jgalvinwhite

Friday Favorites {#29}

Posted on June 26, 2020August 20, 2021 by jgalvinwhite

Hey! Hey! We made it to Friday. As always, I’m linking up with Andrea and Erika for this week’s Friday Favorites.

Favorite Moment:

Travis and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary this week. We don’t usually do gifts but instead exchange cards and go out to dinner whenever we have an available sitter.

I don’t know why, but from the beginning, Travis has always written my name in bubble letters on my cards. It’s so sweet and something I like forward to. (I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing 😉 Anyway, he brought home my card and a cookie cake. Our family loves cookie cakes and usually pick one up for birthdays and other special occasions.

Sweet treat that almost looks too good to eat 😉

Which leads me to my….

Least Favorite Moment:

Homer ATE THE COOKIE CAKE!!!

Y’all, he is SO bad. (Thank goodness he’s cute)

Because I have no willpower when it comes to a cookie cake, we’d each had a small slice of cake before dinner on Thursday. The cake was covered on the counter and pushed back on the counter. After dinner, we were outside and Hadley came out to tell me about the cake. I cried.

because I love cookie cake
because I was afraid Homer was going to puke all over the house all night long.

We put him in his kennel. He tried to deny he did it, but icing on his nose was proof!

Favorite Activity:

I’m trying to incorporate at least one activity each week for the kids and I to do. I checked our forecast and Wednesday called for pretty mild temps with a high of 80 degrees.

I checked the Cincinnati Zoo’s website for details. Of course, they have new guidelines and the indoor exhibits were closed, but I knew we could at least wander around and check out the animals. The zoo actually had times with a specific number of tickets to be sold for various arrival times. I purchased tickets for the 12:30-1:00 arrival time. Of course, once you are in the zoo, I believe that you can stay as long as you’d like, but at least the arrival of guests is scattered. Also, I knew 2-2.5 hours would be all we’d need to look at the animals.

Cinci is about a 1.5 hour drive, so we left around 10:30, made a stop at Chick-Fil-A for lunch to eat in the car, and drove up to Cinci.

The weather was beautiful and we really were able to keep our distance and see most of what we would have wanted to see.

We’ve been to this zoo a few times. The last time was last year for the kids’ 3rd grade field trip. It was such a fun experience and lots of parents went, so the classes could be divided into small groups of kids. It was easier navigating this time with just my two kids 😉

We started off by seeing the Galapagos tortoises, the Red Pandas, and the Gibbons.

We made a pit stop at the Dippin Dots truck before finding the elephants. The elephants are always my fave!

Then we went to see the giraffes (another of my faves!), and the kids loved seeing the African Painted dogs (I don’t remember seeing them last time), the lions, the bald eagle and hippos.

Last stop was to see the flamingos.

Overall, we had a great day, and I was glad we made the trip up there.

Another favorite activity was dinner out with Travis last night at one of our favorite places: Carson’s Food and Drink.

Favorite Food:

Well, my favorite food should have been the cookie cake…#Imstillbitter

but…the grilled Oscar style salmon for my dinner last night was amazing 😄

And then we stopped by a new (to us) place for a nightcap.

The Kentucky Native Cafe didn’t disappoint with the atmosphere…

or the wine…😉 #roseallday

*both restaurants did amazing jobs with social distancing signs, masking wearing, and tables spread out.

Favorite Pic:

Earlier in the week when I thought Homer was still cute ;), I was looking for him and found him on top of ALL the pillows on my bed.

Favorite Kid Quote:

At dinner the other night, we were having cheeseburgers for dinner and somehow Kobe beef was brought up. Hayden asked if it was somehow connected to Kobe Bryant and we said no. Hadley then said, “People assume Taylor Swift made that one cheese.” I said, “You mean Swiss cheese?” 😂 and we all laughed. Travis asked her if she really thought it was called Swift cheese, and she said, “Maybe…. Maybe not.” 😂

During the same dinner, Hayden, who has been eating mostly soft foods because of his spacers for his braces said, “Wow. I ate that whole meal with just my front teeth!” Way to problem solve, kid! 😉

Favorite Mom Meme:

My hashtag for Hadley often is #sassysincedayone. Also, when people say how much she looks like me, I always say, “Unfortunately, for all involved, she acts like me too!”

Bonus: Flashback Friday

In June 2013, the kids each got their own rooms at our old house. They used to share one very sizable bedroom, and then we put them each into smaller bedrooms. That night, they hugged each other good night and said, “See ya later!” ❤️ Such a sweet Facebook memory.

