A lot has happened...

Image Credit: Lara Casey Media

I know, it's been literally forever since I last posted a blog. Okay, February to be exact. I promise I'm still alive and breathing but a lot has happened over these past few months that has kept me much busier than I ever expected. That said, I'm back in full swing and can't wait to share what I've been up to.

Since we last spoke, I've been doing my best to make the most of Albuquerque and make my house a true home. A place where my little family (husband, pup and I) can come after a long day of work and totally relax, unwind and replenish our souls. God blessed us with a beautiful home, it is a hundred times more wonderful than I ever expected and I continue to be give Him thanks for it each and every day.

We've also been super busy with work, I took a promotion right before the holidays and things haven't slowed down since. It was another of God's great opportunities, allowing me to step up and continue to grow in my professional life. I couldn't be more blessed to work with such an amazing group of people!

Earlier this summer we also had a dear friend call us to let us know he was moving back to town for training (he's a pilot in the Air Force) and we offered to have him stay with us for the six months or so that he will be here. So we know have a new two new roommates, him and his sweet dog!

That doesn't sum up the entire time but I believe it hits the important highlights. We continue to CrossFit at our box every morning, make homemade dinners together at night and we continue to lead a Community Group at our church.

While it may not seem like much but the last few months have literally flown by. It's like I blinked and they were gone. So here I am again, back to capture this amazing journey called life.

Tuesday {In the Kitchen } Paleo Challenge

The Paleoista via Well + Good NYC

At the beginning of the year, my honey and I decided to do a Paleo Challenge for the month of January. It was not intended to be a "New Years Resolution," but really a challenge for us to focus on what we were putting into our bodies. We've been eating mostly Paleo for well over a year now and I have to admit I've seen some pretty amazing results in my overall health so I was finally ready to take the plunge and go 100% Paleo.

I was pumped! I read the book "The Paleoista"by Nell Stephenson over Christmas break and was instantly hooked. I knew I too wanted to go completely Paleo, if possible. I was totally motivated and actually looked forward to the challenge as I knew it would mean new recipes to try, improved athletic performance but also just overall increased health and well-being.

Needless to say, the challenge didn't go quite as I had hoped. My husband, being the awesome, strong-willed man he is completed it with no problem. I on the other hand could not say the same. I felt terrible, bloated, gassy, and I had some pretty incredible mood swings, and not incredible in a good way.

To this day I'm still baffled as to what happened. I felt great for the first 2-4 days and then suddenly my body felt like it went in to shock (well let's be honest, it did! I was eating ALL nutritious foods for once!)  I began researching my symptoms and knew that it wasn't abnormal to feel these things so I just continued on. It wasn't until the third week of feeling this way and almost having to take a sick day off work that I realized this just wasn't normal. So at the request of my husband, I quite.

I was pretty upset. I wanted to prove to myself, my husband and the world that I could do it. But the reality was, something just wasn't right and why did it matter so much who I was impressing anyway? I was going about it all in the wrong way. I was supposed to do it to increase my health not get recognition from the world.

Looking back, I am excited that I completed 23 days! It was a huge accomplishment! And while I didn't make it to day 30, I did talk to my CrossFit coaches got some advice on a few things that might help and then I began incorporating a number of things I learned back into my normal routine. I'll be sharing a few things in the coming weeks.

Today, my husband and I are back to our "normal"route, which consists of about being about 80 percent Paleo. Our dinners continue to be Paleo, as they have been in the past, as well as our lunches.

I've found incorporating a little dairy helps me a lot though! But having done the challenge for 23 days I knew that dairy wasn't necessarily a "problem" food for me. I don't eat a ton of it, but it seems to have helped me. I am by no means giving up on Paleo at all. I have seen the rewards of eating well, so I'll definitely continue to incorporate it into our lifestyle. I know eventually my body will get used to the change and will reap the benefits both upfront as well as long-term.

If you haven't tried a paleo challenge and are interested, I'd highly encourage it! It's amazing how our bodies respond when we feed them real food, unprocessed food! And while at the end of the challenge you may not end up going completely Paleo, you will find new routines you'll want to incorporate into your life just because they make you feel better, stronger, healthier and more energetic.

Living Room Inspiration

It has been quite some time since I last posted. And man, I've truly missed blogging. We've been insanely busy the last couple of months, purchasing and settling in to our new home, working, doing a 30-day Paleo challenge and traveling.

We are absolutely loving our new home! It's finally starting to come together. For the first time ever, I'm taking my time putting together our home. My husband was sweet enough to save a nice chunk of change for us to furnish and decorate our home. So I've been taking my time and enjoying every bit of it!

Today, I thought I'd share a few inspiration photos I've come across that have helped me get our living room put together. We both felt getting the living room done first was a priority. We love having being community group leaders at our church and can't wait to start hosting at our new place, and we also love hanging out with family and friends so the living room and kitchen area were the first priority on our list.

Here are just a few inspiration photos I've been using for our space.

Jill Wolf Interior Design

A Well Dressed Home

Design Dump

Tuesday {In the Kitchen} A Paleo Thanksgiving

For this week's post, I thought I'd share with you our Thanksgiving menu. Given that we try to eat as paleo as possible...well, or in my case, as gluten free as possible, our Thanksgiving meals have been a little less traditional than the typical Thanksgiving feast, but amazing and filling nonetheless.

