What I Learned in May

PODCAST TUESDAY!!!

I know this is the most random conglomeration of stories ever, but I promise it's worth it!!

Listen here

 Yes, I know it is not the last day of the month, but two things caused me to post my "What I learned" a day early. First, I don't plan on learning anything today, so I should be safe. (TOTALLY KIDDING!) Secondly, yesterday was a super busy day, and I didn't get a chance to write  a post just for this day. So without further ado, here are the things I learned in May!

1. My body rebels against a detox/cleanse.

And don't we all, I'm sure, in some way? Isn't that kind of the point of a cleanse or detox? To shock your system back to health and life? But seriously, I learned that my body freaks out in unhealthy ways. Not sleeping at all and feeling like I'm hallucinating? Not worth it to me. I think I'll just be more conscious in my eating choices. It works better for me.

2. Ryan and I still hate being apart.

We were told the longer we were married, the more we would "get over" the need to be together all the time. Hasn't. Happened. Yet. Ryan was gone all day for the Saturday and Sunday of one weekend, and the following weekend, we were apart all evening Friday and most of Sunday afternoon. We decided that's too much. We love being together, and we don't apologize for it!

3. In busy seasons, we rely on color-coded itineraries.

We had a couple of stretches this month that were too busy. TOO busy. The kind of busy where you have to schedule in bathroom breaks if you really want them. So I resorted to creating color coded documents that outlined our every waking hour and told us what we needed to accomplish and who was in charge of it. We couldn't live like that every day, but when we have to, we must have organization.  

4. I love, love, love, having our garage finished for entertaining.

Truly one of the best decisions we made (even though it nearly cost us our sanity when it was in process) was to finish off the garage so it could be used as an additional living space. Hosting Mommapalooza 4.0 out there was so freeing!  Everyone felt a lot more comfortable with the extra space!

5. The Ninja has revolutionized our coffee grinding experience.

Ryan gave me a Ninja system for my birthday, which was THE most perfect gift. I haven't had a lot of time to play with it yet (hello, busy May!) but we used it to grind our coffee right after we opened the box, and my GOODNESS. What used to take 15 minutes to complete took about a minute and a half. No. Way.

6. Ryan and I make a great team at events.

I love being in a partnership with Ryan, and I love having him accompany me to events. It makes me so happy! But my visit to IWU was the first time he stood up front and helped me with a presentation. It went seamlessly. We had rehearsed several times, but I was so excited to see how well it went in real time. I am thankful beyond words for a husband who doesn't just support the work I'm called to do, but he crawls into it with me and takes an active role.

7. I love writing curriculum.

Back in the day, I wanted to be a teacher, but I elected not to pursue it once I saw how the education field was changing (even 20 years ago). This month I wrote some curriculum for a workshop I'm leading this summer, and I adored every moment of that work. Ryan would come home to find me in the same spot I'd been in when he left for work, and I was a TERRIBLE wife on those days, but it fed my soul in amazing ways to write for teaching purposes!

And that's been May in a nutshell! Here's to learning even more in June! 

The Start of our Annual Birthday Trip, Destination: Saugatuck, Michigan!

Hey, it's podcast Tuesday! We've got all kinds of stories from our week of speaking and our vacation...and below you'll find some pictures from our vacation, too! :) ENJOY!

 Listen here!

In case you're new to the old blogaroo, allow me to catch you up on our birthday trips! Ryan and I have birthdays that are just about three weeks apart, so when we first got married, we elected to begin a tradition of taking a trip near our birthdays as sort of a gift to each other. (We still give gifts to each other, of course, but this is a fun thing we've enjoyed doing. You can see all our trip recap here, if you're looking for vacation ideas!)

So three years ago, we headed to Holland, Michigan, for the tulip festival, and there were SO MANY THINGS about that trip that were hilarious disasters. Heading the list was the lack of tulips, which didn't bloom because of the Polar Vortex that winter. We said we didn't want to go back to Michigan for a birthday trip again, because it was too risky if we wanted warm weather. Wellllllllllll, then we decided to try it again this year, and wouldn't you know it. Freezing cold and rainy the entire weekend. Isn't it so funny?

