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Celebrating Melly

Yesterday was all about acclimating to the altitude and celebrating Melly and her 20th birthday. It was fun to have everyone together here in Utah to celebrate with her. We started our day with a nice pancake breakfast in her honor. In fact, we even got to test the AirBnB’s smoke alarms courtesy of the pound of bacon the Hubby cooked.

After breakfast, we headed to Kohl’s to pick up some hiking boots for the boys and a new suitcase for Melly. Goalielocks had forgotten to pack his boots, while the Mayor had outgrown his old pair. While at Kohl’s I found the perfect opal bracelet for Melly. My parents, my hubby and I, Jake and Melly, and Goalielocks and Isa all started dating in October, so I bought both girls a piece of opal jewelry for their birthday. Jake treated us to Chick-Fil-a before we headed to the mall.

We spent the afternoon chilling at the AirBnb. Before we headed to dinner, we played a rousing and endless game of Uno. Apparently, they added a shuffle hand card with the new edition. Consequently, it turned Uno into a never ending game. Nonetheless, it was super fun.

For dinner, we headed to Tokyo Station in downtown Ogden. It’s a hibachi restaurant that happens to be the only one locally that has yum yum sauce. I’m not sure how a hibachi restaurant could function without yum yum sauce. The wait was long since they don’t take reservations, but the food was worth the wait. Most of us has the filet mignon, while Goalielocks and the Mayor had the chicken and shrimp pairing.

After dinner we headed back to the AirBnB to have birthday cake and play games. I had bought a cheesecake for Melly while we were out and about. Additionally, I had some super cute candles delivered with the cake. The card game was a ton of fun although the name escapes me at the moment. This morning we’re headed over to Snow Basin on the east side of the mountains.

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Last Sunday

It’s the last Sunday before school starts (in person) here in Palm Beach County. Like many parents, across the world, I’ve been waiting for this day for almost eighteen months. Their return to school is long overdue! Oh yes, it’s been far too much together time for this mama bear and her Cubs. Not too mention I don’t think the virtual school was effective for any of the parities involved. Obviously, I’m super excited for the kids to be back in session.

As excited as I am on that last Sunday, my excitement continues to be dampened by my damn summer cold or sinus infection. Whatever it is, it’s super annoying. I’ve continued my regimen of turmeric, vitamin C and D, and zinc. Hopefully, it will put a quick end to this misery. I am, however, feeling a bit better than I was yesterday.

This morning we ventured out to the Wellington Mall as soon as it opened for school shopping. Thankfully, the mall was pretty empty the entire time we were there. We made stops at just a few select stores before ending our mall trip at the Boba tea store. Fortunately, the boys knew exactly what they wanted to it truly was a quick trip. The most arduous part of our trip was driving home through the blinding rains.

I spent the rest of my last Sunday before school doing absolutely nothing. It felt pretty damn good. After all, hockey season will soon be in high gear and down days will be hard to come by. We binge watched all of Vice Principals this afternoon, which was awesome. Danny McBride is hilarious. Once we finished the show, we went back to watching Curb.

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m reading the Raider Bride. This is the third book thing the Norse Queen series. I love the world of Queen Asa.

*I’m still under the weather Consequently, I took another rest day today. 

*The Hubby ran to Dunkin’ to get my own coffee this morning. It was nice to not have to leave the house. 

*Tonight I worked on a newsletter for our Pancan affiliate. Sometimes working in Canva makes me feel like a schmo, but it’s such a great tool. I definitely need to spend some more time playing around with it. 

*I finally straightened out the AirBnB snafu on Friday. AirBnB had listed the property in error. They had placed the listing as live when it wasn’t supposed to be yet. Lastly, they’re no longer keeping my deposit. I love the new property I booked.

*For dinner, the hubby grilled steaks and potatoes. They were super tasty!

*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.

*Today’s word of the day is moot. My concerns over virtual school are no moot since school is in session.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness

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Packing for the Perfect Beach Vacation

Packing for the perfect beach vacation is key to a successful tropical vacation. If you forgot certain items, you can end up in tremendous pain. Hello my sunburnt legs! Fortunately, I’ve put together a list of must have items for any successful beach vacation.

