Cara Box Exchange

I just received my first Cara Box over the weekend!  When I saw the package on my doorstep I was so excited and couldn't wait to open it.  If you haven't heard of Cara Boxes you can read about them here.

Kaitlyn over at Wifessionals came up with this great idea to match up bloggers, and some non bloggers with each other and exchange a box of goodies.  Each month there is a different theme.  This month was the letter of your first name.  For example whoever received me had to think of a J theme or get items that started with J.  Then you find items to fill up your box, and mail it to your match.

My partners were Jennifer and Jennifer.  I got to know the Jennifer I would be sending a box to a little bit via email and you can find out what I got her over here.  It has been fun follwoing her blog and instagram to learn more about her and her boy is adorable!  

My Cara box friend that received my name was Jennifer from Bubbly and Buttercream.  We emailed back and forth for a little while when we first got matched up and she is one super sweet girl.  We  actually found that we have quite a bit in common with each other.   We both love to bake, especially cupcakes and do some running.  She sells 31 and so does my best friend so I feel like we kind of have that in common!  I'm not creative and didn't know how creative she was until I received her box.  She came up with some great ideas.

Here are my Cara Box Goods!  When I opened it up, my excitement built even more.  Fun, bright colors get me every time, and labels and ribbons she outdid herself!

 Each individual wrapped package was a theme that started with J, in case you can't see them all here is what the labels all said

-to make Junk food

-to Jot notes

-for Jogging

-for family Joy  

-because J is hard

-Just because 

-Jellybeans

Great idea, right!  So creative and sweet you were Jen.  I absolutely loved it all!

Now if you want to join, head on over and sign up for next month!  I'm sure the next theme will be just as fun.  You get to be creative, get a fun package and get to know another blogger!  What's not to enjoy?

Finish The Sentence Link Up Round 2

I'm not witty at all and every day that I read blogs I become more aware of the fact.  So if you are reading lots of these sets of answers I apologize before hand for being the most boring ones.  I remember last time reading over others and thinking, Oh that's true for me, why didn't I think to answer it that way.  But I'm doing this early so I don't have anyone else's to compare to.  Here goes another round of Finish the Sentence.  

1. If calories didn't count, I would eat... Candy, Chips and Mexican White Cheese Dip,  Fettucine Alfredo, Little Debbie's, Ice Cream, and Pizza every day.  

 

2. On my Prom night.... Going to skip this one!  

3. When I go to the store, I always buy...Lately a box of Dots.  I have had a weird craving for them for over a month and no I'm not pregnant.

4. Family functions typically...Involve lots of food, noise and don't last long.  Every holiday we have multiple places to go so it's short stops at each one.  

5. I think my blog readers...probably think I'm boring and wish I would quit doing link ups!  I wish I was funny, but no matter how hard I try I'm just not!  

6. I'd much rather be.....somewhere warm and lying on the beach then sitting in my living room looking outside at all the snow.

7. I have an obsession with....Buying spring clothes at the moment, candy,  my new granola, and cleanliness

8. My work friends....are mostly all much older than me and don't like me.   I always get the "you sleep with the boss" line (one of the "bosses"  is really my husband)

9. When I created my Facebook account....I was really young.  Gosh I don't even know when that was.  

10. My least favorite word is... moist and panties, and even really awful together.  

11. I really don't remember....anything, something has seriously gone wrong with my memory, its pretty much embarrassing because I don't remember hardly anything anymore unless I write it down.  

12. Justin Bieber....is overrated.  My younger sister loves him, I just don't get it!  However, if I'm honest, I do like his music (I didn't say love , hints the overrated part)  

That's all.  Thanks to Holly and Jake for hosting another round of Finish the Sentence.

Happy Tuesday!

Spice Organization

I'm an organizing addict.  I love all projects that have to do with it.  I'm one of those weirdos that get giddy with excitement after I finish.  ( I say after because during, my heart is usually racing and I'm on the verge of a panic attack because the mess during a project completely stresses me out)  There are many things that annoy me in my house, mess wise and areas that are just constantly in need of reorganizing and my spice cabinet was one of them.  I have tried multiple times to fix the issue to where it wouldn't bug me and get messed up every week but just never worked.  Months ago I bought a carousel and a tiered shelf thing for my cabinet and thought that would help.  The tier shelf has worked out pretty good and I really do like it, however the carousel not so much.  It was a plastic piece of junk, doesn't spin well and hardly fit in the cabinet.

Then one day I was amazoning (if that isn't a word it should be, because let's face amazon has everything) for a solution for my spices and came across a spice rack for your drawer.  Genius!  Why hadn't I thought of that before!

I had a drawer that just held our foil, cling wrap and some baggies and knew I could put those somewhere else in order to house this awesome new organizer I found so I bought it and since we have Amazon Prime it was here in 2 days!

Here is my messy baking, spice, seasoning, random assortment of everything cabinet.  I may just have way more than the average person I don't know but to mess this is a REAL problem, haha!

Then here is my semi-solution.  I say semi, because I moved most of my seasoning and spices out but also kept the tiered organizer in the cabinet for all the larger bottles of stuff.  I just love the drawer organizer because you can easily see everything and get right to it, no reaching around other bottles and knocking them off the shelf, no more spinning that worthless carousel.  This drawer makes me happy everytime I need to open it!  Since I did this I also made a lot more room in the cabinet to spread everything else out and make nice and neat rows.  Have I mentioned how I love rows in cabinets, because I do.  Yeah I'm one of those weird people.  

Also just in case you are weird like me  and want one of these awesome drawers, you can go here to buy one.

