the 6

I love podcasts everyday, all day. They are what gets me through mundane tasks like cleaning my toilet and doing dishes. Sheologians is amazing. note: I don’t necessarily agree with the Sheologians podcast anymore.

With cold & flu season ahead of us this is a must have. I don't know what it is but I tend to get the flu every few years but in the summer instead of normal flu season. This summer I got us the Kinsa Elmo Ear Thermometer and it was such a great investment.

A few weeks ago we were low on our toothpaste, so I tried the kids Crest watermelon toothpaste and was completely grossed out. I knew after that I needed to change our toothpaste brand. I love Hello toothpaste - the extra whitening for me & the mint fluoride free for the kids. I feel great using toothpaste without weird stuff in it and that isn't sugary. 

I love the way Jess Connolly communicates & this class is a must watch!

This presidential election I voted for this t-shirt.

You should watch this documentary. Now I don't agree with everything in it but I do agree with most of it and it stays mostly non-partisan. 

must haves for pregnancy

1. My fave water bottle of the moment & love that it has a filter built into it. 2. Zantac Mint because Tums don't work for me. 3. Hands down the best pregnancy workouts & I'm definitely a new Tracy devotee. 4. Prenatal gummy vitamins, don't even bother trying to take regular ones if you have even a hint of morning sickness. 5. Flow & Go Crops, the most stretchy workout wear ever and have a great waistband that flexes with your growing bump. 6.  Linen Pants, comfy & breathable trust me that you want these. 7. Tanks in Tall, I personally don't love the ruched side maternity tanks so my trick is to get regular ones in tall lengths. 8. Kindle app, always a fave but even more during prego insomnia. 9. Swedish Fish, the fact that I still can't distinguish what the flavor is appalling since I have had a few lbs of these this pregnancy. 10. Popcorn, we don't have a microwave so I always make it from scratch & please you should too because its 12 million times better and is always the best plus most versatile snack pregnant or not.

What I Read in 2015

The past couple years have been rough for my reading and this past year was slightly better than 2014. I started a lot of books but only finished 4. 

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

This book really helped our home and for us to really let go of stuff we no longer needed or really wanted. A few parts in the book are silly or are just not applicable to a family. I am continuously purging more items all the time. 

Paper Towns by John Green

I originally read the book in preparation to see the movie but still haven't seen it.. Oh well but I did enjoy the book. The characters feel slightly underdeveloped at some points, especially with Margo but I think that is on purpose to maintain her as more of a mystery.

The Fringe Hours by Jessica N. Turner

As a long time reader of Jessica's blog The Mom Creative I highly anticipated this book and feel it didn't disappoint but I still feel it was lacking in parts. Possibly because there isn't enough practicality to achieve using fringe hours and that Jessica does seem to do it all. I fully support the idea of fringe hours and embracing the things we are passionate about but much of our country doesn't understand that. 

French Women Don't Sleep Alone by Jamie Cat Callan

I will read basically anything about French culture and this just so happened to be on Kindle Unlimited. I enjoyed this book, I feel there are great points to apply to married people as well as singles. 

the 6

Lately I have been really interested in relationships, these videos show the good & the bad & the really interesting different types of relationships. 

Lindsay's Letters just launched her new Fall line of products. The Farm to Table canvas is my heart, I absolutely believe some foods can touch your soul.

Here in the Bay we've been having a heat wave, so I feel stuck between Summer & Fall but these boots have me yearning for more Fall, football & maybe even some line dancing. 

Okay since I'm most likely gonna have to deal with our indian summer, these sandals would come in handy.

I might have fallen in love Justin Bieber's new song, which I definitely never thought I would be saying that but this choreography to it might actually make you like it too. 

So excited for the new Tone it Up - Fit For Fall challenge & the new way tracking your 100 miles can give to the charity of your choice. It begins on September 21 & sign-ups started today. 

september goals

I have been writing a monthly goal list all this year but putting them up here really helps me stick to them. I love being able to reflect back on them here more than just when I write them down in my planner. 

August was a really great month for goals for me and I'm very motivated to keep on going into Fall strong. Most people get Spring fever but I get Fall Fever & it is in full effect. I steam cleaned & purged a lot of things last month. We threw Hayden a belated 4th birthday party (Lalaloopsy Wizard of Oz themed). Also I took apart the crib and we got Zach his own mattress to sleep on the bottom bunk. With the crib out of the kids room I was able to move their large bookshelf to the wall where the crib had been. It is so open & fun in there now. I also cooked a ton of breakfast & lunch freezer meals. 

 

Health

• Get my Fitbit fixed, so I can start wearing & tracking with it again

• Workout 3-6 times a week for at least 10-30 minutes, track with Fitbit & MyFitnessPal plus track in my planner

• Take my daily vitamins, tracked in my planner

• Order vitamins I am low on to be prepared for next month

• Drink 64 oz of water daily, tracked in my planner

Home

• Finish the gallery wall in our living room: finish spray painting oval picture frame, choose & print photos for multi-picture frame, hang it all up

• Rehang bulletin board in kitchen, it fell down at the start of Summer... 

• Fill all my extra picture frames with new pictures

• Take bags ready to go to the Goodwill

• Send back another Thredup bag

• Figure out what to do with the crib & crib mattress 

• Cook more freezer meals, add more breakfasts to my plan

• Menu plan out the rest of this month

• Purge more stuff 

Homeschool

• Finish A Purposeful Homeschool online class

• Finish reading The Early Years

• Start & finish reading Laying Down the Rails

• Print homeschool planner & begin planning

• Finalize books & supplies needed list, order the things still needed

• Organize school supplies, especially art stuff

 

Parenting

• Re-implement earlier bedtimes, bye-bye dreaded Summer bedtimes 

• Plan one-on-one dates for both kidlets with each parent 

• Look into a Fall activity for Hayden 

• Finish finding their clothing needs for Fall 

• Spend lots more time outside

• Get Zach off of naps since they cause him to stay up late

 

Personal

• Read for 1 hour a day: finish 2 books

• Craft for 1 hour a day: finish 2 scrapbook layouts a week plus other fun crafts

• Blog 2 times a week

• Print planner daily pages for the rest of 2015

• Continue reading Savor daily devotional

• Work through finishing Blog Life class

• Begin taking photographs of products for my shop

• Finish purging my clothes to create more of a capsule wardrobe

• Sign up for MOPs

 

Tunes Tuesday #2

Music makes the moments of our life mean more. If we like it or not songs become the soundtracks of our lives. As a dancer I love some songs for the single fact that I can really release my feelings through dancing to them. Some are memories intertwined with parts of my childhood. Others bring me back to high school, or Paris, or to people we know. 

What are the songs that have influenced you good or bad? 

 

• Mat Kearney - Air I Breathe
• Rend Collective - Free As A Bird
• Shawn Mendes - Stitches
• Disclosure Ft. Sam Smith - Omen (Radio Edit)

 

Link to Spotify playlist