Wonder Woman

My very best friend posted this article by Glamour and I can't believe how true it is. Women these days are expected to be perfect housewives, perfect mothers, perfect feminists, perfect models, and perfect employees. Well, let's be real that's just not all possible.  When you become a mother you some how find time and motivation that never existed before, but no matter how hard you try and push yourself there is just not enough time in the day to be perfect at everything. The most important part is to not let your flaws make you feel like you are not wonder woman. I feel like to give you an example I should explain a day in my life.

I wake up before the crack of dawn at 4:45 am  to either do my Insanity work out or go on my run. When I'm done I start coffee, make my daughter a bottle, wake up her and my fiancee, then quickly head to the kitchen to make breakfast and pack lunch. When we have all eaten I run downstairs, get dressed, put my makeup on, and do my hair. I then play with my daughter until it's time to pack her and myself into my tiny two door eclipse. I take an hour long commute dropping her off to daycare and driving myself to work. I work 8 long hard hours selling as much as I can to afford my wedding/new house then go home.  When home I cook dinner, and I'm not talking about from the freeze pre-made dinners, I'm talking about completely from scratch, home made dinner. If it's Jack's turn to cook, I go on a run or complete another work out of some sort. I pick up after dinner, spend more time with my daughter, put her to bed, lay down, watch TV for a half hour or so then go fast asleep.

Seeing it written and thinking about all I do makes me think, wow, I really am superwoman; but then I lift my head take a look at where I am and realize, I'm living in my parents basement and currently it's a mess. I take a look at the scale and see it hasn't changed in several days and get even more depressed. But you know what that's okay, because did you see what I accomplished today? I managed to make a completely homemade meal, work all day, work out, and still have time to play with my daughter. Am I perfect? No, but will I ever be....maybe one day?.....but realistically....no, not ever and no one ever will be.

I like this article, because it really makes you think about what you have accomplished and not what you think you should have.

Wedding Venue

So I am a blogging failure and haven't posted in what has it been three weeks? Sheesh, my life has clearly been consumed by wedding planning. Good news is we have finally chosen a wedding venue and we were so lucky to have found it. It's actually quite a funny story; Jack and I had chosen the venue, we were going to go with The Union Bluff Meeting House in York, Maine. The ballroom was stunning, it was right in the beach, and it was an all inclusive venue. I fell in love with it, but just as I had emailed the woman saying I was going to email her with a date so she could send me a contract, I suddenly hated it. I started panicking, because I knew there were no other venues in Maine in our price range. I decided to check back on Theknot.com and all of the sudden there it was, this beautiful barn venue with elegant chandeliers, white walls, and a huge farmhouse for my bridesmaids and I to stay. I had no idea how I had missed this before, it was exactly what I was looking for, but couldn't find. Turns out the place was only just renovated in December and was only put on the knot a couple months ago. I called and set up a tour immediately, I checked available dates on Friday and we chose May 25th. We went and toured the place on Saturday and instantly fell in love, we called the owners that afternoon to book and the 25th was already gone, so we decided to go with the 17th. There were literally only two weekends left from the months of April to October and we got the second to last one. The last one was booked the next weekend.

The Hardy Farm Check it out!

Tell me that's not the most beautiful and perfect barn you've ever seen?

Another awesome thing about this venue is they have a separate lodge for the groomsmen. That's just going to look awesome for pictures. 

They get their own bar and everything!

The only downside of this venue is that it is completely blank slate which means that I have to find every single caterer and every single detail. Unfortunately, the barn isn't large enough to sit the amount of guests I want for a reception dinner and dancing so I have to get a separate tent for dinner, which is fine. My entire wedding is going to basically be DIY so I'm so excited to share the upcoming projects with all of you! 

A Mother's love

In my post yesterday you all read how my life hasn't seen any drastic changes since the birth of my child. That does NOT mean that I haven't seen any changes. In a way you could say that every single part of my life has changed, but certainly not drastically. So for those of you who are thinking of having a baby in the near future here are a few of the changes that I've experienced since Mariah was born.

• Before Mariah was born Jack and I spent most nights cuddled on the couch with a bottle of wine and a movie. Now we spend most nights cuddled on the couch with a glass of wine (if we're in the mood), a movie, a baby, and a baby bottle. There's also several singing toys that like to join us as well. 
• So long to being on time or cooking a meal that isn't burnt. Mariah has a tendency to instantly need something as soon as it's time to walk out the door or just as dinner is ready to be taken out of the oven.
• We can no longer travel to the store or go shopping with out an entire car filled with various things. Even so we are always missing the one thing Mariah wants which means we have to stop whatever we are doing go back into the car and drive home to get whatever she needs.
• Instead of listening to the radio in the car we get to listen to the sweet sounds of baby talk or the wonderful cries of baby screaming her lungs out, because Miss Mariah does not enjoy car rides.
• 7:30am is considered sleeping in
• Nap time is one of the most treasured things in my life. 9 times out of 10 I'd rather nap than anything else.
• Getting to do anything is 10 times more exciting than it used to be. When Jack and I go out to dinner it's similar to the feeling you'd get if you just won a free trip to Disney World.
• Spit up has become just another accessory to my outfit.
• My purse currently is filled with a pair of baby shoes, a pacifier, and a diaper.
• There's no level of stress that isn't instantly relieved at the end of the day by my sweet baby's smile.
• Leaving the house is far more dreadful than before and I avoid it like the plague.
• Grocery shopping now takes 1.5-2 hours
• Free time no longer exists
• People no longer care about you when you walk in the room which is absolutely fine, because it's so amazing watching people dote all over your baby.
• All our extra money is now spent on diapers, formula, and baby clothes lots and lots of baby clothes. Buying baby clothes has actually become quite an addiction.
• The biggest change is you immediately are able to love like you never have in your life. A mother's love is unlike any other love in the world and it is by far the greatest feeling I have ever felt.