Weekly Recap:

Here are my posts from this week!

Thanks so much for reading. I hope you have a great weekend.

Travel

Lake Tahoe

Posted on June 25, 2020June 24, 2020 by jgalvinwhite

I mentioned in my What’s Up Wednesday post that Travis and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary yesterday. That got me thinking about how we try to go somewhere for “milestone” anniversaries.

For our first anniversary, we went to Florida. To celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary, we went to Charleston, SC.

So thought I’d look back at our 10th wedding anniversary when we went to Lake Tahoe.

I did a Today, in my my mind, I’m in… post about our family vacation to Arizona and California two years ago.

So, today, in my mind, I’m in…Lake Tahoe.

I thought for our 10 year we may go somewhere like the Bahamas! BUT…Travis is the first to admit he likes the beach and ocean but not necessarily for a stretch of days. He prefers to explore and be a bit more active on vacation.

He mentioned Lake Tahoe, and I loved the idea. Our anniversary is in June, but we decided to take this vacation in October of 2015. At the time, the kids were in kindergarten and had a different fall break than I did. The district that I was teaching in at the time gave us a whole week for fall break. So, we thought it would be easier on my mom and gma to watch the kids while the kids were mostly in school and we could take advantage of the fact that I had a week off of school.

We left on a Tuesday afternoon and flew to Reno, NV. We arrived late, so we just stayed at a hotel that night that wasn’t too far from the airport. The next morning, we drove the scenic route to our destination of the Ritz Carlton, Lake Tahoe in Truckee, CA. (more on that later)

This first picture is one from our drive to Truckee. There were scenic pull off spots to look at the gorgeous view.

It’s amazing how different parts of the lake from different angles show various and beautiful shades of blue.

We arrived at the Ritz Carlton around lunchtime on Wednesday.

Let me just say that we aren’t fancy people. I mean, we like nice things and think through major purchases, but we rarely splurge. Travis always does our vacation planning, and I’m not mad about it. This trip was definitely a treat, and I’m pretty sure it’s the only five star hotel I’ve ever stayed in.

Of course, the grounds were beautiful and the amenities were amazing. After checking in, we walked around a bit before heading to lunch on the water.

I don’t remember where we ate for lunch that first day, but this was our view.

We went out to dinner in Truckee and came home to this delicious cake in our room. During that time, the KC Royals were in post-season play, and I remember drinking a glass of wine from our favorite winery (Anomaly) and eating this cake while watching them play on the TV in our room. #heavenonearth

On Thursday, I had booked myself a massage. I’ve had massages before, but this was certainly a treat. I met Travis back in the room afterwards, and he looked 10 years younger. I asked him where he’d been while I was gone, and he said he sat in the steam room for a bit. I’d never done that before, so I headed back to the spa and sat in the steam room for a while. I don’t know that I looked 10 years younger, but I loved it! I felt so refreshed.

Later on that Thursday, we drove a bit to the lake to stand up paddle board. This was my first SUP experience, and I loved every second. My yoga and Pilates classes paid off because I found it pretty easy to do, and I did not end up in the very chilly water!

Thursday night we ate again in Truckee. It is the sweetest little town surrounded by mountains with cute little shops and wonderful restaurants.

On Friday, I checked out that steam room again for a few minutes, and then we decided to go zip lining. I hadn’t been zip lining since Girl Scout camp in 1989, but when Travis came up with the idea, I went with it. Admittedly, I don’t like heights. That being said, this was apparently a zip line/obstacle course. My fears were definitely tested, and I asked Travis more than once why he brought me all the way to Lake Tahoe to kill me, but I persevered! I truly enjoyed the zip lining part…just not walking on the wobbly sticks 1,000 feet in the air.

I’m smiling because I didn’t know what I’d gotten myself into.

After doing some of the obstacles and telling Travis that I would not be doing the harder obstacles, I watched as he “challenged” himself on the more difficult courses. #showoff

Top photo and bottom right photo: Travis way up in the air. Also, the time I confirmed his life insurance was up to date.

Bottom left photo: Me holding on to dear life on the zip line.

After the obstacle courses, we had lunch and hiked a bit.

When we arrived back from our hike, we were reminded that we aren’t bougie as the valet drove our Ford Focus right past the high roller cars. Travis said the really rich must arrive on the weekends! 😉

For our last dinner of the trip, we ate at one of the restaurants at the hotel. It was a great way to end our little vacay.

We had to get up pretty early that Saturday morning to travel back to Kentucky, but it was a great trip overall.

