Pop Sugar Arm Challenge

Note: I started this post on February 1st.

As this is the month of love - I've decided to love my arms. As far as I know, no one loves their arms and I spend most of the year trying to cover mine up - but I don't want to anymore. So, I'm choosing today to get the arms I've always wanted - the arms I love.

The Challenge:

I love POPSUGAR workouts. They are quick, and for me - they are hard and I feel like I've accomplished something when I'm done. So here is the challenge: Jenny Sugar suggests using between 3 and 8lb weights - I'm using 5lb.

Day 1: My. Arms. Hurt. I should have done this after we put L to bed... now I have to carry her around for 3 more hours. Hello Ergo Baby!

Day 2: Today is a rest day. My arms feel mildly jelly like but I wouldn't say they are sore.

Day 3:  So my mom arms make the bicep curls pretty easy. The first round of the workout was pretty smooth sailing until the Bent-Over Reverse Fly (y'ouch). The second round was more difficult and the third round was a lot tougher! Arms are sore - we'll see how the rest of the day goes.

Day 4: Rest Day: I feel pretty good - no soreness today.

Day 5: Today we upped the rep count from 8 to 10. Those two extra reps on each round totally make a difference. The first round was no big but I seriously struggled through the last set and the last 3 reps on of the last Bent Over Reverse Fly was T O U G H.

Day 6: Rest Day: Not sore today!

Day 7: Overall, not too terrible - but those Reverse Fly's are killer. Week 2 starts tomorrow! Update: whilst watching Superbowl commercials, I realize that my triceps are feeling the wrath of the kickback.

Day 8: Rest Day: Feeling a hint of tricep soreness. Tomorrow, we kick it up two more reps.

Day 9: Yikes. 12 reps is tough. Today, instead of challenging while L is napping - I challenged while she watched. Her smiles and giggles pushed me through that last set!

Day 10: Rest Day: All good - no soreness

Day 11: Today was tough. I'm not sure why... I did the same number of reps as Day 9... and I'm  definitely stronger than I was on Day 1 but I struggled through this one.

Day 12: Rest Day: Feeling fine on this beautiful Friday

Day 13: Reps up to 14.. Mother trucker this is hard. Starting to notice a change in the way my arms look and feel!

Day 14: Resting with my valentines

Day 15: Week 3! Finally! Not as tough as Day 13.. but set numero 3 was especially difficult. Today, I'm also starting the Fitness Republic Summer Abs Challenge - post to follow in 30 days.

Day 16: Rest Day - feeling pretty good...

Day 17: Rep count up to 15 - max reps for this challenge. 15 is definitely harder than 8. 4 more days left in the challenge!

ENTER GASTRO-SAURUS - 6 days off.

Day 18: So I should be done with the challenge today... but I'm not. We'll count my six under the weather days as Day 18

Day 19: It was definitely tough. I thought that taking 6 days off would make today EXTREMELY tough and it was hard, but I must be getting stronger because it was about as hard as Day 17.

Day 20: I wasn't as sore today as I anticipated... We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Day 21: In all honesty, I took today as a rest day... oops. I did work out but I didn't do the arm challenge or the ab challenge (post to come once I've completed that challenge). So I finally completed this challenge on Friday, February 26! Woo!

Overall: I 100% see a difference in my arms! They are certainly not where I want them to be, but we are getting closer! Most importantly, I feel much more confident in sleeveless shirts and I AM stronger! I plan to continue this work out.. I may make some changes to rep count, sets, and weight but I think this is a pretty good arm workout for a beginning exerciser! I say - DO IT!

Sweet Potato Fries - Whole30ish

After many, and I mean MANY, attempts to get the perfect sweet potato fry, we finally mastered it! So today I want to share our not so secret recipe with you!

Let me just say first, I do not measure any ingredients for this yummy side - the only measurement I know is the number of sweet potatoes we use. It's really an entirely "to taste" recipe.

Step one: get the spiralizer attachment for your kitchenaid mixer! This thing is the bees knees!

Whole30ish Sweet Potato Fries
Serves 2 with leftovers

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 - 50 minutes
Total Time: 50 - 55 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 medium sized sweet potatoes
• garlic powder - to taste
• sea salt - to taste
• olive oil - enough to coat the fries 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°

2. Scrub sweet potatoes

3. Use the small spiralizer blade to create curly fries

4. Coat all curly fries with olive oil and garlic powder to taste

5. Place fries on wire rack over foil lined baking sheet

6. Salt the top layer of fries to taste

7. Cook at 425° for 15 - 20 minutes

8. Rotate fries and salt again to taste

9. Decrease oven temp to 400° and continue to cook for 25 - 30 minutes or until fries are cooked through and crunchy

10. Enjoy!

Happy Eight Months

Dearest Lucy,

You are eight months!

