We don’t get out much “like just us two (2)” on dates and things like that … but My Hubby surprised me with an early anniversary date night the other night.
July 4th is actually our Wedding Anniversary, so Happy Anniversary to us! 🎆
but, for our date night, he took us to this super fabulous restaurant. It was a roof top restaurant with yummo delish food and we watched the sunset too. 🌅
It was a beautiful night indeed. We dressed up. I put some make-up on, I did my hair, and it was nice for both of us to just “be” for a few hours.
We smiled and we laughed, we held hands, we talked about our girls 💗💗💗 (of course.) We also discussed that we both know we need to do this more. We truly have to find the time to pencil in date nights more … (maybe every couple of months.) 😉
My besties have been telling me this for years and most recently one of them had a discussion with me on, “You need to fill your cup, he needs to too, you both need to fill your cup!!!” 😉🥰
I mean, since having babies we still can count on one hand how many times we have been on a “date night!” Don’t get me wrong we have been to weddings and in quite a few too, in the last eleven (11) years. Yes, our oldest little love 💗 is ELEVEN (11) years old, WOW – man time flies when you’re having fun!!!
Again though, what a fun night …
So, possible goals – plan on “dating” more again soon, maybe? 😉 …
I remember years ago, especially as a new mommy. The “real” to-do list began!!!
Now, listen there was always a “to-do list.” However, the overwhelming-ness that attached to it, definitely increased once you became a parent. Along with the NOW factor!
I know we all have our things, our schedules, but then we add in our house things, parent things, and your kiddies’ schedules, sports ⚽️.
My lanta!!! – right!!! lol
Now me, I am type-A, a perfectionist type of a gal, but let’s just say “HOT MESS!” That’s how I feel most days!!! I found a way to embrace this “Hot Mess” too! Which, meant that my hair would not always be done, my make-up would not always be on …
Yes, I would wear sweatpants, leggings , and work-out clothes as my “SAHM mom fashion!” 🤷🏻♀️🤣🤷🏻♀️
However, the to-do list, it is non stop in this house. I mean I am a SAHM, and the “to-do list” never ends. I drink my coffee in the AM and when I can, I will blog. Which is what I am doing at the moment. I am actually at the car garage because I have to get a new tire and then after, I need to run out and get some things for the house and for our girls. 💗💗💗
Like “all,” we try to just manage. As we know, “the things” will always be there, and always need to get done. We also know, we are not alone. I mean I talk to parents, mom friends, our friends, family and it seems to be the norm for all.
I look at our schedule though … and it has been a “My Lanta moment” most recently!!! 🤷🏻♀️😉🤣
My husband though, is more of a calm, let’s just do and get it done, check off ☑️ the to-do list kind of guy. Where due to my type-A, perfectionist personality, things like a “to-do list” can overwhelm me at times! 😬
I had a talk with one of my dearest the other day and she truly brought much to light for me. We were just talking about life and the simplicity of being in our twenties (20’s), before babies. She said, “In the busyness, we also need to fill our cup.” This was an “ahh moment!” for me. It is something that seems so simple, but to me/us, we often forget this.
Ohhh to fill our cups, okay how to pencil this in too? That’s truly how my husband and I think, to go on a date night, out to eat, away for the night … Without kids, Ha!!! Yeah, nope!!!
Okay “busyness” … well, it is the new “norm.” in this house.
(Especially, once you become a mom and dad, and more specifically when your kiddies are old enough to all be in school and play sports, or cheer, dance, etc.)
We have been nonstop, like NONSTOP lately … I mean, we quadruple booked this Easter 🐣 ✝️ Weekend. We had two (2) Soccer ⚽️ Tournaments (that’s six (6) Games), our good friends’ wedding and Easter Sunday. Now, because of the craziness we spread out the games for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but we also had to coordinate getting to the wedding, did not host Easter this year, etc.
Not to mention, earlier in the week our littlest love caught a bug. Poor little thing 🤒, she’s doing better now. 🙏🏼 Still fighting off the tail end of it, with a cough, but her fever is gone, energy is back, and her appetite is back! Praise God! 🙏🏼
I think I lost it for a brief moment 🤯 I mean #mommying, in between the phone calls, the soccer ⚽️ things, germs, events, work, etc.
