December 2016 Stitch Fix Review # 11

Hi Everyone!!

I took a break there for awhile from Stitch Fix but I am back. I just received my 11th fix, wow 11th!! Guys, these are SO MUCH FUN!! If you haven't tried it yet, it's a must. Use some of your Christmas money and try it out. To sign up and create a profile, start here! And then you can schedule your fix for whenever you want. There is an option to receive automatic monthly fixes, or you can opt to schedule yourself as you want, which is the option I chose. Before I get into my five items I received, I just want to share briefly a little about AdvoCare and this "All In" challenge coming up. Chances are, if you know someone who is involved with AdvoCare, you have heard of the nationwide challenge coming up in January 2017. For those of you who may be interested in hearing more, well here is a brief overview:

The 24 day challenge is a food based program. It focuses on eating clean, healthy foods such as fruits, veggies, lean meats/protein, complex carbs and healthy fats. The first 10 days are a very mild cleanse. This is NOT a juice only diet - you eat 5-6 healthy meals and take a probiotic, fish oil, fiber drink & a cleanse tablet each day. You cannot drink coffee on the challenge but have no fear, Spark to the rescue! Spark is a vitamin packed, flavored drink you mix with water - it's awesome!! Then the next 14 days you move into what we call the "max phase" where you continue the same eating of 5-6 healthy meals per day and you take core vitamins. Essentially the cleanse phase cleans your system and gets you ready for the max phase which is the optimal nutrition part. If you want to read about my first 24 day challenge experience, click here. Those are my first ever results from my challenge. And in case you are wondering, the challenge is not meant to be a program where you lose the weight and then fall off the wagon. It's rather a kick start to a healthier lifestyle change that you continue on past the 24 days, which is what it has become for me. If you are at all interested, shoot me an email or click the link below. It's not too late to join us for the All In January 2017 challenge that will begin January 2nd (or the 9th for several of our group members).

Check out the 24 Day Challenge or Purchase Here

Onto my December Stitch Fix =)

First of all, this fix was delivered at the best time EVER. Christmas Eve morning!! I had my outfit all planned out for the evening and that suddenly changed thanks to this little box appearing on my doorstep. Look at the amazing textures and colors of these items......

[one] Pixley - Greenich Striped Knit Top. I am a lover of stripes so I was excited to see this top in my fix. Plus, I had pinned it on Pinterest and my awesome stylist definitely picked up on that. The top is a little more clingy and fitted than I had liked. I loved the burgundy stripes and the leather elbow material was such a cute little added touch to the shirt. This item was the lowest price in my box at $48.00.

Verdict: Unsure

[two] Andrew Marc - Kayseri Faux Leather and Knit Moto Jacket. I will be honest, right away, I knew I would not keep this. Being a mom of three little kiddos, I rarely make it out on the town & when I do, I don't really dress up too much so I am guessing this jacket would just sit in my closet most of the time and not get much use, if any. Sadly, I had to return.

Verdict: Returned 

[three] Unpublished - Athenia Button Back Top. So these polos are sooooo in style right now. So much so that I got two for Christmas!!!! LOL! Unfortunately, I wasn't completely, madly, had to have it, in love with this top so I returned. But the colors and buttons on the back of the shirt were on point.

Verdict: Returned

[four] Fate - Salena Mixed Material Pullover. When I first saw this shirt, I thought, "okay this could be cute." When I tried it on for the first time, I thought, "no way." Then, when I tried it on with my favorite black leggings, I was blown away. I LOVE everything about this shirt. Love the color. Love the "looseness" of it. Love the length of it. Love the pocket on it. Love the mixed material at the bottom of the shirt. It looks amazing with black leggings and I even tried it on again to snap some pics, and it looked great with my new jeans (on sale at Nordstrom right now for $45 BTW). Perfect to dress down w/jeans or dress up to go out. This was a MUST.

Verdict: Kept!!!!

Here is the shirt on me Christmas Eve

[five] Loveappella - Leila Knit Dress. This was super soft and cozy, very cute pattern & loved the material, however, not my style at all so I could not keep this.