Favorites: clapping, crawling, pulling up on the furniture and the walls, laughing, cheerios, peanut butter and banana, swinging, chatting, your three teeth, Toot Toot Beep Beep, all tactile books, moving, maracas, and tambourines

Very Much Not Favorites: being confined in the exersaucer, exhaustion, the car seat, the duck bathtub, falling down, the dogs barking, anyone who isn't mom or dad (for about 5 minutes)

A look at your seventh month:

You are infinitely loved.

I'm Back!

Hi Friends! 

So sorry for my unscheduled absence.. Our home was attacked by the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Gastro-saurus. He came in with guns blazing and stuck around for six days. It. Was. Not. Cool. 

He's finally gone and we are back up and running - so, I'm back!

I missed you guys!

Studio Photography - Session One

This week I started a photography class!

I've taken one and a half classes before, both aimed at available light photography. So this course, where we are creating the light we want, will be a whole different beast. I'm stoked. Over the next six weeks, I will post the photos I've taken for the course and a few epiphanies from each class.

Note: these pictures will be raw, unedited, and sometimes under or over exposed - purposely. They may also suck. Be cool.

Class One:

the forehead circle was for metering purposes

• The theme of this course is: Absolutely no compromise (equipment and space willing), if you're compromising there is a gap in your knowledge
• Learn apertures! 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, 45, 64, 90, 128, 180 
• In this course we will always use the ISO at 100 and the shutter speed at my camera's sync speed - 200. Is this normal for all studio photographers or just for this class?
• Learn apertures! 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 16, 22, 32, 45, 64, 90, 128, 180
• Our focus is Aperture (1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, 45, 64, 90, 128, 180) and Intensity (light) (1/1, 1/2, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, 1/128, 1/256)

I'm pretty excited about this class - I have been really having fun with my camera and my nifty 50 lens but I tend to get hung up on the settings. I always forget about the aperture and only change the shutter speed and ISO. Now, the aperture is all I can play with so it will be a good lesson in remembering that I can adjust it and capture a completely different image! 

To be continued...

Things I'm Loving Lately

Happy day after Valentine's Day friends! I hope everyone had the best day celebrating your loves! We had a day full of errands, babies, laundry, and one fancy - Jesse cooked - love day meal! In honor of this day, here are a few things I'm loving lately!

impromptu driveway photo shoots

THE most comfortable sockies

succulents that were impulse bought at the grocery and are thriving

any kind of appliqué on this baby's bum - the heart is especially sweet

melting chocolate

writing from the chair and a half with these two assistants on my lap

#LOVEMYSELF

Happy Saturday, Friends! Today is dedicated to jams that make me want to dance and remind me of examples I want to set for my daughter. Thank you Hailee Steinfeld. 

To My First Born, On Your Re-Birthday

Darling Darrin Stephens,

Happiest of days on this, your re-birthday, the day you came into my life. You are my furry first born and your presence brightens my days. You came to me in a time when I needed a friend and wanted a pup. Little did I know how hard I would fall for your sweet fur face. I love your puppy snuggles, puppy kisses, and puppy playfulness. You are a diva and very high maintenance. You have very high affection needs and that makes you my perfect pair.

I'll never know what your life was before you joined mine. For two years - or maybe more - you had a different life, a different name, a different family. Sometimes, I wonder what they called you, I'm sure it wasn't Darrin Stephens. I wonder what they were like, I wonder why you left.

I'll never know your history, but I know your future. It's here with us and we couldn't be luckier.

We love you!

Darrin is a rescue who was lucky enough to find his forever home. Too many dogs, just like Darrin, will never have a bed to call their own. DREAM Dachshund Rescue Education and Adoption Mission is a Houston based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to rescuing abandoned dachshunds and finding new homes for dachshunds whose owners can no longer care for them. To learn more about DREAM, and to view their adorable adoptable dachshunds visit them on Facebook.

Until there are none, save one.

To See Each Other When We Meet

"It's the qualities you find in each other that will sustain your marriage and ward off that one thing that kills love. Neglect: To not see each other when you meet, to not think of each other in the little things, to assume that your love does not need the care and attention that you bestow on each other this day."

Jeanette Winterson as read by Jess Gilmour, April 5, 2014

Jesse, 

During this, the week of love, a reminder from the day we said I do. May we always continue to be seen by each other. I walked by your beautiful roses this morning. I stopped, I smelled, I smiled. Happy Valentine's Day, lover.

All of my heart, 

Kerri

The Mom Uniform

Today, I want to give a little love a dub dub to, what I affectionately call, The Mom Uniform.

