These are weird times. I know I personally have benefitted from a variety of resources to keep pushing through, so I wanted to share a few of my favorites with you.
Tucson Medical Center – tons of free classes and education link
Barre Fitness free online classes link
Barre3 free trial link
Adobe chapter one (alphabet), chapter two (gratitude), chapter three (animals)
Why I Love Where I Live link
There are so many fantastic FREE resources out there right now so I wanted to compile my favorites in one place. I hope it’s helpful!
40+ Indoor activities for busy toddlers link
Highlights- crafts, recipes, games link
3 weeks of maker stations for creativity link
Daily science experiments link
San Diego Zoo – videos, activities, games link
COVID-19 time capsule worksheets link
Twirligig – Rainbow paper spinner toy link
Puzzle from a cereal box – simply cut up the cardboard box into 20 or so pieces and you have a free puzzle!
Crafts, mazes, dot-to-dots, etc link
Continue reading
A whole year since I have posted a recipe… I am so embarrassed! But of course, having celebrated the holiday for years and years now, I just had to get something up, even if it meant not getting any sleep last night. Why is it the best food holiday ever? Well… breakfast: obviously my favorite meal of the day… just check out the instagram if you had any doubt. In fact, I had so many breakfast posts I just decided to give them their own hashtag. Secondly: Pancakes! Fluffy, light, round, prepared in one food processor bowl, and best paired with fruit? No further explanation needed.
Apparently, the chocolate covered strawberry was first invented in the 1960s, in case you were wondering. Okay so these aren’t exactly chocolate covered strawberries, but when you combine the two in this decadent breakfast (or dessert), it sure tastes like it!!
Clearly I love this holiday, as I’ve celebrated it on the blog for the last two years (oh my gosh I’ve had the blog for two years?!) It should be noted, there are a couple of Pancake Days… pretty anticlimactic. Shrove Tuesday is the day before lent begins, and apparently the Irish used to use up all of their eggs and fat, since you couldn’t eat those during lent. The 2nd NPD is IHOP’s celebration (March 8th) of free pancakes and donations to Children’s Miracle Network. I think that is great cause for celebration, but just to be safe, I’ll get this post out on the early side to benefit both holidays.
I’m still not sure… I indulge for breakfast but it tastes so sweet it could pass as an evening treat for sure! Breakfast for dinner perhaps? YES!
I especially love eating this around the holidays. Sometimes when spending time with family stuffing their faces with treats, it can be easy to fall into the trap of feeling sorry for yourself when you eat a special diet. When I make this delicious breakfast, the opposite is the case and everyone is wanting some of what I have!!! Continue reading
It has to be right in my back pocket or within arms reach at all times, I hear it vibrate in my dreams, and I check it regularly, whether it has buzzed or not, just to see. (Resonating with anyone?) It may sound dramatic, but this is the reality of so many people and I don’t just mean millennials, either. I know many gen z, gen x-ers, and even baby boomers, who admit to compulsively checking their phone, too. Unsurprisingly, it even has a name: nomophobia.
What’s worse, is when I check my phone, to see if someone has called or texted, (and even when they have not) I end up on to instagram, facebook, twitter, snapchat, etc, etc. I hate the way that sounds. Running through my instagram feed takes a couple minutes, then to facebook which can take however long I want, then twitter and snapchat another couple minutes, and then back to instagram to see if anyone has posted since I just looked 5 minutes before. One picture has been posted. Back to facebook to see what didn’t show up on my feed, or I didn’t click on that now I can go waste more time looking at.
15 – 20 minutes later. I don’t know where the time has gone, I have no idea what I was doing 20 minutes before, and I feel pathetic and stuck in a place without purpose. Usually a sense of inadequacy follows because majority of the material posted on social media is the highlight of a person’s day or week. The cycle of comparing myself to their lives begins, subconsciously of course, and I just end up feeling sad and pathetic.
This is our society now. And this is a huge problem. Continue reading
In a breakfast lull? Here’s another fabulous breakfast to add to the list. I have been wanting to make a frittata for some time now, but as they all involved baking for prolonged periods of time, I never got around to doing it because I am always so hungry and impatient in the morning. I either have to be running out the door too quickly, or slept in and woke up too late on the weekend and can’t cram food in my mouth fast enough.
One day, I thought… why can’t you make a frittata on the stove? Sure enough… it’s a thing! It cooks in half the time (or less) and doesn’t require a big clunky baking dish, large batches, or heating up your whole house with the oven. Continue reading
Halloween is fun. Of course there’s the trick-or-treating, that bizarre activity where we hide our children’s identities and send them off to strangers houses in the dark and then let them eat the sugar-laden candy the strangers give them. Okay that was dramatic, but you have to admit, it is a pretty weird ritual. (Also, check out this hilarious video by The Onion if you want a laugh).
I woke up one day this week and just really was craving a new breakfast. I love breakfast… if you’ve been on my instagram at all you can see that. But the problem is I get in ruts. I eat oatmeal every day for 6 months and then one day, I can’t imagine ever eating another bowl of oatmeal ever again. So then I eat eggs for a few months and they get old. So I switch it up to an omelet until that gets old and I add potatoes. Then I go to waffles for a while because oatmeal still sounds gross, and then I feel terrible because I’m eating waffles every day. At that point, waffles or eggs sound better because I know my body will feel better again.
So I’ve done this cycle for a while now and really (still) struggle to find the balance. Until recently… I am trying to get creative and find some new ideas! I’ve been adding in new things like pancakes a few days a week, a breakfast sandwich, or tacos.
Rich with Life 