With Covid and life just being different right now, our 15th anniversary kind of snuck up on us. I’m not sure if we will be able to go anywhere this summer. If so, it will most likely be in driving distance. We’ll see.

Where’s a favorite place that you’ve traveled to??

Take care,

Clothes, What's up Wednesday

What’s Up Wednesday

Posted on June 24, 2020June 23, 2020 by jgalvinwhite

It’s the last Wednesday of the month (Y’all, how is that even possible?!), so I’m linking up with Sheaffer and Shay for What’s Up Wednesday.

I have to start off by wishing my husband a Happy Anniversary!! Today is our 15th wedding anniversary. Again, y’all….How is that even possible?! He may be wondering the same thing! 😂I couldn’t do life without him and love and appreciate him more than he’ll ever know! #cheersto15years

WHAT WE ARE EATING THIS WEEK:

Sunday: I mentioned in my Father’s Day post that we had kabobs, pasta salad, watermelon, and asparagus fries for our Father’s Day menu. Then, we had lemon freezer pie for dessert.
Monday: I kept it simple and put Trader Joe’s Traditional Carnitas in the slow cooker with Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde and cooked everything on low for 4 hours. I mixed my carnitas in with one of my favorite Trader Joe’s salads: Southwestern Chopped Salad. I only used half of the salad. Travis and the kids had hard shell tacos and tortillas for their carnitas.
Tuesday: I hadn’t planned for it, but we ended up having enough carnitas for leftovers on Tuesday which was perfect because Hadley had dance and Hayden had baseball. I paired the tacos with Trader Joe’s Mexican Style Roasted Corn. (another fave!)
Wednesday: Pork loin, bagged salad, and Bob Evans Mashed Potatoes (Hadley’s fave!)
Thursday: Travis and I are going out to dinner, so the kids will have dinner at home.
Friday and Saturday: We’ll eat out (or get carry out)

WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT:

Where the heck the time as gone?! We got married 15 years ago today in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. When I look back on these years, I always tell Travis he seems to never change (He doesn’t even age, dang it!), and I always feel like the hot mess. Any ups and downs we’ve had in life, I feel like he’s handled with grace and wisdom…and I’m just over here fumbling. Thankfully, we strike a good balance with our personalities and how we handle things. That being said, I blinked in we were wrapped up in full time careers with two very active kids. Jobs and kids are both a blessing, but we do have to continue to work to make time for each other. Thankfully, we give each other grace and are each other’s biggest supporters. It’s been a blessing to grow together as a couple, and I’m sure we’re forever a work in progress (at least I know I am! 😉 I’m very thankful every single day for Travis White!

Thanks to my dad, we had a police escort from the church to our reception.

WHAT I’M LOVING:

As you can tell from my menu this week, I made a trip to Trader Joe’s! Their peonies always stop me in my tracks. Peonies, hydrangeas, and tulips are my favorite flowers.

In the spring and summer months, I usually buy flowers once a week for a couple spots in our home.

WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO:

Baseball practice for Hayden, a dance workshop for Hadley, running errands, and just a little of this and a little of that.

WHAT I’M DREADING:

Hayden is getting his Phase 2 braces soon. I thought he was getting them yesterday, but at his appointment, they took impressions and put spacers between some of his teeth.

Phase 1 was in 2nd grade and lasted about 9 months. This time, he will have top and bottom braces as well as rods to help with his overbite. So, I’m not dreading the braces for myself (obviously), but I just know they will be a big adjustment and a bit painful at first for him. He’ll have them for about two years. Hadley is due as well but we are holding off a bit for her as his ortho work is more extensive.

WHAT I’M WORKING ON:

I’m working on drinking more water. I bought this water bottle...and it’s not small! BUT…I fill it up 2-3 times a day and am definitely drinking more water. I like that it has a handle and straw with a cap and I do find myself taking it with me wherever I go.

Also, we are working on crossing some things off of our Summer 2020 list.

WHAT I’M EXCITED ABOUT:

I’m excited to go to one of our favorite restaurants tomorrow night for dinner to celebrate our anniversary.

WHAT I’M WATCHING/READING:

I’m still binge watching Good Bones and just finished this season of Top Chef.

On Netflix, I’m still chipping away at Dead to Me and only have a few episodes left of Sweet Magnolias.

I’m close to finishing Simple Wild on my Kindle and have started One in a Million that I picked up from the library recently.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO:

I just finished Even the Rich Season 3 which was all about Beyonce’ and Jay Z. I love this podcast!

