love/hate

today i am linking up with a really fun girl noel (don't know how to add the umlaut over her "e") on her love/hate link up!

as a new blogger i have been hopping around exploring other fun blogs and noel's got my attention right away.
maybe it was these cool pink glasses she wears in one of her pics, or the fact that she married her high school crush (that's my girl!!) actually it could be that she has 4 kids (i feel like such a quitter with only 3) and they live in an 800 square foot cabin and they are all still alive and seem to like each other?? oh, i bet it's that she can grab buttons for her blog and i can't-really, i am that lame. i can't figure it out. yes, i have watched tutorials and read instructions but it never works for me!

i dunno. i do know she has a supa' fun blog and i am inspired by her. you will be too! soooooo, once you are done reading my fabulous love/hates hop on over to read hers, see her fun pics and check out her corner of the world today.


i love diet coke
i hate that its not spinach giving me nutrients so i can drink 5 a day

i love road trips
i hate that my husband doesn't like being in cars for hours upon hours upon hours...??

i love my bestie
i hate that she lives too far away

i love summer with my kids
i hate to give them back to the schools

i love teen mom on mtv
i hate farrahs rude teen mouth

i love reading
i hate that i can't get the time back that i wasted on 7 chapters of "50 shades of grey"

i love my grandparents
i hate that they are gone


 now go checkie noel out!
http://noelsbeautifulife.blogspot.com/

morning 7-challenge completed!

i seriously knew i could do this challenge but i didnt think i would enjoy it-at all! i just figured i'd fight the green down every morning but be super proud of myself for the loads of health i was putting in my body. no. i totally liked these. so did my kids. so did my body.

my all time fav is the pina colada type or really anything when you add pineapple. pineapple makes all things better. trust in this.

so this morning i copied an earlier smoothie from day two but then i added blueberry for a little variety. oh yea, and those little chia seeds.

1 really large handful of spinach

1/2 cup fresh mango (frozen)

1/2 cup fresh pineapple (frozen)

1/2 cup blueberries

1/2 banana

1 tbsp. chia seeds

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup water

im looking back at the drink photos and its funny coz really-they all look the same for the most part but believe me they all tasted a tiny bit different.

morning six

i left early to run around and try to find some estate sales with a friend this morning so by the time i got home at 10am i was starving and had no plan. i generally dont do well without a plan.

i decided to just wing it. 

1 cup blueberries

2 large handfuls of spinach

1 frozen banana

1 large handful of baby carrots

1/2 persian cucumber

1/2 cup strawberries

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 cup coconut milk

1/4 avocado

frozen o.j. sticks 

1/2 cup water

it was okay- i think i am done putting carrots in my green drinks- maybe i can buy fresh squeezed carrot juice and add that. everyone in the house happily drank it down but tomorrow for day 7 i plan on a plan.

morning five

cruisin through this! seriously not as painful or as big of an adjustment as i thought. cake. well, not literally of course.

today i got to use up some of these carrots i bought. i didnt set myself up to expect the drink to be orange because i was sure it would be green. really it just needs to be good at this point as i have given up the dream of beautifully colored smoothies-i get that this isnt jamba juice.

2 handfuls of spinach 
1 large handful of baby carrots
1/2 cup fresh pineapple (frozen)
1 banana (frozen)
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 1/2 tbsp. whipped honey

this was good and shane was home today so we shared. it was a moment.

morning four

today i went with a blueberry recipe. i have no clue why the recipe i took this from was a cool purple but mine is green still? i must have added more spinach. i was hoping for a purple smoothie dang it! i've been adding the chia seed coz i cant taste them and i know they are all kinds of goodness for me- i have decided to ignore the fact that they look like fleas.

but regardless i am back to green lovin'!! this was really really good.

2 handfuls of spinach
1 cup blueberries
1 banana frozen
4 yogurt sticks (the ones i made monday with whipped honey in them)
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 tbsp chia seeds
1 cup water
1/4 avocado

* i saw a recipe where they made green tea with honey and and used that in place of the water- i bet that would be good.

last night for the 3rd night in a row my kids asked me to make them a greenie. my son has now joined the group and loves them as well. lookit us!!!

morning three

ive been scurrred to try this mixture. the romaine lettuce seemed strange to mix in but maybe thats coz i got all tight with spinach lately. the green apple i knew would be tart. this drink was 75% veggie and 25% fruit so that ratio isn't in my favor. i think that will take time for me-i need to stay on the sweet side.

if you ever listen to me now is the time to truly listen. this isn't good. i had to keep doing things to it to just get it drinkable and it was too thick but im sure it was the romaine and the grit from the pear. adding more water or liquid didnt do much. oh, and i kept tasting tomato which wasn't even in there sooo yep, that was a mystery.

