April & May Favorites

It’s been a hectic few weeks around here!

I decided to combine April and May into one favorites post – we had so much going on, but not a ton of new discoveries to share.

I feel like we’re the busiest we’ve been in, well, over a year. And we’re still not nearly as social as we were before!

Kieran is doing karate two times a week AND playing baseball right now, and between those things alone, we’ve got stuff going on roughly 3-4x days a week.

Plus, he’s back in school (hallelujah!) full time now, and that just makes things feel busier, even though they probably aren’t in reality.

Dan and I are vaccinated, and it definitely makes me feel more comfortable being out and about. This time of year is so great because so much can happen outside.

We’re still being responsible and careful, of course, but the sense of normalcy is returning, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

We opened our pool during the first week of May, too (we always do it early to give adequate time to get it cleaned and warmed up), and it just makes it feel like SUMMER is a-comin’! I cannot wait.

Can you even believe it’s June first? I am flummoxed. Time is flying by!

Here are some things we have been loving these past few weeks!

1. I do a Costco run once every month or two to stock up on some essentials. One thing I have been dying to try but could never find was the Street Corn Dip. I went at the end of April, and I don’t know if it has something to do with Cinco de Mayo or what, but they had a fully stocked case of it! I snagged some. Guess what? It’s DELICIOUS. Our favorite way to enjoy it is heated up with some chips, but it’s great cold too. We even slathered it on some nachos one gluttonous evening. No regrets.
2. Since January, I have upped my strength training big time. I was always a cardio and yoga person – strength training was always an afterthought. I never really enjoyed it much, probably because I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. Now, I am lifting/conditioning 4-5 times a week! It’s been a big mental shift for me, but I am feeling so strong and healthy. The best I’ve felt since before I had my kids! To support this, I have been upping my protein big time. The first way is with Epic protein powders. I have the chocolate, vanilla, and greens powders and love them all. I definitely use the chocolate the most – it’s fantastic just mixed into milk (dissolves great!). The greens powder is DEFINITELY a greens powder – meaning, it tastes like spirulina – so I only use that in smoothies where I can sort of cover up that taste. But! The nutrition is fantastic and I am loving the extra plant-based protein I’m getting.
3. Along those same lines, I’ve been trying out the Fairlife and Premier Protein shakes as well. They’re great in a pinch when I know I haven’t hit my protein count for the day without giving me a sugar crash or an upset stomach. Love the chocolate for both the best.
4. I have been eating so many homemade crunchwraps lately. You may have seen on Instagram how I make my favorite lunch: sliced turkey, cheese, honey mustard, pickles, and shredded lettuce all wrapped up in a Cut Da Carb wrap, crunch-wrap style, and crisped in a pan. I can’t even tell you how good it is. And the wraps are probably by favorite discovery by far these past couple months. They’re light, delicious, and don’t have any funky ingredients. We keep them in the fridge. Pro tip: if they get a little dried out on you, it can make them tear easily. We spritz them with a little water and microwave them for a few seconds and it makes them pliable and soft again. We LOVE them and use them for breakfast (egg + avocado), lunch, or dinner (chicken taco). So, so good!
5. In the mornings, I’ve also been loving a fried egg on one of these cauliflower toasts. Now, I am not a low-carb person in general. I love me some carbs and I also don’t believe that they are evil (aka, keto is not for me). But I do like to eat light throughout the day so that my energy doesn’t plummet, and these lower carb alternatives to bread have been great lately. Bread will always have my heart, but day to day, this is what works best for me right now.
6. Earlier this month, my friend Jessica released her third cookbook “Everyday Dinners,” and it is FABULOUS. I had the honor of working with her on the recipe testing portion of the process, and I’ve said this before, but Jessica is A JOY. She is so sweet, gracious, and funny – just as you probably imagine her if you’ve been reading her blog for any period of time. The book is chock-full of recipes to get you through cooking slumps. I felt so inspired for dinnertime when I was testing out the recipes. They are AMAZING. Cannot recommend the book enough! Her creativity is inspiring!
7. I have been a fan of CBD products for a couple years now, and I’ve talked about it before. I’ve been using the Equilibria CBD this past month, and I am loving it. I have the drops, soft gels, and bath salts. OMG. The bath salts are seriously the most luxurious thing ever. I have never been a bath person, but with all the stress and anxiety of the past year, I started taking them as an escape. Anything to calm my nerves and turn my brain off. The bath salts not only smell amazing, but they also deeply relax you because of the CBD infusion. My muscles are often sore these days, and sometimes nothing works better than a hot CBD bath at the end of the day. Love it. The soft gels are something I take daily, and I save the drops for emergency use. If I feel my anxiety coming on, I take a dropper of the CBD oil and within minutes, I feel better. It truly is a game changer for me. I am more even keel, and I find that my patience is better. I am snapping at my husband and kids less (which was always a result of internal stress). I feel more well balanced, in general. If you are new to CBD, I highly recommend this company because they will walk you through everything and give you a personalized dosage consultation. No gimmicks. Very high-quality products. And no! It doesn’t make you high.
8. I am loving these shorts from Old Navy. I bought them in a couple colors and LOVE them for working out or for when I’m running around the house/backyard with the kids. They are so comfy and light. Shorts are always hit or miss, and these were a pleasant surprise!
9. We have large lounge chairs for sitting around the pool, and one thing I always hate is trying to get my towel to stay up at the top of the chair and not fall down onto my shoulders. You know what I mean? Well, I found these towels at Target a couple weeks ago, and I LOVE THEM. They fit well on our large chairs and do NOT FALL DOWN. They also have pockets on the sides for things like sunscreen or my phone. GENIUS. They’ve washed and dried well so far, too.
10. Last but not least, I am obsessed with Yasso bars right now. They’re SO flippin’ good. The salted caramel and pistachio brittle are my favorite flavors, but really, they’re ALL good. I stock up whenever they go on sale and they are the perfect guilt-free treat. I see a lot of these in my summer future.

And that’s about it! Not too much in the way of beauty or clothes – those things have been staying consistent since we’re still not doing a ton of social stuff. Perhaps that will change over the coming months!

Xoxo! Happy June, friends!

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