Menu Plan Monday - October 8, 2012

After an amazing break from reality spent in Hawaii, it's back to real life: meals on a schedule, with veggies and everything!
This week some friends and I are starting a healthy eating and exercise challenge. The recipes on this week's menu plan will hopefully be able to double as lunch for the next day. This will keep my healthy eating on track and save mesome money by not going out for lunch on work days!
Looking at the schedule for this week, there will be plenty of food temptations, but hopefully we'll be able to stay on track!

On the menu this week
Monday - Perogies, meatballs and beans
Tuesday - Bacon and swiss quiche
Wednesday - Greek chicken, lemon potatoes and salad
Thursday - Turkey burgers, french fries and corn
Friday - Dinner out with the girls (something tells me this won't be a healthy night out!!)
Saturday - WEDDING!! Another night of excess I am sure!
Sunday - Pumpkin patch, and dinner out with friends
I'll be linking this menu up at Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday! Swing by and check out hundreds of meal ideas and recipe plans.

Simple Living Giveaway Winners!

Hello everyone!

Thanks so much to everyone who visited the blog and entered to win a copy of Lorilee Lippincott’s book Simple Living: Thirty Days to Less Stuff and More Life. It’s a great book with tons of fantastic ideas, really something for everyone!

I’m super excited to let Fiona, Erin and Mandeep know that I will be sending them copies of this awesome book! Ready to join in with the minimalish lifestyle?

Menu Plan Monday - Sept 24, 2012

Hello everyone! I hope you all have had a chance to check out Simple Living: Thirty Days to Less Stuff and More Life. The giveaway is on! Leave a comment on the book review post to be eligible to win a copy of this amazing book. Great news! Lorilee sent me an email this morning, and I'm actually allowed to give away THREE copies of her book!

This is the last week I have to train for the Surrey World Music Half Marathon – the race is on Sunday. 

An hour or so after we cross the finish line, we have to head to the airport for our week long, kid free vacation in HAWAII! YAY! We have never been to Hawaii before, and have never left the kids behind on a vacation, so it’s a B-I-G deal for us!
I’m hoping to have a few posts pre-written for the week while we are away, but the way this week is shaping up, I might be taking a blog vacation too!

On the Menu This Week:
Monday: Vegetarian Tacos
Tuesday: Tex Mex Pasta with garlic bread (using the leftover taco meat and veggies)
Wednesday: Beef and Broccoli stirfry with quinoa
Thursday: Butter Chicken and Rice
Friday: Pizza and Salad
Saturday: Pasta with Chicken
Sunday: Run 21.1 km, rush home, shower and Leave for Hawaii!!! I’ll grab what I can on the way!
I'll be linking up to Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday, if you are looking for menu ideas, recipes and organization tips, you should check it out!

Simple Living - Book Review and Giveaway!!

Happy Monday Everyone!

I am lucky enough to have been able to review a fantastic new ebook called Simple Living: Thirty Days to Less Stuff and More Life by Lorilee Lippincott. Lorilee also wrote the amazing 321-Stop, which I was lucky enough to review back in March.
Lorilee Lippincott is a full-fledged miminalist. She and her family live in an apartment with just enough stuff to live their lives every day - not bogged down with extra stuff to clean and care for. Lorilee and her kids get to experience LIFE every day.
If you have ever thought about minimalism (or my version - minimalish!) or feel over whelmed by the stuff in your life, this ebook is perfect for you! This crash course of 30 steps has small assignments for each step.
Each step will propel you on your journey to live with what you need for an intentional life. This allows you to make the space in your life to do the things you truly love to do!
Over the next eight weeks I plan on following along with the challenges in Simple Living: Thirty Days to Less Stuff and More Life. I will wait until after the half marathon and trip to Hawaii of course!! I have been on my own Minimalish journey for a while now, but I feel like this book has given me a new focus and resolve to clear the clutter and enjoy life with my husband and kids.
For this week, Lorilee is offering this fantastic ebook, available on Amazon for the awesome price of $0.99! Grab a copy and tell your friends! It's a great book, and the challenges are easy to do (who thought of decluttering your underwear drawer?? It's one of the first challenges on the list!) and will make a big impact!
Who is ready to come on this journey with me? I ill be giving away a copy of this awesome book to one lucky reader - Leave a comment at the end of this post to be entered. The winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday, Sept 26. Good luck everyone!!

