Monster Smoothie

It appears that I have gotten a few people interested in the Monster Smoothie that I found on Pinterest.  I have a coworker whose son detests vegetables.  I gave her a sample last week and this morning, her son unknowingly ate a big ole serving of SPINACH – none the wiser.  Ya gotta love that!  To be perfectly honest, although I am vegetarian I am not overly fond of spinach.  Don’t get me wrong, I eat it because I know it is good for me, but I really do not enjoy it.  This smoothie is a great way to get those vitamins and minerals camouflaged with a bunch of yummy fruit goodness!


I am pretty fanatical about having a recipe to go by, so the first few times I made this I followed it to a "T".  However, now I throw caution to the wind and and mix it up depending on what sounds good.  A few of the ingredients I never waver on though.  I never skip the Greek yogurt - the protein is a must to keep you full.  I even sometimes put extra in, but it will definitely thicken up your smoothie.  Without the honey, your smoothie may taste a bit tart depending on the sweetness of the fruits you choose to add.  And finally don't skimp on the spinach...it is oh so good for you and if like me you are not a huge fan, you won't even taste it - I promise!

To give credit where credit is due this recipe was originally pinned from Sing For Your Supper.  I chose not to embed from Pinterest because I liked my pics better....sorry!

Monster Smoothie
1 banana, roughly chopped
4 or 5 strawberries
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1 small peach, peeled and roughly chopped
1 heaping cup (or more) fresh spinach leaves, thoroughly rinsed
splash vanilla soy milk
1 tablespoon Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 cup crushed ice

A couple more things of note: I have been using frozen peaches and blueberries if I haven't been able to find good fresh ones.  Just make sure you get "no extra sugar added" varieties.  I substitute unsweetened almond milk for the vanilla soy milk.  You could also substitute a scoop or two of protein powder in place of the Greek yogurt just make sure to add additional milk or some water.  I am not a great or even particularly good cook and am unfamiliar with "roughly chopped".  I just slice - my blender doesn't seem to know the difference. 

BEFORE

AFTER - Yummy Goodness!!!

And there you have it!  If you try it, I would love to hear what you think.  Happy Blending and have a great night!

Puppy Photo Party & CATS

Happy Memorial Day!  Sometime today during your cook outs, lake parties or chillin' by the pool (or scrapbooking), take a few minutes to remember what today is all about and be thankful for those that that sacrificed, and continue to sacrifice so that we can enjoy our freedom.
Not only is it Memorial Day, but it is also the last Monday of the month and that means it is time for this super fun link up:




Becky at Reinventing the Ordinary was more than kind last month when my family went through the heartbreak of having to part with sweet Haley. Just further goes to prove that people with compassion for animals are the best - thank you again, Becky for your concern and kind words.  They truly meant the world!


OK, so my household only falls into the "& cats" portion of this link-up, but we are representing loud and proud.  I have been doing  a lot of talking to this guy about how important it is for him to cooperate during the picture taking.  In typical Jack fashion for every one great shot I got, there were at least 10 that were immediatley deleted from my phone.  Here is our favorite beyond fiesty feline Jack in all his glory.....Enjoy!!!!!  Captions provided by Jack.......

I really LOVE shoes!!!  See that big slobber spot?  Maybe in another life I was a puppy???

Although I tend to be a bit high strung, I balance it out with daily meditation.  I am all about the ZEN!

Mom says this is the money shot - as in "I'm too sexy for my fur!!!!!"  It's hard but somebody has to do it!

Thanks again to Becky for hosting this fun link up!  Head over to Reinventing the Ordinary to see who else linked up and don't forget to check out her precious Yorkie Blake - he may be small, but his personality is HUGE!!  All my photos enhanced using Instagram for Android.....LOVE THAT APP!!!!  Enjoy the rest of your  holiday weekend...I am off to scrap!

"SO WHAT!" Wednesday

OK, Peeps….I am re-engaging.  And what better way to do that than to link up with the FABULOUS Shannon @ Life After I “Dew” for "So What!" Wednesday.

Today, I am saying “So What”…..

*if I haven’t blogged in like almost three weeks.

*if I am trying to play it off like it (the lack of blogging) doesn’t bother me.

*if I am slightly pleased that I am not the only one that appears to be in a bit of a blogging slump.

*if I am not loving Weight Watchers (…more on that soon).

*if I am super excited that one of my favorite bloggers Cyn over at The Chunky Goddess is back in the saddle with as much sass as ever. (Cyn – please don’t hold that WW comment against me!)

*if I really want one of these "Peace" t-shirts that Shannon is sporting on her blog, but I am worried that my belly is still too dang big for a “fitted” t-shirt.

*if I am still struggling with the Couch Potato to 5K training program – I am still NOT giving up.

*if I stayed up until almost 3 AM last Friday night finishing gift bags for soccer trophies  - that is what I do people P-R-O-C-R-A-S-T-I-N-A-T-E!!!!

*if I have a new tattoo, but don’t want to tell everybody the story behind it – a girl doesn’t have to share everything does she?  I LOVE IT and that is all that matters!

AND FINALLY.....
*I am eagerly anticipating next Saturday when I will attend my first ever (drum roll, please) scrapbook convention!!!  Does that make me super nerdy?  Probably so, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am SUPER excited….just sayin.

And there you have it....that's what I am saying "SO WHAT" to this week.  I am hoping that I am back on track and will do my best to to be posting again much sooner than later!