My husband and his calmness though, as he says, “We will figure all out and never book our schedules like this again!” 💗
So, here we are … It’s Monday morning, we all are tired 😴, but all turned out pretty good! 🙏🏼 Our one little love won 1st 🥇 place in her division. ⚽️ My husband rocked as a coach and our other little love handled poor sportsmanship well from the other team she played! 💗 I got glutened of course, so still fighting that off 😬 and our littlest love has been fever free for over 48 hours!!! 🙏🏼 and Easter was very nice! 🐣✝️
My Hubby has events today at work, so I am home with our littles. I am cleaning all, doing laundry, and the pup 🐶 needs to get to groomer, there’s errands, etc., but all that was 🤯 is now ☑️ …
It’s now mid way through the month and I have not written out our calendar. 📆 I need to do this today or maybe tomorrow? 🤷🏻♀️ and I need to regroup/think and just pause! 💗
Bringing it back to “cozy” … after all, my new blog is called “Cozy Styling” and like I said in previous blogs/posts, “I think we all need to find that cozy in life, from time to time.”
Oh and Happy Friday!!! – now this is Cozy, well, later tonight that is … all at home, eating yummy food, playing games, maybe a cup of hot tea. ☕️
So, what is your cozy?”
Okay, so if you follow me in my IG story posting, Scentsy posting, blog posting … I am a pinterest gal. To be honest, a good amount of my ideas, stem from Pinterest. I’d love to sharpen my photography 📸 skills too, so I can add to my now pinning and blogging, … but there’s only sooo many hours ⏰ in the day 🤷🏻♀️
On many mornings, I wake up and before my coffee, I find a coffee stock photo on pinterest, to post onto my Scentsy page.
A little of what catches my eye or grabs my attention. Fitness pictures, Healthy foods, Posts on Faith, Coffee photos (but ironically don’t “love” coffee 🤷🏻♀️ only in the mornings.) Fashion, cozy fashion in the winter, even in the summer, and just cute fashionable things. Nail pictures, I love my nails painted, but DISLIKE getting my nails done 🤣 (this is a new thing I now “know,” but the piggies love them painted and love a pedicure too.)
More on cozy … facials are another new thing, loving at home facials or scheduling one at a salon or spa.
I love, like looovvveee organization. It’s interesting (and my husband often jokes about this) nothing like a clean house, my bed made, angles, a new comforter, an organized pantry, a new journal/planner, etc. just looovvveee!!!
Speaking of journals, I love notebooks, odd yes 🤣 but I do … nothing like a fresh notebook, journal or planner! 🙂
and loving leopard, WHAT!!! … what happened? I am now loving leopard too. 🐆
Just a little of this and a little of that on this Friday, time to get some errands done! ☑️
Okay … eating for “nutrition” is not as easy as one would think! 🤔
This may sound crazy, but making sure you are eating enough … for some of us, this is difficult in itself. I mean us ladies, since we were teens, have been influenced by the “world” (for lack of better words), and on average, have been watching what we eat, watching our weight, or watching how we look for most of our lives!
This is not all of us, but probably many of us …
So, to actually have an education and knowledge on what food is, when it comes to our health, what nutrition is, that foods can cause inflammation, etc. 🤷🏻♀️ Huh??? 🤔
My lanta!!! ✨✨✨
When I was younger (like middle school age) I remember having a convo. with this High School boy, who was into fitness. He was a football player, drinking fitness shakes, lifting and all the things. I was like, “Guess what “so and so”, I only ate a Snickers all day today!” 🤣 All proud of myself – lol … he said, “Well, I’d eat a little more than that, and next time when you do eat, especially if only one thing all day 🙄 which I don’t recommend. Focus on something a little healthier!”
I was like, “Oh!” 😬 and a little embarrassed 😳 I was thirteen (13) years old at the time, and he was eighteen (18) years old, and he just graduated from High School! (So, he was cool!) 🤣 He was right though … like really, starve yourself and then pick a snickers to eat! 🤷🏻♀️
Side note – This boy and I were friends and penpals for awhile, after this Summer. There was a group of us that hung out during our Summers up at a Country Club on a golf course in Idaho. We all met up every Summer. (I spent my Summers with my grandparents in Idaho as a kid, which my Idaho Summers is another blog for another time), so to be continued … but my Idaho Summers were indeed wonderful! 💗
Idaho – Golf Course
Back to nutrition, (as I think back to my relationship with food.) I would like to think that I learned earlier, that eating only this or that all day long, was not okay. However, I did not! I would sometimes tell myself (during those college years, to be exact) “You haven’t eaten all day, so you can have Wendy’s tonight!” 🤷🏻♀️ (something I wouldn’t even consider eating now, especially since being gluten free!)
