Yogi On The Lake – wordless post

 

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Sweet Sweet Summertime!

Howdy do to all of you!! I am hoping that your summer is gong as grand as mine. I really do love this time of year, not only because I am out of school, but also because there are so many fun things to do!

We spent Saturday on the lake with friends. They have a poker run every year for a local fire department fundraiser so we enjoyed friends, food, and very fun dancing 🙂

We are soaking in the sun on my new huge lake raft that I am so enjoying this year. One side is flat with a back piece that will lay all the way back with you for sunbathing. The opposite is a circle piece for people sitting up. It has to built in coolers and several cups holders……love it!!

Saturday night was spent on the dance floor…..and running back t the tv room to check on the game…..how bout dem tigahs!!!!!!!!!

LSU is headed to Omaha again this year, so exciting!!

 

Sunday the hubster and I spent the day together shopping, and eating a fabulous lunch! We went to a locally owned place in a neighboring town that has all Caribbean inspired foods…..so good! I enjoyed a shrimp rotis (wrap) that had shrimp, cucumber, tomato, avocado, and a super yummy sauce…..with Caribbean spiced sweet potato fries.

After lunch we went to academy to purchase bicycles for us. I am so excited that we now have bikes to red with the boys. I do not have a pic but I am sure some will be coming up soon since we are taking the camping this week. We leave today for “yogi bear campgrounds” in Pelahatchie MS. It is one of the boys favorite places to visit! Look for a recap post soon 🙂

So as you can see I have been busy with fun activities, spending lots of time with the boys, swimming, biking, and just plain enjoying myself! If only I could live this ah year round, lol! I hope that your summer is going as well as mine, and that man of you are getting out to enjoy all the fun seasonal activities.

The boys sure have with their “home made water slide”!!

 

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Recouping….

 

This past week/weekend was my good friends bachelorette trip to the beach. Which means that today I am unpacking, washing, and organizing.

I do not ave any pics to share with you guys. First, I didn't know most of the ladies on the trip so I will not post pics without their permission, and secondly I honestly left my phone alone for most of the time there.

I can however share this weeks menu plans with you since I prepared it last night!!

• Monday – meatloaf meatballs, fresh green beans and potatoes
• Tuesday – lasagna with roasted summer squash and zucchini
• Wednesday – squash casserole and salad
• Thursday – tilapia with roasted veggie salad
• Friday – leftovers
• Saturday – tuna salad

I am not sure what my workout schedule will be this week. I am hoping to get the new class schedule and attend some morning classes now that summer is here. I will probably keep things a little low key today since my legs are sore from the weekend. We literally walked the beach the entire time we were out there Saturday, followed my a very late night of dancing 🙂

 

In other exciting news the hubster and I are getting bikes this week before our camping trip next week!!!

 

 

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Life changing?……

Such a loaded question wouldn't you agree? What makes something life changing to you?

For myself many things can be life changing. Even the smallest, simplest of things can be considered life changing. So today I am going to share something with you that I consider life changing!!

The lovely little product above is something I stumbled across because of a friend selling it. I was very skeptical of the claims. Until I tried it!

Nerium is basically an age defying serum that was stumbled upon through research for cancer treatments. It contains the Nerium plant which is wonderful for so many things. I could go on and on about. The science and research behind it, but I will not go into that the blog. I do however hope that you guys will go the the website listed below and read up on the product for yourselves!

So back to my story – my friend is selling the product and wanted me to try it. I will admit I was very skeptical. Do you know how much money I have wasted on face products????

Well I finally gave on and tried it. Guess what? I really like and can see a change! I will share some pics with you only if your promise not to LSU and ridicule my horrible, no make up, end of school year face!

 

 

You see Nerium is used for fine lines, wrinkles, stretch marks, age spots, discolorations, acne, etc. So I tried it for a week and a half. Took the after pics and was shocked to see the difference a week and a half made!!

I absolutely love this product! So much so that I am now wanting to start selling it as well. The product cost 110$ for a bottle, or you can sign up as a preferred customer and it will be shipped to you automatically every month for 80$ plus tax/s&h.

Now I now this sounds like a lot of money, and believe me I know it is. However, it replaces all serums, creams, eye creams, etc used. So if I add up how much I send on severs products for a nighttime routine then it is the same.

