Well, It's Been A While...

Goodness, do I even remember how to blog? My last post was September (obviously you know that...) but I've been so busy! Since September, I've switched jobs, had my first spin on the highway into the ditch, started training for my first half marathon (!!!), celebrated some birthdays, and we got some work done on the house.

It's so nice finally having a house to call our own, that I can decorate however I please. Money's been tight, so the dollar store has been my go-to place for decorations. I got into the Fall spirit, as any blogger does, and loaded our place up with pumpkins and had some harvest spice melts going on our warmer for the last 2 months. I did some fun foot painting with our nephews and niece, and they turned out really well! They're supposed to read "Trick or treat, small [name]'s feet." It's nice having their footprints while they're still so young. We don't have any kiddos of our own to make those memories yet, but we can focus on just being a really cool Aunt and Uncle for now.

As you can tell by our Halloween costumes, we really love each other. I was originally planning to be a butterfly (as I was for work, complete with my sequin black blazer), but Rob came across this Cards Against Humanity costume on the internet and finally agreed to do a couples costume with me. It was a simple last minute DIY of poster board, chalk pen, and some yarn/twine. I was in the middle of my 4th round of Whole30 and may or may not have gave in that night to the spinach dip. Oops.

We finally got some pictures done!! Rob's sister is a photographer (Treasured Forever Photography) and her business has grown SO much this past year, and I was glad she could fit us in. She did such a wonderful job, and we had some decent timing. The leaves were almost all gone and the snow was definitely on it's way! She sent me a photo to use for our "new home/address" cards...which are still sitting on our kitchen counter, waiting for stamps. It's only been a year, what's another month? Haha! Also, Rob loves me. He doesn't love getting his picture taken though. Hence his expressions in said photos ;)

Rob started his 2nd year schooling for his electrician apprenticeship in October, and he has since completed it. Work doesn't want him back until after the new year, so he's had some time to do some work on the house over the past couple weeks. We finally painted the side entrance and are now just waiting for a steady income again before we decide on some new tile and getting the stairs done. Rob's been working on the baseboards too, and the living room already looks nicer with them on! Our floor is apparently terribly uneven, so there's more work to do. We have a few projects to finish up before his parents come out in April and I can't wait to have it all done.

The biggest change since September has been me switching school divisions. I definitely miss the old school, students, and staff, but I don't miss the 45 minute commute. I switched to our own town's school division and I'm finding the 10 minute walk a lot better on my self care, and our bank account. No more filling up the gas tank twice a week and I have an extra 2 hours in my day to fit in my exercising...and FarmVille, ha.Things are definitely working out, and I don't regret the switch at all!

Well, that's it for today. I'll be sure to update on my fitness journey and Whole30, along with whats going on this month. I really want to get back in to blogging, it's one of my resolutions for the new year...along with continuing my healthier lifestyle, but I'll be sure to share my list of goals for the new year :)

What have you been up to? I really need to catch up, so link me to your posts or just let me know in the comments!!

xo. Nicole

A Fresh Start

I officially went back to work last Thursday, but it was just prep work and staff meetings. Today marks the first day the kids are in school, and my first real day of work for this school year. I'm a little anxious, but I'm also excited! I enjoyed having my Summer off, but I'm looking forward to being in a routine again, and obviously the paychecks ;)

I totally had no idea what to do with myself yesterday. I wanted to be productive, but I also wanted to just sleep in and relax. Sleeping in didn't really go as planned and I tried to force myself to go back to sleep, so I was just even more tired. I cleaned the house just the other day, so I only had 2 loads of laundry to get through. Usually cleaning the house makes me feel productive and accomplished, but not yesterday. Both dogs and Koshka laid around all day. It was hard to get Gunner up, but Spencer was his usual energetic, puppy self, haha!

Today and tomorrow, September 1st, will be the beginning of a fresh start for me. I'm on day 22 of my 4th round of Whole30, but I plan to continue clean eating until at least Rob's birthday in October. I find it a lot harder to say no to certain foods (and wine) when I'm on day 31 or above because technically Whole30 was "over". I could do a Whole45 or Whole60, but I find it doesn't help with finding that balance. We also have a few events coming up that I won't have meals prepared for, like Thanksgiving in October.

My fresh start will include me actually going to 30 Minute Hit and having a generally more positive attitude towards work and other things in general. It was exhausting to have a negative attitude waking up for work, so that is definitely going to change. 

