So although the heat here in CT has been so brutal that I couldn't really exercise this week I was able to loose 4.8 pounds of the 5 I gained during my I don't know what phase. I was very happy that I lost this much and am felling a bit more back on track. My only issue is the lack of fitness which has a ton to do with the heat here in CT. Even at 6am it is over 80 and too hot. I have been gardening and keeping up with the kids and going to the pool, but not the kind of fitness I was dong with Mamavation and I also know this is what kind of exercise I need to do in order to loose the weight. So today as part of a Virtual 5K that Melissa from www.mytwomiracles.com put together I am considering myself back on track. How was everyone else's week?
My goals for this upcoming week
Track my food
Run two-three times
Strength Train 3 times this week
Also, in case you missed it I am doing a giveaway on my blog for a Copy of a great money saving book.
Come check it out and enter the giveaway.
So I was so excited to get invited to two different Connecticut blogger events this week. One I was unable to attend because I was a little bit under the weather and it was 1000 degrees so I didn't think that was the best idea. So the event that I attended on Thursday night was a We love Local event sponsored by Whole Foods in Glastonbury. I was able to bring my dear friend Gina as my plus one and it was a great time. The whole food chefs as well as some local companies had a great spread of local goods for us to taste test. Below is are my pictures from the event along with a copy my favorite recipe from the event.
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| Upon entering the event we were greeted by these beauties fresh native organic strawberries (on sale for 1.99) paired with some amazing local chocolate in three different flavors. The most interesting one was by far the chocolate with the corn flakes |
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| Next up was this amazing fresh local corn. The Whole Foods chef prepared it by grilling it and glazing it with a mix of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. I would never have thought to put these items together on corn but it was amazing. There was a lovely little bit of caramelization on the corn-I even sampled the ones without butter. |
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| One of my favorite dishes was a fresh vegetable salad. It contained various types of beans, red onion, tomatoes, and some Chinese noodles on top. Then for on top of the salad was an amazing vinaigrette that had local fresh raspberries and blackberries. I can say that it was a little bit odd with the crunch noodles, crisp veggies, and sweet dressing, but it was delicious nevertheless. Although I might not make the salad (I liked it not loved it) the dressing is a must make again. |
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| This was the item that I needed to control myself with a bit. Since I am lactose intolerant I really wanted to sample all the flavors but I knew my stomach would not go for that. This ice cream company is based in norwalk where my BFF lives and they are tea inspired flavors. AMAZING. I tried the Masala Chai, Ginger Matcha, and Chamomile Honey. Check them out here
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| For drink samples there was yummy frozen hot cocoa from www.cissetrading.com and these tasty treats. These are both yummy drinks or drink starters if you like a cocktails. I LOVED THESE!!! In fact I looked around Whole Foods for them to buy some. I love anything sour so these were right up my alley. My favorite were the first two which I would so drink over crushed ice or mixed with seltzer. For me this was a perfect beverage for the super hot 100 degree CT weather. Check them out here.
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| Lastly on the tour was delicious homemade sauce. Now considering that my date and myself are Italian girls who learned from a Nona how to make sauce, we can officially be called a sauce snobs! So we were skeptical of a jarred sauce. We were pleasantly surprised. This sauce is made lovingly in small batches the same way that both of us make sauce at home. It was sampled with a great bread to dip in, but you know it was good when I was drinking it out of the little cup it was served in. Now nothing beats homemade, but this is a great sauce to have in the pantry for those times where there is no time to go homemade. Check out the website here
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Now as I went to go write this post I realized that I had no pictures of my absolute favorite sample of the entire night. It was a lazy man's blueberry crisp. Let me start by saying that I have been dying to go blueberry picking because I love fresh blueberries. This was an super easy recipe and delicious. I asked and am allowed to share the recipe so here it is.....as zoo as I get blueberries I will be making this!
Blueberry Granola Crisp
Ingredients:
1 Jar 365 blueberry jam
2 Pints of blueberries
2 Cups of Mainely Maple Granola (found in the bulk dept.)
On stove top mix 1/2 jar of blueberry jam with 1 pint of blueberries. Cooking until it is warm, melted, and bubbly.
Cool mixture for a few minutes. Pour stove top mixture into a baking pan (as your bottom layer).
Next add 1 pint of fresh blueberries on top of the cooked mixture.
Next add granola as a top layer.
Chill and serve.
A great big thank you to Whole Foods for the invite...I can't wait for the next one!
I can't believe it is already the weekend and it is weekend review time. This week I read Budget Savvy Diva's Guide to slashing your grocery bill by 50% or more by Sara Lundberg. For those of you who do not know who the Budget Savvy Diva is she is a blogger who has made popular the act of saving you money with all her tips. She has an amazing blog that can be found
here . She has also written several great books with numerous money saving tips. In this particular book she focuses on how you can save big at the grocery store. Although I like to think of my self as a savvy shopper who doesn't go too overboard at the grocery store, there were several helpful hints in this book that I plan on using next time we hit the stores. The first thing that I really liked about the book is Ms. Lundberg starts at the beginning with menu planning. This is something that I am not always successful at. She talks about how you go from not planning at all to taking baby sets to becoming a supreme planner. I like that she uses easy tips and gives sort of the step by step on how to get more budget friendly. I enjoy the if you are doing nothing, here are the baby steps, then the next steps, then the final big picture. Without giving away all of the Diva's ideas my other favorite part of the book was the recipes. The end of the book is just filled with numerous budget friendly recipes, many of which are also kiddo friendly or good for those with picky eaters (kids or adults) in the house. In fact, I bookmarked a few for making this week. I would say if you are trying to trim your budget a bit this book is worth the purchase price because I am sure you would save that much in your first few trips to the store. Yet, even better than buying it.....you can win it. Enter below with the rafflecopter to win a copy!