2 stalks celery
3/4 head of romaine lettuce
1 large handful of spinach
1/2 persian cucumber
1/2 lemon (squeeze the juice)
1 pear (cored)
1 green apple (cored)
1 banana
1 1/2 to 2 cups water
1 tbsp chia seed

tomorrow i think i will try something with blueberries or carrots just so i can make a different color. all these shades of green are killing my right brain ova' here...

although todays greenie tanked for me i will absolutely say that i will continue to do these greens. it really is much easier than anything else i could make myself for breakfast. also there are a zillion recipes and i really do like them (most of them). coming from a girl that is perfectly happy with doritos and red vines with a side of diet coke for lunch (way too often) that is huge!

morning two

i just got all relieved this isn't titled "morning after"...whew!!!

i did a whole pina colada type shake today- i prob should have saved this one for aloha friday but i am sure i can come up with some other magical concoction in time....


i love (no really LOVE) the suggestions of you all that have been brave before me. its so nice to hear what other people have tried and like. so thank you and keep the suggest-sheee-awns coming!

1 really large handful of spinach (i am still eyeing the kale but cant get there yet)
1/2 cup fresh mango (frozen)
1/2 cup fresh pineapple (frozen)
1/2 banana
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water

*i cut eveerything in half today because it was making massive amounts and this amount still gave me 2 glasses full.

im gonna eat kale for dinner tonight- ya know like with my teeth instead of drinking it today. that way i can start to cut away at all this kale in my fridge.


i also read that i should be doing 60% fruit to 40% veggie as thats the ratio of nutritional value that your body should be in taking. however, i probably should back that 60% down some because i know i eat sugar in lotsa other areas. maybe tomorrow i will see what i can do to swap that percentage.

uh, and p.s. this shake was the bomb.com!!! keala and i drank it down and l-o-v-e-d it!!!

morning one

berry yogurt blend


1 cup frozen raspberries
2 large handfuls of spinach
1/2 frozen banana
1 cup water
1 cup coconut milk
4 sticks of frozen yogurt
1/2 persian cucumber
juice from half of a lemon

*i took plain yogurt and added a little whipped honey and a few drops of vanilla and froze it in ice cube trays.

that isn't string cheese ( i promise ) its frozen yogurt pieces

there is also a vanilla version i should probably try

so at first i was sorta bummed after mixing this one coz i wanted it to be red ooohhh or maybe pink.
clearly it is not either.
i also had all thoughts of this drink being sweet which again, nope, not so much.
i liked the raspberry seeds and didn't add the lemon juice until the last minute and only coz i took a drink and it tasted too cucumber for me. i love persian cucumbers but i didnt want to taste any 1 item too strongly- unless that item was called "sweet" and unfortunately i didn't add that ingredient.
but as i drank it i started to like it more and more. what's happening to me herrrrrrre?????!!!!

oh, my sister tory is doing the 7 day with me. she is already very healthy and has done these greenies (not the dog treats- gross) before so i am sure she will have some recipes as well. who else is in?
c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!!!

green drink challenge

 i'm a leo. i love a good challenge. so here i go again.

this is a short one and probably not so fun to view but i have decided to do a green drink challenge and drink the green for 7 days straight as my breakfast.

i know. sure i will probably gag somewhere along the way but i plan on making these healthy but sweet. sweet will be key for me. yesterday i had to do a trial run because if i was gonna commit and go buy a zillion ingredients i needed to know if i was gonna give it a "nuh-uh" after the first gulp.

i called my friend erin who drinks these regularly. erin is like my "mama earth" friend. she always claims how i give her so much as far as kid advice goes (mine are a little older so what i have been through she is going through) but really i scratch her back and she scratches mine because she does all kinds of things for me too without even knowing it. she inspired me to give yoga another try- which i love. she inspired me to blog-which i love. she convinced me it was ok to stop reading a book that i don't like sparing me all kinds of time. yes, i needed permission.

 erin is my only friend that will agree it is okay to stop and dance in a parking lot, to make a human pyramid on a busy beach or to "borrow" road signs on new years eve and leave them on friends porches. erin will cry when i tell her a sad story and cry when i tell her a happy story. sometimes i start a story by saying, "ok, so you might cry...." as a matter of fact she might read this and she might cry. i knew when i texted her that i was gonna drink the greens she would be all kinds of "proud mama" for me. actually, i texted it to her and she called me right away with awesome advice to help me through. ok, ok, so i'm getting way off track here back to the green (but i do loves mah mama-e and could talk about what a kick ass friend she is for hours.)

so, here is what my lil trial run today was all about:

i'm not gonna lie- i put all the ingredients out on the counter where my youngest maile and i stared at them for a good amount of time before i actually started to put them in the mixer.

i put together 2 big handfuls of fresh spinach leaves

1 cup of fresh pineapple chunks

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 1/2 cups of water

half of a banana (frozen)

1/4 avocado (frozen)

i have a vita mixer so that thing literally pulverizes everything so i think that helped me not to taste chunks.

i didn't taste the spinach at all and it was actually really good. erin suggested a straw because it is easier to drink and i have to agree.

both my girls loved it but my son gave it a scrunchy face and quickly left the premises. whatev.

as a matter of fact when i went to go fill my glass up a little more the pitcher was empty and all i heard was the slurping of a straw as my youngest sucked down the remainder.