I did this more often than I would like to admit. I never counted calories per-say, but food was … something I limited to like a meal a day, here and there. Once I was thinner (I was always thin, but didn’t see this as a teen) … but again, once I was thinner, and was told by others that I was skinny. I liked hearing it, so I knew basically what to eat and what not to eat.
Food was never about nutrition for me, at this time in my life. I was a college kid, so food was something I would eat, when I was hungry and not eat when I wanted to lose five (5) pounds. Just being honest! 🤷🏻♀️
When I met my husband (the Summer before my senior year of college) I was weighing in like the nineties (90’s.) I had a problem at this point though, I ate very little and was okay with being “skinny.” He’d take me out to eat constantly when we first met. We were friends for like six (6) months before dating, 🥰 but if I wanted mozzarella cheese fries, he’d say, “okay let’s go!” lol 🥰
I remember my grandma calling me one day too, and checking in on me. I remember it vividly too, (I was sitting in my bedroom on my desk chair in my roomies and my rented town house at the time), and she said, “Be careful Jennifer, what you are doing to your body now … it may not effect you now, in your twenties, but it will effect you by your thirties!”
I now look back, and often say, “hmmm, was she right?” 🤔 I mean, after our first little love was born, I was in my late twenties (20’s) and this was when I realized I had an intolerance to gluten, and the possibility of celiac disease? As I had my next baby, I now had a food allergy to citrus too and many other things were now going on …
In a previous blog, I was discussing “female things” and after talking with a girlfriend who has had similar issues to what I dealt with and am dealing with, she was telling me how she fixed her issues with Nutrition. She said, “After talking with a Nutritionist, she never realized that food is like medicine too for many (if not ALL of us!) So, this got me thinking 🤔
I actually went home after we talked, (this was before my Doctor’s Appointment) and started researching, much about this topic and I am actually considering, taking a few Nutrition Classes now … (yeah, I know, where would I fit this in?)
In my little research that I have done already, and after talking with a Nutritionist too. Females need certain things, (especially when it comes to Hormonal Health!) Now, you may say, “Well, I am fine and so and so is always on a diet, doing this and that, and they’re fine!” What I say to that, “That may be true, and that’s great for them, but we all are wired differently!” For example, my body may need more folic acid or more healthy fats, and if I am confirmed Celiac (already know I have a gluten intolerance) then my body wasn’t absorbing certain nutrients for years while eating food in general! Especially, when not eating the “right” foods!
I am a smaller framed female (5’2”, wear an xsm/sm), and it took me becoming a mommy to realize this too … I no longer limit myself when it comes to food, but I think I did and may even still do, in some ways subconsciously. Like, I will stop myself from eating this or that, overeating is a no, mainly because I don’t like the feeling of being super full and have had digestive issues, off and on for years. I on average choose not to eat certain sweets, no to diet beverages too. Then I wouldn’t eat all day, but use to eat snickers and candy saying to myself, “It’s okay, you can eat this, since you didn’t eat anything today!” (I do like candy, but eating just sugar as my food intake, not good!) 🤷🏻♀️
This was years ago though (before Covid actually!) No longer do this …
I am also a person who’s not always a breakfast eater. There’s hungry days though and these days, I no longer ignore. So, if my body is craving extra food, I now EAT! You, see during my research, your body will often crave things, when it needs something. If you know me, I am a gal who has ALWAYS craved things. Random things too, like a cheese burger, a milk shake, mozzarella, etc. I have learned to give into my cravings more now, compared to only when I am PMS-ing and pregnant.
Some of the things I have found in my research relating to hormonal health. Drink Matcha tea and green tea more. I am consciously trying to eat 1/4-to a whole avocado daily. 🥑 Females, NEED healthy fats, especially for hormonal health. Red meat, (okay, don’t really eat it), but for hormonal health red meat is “inflammatory,” so like I love tacos, we eat them weekly. Taco Tuesday in this house, so I’d eat red meat when eating tacos. However, now, I consciously will make ground turkey for tacos, especially for me!