  • Copious amounts of waterproof sunscreen that’s at least 50 SPF.
    • I love Sun Bum’s products as they protect well while not causing breakouts. Plus it’s reef safe, which is super important here in Florida.
    • I also love using Coppertone’s Sunscreen Spray. The ease of use is undeniable and it does a great job protecting the skin.
  • Nice beach towels as you can’t rely on the hotel or AirBnB to provide enough. We learned this lesson the hard way at Hawk’s Cay.
  • A nice sun hat to protect your scalp. Nothing sucks more than a severely sun burnt scalp!
  • A high quality cooler, like a Yeti, for a day on the boat or at the beach. Otherwise, your food and drinks will soon be warm.
  • I also like to bring a cooler bag as they take up less room and are the perfect option for carrying snacks.
  • SPF clothing is crucial to protecting your skin especially if you’re out on the water. My SPF shirt protected my upper body. Unfortunately, I didn’t have SPF pants on and my legs paid the price. Lily Pulitzer also offers a full line of SPF protection clothing.
  • What would a day on the boat or at the beach be without some great music. A Bluetooth speaker, like this one from Bose, is the perfect way to bring the party everywhere you go.
  • Snorkel gear!! There’s no better way to explore at the beach than by snorkeling.
  • Naturally, you’ll need something to carry all this awesomeness in and a great beach bag is exactly what you need. I bought an expensive one years ago at Atlantis, but it quickly broke. This year I bought one by Shylero for under $50 off of Amazon. Honestly, it’s amazing for the price. It even comes with a waterproof bag for your phone and wallet. You can check it out here.
  • Another must have is after sun lotion or aloe Vera to help heal and moisturize your skin after a day in the sun.

These are some of the key items to have as you embark on your perfect beach vacation. Some of these items are a matter of convenience, but others are crucial to protecting your health. Now that my fabulous beach vacation is over, l’m making notes of my must haves for next year’s trip. All of which are in the list above. What are your must have beach items?

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I’m now reading Rebecca by Daphne De Maurier.

*I ran 2 miles and walked a mile. It went quite well.

*Did I mention it was vacation time?

*Tonight we’re enjoying ice cream and watching the NHL draft.

*Jake was able to have a nice lunch with Jon and Brandi before they headed for Yellowstone. I’m so jealous.

*For dinner, the hubby made vodka sauce pasta. 

*My favorite surprise on the underwater cams, I watch during work, is seeing an octopus. Today I watched the safari cam, which never disappoints.

*Today’s word of the day is curvaceous. After eating too much on vacation, I’m more curvaceous than I’d like.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Today he didn’t pull my arm off or anything like that. I put on his harness, so I’d have more control over him outside. Also, the flies are still here. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies, and mosquitos? I was finally able to hang the fly traps. Nobody loves flies.

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Don’t Call It a Streak

Don’t call it a streak, but seriously I’ve managed to blog four days in a row. Woohoo! It’s not easy to get back into the habit of blogging (or working out for that matter,) but once you get rolling it becomes habitual and part of your daily routine. While I’ve got back on the blogging bus, I’ve fallen off the workout bus. My knee has locked up on my last couple of runs, so I rested it yesterday and today. Hopefully, I will be able to run on it tomorrow.

I had thought about running tonight, but there was dinner to make and Stanley Cup Finals to watch. A girl has to have priorities and obviously watching the Stanley Cup Finals is a major priority. Admittedly, I’m not super thrilled to see either team in the cup. Either way, it’s a lose-lose situation for us as both Habs fans and Lightning fans can be insufferable. Yeah, I said it. Nonetheless, it should be a great series. Carey Price has been red hot and Vasilevsky is the best tendy in the league. In fact, I am pretty excited to watch the goaltender match up this series.

In other news, Jake moved into his first apartment today. He just gave us a brief tour via Facetime. The place looks great and gives him a lot more room than his dorm room. Also, he may sleep better now that the fighter jets won’t be taking off over his building anymore. Fortunately, it’s also located in a great part of town, so he can walk to a lot of neat restaurants and stores in his neighborhood. Fortunately, his apartment complex also has a great gym, so he can easily keep up his PT.

Not anymore!!! Thank God!

Work went well considering it was a Monday. You never know what you’re going to get in the insurance business, but today everyone was a buyer. Consequently, I hit the monthly sales goal I set for myself early. Now every additional sale will be gravy. Hopefully, the remainder of the week, including the start of July, continues to be profitable like today. Have I mentioned that I love my job yet? If not, I love my job. I worry only about myself, talk to great people all day, am appreciated by leadership, and make more money than in my old job. It’s nice when “life’s lemons” sometimes turn into tasty lemonade with a splash of Tito’s.

Grocery Shopping with Jake

Here’s a list of our day’s activities:

*I read Demons, by Dostoevsky. I am really enjoying this book so far. I don’t always enjoy Dostoevsky’s writing, so this book has been a nice surprise.

*I thought about running, but my knee said no. Instead, I ran to get my morning coffee and fill up the car with gas. Don’t call it a streak, but it’s now three days in a row that I’ve driven to pick up my coffee instead of ordering via Uber Eats.

