I’m starting to feel so much stronger in my aerial class than when I first started, and my hands are starting to get calloused – making it easier to hang onto that trapeze! It used to be so hard for me to kick my legs up onto the trapeze, but now I can do it with almost no effort. My core isn’t quite strong enough to go into the inverted stradle just yet, but I know I’ll get there. Lisa can totally do it, though – on the trapeze AND on the silks (see her doing it on the silks in the last picture of this post). I’m jealous. But, that’s just more motivation for me to keep working at it.
I can climb up to the ceiling on the silks now which is awesome. If I think about how high I am, I start to get nervous about coming down, but as long as I don’t think about it too much, it’s not so bad. It’s pretty liberating to know that I can get up there just by climbing.
I really didn’t think I’d like the trapeze that much at first, but I’m loving it. We learned a couple of new poses this week – they look so easy when you see the pictures, but I swear they’re not. The one where I’m leaning back against the rope (lamp post) takes a lot of balance. You’re basically holding yourself on one foot, and to keep balance, you’re pushing your knee into the rope in one direction and your cheek into the rope in the other. We first did it on the very low trapeze (like 2 feet off the ground) and then we moved up to the trapeze at medium height. It’s funny how much harder things get once you’re more than a couple of feet off the ground. Even though it takes the exact same amount of skill, something about being up in the air makes it so much more nerve-racking. I posted another picture, where I was actually brave enough to hold my arms out to the side on my instagram account.
Lisa and I are both able to get ourselves into the hip-lock on the silks now, too. It’s kinda awkward and I don’t have it perfected 100% just yet, but I’m getting there! There’s only three more classes in this session. I don’t want them to end! I haven’t decided if I’ll continue just yet, but I’m really hoping to.
I was recently given the opportunity to review a great product: Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega – D3 Fish Oil. I have been taking fish oil as a daily supplement for a few years now and over the yeras have had the (not always pleasant) chance to try out products from a variety of companies. Being the crunchy geek I am, I only purchase fish oil from companies that use sustainable fishing practices. As soon as I read that Nordic Naturals creates their products from fish caught in Norweigan waters, I was sold. These fish are caught under strict regulations and fishermen are fined heavily when they’re not followed. In addition, all of Nordic Naturals’ products are made from only non-endangered fish. To read about the sustainable fishing practices of Norway and how Nordic Naturals is making sure that their products are sustainable, click here.
The benefits received from taking fish oil daily are plentiful. Purified fish oil is the best source for receiving Omega-3 Fatty Acids like DHA and EPA. Together these are thought to help treat and/or prevent:
+ Cancer
+ Depression
+ Mental Health
+ Heart Disease
+ Psoriasis
+ Parkinson’s Disease
And more. I know that fish oil is also extremely beneficial during pregnancy. Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega – D3 includes double strength gels that contain both EPA and DHA (making it so that you have to take less pills than with some other brands). This product also contains Vitamin D, a vitamin that has many of the same benefits as fish oil. Living in the a city where rain is the norm, it’s essential (ooo essential! keep reading and you’ll understand) that I also take Vitamin D daily, so the fact that I can get it at the same time I take my fish oil is great.
After taking the Ultimate Omega-D3 supplement for a few days, I can honestly say that these pills hardly make you burp! I have taken far too many fish oil supplements in the past that cause you to burp up that nasty fish flavor throughout the day. These have a slight lemon flavor, and the few times I have burped in the last few days, I’ve tasted lemon. If you’re in the market for a good, high quality daily fish oil, I strongly recommend Nordic Naturals. Once this bottle runs out, I’ll be buying more. And, that’s not a lie – I swear!
Nordic Naturals is also currently sponsoring a contest for the chance to win a trip to California!
Grand Prize: One grand prize winner will win a trip for two to Santa Cruz, California. This prize includes airfare, hotel accommodations for 3 nights, $500 visa gift card, reimbursement for regional transportation, two tickets to Monterey Bay Aquarium, two tickets to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement park, a tour of the Nordic Naturals Headquarters, and lastly, a one year supply of Nordic Naturals products.
Second Prize: There will be six second prize winners who will receive a Cannon camcorder and a one year supply of Nordic Naturals Products.
Third Prize: 12 winners will receive a one year supply of Nordic Naturals Products.
If you want to enter, head on over to the What’s Essential site. All you have to do is write about what’s essential to you. Submit your article along with an image that demonstrates your story and then wait to see who wins. That’s it. So…go enter – the trip sounds like a blast! The contest is open through April 30th, 2012.
It wouldn’t be fair if I talked about the What’s Essential contest without sharing what’s essential to me, now would it? When it comes to this kind-of stuff, I’m really good at getting incredibly wordy; you’ve probably noticed this about me if you’ve been following my blog for a while. So, I came up with a list of the three most essential aspects of my life. Here’s what’s essential to me:
+ Smiling: Back in high school, I was told that my peers thought I was stuck up because I was shy. I find that making an effort to smile more, even if I’m not talking a lot, helps to show others that I’m friendly instead of self-absorbed. Plus, it makes me feel good too. And, like yawning, smiles are catchy! I also try to have a positive outlook in all that I do and hope that it influences others to do the same. I find that even if I’m in a bad mood, thinking positively cheers me up.
