Weekend Rewind

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Flag Day meant this one wore red, white and blue, and came home with quite the hat!

Friday we had a few houses to look at and see if we could help some friends out, and also took a look at another bank owned house.  It’s crazy to think that we have been doing this real estate business for so many years! We also stopped and looked at a beautiful home being built to check out the builder’s work.  That lead us to looking at some homes online and trying to figure out what kind of design we will want to build.  So many choices–it’s exciting!

Saturday I had my life coaching call and took the kids to the mall to pic up a little something for Father’s Day.   I didn’t feel much like cooking and was totally in the mood for a cheeseburger, so we did just that once Joe got home!  I was totally behind on my steps for my step bet, and wanted to give up, but I got them in with my neighbor, walking the dog and taking Brooke on a walk too! (Not gonna lie, it made me feel better after indulging in said cheeseburger and fries!)

Oh, and these two got their first ice cream of the season!  Cotton Candy for the win.

I shared these photos on my social media for Father’s Day, and this one at the beach reeeeeallly makes me want to go away now!  He really is such a great dad and these kids look up to him like no other.  He’s the fun parent, the one who gets them all riled up at bedtime when I’m trying to calm them down, and gets them giggling harder than I have ever seen them.  They are two lucky kiddos to be blessed with him as their father.

I am also grateful they have my dad in their lives to love on them and enjoy their silliness. I know he’s had a lot of health concerns and I just hope that he gets super healthy in this next year so they can enjoy him even more! He was always there for me growing up and I couldn’t have asked for a better dad.

On our way to my dad’s house.  We had a yummy lasagna and I made my homemade bread.  My sister brought stuff for homemade sundaes.  It was fun!

Side note, while I veered a bit on my 14 day Tastefully Simple challenge, I really did learn so much!! I got my confidence back in the kitchen, my clothes fit again and I really feel so much better eating clean. (duh!) Thank you again Cathy for allowing me to do the reset with you!

And while it’s time for me to go start dinner, I totally kicked today’s ass.  I love starting off the week like this! I did some Full Moon Yoga, took Holly on a walk while Bradley rode his bike, cleaned Brooke’s room (my little packrat) did a ton of laundry, hit up the post office, the bank, got Bradley’s hair cut and went grocer shopping.  I just took a few minutes to myself sipping on my faux coffee to squeeze in some more “do you time” of blogging.  Feels damn good!  Off to do dinner, bath and bedtime.

Podcasts

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I absolutely love listening to podcasts! I will admit there’s a part of me that doesn’t like them ONLY because I set high goals to read a lot of books in the year, and even though I’m learning, a podcast is not a book. Maybe I need to set a podcast goal too~ (or not.)

Either way, here are the podcasts you will find on my iphone.

My current listen: this amazing powerhouse of a woman– Lindsay Preston. She’s a life coach helping tons of ladies become better versions of themselves. The free nuggets she gives away on her podcasts are life changing; no joke you’ll feel like you can go out and kick some major butt after one listen!

And she Rises the F Up – this is all about going after what you want, working on your money manifestation and recognizing your higher power. This is probably the newewst podcast I have started to follow. This little lady does NOT keep things PG so it’s an ear bud kind of listen.  She has a lot of solid advice and honestly I feel better about money when listening to her.  Money/finances seem to be such an interesting topic in our society and she helps validate why it’s more than okay to be going after what you want.

Earn Your Happy– I listened to Lori Harder’s book called A Tribe Called Bliss, and it was decent.  This podcasts mimics that and she does have a lot of great people on here that she interviews.  She focuses on self love, really loving life and generally being the best version of yourself.  She’s a badass and wants you to be one too!

The Mentor Podcast- This will fall under the “Real Estate” inventory of my podcasts.  Ron LeGrand is our great mentor and we have learned many a thing from this man! He has a ton of financial gurus, entrepreneurs, real estate experts and just overall another great avenue to learn more from him.  My husband honestly connects with Ron a bit better than I do, but I do learn a lot by listening.

Rise Podcast:  If you’ve been here for awhile, you know me and my girl Rach go way back…to her first book.  I adore her and Dave and listen to them on their daily live FB/Insta stream as well as their different podcasts.  She has wonderful in depth interviews both male and female, and there’s always a good take away from them!  She even reads certain chapters/excerpts of her books, so if you’re on the fence, check out her FREE podcast.  Trust me, you will want to buy them!

