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Wordless Wednesday: Blog Organisation

Birthday Shopping Spoils

Blog organisation in progress

Playing along with My Little Drummer Boys and Faith, Hope and a whole lotta Love.

How do you organise your blog(s)?

Happy Birthday to ME!!

Yesterday, I turned a ripe old 28. I'm not entirely sure how I came to be quite this old - last time I checked I could have sworn I was only 23.

I woke the day before the dreaded event with to find heavy bags under my eyes, a sign of things to come I've been told. A little more exhaustion to the mix, because, honestly I am not tired enough these days.

The actual day itself was lovely. A sleep in for James and I as the Munchies were hanging with Nanna over the weekend and then, as we slowly made our way home we stopped off at the Coffee Club in the 'Bay for a scrummy lunch and a little shopping and later on a vanilla slice from the Braidwood Bakery (seriously, if you're even on your way through TRY their sausage rolls or vanilla slice. So good).

After four hours of chatting, planning and simply being together as we traveled the day was topped off by coming home to a Roast Pork and snuggles with my babies.

So far, 28's not too bad (bar the bags under the eyes). I'm only a day and a bit in, so we'll see how it goes!

How was 28 for you (if you've already been here). If not; are you looking forward to this age?

Share Your Recipes: Incorporating Nuts

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Part of my Month for Me is concentrating on creating healthier meals for my family and I as well as including more of the things I love. And I LOVE nuts, but once children came along foods like nuts became a sometimes food and then a barely ever food. A special occasion food.  

We all know there are numerous health benefits when including nuts in our diets and I want to introduce these benefits into our lives. But, Ellie's in that stage. You know the one. That stage where 'different' things in meals cause meltdowns and where trying new things isn't high on the priority list.

I think she would happily eat salad wraps for the rest of her life if I would let her, which makes changing our habits not as easy as I would like.

The Nuts For Life website has a list of 23 Tips for including nuts daily and here are some of the suggestions that I think not only sound great but would actually appeal to my suddenly fussy eater;

- Blend almonds, milk, yoghurt and ice cream to make a delicious smoothie
- Mix chopped hazelnuts or pecans in muffins or cakes
- Sprinkle chopped, roasted hazelnuts or almonds onto low fat ice cream

So, we have desserts covered...

Now the challenge is to incorporate nuts into main meals and make the above on the more special occasions.

I'm not the most creative cook, I'm not a particularly great cook. I can whip up a meal in twenty minutes, but they're always the same things. Over and over. Because it's fast and it's easy and I know what the end result will be, so this is a real stretch for me.

But, I am committed.

Something I have learned from my time reading blogs is that so many of you are Goddesses in the kitchen. I have tried many recipes shared on blogs and have been so happy with the result.

Enter the Nutty Recipe Challenge, where you will not only be helping me, you could win a $50 nut hamper. Nom nom.

To go into the draw simply send your favourite healthy recipe with a nutty twist 0to me via email (becky{@}beckyandjames{.}com) and I will post a show case of the best recipes along with the winning one. Photos accompanying your email gets you brownie points as I am one of those people who like to SEE what I am meant to be making (mainly so that I can go 'Wow, mine doesn't look like that' at the end).

Alternatively, if you don't have a favourite recipe you can try and enter one of the recipes on the Nuts For Life website.

*Please note: your recipe might be published on the Nuts For Life website. 

ETA  -- A closing date and email address might help, yes?

Entries close midnight June 16th 2011 (AEST, ie Sydney time) and will be drawn by me. Please note, entry is only open to Australian residents and be sure I have your contact details in case you win!!

If the prize is not claimed within a week, this competition will be redrawn.  

Disclosure: This challenge is being hosted by myself in conjunction with Porter Novelli and Nuts For Life. No financial payment was offered nor accepted for this post. All opinions expressed are purely my own. 

And the Winner is...

Drawing a winner in style

This Planning with Kids giveaway has been my favourite and the one I've been the most excited about. All your comments have given me a glance inside a part of your life I may not have seen before and it's told me I am not alone in this disorganised life. I am also not alone in seeing that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. There's hope for us to get ourselves together and run a relatively smooth, (more) organised household.

I truly, honestly wish I could give you all a copy of Nic's book and see you all benefit from what she shares. While I have yet to read it myself, I genuinely believe Planning with Kids to be a wonderful resource for mother's everywhere and it will be on the top of my baby gift shopping list for friends and family (after I get myself a copy, of course).

Okay, onto the winner. Congratulations go to DanniiBeauty who said;

This book sounds fabulous! I'd love to learn more tips on being organised and being able to get through everything I have to in an orderly way!
This past year has been hard, trying to juggle work from home with my nearly two year old and getting my eight year old to school on time!

I'll be in touch soon, Dannii!

Don't forget that Nic shared some tips on Making Time for Mum in my giveaway post or you can find her in various places online: Websites, Twitter, Facebook.

And now, in keeping with my Month for Me, I am off to  SPOIL myself and spend many birthday monies at Crossroads!

What are you doing for yourself today? 

A Month, Just for Me

This month I will turn 28 and I have been thinking a lot about life, the universe, getting older, being happy and getting healthy. As June approached, I started thinking about dedicating the month to myself. As a gift. Happy Birthday; here's a month.

It was a bare bones idea, which I fleshed out slowly as I went about my daily life.

What exactly does giving myself a month mean? 

It means focusing on my CREATIVITY; joining in with the 30 Day Photography Challenge (thanks Chantelle of Fat Mum Slim for posting about this) - you can follow along with my daily photo on Instagram (username is byBecky) or my Instagrid. It means getting more involved with the craft the girls do. It means stopping the car to photograph the things I always see which I always want to stop for but never do.

CREATIVITY

It means remembering that each day is new and fresh, forgiving anything I considered to be a 'failure' the day before and moving on.  It means giving myself permission to take time out when things are too much.

It means taking the time to breathe. 

It means INDULGENCE. Without guilt.

INDULGENCE

It means taking the time to get organised and set up in the areas which I want to PURSUE, as well as general life. Concentrating on getting things off the ground and running smoothly.

PURSUE

It means concentrating on my health. Getting serious about becoming FIT. Making the time to exercise. Planning life in a way that means creating more balanced, healthy meals is easy and do-able. It means working on my MENTAL health, just as much as my physical. Focusing on positivity, what makes me happy and content while banishing the negative from my life.


It involves making NEW HABITS and breaking old ones.

NEW HABITS

Put simply, June is going to be a month for me to get things together, to look after me and make the right decisions for myself which can only mean good things for my family. It's about finding myself. It's about giving me what I need in order to give more of myself to those I love.


I think it's going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Wordless Wednesday: CakePops

They're meant to be on sticks, which I forgot to buy when getting the ingredients
Made for Kirsty's birthday dinner x

Playing along with My Little Drummer Boys and Faith Hope and a whole Lotta Love.