* I made a delicious pork tenderloin courtesy of HelloFresh this evening. The meal was easy to prepare and super tasty!

*I played with the puppies before work after finishing my errands.

* The dogs started a new dental treat this week. In order to avoid controversy and Anakin losing his mind, I give them the dental treat at bedtime. Anakin is super possessive and afraid that everyone is going to steal his stuff.

*I went grocery shopping with Jake via FaceTime for his new apartment including picking out all the ingredients for his favorite home cook meals.

*I watched the Stanley Cup Finalsm, which is the best event in the history of sports!

*Today’s word of the day is nuance. Anakin has a nuance to his bark when he’s afraid something of his is going to be taken.

*I took my puppies including sweet Anakin for a walk. Did I mention I hate gnats, flies and mosquitos?

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Black Friday Mayhem

A 5:00 am wake up call the day after Thanksgiving, usually means one thing: Black Friday mayhem, I mean shopping. In our family, however, it means an early hockey game at rink 50 minutes away. I always love getting up and getting to my destination before the sun rises. It saves me the trouble of putting on my sunglasses. But seriously, who the freak schedules bantams, I mean U14, for early morning games? Pretty sure we paid our dues here, but I digress.

For those of you out shopping in the mayhem, save us some coffee because this mama is gonna need an extra cup! We’ll be enjoying our Black Friday mayhem at the rink. Shoppers may the odds be in your favor!

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Washed My Sneakers

Yep, I washed my sneakers in the wash machine. Honestly, I didn’t even know it was a possibility until earlier this week when Goalielocks washed his NMDs. As you may recall, Goalielocks and his brand new Adidas’ has a run in with a retention pond in Chicago. He washed his shoes Monday and they look and smell great. Well at least they smelled good Monday night.

I realized this morning that I might be about thirty eight years late to the party based on the look of incredulity my co-worker Gabe me. However, I have an excuse or two. Honestly, I haven’t worn sneakers as my everyday shoe since elementary. I’m a high heels kind of girl and will be again once my tendon has healed. Also when your heels get dirty, you can’t stick them in the wash. You either replace them or clean them with a cloth. One can see how I’d be late to the party here.

Secondly, I have three boys. We’ve gone through a lot of sneakers in our days. So many that it’s amazing I’ve never washed them before. However, boys grow fast, so you’re replacing them often. More importantly, my boys are hard on their shoes. Much like my boys’ socks, their sneakers, especially when they were younger, were borderline disposable. By the time their condition would necessitate a wash, the boys had already ripped or otherwise destroyed them.

So how do you wash your shoe without destroying it? Simple.

1) Add shoes to wash machine after taking your laces out

2) Add laces in a laundry bag (I left my laces in the shoes and had no issues, but laces in the shoe can cause issues during the wash cycle.)

3) Add additional laundry to act as a buffer for the shoes.

4) Add detergent. (I also added Borax to aid the cleaning process. If you shoes are white, you can try bleach.)

5) Set the water temp to cold

6) Launder the shoes using the delicate cycle

7) Set out to dry (I didn’t put mine in the dryer, nor should you.)

8) Realize you probably should have done this sooner after drying your shoes.

I ran my sneakers through the delicate cycle twice. The rainy season and scooter life were tough on the shoes. They’re actually quite muddy from everyday where. I’m quite pleased with the results, but I would have gotten even better results if I hadn’t waited months to wash them.

Items needed:

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Black Friday

Unlike many Americans, we spent our Black Friday morning at the hockey rink at not the mall.  Quite frankly, I can’t stand the malls down here in season let alone on Black Friday.   Unquestionably, the normal rudeness and ineptitude ramps up a couple of notches when season kicks in.  If there is anywhere someone would get shot over a cheap TV, it would be here.  Needless to say, I’ll be avoiding Best Buy and the mall for the next month.

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I think that’s probably why Cyber Monday is more my thing.  No crazy people or horrible drivers to contend with as I surf the web, what could be better?  Nonetheless, the younger two and I did venture out to Dick’s and PetSmart.  Neither store was incredibly packed and both were well staff to handle all the shoppers. My boys left the stores empty handed much to their chagrin.  To stores was all I could handle, however, so it’s back to shopping online.

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We started out morning at the rink.  If you ask me, a 9:45 am game is way too early for bantams.  I thought the scheduling Gods would be smiling on us by bantam and we’d get later games.  Honestly, I prefer the later games as I am not a morning person.  This morning, Goalielocks was excited and relieved to have been dropped off at the right rink at the right time.