+ Green Living: I try to live a life that involves eco-minded practices whenever possible. I’m not perfect, but I try. Living sustainably is incredibly important to me. Soon, we will be purchasing our own farm and trying our hand at living off the land (as much as we can, anyway.) I can’t wait to teach my son all about sustainable living so he can teach his and so on and so forth.
+ Love: This pretty much goes without saying, but love is the most essential part of my life with my little family. I love my son and husband more than anything and try hard to make sure they know it. If love is around, nothing else matters.
Disclaimer: Nordic Naturals gave me the Ultimate Omega Fish Oil to review. I was not given the product in exchange for a positive review. All opinions are my own.
Meal planning is something that has always been difficult for Brian and I. I’m not sure what it is, but we just plain suck at it. When we meal plan successfully, I find that not only do we actually eat all of our meals, but we eat healthier. We also tend to save money at the grocery store because we’re not just buying everything on impulse. Until recently, I’ve been printing off a shopping list (or hand-writing) and then manually checking things off as we pick them up at the store. It’s very unorganized, and often times I end up accidentally leaving things off for certain recipes, or missing items while at the store.
Some friends of mine recently got me into the site Pepperplate. I’ve tried out a few meal planning sites in the past, but all ended up leaving me underwhelmed. Pepperplate has quite a few options and makes it incredibly easy to plan out your weekly menu as well as generate a shopping list. It let’s you plan for each meal – breakfast/lunch/dinner and then generates a shopping list based off of your weekly menu. The best part is – your shopping list is customizable – so you can go in, move things around, add items, delete what you already have in the pantry, etc.
Pepperplate is available both on the web and as an app for your phone. This week, I planned out the meals and then Brian pulled up our shopping list on his iPhone app and hit the store. It’s awesome. (It’s all editable on your app too, not just online.)
Anyway, I sound like someone paid me to talk about this site, but they didn’t I swear.
So in a nutshell, here’s how it works:
+ Add recipes to your recipe list. These can be manually input by you, or you can copy and paste from your favorite websites. (Love this tool!)
+ Create your weekly meal plan using the planner tool. Add meals from your recipe list – or type in whatever you want “Sandwiches, leftovers, etc”
+ Create menus that you can use over and over again using the menu tool (I can see someone creating a number of menus and then just rotating through them each week. How easy is that?) I haven’t done much with this option yet, but it looks great.
+ Generate your grocery list by using the shopping tool. Add/delete items where applicable. The best part about the phone app is that there is a little checkbox to mark things off as you’re going through the store.
+ Share your recipes with friends! This is what my friends and I do – we send each other links to recipes so that we can broaden our collections.
It’s seriously awesome. Best part of it all? It’s free!
One of my friends shared the following recipe. I made it this week and it was tasty and filling. Plus, it made a lot more than I thought it would! Brian’s not a huge sweet potato fan (he’s nuts) and he even liked it! When I make it again, I think I’ll experiment with other ingredients. Maybe some peppers, onions, or other veggies.
Sweet Potato and Zucchini Frittata (Dairy free!)
Ingredients:
+ 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
+ 8 eggs
+ 1 large sweet potato
+ 2 zucchinis
+ 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley
+ salt and pepper
Directions:
1. Chop the sweet potato into thin slices.
2. Add the oil and sweet potato slices to a large oven-safe pan and cook over medium/low heat until soft, about 10 minutes.
3. Slice the zucchinis and add them to the pan; cook for 4 minutes.
4. While everything is cooking, crack the eggs into a medium sized bowl and whisk well (make sure to whisk in lots of air).
5. Add salt and pepper to the eggs and then add them to the pan.
6. Turn heat to low and cook until the frittata is just set – about 10 minutes.
7. Roughly 5 minutes into cooking, turn on the broiler in your oven so that it heats up. After 10 minutes of cooking on the stove, move the frittata to the oven under the broiler for a few minutes. Take it out when it’s golden brown.
8. Cut the finished frittata into wedges and serve with fresh parsley.
ME
+ I’ve started hitting up the local coffee shop twice a week to work on the blog and Kaia. Being a stay-at-home-mom it’s so easy to devote all of your time to baby. Some mornings I’ll wake up with every intention of working on the blog, but somehow the day flies by and I never even open my computer. Brian’s been awesome and he watches the Monkey for two hours twice a week while I hit the coffee shop. It’s just down the street, so that helps the convenience factor! I love that it’s a local place and they have rice milk unlike other big chain baristas (cough starbucks cough). The owners even know me now.
+ Last week was the second week of my new aerial series and boy did I work my butt off. Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures, but it was awesome. I climbed to the TOP of the silks – using both climbing methods! Previously I was only able to do one style (Russian), but now I can do both. It’s great. I hung upside down on the trapeze again (still scary) and we climbed on top of it (not so scary). Lastly, I got single foot lock in the air and learned the basics for hip lock. (Basically you fold yourself over/forward so you are hanging on the silks by your hip.) Yeah, that description doesn’t make sense but hopefully I’ll get a picture this week.