Linking up SemiHomemadeMom for Show and Share Wednesday

Menu Planning Monday

I have no idea what happened this week in my planned menus but I just didn't make them.  Somehow this week just got all messed up so this week menu planning was easy I just carried them all over.

Also this week I will be leaving Thursday so will plan on making food the beginning of the week so Matthew will have some leftovers for himself while we are gone.   I also have freezer meals in the freezer now so if I decide not to make some of these due to schedules it would be a great week to use 1- maybe 2 of them.  I just love having a backup plan when it comes to dinners!  Freezer food = Happy !

Monday-  Steak, brown rice and carrots

Tuesday-  Chicken Foil Packs

Wednesday-  Potatoes Stroganoff

Thursday- I'm heading out of town for the weekend!


Friday this last week I did make some soups and homemade bread, I will share the recipe links for.  They were pretty good!

Cheeseburger Soup
Lasagna Soup
Bread Machine Bread

Linking up with Org Junkie  and Elizabeth for Menu Plan Monday as usual!

What's my deal?

Each morning I have good intentions.  I start the day off right!
Exercise, Get ready, Take my Genesis Pure.

Eat a decent breakfast.  Some days eggs, somedays my new favorite granola with Almond milk,  or oatmeal.  Always depends on what I feel like and what our schedule is like.  I only work Tuesdays and Thursdays but the days I work I usually try to  throw a snack in my purse for the mid morning.  I don't know why that place makes me hungry, maybe because I'm a stress eater.  Even if I don't feel stressed there I still want to eat, it's weird.

However the days I'm at home I'm usually so busy, I don't think about food until lunch.  I usually eat a later lunch after I have got the boys all fed and kitchen cleaned up.  I can make good choices at home for lunch.  It's usually pretty easy.
Again same thing, the days I work I want to go out to eat, nothing at home sounds good I want fat and candy!    Give me the choice and I usually pick the junky one I guess.  (I really need to retire, apparently my health depends on it, haha)

Anyways let's pretend every day I'm home.  I would do awesome for breakfast and lunch most of the time and snacking isn't usually a huge issue, unless it's the week before my period or something then who knows what will happen.

Then something happens around 5:00.  I'm starving.  I want anything and everything.  We eat dinner and I still just want to snack all night.  I don't know if its boredom.  I don't know if it's because I finally relax for the day or what.  I have tried eating more earlier in the day and it didn't seem to make a difference either.  I'm in a bad rut and just can't get out.  I did so well for awhile but am stuck in the ditch of junky eating all of a sudden.

So this problem has brought me to thinking about better planning and who else to ask then the blog world and my facebook friends.  I think a cleanse would be a good quick start to try and get me back on track, help break my crazy addition to sugar right now and also get back into a better routine of eating.  Right now I generally just plan out our dinners and leave the rest to what I feel like.

This next week I'm going to try and do a quick cleanse and then plan out a more precise eating schedule including breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. I've also been thinking  about trying some juicing but haven't tried any yet.   I have got to get this under control before all of our Spring trips.  If I have no self control here I know it will get even worse on vacations!

What do you healthy eaters do?  Do you plan out all day's meals and snacks?  If so does it help you?

Sunday Social Link Up

Happy.....

This weeks questions are:

1)  What is your favorite thing about Spring?  Opening the windows, Flowers, feeling motivated by longer days, able to walk outside (will be running this year), not having to bundle up boys anymore and grilling out

2)  Favorite kind of flowers to grow or receive?  Tulips or hydrangeas  I love tulips but wished they lasted longer.

3)  What is your favorite nail polish color?  I'm boring, I have a bad habit of peeling my finger nails so I don't ever paint my nails.  Hoping to get nails put back on in a few weeks and maybe will do some fun colors after that.  Since I'm a little obsessed with mint and coral this year maybe I will do one of those.

4)  What is your favorite outdoor activity?  Love outdoor games, taking kids to park, eating outside and walks and of course trips to Homewood (our delicious ice cream stand in town.)

5)  Do you have any fun Spring plans?  Yes, more than usual.  This next weekend we are going to my grandparents in Georgia for Easter.  Then 2 weeks later we are taking the boys with a lot of Matthew's family to Disney for a few days.  Then Matthew and I are going to Las Vegas for a work conference towards the end of April without kids.  Then our last big trip planned is I'm going with my sisters and momma to San Diego for a quick vacation and my first 1/2 marathon.  It's going to be a busy next few months but I'm excited to be getting out of Illinois here and there.


It's weird to be talking about Spring like it's here, because it's supposed to be.  However at the moment in Central Illinois it's snowing and we could get over 6 inches.  It definitely looks like winter right now so Spring sounds wonderful.  This has been a long winter!


Have a great Sunday!

Spring Recipes

Today is the last day for the Spring Link up Party and today's topic is Spring Recipes.

Every spring and summer, I look forward to using the grill again, ice cream and Strawberry pie!

Source: lemonbasilpdx.com viaJennifer on

               

Source: tasteofhome.com viaJennifer on Pinterest

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Source: fatgirltrappedinaskinnybody.com viaJennifer on Pinterest

These will all be delicious, but since I'm trying to eat much healthier this year I should probably include some healthy options that are on my Spring Recipes List as well.

Southwest Quinoa Salad

Source: cleaneatingmag.com viaJennifer on Pinterest

                        Vegan Pudding

                         

Source: pickyeaterblog.com viaJennifer on Pinterest

 

                                               

                                                

                          

This can replace my grilled potatoes!  

                     

Source: media-cdn.pinterest.com viaJennifer on Pinterest

I've had lots of fun this week talking about all things Spring. Now if the Spring weather would just get to Illinois, that would be awesome. I'm ready for it and so are my boys. We have had enough days inside!