Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Yummy Energy Bites

I don't cook - EVER - so me posting a recipe is pretty crazy! BUT, this is a recipe I have tweaked to perfection and I keep making over and over again so I want to share! They are just quick, little, (mostly) healthy energy bites. Maybe its because I'm still nursing, but I find myself famished all the time. My go-to before trying out these energy bites was peanut butter M&Ms in a convenient candy dish on my counter. Addicting, unfulfilling, and certainly not healthy. (We'll talk about my baby weight another day!)



Anyway, I stumbled across some energy bites on a random instagram feed, thought it sounded like a great idea, and then looked up recipes on Pinterest. There are about a billion recipes for these on there, and each time I made them, I made them a little differently until I had my own, perfect recipe down. (So make that now a billion and one receipes for energy bites on the internet!) But seriously they are so good and so easy to make, you have to try them!



Peanut Butter Chocolate Energy Bites:

1 Cup Oats
1 Cup Peanut Butter
1/2 Cup Ground Flax Seed
1/2 Cup Coconut Flakes
1/4 Cup Honey
1/2 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips (a generous, generous half cup! hehe)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

  • To make, basically dump all the ingredients into a bowl and mix together with your hands. Form into small balls and put them in the fridge to set.
  • You should note that most of the other receipes out there call for 1/2 cup of peanut butter, but I could not get my balls to stick together without using a full cup!


Once I got this receipe down, I decided to experiment! Same concept, but totally different taste. (So make that now a billion and two receipes for energy bites on the internet!) You have to try these as well:

Cranberry Almond Energy Bites:

1 Cup Oats
1 Cup Almond Butter
1/2 Cup Dried Cranberries
1/2 Cup Sliced Almonds
1/2 Cup Ground Flaxseed
1/2 Cup Coconut Flakes
1/4 Cup Honey
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract



I hope you enjoy these as much as I have!




Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Summertime Blues

It is the time of the year when I cannot get enough BLUE in my life! Are you like me in the sense that you are obsessed with different colors at different times of the year? For me it is bright yellow in January and February, white March through May, blue June through August, golden yellow in fall, and green (and white again!) in December. Overall though, the blue is my favorite :)
 
Right now I'm loving navys and shades of cornflower blue. Here are some of my favorite products right now, which all happen to be blue!

1) J.Crew "Weekend Zip Hoodie" in Midnight
2) Tory Burch "Calita" Dress (ON SALE! Debating buying this... it may be too short...)
3) Blair Ritchey "Going to Market" Tote
4) Essie "Lapiz of Luxury" nail polish
5) Cabana Life Navy/Gold Embroidered Rashguard
6) Lululemon "High Times" cropped yoga pants **** As a new mom, I truly cannot speak highly enough of these pants! The waistband is sooo flattering for my little pooched belly! I seriously wear these every single day!

Any other cute blue things out there that I should be aware of?

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Restoration Hardware OUTLET!!! (Aka heaven on earth, jk jk)

While on our recent trip to California, we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. (We discovered upon a trip to our local zoo that Miles LOVES watching the fish swim! His eyes just about popped out of his head, he was so mesmerized!)

ANYWAY! Guess what is a block away from the Aquarium of the Pacific?

YES! A RESTORATION HARDWARE OUTLET STORE AHHH!!! It was incredible. A thousand times better than the actual stores which never change their inventory. It was really cool to see so many of their products in so many different materials. The prices were much better too!! In general I would say things were priced about 20% less than they were in the stores, and then they were having an additional 30% off everything as well. If I didn't live 2,000 miles away, I would have furnished my entire house! Alas, all I took home with me were these pictures! (Sorry about the picture quality, all I had was my iPhone!)









Anyone want to do a cross country trek with me in a gigantic Uhaul?? ;)

 

Friday, May 30, 2014

Remember me? Life updates & future goals!

Hello my long lost friends! Life is busy but life is good. Let me fill you in on some of what I've been doing and thinking! Lots of changes!