I've also been getting very bored with the regular foods I've eaten on Whole30, so I decided to stir things up a bit and actually try some of the recipes in their new book. Above is a breakfast, egg-free hash and it is SO good! My cousin and her boyfriend are starting their first round on September 10th and I am so excited! I really wish everyone would do a full round to feel how amazing they can actually feel. I made them dinner on Saturday night and made the sausage patties from the Whole30 book - they were actually really good! I didn't mix the ingredients well enough so we'd get mouthfuls of sage and garlic powder, but you live and learn, hahaha! 

I've put so many tabs in the book, and I'm determined to make each recipe in there. I'm looking forward to Fall and when the weather cools down for those yummy crock pot dinners. It's just not the same in the Summer, for me. My first crockpot meal is going to be those pulled pork carnitas *heart eyes for days*. I've heard such good things about them, they can only be delicious.

My new favourite thing is to infuse water. Pictured above is the water I've been addicted to for the past 4 days. It has frozen raspberries and torn, fresh mint leaves. So, so good!

Do you have any big plans for Fall? 

xo. Nicole

Ipsy - August Glam Bag

You guys, I don't know why I waited so long to sign up for Ipsy. It's seriously amazing. I love that it's relatively cheap too, for the amount of product you receive. Since starting and actually following through with my fitness journey, my self confidence has grown. It went from being basically non-existent to wearing tank tops and not thinking about my jiggle the entire time.

With my self confidence growing, so has my love of make up. I'm usually just a mascara and white-eyeliner-in-the-corner-of-my-eyes kind of girl, but that's changed. I really don't know how to do my make up actually, and I refuse to wear concealer or "contour" (whatever that is). I'm good with how my skin looks, thanks. I just really like that I'm comfortable wearing lip stain or lip stick now!

How convenient was it that Ipsy sent me a lipstick sample?! I love the colour and I'm happy that I got to try another shade, but I'm not really a huge fan of this one. It didn't last long and felt like I was wearing play lipstick. Do all lipsticks also taste like plastic or...lipstick, or do some actually feel weightless and are tasteless? I'm not sure I can really judge on that right now because I just don't know. I'll wear it again though because I really do love the colour on me!

I'm glad that they added a nail polish in my bag! Purple is my favourite colour and it went on really nice. It's been about a week and it just started chipping a day or so ago. It's definitely time to redo my nails, but that's a pretty good time frame for polish!

I haven't looked up this polish, so I'm not sure what colours there are and what their prices are like, but I plan to take a gander!

After everything, I'm looking forward to my next bag! Did you receive an Ipsy bag? Tell me what you think/thought!

xo. Nicole

MFJ v0.6 || Summer

It has been so nice to have the Summer off where I can focus on my eating and exercising. I don't have an excuse for not finding time to exercise, nor to be unprepared for Whole30. I've used my time off to my advantage, except for one full weekend and the odd day here and there. I haven't started another full round of Whole30, but I generally eat compliant. I spent 4 days in Banff and Canmore, Alberta for a bachelorette party which didn't involve any compliant meals or drinks. I also let myself have some wine and chips for my birthday party. Now that both of those events are over, I have longer periods of time between big events to focus on eating clean. 

There's a full 18 days in between the bachelorette party and the wedding, with a camping trip in between. It's easier to stay compliant during the camping trip because I could just bring my own Whole30 approved hot dogs, and bring some vegetables to roast over the fire...but I probably won't. I'm making the conscious decision to drink wine, eat s'mores, and eat whatever anyone else is bringing for the whole group. I'm not going to go overboard, because I know how I'll feel physically and mentally. I beat myself up for a while after my birthday party because I gained 9 pounds of bloat that took a whole week to go down completely. I went overboard and suffered the consequences. 

My friend, Allison, and I have made an agreement. We have to hold each other accountable by sending each other pictures of our meals and photo evidence that we exercised. Yesterday and today have gone well, though yesterday I overdid it. I ate 3 meals like usual, but I exercised in the morning and in the evening. I ended up dehydrating myself pretty badly and woke up Tuesday morning at 4am with a blinding headache and extreme thirst that I almost woke Rob up to take me to the hospital. It was agony, and even after Advil and lots of water and some food, my headache lingered until 11am. I've been eating clean, drinking tons of water, and sipping on coconut water to help me rehydrate. So far, so good. 

All of our Summer events are over as of August 9. We drive home from Canmore, Alberta that day so I still won't have any compliant food with me. August 10 I'm officially starting my 4th full round of Whole30. I hope to go longer than 30 days, but you never know what will pop up.

