60 day challenge

Today is the last day of freedom before I officially start the SKOGG 60 day challenge. This fitness challenge consists of a "clean" diet {TONS of water, no sugar, alcohol, wheat, rice, white potatoes} alongside an hour long kettle bell workout 4 times a week. Each week we have a meeting to do a weigh in as well as check our body fat percentage; SCARY! After having a baby, this is so intimating but no matter how it goes I know I will be healthier and in better shape 2 months from now while laying at the pool in LAS VEGAS!

 I am not 100% sure of what I have gotten myself into, 

but as far as I know there will be none of this:

this:

or these:

and LOTS of kettle bell workouts :) 

which I do love, so once the first weigh in is behind me it will be mostly fun {maybe not for my husband the first week or two} and a great way to get back into pre-baby shape! Wish me luck, and maybe I will be brave enough to share before and after shots... MAYBE!

if you love photoshop... you need this!

I can't rave enough about how many amazingly talented/generous friends I have been so lucky to meet in my life. One in particular {a fabulous and crazy talented photographer/blogger/crafter} Colleen over at dashing pearl came over for dinner last week and had the idea of going to the park to catch the great light and give me a mini photography lesson as well as how to use my camera (she was the reason for our choice of DSLR). It was so helpful, and just the few hints and tips she provided have made an obvious difference in my photography.

On top of wanting to help me perfect my pictures of Lily, she has given me the most amazing tool for photoshop, florabella action overlays. {simply.fantastic.} Its exactly what anyone who wants to have professional looking photos with just a simple click of a button in photoshop. It is so incredible how a photo changes so drastically with one tool! I am obsessed... the only problem is trying to choose which one to use out of the many she gave me!

 

amazing.... such an easy way to fake being an incredible photographer! These will come in handy the day I can pull myself together to start Lily's scrapbook; oh the possibilities...

loves those toes!

Looking back on the many books filled with my own baby photos, I have come to love the ones of me nibbling on my toes... so of course I have been anxiously waiting {camera close by} for the moment that Lily discovers her toes! This day has finally arrived, her feet have found their way into her mouth {much like everything and anything else at the moment!}.

It started with her realization that her toes in fact belong to her and she can coincidentally move them at will... she instantly became fascinated with her own tiny feet;

watching became touching, 

which turned into holding...

 and now has manifested into sucking! 

I am so excited which is a little ridiculous considering she is chewing on her own two feet! 

first mothers day

I had the most wonderful first mothers day a momma could ever ask for! I am lucky that my husband knows the extent to which I LOVE holidays {those celebrating me in particular} and did an amazing job of making it my day. I unfortunately had to work, but he did stop in to give me a big kiss and bring me a piece of Petunias gluten free/vegan chocolate cheesecake along with gingerbeer to enjoy on my break!

[remember: today is my exception to a month without sugar :)]

I hurried home as soon as I was done, anxious to see what else he and Lily had come up with! The process of my first gift had just come to an end as I opened the front door... it went a little like this:

I'm sure a fair amount of paint actually went into her mouth...

happy to have finished the [messy] project {with a very angry baby}

{I don't think she knew the bath was part of the deal...}

but the finished product was absolutely incredible, this could have very well been the ending to my mothers day and I would have been the happiest momma in the whole world! I teared up when I saw my finished gift

 [daddy did the purple, and Lily had free range with the yellow...with a bit of help of course!]

Kolby surprised me with beautiful flowers! {he is simply the best :)}

For dinner, we went to a perfect place for a 4 month old baby...  slow food, fast. This awesome burger joint, Violetta, is right by the downtown Nordstrom in a completely glass building and the burger was a little treat from heaven! GO THERE... it is so much more delicious than Kolby made it out to be {and he really talked it up!} what we ate {unfortunately forgot my camera... so words will have to do}:

park block burger: 

basil aoli, "10 hour tomatoes {slow cooked for... you guessed it, 10 hours!}, 

balsamic glaze and fresh mozzerella + we added bacon...duh

white truffle fries:

yukon gold fries cooked in oregon white truffle oil

AND 

I had sparkling chardonay... out of a can :)

whats not to love...