Verdict: Returned

What do you all think???? Did I make the right decisions??  Follow my new blog over at WhittneyHills.com

Almond Crusted Lemon Chicken

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2-4 


Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts 
• 1 cup almond meal 
• 1 egg 
• 2 lemons 
• handful of fresh parsley (about 3 tsp chopped)

Directions:

1. Cut chicken breasts in half, width wise, so they are thin.
2. In a bowl, mix almond meal, finely chopped parsley & the zest of one lemon. 
3. In another bowl, beat egg.
4. Dip each piece of chicken in the egg and then in the almond mixture. 
5. Using EVOO, cook chicken in a pan on low to medium heat until cooked thoroughly (about 5-10 minutes on each side). The outside of chicken should be a light golden color.Optional: Squeeze the juice of the first lemon on top of the chicken while it cooks.
6. Serve with second squeezed lemon. I served mine with broccoli and brown rice.

Five on Friday # 7

Happy Friday Friends! Linking up with Natasha over at Hello!Happiness for a Five on Friday post.

[one] Neighborhood Spring Celebration. This past Saturday, we went to our neighborhood spring celebration complete with Mr. & Mrs. Peter Rabbit, Easter egg hunt, games, and food. My in-laws were in town so they got to join in on the fun! The boys sat on the Easter bunny's lap, got to hunt for eggs, and run around with their grandparents & friends. It was awesome. I always love to take my kids to the community activities because we always see lots of friends and it's a great way to get my kids tired out!

[two] Kings Game. Last Saturday night, Andrew and I took Mason to the Kings game while grandma and grandpa watched Owen. It was so nice to have alone time with our big boy Mason - he loved getting all the attention! Being Kings fans, we naturally really dislike the Anaheim Ducks. The guy who has season tickets to the Kings games in front of us always wears a "Duck Hunter" outfit to the games where the Kings play the Ducks. Well, Saturday they played the Ducks and he wore his costume. Mason got to put it on and turned into a different kid! He got SOOO serious & was all into it! Here are some pictures from the game!

[three] My new AdvoCare shirt!!!! Some of my friends and I who all are into AdvoCare just signed up to do our first expo through our community! We are so excited and all bought some new gear, this shirt included!

[four] San Bernardino Train Days. Last Sunday we got to go to the San Bernardino train days. Mason LOVES trains so this was a treat  for him. They also had a few firetrucks lined up outside so that was an added bonus! Here are some pictures from our day there.

[five] OC Half Marathon Training. Well I did it. I made it official. I signed up for my second half marathon, the OC half on May 3rd. I had an awesome training run last Saturday morning with my friend Ryann who is also training for the half and whom I run with weekly. She was basically my inspiration to start running all together (I started running mid 2013 & ran my first half in Feb 2014). For the past couple months we have been trying to get at least one long run in on the weekends. We have been slacking off majorly but were able to get an 11 miler in last week. Our normal long training run paces average around 9-930 minute miles. If you look below, you will see our pace was well under 9 minutes which is awesome for us!!!! After having some great training runs the past couple weeks, I'm hoping to do my half under an 830 pace.... wish me luck!! (Wouldn't that be awesome if I could do the half under 1:50?!!?! Wishful thinking?! =))

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend! Happy Easter! 

Five on Friday # 5

I'm linking up with Natasha over at Hello! Happiness for a Five on Friday post. Can't believe this will be my fifth FOF link-up! Seems like I JUST started doing these. Alright, let's get to it!

[one] Have you heard the remix of John Legend's, All of Me, featuring Tiesto? If not, I suggest you go download from iTunes right now! It's such a good jam and I am loving it right now. Here's another great song for all my country listeners - Thomas Rhett, Get Me Some of That! You better bet it's on my playlist already!!!!

[two] I made some clean banana pancakes TWICE this week. These are amazing. The only downside is they were a little hard to flip. Also, I tried my NutriBullet the second time to mix the bananas & eggs together and it worked really good.

To feed my two young [hungry] boys: 1 ripe banana, 2 eggs, cinnamon & vanilla to taste.

[three] Watch out everyone, Mason has officially begun his road to the Stanley Cup! At least that's what his dad thinks. ;) Andrew (hubby) tries to take Mason ice skating once a week and this past time was his first time with all his gear. He is still learning how to skate on his own but is loving it! Here are some pictures from this past week when he went. The free skate times are awful - during naps - so I usually stay home with Owen so he can take a nap. =( I get to pretend I'm there though because my family usually goes and they all send me pictures! GO KINGS GO!

