Happy Friday Everyone!
Hey everyone! May is always such a BUSY month… I have lots to share today, so let’s get started!!
One – Memorial Day Weekend, Mother’s Day & More!
Let’s get this party started— as in THE summer has started, friends!! I hope you all had a good Memorial Day weekend. We stopped at Eckerts Belleville, which has a farmhouse restaurant, store and pick your own strawberries. It was a rainy weekend, so we landed up buying our strawberries. They had a PINK John Deere tractor out on display, so of course I had my hubby take a photo of me on it!
After Eckerts, we stopped at this cute little coffee truck called The Coffee Pot. They had their truck in St. Louis a few years ago for an event by our house. I’ve been following the owner Carrie on Instagram ever since. She has two trucks now and I thought it’d be fun to visit the one close to Eckerts while we were in Illinois. I got a blackerry vanilla latte with oatmilk and cold foam. It was delicious!
Mother’s Day was a great day! Brian sent me flowers and I got to go to the coffee flight place I love (Latte Lounge). We had lunch with my mom, brother and SIL.
Nathan is 19! It is really hard to believe he’s another year older. I feel like each year goes by quicker and quicker. It makes me feel older too! Ha! We had a delicious dinner at The Melting Pot, one of his favorite places!
Autumn’s school was nominated for the Ken Page Awards and received 5 awards!!!! I loved seeing her theater group on stage! The Fox and The Muny have welcomed them in practices and rehearsals the last 2 weeks and had a dinner for them before the awards show last night. How cool to be able to practice, rehearse and go back stage at both places. They got to write their name on a wall at The Fox (so cool!!). Their theater teacher won the outstanding direction award (!!!) and she truly pours her heart and soul into these teens to make them their best on stage! Also, so, so excited about the best ensemble award!!! What an exciting night and so much talent with all these schools that were nominated! What an incredible experience!
Two – Picky Plates
I started following a Facebook Group called Picky Plates and I thought, how cool would it be to have Picky Plates for something easy and healthy for lunch this summer? So far I’ve done this same combo for the last 2 weeks, but she shares photos weekly of various Picky Plates she has done with various proteins, veggies, fruits, berries, pickled/fermented items, etc. It is so fun!!
Here is what I’ve had on my Picky Plate:
Chicken Salad Chick Chicken Salad (I buy the large tub and put 4 tbsp on my plate)
34 Crisps Original Crisps (fairly healthy, low fat crackers)
Carrot Sticks (I like to buy whole carrots, peel and cut them)
Cucumber Sticks
Olives
Roasted Garlic Hummus
Brie Bites (see photo below, LOVE these!)
Sliced Strawberries
Sliced Peaches
Sliced Tomato (been being Heirloom tomatoes!)
Onions in Vermouth Jalapeno
Sweet Petite Pickles
Here is the Facebook group to the Picky Plates and she even just launched a cookbook.
Here are the Brie Bites that I found at the grocery store in the cheese section. I found these at Schnucks, but I’ve heard that Trader Joe’s sometimes has them. I don’t eat cheese a lot, but these have only 4 grams of saturated fat, so not terribly bad if you want a little cheese. They come in individual containers, which makes it so easy to open it and plop it on your plate!
Three – Curly Hair
Autumn has been wanting to do my hair for me, curly. I rarely wear my hair in its natural state. I feel like when I was younger, I was really good at styling it in its natural state, but I usually straighten it or straighten and curl it these days… or I just wear it in a braid or pony tail and let it be wild. Ha, ha! Autumn has naturally curly hair as well, but she is much more knowledgeable about what products to use for curly hair, so she wanted to ‘teach me’ one afternoon. Ha, ha! She did really well with my hair, she even told me I have better curls than she does… I don’t know if I believe that! Granted, this all happened an hour before we got horrible weather, high winds (and 2 tornados in St. Louis City), plus an almost 2 day power outage… but, it was fun before the storm hit. I am SO over the Spring weather we have had here, it has been scary and INSANE.
I have been spending A LOT of time watching all of the Harry Potter movies. I am proud to say that I have finally finished all 8 of them! Ashley from Make Life Marvelous has been watching them too and we finished the last movie on the same night!! Ha, ha! Now Ashley is trying to talk me into Lord of the Rings, I’m not sure about that. I am not a big fantasy person, but I REALLY enjoyed The Harry Potter movies! I’ve always wanted to read all the books, or watch all the movies and I thought at this point in time, watching all the movies would be a lot easier. It was really neat to see Harry, Hermione and Ron all grow up together throughout the movies, the various characters/creatures, plots, magic, etc. So fun! I really loved Dobby, the cute little house elf (even though I found him annoying at first!). I am so glad I finally took the time to watch them all!
I saw this little ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold‘ lap book at Barnes & Noble awhile back and Autumn got me the set of 3 books (there is 5 total). I’ve kept it by my laptop and I read 5 pages a day. It is a pretty popular book and is cute… but, not what I was expecting! Ha, ha! I’m not done with the first book yet, but so far it revolves around a coffee shop, a ghost, time travel, love… and all of the characters in the book are from Japan and have really long names that all look similar to me (and not easy to tell if it is a male/female name). LOL. I almost need to write on the inside of the book their names and a little bit about each of them to keep track of who is who! I’ll let you know how it is after I finish it.
Living with a Seal by Jesse Itzler
I listened to this book on audio and really enjoyed hearing Jesse Itzler read it. He has a fun, upbeat voice and is great at keeping it exciting! I read this book after I read David Goggins’s book Can’t Hurt Me. My running coach LOVES both of these books and recommended them to me for mental toughness. I really enjoyed hearing Jesse’s take on having Seal (David Goggins) stay with him for a month. The frozen lake part was hilarious, especially with how Jesse’s wife Sarah reacted to it the second time. I thought it was interesting how they formed a relationship, even if it was on few words. Just a really interesting book and some great quotes in it that I’ll keep with me while I do my long distance running! I didn’t realize that Jesse Itzler’s wife was the owner of Spanx, so that was an interesting surprise in this book!
Five – Latest Finds
Here is my May Monthly Treatbox, which was SUCH a good box this time! It has a croissant theme, with a delicious croissant biscuit cookie, instant coffee in Cookie and Plum flavors, a croissant with a bow tie keychain, a cute coaster and bag. Oh, and a pair of socks with croissants/bows… their socks are my FAVE to wear a bedtime!
We recently got a 7 Brew nearby and it has some tasty drinks! I love their Cinnamon Roll latte with oat milk and Autumn really liked their Pink Mermaid, which has coconut, strawberry and watermelon in it.
I spied these at Schnucks on my last visit. Hostess Cupcakes are my fave!! I have never seen these mini ones before. I didn’t put them in my cart, because I don’t need them staring at me at home! Ha, ha! Let me know if you try them.
City Beauty sent me a 20 day supply of their new Essential Radiance vegan collagen powder. Essential Radiance supports the body’s collagen production for skin, hair, and nails that look and feel healthier and firmer. This vegan powder blend also helps support joint health and digestion while enhancing energy levels for a more youthful feeling overall. I mixed it in 16 oz of water and the taste wasn’t bad at all, it lives up to its peach berry flavor.
I received my latest Fuel Goods box for the month of May. This subscription box for runners arrives every other month. It has a lot of great products for me to try that are new to me!! This box has a lot of snacks, bars, protein shakes, gels, etc. in it.
I hope everyone is having a good start to their summer!
