New Favorite Apps to Save you Money!

Hello! It's been awhile, and I was just chatting with some folks about rebate apps that save you money. That is, of course, if you use them correctly, and "reverse" rebate. Basically, this means plan your shopping list based on what you already need, then go through the apps to see if those things are on rebate, not just buy things you don't need because you'll get money back and think you're getting a "deal."

That said, these two apps I'm featuring on here today don't really require you to buy certain things.

The first one I found out from my fellow deal finding friend Michelle a few months ago called Fetch Rewards. Basically, you scan your receipts from grocery type stores (Wegmans, Target, CVS, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Harris Teeter, etc.) and you get points for your purchases. Every receipt from a major retailer gets 25 points, and you can get additional points if you buy a brand they've featured.

I've found Fetch Rewards to be SO simple, because literally all you do is scan the receipt after you're through shopping, and once you reach 3,000 points, you can start getting gift cards to places like Panera or Dunkin. The more points you have, the higher your reward total towards a gift card. 

If you do sign up for Fetch Rewards, my referral code is C3JDF so thank you kindly for using it. 😊

The second app, called Shopkick, takes a little more work. For this app, you scan items while shopping and get points. I find it can be a pain, and I often avoid it. Sometimes if I need a brain break for lunch at work, but don't want to mindlessly spend money on junk not in our budget, I'll walk through CVS and scan items to get points. 

You also get points just for opening the app in some bigger retailers like Target or Wal-Mart.

Once you have a certain number of points you can get gift cards to Starbucks, Target, Gap, etc. 

Free Ice Cream and Italian Ice!

If your weather is anything like ours today, it doesn't have you thinking spring, HOWEVER, Rita's is giving away free Italian ice (and if it's like last year, for an additional $1 you can add a scoop of custard on top to make it a gelati, YUM) for the first day of spring.

Also, Dairy Queen is giving away free soft serve ice cream cones (and some will do cups for celiacs like me) at participating locations for free cone day and accepting donations for the Children's Miracle Network.

Lovely freebies to kick off spring, and hopefully bring on some sunshine and flowers soon.

I found out about the Rita's deal through their awesome loyalty program, and I'm working on an e-mail right now that includes a list of my favorite loyalty programs.  Programs that give you deals and steals not just on your birthday, but throughout the year. Stay Tuned!

Free Yogurt!

Another quick post to tell you about another quick deal.

With Chobani's redesigned packaging, it looks like they're on the hunt to keep their customers, and get new ones.

Right now, they have a free Chobani printable coupon on their website. This one can be used for several Chobani products, including my kid's favorite, Chobani Drink (or as they call it, "Yogurt Smoothie!!").


PLUS, on Ibotta, there's a free carton of Chobani rebate that can be used at various stores (Target, Harris Teeter, Wegmans, etc. ).

The coupon on their website is only good through March 4, so get there stat. The rebate on Ibotta has an expiration date of March 28.

Check it out and pick up a delicious and healthy snack (or two) for nothing!

Amazing Deal with Target Cartwheel

A quick post to let you know Target is having a 20% off clearance apparel and accessories deal when you use the cartwheel app! This deal must be used in store FYI.

I had written new shoes for my boys in the February budget, but had to move it to January to take advantage of these great deals. 

All three pair of these Surprize by Stride Rite were $38.21 after cartwheel and Target Red Card (and before tax). To put into perspective, they are normally $30 a pair roughly.

So if you've been needing something from Target for you, or your family's wardrobe, now is the time to get it! This offer is good through February 3.

(P.S. not an ad, just wanted to share so everyone else can save too!)

My Favorite Apps to Save You $$

Have you ever been at the check out line and had your eyes grow big as saucers as the cashier read your total back to you?

You walk out of the store, scanning your receipt and wondering, "How did it total up to that much?? There's no way these three bags cost $XXX!!"

It's amazing how a quick run to the store, or even what you think will be a quick online order for essentials, can add up so quickly.

One of my favorite ways to save that doesn't involve clipping coupons (I know some people hate coupons, personally, I have no problem with them) is finding apps that give you money back.

Check out the apps below, and their explainers, and click the links to add them to your phone if you see them (an FYI, you will be giving me a referral credit with some of them, which could give you a credit too!)