So here is a peek at the start of our trip. Annual photo:

Also. Can we pause to ask how we are into FIFTH annual anything? Sorry we both look a little blah in this picture. It was early, we were tired, and clearly under-caffeinated.

It was cold and rainy the morning we left, we couldn't get our GPS to take our destination address, and we were laughing already about the mess this was turning out to be. So it came as no surprise that a semi blocked my view of the Welcome to Michigan sign and now our scrapbook memory of entering Michigan looks like this:

Sigh.

We had to switch up some plans immediately because of the weather, so our first stop was in the lovely town of South Haven, Michigan. Neither of us had ever been there before, but I really wanted to see the lighthouse I'm always seeing in pictures!

So we went right out there on that beach, where the temp was in the 30's, it was starting to rain, and we were layered up in hats, coats, and we would have added gloves if we'd brought them!

First glimpse!! See it out there at the end of the pier? (Ryan wanted to climb on the rocks.)

 So. Cold.

 I have to confess it was much smaller in real life than it always looks in the pictures I see online. But it's still a lighthouse, and I love them!

 How glad was I that I was NOT on that sailboat out there?

Found a coffee shop on the beach. Closed. Because of course.

We decided to go ahead and have lunch there in South Haven, so Ryan read some reviews quickly and decided on a little restaurant called Clementine's. Our food was really good! (Ryan got some sandwich that had seafood on it and I had a salad with really flavorful chicken!)

After lunch, we decided to walk around for a while, check out some of the shops, and maybe hit up the local coffee shop. You know. Maybe.

 We found this cute little coffee shop called The Living Room, and it really felt like one! (So much so that someone took a nap during his coffee. Yes, you read that right. DURING!) Good coffee, great atmosphere, and a nice warm-up break on a chilly day!

(Sorry about the lighting. I'd call it my halo, but we both know better.)

 One of our favorite stores on our little tour around town was this shop that had a HUGE third floor that used to be a ballroom. Original wood floors, exposed brick walls, huge wall of windows: our Fixer Upper minds were spinning!

So that was our visit to South Haven! We left there about mid-afternoon and drove to our home base for the weekend. A bed and breakfast, or more specifically, boat and breakfast, that I can't wait to show you tomorrow!

Huntington Baptist Church

It is, of course, podcast Tuesday, so I begin by bringing you this week's episode of Spill the Beans, with stories from the detox fail and our weekend! ENJOY!

Listen right here!

Yesterday I told you about my trek to Fort Wayne for photography fun at Daddy Daughter Date Night. Our weekend of busyness continued into Saturday, because I had my first speaking engagement of May on Saturday!

Ryan and I traveled to Huntington Baptist Church to speak to their ladies group during their spring luncheon. (And we narrowly escaped a speeding ticket on the way there. EEK!)

It was supposed to be a cold and rainy Saturday, but it was sunny the whole day. What a blessing!

I'd been invited to speak at this church because my friend Debbie attends there and called a few weeks ago to ask me if I would join them. I first met Debbie over 10 years ago when she attended a different church, and I visited their women's Bible group for a Beth Moore study. Debbie took me under her wing and was so kind to me, even though I didn't regularly attend there. I've never forgotten that!

Debbie is a sweetheart and is completely devoted the Lord. Always an encouragement!

I was so glad to have Ryan with me that day. As I tell him every single time he comes with me, things just go better when he's there. He has a very calming way about him!

We arrived early so I could get set up. Ryan was in charge of the camera, so he did test pictures while I set up the podium area. LOL!

He also helped me set up my book table, and then took pictures of me and my coffee with my table. #priorities

 The ladies carried in breakfast/brunch foods, and it was all so delicious. The great part of speaking at churches for meals is that church folk are the best cooks ever. The worst part of speaking at churches for meals is that I don't want to overeat before I get up and speak. Except I really want to overeat!

There was such an amazing atmosphere in the room that day. You could tell it had been well-prayed-over and the Holy Spirit was present in a big way! I thoroughly enjoyed my time of sharing and felt so relaxed!

After I spoke, I got to stay and meet with some of the women. PeggySue (who took my job at WBCL) was there, and it was good to see her!

And I got to meet in real life my Facebook friend, Sarah!