You simply was your face at night, and then you apply the Nerium. While skin is still damp, let it dry, go to sleep. That easy! When you wake up in the morn you wash the areas that the Nerium was applied, apply your daily moisturizer, with SPF please, and go about your day.

Your skin will feel slightly tight after it dries, and it has a funkyish smell, but I promise you get use to it!

So if you are interested in the product please visit my site listed below. A 30 day money back guarantee is offered as well. You can basically use the bottle and send it back empty for a refund if you are not satisfied with resu,to, who can beat that?

http://www.hgarner.neriumproducts.com

Please let me know via email [helennaturally@gmail.com] if you are interested in trying the product so I can get you set up with your order.

Beautiful skin lasts a lifetime and is a wise investment!!

 

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Confessions

Yep, it's that time again! Time for me to make a confession. I have been holding out on some great things!

Now I am not going to put all of them in one post…..no I will break them into two different posts. Because you know they each have a need for their own!

While imam normally very good at sharing things that are important to me, things that I love, and just random tidbits of info Here, I have fallen slightly behind.

I am in love with some new things lately. Now many of you will know about the first topic at hand. Stitch Fix!!!

Many of you have probably heard of this company by now, it is all over the blog world, but for those of of hat haven't let me share!

Stitch Fix is a personal styling service that delivers a curated box of accessibly priced items directly to doors across the United States. Stitch Fix hand picks pieces for each client, to ultimately help them look and feel their best.

So the basics are you join the site, fill out an extensive style profile, and the company will ship clothing items and accessories straight to your doorstep. Now there is a “styling fee” of 20$ that is charged to your card, but the money will be deducted from the total price of the items you decide to keep. Which of course means that I always keep a least be item…..who am I kidding I keep more than one! The items you do not want is placed in a prepaid bag for you to return to the company. Then you simply go online, check off if you are keeping/returning items, the reason why, and any additional comments you want to leave. Then you check out your final purchase. You can choose to have a monthly box shipped to you, or you can go online and schedule a fox as you want them!!

Here are items I have kept so far………..

 

 

 

They even include a style card with each item of suggested ways to wear the items……

So go,check out the website at http://www.stitchfix.com for more info. I promise you will not be disappointed.

P.S……. Oh and for my lovely friends that read, if you decide to try the service you can use the following code which gives me a referral credit 🙂

http://stitchfix.com/sign_up?referrer_id=3049712

 

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The light…

Well hello all!  It has been a while, a week to be exact.  I didn’t get around to posting last week since I was so super busy with end of the year work stuff!

But the end is very near.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It was very dim last week, but that little light gets brighter and brighter every day.

I have four (counting today) days left until my summer break begins!!  Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell I am a little happy??  So what have I been up to lately?  Work, work, and more work.  I have also been working on my workouts and where to go from here.  I am still having problems in my hip and outer thigh area on the right side.  I am not sure what is going on, and I am the type of person that hates going to doctors.  I have been told that I need to take ibuprofen daily to help with the inflammation and swelling so I can get back to running, but I hate taking meds.  So I am not taking them.  I have been doing a lot of walking and elliptical workouts for cardio.  I am considering acupuncture to see if maybe that could help??  Until then it will be no running for me 😦

I am really excited about working out this summer since it will be the first time that I will have the ability to go to the gym in the morning.  I tend to like morning workouts better when I have the chance to get them done, and I will be working out more with the hubster!  I am also excited about all of the adventures I have planned this summer.  So far I have a long weekend in Destin, FL with the girls in two weeks for a friends bachelorette party, a cabin trip for the boys in June, possibly a beach trip in July with the boys, and  the hubster and I will be celebrating our anniversary at the beach in St. Augustine, FL.  Of course we will also spend plenty of time taking the boat out on the lake too!

So as you can see I have a lot of things going on, as well as a lot to look forward too!  here is to a fabulous week, here is to summer break, here is to family fun 🙂

Two for Tuesday

I took the day off yesterday.  Not just from the blog, but from work as well.  I had an orthodontist appointment that would require me to miss most of the day from work give or take an hour or two.  Which means I am super duper crazy busy now.  Oh and it is the end of the school year so that is always super duper crazy busy!  I did however want to pop in and share something with you guys really quick today, and since it is two for Tuesday here is a little humor for you!