WHAT I’M WEARING:

Target has been my main source for summer wear.

I love both of these shorts by Universal Thread because they can be casual or dressed up.

Also, this pink dress is super comfy and comes in a variety of colors. Again, it can be dressed up or down.

olive shorts

medium wash shorts

dress

WHAT I’M DOING THIS WEEKEND:

At the moment, I’m not sure. I’m happy to continue to not be too busy on the weekends! Hayden does have practice Friday-Sunday evenings, but other than that, we don’t have solid plans.

WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

I’m looking forward to possibly visiting family in KC next month.

Also, I love the 4th of July, so we are all looking forward to that. Last year, Hadley was away at camp on the 4th, and it just felt so different without her home. We saved sparklers for when she got home.

Also, Trav’s birthday is in July! I doubt he wants a birthday parade, but he’ll for sure get our traditional birthday cookie cake!

Thanks so much for reading today’s post! Make sure to check out the other ladies’ posts too!

Family, Kids

Summer Fun List

Posted on June 23, 2020June 22, 2020 by jgalvinwhite

Hello and happy Tuesday!

Real talk: I’ve realized Monday is my least favorite day of the week…even in the summer. Mondays mean to do lists, grocery pick up, laundry, and more! During the school year, those are usually Sunday chores! Now, I just bump that business to Monday! I’m very happy to move on to Tuesday.

Anyway, before the summer slips away, I thought I’d have the kids write down some things they want to do this summer. Hadley’s list is on the left, Hayden’s on the right (more real talk: he was kind of grumpy when he made his list), and family items in the middle. A few of the items we’ve accomplished already, but I wanted to have a list for our entire summer.

Hadley:

Learn a new Tik Tok dance (Thankfully, this isn’t a family activity 😉
Tie Dye
Bake
Go to Bob Evans restaurant (She loves the microwave mashed potatoes I buy—she wants to see if they taste the same at the restaurant!)
Dance workshops
And more!

Hayden:

Teach Homer tricks
Take golf lessons
Baseball
Draw
Play outside
Take Hadley to camp for a week (I hate to burst his bubble, but camp has been cancelled!)
And more!

Family:

Vacation
Pick strawberries (maybe Travis can join us next time!)
Go visit family in KC
Go to the zoo
Kayak
Drive in movie
And more!

Our summer looks a bit different with less pool time this year, but we hope to make the most of it and plan some other activities.

The kids have even started a little dog walking business. They walked their first two clients yesterday.

I don’t know that anything too fun is happening today. Hayden will have to update his list because this morning he is, in fact, getting his phase 2 braces. Poor guy! Good news for him (and Hadley) is maybe we can stop for a root beer float at A&W after his appointment!

Take care,

Holidays

Father’s Day

Posted on June 22, 2020June 21, 2020 by jgalvinwhite

Hi~ I hope you had a great weekend! We tried to celebrate Travis as much as possible this weekend. Friday ended with Travis and Hayden having baseball, but on Saturday, the kids and I prepped for Father’s Day on Sunday.

Saturday evening, we headed out to dinner at one of our favorite pizza places. This was our first time eating out in Lexington since early March! We sat on the patio at Grimaldi’s and then walked around a bit. We snapped a couple of pics and then Travis and Hadley had popsicles from Steel City Pops.

They are lucky to have such a great dad!

Sunday morning, Travis woke up to a few gifts and some goodies. Hadley wrote on our chalkboard, I saw these cute (and delicious) cookies at Whole Foods and picked them up for us to enjoy, and each kid had picked out a card for Travis.

Every year I get on Pinterest and find a printable for Hayden and Hadley to fill out about Travis. Their responses have gotten more mature through the years, of course. I do miss the sweet little responses from when they were younger, but I still think it’s a cute sentiment.

Hayden and Travis had a 10:00 tee time, so I wanted to keep breakfast simple. I was going to make pancakes, but as I headed to the store on Saturday, Hadley asked me to see if I could find waffle mix. I just have a mini waffle maker, but I told her I’d look. I found some, and I’m so glad that I did. The waffles were perfect! Hadley made the waffles while Hayden fried up the bacon. Of course for Father’s Day, Travis had his breakfast on our traditional Red Plate.

After breakfast, my dad CALLED ME. He’s the only person I know who will beat you to a phone call that’s supposed to be a day about him. 😂

Hayden has been playing golf off and on since last summer. Yesterday, was his first time playing 9 holes. He was SO excited. I know Travis was too.