The Weekend...Scrapbook Challenge...And A Big Thank You

How can it be almost time to be back at work again?  On Sunday evenings I am always left wondering what in the world happened to the weekend.  At least this weekend, I can say that I was fairly productive.  Laundry is done and put away, grocery shopping is done, went to Zachary's soccer game yesterday and they played AMAZING!!!  I was a proud mama - they won 5~1.  I took a killer nap Saturday - I am sure some of you don't see that as an accomplishment, but more often than not I am running on not enough sleep so in my book it was productive.  And lastly, I did some a fair amount of scrapping.  I have set a deadline for myself of mid June to get this book done, and I think that I am almost half way.  It is a big one and I am 20 pages in.

I hadn't really planned on sharing any more of it until I had it done, but I am going to link up for a challenge with The Odd Show.  They did an 11 hour live show yesterday in honor of National Scrapbook Day.  I watched for a few hours yesterday on and off and let me tell you....they are some seriously creative people.  They use a lot of mediums that I am not familiar with, but it is always fun to see how others express their creativity.  One of the hosts is a lady that I started going to school with back in grade school.  Leslie is super sweet and very talented and if you are interested in seeing some of her work you can find her little piece of the blog world here.  One of the challenges presented yesterday for the NSD Extravaganza was the most layouts.  That is where I am throwing my hat in - I don't believe that the receipient of my latest scrapbook knows about my blog, so here I am throwing caution to the wind.  Here are the four double page layouts that I completed over the weekend:

I am sure that some people will post a gazillion, but speedy pages are not my specialty...slow and steady wins the race with me.  Anyway, it was fun and it gave me a little push to scrap which I needed to do with a deadline looming next month.  Otherwise, I am sure that I would have been curled up thoroughly engrossed by Christian Grey in 50 Shades of Grey.  Hubba, Hubba!!!!!

Before I close I want to express my sincere gratitude to those of you that have left sweet comments and showed great concern for myself, my parents and most of all Haley. If you haven't read my last post, you can find it here. Yesterday was a heartbreaking day for my parents and things are still way to fresh for me to talk about it (or type about her) and not have the tears start to flow. In time, I know it will become easier but Haley will forever hold a special place in our hearts. Special thanks to Becky at Reinventing the Ordinary. Her compassion was above and beyond and even though it was hard, I loved seeing Haley's sweet face on both her blog and FB today. Please keep your fingers crossed that Haley's new forever family is just around the corner. 

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Been A Rough Friday....

My heart is heavy and I may or may not have been blubbering like a baby over a sweet dog that I have laid my eyes on only three times.  In a few of my recent posts, I have been brimming over with enthusiasm about this sweet girl.

This little girl stole my heart

I found out this morning, that they are going to have to give her back to the rescue group – I have a lump in my throat just typing it.  Although my father has no cat allergies, he is apparently quite allergic to Haley.  Every time my dad goes to love on her, he breaks out in a massive batch of hives.  The doctor feels like it is probably due to his compromised immune system.  The medication that they have given him is not something that he can stay on long term.  I am literally aching for both of them.  I feel horrible for Haley, because I know that my parents would have given her a wonderful life.  But I ache for my father because he has wanted a dog for such a long time and Haley would have been so good for him.

I have no idea why in the world I got attached so quickly, especially considering she is not mine….maybe that just happens when you are an animal lover.  Not sure if this makes things easier or not, but my mom told me that Haley doesn’t seem very happy.  Her foster home had other dogs and children…there was tons of play time.  Although my dad had her outside regularly, it definitely wasn’t as high energy as what she was used to.  As most dogs do, Haley loves attention – with the onset of the hives, it has become difficult for my dad to give her the hugs and attention that she craves and needs.  So, in light of that does it makes giving her up easier?  Perhaps.  Does it make me, and them hurt any less?  Resoundingly, NO!

Sorry to be such a downer on this beautiful FRIDAY, but I felt like it warranted a post.  Have a great weekend and give your fur babies an extra squeeze!

My New Mantra...

Source: Uploaded by user via Julie on Pinterest

Weight Watchers Journey Begins

Sooo…..I took the plunge Monday night and officially joined Weight Watchers.  Half way through day two and I am holding my own.  I did WW a very long time ago but it is so different now.  No points for fruits and veggies and I have a lot of points to use during the course of a day….not to mention those 49 extra for the week.  My group leader is very nice, her name is Kim and five years ago she lost 104 pounds….she must be doing something right.  The meeting was good, but I have to say that most of the things that I heard were kind of like no brainers.  I wish that more time had been spent explaining the program and how to get started.  I truly felt like I was flying blind yesterday morning.  Over lunch I spent some time on-line getting a feel for how things worked as well as familiarizing myself with the e-tools.  WW has made it very easy to incorporate your smart phone into your weight loss success….so convenient!  For those of you that hate to track (like me), the app makes it so much less like a chore than when you had to write everything down by hand….easy peasy!  I am also in awe of the barcode scanner (free app).

 You just scan the barcode and the app tells you how many points are in a serving.  It does not have all products, but it did have a really random item that I tried just for fun.  There is also another app: Points Plus Calculator that helps you if the scanner doesn’t work, but you do have nutritional info. 

Excellent tools in my opinion to help keep you on track!  Reading back over this it sounds like I am already doing some serious complaining….so didn’t mean to come off that way, was just making some observations in my outside voice.   I am excited for the journey and can’t wait to share my progress.  I am going to do my best to post regular pics so there will also be a visual record of my weight loss.  I am also going to continue my Advocare MNS3 and Spark. 

I had some phenomonal blood work results last week and I have a sneaky suspicion it had somehting to do with my supplements.  Don't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to do them both.  For any of you that are already well into your Weight Watchers journey, I welcome all suggestions and advice.  It takes a village, Peeps!