1) Our baby is FOUR months old!! Can time fly by any faster? He is seriously turning into a little boy before our very eyes. He recently started laughing with these tremendous belly giggles (just like his dad does!) It is awesome! My heart is overflowing.

2) I went back to work on April 30th, working Monday - Thursday. So thankful my firm let me cut  back on my hours and let me work a more flexible schedule. However, being a working mom is still TOUGH! I miss the little guy so much, and on the days I work I constantly feel tired and rushed. On the flipside though, I do love my job and it is nice to feel productive in a more intellectual sense again. Overall though, I'm still trying to get in the swing of things. Thankfully, it is getting a little easier every week and having Friday's off is amazing :)

3) That being said, now that I am slowly getting back into a routine, I've been thinking a lot about my goals and how I can be intentional with my time to be the best mom, wife, friend, employee, and me that I can be. There are two goals I want accomplish for *me*. First, losing the baby weight! I've been really motivated the last few weeks to eat healthily and work out. I want to fit into my old clothes again, and I have 8.5 pounds to go until I am back to my pre-baby weight!

4) My second goal, get back into blogging! I miss it! I stopped for awhile because we slowed down on house projects once I was pregnant and sick every day.. (ugh!) That being said, life has shifted a bit and therefore I think the focus of this blog is going to shift a bit as well! It used to be 100% about the house, and now its going to be maybe 60% about the house and 40% about life in general :)  To kick off this change, I'm even having my website redesigned, which will be revealed soon! I'm so excited to share!

Anyway, thats all for now :) I look forward to sharing more with you in the near future!


PS - The above are instagram pictures from our recent trip to California! You can follow me on instagram under the name saramb11 :)

Friday, April 25, 2014

Restoration Hardware *Knock-Off* Couch

You know how I love Restoration Hardware...

And you know how I love Restoration Hardware knock-offs even more!! (Like the dining room table Evan made me!)

WELL, remember the RH Lancaster Couch I've wanted forever?


Value City Furniture (VCF) has produced a knock-off! It is called the "Burnham Leather Sofa." Take a look:



Pretty similar right? The main differences are the seam in the leather along the VCF version and the prices. 

Here are the differences between the Restoration Hardware version and the Value City Furniture version:

Soo... would you buy the knock-off or the real thing?

If you're a new mom who loves style and just had a baby and is going back to work part-time, I'll let you guess which one I'd choose!

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

House Tour with Baby Stuff EVERYWHERE!

As you can imagine, when you have a new baby, you have a lot of associated STUFF that comes along with caring for that sweet little bundle of joy! In our case, it has infiltrated every single room of our house, and I LOVE it (from a functional standpoint at least!) Since I like my house clean and looking nice, we also placed things pretty strategically and invested a little more to obtain baby-stuff with a style/design that we liked and that worked in our home.

Let me give you the tour:

1) Den
First in the den, we have our Joovy Play Yard (in Blueberry). This is our command station on the first floor.  The changing table on the top is awesome. This is where we change 80% of all diapers. I also like this unit because  the left side of it has storage for diapers, lotions, clothes, etc. Easy access is essential! Miles doesn't sleep in this yet, so we currently use it for the storage of towels, his Ergo carrier, and spare outfits. We also have an Ubbi Diaper pail down here (and one in the nursery). These are great - they are stylish, they totally encapsulate the odors, and they use regular kitchen trash bags! I highly recommend this product. We also have a little metal bin down here that we use as a laundry basket.



 We also have this cute Anywhere Chair from PB Kids in our den, not that he has used it yet! He needs to be a little bit bigger first :)

2) Living Room
The most important thing in this room, and perhaps the most valuable baby item we have: THE SWING! We have the Graco Duet Soothee Swing and Rocker. It is amazing. Miles LOVES this thing. He loves the motion and the music. He is always, always happy when we put him in here. The other thing I like about it is that the swing seat can be removed from the base, so you can easily use it as a seat anywhere in the house. So functional.