Ibotta: Among thrifty shoppers, Ibotta is probably the most well known rebate app. It works at many stores: grocery, big box, drug stores, etc. Recently it started adding online shopping cash back options as well, but I still prefer Ebates (see below) for that.

With Ibotta, you check the items on the list of offered rebates, shop for those items (items available for rebate vary by store) and scan your receipt when you are done shopping and it picks those items out and confirms your purchases.

Sometimes you'll have to scan items if the receipt picture doesn't pick them up.

Savings Star: Savings star can be used two ways:

1. The incredibility easy way: if your store has a loyalty program, you just enter your shopper number and every couple of weeks it automatically enters your rebates from that store. You literally do nothing, but choose the rebates you want to activate, and then shop for those numbers.  This does take a little longer to get your money back
2. Scanning the items purchased and then scanning your receipt like most other apps at stores without a loyalty program like Wal-Mart and Target

Savings Star also offers a healthy offer for a produce item, and sometimes has "100% cash back items" on smaller things like candy bars, cream cheese, etc. 

Checkout 51: Check out 51 is super easy. Pick out your rebates, and scan your receipt, and go. Randomly you have to scan an item, and randomly items are only for specific stores. Most of the time, however, it's pretty universal, and easy to use.

Ebates: When I first heard of Ebates, I thought it was a scam. How could I get money just for normal shopping I do online? But, you can. My friend Keri convinced me it was real, and it is a great way to make a little extra change. The cash back isn't crazy, anywhere between 1-8% usually depending on the day (they do promotions, like extra cash back) but if you're going to be spending the money anyway, you might as well! 

Wal-Mart Grocery: I'm going to sound like a total yuppie here, but I hate going into Wal-Mart most of the time. I'm a Target person. However, I love Wal-Mart's prices, and their wide variety of items, and when you're working on a budget with four little ones, price is king if the quality is the same. 

So Wal-Mart's grocery app is amazing because you can shop for groceries right on it, set your order time, pull up in the designated spot and they load your groceries right into your car--you never get out and go inside the store! Plus, there is no convenience charge like many other grocery pick up or delivery services. 

If you use my link above you'll get $10 off your first order too and then you can refer others for the same!

In Total...

These apps can be such  money saving tool if you use them correctly. If you only buy things you needed anyway, aren't sucked into impulse buys on extra items, or special sales on Ebates, you'll end up with extra money from items you would have bought anyway.

The rebates offer various ways for you cash out with your sweet moola. Ebates gives you a quarterly payout with options for PayPal, Check, or gift cards, Checkout 51 and Ibotta let you cash out once you've earned $20 with various gift card options and PayPal, Savings Star lets you cash out once you hit $5 with gift cards and PayPal as your choices. 

Personally, I uses these rebates as my coffee run money and load it as Starbucks gift cards randomly, OR I put it into savings or an extra payment on our cars to get ahead. It's "found money" and an easy way to slip ahead, which I love.

Happy Savings!

2017 in Pictures

I know it's been awhile..over a year in fact. And if you check out the pictures below, you'll see a few things have changed, or should I say multiplied. Our family grew times two with the birth of our twins Sydney and Laine on June 21.  Blogging fell by the wayside with the demands of a full-time job outside the home, full-time job at home, and spending half the year making sure I cooked two healthy girls while my body slowly became a giant, aching, incubator.

But now we're a family of six, living in one of the most expensive regions in the United States. So people keep asking me, how do you do it? How do both you and your husband work outside the home, have four kids in childcare, still get in your workouts, date nights, and keep sane?

Short answer: We don't.

Long answer: We're thrifty, not cheap, but thrifty.

I know money is sensitive subject, but it's something we all deal with. However, i'm not here to tell you how to manage your money, because managing my own is hard enough.

But, as I get back to regular blogging, I will be focusing more on the tips and tricks that can help families save money, and the little things we do to find a better deal and save both time and money and enjoy our family of six at the same time.

So stay tuned, I may not blog often, but it's my hope to get over here at least every few weeks and share my tips, and hear some from you as well!

Last picture as a family of four

Happy Father's Day!

Bringing the girls home from the hospital

Sydney and Laine's Baptism

Halloween at just over four months

Fall Update

I've taken breaks from blogging before, but never this long. Never nearly eight months. I could not write again, and no one would notice, but I know I would. I love looking back at my posts and remembering things I would have otherwise probably forgotten about in the hub bub of life.

