Recipe: Chicken Satay (Keto diet)

It doesn't matter if you follow the Keto diet or not, this my friends, is a great recipe! We were having a dinner party this night for a friend that is on the Keto diet, so we wanted to cater to that. I looked around online and came across this recipe and it sounded super yummy. What I didn't expect was to enjoy this recipe so much. In fact, I watched my son put down more chicken this night then I have in his entire life (true story)! If you love peanut butter, this one is for you. 

CBD Product Highlight

Everywhere we look these days, there is a new CBD product to try. I love that there are so many amazing new products out there, but we need to stay informed on what ingredients are in them and is it worth the money they are charging. Each month I try a few new CBD product for you guys and share my favorites. Are there ones that I don't recommend to you? Yes! If I don't love it, you are not hearing about it, even if it was gifted to me. That is my promise to you, my friends. This past month, I tried three more products and I have to say, I love this round very much. 

SHOP CBD

Ice Ice Baby

As most of you know by now, I am forever on a journey to alleviate my chronic pain as naturally as possible. So when I was reached out to and asked if I wanted to try a few cryo-treatments, I did a deep dive online to see what it is all about. This was my first-ever experience at a cold spa and after reading about all the amazing benefits, I needed to try it out for myself. I went to CRYOEFFECT in south Barrington (IL) and I have to tell you I am beyond obsessed! Before I arrived, I had planned to try two services, but when I got there, I ended up trying three. On this day, I started with a cryo-facial, then we did a full body cryotherapy session, and finally we tried a localized treatment on my upper-back and neck. I'm so excited to tell you all about my experience with each service and how they made me feel to have them done, plus how I was feeling in the days following. Spoiler alert, they were all hugely beneficial to my inflammation and pain level! 

Konmarie Method: Stage 5- Sentimental

Hello friends, I hope you have enjoyed following me along on my tiding-up journey. Today, I want to talk about the final stage in the Konmari Method, sentimental. Now that I have gone through the other stages, it makes sense that sentimental is the last one. I have been truly open to purging most items in my home. Even if my first response is to hold on tight, I would take a step back and ask myself is this an item of my past or one I am taking with me into my future. Most items found themselves landing in our past and once I thanked them (and took a quick photo), it was time to let them go. 

When I went through my home the past 36 days, I left three areas of sentimental to come back around to. The first area is a box of baby items, from both of my children, that I have kept under my bed for years. I still wanted to keep all of the items from inside this box, but Marie Kondo pointed out that they should be kept in a nice keepsake box that is easy to go though. I found a few great options and decided to give each child their own boxes.  

Konmarie Method: Stage 4- Kimono

Another day, another post about the Konmarie Method! ;) Today I wanted to talk about stage 4, Kimono. During this one I thought many, many times "what have I gotten myself into!" You see, Kimono is by far the largest stage and it includes literally everything in your home that is not clothing, books, paper, and sentimental items. I am happy to say, I have finished stage 4! You guys, other then four days this month, I cleaned and organized every day in January. I actually didn't think I would would be this far into the Konmarie Method by day 31, but I am so proud that I am. Here are some of my favorite things that I organized during Kimono. It's so satisfying to see before and after photos, don't you think? 

Cabinets from the kitchen:

Konmari Method: Stage 3- Paper

So far we have dashed through stages one & two of the Konmari Method, in just over one week! Let's start the next stage, shall we? Like stage two, I choose to do stage three by the floors of my home because of the weight involved in bringing all of them to one space. I started on the main floor, and worked my way up to the office and any loose papers from the bedrooms. I did find quite a few sentimental items during this stage, so I placed them to the side and planned to come back around to them in stage five. There is an order for Marie Kondo's method and it really does make sense why as you go though each stage in order. 

Konmarie Method: Stage 2- Books

Welcome back to my tiding up journey! Yesterday I took you through stage 1 of the Konmarie Method and today we are headed right into stage 2. Because I live with chronic pain and books are quite heavy, I decided to do the next stage by floors. We actually have books on all three floors, so I took all books from each floor and put them in their own big piles. Up first, all books from our built-ins mixed with all cookbooks from our kitchen shelf. Yes, I totally did that thing Marie Kondo does when she "wakes up the books" and touched each one to decide what I wanted to do with it. My hubby helped me with this first pile of books as a good amount are ones he has accumulated and each person needs to choose what to do with their own things. Just as my children needed to help me with the next two floors of book piles. Although there was some heavy lifting, this was an easy stage compared to the previous one and I was happy I could knock it out in a few short hours.  

Konmarie Method: Stage 1- Clothing

Odds are that you have heard of the Konmarie Method by now. Thanks to the new show "Tiding Up" on Netflix, Marie Kondo has a platform beyond her book (The Life-Changing Magic of Tiding Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing), to help people organize their homes. Most importantly, her method highlights the importance of keeping only the items in your home that spark joy. As soon as I started watching the first episode on Netflix, I knew this was something I wanted to do. I had an upcoming social media break and thought it would be the perfect time to take on this 30-60 day project (with most of the "heavy lifting" in the first few weeks). 

I looked around my house and all I saw was clutter. Clutter from the holiday, clutter from recently adopting two kittens, clutter from day- to-day life. I walked into the room that use to be our office, and couldn't even walk in. Before Christmas this room became our catch-all room, and it was becoming clear that it was high time to go full "beast mode" on our home. 

When you use the Konmarie Method, there are five stages to follow. I will show you all five steps on the blog in the coming week, but you can also follow my progress on my IG Highlights section. Stage one is clothing, and before you can decide what you wish to keep and discard, you must put everything in one pile. Everything! Empty your closet(s), drawers, I'm talking literally ever item of clothing you have. I went from room to room and did just that. I decided to start with my kid's rooms and have each of them help me go though and fold all of their item. 

My Son's Bedroom: 

After you see everything in a pile, we took a moment to reflect on what we saw and how much we have accumulated. Next we created two piles, one for keep and the other to be discarded. For all of the items that we planned to get rid of, we have to thank them first. I know, I know, it seems a little silly, but it is important. When it came to old favorite tees or a hat that reminded my son of fun memory or moment, thanking the item made it easier to let it go. To acknowledge how much we used or loved that item, but it was time to let it go, was part of this process. After the Goodwill items were bagged up, it was time to start folding and finding spaces for the keep pile. 

I Gave up Social Media for 2 weeks, Here's what happened

Hello my friends, I have missed you! Wow, two whole weeks off of all social media has really done me some good. Prior to the past two weeks, I was feeling like social media had taken over my life! Ok, I'm being dramatic, but it was getting a bit out of control. Here's the thing, I use social media both for work and fun. I LOVE chatting daily with family, friends and you guys, but I was going online way too often. Plus, it started to feel more like something I had to do and less like something I was wanting to do or even enjoyed doing. So I decided to give it up for two weeks to see what would happen. My hope was to come back refreshed and inspired and I have to tell you, it ended up being so much more then that!