We also love the Farmyard Activity Gym from PB Kids. Miles loves what we call "kick time", where he just lays on his back and kicks for several 10-15 increments throughout the day. He loves it and it gives him exercise! Another essential is the Boppy Pillow. We use it every day for tummy time, and it is also really nice for holding him on the floor or on our bed because it props his head up.


3) Dining Room 
In our dining room we have the Joovy Spoon walker. (Again, something he hasn't used YET!)

4) Kitchen
In our kitchen, we have a Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play bassinet. It is really nice to put him in this when I'm making meals or doing dishes and want him close by. (Just a note, I think he currently likes being in this more than the Joovy pack and play at this point because its more enclosed and cozy).


In our kitchen, we also have a whole baby section on our countertop (far left corner) where we store bottles, pacifiers, and pump accessories as they dry. I keep the pieces and parts in clear glass canisters when they are clean, but seriously we are always washing a handful of these things so its just become a normal part of life to have them drying out on the counter!


5) Master Bedroom
In our bedroom we have the Restoration Hardware Moses Basket. He doesn't sleep in this unsupervised (I'm a little nervous about all of the fabric), but its really nice to put him in here when I'm changing, folding laundry, or cleaning our room. He loves it too. He almost always falls asleep right away when he's placed in here.



6) Master Bathroom
We also use the basket in the master bathroom when we are showering so we can keep a close eye on him. It is easy to move around and like I said, he loves it, which means I can get in a nice, long peaceful shower every morning! :)


7) Mudroom
Our mudroom now houses our stroller and carseat. Since its not a very big room, this stuff basically has taken over this room. Very convenient though!

It might seem a little overkill to have something that can hold him in almost every room, but it is so convenient not to have to lug things from room-to-room (especially when trying to comfort a crying baby!) So having something in every room has been great (and even greater that virtually everything we got as gifts!)  

Like I said, the baby stuff is EVERYWHERE! However, we wouldn't change a thing :) 

What tips do you have for incorporating baby stuff into your house?

Monday, April 7, 2014

Miles, Miles, Miles

Sorry for the lack of posting.. you'd think you have a lot of free time on maternity leave, but you'd be wrong! ;) Miles and I are busy busy cuddling, napping, nursing, doing laundry, diaper changing, and cuddling some more!

Miles turns 10-weeks old tomorrow and we are finally getting into a good routine during the day and sleeping well at night! This is such a fun time right now too because he just smiles like crazy! He loves bath time, laying down and kicking his legs (future soccer play like daddy), swinging in his swing, reading books, and talking (lots of cooing and loud yells of "ha!")

All in all, Evan and I have never been happier. This little guy is the best and our hearts are just overflowing with love! That being said, here are some of my favorite pictures from the last month so you can see what we have been up to :)






This boy LOVES tummy time!


Oops, his winter coat is just a little too big! :)



First walk! FINALLY warm enough a couple weeks ago! (I highly recommend this stroller by the way, the Britax B-Ready.. his carseat clips right in!)





Being a mom = best job ever! Also the hardest job ever! To keep it real, we definitely have struggled with Miles having "silent reflux", a form of acid reflux where instead of spitting up a lot, when any spit up comes up he tries to swallow it and sometimes chokes  or gags (so, so hard to watch). Along with it comes wet hiccups which are very uncomfortable for him (and again, for me to watch!)  Lots of tears over these issues from both me and him. His symptoms started around 3.5 weeks and I'm happy to say that a combination of medicine, holding him up for at last 30-minutes after eating, sleeping on an incline (we got a Rock and Play), cutting out almost all dairy, and time in general has really helped and he rarely has symptoms anymore! THANK GOD. He also had a cold the last couple of weeks which was also miserable. Many nights I just held him all night because he just wanted to cuddle and nuzzle up in my neck. Who needs sleep? I would do anything to get this guy feeling happy and healthy and thankfully thats where we are today! All smiles :)




 
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