I won’t say that I will not EAT red meat ever again, I just try not to eat it “often.” Also, I am now eating more plant foods, you know fruits and VEGGIES, eating more fish, certain proteins, etc. I am gluten free already, so paying attention is easier compared to years ago, when going gluten free. Like I do need carbs, so I’ll make rice (often), a gluten free pasta or I will eat some gluten free pretzels. Especially, if my body is craving carbs. Sugar I’ll even crave at times, ever so often, so I listen and grab a Hershey kiss, a small Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup or something little.
HYDRATION is also a thing and it’s a HUGE thing!!! Hydration, is a whole other blog post 🤣 so to be continued on that … but I am trying!!!
There’s so much to “Nutrition” when it comes to foods, so I am going to see if it helps? 🤷🏻♀️
Okay, I am trying, I am … I am trying to drink more water. Hydration is key and “OH!” to the times of me being dehydrated! I was on average drinking maybe 8-20 ounces of water, a day. Now, my goal is to drink 50-60 ounces daily.
I am on week two (2) or maybe three (3) 🤔, I believe. I can do this and stick with this too! 😉 To be honest, I start this up and I do good for about a week, but then I usually stop. So, trying to stick with it this time …
I was told by many that you are to drink half of your body weight in ounces.
That to me, I was like, there is NO WAY I can drink that much WATER daily! Where my husband drinks like a gallon of water daily. Drinking a good amount of water, just isn’t as easy as one would think? 🤔 Especially, if you are not use to it (like me.)
Here was my normal daily routine of drinking beverages. I would wake-up and drink my morning coffee, and then I may sip on water here and there. Then I would have a cup of hot tea in the afternoon, then I finally would drink water with dinner and before bed. So, I was drinking fluids, but WATER, not so much. So, I am consciously trying to drink 30 ounces of water before 12:00 noon and then the next 30 ounces before sleepy time.
I keep reminding myself (so I stay motivated), that you are flushing out toxins!!! Try it, it helps … 🤷🏻♀️😉
You see, in the last ten (10) years I have learned much about my body, more in regards to my health and how my body responds to certain things, like food. I mean, once our first little love was six (6) months old … (on Christmas Eve to be exact.) We were leaving a family party and my mouth was suddenly in pain. I initially thought, I must have burned my mouth on something. As the days, weeks, months progressed, the pain intensified!
My tongue was sooo sore and my mouth would always have canker sores and this was only one (1) of my new found issues/symptoms. However, it was one of the WORST too. I also had joint pain, fibromyalgia pain, GI issues, weird anxiety, a rash on my upper arms, etc. I thought for awhile, (and certain Doctors confirmed) it was hormonal , postpartum … after all I just had a baby. 🤷🏻♀️
Today, I am gluten free and labeled “Undiagnosed Celiac.” Mainly because I just get too sick from gluten, and I can’t eat it long enough to be tested. (To be honest, I no longer need to be told I have Celiac Disease.) I tried a few years back to go through testing, (per my Doctor.) First step, was to go on a gluten challenge. I made it to only, day three (3), goal was to eat gluten for twenty-one (21) days. 😬 After dealing with pain, (fetal position pain) off and on for over 24 hours and ongoing GI issues, my Doctor said to stop eating gluten. When I went into the Doctor’s office, he said, “Clearly gluten is no good for you, so DO NOT eat it! Listen to your body, and if you need a diagnosis … I am diagnosing you with Undiagnosed Celiac!”
I also have a family history of Celiac Disease, Crohn’s Disease, Diverticulitis, Thyroid Disease, etc. (which many or maybe all 🤷🏻♀️ are autoimmune) So, it was inevitable that I would end up with something at some point. I mean, I have been told that I have had many things, since I was a kid. I was diagnosed and placed into categories like IBS, Lactose Intolerant, Interstitial Cystitis, Keratosis Pilaris, etc. All come to find out, are are linked to Celiac Disease and can mimic or even cause these symptoms, and when I gave birth to our first little love, WOW to the symptoms!!! Hence the beginning of me, going gluten free. (When she was around eight (8) months old to be exact.) Then, I ended up pregnant again with our 2nd little love, when she was just ten (10) months old, so I stopped my gluten free diet per my OBGYN’s request. At the time I was deficient in certain vitamins too, so she put me on a prescription prenatal vitamin. She explained to me that eating gluten while pregnant, may be more beneficial to the baby and it may not bother you while pregnant too. She explained that staying gluten free while baby is in utero, could actually bring forth an allergy to baby earlier, if not exposed to gluten. So, I ate gluten (and it was delicious) and I was not bothered by it either. 🙏🏼 However, after our 2nd little love was born, WOW again to the symptoms. So, I officially went gluten free when she was just a few months old and I have been gluten free ever since.