You know what I'm talking about - that shirt and pants you put on during the first nap of the day. The pants that other women, women who actually practice, refer to as Yoga pants. And the shirt that you really should have retired in your early 20's but continue to wear, because it: A. Reminds you of your glory days B. Is now softer than most of Doc McStuffin's patients C. Will collect a number of different bodily fluids over the next 6 - 10 hours or D. All of the above.

When Little Bug goes down for her first nap, its time to get out of my jams and in to the Mom Uniform and I, for one, really love it - for a number of reasons. While I always have grand intentions of working out during one of our nap times, the Uniform only slightly assists with that. I put it on every day because its easy, because its active, because - let's be honest - it stretches.

These days I spend more than my fair share of time on the floor and I need some pants with a lot of give. Every day, you move a little bit farther, a little bit faster. So I am effectively chasing after you, picking you up, redirecting you.  I mean I can only pull you out of tight spaces so many times before my skinnies rip a little bit - we reserve those fancy pants for date night.

I'm not sure if you've gone shopping for yogi pants lately, but they have gotten sassy. Ladies, we've come along way from black and maaaybe dark gray (if you're a fashionista). I've become a big fan of the funky prints and patterns. In the drawer that houses my Mom Uniform, stripes and plaid definitely mix, bright orange and red are frinemies, and polka dots are a girls best friend. These pants allow me to bring a little fun into my wardrobe, even on days when we don't leave the house.

Though it doesn't sound like it, there are days (one or two during the "work week") when I put on 'real clothes', when I remember what my straightener is and actually use it, when I Put. On. Makeup. Shocking, I know. Why don't I do this every day? Logistics. Logistically, it does not make sense. I plan our days around meals and naps. If we're going out for longer than 20 minutes, I have to pack everything I need to keep the babe fed, clothed, and out of poop dipes. If I don't, meltdown. If she just took a nap in the crib - I can not put her right into the car for more than 10 minutes. If I do, meltdown. If we are getting close to nap time and we're in the car but more than 3 minutes from the home I may have to burn 40 minutes worth of gas just so Bug can get a decent nap. If I don't, and we go home and try to take a crib nap, you guessed it - meltdown.

It takes time to get ready. I don't always have the time (or interest) in putting on makeup or getting public ready while L is napping. There is always something do be done around the house. Laundry to be done, dishes to be washed, rooms to be decorated (we're getting a playroom!), lists to be made, workouts to be attempted. And those naps aren't always as long as Mom would like - thus, I feel good about the Mom Uniform in public.

Yes, when I make it out of the house - in real clothes - I feel a major #momwin. And when I see another mom in real clothes, hair done, makeup on, I feel a #momwin for her. I want to stop her in her tracks and give her a hug. You are a rockstar and I am proud of you!

But here's something funny: On days when I get ready and then I see a mom in yoga pants, tennies, and a tee. I think to myself - 'Man, she looks cute and comfy. I wish I were wearing that.'

My Thoughts in this Moment

You are on the move and I couldn't be more thrilled for you. Your world has grown just a little bit bigger, your independence has become just a little bit stronger, your light is shining just a little bit brighter. Although your crawl is more in the style of army than baby - you are loving it... and we are loving it for you.

My Forever Friends... That I Paid For

I still remember the first time I walked into the house. There was a lot of chanting, a lot of singing, a lot of smiling, a lot of questions:

"Where are you from?"  "How's recruitment going so far?"  "How do you like Texas State?"

I was nervous, but I thought it would be a good way to meet new girls, to make friends at a school where I knew a whole 3 people. I went in with no clue what I was doing. I thought, too many times, about quitting the recruitment process all together: 

This wasn't for me, I got cut from houses I thought I liked, I'll never find a home.

But I stuck it out, and man I'm glad I did.

The sisters who helped me become a Mrs.

I spent four years getting to know these incredible women. All different in their own right... Different hometowns, different interests, different majors, and ultimately different futures - with one thing in common - we were members of the second largest women's organization in the nation (second only to the Girl Scouts). Together, we'd learn about the chapter; its history, its philanthropy, its sisterhood. And we'd have a good time doing it.

More than just helping me to find my place within the sisterhood, these women helped me to find myself. The plan was always to go to class, make good grades, and have a wee bit o' fun. But as with anything, life got in the way. Life outside of that little college town continued and sometimes - it was pretty heavy. These women were there when I needed help - a prayer, a friend, support, and love.

Love. Most importantly, they loved me - unconditionally and without judgement. They saw through the tears (and there were a lot), through the mistakes, through the stress, through the fun. They saw me. They knew when I needed a laugh, a hug, a serious reality check.

These are my forever friends - and I paid for them. We've experienced so much together because of our membership, because of our sisterhood. These women hold a special place in my heart that only their friendships can fill. It's been years since we've graduated but even still - when we're together, it's as though no time has passed. We're still the college women we once were. Sure, we've aged, moved away, started careers and families, but we're the same sisters - and I love that.