This mornings breakfast was basically one of my go to meals of oat bran with cottage cheese, banana slices, and peanut butter…..with a little twist.  You see I purchased some cherry almond vinaigrette from an oil and vinegar store a while back.  I haven’t really used any of it except for one time on a frozen yogurt.  It is a a sweet vinegar which is perfect for desserts.  Well I noticed that lovely bottle sitting on my table this morning and thought why not??

Phenomenal!!  I am serious people, if you are a loaded oats kind of person then you have to get some “dessert vinegar” ASAP!  I believe I have found my new go to topping 🙂

Happy Tuesday 🙂

And the winner is…..

I am down and out with a nasty little tummy issue today.  It seems that I have developed most of the side effects to the meds I have been taking for the shingles.  I have anti-viral meds, two tablets, five times a day for a total of like 4000 mg of crap going through my body!  No joke they are 400 mg tablets…..

Of course the side effects are nasty ones:

• dizziness
• nausea
• throwing up
• loose stools/diarrhea
• severe abdominal/intestinal pain
• headache

I know, I know it sounds like a little tummy virus too.  I have been told that all morning, but I always have fever & body aches when I have a little bug.  This does not feel like a little bug.  I am hungry and want to eat, but so yucky feeling that I do not want to eat.  Oh and I have had some variation of these symptoms for a couple days so no I seriously do not think it is a virus.  So please keep me in you thoughts and prayers through the weekend.  I have stopped taking the meds at this point, I can’t see taking them for another four days if they are bothering me so bad!

But for better news the lovely winner of my blog giveaway is…….

FARRAH @ Fairy Healthy Life

Congratulations!  I will have your little package in the mail to you soon 🙂

Happy Friday – 15 more days til summer break!!

Let’s Chat

Did you know that I consider all of you guys my friends?  Well I do!  That is why I have this little blog where I share so many different areas of my life.  Trust me I wouldn’t share unless I considered you, my readers, my friends.  So today we are going to have a little chat.  Mind you at first it will be mainly one sided – my side, but as you guys read this today you know you are always welcome to comment.  So let’s chat 🙂

Like I do with my friends that I see daily/weekly, here is your lovely glass of wine for out little chat.  Come on did you think I wouldn’t offer you anything?  I am a very gracious hostess, which is why I have offered you both red and white varieties 😉

I also as your good friend will have to tell you that this little chat will get kinda serious.  I very seldom speak of politics, religion, etc on the blog.  Not because I am afraid.  I am not afraid to give my opinion, speak of my faith, or simply give facts no matter how hard they are to speak or hear.  Just ask people who know me personally.  I have no filter.  I usually do not speak of such things because I respect that everyone has their opinions.  I do not want my readers to feel attacked, questioned, or belittled.  I also do not want this blog to become a site of debate or attack from outsiders.  However, I have no problem with speaking out occasionally.  So sit back with you wine – let’s get started!

My heart is heavy lately with all that I have had to endure.  Now I am talking about the bad news as well as the personal issues like shingles, but last night I was reading something that completely tore at my heart. 

The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: “Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense…Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis…”.

Read more: breitbart.com

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/wnd_video/military-may-court-martial-soldiers-who-share-christian-faith/#KYugWQWR01uJq3mB.99

 

My first response to this was disgust!!  My heart breaks everyday when I read more and more reports of prayer, faith, and the act of speaking about Jesus is being suppressed by the very people that we share our great homeland with.  These people are suppose to be our leaders???  I was furious to see this!

When you are asking a person to put their life on the line for you, (and yes we all do this daily because as Americans we all depend on the military) you totally do not have the right to suppress their faith! 

My second response was to cry.  As a public school employee I know to well what it feels like for “those people” to suppress your faith.  We are no longer allowed to speak openly in the schools about God, Jesus, religion.  We can not read out bibles aloud.  We can not pray in school unless it is to ourselves in private.  I mean we have been called out for students bringing home coloring sheets that certain people felt were dealing with religion.  I know what this feels like!

