Thanks Y'all

No really, thank you so much for all of the kind comments here and on Instagram. I've been really salty about this and the longer it went the madder I became. Like I said before. F them. F the haters.

So, where to begin... lots of things have happened since I last posted. Apparently 460+ pictures that need to be uploaded worth of things. Awesome.

Let's do roses and thorns. For those folks who aren't familiar, that's when you post something nice, (roses), and something not so nice, (thorns).

Rose: Still on Jenny Craig, still working on my weight loss journey!
Thorn: STILL on my trip, still not at goal. Let's be honest, I've eaten like crap over the last 2 months because making vegetables with one hand is hard. Eating cereal while bouncing a baby is easy. I've probably gained back 7-ish pounds from my lowest back in March.
Rose: I'm not stopping. This week is my first full week back on track and I've been to the gym 2x this week so far. Coordinating gym and baby isn't easy. In a month I can take her to the kid's club at the gym. One month more...

Rose: I won the Halloween costume contest at work. 

There's nothing bad about dressing up as Hulk Hogan

Rose: Took my first trip to Texas for work in November. I've never been to Texas before and in the last several months I added 4 more states to the list of "states I've visited".

Thorn: It was over the election. It was rough to be in another state and be "on" when all I wanted to do was hide under the covers and drink wine. 

Thorn: AND I missed Hillary coming to NC State the evening before the election WITH BON JOVI. Bon Jovi came with her to the midnight rally. I would have lost my shit. So bummed about that one.

Rose: But hey, you know, Texas was new and it was Austin so most people were super sad and protesting in the streets.

Rose: The brisket was good. 

Rose: We went to NYC and NJ for the family Hanukkah party for the first time.

Rose: NYC during the holidays is cold and awesome. 

Thorn: Really though? I ate my weight in bagels. Other than that, nothing was bad.

Rose: We went to New Orleans to celebrate Kev's birthday and that was pretty awesome.
Thorn: Holy shit I had no idea just how devastating Hurricane Katrina was. That was some BS.
Rose: NOLA is great. The food, the booze... noms.

Rose: WE GOT A BABY! Come on now, OF COURSE this is hands down the best thing that's happened in the past few months. There's a much longer story to tell, which I will later. The adoption agency, the matching, the how completely unprepared we were. I mean, we've wanted a baby for a very long time but I'd never changed a diaper in my life until we got to the hospital. And we'd purchased 0 things before she arrived. Literally nothing. I was wandering around Target texting my SIL asking how many onesies a baby needed. Again, another story to tell.
Thorn: There will always be bumps along the adoption road, but in the end, it was so worth it.

Super quick recap, but let's be honest, you know I have some thoughts on baby things. So many thoughts on baby things, but this will by no means turn into a "mommy blog". Kill me first please.

Thanks everyone! 

Protein Powder Review and Faux- Mac and Cheese

This post is kind of a hodgepodge of things but hey, I'm pretty random too. 

Last week I got some pretty exciting KD news that I can't share quite yet but I'm super excited about it! Also I found out that I'm up for the Outstanding Greek Advisor award at NC State. The awards ceremony is October the 20th and even though I'm thrilled to be nominated, I still want to win. :)

A few weeks ago I received a tweet from Protein Milk Shake Bar asking if I would be interested in trying their protein powder. I'm always looking for a good protein source that doesn't bring sadness, and after I say it didn't have any soy, I was on board to give it a shot. There were a ton of delicious flavors like cupcake batter and ice cream sandwich. I decided to go with the Rocky Road.

I really liked that it didn't have any soy, the carb count was pretty low and it had a good bit of protein.

I mixed it with a cup and a half of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I took a sip and I was immediately struck buy how much it tasted like rocky road, I could definitely taste the marshmallow and the nutty goodness. The other thing was how sweet it was. I don't add sweetener to anything any more. I drink my coffee and tea black and only have unsweetened seltzer. I think that's part of the reason why it was so sweet to me. If you like a protein powder that tastes like candy, this is for you!