Boo was ready to hit the links! #Ithinkthatisagolfsaying 😉

For dinner, I picked up a few kabobs from Kroger. I got the salmon/vegetable combo as well as the steak/vegetable combo. We had watermelon, pasta salad, and I made one of our favorite side dishes: asparagus fries. We all love them, and they are so good.

For dessert, I tried Amy’s Lemon Freezer Pie recipe that she shared the other day. Hadley and I made it on Saturday to let it freeze overnight. It was so easy and so delish!

For fun, a little Flashback Father’s day photo from 2011. I love when this pic pops up in my Facebook memories. I remember taking this picture; it cracks me up every time I see it.

I hope Travis had a great day and knows how much we love and appreciate him. The kids hit the jackpot in the dad department!

Y’all, thanks so much for reading. I hope you have a great week!

Friday Favorites, Traditions

Friday Favorites {#28}

Posted on June 19, 2020August 20, 2021 by jgalvinwhite

Whew! We made it to Friday. I spent so much time trying to get my life together this week that I’m exhausted 😉 I feel like this was our first full week of summer (at home) and maybe we are getting into a groove?

I’m linking up with Erika and Andrea for this Friday Favorites post.

Favorite Pic:

We sure missed Homer while on vacation. This sweet face greeted us on Saturday when we got home.

Favorite Moment:

We went to Evans Orchard and picked strawberries this week. We’d never done that before, so I thought it would be fun. This is the orchard we usually go to when we pick out our pumpkins and is about a 30 minute drive from Lexington.

The orchard decides how many quarts they have available for picking and at 5:00 posts the quarts for sale ($6/quart and limit 2 per order) on their website for you to pick the next day. Some days they have more quarts for sale than other days. That being said, I set an alarm on my phone for 5:00 Monday to buy the quarts for Tuesday. I know some have mentioned when they have limited quarts they sell out quickly.

Anyway, we arrived around 11:00 on Tuesday and went in to get our purchased quarts. Once we got to the strawberry “patch” we were assigned a lane to stay in to pick our berries. While we were there, there was only one other family. We took our time picking our berries in lane 7 and then went inside to purchase their apple cider donuts. #myweakness I didn’t realize they sold the donuts year round! I was only going to get on 6 pack, but Hayden talked be into buying two packs #twistmyarm

So, I shared these photos on Facebook and had a few people comment that they’d never seen a strawberry patch like this. Like I said, this was our first time going, so I knew no different! Each column of berries spins around, so you can find the best berries. Apparently, strawberries usually grow on the ground. #Imnotafarmer

We got our $6/quart worth!

Favorite Kid Quote:

I don’t necessarily have a favorite kid quote this week, but we did go see my brother and his family for my brother’s birthday. The kids played and had a good time together. They hadn’t really played together for quite some time. It was sweet seeing them run around and have fun together.

Favorite Shows:

Some new (to me) shows I’ve been watching are: House in a Hurry, Good Bones, and Alexa & Katie.

Earlier this summer, I stumbled upon House in a Hurry. Basically, the people are on a time crunch to find a home, so it’s kind of like a quick version of House Hunters. That being said, you get to know the people and their lives a bit more. A couple of episodes had me in tears. One man grew up in a one bedroom apartment with many family members, and he was moving his family to Arizona from California to cut down on his drive time to work, so he could spend more time with this family. Two of his three kids have special needs. Once they found their home, he was in tears with appreciation and relief.

Compare that to another episode where the couple had a $1M budget to move to Florida and the wife came off cold, controlling, and out of touch with reality! So there’s a mix, but seeing that tense episode made me appreciate the even more heart warming episodes that much more.

While in Florida, I stumbled upon Good Bones. I’ve heard of it, but just never watched it. Hayden and I watched some episodes, but then when I got home, I started on Season 1. I really like it.

Lastly, Hadley has always watched Alexa & Katie on Netflix. I knew the premise and had seen that the mom on the show is Tiffani Thiessen who I love from my Saved by the Bell days! Anyway, Hadley started the last and final season, and I watched a few episodes. So, now I’ve started season 1 and Hadley’s been watching it with me. We usually just watch one episode in the morning while having coffee (for me) and breakfast (for her).

Favorite Mom Meme:

Adulting. #amIright?

This meme made me laugh out loud! Thankfully, my kids are good sleepers. In the summer, I used to always threaten Travis to be quiet while getting ready for work as to let the kids sleep as long as possible. As they’ve gotten older (and thanks to sound machines in their rooms), they seem to sleep through most anything until at least 9:00…maybe even later if I’m lucky!