Menu Plan Monday - Sept 17, 2012

This is the lovely view I have on my 10km morning route,
at the halfway point, from a little bridge, so lovely!!

The countdown is ON! In less than two weeks I will be on the run in a half marathon, and then jetting off to Hawaii for our very first kid-free vacation! I’m trying my very very best to NOT go grocery shopping until after we get back from our vacation. I think with the exception of milk and bread, I should be ok!

To eat from the freezer and pantry this week may take a little creativity, and a lot of planning, but I think we can do it!
On the Menu This Week:
Monday: Take out! Baba is coming over with dinner for the girls, the hubs and I are going out
Tuesday: Dinner out – we have to run down to the trailer tomorrow, so we’ll be grabbing food on the way
Wednesday: Shake n Bake chicken breasts, pasta with veggies, garlic bread

Thursday: Vegetarian taco enchilada bake (made with ground round)
Friday: Brinner (this keeps going on the menu plan and then something comes up and we don’t have it!!
Saturday: Down at the trailer – Steak, potatoes and corn on the cob!

Sunday: Dinner party at our place! Bacon wrapped turkey breast, cheesy potatoes, stuffing, veggies and garlic bread. Pie for dessert!
I will be linking back to Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday - check it out!!

BAD BLOGGER!!!

Totally gratutious photo of my cutie pies

Hey guys, I’m sorry I’ve been kind of MIA for the past few weeks! Time has just flown by and between the start of school and the continuing great weather (read-kids playing outside, mommy not inside organizing or baking!) I feel like the blog has been left behind a little!

I was hoping that with back to school, the kids would fall back into our school time routine (get it, FALL back in? Haha... no?) but no such luck. The kids have been fighting to stay awake and yet refusing to go to bed because the other kids are still outside playing!

I have a ton of organizing projects all ready to start up and a bunch of new recipes and freezer meals to start, but until we get a few days of crappy weather keeping us inside, I just don’t know if it’s going to happen!

I’m also getting ready for the half marathon in SIXTEEN days, a trip to Hawaii that night, Thanksgiving when we get back and a wedding the following weekend! Not that I’m complaining – I’m so blessed to have all of these wonderful things happening, and be surrounded by amazing family and friends throughout. I just haven’t been able to get anything else done in the meantime!

I hope your back to school and back to fall and back to real life after the summer has been going well! Hopefully you’ll be able to join me for some fall organizing projects!

Back to School - Check!

YAY! We all know how much I love to tick things off on my to do lists!

Label – One night last week I spent the evening with my labels and the school supplies and watched one of my fave movies ever – OFFICE SPACE! It made the time fly by while I labelled every pencil, marker, crayon, pair of scissors, back pack and shoe!

Shoes - All the shoes had the price tags and connector cables removed, shoe labels added, and were placed neatly by the front door, all ready for school on Tuesday.
Backpacks - The backpacks were labelled and filled with the appropriate school supplies for each little one.
Lunches - Miss E only needs snacks for her stint at preschool, and she’ll eat anything and everything. Miss A however is a different story - during dinner this week, we brainstormed ideas for her school lunches. We didn’t come up with many options, but we have a few go-to’s – bagel with cream cheese, mac n cheese in a thermos, tortilla filled with cheese, plus the usual snacks: yogurt tubes, Babybel cheese wheels, cheese strings, crackers. We’ll have to see how it goes!

Haircuts - Miss E didn’t need a haircut – her crazy curls are perfectly crazy all on their own! Miss A however needed her hair cut, so she got new bangs a trim at the back – and she loved it!

School Clothes - After clearing out the summer clothes that they have worn or grown out of from the drawers, and added the newly acquired birthday clothes, the girls are all ready for the first day of school. I love all of the pick-the-clothes-for-the-week organizing ideas on blogs or Pinterest, but the weather in my neck of the woods is unpredictable, so we usually just wake up and decide what to wear based on what Mother Nature is giving us that day!

YAY! Everything was checked off and ready for the first day of school! I even made it through the first day without tears!!