From the Week

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

TGIF for reals. I love Fridays so much. Just a few random things to share from the week..

Eats: We had some pretty decent dinners this week. Turkey meatballs, bbq pulled chicken sandwiches, roasted pork loin, and shepherds pie. Not too shabby. Plus, it allowed me to use a lot of the stuff we already had on hand. The more I can stretch a dollar..

I threw some spinach in my protein pancakes on Wednesday and it didn’t disappoint. I can’t wait to have them again!

I also made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and have been secretly waiting for ‘dessert time’ every day because…chocolate chip cookies.

Another one of my Sticky9 orders came in the mail and I was really excited to go through them. The quality isn’t 100% super on the photos themselves, but the little square cards are so cute and they make for great decorations. Wes loves seeing them up around the house and giggles when he notices any photo that he’s in.

I picked up a forward facing carrier off kijiji for $5 and Wes JUST fits in it, but we wanted to see if having him in a carrier that faces out might help free our hands and allow him to look around. Because it’s a bit too snug, I’ll only be using it around the house. He seemed to really love it! But pulling him out of it is a task in itself 🙂

We also walked over to the library to pick up some new books. I had to take a picture of the one Wes loves best in case I ever need to buy it or something. I’ll miss his giggles each time I get to the last page.

Since the weather has been so nice, just about all of our errands this week have been on foot! I love getting Wes out in the fresh air.

Other than that, we’ve been just hanging around and being silly together. His naps have been all over the place, but I’ve managed to squeeze in my workouts each day + take the dogs on nice walks once Tyler gets home (loving that the walks are during the tail end of daylight, too!).

PS: I’m on snapchat now! I didn’t understand it for the longest time, but I think I’m finally getting the hang of it. Add me! (please?)

That’s pretty much it on our end. Weekend plans include a trip to Costco and family time (hopefully some of it outdoors!)

Review: [Manitoba Harvest Hemp Heart Bars]

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hi friends! I hope you’re having a good day so far. I’m typing this on Monday night and it’s been a busy day on our end! Wes is getting his 4th and 5th teeth and he has been handling it like an absolute champ. I think the key is distracting him with lots of stuff- snacks, toys, going outdoors, and a bath. Hopefully the trend continues the next few days, I’d hate to see him get too cranky over darn teeth!

I have a pretty cool snack I wanted to share with you guys today: Manitoba Harvest Hemp Heart Bars.

What are they? Manitoba Harvest Hemp Heart bars are crafted with the goodness of hemp and other tasty ingredients too. There are three different delicious flavors to choose from: vanilla, chocolate and apple cinnamon. Each 45 gram bar contains 10 grams of plant-based protein and 10 grams of omegas.

Don’t know what hemp is? Click here to read more about it.

As a Sweatpink ambassador, I was given the opportunity to try out these bars and share my thoughts with you! I received 2 sample bars to try- one chocolate and one apple cinnamon. The flavors sounded pretty cool, but I was quick to flip the bars over and check out their nutrition stats and ingredients.

Yeah, they’re a bit calorie dense for a smallish bar, but they have some pretty great ingredients, protein and healthy fats! These are definitely bars I would keep in my bag or in the car in case hanger (hungry anger) ever hit.

I first tried the apple cinnamon, and thought it had a pretty good flavor. It kept me satisfied between an early light lunch and dinner and didn’t have any nasty aftertaste or cause any bloat. I stashed the chocolate bar in my purse as an emergency snack for the various events I was attending last week and it came to my rescue! The chocolate is pretty good- just short of actual chocolate, but without the guilt.

Not sorry for the leopard print bra there. ha!

I’m not really a vanilla person, so not sure if I would ever pick those up, but I love the two I received and would definitely purchase them for future use. I didn’t think I was a picky eater until it came to the whole ‘snacking’ thing and I realized I look for quality ingredients as a means to give me the proper fuel I need. Especially when I’ve got a 10 month old in tow and need to keep my energy levels up at all time.

Another factor that makes these a winner in my book? They’re Canadian made! #gocanada

Want to try these bars for yourself? Head on over to ManitobaHarvest.com and use the discount code hhbarlaunch1015 for 15% off! Expires 3/31/2016

Want a chance to win a box of your favourite flavor of Hemp Heart Bars? Post a photo online and tag @manitobaharvest #hempheartbar #fuelledbyhemp #sweatpink @fitapproach. One lucky winner will be chosen each month! (details here).

Eligibility: open to US and Canada residents

Weekender

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

There should be a day between Sunday and Monday called Sleepday. I feel wiped from the past week and just want to curl up under the covers and doze off for a good long while. Weird since I am still averaging 8+ hours of sleep each night. So, a rather quick recap of the weekend:

Friday: Pancakes. Duh, I know. I love them so much. This week they’ll probably be green because I’ve got a huge container of spinach sitting in the fridge. Hope they turn out ok!

After quickly squeezing in a workout, walk with the dogs and a shower, I met up with Jen for an afternoon industry tasting session of Winefest.