And let me tell you, life has been a hub bub. I planned to write more after my leap day post, but things got crazier than ever before.

Austin's seizure that I wrote about became prolific seizures, that were happening once or twice a week, and scary, and unpredictable, and very frustrating. And in the middle of all that, I was interviewing for a new job. After being with the same company for 7+ years, the company that moved me to Virginia, so that in itself was scary.

I was sitting in the hospital with Ben, his dad, and Austin when I got the call with a job offer. We had just heard word that all was good with Austin, a negative MRI, a diagnosis (pediatric unexplained epilepsy) and a plan for a drug to help control them, and it seemed like it was a good sign. It was time to make a change and move forward, as scary as it might be.

Since the end of March, Austin has been seizure free, and is happy as ever. 

Everett started speech therapy himself in April and now is a talking machine. He's finally communicating his needs and wants, but isn't always happy when he doesn't get everything he wants, and claims he needs, the minute he wants them. He and his brother are really forming a relationship which is so fun to see. They also now team up on their dad and I. =)

And now, Ben has a new job as well. He took a leap out of the news business, and is quite happy with it, and as are we as a family.

Roughly a year ago I told Ben I felt like I was barely keeping my head above water, even drowning some days. Barely having enough time for anything, both working crazy hours and times,  and even though we were working our asses off, we were just making ends meet.

I said we weren't living, we were existing.

I pleaded that we needed a change.

I didn't know what, but something had to give, and I'm happy to say a year later things have changed because we decided they needed to. Life feels less like work most days, and I couldn't be happier. I'm still not a millionaire, and I still have a messy house defined by crumbs and toy clutter, and a random 5-10 lbs that creeps up on me if I'm not careful, but I'm not grasping at straws to make life go most of the time, and that feels good.

So there you have it, the only things that stays the same is change itself, but here we are, standing on the other side.

Leap Day 2016

This year's Leap Day gives me an extra 24 hours to make sure I get in a blog post while it's still February. I at least like to make sure I do a new post once each month, and so here is February's.

This month has been all health up and downs. Not to sound geriatric, but we were in and out of doctor's offices all month.

Everett's ear drum ruptured and his tubes are non-functioning, and with that brought an ear infection. We have an ENT assessment for whether he needs another set of tubes later this week, and a speech assessment as well for his lack of words (his biggest word choice, "MOMMMMMM!!! MAAAAAAAA!!" for everything when he needs/wants something and "apple" to point to the apple TV remote).

We all caught some form of a nasty virus. Austin caught it so badly that he actually had a seizure from dehydration while we were waiting to be seen in the Urgent Care waiting room. The scariest five minutes of my life, as his eyes rolled in the back of his head while I was holding him, and then his body proceeded to convulse uncontrollably, while I screamed for help.

Doctors and nurses came running from the exam areas, good Samaritans stepped in, one lady to play with Everett and keep him distracted, a man helping me move furniture so Austin wouldn't hit his head during the seizure and helped me get him on his side. It really brought me even more faith in what people will do for one another when they need each other.

An ambulance ride to the ER, bags of fluid, blood tests and a chest x-ray later, our Austin is back to being his spunky self. We knew he was coming back around when he pointed out the lack of hand dryers in the ER bathrooms and yelled at the x-ray tech who was trying to get him to sit up straight, "Hey, you stop using hurting hands!"

Resting in the ER with Mom

We've all had a bit of the virus he had since, Ben getting in the worst this past weekend. I pray we're all on the up and up to being healthy now!

And how could I forget our sweet Cooper. The Yorkshire is growing older and at his sedated tooth-brushing we do every few years, the vet had to pull six of his teeth last week. He of course was extremely pathetic and whining, and wanted everyone to love him the most. And of course, we did.

Cooper taking care of Austin when he was sick

The spring race season is upon us as well. Ben is all about it this year, although he's worried his bout with sickness will hold him back. I told him not to worry, he's done the training, missing his longest run this weekend before his half-marathon will not kill him, and his body needed the rest.

I had a great dinner out with some of my runner friends last weekend. It was lovely to see each other not in sweaty clothes or at the crack of dawn!

