunday again….seriously it’s like Ground Hog Day over here right now.Neil has been off from work since December 24th so it is completely throwing my days off; with him being home and our little trip to the Coast I am a mess.

We decided to do a little early birthday getaway to the Washington/Oregon coast on Sunday which is out of the ordinary for us because we always do short getaways Friday-Sunday or Saturday-Monday. Anyways we went Sunday-Tuesday and it was actually really refreshing. I like being on vacation on days that are less popular getaway days and aren’t holidays. We were able to visit some of our favorite spots without them being too overly crowded and I was able to find a great deal at the Adrift Hotel in Long Beach, WA. Seriously Sunday-Thursday hotel deals are great. 

We spent most of the Sunday-Tuesday hitting up our favorite Long Beach and Astoria spots including Buoy Brewing where I was finally able to actually enjoy a beer (whoohoo) since the last two visits I was pregnant.Of course we did our other usuals as well which include Columbia River Maritime Museum, Fort George Brewery, hitting up the thrift store in Chinook (WA) and coffee at Street 14 Coffee. We also tried a few new places including [pickled fish], the restaurant at our hotel, who made us an amazing cheeseless, veggie packed pizza that is officially the best pizza (I have eaten to date) on the West Coast. 

Speaking of coffee I need about three more cups to make it through this day and on that note it’s time to make some! Also if you want to read more about our trip I posted more details over on Naturally Family.

Goals for the day: clean and organize the playroom….oh and finish all the goals from yesterday. 

Eats of the day: Coffee and Bagels with Tofutti at Either/Or Cafe.

Quote of the day: I never laugh until I’ve had my coffee – Clark Gable 

Happy New Year!

I don’t know if it’s just me but I feel like this is going to be a good year. I’m starting this year off with a very ambitious goal of blogging everyday this year. I am planning on WILL BE doing daily blog posts to share with you bits of my daily life.I had initially planned to do a high and low of the day but thought better of it and will just be sharing bits of the day and at least one photo. I know this is a huge task to take on but I am excited to start so here we go! 

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We kicked the New Year off with a wild party and by wild I mean eight adults, three toddlers, two babies and one on the way. We kept things pretty low key and did a little potluck with friends. We served up sparkling wine, beer, and sparkling sodas along with big bowls of customized stir fry noodle bowls. The kids played, the adults chatted and we were all on our way home to bed by 7:55pm. Wild night, eh?

We initially were going to host the party but I have to say I am so thankful that our friends offered to host at their new home because after hosting a brunch and a Christmas dinner last week and then heading to the coast for an early birthday celebration for Neil I was exhausted. Bonus we got to see their beautiful new house and oh how I am now dying to buy our own house but alas we will have to wait.  

I’m adding save to buy a house by the end of 2018 on my goal list which I will be posting in the new few days. For now however we will continue to rent and work on getting ourselves fully settled into our townhouse. That being said we are actively working towards a more minimalist lifestyle and today kicked off clean house 2015. Side note how do we have so much stuff????? I feel like all we do is get rid of things and suddenly we have more. Please tell me I’m not the only one who experiences this. 

Goals for the day: clean the playroom, clean the upstairs bathrooms and wash & put away two loads of laundry. 

Eats of the day: Noodle bowls (because we just can’t get enough). 

Quote of the day: There are far better things ahead than we leave behind – C.S. Lewis