So, something completely different. A few weeks ago I made a cheesy spaghetti squash casserole recipe I found here. Hands down, this recipe changed my life. I'm not even exaggerating, and I am prone to exaggeration... This is stupid good and you have to buy one of the 5000 spaghetti squashes that are out there right now and make this.

Ingredients

• Olive oil cooking spray
• 2½ cups (1 lb., 450 grams) cooked spaghetti squash
• ½ plain Greek yogurt
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a 1.5-quart baking dish with olive oil cooking spray.
2. If you need to cook the spaghetti squash, follow instructions 1-5 here: spaghetti squash recipe.
3. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Bake until browned, 40-45 minutes (it will smell wonderful!).
4. Allow to cool 10 minutes, then carefully cut into squares

Just eat it now.

That's all for me! I'm spending the day cruising around NYC, check out my Instagram for all the details!

Influenster review

Back in May I received an e-mail from Influenster informing me that I had been selected to join their program. OK, cool, what is it? In a nutshell, Influenster is a community of trend setters who get to review products and share their thoughts on various products. Well, I'm game, I have a big mouth and I like trying new things. A few weeks after that I was pretty excited to see that I'd been chosen to receive the Surfs Up Vox Box which was full of all sorts of fun things for me to review. It was waiting when Kev and I got back from NY and I was pretty stoked to dive in.

The contents: Coupons for Jamba Juice at Home Smoothies, Not Your Mother's shampoo and conditioner, First Aid Shot Therapy, Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Lotion and Sinful Colors Nail Polish.

Since we needed groceries, I headed over to Harris Teeter with my Jamba Juice at Home Smoothies coupons in hand. I was pretty stoked to learn that they do double coupons every day and my $1 off coupon turned into $2 off, and the other one was free. I got the Strawberries Wild and the Green Fusion pouches.

I have to say, I was a fan. They each had little pieces of frozen juice, fruit and yogurt. When I made mine I added some protein powder to help it stick longer, ice cubes, some additional fruit and coconut milk. This is what the Green Fusion base looked like. Not green at all, which wasn't a big deal to me if it was, but I could see other people not wanting to have a green beverage.

Each pouch made 2 smoothies but it would be easy to use the entire pouch for one big one. They were $3.59 each at the store, so definitely less expensive than if you went to a smoothie shop. 

Next up, the Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration After Sun lotion.

I loved this! I use it after my after-pool shower and it's fantastic. It has a lightly coconut scent and is a combination of aloe and lotion, hence the swirls in the bottle. I really liked how it seemed to cool my skin while hydrating. I hate goopy lotions and this wasn't, it was really light and went on smoothly. 2 thumbs up!

Sinful Colors Nail Polish:

Super fun color for the summer, it's a shimmery teal. I put it on my toes because I was still sporting a fresh gel mani. I was actually pretty pleased with the polish. It went on really smoothly, you just need to make sure there it's too much on the brush because it it a little runny. Other than that, the color was really fun for the summer and after a week of having it on, it's held up pretty well. No chipping at all!

Not Your Mother's Texturizing Shampoo and Conditioner.

This also has a really pleasant coconuty scent. I got 2 uses out of the samples I was sent and I definitely feel a difference in my hair after using it. I've never really used a texturizing shampoo before and I do feel like there's more weight to my hair. My hair generally curls well and it lasts a while, I didn't notice any difference between using this product and my regular shampoo and conditioner.

And finally, First Shot Therapy

I generally don't take a lot of pain killers. I'd rather look for a natural remedy. I had a slight headache and decided to give it a taste. The flavor isn't good, it's kinda bitter and I don't taste any berry. Also, when I took a sip I got really nervous because I tasted an artificial sweetener. I'm allergic to aspartame and I really hoped that wasn't what I just drank. Thankfully it was sucrolose but it was really hard to find that info on the bottle. I'd definitely pass on this one and just take an aspirin if I really needed one.


All in all, I was really excited to receive the box and have the opportunity to try out new products!

What "new to you" product have you tried recently??
I received these products complementary from Influenster for testing purposes but all thoughts and comments are my own.