Also if you have written a review on a product or book don't forget to link it below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Take me out to the ballgame
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It has come to my attention thanks to Wendy over at www.connecticutbloggers.com that I should have a clear public and disclosure policy. So here it is for your reading enjoyment folks!
This policy is valid from 18 July 2013
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact Erica at ezamskyhunt@gmail.com.
This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.
The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.
The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org
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Ok so its time for a little honesty around here. I have been talking about how great Mamavation was (and believe me it was) there has been a downside as well. For whatever reason after the campaign ended my eating disorder kicked back into high gear. I don't know if it was the nature of weight in and pressure that I felt or maybe it was that I was working so hard and following a plan very strictly, or the stress of the end of a shitty school year but my mind went crazy. Now thankfully I wasn't full on binging but there were days where I overate, there were a lot of times I ate crap, then felt like crap, then ate more crap because I felt like crap. It is a viscous cycle and I hate it and often times this is very very hard to stop.
I also need to make clear in no way am I blaming Mamavation that group I know has saved my life in terms of health. I also know because of them and their support is the reason I have gotten back on track. My good friend Julie (who is also my WW buddy) said hey being in the ditch is ok as long as it isn't the grand canyon. So I decided that as of Thursday of last week that was it, I was getting my shit together and getting back on track. I have committed to going to every weekly weight watchers meeting for the rest of the summer and doing my best to track my food. I also am trying to get back into the forums and back on twitter to get some support and follow the new mom's in the campaign.
I am thankful though that throughout this I have continued training for 5k's (I did my first official last weekend I will post about that soon). I think that is the reason that in 6 weeks I have only gained 5 pounds (not only but you know what I mean). Also, I have only really gained like 3.5 of my Mamavation weight back because I lost some more after that so my WW weight is different. I know it is confusing which is why I am going to just go with my WW weight from now on. Its summer and my math skills are bad during the school year.
I just wanted to say I am so thankful to be part of the Mamavation community and that I have a great real life support group to help me through these times where I am in the ditch and I have lots of hands helping me out!
Onward in my healthiness journey, have a great week people!
A few months ago one of the gals over at Mamavation posted how she has written a children's book and I was of course super excited for her. How many us have a big dream and then get to see that dream come to life. I was so proud for her. Then she asked for people to review and you know me...I am always going to be first in line jumping up and down saying pick me for a review of a children's book (in fact there was a great study just done that says your child's success in school is most tied to how many books are in your home not how smart mom and dad are!)
Anywho, Lydia (who is also running to be one of the Mamavation Campaign 17 Moms) sent me a copy that was autographed for my kids which I loved. Let me start by saying the book was a bit too old for my 3 year old, but she still loved this pictures. So this was more of a Dy and Mom book-hence the photo.
Anyways, the short story focuses on a group of girls in summer who have an encounter with a ghost. Now don't worry the story isn't scary (it did have a moment where Dy was a bit scared but he made it through). In the end the group of young girls pay tribute to their ghost through a kind act. It is really a cute story with a nice ending. The book as really great pictures and easy to read. It isn't a really young kid book, in fact I would say it was a wee old for Dy but he is also a huge reader so he could read most of it on his own, but we like to read together.
I have gotten to "know" Lydia over the last few months through Mamavation and Twitter and this is a great venture for her into book publishing. If you are looking for a book for your kids to read this summer with a fun theme go pick it up and support another mom who is making her dream come true.
You can follow Lydia over on twitter by
clicking here, you can check out more about the book
here, or you can just stop by
here or
here to buy it. Also big shout out to her illustrator who did an amazing job check them
out here.
Lydia-Job well done my dear I am so proud to know you and that I get to share in this moment of your book debut. Congrats and get back to your Mamavation Hazing
So have you reviewed anything this week....if so link up here. I would love to give you some love on your reviews!
First let me say how crazy it is that it is already July. I am so excited for all the finalists who are in the process on the way to becoming Mamavation Mom's. I know how nerve wracking this is for them and I wish them all well.
Although my eating has not been great-not horrible but not great....I have been running. Every other day and on Sunday I ran a practice 5k. Although my overall time only dropped by like 5 seconds I was able to get my first mile time down to 13 minutes which was great and it means I am running the whole thing and at a good pace too.
My goal is to get my eating back under control it has been hard the first week being home with my kiddos and making the transition but I have a goal for the summer which is to be as active as possible and get down to about 210 or less before school starts again. I hope you all have a great week!
How has everyone's week been??