I shared some of my meals above. I have a whole head of iceberg lettuce and I'm finding good use for it before it goes bad. Tried to make lettuce wraps that ended up just being a gluten free version of sloppy joes. I've been putting my eggs (fried with EVOO and seasoning salt) on the lettuce too, and adding Frank's Red Hot Sauce on top. So good! Whole30 meals were daunting at first, trying to make sure everything was compliant and that I had enough food, but now it's easy and second nature of what to throw together.

Have you done Whole30? 

xo. Nicole

Embracing July

Having the Summer off is something that I look forward to again. Working in a school definitely has it's advantages, whereas working in retail doesn't really offer a whole 2 months to lay around and do nothing. The dogs are certainly enjoying having me around all day. 

I've spent a lot of my days just hanging around the house, doing the odd little job. I have a big list of things that need to be done before I go back to work, but it's really hard to find the motivation to sand, prime, and paint when I could be laying on the couch watching Netflix. It really sucks when I finally do do a job, like painting the office, only to have one wall look like utter crap and have to redo it (note to self: sand drywall before painting). 

I've been complaining about the length of my hair for a while now. It got so heavy that it would give me headaches when it was in a bun or a ponytail, and would get stuck in things when it was down. It was also pretty dead and would knot SO easily. For my birthday, Rob let me go spend all that $$$ to get my hair cut. I wanted it died a really light, ice blonde, but it didn't turn out that way. I'm going to get it done again before going back to work, I'm thinking bright purple or fire engine red! I'm in a love/hate relationship with my hair right now, too. I thought I wanted it shoulder length, but I wish I got it a bit longer. It hits my shoulders and curls outwards right now because of the length. Oh well, you live and you learn!

We had a huge heat wave pass through a couple weeks ago, and now we're getting a bunch of storms. It was really nice to get rain, considering the agricultural disaster that was declared in Alberta. I used to love storms a lot, though I still somewhat enjoy them. Now I have a house, a husband, and our fur babes to worry about in the event of a natural disaster, so I always get some anxiety when I see clouds like the ones above rolling in. A funnel cloud touched down in Calgary last week (that's about 3 hours from my house), and a super cell 1km wide tornado lasted almost 3 hours in Manitoba (far from here...) last night. The prairies are being hit pretty good this Summer and it's only July.

Spencer is fitting in just right here. Him and Gunner play each other out, and seriously love each other. It's like they really are brothers because they do snap at each other from time to time, but always turn it into playing again. We're having a hard time controlling his barking, so we're attempting to muzzle train right now. Our last resort is a bark collar, and we don't want to have to go there. He's a mom-suck though, always cuddling me! They're also like leeches. You can't walk around our place without both of them following you to see what's up. I love having him be a part of our family! 

This weekend, Rob and I are going camping to his dad's fiancee's lake lot about 2 hours from here. I'm pretty excited! I'm going to try to eat Whole30 style (kind of doing another round...more on that tomorrow!), but I know it's not completely realistic for me. I'm bringing wine and I've been craving a really good sandwich, you know, the kind with lettuce, tomatoes, and all sorts of condiments that totally aren't compliant on Whole30. This weekend also marks my Summer being half over, and it's bittersweet. I miss the routine of work and I'm looking forward to meeting all the new children in our classroom, but I'm enjoying the lack of stress right now.

Also, does anyone know how to make my sidebar picture NOT blurry?! I've tried everything!

Are you enjoying your Summer? What has it included so far?

xo. Nicole

Colour Me Rad 5K

This past Saturday, July 4, I participated in the 2015 Colour Me Rad 5K. I didn't get to run the entire 5, but we did some sprints. Next year I'm planning to run the whole thing, but this year was still fun! I have a 10K that I signed up for with a friend for October, so lots of training to do until then.

This time last year, I totally would have never done this...and if I did, it would have been straight walking and out of breath if I did decide to run. Sometimes it's crazy and overwhelming to think of my progress.All I follow on Instagram now are people who are also doing Whole30 and who work out. I need the motivation! While on Summer vacation, before I go for a run in the mornings, I browse Instagram and The Berry's Daily Motivation while I have a quick bite to eat and some coffee. Works like a charm ;)

What is motivation for you? 

xo. Nicole

Week's (Month's?) End || July 6

SNAPSHOTS:

1|| My friend and I started our own little book club that no one else wanted to join...so we're both reading Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins. I'll post about it when I'm done, but so far I seem to read 6+ chapters at a time. When I find the time to read, I go hard and the book's pretty good. Next, I'm hoping to read a book on Autism.