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Their first game was against the Florida Bulldogs, who Goalielocks played for 2 seasons ago.  Our squad went up handily in the first period notching 3 goals and only allowing one sort of shot on their net.   The rest of the game was much more even although we continued to out shoot them 2-1.   Moreover, our goalie came up with some clutch saves down the stretch.  As the final buzzer rang, the boys rushed the Goalie to celebrate their 4-1 victory.  We’ll be heading back to the rink shortly for their second game of the day against the Everblades, which should be a much tighter contest.

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After eating my weight in Thanksgiving goodies yesterday,  I was committed to getting in a run.  Consequently, the Piggie and I headed out for a 3.25 mile run around the neighborhood.  As with my last run, it was a bit laborious and a tough go of it.  Certainly, today’s run wasn’t fast! Hopefully, these runs will start to get a little bit easier and a little faster.

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Today’s song is “Walk on Water” by Thirty Seconds to Mars.  I love this song! Who remembers Jared Leto from MY So Called Life?  Leto still acts, but has also found success with his band Thirty Second to Mars. 

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My iPhone X

The iPhone X is finally here!  Ok, I acquiesce it was here last Friday the 3rd.  Importantly, My iPhone X arrived today.  While my Iphone 6 has served me well lasting well over 3.5 years, it is nearly ancient in phone terms and starting to show its age.  As excited as I have been about my new phone, my boys have been even more excited.  They were both dancing with glee when they saw it had arrived today.

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Consequently, the I received a call from the Mayor as I was drove up the turnpike.  The Mayor isn’t one to wait around for answers, so I was not surprised at all by this.  He and Goalielocks were fighting over who was going to get to open my phone.  The Mayor was busy pleading his case as Goalielocks was shouting he called it in the background.  Sensing his brother’s annoyance level rising, the Mayor proceeded to thank me for letting him open it.  Naturally, this made Goalielocks go ballistic.  Meanwhile, I’m telling the Mayor to stop saying these things that are clearly untrue.  I was finally able to get a word in edgewise and disappoint them both with the news that neither would open it.   Instead I would wait for them both to leave for hockey practice before I would open it myself.

After seeing pictures of shattered phones, I opened my new phone gingerly. I started setting it up before my Barre class.  Honestly, I’m proud of myself for putting down the Iphone X and heading to Xtend Barre.  It was seriously tempting to stay home to setup and play around with the phone.  Nevertheless, I exercised some discipline and headed to the Barre.  As usual, Adam kicked our butts in new and inventive ways.  I’m sure my legs, abs and arms will be screaming tomorrow.

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I activated the phone and finished the setup operations between sauteing the chicken and cooking rice.  The first thing the boys wanted to see once they boys got home from practice was my new phone.  As soon as they got in the door, they rushed over to see the new phone.  Namely, they wanted to see what it looks like and how it works compared to their phones.  I played around with some of the camera features, which pepper this blog.  I cannot wait to try out the camera tomorrow.  There are features that I still haven’t tried like the emoji maker, but I’ll have plenty for that.   It will take me awhile to get accustomed to the X as it is  quite different from the 6.  Nonetheless, I’m quite excited for my new toy.

Tonight’s song – love it –  is an awesome flashback to the 90’s with  Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta.”  I heard this song on the radio today as I drove and it brought me back to the 90s.

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The Trouble With Travel

The trouble with travel is hockey is trying to maintain healthy eating habits when the majority of your weeknights are spent at the rink and your weekends are spent driving across the state to other rinks.  Hockey season doesn’t have to be a diet killer if you’re well prepared.  Just like you would take the time to prep our meals for the work week, you have to take the time to prep your snacks  and meals for the road.

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After hundreds of miles on the road, the ease and quickness of fast food is alluring.  If, however, you’ve planned ahead and prepped your snacks and meals for the road, it is easy to drive by or skip out on the fast food.  Removing the temptation and not wanting to waste food will go a long way to keeping you on the diet wagon.

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Here are some great ideas for healthy snacks and easy meals for the road.

  • Almonds
  • Peanuts
  • Stringed Cheese
  • Apples or apple slices
  • Peanut butter or almond butter
  • Oranges – clementine’s are perfect for road trips as they are very easy to peel
  • Berries
  • Grapes
  • Popcorn
  • Baby carrots
  • Protein Shakes
  • Protein bars
  • Granola bars
  • Yogurt
  • Hard boiled eggs
  • Celery sticks

If you carpool with other families, be sure your snacks align with any food allergies that may be present in your carpool group.

These snacks are easy, convenient, healthy and relatively inexpensive especially when compared to the cost of eating at a restaurant every trip.  For tips on how to indulge in an adult beverage or two without calling your waistline, see my tasty, but light on calories recommendations here.

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