Bonus Fave: Flashback Friday

This sweet pic popped up my Facebook memories. Isle of Palm, SC. June 2013. Obviously, the hand holding is sweet, but for whatever reason, Hayden holding the little plastic boat slays me!

Flash forward to June 2014 and I planned ahead for a cute beach pic session when we vacationed at Folly Beach, SC. The kids were bribed big time with ice cream…and I’m not ashamed of it!

Weekly Recap

Here are my other posts from this week.

Thanks so much for reading. Don’t forget to check out the other ladies’ posts too! Have a great weekend!

Currently

Posted on June 18, 2020June 17, 2020 by jgalvinwhite

I’ve seen some bloggers do Currently posts about what they are up to or what’s on their minds. I found this list of verbs (not that I couldn’t think of my own…but #yeahGoogle) to use for a Currently post, and thought I’d give it a try!

So here’s a post about what’s currently going on and what’s currently on my mind.

I’m Currently…

Scheduling:

Orthodontics appointments. Both of my kids are due for their phase 2 braces, but Hayden is going first! He gets his braces next week.

Baseball practices have started up this week, so I’m now writing all of those dates down on our family calendar.

Lastly, Hadley’s dance studio has a few workshops this summer, so I’m signing Hadley up for a couple that she wants to take.

Appreciating:

This mild weather. The weather this week has been awesome. Of course, last week were hanging out in the hot weather of Florida, but truly Lexington weather has been so great this week!

I’ve been able to get my walks in without sweating too much!

Organizing:

My closet. It’s a disaster, and I decided to tackle it this week. By “tackle,” I mean keep moving it to the bottom of my “to do” list. Organization will happen this week. I hope. 😂

Reading:

Simple Wild on my Kindle.

Cooking:

I tried to choose a few healthy(ish) meals this week for dinner to get our family back on track. Upon our return home, we had very little food in the house, so I had to make a quick grocery order. I turned to Pinterest to find a few healthy(ish) meals that I had saved.

Sunday, we had this Chicken Broccoli Pasta and had leftovers on Monday.

Tuesday, I made this Weight Watchers Mexican Casserole. It was so delish!

Last night, we had salmon and Jasmine rice. I love that our Kroger has this option for cooking the fish in the oven. I just tell them what seasonings and ingredients I’d like, they put them in the oven bag with the fish. Then, you just bake the salmon in the bag. Easy clean up, and it’s delish. Both my kids, especially Hadley, love salmon!

Thursday night we are having steak/arugula/cheese flat bread wraps.

Ordering:

I ordered these books off of Amazon for the kids. Each year, I get the Summer Bridge Activity books for the next grade and have the kids do an activity or two a day. #mykidsloveme 😂

Hayden started reading the Harry Potter series with his teacher’s read aloud group. He read the first two with them, but then wanted to read the third book.

Lastly, I ordered Love Does for kids for the kids to read this summer.

Wondering:

About what the start of school will look like. We still don’t have any answers.

Sending:

A Father’s Day card to my dad. I always buy him a Peanuts series card, but there weren’t any this year. I’m hoping he will like the Tom and Jerry card instead.

Happy Father’s Day to the Major!!

Drinking:

I finished my 48 hour cleanse, but I was drinking these juices from Whole Foods.

Celebrating:

The library re-opening! Well, one of our libraries is now open for curbside pick up. I had one book to pick up. While this isn’t my regular library, I went ahead and drove to get it on Monday afternoon. We still can’t return books, so I don’t know how often I will have books to pick up, but I was happy to do so.

Also celebrating my brother’s birthday. We haven’t gotten together much lately, but it was good to get together and let the kids play and have a slice of cake.

Loving:

A touch of flowers around the house.

Laughing:

At Hayden’s tan lines from his glasses. I seriously never see him without his glasses on. Even at night, he tells me good night, puts them on his bedside table and then immediately puts them on in the morning before exiting his bedroom. On this day, he’d been outside playing and was a sweaty mess. He took the glasses off to wipe his face, and I laughed at his tan lines. The contrast doesn’t show up as great in the pics…but it’s funny in person!

Reminiscing:

About this pic of the kids from 2010. Facebook has it’s flaws, but I appreciate when the memories pop up! Hayden and Hadley are wearing hand-me-downs from another set of boy/girl twins. Peace. Love. Twins.

Side note: Summer of 2010 was one of my faves. I was actually dreading it because I wasn’t sure if I could cut it as a stay at home mom (Real talk: I can’t), but the summers always provide extra quality time with the kids that I don’t take for granted, even now.