The night ended with wine, ice cream and a movie and Lily's special gift for mommy, sleeping for 9 hours {yes I typed it correctly: NINE!}... simply perfect!










however.... Kolby knows be oh so well... and I have be known to do anything in my power to extend a holiday {my birthday in particular} into 2, 3 and sometimes 7 day events. He did it for me this year and gave me monday as a mother daughter day just for us! The house was cleaned spotless yesterday, and Lucky was taken to SNIFF bright and early to give us girls the entire day together to do anything we wanted! It was so thoughtful of him and such a nice treat to spend time with just Lily on our own time!

of course we took some pictures...

{her facial expression in this last one SCREAMS Kolby... I just love it!}

we ventured out and wondered on 23rd on this beautiful dry day!

It turns out trying to take pictures and play with the new camera is a bit more difficult than I had anticipated with a baby strapped to me! We didn't do as much photography as we would have liked!

and she was out after our first stop...

I can not say thank you enough to my wonderful husband, I am so blessed to have fallen in love with such an amazingly thoughtful guy! 

first thursday

I hadn't worked out once this week so I was opting to skip my planned yoga class Thursday night, but luckily I have a wonderful husband that practically pushed me out the door, mat in hand! Thank goodness he did, because it turned out to be such an incredible class filled with friends and a delicious surprise treat!

lululemon hosted a first thursday yoga class with the amazing tiffany cruikshank: 

{via tiffanyyoga}

she is such a talented yogi, and a wonderful instructor; filling classes with fun, laughter and challenges

to top of an already amazing class, a live DJ {DJ Gray Matter} also very talented, added the perfect compliment to tiffanys class. The songs he chose were awesome...possibly my new favorite way to practice yoga!

a fellow lemon {Brooke} captured all of these amazing photos from the evening...and even a few of me

I have made a goal of not eating sugar the ENTIRE month of May {with the exception of my very first mothers day!}... ever since pregnancy I have been out of control with the amount of chocolate I have been eating and this is the only way I could think of to get ahold of myself :) I was surprised, and conflicted to see my favorite gluten free/vegan baker as an added bonus to our first thursday event. Lisa, of Petunias, makes beautiful treats made from all local and organic ingredients and are a VERY close 2nd {after babycakes NYC of course} of my favorite gluten free goodies

I couldn't not...and I am so happy I did! 

coconut passionfruit cupcakes with a lemon buttercream... 

{to.die.for.}

6 months later...

Lily watched her first {of many } disney movies this morning, one of my all time favorites:

She was actually watching it too! Even laughing when Sebastian was signing 'under the sea'... it was so cute! I love disney movies and can't wait to see which ones she ends up liking so we can watch them together over and over again! 

I also finally finished my thank you cards from my baby showers! I'm a bit late but unfortunately got slightly interrupted from a tiny person coming into the world- which I think is an ok excuse... better late than never I guess. There was such a gap from the last time I worked on them  that I am afraid I left someone out, and they will never receive a thank you card- which would be a shame and I hope didn't happen! Such a huge relief to have one less project to worry about.

tonight is PIZZA NIGHT! Not to brag, but I make a pretty amazing gluten free pizza crust (and luckily my wonderful husband agrees, so I get to make it fairly frequently!) 

I originally started using the recipe from gluten free mommy each time tweaking it just a tad {often times because I have been out of an ingredient or two...} and now have my own variation that turns out just about perfect {almost} every time! I typically make BBQ chicken which is our favorite... but tonight I am going back to basics and just doing a simple pepperoni and pineapple. 

mmmmm mmm check it out- it is absolutely delicious! you won't regret the effort that goes into it :) promise!