 

And, if you'll notice in the above pic, I'm getting old and need to wear glasses in low and darker lighting now. I can't drive at night without them, but can still see fine during the day, and enjoyed my nearly 12 years glasses and contacts free post-Lasik.

Onward to March, and here's hoping the whole month is like a lamb and not an ounce of lion!

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2016

The New Year is such a refreshing time. I'm not a big New Years Resolutioner, but I do love the simplicity that comes with the New Year and the fresh start.

The holidays are full of so much excess. Excess food, excess decorating, excess parties, excess shopping, excess traffic, excess mail...the list goes on.

And I'm a Christmas lover. I love the glittery, fun items that line the aisles at Target, the twinkle of Christmas lights against the dark nights that start so early in winter and anything involving peppermint and chocolate mixed.

But, I also love sweeping my home of the Christmas tree and clutter come January, refreshing the refrigerator with more fresh produce and not having the grocery store be a mad house each weekend.

Our holidays were wonderful, Christmas at home with our little family, then a week trip out West with various stops to spend time with Ben's family.

Everett loved this turtle Santa brought him that I saw Laura at Our Styled Suburban Life feature a few months ago. Each time it popped, he reacted in complete surprise, and it was hilarious and sweet as you can see in the video below.

I'm trying to have a January free of commitments after an end of 2015 that felt so full. So far, the only things on our calendar this month are a two year old's birthday party and a vet appointment for Cooper. I'll take it.

Right now, I'm also reviewing my race schedule for the year, and have decided on the following races:

• For the Love of It 10K
• Cherry Blossom Ten Mile
• Van Metre Five Mile
• Leesburg 20K
• Dulles Day 10K

I hope 2016 is starting out wonderfully for you and I'm looking forward to another year of sharing on the blog!
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Christmas List Favorites for 2015

I have been an all around slacker at blogging the last six weeks with no excuse, and especially getting out my yearly list! I've jotted down things on my phone when I see them (or left them hanging on our computers web browser for days...just to drop subtle hints), but I'm finally around to compiling them all together here! So here goes...

Crate and Barrel Bamboo Utensil Set

 

Five years post wedding gifts, and I need to replace my bamboo spoons from C and B. One broke, the other is on it's last leg, and I admit, I haven't kept them oiled up enough, but I love these utensils, and really want this set. It's affordable too, at $19.95!

Jamberry Winter Wishes Holiday Set

This is a little self-serving to post, but I love this Jamberry Holiday Set. I love them all, but this one especially, and after using one for a raffle last week, I bought one for myself. I love the wraps, the polish is a beautiful color and the Nourish lotion smells great (and I'm not a smelly lotion person!).

Kate Spade Glitter Stud Earrings

I'm obsessed with these earrings. I love basic studs, and these put a little pop of pizazz on that. The teal ones are beautiful, but I think I'd get the most wear out of the silver ones. They were just 30% off at Nordstrom last week, so I'm hoping they'll go on sale again!

Go Set a Watchman

I really want to read the new Harper Lee novel, but know I'll never buy it for myself. And the holidays are the perfect time to ask the indulgent items you won't put on your list!

Shea Socks from Bath and Body Works

Remember when socks were a dreaded Christmas gift?? Boy was I a dumb kid, because good socks rule! As I've stated before, I loooooooove Smart Wool socks, and these Shea Socks from Bath and Body Works are a close second. They're so soft, and have grippers on the bottom. I love getting a pair in my stocking, and I love going to their big sale in January to buy the holiday varieties half off. =)

Starbucks Glitter Cold Cup

 

There must be a glitter theme for me this year, because I love this gold glitter cold cup from Starbucks. I don't see it on their website anymore, but I snapped this picture when I saw this in store and sent to my husband for a Christmas idea. I love cold cups with straws, and go through them all the time, helps my drinks not get spilled with the kids, and keeps them cold longer. This one is gliterry cute to boot!

Gift Cards

I am never opposed to gift cards; I think they're the best gift. Some people say they're a cold, or lame gift--to that I say, "no way!" It's shopping for free, and I love the choice of what I want, but forcing me to do something that I will enjoy, because let's face it, cash would go in savings, or towards a house project right now. So, gift cards are awesome!

This year, I'm all about gift cards to Stitch Fix, Target, Starbucks, Panera, Old Navy...the list could go on! But anywhere that makes my life more enjoyable, and gives my budget the ability to spend where I normally wouldn't be able to.