To the women who've cried with me, who've laughed with me, who've played with me when we should have been studying, the women who've grown with me in age and life, the women who will live forever as my sisters - I wouldn't be the woman I am today, without you.

Chi-O Love and Mine

To live constantly above snobbery of word or deed;

to place scholarship before social obligation and character before appearances;

to be, in the best sense, democratic rather than 'exclusive' and lovable rather than popular;

to work earnestly, to speak kindly, to act sincerely, to choose thoughtfully that course with occasion and conscience demand;

to be womanly always;

to be discouraged never;

in a word, to be loyal under any and all circumstances to my Fraternity and her highest teachings and to have her welfare ever at heart that she may be a symphony of high purpose and helpfulness in which there is no discordant note.

1904

Ethel Switzer Howard, Xi Chapter of Chi Omega

B. is for Brilliant

Today, I want to give a big H E Double Hockey Sticks-Yeah and thanks a billion to B. Toys. And one toy in particular - rather 10 toys packaged as one - the One Two Squeeze Blocks. I love these stinkin' things.

So let me take a minute and, in true Jimmy Fallon form, write a thank you note to these geniuses:

Thank you, B. One Two Squeeze Blocks, for providing hours of fun for Mom, Dad, and Lucy on a daily basis. Thank you, for acting not only as a toy, but an amazing teether for my extremely fussy, teething 7-month-old. Thank you, for assisting in my education at Jesse's School of Juggling. Thank you, for reminding us that sometimes we need to turn the TV off, crank up some Journey and try to build a block tower before Lucy can knock it down.

Looking Back

I love looking at old pictures! I probably go back and look at pictures from Cashew's first days once or twice a week. Today, I went back to before she was here... when we were just patiently (ha, patiently) awaiting her arrival. 

In my search, I came across this little gem. The day of my best friend's wedding.  The day that a men's XL dress shirt wouldn't button over my belly. The day that I was supposed to sit - a lot - but didn't. The day before my water broke.

This one picture means so many things to me. This is pregnant Kerri at critical mass, swollen feet, swollen hands, swollen nose. This is the memory of the best times and hardest times during my pregnancy. This is the memory of the most amazing next few days, weeks, months.  

I'm sure that I didn't want to have my picture taken. I had on no make up - I was sweaty, hungry, and extremely uncomfortable - but I smiled anyway. I was praying that I would make it through the ceremony, through the first dance, through the cake cutting. I found a chair and for 4 hours after the nuptials, I waddled from that chair to the bathroom - 10 times.

But we made it! The day I was most nervous about, came and went with no baby activity. Hallelujah! Then, on Sunday, Cashew said - 'I'm getting out of here' and I said "Oh, thank God!"

To whomever took this picture - thank you.

Breakfast Casserole - Whole30ish

Happy Monday Friends!

I hope everyone had a wonderfully warm winter weekend - take that alliteration! We had 80+ degree days - in January. It. Was. So. Great! Lucy and I got to spend the weekend with my parents and celebrated the engagement of a long time bestie who has finally moved home from The Emerald Isle! It was just the best weekend - but we were very happy to be home with dad last night!

Welcome to the month of LOVE! This month I'm going to blog about things I love - products, people, events, locations - you know, basically whatever I'm feeling.

Today, I want to get down to business with my first Whole30ish recipe post. I really love this recipe. It's taken many a try, but we've finally gotten it down to a science! You can see my entire Whole30ish experience and menu here.

The hardest part about sticking to Whole30, or any diet, is the first meal of the day (for me). It seems that if I stay strict at breakfast, I have an easier time during the rest of the day. I found a breakfast casserole recipe and I prepared it every Sunday so it would be ready for these hungry hungry hippos on Monday morning. You can find the namesake for this breakfast casserole here.

Whole30ish Breakfast Casserole
Serves: 4 or 6

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 10 large or jumbo eggs
• 1 lb uncooked breakfast sausage (We used Jimmy Dean All Natural - not Whole30 approved)
• 1 heaping handful of baby spinach, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder

Instructions:

1. Chop and caramelize onion, then set aside - the more caramelized the onion is, the better it tastes in the casserole.

2. Cook the sausage until it is browned and drain off the excess fat. Use that leftover fat to grease your 8x8 baking dish. Let me tell you this casserole is one sticky son of a gun!

3. Use the heat and sausage to lightly wilt the chopped spinach.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, onion, sausage, spinach, garlic powder, and onion powder. Pour into the baking dish.

5. Cook on 350° for 30 - 35 minutes or until the casserole is firm.

6. Pair with a nice black coffee and your favorite Whole30 approved fruit - enjoy!