2|| My first official day of summer vacation! I mean, I had the weekend but does that really count if I already get every weekend off? ;) It was soo gloomy, cold, and wet that day that even the dogs were lethargic. 

3|| Our office/future-nursery-one-day wasn't painted when we did the rest of the house before we moved in because it's where we had all of our painting supplies, haha! I thought I completed my first Summer project, but it turns out I should have sanded the one wall before painting...ugh.

4|| My younger sister arrived last night from BC. She drove all by herself for the whole 14 hour drive, and even brought tea. She won a gift basket so we tried some of the tea - and it's Whole30 compliant! Win-win :)

Well, a whole month went by without any blogging. I mean, random ideas pop in to my head to post about, but then I forget to write them down and I forget them. I've also had a huge writer's block and I've been so busy with trying to find time to exercise and to keep actually cooking my meals. I'll find a balance but it's taking a long time.

xo. Nicole

MFJ V.05 || An Update

Since January 2, I've been on and off doing Whole30 rounds. You probably already knew that if you've read my previous posts, or follow me on Instagram. To date, I've completed 3 full rounds and am currently doing my 4th. It's crazy sometimes to think of how far I've come! I remember being so anxious before I started round 1. I also remember thinking I'd for sure mess it up and not complete a full round, but look at me now! 

My life has changed for the better, and everything is coming together. Whole30 honestly makes me feel amazing, and I'm definitely working hard to make this a lifestyle change. It can be tough some days to distinguish the difference between a diet and an actual lifestyle change, especially when there's donuts and candy at work. 

I started to incorporate exercise in April. I started with a spin class, but that's over now. As of last month, I now do stairs, hills, running, and 30MinuteHit. My secret is having a workout partner, haha! It holds me accountable, it helps me to encourage her and myself, and it makes it a lot more fun. My goals for myself include:

• Drinking at least one of my giant green jugs of water, every day. (I have yet to measure how much water is actually in it...)
• Exercising in some form at least 4 times a week.
• Finding balance with Whole30 and regular day-to-day life. I'm not sure what balance means for me, but I'm figuring it out.

A huge motivator for me was when Healthy is The New Skinny reposted and shared my photo. I treated myself to one of their tank tops and wore it the day after it arrived. I always get "wow I love your shirt!" when I'm wearing it while at work and when I'm working out. I used their hashtag, #healthyisthenewskinny in my photo and then they reposted it on their Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter! It has over 1,000 likes and the comments are amazing. I never thought that I could be someone else's motivation or inspiration. It's...motivating! 

I am excited for what the future holds. In just 5/6 months, I've lost 35 pounds and I've become more active than I've never been. I constantly think about where I'll be next January and I get so excited every time!

Seriously, if I can do it, you can do it. Just get rid of your excuses. I MAKE the time for exercise and meal prepping now. If you want something, you make it happen. 

I love the quote, 

"If you think you can or can't, you're right."

It is SO true.

xo. Nicole

Our Family is Growing by...

...4 paws! Everyone, meet Spencer. 

As soon as we got Gunner, we knew that we would want him to have a brother or a sister. Koshka kind of hates Gunner, so we knew a dog would be the way to go. Now is a perfect time because we have our own house, so there's stability and a yard. Our hearts are full with love for this dude!

When we got Gunner, we got him off an ad on Kijiji and as an 8 week old pup. Since having him and always hearing horror stories about rescue dogs, we decided to go the rescue pup route this time. We went through SCARS and we couldn't be happier! They found Spencer on the side of the road in Saskatchewan with an injured paw. They had an 'open house' on Mother's Day for people to go and meet a bunch of dogs that were available to be adopted. Spencer was there and I fell in love. He was so sweet, calm, gentle, and really loved having us pet him. He is still pretty bony and timid. He flinches when I raise a hand to grab something, and when we take out a collar/leash to go for a walk. He also isn't a huge fan of toys, as he runs away or tries to cuddle with me when Rob and Gunner are tossing around his ball. My guess is that he was tied up for most of his puppy life and finally got out. They estimate him to be a Border Collie/Australian Shepard mix, and about 11 months old.

Spencer is a total mom-suck and has cuddled me ever since he arrived. I love it! Him and Gunner get along so well, except Gunner's excessive energy is sometimes too much for Spencer. We know having him here is a process for all of us. We have so much to learn about Spencer, and he has so much to learn about people. I think he's coming to understand that we're nice and that we love him because of his cuddles and he paws me in the face in the morning. His hind legs are still too weak for him to jump up on to our bed, but we'll get there. 