 

Real Estate Investing for Women – is exactly what it sounds like.  Often times it seems like real estate is a male dominated community.  I love how she breaks it down and ties in real life women moments, and relates to me on so many levels.  Even if you’re on the fence about dabbling in real estate, it wouldn’t hurt to download this one for free!

The Real Estate Investher Show – clearly another real estate podcast.  I love that this one is two ladies who go back and forth sharing their real stories and also involve guests on their show.  It helps to hear a woman’s perspective, especially married mama!  I sometimes feel like a lunatic and just hearing that there are other ladies feeling the same feels, makes me feel better.  Must listen if you’re looking to grow your finances!!

Style Your Mind- the famous Champagne Diet blogger/author has one of my favorite podcasts. I heard Zig Ziglar say that it’s good to listen to motivation when you’re feeling down, but it’s even MORE worth it when you listen to it feeling great! I try to do that, especially with Cara’s work.  She really gives me a kick in the ass, but also fuels my fire.  I feel like I can go and do whatever next hard thing comes next.

Rise Together- this is Rachel Hollis and her hubby Dave.  They have a great dynamic and I will be honest, I just listen to their daily live streams.  I haven’t listened to this podcast in a few months.  Again, if you love her take charge, no BS approach, this is for you!

Your Virtual Upline– is a must for any direct sales consultant!! I found it through a friend when I was doing Stella & Dot. I have not listened to him in probably close to a year? But he does add a lot of value.  Great content and I always took away some sort of nugget.

The Sandwhich – Amanda Muse is sooooo down to earth and funny! She’s a Canadian mama of two is a You Tuber and I just love her.  She’s all about #thefutureisfemale and shares her day to day life via vlogs and instagram stories.  Her podcasts allows her to get a little more intimate or in detail on whatever topic she feels like discussing.  She is so body confident and sharing how important it is to just be happy no matter what.

The Melissa Ambrossini Show- Author of Mastering your Inner Mean Girl, she is also a fantastic motivating listen!  I love hearing stories of her and her guests.  She focuses on finding motivation no matter what!  I need to listen more…

Time to Parent- To be 100% honest, I have no flipping clue. I must have downloaded this because someone I trust recommended.  Have you? LOL

 

Happier–  We all know Gretchen as the happiness guru.  That’s as far as I’ve gotten!

Dirty John – Again, heard it was great, no clue why, haven’t listened.

Wayne Dyer– he passed a few years back, but from time I really feel the need to hear his voice, soak up his wisdom.  He is definitely one of the many keys that I feel help “open me” up to self-improvement.

Sex with Emily– pretty straight forward, I don’t think I need to explain much.  She talks about sex etc.

 

Oprah Super Soul Conversations:  Oprah is like the mecca of all things great and wonderful.  She is someone that comforts me just by hearing her voice; I think it’s because I grew up hearing her every day around 4pm.  I only wish I listened more to what she was saying!  She’s always suggesting a new read or way of thinking about life. If you’re an Oprah fan, this is for you.

Chalene (Build your Tribe) – I just love her and used to listen to it awhile ago.  She is to the point and full of spunk! She talks a lot about being a great leader etc.

What are some of your favorite podcasts? I feel like I need to find some new ones to add to my list.

 

Weekend Wrap Up

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Flew by, didn’t it?! It always does.  Friday was a nice start, as Joe had off and Brooke went to school.  After I made everyone breakfast, I sipped some pre-workout and hit the gym.  I didn’t do anything crazy, but I did some cardio and bi/tris. I love this new top from Fabletics! It’s a pretty color, comfortable and fits well.  I grabbed a small.

Friday afternoon we did our final walkthrough at our Canandaigua rental.  It looks so good!  Aaron from Canandaigua Contractors LLC did a phenomenal job.  He had a lot of work to do, re-do and really do it right.  The flooring is stunning and we adore the open kitchen/living room.

It will look so cute with some pops of color with accent rugs, some plants & furniture.

I love that there are windows at the kitchen sink, and we continued the subway tile as a backsplash here as well.  It has a beautiful flow and we are so happy for the newest renters to call this home!

Last but definitely not least, the bathroom is clearly the favorite!  Subway tile, the tile floors, new vanity, toilet, lights– camera action!  Seriously my favorite bathroom we’ve done to date.