Thankfully I work for a wonderful principal that believes in Christ and the power of prayer.  We have prayer once a week before school, we meet to pray after in trying times, we openly ask each other to pray for us.  She doesn’t try to suppress our faith, if anything she empowers us!  So it is times like this that I feel truly blessed to work with and for her 🙂

So today I am openly speaking out on my faith.  I do believe in the one true God.  He is great and wonderful.  He has paved the way for my life, and I am truly humbled by his love.  Today I am asking God to come into my heart, to move in my life so that I can follow the path and plan he has for me.  I ask him to take the hatred/anger out of my heart, and to show me the way to deal with my feelings.  For without him I am nothing.  I am undeserving of his love.  I am undeserving to have an eternal life with him, but for his love I thank him!

He knew how the story would end.  He penned the story.  He breathed life into man whose sin  would one day nail him to a tree.  He created the plants that would one day be his cross.  Why?  Simply love!

how to get the family to eat healthy

I am going to do something a little different for this WIAW post.  Instead of sharing with you meals from a day, I am going to share with you various things that I eat very often, and talk about how to feed a family while staying healthy!

I very often get questioned about the way I eat.  Usually people are curious about it, but occasionally I get the “why would you want to eat that way” with an attitude.  Followed by “I like food and will eat the way I want to no matter what!”.

Breakfast has been either oats cooked with egg whites topped with nut butter or cookie dough cereal.  For the boys I make the oatmeal with a little sweetener and really creamy for their tastes.

To those I usually say that’s fine, I will eat the way I want to eat as well no matter, what and I want to eat clean, healthy foods!  This doesn’t mean that I never have anything with sugar, oils, fats, etc.  I still live life to the fullest!

Snacks have been a lot of yogurt bowls or luna bar if I am on the go.  My kiddos love yogurt as much as I do.

After that questions I am always asked about how I feed my family.  If I make them eat the same foods that I eat, if I let my children have snacks, and how the hubster feels about my way of eating?

Dinner over the weekend was taco salad with brown rice & cauliflower – for the boys I wrapped their mix in a tortilla shell.

Yes, I feed my family the same foods that I eat for the most part.  Do I often make something different for them?  Yes and no.  No I do not cook separate meals for us, we all eat the same base foods for our meals, but I do add things like quinoa, millet, hemp seeds, etc. to my meals that are not added to theirs.  If I cook a meal with rice we all eat brown rice.  If I cook pasta we all eat brown rice or wheat pasta.  I usually always have a bread for the hubster/boys because they love bread, I just chose not to eat it. 

Classic plate in my house – can get fruit in their little bellies by pairing it with favorites such as pancakes/sausages.

My entire family loves veggies for the most part.  Now the boys a little pickier with this.  They have certain veggies they like and ones they do not.  This is usually the case with all kiddos.  I just make sure to cook something that I know they will eat so they have dinner, and on occasion when we have something that I know they will not eat due to spice or strong dislike, then I always have some kid friendly quick foods available for them.

Dinner was grilled tilapia, turnip greens, and pasta salad – thanks Farrah for quinoa pasta!  The boys love fish as well.  I give them some pasta mixed with a little butter/coconut oil and a sprinkle of salt & pepper.

Of course the main trick to getting the family to eat healthy is to still cook family favorites with healthier and cleaner ingredients.  I very often take a favorite food and “clean it up” so to speak.  That way the family still gets to eat their foods, and I can stay on the healthy/clean path!  It is a win, win situation 🙂

A classis example of this would be sloppy joes.  My kiddos and the hubster love sloppy joes.  There is just something about that can that brings them running, but I do not want to serve them sloppy joe mix from a can.  While I have often made my own sloppy joe sauce, one way I get them to eat their favorite meal is by putting a spin on it!

Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes

• 1 lb. lean ground meat (we use venison)
• diced onion
• diced green bell pepper
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/4 cup steak sauce
• provolone cheese
• toasted bread w/ coconut oil

1. place ground meat, diced onions, and diced peppers in a pan brown half way (yep sounds crazy but trust me)
2. add beef broth and steak sauce to pan, simmer until liquid is gone
3. spread coconut oil on bread slices and toast in pan
4. top bread with meat mixture and slice of provolone

Such and easy and tasty dinner that they love!  The meat is flavorful, healthy, and makes for the perfect quick dinner on a busy night.  Throw some Alexia potato puffs in the oven while cooking the meat mixture, and you have a perfect kid friendly meal 🙂

It is small changes like this that make feeding my family healthy meals easy.  I always follow a basic recipe and just substitute the unhealthy ingredients with healthier ones.