+ I’ve been working on a super awesome crochet project for the Monkey. Any guesses as to what it is? It’s been my main form of entertainment after the Monkey goes to bed at night lately — that is, when he actually stays asleep.
+ I got summoned for jury duty. (EEK!) I’ve only been summoned once before — ten years ago — and I didn’t end up having to go in. I posted about this on my facebook page, but I’m still torn as to what to do. Because I’m breast-feeding, I can be excused from duty no questions asked. Thing is, I’ve always felt strongly that it’s important as US citizens for us to fulfill our civic duty. Plus, I think it would be incredibly interesting. Thing is, I got summoned for a special panel. Upon googling, it looks like instead of being the usual summons where they choose for a bunch of different cases – I’ve been summoned for one specific case. The case is estimated to last two weeks, but could potentially go longer. I’d need to pump 3 times/day, and the only available place is the bathroom. At this point, I’m leaning towards not going but it kills me inside. I would delay the summons, but we might be moving out of state in the next few months, so that’d be pointless. Just rotten timing!
FAMILY
+ Monkey got the Pneumococcal vaccine last week for his 5 month check up. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this previously, but we’re doing a slower/more spread-out vaccine schedule. We’re also taking him to a naturopath who gives preservative free vaccines. This shot didn’t bother him nearly as much as the previous ones have. Momma hates to see her baby cry!
+ Monkey is officially rolling over to his tummy. He pretty much discovered that he could do it one day, and now he does it all the time! He doesn’t stay on his back for too long now – just immediately goes to his tummy. He’s still not the hugest fan of being on his belly and sometimes it seems as if he forgets how to flip back over to his back.
+ WE HAVE A TOOTH! Holy cow. I’m almost tearing up writing this, but Monkey got his first tooth this week. He had one very restless night of sleep. The morning came and he was sucking on Brian’s finger, and Brian said “Ouch! is that a tooth?” – Sure enough, a little teeny tooth was poking through. Only one so far, but I expect others to be coming shortly. Monkey’s now wearing his amber teething necklace 100% of the time, and we’re armed with Hyland’s teething tablets.
+ Music class ends soon. We’ve been attending weekly Music Together classes and have been loving it. This week will be the last week..but starting in April, we’ll be replacing our weekly music class with swimming!
+ For a little while there, we were dealing with Monkey having a bit of a preference for Momma. If we were in the same room, Monkey would get anxious and want me to hold him instead of Daddy. It breaks my heart when I see that. He loves his Daddy – in fact, Daddy can make him laugh way more than I can. I’m pretty sure it’s because I’m the feeding machine. Anyway, Monkey seems to have gotten better lately and Daddy has been spending more and more time with a happy Monkey instead of a crying one. He’s starting to take him on mini hiking dates too. That makes me smile.
+ We’re getting really close to graduation day. For the last three years, Brian has been grueling through law school. He’s so ready to graduate it’s not even funny. I can’t believe that the end is finally in sight! I’m sure it will be such a relief to not have to study or go to class anymore. I was so sick of undergrad, I can’t imagine what law school would be like. Definitely not for me. I’m so proud of him for making it through!
+ I’m 100% Polish, and growing up in Michigan, instead of celebrating Fat Tuesday, we always celebrated ‘Paczki Day’ – pronounced Poonch-Key. Paczki’s are Polish fried jelly filled donuts (yeah not good for you, I know.) Living in Oregon the last three years, we haven’t gotten our hands on a Paczki in a long time. This year, my mom and dad had some sent to us straight from Hamtramck, Michigan. That pretty much made my day…week..month! Yum. Anyone else celebrate Paczki Day? Oregonians look at me like I’m crazy when I talk about it.
+ One of our fur-babies, our boxer, had to have surgery last week. She has a mast cell tumor. We’re hoping we caught it early enough that she’s still got a decent life ahead of her, but we’re still waiting to hear the results. Cross your fingers for us!
Have you heard about Kaia Magazine yet? Well, if you haven’t – it’s a new e-zine all about sustainable living. Kaia has released two issues so far, and will be releasing the next issue at the end of this month. Keep your eyes peeled! The other staff members and I have been working hard on getting some amazing contributers on board so that we can continue to provide a magazine full of insight, ideas, and motivation for sustainable living in real life.
In the February addition of Kaia, I contributed a guide all about composting – including how to get started and answers to some frequently asked questions. The article is now published up on the Kaia blog.
We’re currently renting, but our landlord is awesome and is letting us compost in the backyard. We use a store-bought bin that empties the soil out the bottom once the compost is ready. It’s like magic. Truly. We’ve been in our house for over 2 years now and last Spring we were able to use the finished product on our humble little garden.
Interested in learning about composting? Go check out my article on the Kaia blog! You’ll see that if you’re brave enough, you can even compost your pet’s waste. (Although I would recommend a separate pile for this.)
While you’re at it, be sure to take a look at all of the other goodies in the current issue of the magazine.
As always – if you have any questions on composting, feel free to leave them in the comments below!
Hi and welcome! I'm Jenny - a green living new momma, adoring wife, and MSU fan.