That summer was really good. The kids were on an awesome schedule, sleeping 10+ hours at night and still taking two solid naps a day. That summer, they started to sit up, acknowledge each other more, smile and were actually pretty easy.

Enjoying:

Strawberry Shortcake. On Tuesday, we went to pick strawberries (more about that tomorrow), and then made the natural pit stop at Kroger to get whipped cream and yellow sponge cake shells. So good!

Strawberry picking was a fun experience.

Thanks so much for reading my first Currently post! See you back here tomorrow for Friday Favorites.

Take care,

Let's look, Travel

Let’s Look: Your Carry on Bag

Posted on June 17, 2020June 17, 2020 by jgalvinwhite

Last week, Shay and Erika hosted their montly Let’s Look link up. The topic was “your carry on bag.” I believe the topic changed, and I wasn’t able to link up anyway, but thought of the original topic as I unpacked my carry on bag this weekend. So, I thought I’d share that…

Y’all, I’m a chronic over-packer. Driving, flying, being gone for one night or seven, I over-pack. I’m not sure why. I’ve tried to work on it. Sometimes, my thought is if I’m driving and bringing a suitcase, why not just bring the biggest suitcase I have? Also, I hate packing. For being “Type A” and pretty organized, I wait until the last minute to pack. I’ve been using packing cubes for a couple of years, and those keep my items organized and condensed but that’s once I get to actually packing. haha

The point of telling you how I pack is that my carry on usually gets some of the leftovers. Also, items that may weigh down my suitcase are also perfect candidates for my carry on bag. For example, my tennis shoes, my Revlon hair dryer brush, or books would be items that I’d possibly throw in my carry on bags whether I’m driving or flying anywhere. If I’m driving and know we’ll make a pit stop, I will also throw in my pjs and few products like face wash and moisturizer.

Anyway, here’s a glimpse of my most recent carry on situation.

I’ve had this bag for about four years; I found it at Target. What I love about it is that it can unzip to expand. I always keep it zipped while I fill up the bag thinking I won’t have to unzip it #sillyme, but then I eventually unzip it for my space if needed.

Ball caps or beach hats usually go in my carry on. This way, the beach hat doesn’t get squished in the suitcase, but the ball caps also come in handy if I just need one because my hair is looking sad after traveling. My sunglasses usually go in my carry on or purse as well just so that I can easily keep up with them.

I keep all my necessary cords and chargers in a baggie. I also include my Kindle and carrying case in the carry on as well for easy access.

This little zip pouch includes band aids, aspirin, Chapstick, cleansing wipes for Hayden’s glasses, etc. Hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes were a travel companion even before Covid 19.

I read a lot on my Kindle, especially when traveling, but I also bring a few books. Sometimes I read one book on my Kindle while reading another hardback book.

I also pack some of my favorites in my carry on like my favorite coffee mug and slippers. I just think about my suitcase getting lost and losing some of my favorite things. Not that I want my suitcase full of clothes to get lost, but the extra items can easily fit in my carry on.

So that’s a little peek at my travel carry on. What are some things you include in your bag when you travel?

Next month’s topic is Let’s Look: Your Summer Wardrobe. I believe they ladies said they are doing that post a bit early and moving it to July 1.

I hope you are having a great week.

Take care,

Health and Fitness, Tuesday Talk

Tuesday Talk: Back on Track After Vacation

Posted on June 16, 2020June 16, 2020 by jgalvinwhite

It’s the third Tuesday of the month, so I’m linking up with Ashley and Erika for their Tuesday Talk series.

Y’all, I’m not perfect…and find myself needing to get back on track often. Needless to say, quarantine life has caught up with me a bit. Combine that with a week of fun and sun (and fruity drinks), I really need to get focused on my exercise and nutrition.

Like many people, I turned to comfort food for most of March and April. That being said, I did a pretty decent job working out while at home. Of course, you can’t outrun a bad diet…but I did exercise most days or go for a walk to get most of my steps in.

For a few weeks, my sciatica issues came back making working out difficult. Also, unfortunately, sometimes my endometriosis sidelines me some days with discomfort making it difficult for me to find the energy to workout. So, leading up to vacation, I kind of threw in the towel.

Now, I’m ready to regroup and get focused again, and here are some of the quick ways I find focus again.

Post-Vacation Reset

I follow Amanda Nighbert on social media, and incorporate elements of her LEAN program into my daily life….again, some days I’m more on track than others, but I’m ready to get focused again. She’s shared many of these reset ideas, and I try to follow them to get myself back on track after being lenient while on vacation.