So yes, to say there have been changes in my life since Mariah has been born would be an understatement. However, I guess it would depend on the person to determine whether or not these changes would be considered drastic. Maybe they are drastic and I just don't see them that way; everything I do now just has an additional step. Life now has so much more meaning and is so much more entertaining. Who cares if the most exciting thing Jack and I do is watch a movie without reading the description. Becoming a mom is the absolute most best thing that has ever happened to me and is equivalent to what I imagine Heaven is like.

Being a mom

A while back I read a post or a quote saying "if your life hasn't drastically changed since becoming a parent you are doing something wrong." For awhile this quote haunted me, because frankly Jack and my life has not changed drastically since having Mariah. I thought that I was a bad parent and that I was doing something wrong. Then I thought, wait a minute who is this quote to tell me whether or not I'm a good parent? Not only that, but if your life drastically changes after having a child wouldn't that mean that you were not necessarily ready for a child? Either way I don't think it's very fair to judge what makes any one a good parent or a bad parent. Mariah is a very happy and healthy baby girl who sleeps through the night and rarely cries, which could only mean I must be doing something right, right?

My whole point is that every body is so quick to judge another's parenting styles when instead we should really be embracing them. There is no such thing as a perfect parent and just because you chose to raise your child differently does not mean you are doing anything wrong. The only bad parenting style are the ones that don't exist. I can't even tell you how many times I've seen parents neglect their kids or chose drugs instead. That my friends is bad parenting, when you are trying to sell your food stamps for heroin money, you are NOT a good parent. If you love your child and would do anything for them chances are you are an amazing parent and don't let any one, any quote, or any book tell you otherwise. Only YOU can decide what is best for your child.

These are just too adorable I had to share.

I want to be a part of it New York, New York

So I'm pretty excited at how well my diet plan is working, considering it's not a real "diet." As long as I stick to it and don't get off track (which I some how do every weekend) I lose 5oz to a pound every day. What I do is very simple; I eat 4-5 small meals a day, I stay away from fried foods, sugar, sodas, and white bread. I work out for a minimum of 30 minutes a day burning anywhere between 400-1000 calories and I drink about 90 oz of water. See? not that hard, I still get to eat most of the foods I love and frankly I truly enjoy my morning workouts.

In other news my laptop died this weekend and I suddenly realized how much I truly depended on my meal planning and budget printables. I've been oh so very slowly losing my mind these past few days. I'm not sure when to pay bills, how much I should have in the bank, how much I should  be saving, I am completely clueless. Not a great start to making sure we have enough in the bank for our New York trip. Oh wait did I not mention that? Yes Jack and I will be going to New York City for July 4th, all expenses paid. That's right hotel is free, travel is free, and my boss is giving me a little spending money. We will be staying right in Chelsea at the Eventi hotel and on July 4th Allstate is hosting a huge BBQ at Hudson terrace with free food and an OPEN bar.

Eventi Hotel

I am so beyond excited for this trip Jack and I so desperately need a vacation, plus I realized last night that this will be the first vacation that I've taken since I've turned 21 where I will be able to drink.

I've been to New York City more than enough times so I really don't have too much interest in seeing all the normal touristy destination sights, but I did make a list of things I must do while I'm there.

• Must get a traditional New York slice of Pizza
• Must eat chinese food
• Eat at an italian restaurant
• Shop at Macy's
• Go to a rooftop bar
• Go see Cinderella on Broadway (because it's on Broadway now, did any one else know that? because I lost my mind when I found out)

I am also completely aware that half of my musts involve eating and you know what I am quite okay with that.

Meal Theme Days!

Meal Planning has recently become quite a chore for me. Cooking for 5 is much harder than cooking for 2; and it's been mentioned more than once by my family that I cook way too much chicken. I like chicken what can I say. With our grocery bill continuing to grow I finally broke down and bought a Sam's Club card which has been amazing, I saved $30 last week by shopping there, but it also means I need to add one more grocery store to my long trip and one more calculation to find where I can get products cheapest. These factors a long with our new dietary restrictions, such as no refined carbs, has made what was once a 30 minute process a 2 hour long process. If you ask me that's way too much time for meal planning, but you know what there are a lot of recipes on pinterest.

I saw online somewhere doing theme nights for food making it easier to plan what meals you want to cook when. This way when you are looking at a huge inventory of recipes you are narrowing it down to say just casseroles or just chicken dishes. I tried doing this last week and love it. This new process made my meal planning so much quicker by making it easier to choose what meals I wanted to cook that week. It still took me a good hour, but hey it's better than two! Here's a preview of what our weekly meals are.

Try it, it's super fun, even if you only do it for a week. Share with me any ideas you may have for a theme day!

Meal Planner Printout

So I have literally been trying to figure this out for the past week. I'm really trying to find a way to easily share all my forms, planning tools etc with you for the least amount of money possible. I was able to figure it out once before and can't remember how I did it. I was able to get this one together and it's available until June 24th. I wish it was available permanently, but unfortunately I can't figure out how to do that yet. If it is past June 24th and you still want to print it out email me or comment and I'd be more than happy to send you the link.

Here is a blank copy of the meal/workout planner I've created for myself. Just click on the link below and download the copy!

Click Here