Well hello there February! I took a few weeks off from my Friday check ins since Arshia and I went out of town, and then the following week was nuts at work… but here I am! I am pretty excited about this month, we have some fun things on our agenda plus I have that feeling about spring being just around the corner that is giving me all the warm feelings - so yeah, I’m pretty happy about life right now! Plus, we are headed to Disneyland this afternoon once the girls get out of school so there’s that too 😉 So here are my 5 things this Friday, as always I hope you enjoy reading along!

1 - Our First Hike

One of my goals for 2019 was to get our family outdoors more in the form of hiking adventures. A few weeks back we went on our first hike… and although majority of the trail was closed due to recent rains, it was still a wonderful and even successful outing. My fear has always been that the girls would be super uncooperative on a hiking trip because it was “boring” or their legs would be tired - but to my surprise they actually enjoyed themselves! They enjoyed the view, the sense of adventure, running up and down the small hills, and playing with the dirt (because they are only 5 years old after all LOL). For out first hike we went to Laguna Beach to an area called Top Of The World, and you guys it was beautiful. At the top of the summit (which was reachable even with majority of the trail closed) you can seethe mountains surrounding you and then the ocean down below. Simply gorgeous and serene and I can’t wait to head back once we get another chance to. The other great thing was that these trails were attached to a really nice park so after we were done with our (short) hike we let the girls play on the playground and they had a blast. Now we are trying decide where our next hike will be… and kid friendly hiking destinations in Socal are welcomed!

2- Breakfast Rut

I used to be a complete breakfast fanatic, especially when I started eating healthier, breakfasts have always been one of my favorite things to find yummy recipes for. Well, since moving to California breakfast has not been on my list of priorities, neither cooking it or eating it. I think it has to do with the fact that we are living with our in laws so I don’t have my “own” kitchen which makes me way less inclined to meal prep (although don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful and lucky to have the living situation that we currently do). All of my kitchen things are currently boxed away so not only do I not have the kitchen supplies that I am used to using for meal prep (like glass prep jars for overnight oats - I am really missing those), but living with a family of 6 leaves very little refrigerator space for things like breakfast. With all that said, I have decided to start making a much more concerted effort with both meal planning breakfast options but also executing the planning and getting breakfast into my body more often! I started out by making some Paleo granola bars for a quick morning snack and those were super easy to make and yummy so I will definitely be making those again! And right now I am working on a golden milk overnight oats recipe that I am pretty excited to share with you all!

3- Give Me All The Curls

I absolutely love when I have time to tend to my hair and style it… it makes a such a big difference in how I look and feel! But to be honest, this happens very seldom, maybe once a month if I am lucky, but nonetheless I still love it when it happens! So after hearing from a few different moms on social media about how they love their Conair curling iron I decided to give it a try myself. I was a little skeptical because I have very long, thick hair and I thought this fancy curling iron would leave my hair in tangled mess but I had some Amazon credit so I decided to make the purchase and give it a try. I will say I was super impressed! My curls lasted all day, even into the next day which is a huge deal for me! With a regular curling iron my curls typically only last a few hours! Just to give you the low down on this curling iron- it basically sucks up your hair into an inner spool inside the iron, hold it there for about 20 seconds and then you release it and have these incredibly springy curls! It did take some time to get the hang of so the whole process took about an hour - which is wayyyy to long for me, but I think now that I am used to the iron I can make it happen in half the time. My hair also didn’t tangle up or get caught as I had feared it would, I made sure to brush it out thoroughly before curling and then use very small sections and that did the trick. The few times that the hair did get tangled upon getting taken into the spool I was able to gently release it, brush it out, and try again. Anyways, I am in love with this little gem and thought I would share, I will include the Amazon link (my affiliate link) below in case you are interested!

4 - A Different Kind Of 10 Year Challenge

So I know you all have seen those posts going around Facebook and Intagram about the “10 Year Challenge”. If you haven’t seen or heard of this it is basically encouraging people to post a photo of themselves 10 years ago and then a current photo to see what time has done to them. I have nothing to hide here but I did not choose to participate in this viral wave becuase I found it to be slightly shallow and I also didn’t want people to have to feel like they needed to comment and “boost my confidence”… I am more than happy with the way I looked then and the way I look now and do not need anyone to make me feel beautiful. I also feel that these types of posts promote lack of confidence in some women and also just promotes the comparison trap which is soooo very hard to avoid nowadays. So anyways those are my thoughts but I just happened to come across this post and guys, it is GOLD! These are my thoughts exactly and I hope that you all share this with those around you. This posts talks about how we are so much more than our physical appearance and how we have changed in many other ways (mentally, emotionally, psychologically) in those 10 years, and this is what we should be focusing on. Personal growth should be the measuring stick on how we view our life’s accomplishments - who’s with me!?

5- Still Working On My Fitness

So here were are a little over a month into 2019 and I am happy to report that I am being fairly consistent with my working out and the main reason is that I found a program that really works for me. If you follow me on Instagram then you know that last year I collaborated with Daily Burn to promote their HIIT app and I still use it to this day and love it. The reason why I love it, and the reason I am able to be consistent (working out 3-4 times per week) is that the workouts range from only 10-30 minutes yet each one I break a sweat, no matter how short. I’m also able to change up the workout and choose to use or not use weights so I am literally always sore the next day because my body is always working in different ways! I have really been enjoying it so I wanted to share it…. this is not sponsored and I am making no commission or affiliated sales off of it, I just love it and wanted you all to know it was out there! The cool thing also is that my girls are seeing me work out more frequently and they even exercise with me at times, so I’ve really loved that they are excited about it too! Plus post workout sweaty selfies are pretty fun 😉!

Have a great weekend everyone!