It was a pretty neat session since it was FAR less crowded than normal. We were able to chat with many of the vendors and learned a few things. And drank wine. Mmm, wine.

Saturday: I didn’t sleep a wink the night before, so the morning was a rough go. (More from the lack of sleep than from the wine. I feel so grown up?) Tyler made a delicious breakfast and I ended up napping on the couch..then being a couch potato for most of the rest of the day.

Remember when I thought I killed my computer? We ordered a replacement before determining the existing still worked. So- we sold the old computer and I got to open the new one! Even though it’s exactly the same, it’s a bit exciting. Although now my pictures are all backed up on a separate hard drive and I’m dreading having to sort through them eventually.

And my child loves cheese.

I gave Wes a quick bath while Tyler brought his mom back to the airport then quickly hopped in the car to head to Winefest AGAIN.

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This time, I met up with Susie and opted to try more of the white wines. This tasting was open to the public, so there was a lot of interesting people watching! I wound up eating more than drinking (maybe 1 full glass total?) and was home by 10:30. I have to remember that I’m no good at staying out late anymore! It was still a lot of fun 🙂

Sunday: With Wes being on a 1-nap-a-day kick, he has been going down a lot earlier each night, but also stirring a bit earlier in the morning. I got him out of his crib at 7:15am and he actually fell asleep on me for an additional hour! I would have loved the extra sleep myself, but I sat there and soaked up the giant baby cuddles.

Tyler requested waffles for breakfast which I was all to happy to make! They had to be vegan waffles because we ran out of eggs. It took a lot of willpower for me to not eat any of the leftovers and store them in the freezer for a future last minute breakfast.

A good order of operations: make breakfast BEFORE scrubbing every inch of your bathroom clean. Man alive do bathroom gets gross or what? I was on hands and knees getting behind the toilet and everything. Nasty.

After Wes’s nap, we opted to head down to the Foothills Hospital Home Lottery home.We bought a few tickets for it this year, and needed to check out our potential new home 😉 This is the first year that we actually really liked it! Every room was pretty darn awesome.

Since the house is on an island, we had to take a shuttle. Wes was a trooper the entire time!

Before dinner, I was about to take the dogs for a walk and noticed Layla’s tags were missing from her collar. I ended up taking them on the same route as the day before to see if they had fallen off anywhere, but no luck. I took them for another walk after dinner to just unwind and go at a decent pace since it was them dark and no sense trying to look for the tags then.

Ok, I’ve done about 300 loads of laundry today, most of the house is clean, and I’m wiped. Hope you had a great weekend!

From the Week

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

And here it is again. Friday. One of the best days ever. Even though I’m not working, I still love Fridays- there’s something about the whole mood of the day that makes everything at least 10% happier. Some stuff from … Continue reading →

Small Shoppin’- Will & Co.

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hey friends! Boy oh boy do I have an awesome little shop to share with you.

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Will&Co: Julia Mathers is the creater of Will&Co. She is an early childhood educator that has been in the field for over a decade and absolutely adore what she does. She started Will&Co after a few friends were after some knit goods for their children.. toques, headbands etc. She has been knitting since she was a child and can’t watch tv without having my knitting with her! The name Will&Co comes from her dad Barry William Mathers and a few other Will’s that have been in her life.

Her shop is based out of Kelowna, BC (Um I want to move there) so if you’re looking to support Canadian made, this is the place! She makes toques, booties, little boy boy ties and kidfinity scarves. Lots of goodies for the littles.

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Julia sent us twinning the 50 Shades toques and they’re my newest favorite accessory. The name is pretty cool too 😉

The knit is so cozy and soft that Wes doesn’t even mind his on his head. No itch=no pulling off his noggin! I’m the same way. I accidentally kept it on for a couple of hours even when we got back inside!

Julia’s focus is mainly on accessories for children, but I am REALLY glad she ventured in to these twinning toques! She also mentioned that she’s getting into Mama Cabin Booties (to match the baby cabin booties.) Well, I guess I’ll need those too 😉

I mean, seriously, how adorable are these?–>

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You can’t tell from the photo, but they have stitched leather soles made from 100% recycled leather. I remember seeing on her Instagram feed that they’re pretty durable, too. Noted for when Wes becomes a littler wanderer.

The look she aims for is simple, rustic and classic. And she definitely hits the nail on the head. There’s even a small personalized leather WILL sown to each toque. Super cute!

Julia’s also got a spring line of bow ties and kidfinity scarves which are set to be released on February 28th. Vancouver friends: this is the same day that Little Bean + Co will be launching their mobile shop which will be carrying some Will & Co products!

Here’s a sneak peak:

The spring Kidfinity scarves are a light jersey knit blend, perfect for layering over tanks and t-shirts.These are priced at $14 CDN. The bow ties are same as the existing, just in three new patterns and they are priced at $12 CDN.

We already have a bow tie for Wes and he likes to rock it out now and then.

Julia has graciously offered a 20% discount to readers! American friends: this is a steal for you with the current exchange rate. Use the code NUTCASEINPOINT at checkout and promo is valid until March 31st.

Thanks Will & Co!