I am so in love with Spencer, and I am so grateful for organizations like SCARS for doing what they do. Without them, we wouldn't have met our Spencer and he wouldn't have found his Furever home. 

Have you ever rescued an animal? I'd love to hear more!

xo. Nicole

Currently || May

Apparently it's been an entire month since I've blogged last, but that's okay...right? I'm not going to apologize for my absence, though I think about this little space almost every day. I'm sure I could blog more, but my self care is way more important. I'm still doing Whole30 and as of May 5, I'm down 31 pounds. I feel it everywhere. I feel it in my body, at work, at home, at the grocery store...I just feel 1000 times better than I ever have. I have my rough days, but they're worth it. 

My in-laws were visiting for a week, which turned out to be longer than a week. My father-in-law wanted to help us even more with some home renovation projects, so he stayed an extra 5 days. Him and my husband got SO much done. Our floors are fixed (no more creaking!), basement is purged of all the previous home owner's junk, basement is organized, bathroom got fixed up a bit (we still have a total renovation to do though), a door frame was taken out and drywalled, and some doors were put on the bedrooms! I don't even know how to express how much I appreciate all the time and energy put in to these projects, even though it was their 'vacation'.

Currently, I've been...

Designing || Pretty much nothing except for myself. Does that even make sense? I'm in the middle the long journey of finding and loving myself. While Whole30 is amazing and a healthy lifestyle really does start in the kitchen, I need to exercise too. I joined a spin class for the month of April, but this month I'm really going to push myself and join 30 Minute Hit. I can't wait!

Enjoying || Having our own home! While we're pretty much broke, it's still so enjoyable to come home to our own home. I'm enjoying Pinterest a lot too, because of the decorating ideas. We have a few more things to finish up, like painting and putting the baseboards on, then I can start decorating.

Ordering || Cards. Lots of cards apparently. I ordered a big package from JulieAnnArt and I can't wait to send out all our cards. We're just waiting on a decent day for my sister in law to take some photos of us for our "first home" pictures. I also ordered some Mother's Day cards. I'm on the hunt for some sundresses though!

Celebrating || Losing 31 pounds! There's not much else going on really, but this is a good reason to celebrate. I'm celebrating with continuing to eat healthy and by joining 30 Minute Hit.

Tasting || I tried a new meatloaf recipe the other day and I'm looking forward to trying some more new recipes. Everything is Whole30 compliant, so I really do feel good about eating it all.

xo. Nicole

Currently || April

Happy Friday! I hope your guys' week was awesome :) Today I'm linking up with Jenna and Anne for this month's Currently post. Did you link up?

Wearing|| Pajamas, all day. It's my spring break, as I've mentioned quite a few times already, and I just don't want to change out of my comfy clothes. I've had one day so far where I dressed up, and it was to visit with my grandma. That visit was long overdue! I'll have to dress up again this weekend for our Easter dinner, though.

Sipping|| Coffee. All the coffee. I'm also experimenting with some teas, but so far peppermint is my go-to in the evenings..but there's only so much coffee one can drink before they get the shakes ;)

Wishlisting|| Everything for our new home! I'm decorating the guest bedroom right now, then it's the bathroom, then the living room, and who knows where else after that. I wish we had a ton of money to just buy everything now, but that's obviously not the case. Slow and steady!

Writing|| Nothing really except for some blog posts. I have more time during the day to plan posts and then to actually get them done, haha! My favourite thing is to wake up, sip coffee, and read some of your blog posts. I love spring break!

Exploring|| IKEA, apparently. We've been there every Saturday since we moved. I'm sure we'll be there again sometime this weekend to pick up a mattress if we can't find a better deal anywhere else. It's fun, and stressful, to plan how we're going to decorate. Who knew picking a colour of drapes was so trying on our marriage ;)

Maxfield House || Guest Bedroom

It's one of the best feelings to finally own our own home. It's also great to know that we have a spare bedroom so more people can visit and spend the night without being uncomfortable on the couch. This means that our family and friends from BC are more likely to come see us now, knowing they have somewhere to stay for free instead of a hotel. Our first visitors come in 2 weeks so I've got two weeks to kinda make the room feel a little more comfortable. Currently, we're residing in there until we get our new mattress this coming weekend. 