I tried to eat gluten again while pregnant with our 3rd little love, but at this point I no longer could, because it made me sick. More so with fibromyalgia pain, joint pains, tongue pain, canker sores, etc. and here’s the crazy thing too, our littlest love came out with Eczema and still has episodes of Eczema. So, could it be because she wasn’t exposed to gluten while in utero like my one OBGYN explained. 🤷🏻♀️🤔
I have been doing research too on different foods, plant based foods, avocados, red meat, protein, etc. Trying to figure all out. As I have been researching and looking into nutrition, as a whole. Foods are actually medicines for our body, so like “eating” is hugely important. Helps with so much from our sleep, anxiety, to hormonal health, etc.
I never looked at food this way, I looked at it as, “I am hungry, is it dinner time, okay eat!” or “I am NOT eating that!”
So, like I said, looking into nutrition more so now. As well as HYDRATION. Also, fitness, and getting back into it because I just feel better over all when I am working out. Trying to run more, walk the miles too, just basically loving cardio, but as we all know …adult life, parent life = busy life!
Okay, here goes, Happy Monday … as you have seen, I am starting an actual blog. A blog where I will actually try to “more so” take moments throughout the week to spend an hour or so writing, posting, researching, sharing.
So, again I say, “here goes!”
Just paid for a domain too (eee 😉) Well, we have the money now, so saying bye bye to all of the free sites that I have used since becoming a Mommy.
Pause – still have no real clue how to do this, “this” meaning – starting an actual blog? It’s okay though, I got this … There’s Youtube, Pinterest, Google (although I question google because seriously what is going on there … anyone else realize that you cannot google the way you once did?) Now, finding time to research all it entails to become a blogger, that’s another story? 🤷🏻♀️
So, blogging, writing … I mean, it’s an actual “thing” … seriously … If you follow influencers, you tubers, etc. Many do have blogs. So adding “my new blog” to my to-do list. 🤷🏻♀️
You see a few years back, my bestie once told me, during one of our morning conversations, “You hold yourself back.” My husband then confirmed this when I asked, “Do you think I hold myself back?” … They both ended up saying the same thing, “You aren’t a risk taker, some take risks and aren’t afraid of failure!” Well, this got me thinking … 🤔
Coming from them … it just made me think. 🤔 You see, they both are indeed successful and they both will take risks. They aren’t afraid to take a risk (or to make a decision, is a better word) in their professional worlds. I guess they’ve learned that you will never know, unless you try or say yes or no. They often say, “If it doesn’t work … then okay, let’s try something else.”
To be honest, maybe this is why he is an Excutive Director at an Ivy League University and she owns her own business in the field of plasma/science.
Throughout the years, I have enjoyed meeting so many in my circle … but these two, just so very blessed by them. One, to be married to my love and my best friend, and two, to have a gal by my side since HS. I just think and talk very highly of these two, not just because they are my husband and my best friend. I am just so proud of them both, setting goals, sticking with their goals, and their work ethic, their achievements, and their success.
So, I am going to stick with blogging, or at least try to stick with it …
See I am a gal who’s always setting goals. I achieve some and let others go because that’s just “me.” 🤷🏻♀️
My first priority though, is always my family. We decided, while expecting our first little love that I would be a SAHM, so I gave up the career world. It’s crazy looking back because it had it’s challenges for sure, especially in the beginning, but I definitely do not regret it, not even for a second.
Throughout the years, I have taken on other roles while being a stay-at-home mommy. In volunteering at our church, our girls’ school, and their activities. I was a Cheer Coach, an Etsy Shop Owner, now an Etsy Shop Manager, a Coaches Wife, now a Scentsy Consultant, etc. Here’s my website for Scentsy ➡️ http://jenniferbendas.scentsy.us
So haven’t exactly been bored by any stretch of the means, but now an actual blogger with an actual domain 💗…
Cozy Styling 