All in all, a wonderful morning with the ladies! Thankful for new friends and Ryan's support!

My 3 Day Refresh

Before we get to the topic at hand today, I feel like you need a good laugh. And do we EVER have one for you today!

Listen and laugh here!

Now. About the detox...

If you've been hanging out here at the blog very long, you know that starting at the end of November  2015, I began following the 21 Day Fix eating and workout plan. (That story told here and here and here and here.)  Though I don't stick to it as rigidly as I did then, I/we have continued to eat a pretty clean diet since then! But you know how winter goes. Cookies. Lattes. All the goodness of the holidays.

I had put on a few more pounds than I liked, and I wanted to try to nip my bad habits before they got any worse. I started the ball rolling by pulling back on the bad habits I could identify, but I still needed another jump start of some kind. So I decided to do the 3 Day Refresh, which is a Beachbody program, too. Some people who do the Refresh lose weight, and some don't, but most say it's helpful in resetting their taste buds. I thought I'd give it a try, and Ryan supported me in it, so we bought the program.

I think I've decided the reason these little detox things aren't cheap is because knowing you paid for it is all that keeps you going during that first day! LOL!! We had invested hard-earned cash, and I was determined not to give up.

I thought I'd tell you my experience with it in case you ever wanted to try it!

The Refresh has a VERY rigid  schedule of eating certain foods at certain times, drinking shakes and fiber drinks (and lots of water), and NO COFFEE.

I'll just go ahead and give you a minute to absorb that.

While you're absorbing, I'll tell you about how I prepped for this adventure.

First, I picked my days. I really feared I would become so ugly in spirit during this, so I chose my first two days as the days Ryan went to his continuing education courses. I knew he would be gone ALL day, and I could do things at my own pace, not offend him with my coffee-deprived self, and most importantly, not worry about cooking for him. (And subsequently not eating what I cooked.)

Then I planned my schedule. I wrote out all three days, with exact times and exact foods. This helped me make my shopping list, too. I tried to use foods we already had, but I had to buy several things just for this.

Day One, Ryan left at 5:30 in the morning and I slept until almost 9:00. That pushed my whole day's schedule back by an hour, because I figured I'd be up by 8, but I just scooted everything back and it was fine. I never really felt hungry this whole day until bedtime. My stomach never growled until then, and I never felt shaky like I sometimes do when I need food. But I definitely craved all kinds of food. (None were on the list of what I actually ate, you understand.) I did not get the raging caffeine headache I expected, but I did have a dull headache all day, and I just missed my coffee so much. I told Ryan that coffee is a comforting part of my day, and it was not there. I felt out of sorts without it. I missed its warmth, its taste, and its presence. Right behind that, I missed meat. I am a meatatarian, and I really really missed it with my meals. And about the fiber drink? I called it the devil in a cup. That stuff is just straight up NASTY and I couldn't finish my glass of it. But that was the only thing I couldn't handle. I mostly sat all day (did get my 10,000 steps in via laps around the house) and had little energy or motivation. And by the end of the day, I was ready to give up. (One note: I did not have the herbal tea I could have had toward bedtime because honestly, it sounded gross. That was the only modification I made to the day's diet, other than not being able to finish the fiber drink.)

Day Two was a Sunday, and Ryan left early again for his second day of classes. I got up about 8:30 because my headache and empty stomach kept waking me up. I desperately wanted to take some Ibuprofen, but I know better than to do that on an empty stomach, so I waited. I texted him to tell him I felt like I had the flu. I was hot and cold, hungry but everything sounded awful, killer headache, and I just wanted to die. After I had the first meal of the day and got some medicine in me and took a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng hot shower, I did regain my will to live. Still couldn't finish the fiber drink, but I think I drank more of it than I did on the first day. The middle part of day two went MUCH better. I was able to be up and around and doing things more than I had on the first day. Much like day one, at the end of the day, the headache came back and I was just so hungry. I couldn't do the last tea again, and I actually cried real tears over missing coffee. This was my last day to have "off," since my final day aligned with my busiest work day of the week.

