Currently

I loved the Currently Linky hosted by Harvesting Kale and Ot & Et so much last week I am joining in again!

This weeks theme: Loving, Wishing, Craving, Missing, Worrying.

Loving: that I haven't had diet coke in over a week. Marc and I even went out to dinner over the weekend and I resisted ordering it, yay! I think if I resist drinking it then I can give it up.

Wishing: I could book a vacation. Marc and I are burnt out. It has been 2 1/2 years since we went to Dinsey together. We did have our family vacation at the lake this past August but we need to go somewhere fun and a plane ride away....Disney.

Craving: A spa day. I have some spa gift certificates burning a hole in my pocket!

Missing: Warm weather. I am so ready to get out and exercise but it has been way too cold to bring Violet out. I have been thinking of joining a gym but I worry it would be a waste of money as most nights Marc doesn't get home until 7pm. When I walk I just feel so much better and eat way better too!

Worrying: About money. Always and forever it seems.

 

 

 

Active Mama January Update

If you missed my introduction to the Active Mama Series, you can catch up by clicking here to catch up. Basically, I have made a list of 24 activities, projects and fun things that I want to complete in 2013 for and with Violet.

I only completed one thing on the list this month, which was taking Violet out to play in the snow. She loved the snow, it was so much fun. I even built her a teeny little snowman, with puffs for eyes which is on my 31 Before 31 list.

Even though I only completed one thing on the list, I did start a few other things.

• Started working on her hair bow holder
• Started Violet's project life scrapbook
• Read 2 Books....totally pathetic. She is more into eating books than reading them at the moment.
• I have saved formula canisters for the drum and rolling photo activities.

One fun thing we did that was not on the list was go to the mall's indoor play area. She is fearless, the bigger kids didn't scare her at all and when one of the kids said, baby move, she looked at him like he was crazy for thinking she would move. After we played she shared her first Auntie Anne's pretzel with me and passed out in her carseat, of course pulling one shoe and sock off before she fell asleep.

Not a bad start for the first month I think! What have you done to be an Active Mama in January?

 

 

Co-Hosting Little Wonders Wednesday

Today I am co-hosting Little Wonders Wednesday with Mary from A Day in the Life. I love mommy link ups and this is one of my favorites.

 

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Join us!

Just follow these 2 simple steps.

1. Link up a post about your "little wonders". Anything mommy related from easy recipes to funny stories.
2. Make friends! Click around and find blogs you like. Don't forget to leave comment love and follow the ones you like.

Optional steps

I would love it if you would follow me to stay up to date on Little Wonders.
Also
Spread the word! Grab the button. Tweet about it. However you would like. The more the merrier! :)

Ready.. Set.. Link Up!

Tuesday Topics - Six Memories

Before I became pregnant with Violet I had a great memory, now not so much. I am lucky if I remember what I ate for breakfast. I have been struggling with the memories to share, should they be the really big memories or the smaller ones? I am going to do a mix of them.

#1. My First Day of School. I started kindergarten the day before my 5th birthday. I was always a nervous kid and I remember that my mom followed my school bus all the way from the bus stop to school. I remeber sitting in the back of the bus waving to her. When I was on the playground she got out of her car and made sure I was okay. She was and is the best mom I know. As a mom myself I wonder if she did ot just as much for me as herself. I don't even want to think about Violet going to school.

My Kindergarten Picture

#2. This Picture of Marc & I. We had been dating for almost three months, this was Memorial Day weekend 2006. We had a great weekend, going for drives, going to this silly Asian store that Marc loves. He bought me this tassel that has bead animals that still hangs in my car. We had a lobster dinner. It was just one of those perfect, new love, wonderful weekends.

#3. My First Trip to Disney. If you can believe, I don't have any pictures of this trip. They are all at my parents house. We drove to Florida in April 1988 in a Winnebago with my grandparents, uncle and my family. I was 5, my brother turned 3 on the trip, I also came down with the chicken pox. I am pretty sure my intense love of Disney comes from this trip as I had to stay back at the camp site with my grandmother when others went to the park.

#4. Violet's Birth. I haven't posted Violet's birth story yet and I hope to in the future. It sure is memorable, it didn't go as planned at all and I ended up with a c-section. I was so drugged up it is a miracle that I stayed awake during the surgery. As you can see in the picture my eyes are closed or barely opened. I thought they were open when the nurse snapped. Ha!

#5. Small, Medium, Large Black Coffee. Growing up, my parents would take us to look at Christmas lights every year. Sometimes we stopped at Dunkin Donuts for coffee and hot chocolate. One year we went through the drive thru and my dad ordered a "small........medium......large....black coffee." It makes me laugh every time I think about it. Hilarious, he paused between each word. He claims that it was my brother and I goofing off in the backseat that had him distracted but my mom says it was just him looking at the menu. Whenever coffee is being mentioned we usually tease my dad about his small medium large black coffee.

#6. Our Wedding Day. I didn't want a wedding, I was all for a small ceremony or a destination wedding or heck a trip to the courthouse but Marc wanted one. When it comes down to it I just wanted to be married to Marc and I never want to forget how happy that day was.

 

Paleo Rosemary Bacon Chicken

As I have mentioned in passing, Marc and I are considering transitioning to Paleo eating. I am by no means an expert on Paleo as I am still learning so if you are interested do some research.

We have decided to do two days Paleo, two days off this week. I think eating this way could really help us lose weight and be healthy. I want to transition slowly as to not fail right at the beginning.