I got my Advocare goodies and about died when I saw that this was the sample.  Grape Spark was my absolute favorite, but since I can’t seem to drink Spark (or coffee) any more, I was so sad.  Around Christmas they launched a little sample bag of fun Rehydrate flavors and Grape was inside!! The kids and I pretty much fought over that flavor! I can’t wait for it to be available for Summer!

I finished up this amazing book Friday night.  I did not want it to finish too quickly, but like all good things it had to come to an end.  SO GOOD!! It’s about a fictional 1970’s rock band and it’s told from the band character’s point of view.   This CBD tea is tasty too!

Sunday morning I took this beautiful dancer to her photos.  She is dancing to “Material Girl” and “Glow”– some Disney princess song, super cute!

After dance pics, we of course hit up Starbucks!! She looks way too old here!

While we had our fun girl time, the boys (and Bailey!) were at the land hunting for Dinosaurs.

Is this not the perfect photo?! This dog is a huge amount of my stress, but I do believe it’s mostly because she belongs here.  She needs this place to roam and run free.

Our afternoon was so low key— I did some blog planning and just felt creative and inspired to get some posts organized, yay!  It was nice to just ‘be.’

Dinner Sunday night was courtesy of Joe!! I had something kind of planned, but asked if Joe could run to the store to get some ingredients to finish dinner…well after he watched some show with Gordon Ramsey, he was convinced he needed to make chicken wings!

He did some of the “OG” wings.  It’s a BBQ rub, smoked for an hour in the smoker and then grilled to get a little crisp.

THESE however, may have just up-leveled the wings yet again.  He saw Ramsey use corn starch and it made the wings a little extra crispy—-whoa nelly!! SO good! It gave them a real ‘fried’ feel, and yet he still smoked & grilled.

This is what I had going in the slow cooker– which is SO yummy!  Now we have this for Cubans and it even tastes like Chipotle’s carnitas.  I will make some rice and make a bowl or something!

I did take a small walk with Holly after dinner and I am so happy the weather is starting to turn.  I think sometimes we don’t think walking is really doing anything, so I am here to remind you, it’s so good for us!! Our bodies are made to move.

 

Happy Monday friends!

 

Weekend Review

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Friday was full of fun for our family!

Joe was able to take Bradley on his field trip to a local Maple Syrup farm.  They loved it!

I was able to set up and serve The Royal Tea for Brooke’s Kindergarten class. It was adorable!  We sent in some Lorna Dunes, jam and apple juice while the kids got to dress up, dance and enjoy their tea time!

She will not take a serious shot for me ever!! (Just like her Daddy!)

She insisted on wearing one of my old dance costumes (I think I was 15 when I wore it?!)

She begged me to bring in this tea pot from home to serve with.

It then prompted me to serve myself some tea on Saturday.  Do you ever have those days where you’re under the weather, trying to still do all the things and your body is like, HELLO? Are you listening?  No?  Ok, well I’m gonna shut ya down right now.

That’s basically what happened to me.  I pretty much laid in my bed all day, and other than feeding the kids, letting the dogs out, doing the bare minimum — dishes/laundry– I did shower, but I also napped.  It was glorious.  I realized that I never do this for myself.  I finished 2 books that day, both I had started previously.

I’m very much a go go go type of person, and I married one as well, so to allow ourselves to rest, really isn’t an option.  Then we get sick.  So as much as I wanted to go to the gym and do “all the things,” I didn’t.  I did what I felt that was best for me and I honestly enjoyed every second. I felt bad as we had a sitter lined up and dinner plans with friends, but there will be more times ahead.  Health should always come first.

In the teapot: English Breakfast, soy milk and dang these Advo Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough bars are SO GOOD!! You can grab them here. 

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I finished my home girl’s book and it was a good one!! I gotta say I thought the beginning was one FIRE.  I definitely took a lot of nuggets… and the hardest (and most fitting timing wise) chapter was Asking For Help.  Successful people ask for help.  They DON’T do it all by themselves.  So much happens behind the scenes, and I know both Joe and I need to get better about delegating some responsibilities so we can do a better job at what we are good at and what we want to do.  #truthbombs left and right!! Thanks again Rach!

