Good For You Breakfast On The Go

I have two simple breakfasts that I rely on almost every weekday.  They take about 2 minutes to prepare and are soooooo delicious! 
The first are my overnight oats.  I have seen several versions of this, so I kind of adapted it to what I like.  Feel free to do the same :)
I make a single serving size, usually in a tupperware I can throw in my purse the next morning to heat up once I get to work.  These are overnight oats, so you need to prepare them the night before and let sit OVERNIGHT, lol :)
Start with 1/4 a cup of old fashioned oats, and add 1/3 cup of almond milk to it.  You can actually use any kind of milk whether it be dairy, soy or almond, whichever you prefer.  Then the laundry list begins of ingredients :)  I add a pinch of brown sugar, but be careful, a little bit goes a long ways.  Then I add a squeeze of honey, a couple of shakes of cinnamon and 1 spoonful of vanilla non-fat greek yogurt.  Mix all these together and put in the fridge overnight.  It might be a little soupy but that's normal, it should thicken up by the morning.
Once it's time to eat the following morning, you can keep adding stuff to it.  I add a handful of crushed walnuts, raisins and slice up a fresh fruit on top (peaches are my favorite).  Heat it in the microwave for 45-60 seconds and enjoy!! Don't mind the plastic bowl in the pictures, I didn't have time to make it pretty :)

The other breakfast I often resort to is an Orange, Pear & Kale smoothie.  I found this great website, www.greenplaterule.com , that I am constantly using for good green eating ideas.  Some of her recipes are a little extreme for my household, so I have adapted a lot of them and they are fantastic.  For this smoothie recipe click here.  I usually cut up all my fruits at once and freeze them in pre-bagged single portion sizes so they are ready to be thrown in the blender on my busy mornings.  Also, I use any grapes I have on hand and it turns out awesome! Please note though, your blender probably doesn't like all frozen contents, unless you have one of those Ninjas :)  I usually take out a frozen baggie the night before and let it thaw a little in the fridge overnight....my blender appreciates this I'm sure. It takes a good 3-4 minutes of blending to get the kale fine enough that it isn't all stuck in your teeth on your first sip....yep, this too I have learned the hard way :)  Once again, don't mind my to-go cup, I was in a hurry, as usual!

Austin's 2nd Birthday :)

This past weekend we celebrated Austin's 2nd Birthday, which brought the bittersweet realization that my baby isn't a baby anymore :(  I know some people still consider 2 years old to be a baby, but he is so grown up lately.  I literally dropped him off at daycare as an infant one day, and the next he was spitting out three word sentences.  He is playing with the older kids, and doing a pretty good job of keeping up!  He is my little jokester and has such a unique personality that will keep you laughing for hours.  I love this little guy so much!!  He loves monkeys, so my friend Lisa and I created a monkey birthday party pack (which can be purchased here at our Etsy shop).  It turned out awesome and everyone had a great time.  I wasn't able to take as many photos as I wanted, I guess because I was the hostess, lol.  Now I realize why you hire a photographer for your wedding, as opposed to taking the photos yourself....it's hard to participate all at once.  Austin wasn't too keen on hitting the piñata, but it didn't take Alex long to step up and give it a good whack.  Oh my goodness, how could I forget, Austin had a special guest too....AUNT NATALIE!!! She flew in from NY and surprised us!! Well more me than anyone else, but it was great to have her there and spend some good quality time with the kiddos.  Austin got some great gifts and we are so thankful to have such great family and friends that love us as much as they do.  The pics I could take are posted below.  Check out Austin's t-shirt, LOVE IT!! My little monkey boy.....

 

 

 

 

Girls Weekend in Austin

Austin had been calling my name for a few weeks, and I patiently waited for that special Bachelorette time with my sister, mom and all of our closest friends.  Needless to say, it didn't disappoint :)

The bride flew into San Antonio on Thursday afternoon, which was great because the kiddos were itching to see their Aunt Natalie!  Her visit with them was short, but sweet and finally Friday morning we got headed to Austin, YAY!!!

First stop was at my long time friend Kelly's house.  Her oldest, and my youngest pretty much share a birthday, so we had to stop by and see the Birthday Boy!! Oh my goodness, there was not a chance that my camera was staying in the car with these 2 precious babies around.  I posted a few pics below from the visit.  And yes, the baby in these photos is real....she is not a doll, although she may look like it, lol :)

 

After we visited for a while with Kelly, it was time to head towards the Bachelorette destination, Downtown Austin!  Natalie and I met up with one of the other bridesmaids, Christine, and quickly headed to Costco to stock up on snacks for the hotel rooms. 

Later in the evening, after we got checked in, my mom and her two best friends from high school, Julia and Sharon, showed up and the party was finally getting started :)  The formal event wasn't until Saturday night, so it was nice to spend some time with Nat before the chaos began.  We had dinner at Max's Wine Dive, and it was delicious! After that we headed down to Rainey Street, which was a whole new thing to me.  Now I spent most of my teenage years in Austin, but all we had was 6th street.  It was old and dirty, but we never came short of having a blast!  Rainey Street was cool, very chill and relaxed.  The perfect place to hang the night before the party started.  After that we headed back to the hotel for some girl talk and then off to bed.

Saturday morning came early and with much anticipation.  The party-goers would be trickling in all day, arriving from their homes.  We started with brunch at Taverna, and good Lord, I have never had a bellini like that before, and even better, it was $1!! That's my kinda drink.  Loved this place!! I had the chicken and waffles, and they were phenomenal.  This is definitely a new spot I'll hit up when I'm in Austin!

After brunch we headed back to the hotel and just hung out the latter part of the day.  We had dinner reservations at 6:00pm, so about 4:00 everyone started heading for the showers.  We showed up to Chupacabra Cantina on 6th street about 6:15pm (just 15 minutes late with 14 girls, not too bad last time I checked :) and were immediately greeted with enormous margaritas that someone had so politely shoved Coronas into, LOVE IT!!! Dinner was great, the service and food were outstanding and Natalie had a great time! 

After dinner we headed back to the hotel room for Natalie's Lingerie Shower.  Ohhhh good times.  Who doesn't love a great lingerie shower :)  We had cupcakes, jello shots (thanks Jess!), played games and watched Natalie open all her loot.  Natalie said we needed to start planning her baby shower after all the great lingerie she got :) 

Finally, what's a Bachelorette Party in Austin without a trip to 6th street!! Old school 6th...not west 6th, we wanted a good, let loose time!  I think I am still amazed that I made it until the bars closed!! Don't worry, it's Wednesday and I am still paying for it.

Sadly Sunday morning came and it was time for Natalie to head back to the airport, to return to her far away home :(  We had soooo much fun and I know Natalie truly enjoyed herself with all her favorite girls.  A good time was had by all for sure.  If you don't believe me, check out the pictures below :)

Until October Austin, we will see you again!!