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Fall Favorites

I've had the pleasure of finding some awesome new items (and let's face it, most of them are food) this fall that I had to share.

 Elli Quark

As Ben said, "I'm going to eat this, and know it tastes like yogurt, but I can't get over the fact that its' cheese!" I found Elli Quark at Super Target after seeing it on Instagram, and they were kind enough to send me a variety pack of a dozen of their flavors to explore it further, and both Ben and I agree, delicious!

Here's how they describe their product, "Elli Quark is a spoonable FRESH CHEESE with a creamy texture similar to Greek yogurt, but with a richer, LESS SOUR taste. It also has a better protein-to-carb ratio than Greek yogurt, with HIGH PROTEIN and NO ADDED SUGARS or artificial sweeteners."

 

Frankly, I love it! It's two Weight Watchers points. Tastes great, and has fun flavors. I love putting some Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips on the Mint Chocolate flavor. Ben enjoyed the lemon flavor. 

 Crockpot Paleo Cookies

These are delicious, hands down delicious. They are made with real ingredients you can feel good about, but don't fool yourself, they're not good for you, and it will require A LOT of self-control to not eat half the pot yourself (I may have done that...) if you make them. Austin loved helping me make them, and they were great with some vanilla ice cream on top!

Pumpkin Puffins

Pumpkin Alert! Love finding new, gluten free, pumpkin products in the fall. These are delicious. They're not very filling for a serving, but most the time the shelf is empty at Wegmans or Target where they sell them, so I always grab a box if I can! 

Ibotta App

I LOVE the Ibotta app for getting rebates on everyday grocery items. You can find some good deals on here and do some nice stocking up! The key is to only buy the things you need and not get caught up in the fun of the bonuses and whatnot and buy extra things you don't need. You can collect a big balance, and once you're at $10 or more (very easy to get to), you can cash it out into your PayPal account. 

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Diva Half Recap

I'm going to keep this race recap short and sweet. I'm not even sure I mentioned on here that I was training for a half-marathon, but thus, I was, and boy am I glad I did this race.

The race itself was meh. Not bad, not great. I did a race in the suburbs thinking logistics would easier. They weren't. You had to park early, you had to buy a parking pass to do so, and the parking lot closed an hour before the race started. It was a nice race, but not one I'd be rushing to do again.

Luckily, I went with some awesome friends and we all caravaned there together, and I ran various miles of the race with a couple of them.

Pre-Race Selfie

This race was hilly as heck. I knew the course would be hilly, but the announcer at the beginning of the race (who, for the record, was an idiot saying bone head things about women doing their make up before an all women's race--huge eye roll), said that the worst hill was at mile three, and you'd be good after that, WRONG. There were many hills after that, maybe not as steep, but longer, gradual ones that hurt just as bad, if not worse, later in the milage.

Here's the kicker. I PRed at this race. I was not planning to at all. My longest long run was ten miles, my foot had been hurting the week of the race, so I hadn't run in a week in order to rest, but it happened.

Around Mile 11 I realized I thought I could PR, I had been feeling amazing up until this point, but around then I started to feel like crap, hips hurting, feet feeling heavy, but I knew if I kept it up, I could get a nice PR. So, despite two quick stops to stretch out my hip, I booked it to the finish as fast as my tired body would carry me.

When I came to the finishers shoot, I was light headed and wanted to puke, but I grabbed some food, water and tried to suck it up.

All the ladies from our caravan post race

I still felt pretty crappy after the race, but then our friend Kate pulled out surprise mimosas in the van. I was no way in shape for the awesome looking Prosecco she brought along, BUT, the orange juice did the trick, and a big glass of that had me feeling back to my old self. Thanks Kate!

Kate tailgating with Post Race Mimosas

Check this out below. My last PR in 2011 at age 27, over four years ago. I remember being thrilled I could run a race at under a 12 minute mile! And here we are now, two kids, two surgeries and a lot of life later, a PR! Woo hoo! However, I really think I can do better, if I push myself harder with training. So now the question is, do I do a spring half and test that out?! Ben is doing his first half this spring, so his training will take up a lot of time, so we'll see...