 


As you can tell, Mason was DUNZO after his skating and took a nap on the couch with daddy (he NEVER sleeps on the couch).

[four] I tried a new clean recipe this week and I would say it was a success. Lol. My only hesitation with saying it was a success was the fact that it was way to spicy! I tried this buffalo chicken quinoa salad recipe. It was so yummy but we literally had to drink a glass of water after each bite (no joke)! After we finished, I even checked the recipe again to see if I put the wrong amount of hot sauce in the dressing, but nope, I got the right amount. I should probably email the chick who wrote this recipe and let her know she is a little insane with her hot sauce (or maybe she had a typo?)! When I told my husband that the dressing called for 1/2 cup of hot sauce, he told me I was an idiot and should have realized that was way too much hot sauce.... Whoops! All in all, try the recipe, but I would recommend cutting the hot sauce, at least in half (you can always add more if needed). Let me know how it turns out. For my 24 day challenger friends, make it without the blue cheese crumbles and you are good to go!!

[five] Fruit Punch Friday anyone? As all of you know, I am on the AdvoCare train and my favorite product is their SPARK. So I've decided that it's time I share my favorite spark flavor with some of my blog readers! I will send a sample of my favorite flavor to the first 14 people to leave their email address in the comments below!

Tired moms, get on this! It's nicknamed "mommy juice" for a reason and saves my sanity every morning (and then again at 3 pm if needed ;))!!! Ready...set...go!

Also - for anyone interested, we are having another group challenge that begins on April 7th. It's not too late to join in on the fun! Contact me for details!

Thanks for stopping by, Happy Friday Friends!!

Treat Yourself Tuesday # 3

Hi Friends! Linking up with Becky at Olives 'n' Wine for a Treat Yourself Tuesday post. This past week was a treat in itself because my husband was between jobs so we got to have him home!!!! Of course, he had plenty of tax returns that he had to get out the door so he was stuck on his laptop most of the time, but it was still nice to have lunch with him and just see him, lol! On Thursday of last week, we got to go to lunch with some of his colleagues to one of my favorite places, Agora!!!!! It is a Brazilian Steakhouse.... Have you ever been to one?? This place is so good and soo nice. I got to eat everything from sausage to bacon wrapped filet, to chicken hearts (except I didn't eat these!). And did I mention they have the BEST cheese filled rolls? Oh man, I'm drooling just thinking about it. We had the buffet which includes all the side dishes/salads/extras that you want, and then men dressed as gauchos come around to your table with skewers of meat for you to try! It is quite the experience. I HIGHLY recommend this place to anyone who enjoys eating meat (or anyone who has a husband that enjoys meat). Go try it and thank me later. =)

The hubby and I got to go shopping together WITHOUT the kids on Sunday.... this was a treat in itself! Since my hubby started a new job yesterday, he wanted to buy a new wardrobe, literally! So I helped him buy new dress shirts & new work shoes. Can I just say that I thought I had expensive taste until he tried on two different styled Hugo Boss shirts and told me one of them was "cheap feeling"!!!! We both laughed at how ridiculous of a statement that was. When we were at the mall, I made a lot of returns (one of my new hobbies, sorry Nordstrom & Macy's) & treated myself to a new shirt! Here is a picture of what the back look likes and here is a picture of the front on me. Love this shirt!

Lastly, I treated myself to another 24-Day Challenge!!! I am going to be starting on April 7th with a bunch of mommy friends (and tons of others) in a group challenge. I'm so excited!! I did my first challenge back in January and had some great results that I wanted to do another one to get back in the swing of things 100%. Currently, I try and eat clean about 80% of my time, but I can't wait to be back on a challenge. It is so much fun for some reason.... sticking to a plan and CHALLENGING MYSELF to prove I do have will-power and I can eat healthy (and see results!). If you are interested in learning about the challenge, send me an email or you can click here to purchase your 24 day challenge bundle! I will be notified of your purchase and send you an invite to join our Facebook group which is the only way I'm able to stay on track! We all share clean recipes, meal plans, workouts and just a whole bunch of support and encouragement! Here is a picture of my AdvoCare products.