This is a picture of the room I snapped on our final walk-through before we got possession of the house:

I've been browsing Pinterest like crazy trying to find ideas. There are sooo many options, but my goal is to make the room feel bright, happy, and cozy! Here are some of my ideas:

Laundry || Wifi || Bathroom || Be Our Guest || Blanket basket || Stay Awhile || Pillow crate

I definitely want "Be Our Guest" in the room somewhere, so I picked up some wooden letters from Michael's to nail on to the wall. How? Not sure yet, but that'll come to me soon. I also want to make a gallery wall full of friend and family quotes/prints and "Stay Awhile" fits right in! Extra blankets in a guest room is always a must because what may be a fine temperature for us, may not be fine for our guests. I'll just have to keep the door closed so Koshka doesn't sneak in and get fur all over the blankets ;)

Having been an overnight guest at someone's home, what sorts of things were missing? What kinds of things were there that you LOVED?

xo. Nicole

Weeks End || March 29

SNAPSHOTS:

1|| My Sunday was allll about cleaning and getting ready for my week, which happens to be spring break ;) My Grandma is coming over tomorrow (!!!), and Rob still has to work all week.

2|| Forced myself to go for a run. Felt so good! I woke up the other morning with a charley horse and it's finally feeling better, only 3 days later.

3|| We got our first bedroom set from IKEA! I swear we've spent every Saturday there since we moved in. Next weekend we're finally getting a mattress for it.

4|| My first day of spring break involved me laying on the couch with Gunner watching Teen Mom.

5|| Still loving this pink lip stain that I've had in my make up bag forever and never used. Whole30 has given me way more confidence than before.

6|| We went to a surprise birthday party for Rob's step brother and Rob held his new nephew. Ugh, my ovaries...

What did your week consist of? We were at IKEA again on Saturday to pick up some curtains and curtain rods and we put our marriage through the IKEA test trying to hang the rods up, haha! We had no problems with the bedroom set, but Rob couldn't find a stud around the window to drill the brackets in to for the curtains, and that got pretty frustrating. In the end, we got 3 rooms done.

I am so pumped to finally be on spring break! It's 11 days of doing whatever I want! 11 days of sleeping in while Rob goes to work, and 11 days of cuddling Gunner. My plan is to do a few minor things around the house, and then to get the guest bedroom ready and decorated for my in-laws, who come out in April for a week. Pinterest and I have a love/hate relationship though. I spend too much time on it and then don't end up getting any of my ideas done in time ;)

xo. Nicole

Weeks End || March 16

SNAPSHOTS:

1|| Last Sunday was allll about snail mail. I sent about 5 cards out, though I still have some more to catch up on. 

2|| Gunner was snoozing beside me and I couldn't stop myself from taking a picture. I love it when he puts his snout between his paws!

3|| Sunshine!! Gunner looks like such a poser here, haha.

4|| I opened a window in the living room and the animals didn't know what to make of it. It's so nice here but I have so many things to do inside, that I jumped for joy when I realized it was nice enough to open a window.

*hahaha, 75% of this week's pictures involve Gunner. #sorrynotsorry

WHAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:

1|| I shared some of my important Whole30 essentials. My hope is that this post will help you get started if you've been thinking about it. (It's really easier than it looks!)

2|| I shared a Whole30 compliant side dish, aka Broccoli ;)

Yesterday, Rob and I went to West Edmonton Mall for some shopping as most of my pants are falling off (not good when part of your job involves running around). I bought the first pair of jeans that I tried on, and they're 2 sizes smaller than the pair I just threw away! Go me! 

How was your week?

xo. Nicole

Mmmm || Roasted Broccoli

K, I totally realize that I keep saying I won't just be posting Whole30 stuff, but I just want to keep sharing the yummy recipes and my victories! Today I'm sharing with you an exceptionally easy side for any meal of the day. It's totally my favourite!

All you'll need is:

• Broccoli (however much you'll need for dinner, or for several meals. I usually fill the mixing bowl!)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
• Salt (or any seasoning of your choice)

Now, all you'll need to do is preheat your oven to 400*F then throw all your ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. Mix, mx, mix and then lay on a baking sheet.

Cook for roughly 10-15 minutes and then let cool for 2 minutes. It's such a tasty and filling side dish, you could even add slivered almonds if you wanted to make it fancy. It's completely Whole30 compliant/Paleo!

You can serve with any meal, and almost any food that that meal is made of. The two pictures above are two different kinds of broccoli and both served with apple pork chops (2 different styles, too)! I hope you enjoy!

xo. Nicole