I don’t weigh myself after vacation. Like she has said before, if the scale says you gained 5 pounds, you didn’t gain 5 pounds of fat. It’s more inflammation and bloat from eating, drink, being off schedule, etc. Now, I’m not saying I don’t weigh myself. I just don’t right after vacation. I give myself a week or so to get back on track before seeing where I stand from a weight perspective.
Intermittent Fasting. I usually eat my meals from noon-7:30. To be honest, I don’t stray too far from that during vacation, but it’s an automatic focus as soon as I get home.
Increase my water intake. I do a decent job drinking water, but I know I don’t drink enough…especially on vacation. So, I make sure to get my Smart Water bottle and after drinking the water, I at least refill it twice to ensure I’m upping the ounces of water I’m getting.
Getting my steps in. I usually take my resistance bands with me on vacation and use them or do a few HIIT workouts. I know if I say I’m going to workout daily on vacation that I’m setting myself up for failure. So, I take an every other day approach. While in Florida, I took walks on the beach, but I also got in three HITT and band workouts. The other days, I just took it easy. So, post-vacation, I’d love to get right back into my normal workouts…but find it takes me 3-4 days after getting home to find the time to fit in an actual workout. I’m busy getting groceries, unpacking, making phone calls, etc. So, I at least try to go for a walk to get my body going again.
Whole food nutrition. On vacation, especially at the beach, I feel like I eat pretty healthy. It’s too hot to eat food that weighs me down, and I take advantage of seafood. In Florida, I had grilled fish or shrimp every night. The last night there, I did order lobster ravioli. It’s a rarity for me to order pasta on vacation, but I couldn’t pass up the lobster special! Snacking and the occasional dessert is what gets me on vacation. So when I get home, I make sure to make good food choices, cut out the snacking, and put down the desserts.

Secondary Elements

While important, I give myself grace for a week or so and focus on the above. Then, I get back to my full workouts, carb cycling, and tracking my macros using the My Fitness Pal app.

I also usually do a 24-48 hours juice cleanse + electrolyte water. There are some local juice places I like, but in a pinch, I pick up some juices from Whole Foods. I did a 48 hour cleanse Sunday after dinner until Tuesday at dinnertime.

Skin Care

Of course, while on vacation, I wash my face, use toner and my moisturizers. Unfortunately, even with following that routine and using sunscreen, my skin (face) still feels desperate for a refresh. I usually take my Timewise gel mask with me to use a few times, but when I get home, I add in my charcoal mask and use my facial steamer.

That being said, I lucked out and had my monthly facial appointment (this time: dermaplane #girlshaveyourface and I had credit, so I upgraded to the hydrafacial #carwashforyourface) yesterday. I felt so much better after that visit; my dry skin felt renewed.

So those are just a few ways that I try to get back on track. To be honest, the past few months have been hard to stay focused on healthy eating, but now that it’s summertime, I’m hoping I can continue making good food choices and getting in my exercise after this reset this week. I always feel so much better after a good workout and while making healthy choices with food.

Thanks so much for reading. Don’t forget to check out the other ladies’ posts too!

Uncategorized

Deserted Island…

Posted on June 15, 2020June 15, 2020 by jgalvinwhite

Hello and Happy Monday.

I’m keeping it pretty short and sweet today as I’m trying to get back in the groove after getting home from vacation. I’m a procrastinator when it comes to unpacking, and of course, we had no food in our house, so I spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday trying to get those things accomplished. Now, my Monday “to do” list includes all the things I didn’t want to tackle before going to Florida like scheduling appointments, finishing up school stuff…the list goes on and on.

Anyway, I saw this post on Facebook and then Trista posted it on her Instagram page. I thought the questions would be fun to answer.

You Live on a Deserted Island with…

One book:

Where the Crawdads Sing – I don’t think a book has made me look stop, reflect, and think about life from the perspective of a character since To Kill a Mockingbird. I didn’t want it to end.

My runner up books would be: Bread and Wine, Tuesdays with Morrie, and TKAM.

One kind of food:

Pasta! #givemeallthecarbs

My runner up food would be: Mexican

One TV series:

Golden Girls #duh

My runner up series would be: Friends or Designing Women

Also…

I saw a friend share this on Facebook and thought it was so interesting.

I want to be Pastel Nights, but I have a feeling I’m more Mint Stone.

So…what about you? If you were on a deserted island, what would your choices be?

I hope you have a great week!