Previous PR Race:

New PR Time at Diva:

(Harder to read, but says: 2:32:14)

"What do you mean, he don't eat no meat??"

I'm married to a meatatarian. There's no way around it, he even calls himself that openly. Every dinner should have meat in his opinion. EVERY DINNER. Lunch probably too, unless it's a hearty grilled cheese. When Ben cooks, it's usually meat on the grill, so meatless recipes are just not going to happen on his watch.

That said, I've been trying to sneak a meatless meal into our weekly menu rotation to mix things up. I know a lot of people call out Meatless Monday. According to the global movement, found here, one meatless day a week improves your health, and is also great for the planet.

We don't have a particular day we choose to go meatless, but whatever works in our schedule. It's designed to save us a little money (as you may remember from one of my meal planning posts, we do a big meat shopping trip about once a month at Costco), and make us all try new things.

As long as I don't overload it with "weird" vegetables, or he leaves the table hungry, Ben will embrace the meal, as will Austin. Everett still loves most everything we put on his plate, bless his little heart, stay my baby forever, okay sweet boy?

It's safe to say, everyone's favorite meatless recipe, however, is when I make homemade macaroni and cheese (favorite recipe from The Pioneer Woman found here).

Either way, here are a few of my other meatless wonders that make it on our table. Some nights, I try to make them when Ben isn't home, since there are certain things (zucchini, kale, tomatoes, sweet potatoes) I know he doesn't have a taste for.

• Santa Fe Casserole 
• Black Bean Burritos 
• Parmesan and Herb Roasted Potatoes
• Light Baked Mac and Cheese
• Quinoa Enchilada Casserole 
• Pasta with Zucchini and Goat Cheese
• White Bean Caprese Salad
• Tortilla Black Bean Soup

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Everett's First Birthday Party

Our sweet Everett turned one last week, and the day before his birthday we had a few friends over to celebrate.

 

We did a loosely themed Sesame Street party. Although somewhere in the process, Harris Teeter lost the memo on a blue cake to match Cookie Monster.

What can I say though? It's a free cake. Harris Teeter gives babies a free "smash size" cake for their first birthday with your rewards card when you sign them up. Which is awesome!

Regarding my struggle on peanut allergy friendly cakes, I didn't end up having to make one, yay! Giant (another grocery store chain around here) sells Peanut Free Cupcakes, woo hoo! So Everett enjoyed one of the mini ones, and as you can see, he really loved it.

Everett's gift was much bigger than we normally do for birthdays, but it was really something for both the boys, a play kitchen. And so far, it's been a hit! Austin had been pretending to cook for us for awhile with random items, so it was perfect, along with the play food family members gave as their gifts.

A Recent Afternoon in the Kitchen!

The party was short, but sweet, in the morning and lunch time to accommodate afternoon naps, but I'm not sure who had a better time, the birthday boy, or his older brother!

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Summer Time

Well hello summer, why are you slipping by so quickly? The 4th of July holiday is over, and it's all a downhill slide from here. I actually started noticing it getting darker a bit earlier at night recently--crazy! I feel like it was just snowing. (P.S. Did you know we lose two minutes of daylight per day in August, so over an hour by the end of the month?! You'll notice it more now that you know this if you didn't before)

Summer has been wonderful so far. My gallbladder is out and surgery was successful and recovery went well.

Pre-Surgery Selfie

We've spent quite a bit of time at the pool. I love that we have community pools that are included in our HOA fees so we can go to one of the pools whenever we want and not feel bad if we're only there for a short period of time.

My husband is also in the middle of trying to redo our backyard. It's a process, let's just say that, and I'll show you the after pictures once it's a success, as he promises me it will be.

Everett is one year old next week so we've planned a little party at the house this weekend. I'm looking forward to having our friends over to celebrate E, but crazy that he's turning one! The year has both flown by, and it also seems like he's been a part of our lives forever.

I'm also a huge advocate of store bought birthday cakes both for sanity reasons and because I think they're delicious, but with his peanut allergy, looks like I'll need to make one myself (with a mix, I'm not a miracle worker here). I really want to try these Cherrybrook Kitchen mixes, as many of them are peanut and gluten free--our whole family is covered!

My current summer read is, "Dinner, A Love Story," and I have already pulled out recipes from the book, that's based on the blog linked above.