The first paleo dinner recipe I made was Paleo Rosemary Bacon Chicken from paleoplans.com via Pinterest.

Ingredients:

• Garlic powder
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 4 fresh rosemary sprigs
• 4 slices of bacon

The original recipe was for grilled chicken, but in this frigid New England weather I am not grilling so I baked the chicken.

Season the chicken with the garlic powder, sea salt and black pepper. I will be honest, I didn't measure, I just sprinkled.

Lay a sprig of Rosemary on each chicken breast and wrap with the bacon. My bacon split in half so I used 1 1/2 strips and just tucked the pieces under the chicken not all the way around.

I baked the chicken at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or so until it was done.

As a side dish we cooked this Roasted Butternut Squash and Pear recipe from chow.com. We replaced th butter with coconut oil to keep it Paleo.

This is one of those dinners that you sit down to eat and say, "oh, this is so good", " this chicken is so delicious" over and over again. To say it was delicious just doesn't do justice. It was wicked delicious!

We have already ate it twice it was that yummy. Even if you have zero interest in eating Paleo, I highly recommend this delicious and easy recipe!

 

 

Raising Imperfection #13

Welcome to Raising Imperfection Lucky #13!

There will be no Raising Imperfection party next week on February 3 due to the Super Bowl. Lanaya will be glued to her TV watching her beloved 49ers!

 

<a href="http://www.violetimperfection.com" target="_blank"><img src=" http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t475/RaisingReagan/RIButtonFINAL.png" border="0" alt="Raising Imperfection "></a>

Tweet

 

Our co-hosts for this weeks party are....

Ashley from Life with Moore Babies

Krysta from Krystasteen.com

 

 

Sentimental Baby Buggy Photos

Here I am posting another photo shoot of Violet. This one is quite sentimental for our family. The baby buggy was purchased by my mom when she was pregnant with me for $25. Back then, that was a small fortune for my parents. I have this wonderful visual of my mom pushing me around our old neighborhood while I was a baby.

The dress Violet is wearing is a dress that my mother in law wore when she was a baby.

The bonnet was hand sewn by my mom, to match the dress. I think she did a great job.

The doll was picked out by Marc and I from Bit of Whimsey Dolls when I was pregnant. You can the doll patterns or buy ready made dolls.

Look at that sweet face. I love that these pictures incorporate special things from both sides of our family.

The buggy is in Violet's room, holding her already vast collection of stuffed animals.

We took the photos the last week of November. We gave them as Christmas gifts and they were a big hit. We took them in my living room in front of a plain white wall. We did some creative editing in some of the shots to crop out things but I think they came out great. I turned them sepia in an editing program to give them the old fashioned look. Here is what it looked like before the editing.

I used my simple point and shoot camera on the burst shot setting.

Do you have special family heirlooms that have been passed down to you or your children?

 

Feature Friday #12

Happy Friday! Marc has today off and we are off for some family fun, yaya! First, let's take a look at some of the amazing posts linked up at Sunday's Raising Imperfection.

If you are featured grab a button and make sure to head over to see Lanaya at Raising Reagan to see who she has featured, it might be you!

Our co-hosts for this weeks party are....

Ashley from Life with Moore Babies

Krysta from Krystasteen.com

Make sure to come link up on Sunday and enter for your chance to co-host next week with us!

<a href="http://www.violetimperfection.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t475/RaisingReagan/FFBadgeFINAL.png" border="0" alt="Feature Fridays "></a>

 

My first feature is from Angie at Snack Cups and Smiles and her adorable Valentine's Day printables. This one is my favorite but they are all so cute!

You all know I love Disney so I just can't resist this adorable stuffed Mike from Monster's Inc from Becca at Love Our Disney. The best part!? She included a free pattern so you can make your very own.

I think Violet is transitioning to one nap a day...I am not ready for that. I can relate to Janine's Confession of a Mommyaholic and her post If I Lose Nap Time.

The most viewed post this week is Top 10 Cake Decors from Javeriya at Believe & Inspire. Yum, I want cake now.

Hope to see everyone on Sunday to link up your favorite posts!

 

 

Currently...

I love Harvesting Kale's Currently link up every week. It is one of the posts I jump to read in my bloglovin feed. Each week I tell myself to plan to link up next week and each week I forget or already have something scheduled. Not this week my friends! My extreme lack of blogging motivation has made it so I can participate.

This Week's Theme: Watching, Instagramming, Tasting, Listening To & Learning

Watching....The Tinkerbell movies with Violet on Netflix. I had to find something other than Sesame Street that would keep her attention. I think it is a close call to who enjoys them more, me or her. The question I have is if they make more of these Tinkerbell movies will it address how she meets Peter Pan??

Instagramming....Daily pictures. I am trying to do a picture a day for the whole year. User name: violetsmum13 #photo365violetsmum13

Tasting....Paleo food. Marc and I are eating the Paleo diet a few days a week. We are slowly transitioning to eating that way full time. I like it so far even though it is freaking difficult.

Listening To...My Walt Disney World Four Parks One World CD, over and over again in the car. I miss Disney, it has been two long years since my last trip and we were supposed to leave this Saturday before we had to postpone. Sigh. I know there are a lot worse things but we need a family vacation, by we, I mean my husband and I. We need some care free fun!

Learning....That I need to go to bed early to function. The later I stay up the more likely I am to battle insomnia. Last Friday night, I only slept for 4 hours. It was brutal.

 

This was fun! What are you currently doing?