I never realized food could taste this good!!

I am so excited to attempt these Apple Fritters for our Thanksgiving breakfast! They will be the perfect treat paired with a side of scrambled eggs and homemade pumpkin spice lattes (def. not Paleo..but who cares I need coffee) while we watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! I found this recipe on PaleOMG! They sound amazing!!! I just bought a donut pan this weekend and I'm can't wait to give them a try!

{Image Credit: PaleOMG}

This year we are spending Thanksgiving away from family, so we decided to open our home up to friends and co-workers who don't have anyone to celebrate the holiday with. We love the community God has blessed us with and want everyone to feel like they have a place to enjoy good company and good food!

Our dinner will be fairly simple, and since neither myself or the Mr. are huge fans of turkey we started our own tradition last year of making a delicious slow cooked oven roast, using this recipe. 

Our sides consist of roasted brussel sprouts with bacon bits, using this recipe from Nom Nom Paleo and a sweet potato casserole, similar to this one found on Paleoaholic.com.

 {Image Credit: Nom Nom Paleo}

{Image Credit: Paleoaholic.com}

And...doesn't this Chewy Pecan Pie Brittle looks fabulous?! Yes Please!!! Paleo dessert too?? Doesn't get much better than this!

{Image Credit: PaleOMG}

Winter Workout Outfit Inspiration

Winter has officially arrived here in ABQ! It went from gorgeous to down right freezing literally over night last weekend. And we officially saw our first snow atop the mountains.

It may be pretty to see, but the cold sure hasn't been making my early morning gym trips very easy. Lets be serious now, who wants to wake up at 4:40 am to go out in 18 degree weather?! Living in mountain desert terrain may sound appealing, but the mornings and nights are frigid.

Despite the cold, I've been good and have been freezing my way to CrossFit in my crop leggings, tank tops and layered coats. One of these days our WOD will be outside in the miserableness (yes, that is a made up word!) and I won't be nearly as prepared as I'd like to be.

Here are a few pieces I'd love to have in my winter workout wardrobe. Maybe these cute clothes will help get me more pumped about early workouts.

Top, Lululemon

Pullover - Nike

Shoes - Nike

Pants - Under Armour

Bag - Lululemon

Tuesday {In The Kitchen}

Today I thought I'd share a recipe I adapted from a friend of mine back in Dallas. She is strong Christian, has the best personality and is an amazing cook!!! The picture just doesn't do this dessert justice.

This recipe is far from being gluten free or Paleo but it is so good. It's quick, easy and perfect for a night you invite friends over and need a nice homemade dessert.

Here is the recipe I adapted from The Pink Antler:

Apple Cinnamon Galette

Crust:
Pre-made pie crust rolled out

Filling:
2-3 apples, cored and sliced thin
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. Splenda
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl mix sliced apples, lemon juice, Splenda, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. On a plate roll out the dough. Lay apple slices in a continual circular pattern beginning in the center of the dough and working your way around. Leave a few inches of dough around the edge to fold over once you finish the circular pattern.

Place in the oven and bake for 45 or until crust is golden brown and apples are soft.

**I haven't tried this yet, but I've also considered cooking apples on the stove to soften them before laying them in the pie crust. I think it would give this galette more of an apple pie texture.

Our Moving Binder

I've mentioned before this is our first time purchasing a home and I can tell you it has been a wonderful but also a very intimidating experience. And to be completely honest we are right in the middle of it.

Let me start off by saying purchasing a brand new home is awesome! Our builder agreed to make a few updates to the home as a part of our original offer, so we are very excited to have a somewhat "custom" home. While we didn't build the home from the ground up, we are definitely getting a say in the final finishing touches, which is really cool. But along with purchasing comes a laundry of list of "to-do's" on top of the traditional home buying "to-do" list which includes: negotiating with the seller, to arranging a mortgage, choosing home-owners insurance, packing, canceling/transferring services, canceling current lease agreements, etc.

This massive list of things to keep in order and things to do can be incredibly intimidating, so I decided to cut the stress out of the process before it started by putting together a home purchase/moving binder.

The binder holds everything I need for our home purchase, all the important contact information for our mortgage loans, real estate agents, home builder, etc. It also has monthly calendars so I can easily keep track of all of our meetings and appointments. I've also included a budgeting/finance section as well as a section for floor plans, neighborhood plans/layout and home amenities. Again, this just helps me keep everything I need in one place. And it's easy for me to carry around wherever I go.

I started with a binder from the Martha Stewart line at Staples. I also purchased a set of Martha Stewart post-its that fit right inside the front of the binder. I also used a few dividers I had on hand and one page protector that I also had (to hold, CD's or anything else that didn't fit in the binder).

Here are the dividers I created:
Contacts 
To Do List 
Calendar 
Finances, Mortgage & Insurance 
House Information 
Apt. Move Out Info 
Moving 
Other 

I purchased the contact, to do list, budget and finance templates here through IHeart Organizing's Etsy shop! If you haven't ever checked out her store, you should! She has some excellent templates that would help keep any household organized.

And there you have it! One easy-to-reference place for all our home purchase information!

**By the way, can you tell these images are sooo much better than iPhone pictures?! Yes! I finally got my new camera a few weeks ago and man I am loving it!!!