I just discovered this author, her blog and her quest to do a home cooked meal for her family nearly every night (while she and her husband both worked full-time with two kids 19 months apart, sound familiar?!) for the past ten years or so.

The month of August is a busy end to summer. The nice part about living in Virginia is, summer really doesn't end until September is over. The humidity and the high temperatures stick around for most of September and the awesome fall weather that still deems sunshine filled warm days, and crisper nights that require a light jacket, last well into November.

At least I'm hoping it sticks to that trend this year, I'm still recovering from last winter--I can't have the next one come too quickly!
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The month of craziness

Well hello there, it's been awhile. I have to admit, the summer has started with a crazy bang. Why don't I just put things in categories to make life easier, okay?

Wedding in Minnesota
I spent the first weekend in June in the Twin Cities attending my good friend Cindy's wedding. I had a fantastic time with my friend Ashley who lives in Wisconsin who came as my date.

Ashley and I with the Golden Glove outside Target Field

We had a nice kidless weekend with a walk all over downtown on Saturday morning, delicious meals with my college roommates and former co-workers who I love, getting a much needed hair cut by my old stylist, and of course Cindy's wedding! There was a lot packed into the nearly exactly 48 hours I was in Minnesota (I could do a single post alone on all the pictures I have from the weekend).

With Jen M, the Beautiful Bride Cindy and Jen H

Cindy and I met about six years ago, and immediately clicked. She is a great friend, and has come out to visit us in D.C. a couple times since we moved here. Recently, Cindy also asked me to join her Jamberry Nails team as a Independent Consultant. After some heeing and hawing and I decided to join, and boy am I glad I did. Which leads me to my next item...

Jamberry Nails Independent Consultant
Since the end of April I've been selling Jamberry Nail Wraps as a part of Cindy's team. I've always loved the product, as referenced before, and was telling Cindy how I love doing my nails, but:
1. Never have time to wait for polish to dry and always smudge it
2. Hate that it chips so easily with how busy I am
3. Never have time or budget to go and get gel manicures that don't smudge

She convinced me that since I use Jamberry, maybe I should sell it to other people who probably feel the same way (and get a discount on the products I use). I also used to work in cooperate sales, and do miss using that skill set, so this is the perfect for me, and I love the time I spend on it. Ben keeps teasing me, "you said this was going to be a hobby and now you're in love with it!" =)

If you've never tried Jamberry, feel free to check out my site, let me know if you have any questions or if you want to host a party yourself and earn free items! I won't talk about it often here, but a link to my site will always be on the right side of screen.

Gallbladder Surgery

After having months of odd side and back pains, I got a diagnosis in May that I have a ton of gallstones (officially described as, "too numerous to count," by the ultrasound tech), and need to have my gallblader removed. I'm having it done later this month, and have to admit I'm a bit nervous, but also excited to get it out and start feeling 100% again (I feel like I have morning sickness again about 50-60% of the time right now).

I'm grateful that laparoscopic surgery allows for a minimally invasive approach to the procedure, and easier recovery time. I've never been intubated before, however, and I just have to not think about that aspect of things and go with it. I'm grateful my mom will be coming to help with the boys while I recover since I won't be able to lift over ten pounds for two weeks after the surgery is complete.

Everett Peanut Allergy:
About two weeks ago, Everett had a strong skin reaction to peanuts (picture below) after I made Thai Peanut Chicken in the crockpot. Side Note: Delicious recipe though, here's a link to it!

Everett's Reaction to Peanuts

After seeing a child allergist, it was very apparent he has a peanut allergy (but thankfully, no other foods right now).

Although his allergy doesn't appear severe right now, we have to treat it as if it is (as in, carry an epi pen and children's benedryl at all times) because of the way children's immune systems constantly change. They said we should know by age four how his allergy will be for life, and we'll do testing every six-nine months between then and now.

I feel so bad for him having to deal with this, and honestly did not take the news very well. I have adjusted to a better attitude now, but hold out hope he is one of the 20% of kids who out grown their allergies, or at the very least, his stays non-severe. Another allergy learning curve for our family!


The last month has also included a trip to Boston for work, continuous small projects around our house (yard work particularly), the air conditioning starting to crap out on my car and deciding how to deal with that and just life in general of course!

I hope all of your summers have started well with crazy, FUN, times! 

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