Day Three ended my detox early. We went to bed Sunday night, and I could NOT go to sleep. (It was like I had suddenly HAD caffeine without being used to it instead of depriving myself of it.) I finally dozed off, and from about 10:30 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. I was awake every five or ten minutes, seeing things (felt like hallucinations) and continuing to combat a raging headache. I finally told myself that the detox was not as important as feeling normal and healthy. (I had carpool duty Monday morning and feared for the safety of all if I didn't get some sleep and stop the weird things from happening in my mind and body.) I had done two days and that was good. Ryan woke up when the rain hit crazy-hard proportions and I told him I was tapping out of the detox. He said he understood and that was okay. So I got up and ate an energy ball (because I needed headache medicine to sleep and knew my stomach was VERY empty) and took some ibuprofen and went to bed. I finally slept for 2 hours, and when I woke up, I had the most amazing cup of coffee, very slowly, one beautiful sip at a time.

My thoughts?

I kind of feel like a failure for quitting early, but I am proud of myself for knowing my body well enough to know it was just done for whatever reason. (I read about many struggles people had throughout their own detoxes, but inability to sleep and having weird hallucination type experiences were not among them.) I do feel like this experience accomplished something good. My cravings did change during that time, and I am indeed reminded of the importance of portion control and choosing healthy foods over, say fun foods. Apparently I am not cut out for detox, so it is unlikely I will ever do a specific program like this again, but maybe I can learn to do my own version of detoxes from the things that trip me up, should I become too dependent on them in the future. Meanwhile, my goal for the weeks to come is to continue eating appropriate portions and to make even better food choices than I had been making. OH! And I did lose one pound during this adventure. So it wasn't a total fail, right? I can see a bit of a difference here. Still not quite where I want to be, but enough of a difference that the weekend worked...even if I quit.

Fun Night with Friends

To start off your Tuesday, I have a new episode of Spill the Beans for you! A virtual birthday party for Ryan! Hope you enjoy! :)

 Listen here!

While we have moved most of our entertaining to Tuesday nights (for Tuesdays at the Table), we do still have other occasional company on other nights of the week. We're not exclusive to Tuesdays. ;)

We have some dear friends that we made probably six months or so before we moved. We met them through church, and they just became fast good friends, and they were hard to leave! We've kept in contact with them all these many months since we've been gone, but their busy schedules and our busy schedules were such that we haven't been able to meet up like we used to!

They have four kids, so a weekend was a better fit for them to come see us, and this last Friday night, they did just that!

Our menu plan was a huge hit with the kids. It's one we have done before, but it was fun and I absolutely recommend it for having kids over for dinner: make your own pizza bar! (The only downside of this is getting everything cooked in a quick fashion. Trying to cook pizzas for 8 people in a single oven is a little tricky.)

For appetizers, I made pizza stuffed crescents (with extra marinara sauce to dip them in) - and for those trying to watch their carb intake, I made some of these Dashing Dish cauliflower breadsticks. (I LOVE THESE SO MUCH!!)

Then for the pizza, I set up this little buffet in a corner of the garage. 

I bought cans of pizza crust and cut most of them into quarters. (Halves for the guys.) I put them on parchment paper so we could write the pizza creator's names next to each square. I put out a bowl of sauce and then sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, spinach, onions, cheese, and black olives. Everyone could put whatever toppings they liked (and the amount they liked) on their square and then we baked them.

Food is more fun when you get to put your personal touch on it, right?

Sorry those pictures are dark and just all-around bad-quality. I was sort of doing a million things in that moment.

For those of you who might be new here and are not sure why we're fixing food in the garage, let me catch you up! Last summer, Ryan and I finished off our garage and we use it as a spare entertaining space now. We figured 8 people wouldn't fit neatly in our kitchen, so we set up tables and chairs in the garage where everyone could eat comfortably and spills didn't matter.

We kept it very casual - disposable plates, cups, and silverware. :)

AND we kept the pizza theme going with dessert: candy shop pizza!

After dinner, we broke out the Jenga game and played. I had never played that before, and I was truly terrible!

The kids were great and seemed to have a good time - and some even asked if I would give my recipes to their mom, a compliment I considered to be the ultimate win!

And just for fun, thought you might like this video. (It's slow-mo in the middle, so wait for it!)