This little gem—HOLY smokes.  If you think you’re not in sales, you’re wrong.  You sell yourself to your kids, your employer, your friends, or maybe you do actually sling houses, bracelets, leggings, hair products, lip gloss…  Either way, this is a book that I can’t stop thinking about and WHOA.  I need to go back and re-read some more…  I can’t even begin to tell you how many quotes I have running through my mind from this one.

Next up book wise, will be this thriller.  I snagged a copy from the library–yay!  It’s for our book club and I have to have it read in a little under 2 weeks. I got dis!

Sunday I snuck out for a bit of alone time, bumped some music and basked in the 30 degree sun.  I enjoyed my Matcha Latté— is it just me or do they make them PERFECT sometimes and just ehhhh ok, others?  This one was kissed by unicorns.

After my morning peaceful alone time, Joe and I worked quite a bit on our biz.  We’ve always bought houses (obvs!) But we haven’t really put much effort into marketing.  We’ve decided to change it up a bit and we are now,

How adorably perfect is this logo?! My girl Rachel who runs Simply Mama Boutique on Etsy HOOKED me up.  She makes custom logos and she kills it!! We will be adding to our social media sites and promoting more, so that we can help as many people as possible.  Sometimes folks end up in sticky situations where they’re accidental landlords or inherited a home, or simply want to walk away without putting the house on the market.  We can help!  We’ve met so many amazing people and I can’t wait to see how many more people we can help this year.

Rach also made me this bomb hat— is it not perfection?!  Know someone who wants to sell a home in the 585? Refer them to me!  (we always pay you as a thank you!!)

And in other news, the condo in Brockport is available—SUMMER is coming and this could be enjoyed by you (or someone you know daily!!)

Some #mondaymotivation

Peace and love y’all!! Happy Monday.

Weekending

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We had a busy week last week! Valentine’s Day brought little parties for both kids in schools, Joe working late and us attending a board meeting.  I did make a delicious lasagna for dinner and even both kids gave it “all the thumbs up!”

As for celebrating? I stopped into the Dollar Tree and scooped up just a few little goodies for our babes.  I knew they’d get a ton of candy at their V-Day parties, so I saw these adorable heart baskets, and filled them with a chocolate heart, a stuffed puppy, a little workbook and a balloon.  They loved it!  They even loved the workbooks; Brooke did hers right away and Bradley worked on his at lunch; he did a wonderful job tracing the words for each color!

Bradley did cry a little bit Friday morning saying his ear hurt, so my mom instinct kicked right in and I took him right into the Drs. Sure enough, he does have an ear infection.  I’m grateful it’s nothing crazy like the flu, but I know ear aches are awful!  Poor guy.

I am trying so hard carve out time to read our newest book club book. It’s a thriller and a page turner, but I can’t really read it at night–I don’t want nightmares!

  • Update: I actually was on page 77 Sunday night and decided to try and read a little…and well, I just stayed up until 1 am reading to finish it! If you love a page turning thriller, scoop this one right up!

Hubby and I did get out for our first date night of the year!! 2.16.19. We had not gone out since the weekend before Christmas, as he was so sick and life got crazy.  We had a delicious dinner at Good Luck and hit up our favorite spot, The Revelry for a few drinks.  We are old and were home by 11:30, but it was so nice to get dolled up, out of the house and having actual adult conversations!

Sunday brought some time for Brooke & Joe to spend together.  Since she’s gone to full day Kinder, she doesn’t get to see Joe that much and we could tell they needed some QT. She insisted that I took her and Bailey’s photo.

That left Mr. Bubs and I to cuddle on the couch. I hope he never gets to the point where he doesn’t want to snuggle!

He is all boy.  If he’s not dressed up as a superhero, running, crashing, shooting, jumping, then he’s tinkering with his trucks, cars and guys.

While Bradley played, I sat with the laptop and caught up on some blogs; I felt called to sit and write.  I have abandoned this little space here for some time, but I know that it always waits for me to return.  If you’re reading this, hello! Welcome if you are new, thank you for returning if you’ve been around for a bit.  Hubby swooped home to gift me with a Matcha Latté and it was divine.

I also worked on some advertising for our social media pages.  I’m on the fence about joining Rachel Hollis’ business coaching.  I really love her and I think I would learn so much!!

Recently a new BK went in around the corner from us.  The kids have been dying to check it out as they have literally watched it form from the ground up! I think they just love the crowns.

The rest of the day was relaxing, as you’re supposed to work 6 days and rest one.