How a Hashtag Can Save your Life

Before the social media craze of Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, not many of us had heard about "Hashtags". The "Octothorp" as it is also called, always preceded a telephone number or was used as a prompt when leaving voice mails. 

So for the non smart phone people, what is a hashtag these days? The easiest way to describe it is a connector, a way for people to find similar ideas, pictures, or things. Sometimes it gets a little out of hand when someone posts a picture on Instagram of a piece of cake and says, "#ilovetoeatcakeallthetime." Is that really necessary? Can't you just use the grammar lessons you got in highschool and type out a real sentence using good English? Don't get me wrong, I've been there, done that, but all the time is just not necessary. 

Anyways, let's get on with how a hashtag saved my life. Back to grass roots here, I'm getting off track.
I think Hashtags are amazing. They really do connect people, and most of all connect hobbies, and ways of life. I sat on Instagram some 6 months ago and somehow stumbled upon, "#girlswholift"
which to my surprise brought up over one million pictures! Mind blow!
I would have never thought that one hashtag would change my life, and catapult me into a new lifestyle change where I too became a girl who lifted.
I 'met' on Instagram a few girls who had bikini competition lifestyles, who would post hilarious 30 second videos on just about anything, they would post clean recipes, and most of all, their tips and tricks for staying on track with eating and fitness. 
I started discovering, "#cleaneats, #cleantreats," and most of all......the mother of all hashtags.....#FITAFAM.

There is a fitness family on social media that I knew nothing about, and call me crazy, but somehow using a word like 'fitfam' can connect people from around the world with the same desires and passions. 
I found recipes using these hashtags, I found people to follow and track, I found a drive to want to know more about fitness and clean eating. I had no idea there was a social media world out there that was designed to help, assist, and drive people into the same purpose. 
Since that time, I've been on a fun, frustrating, and amazing journey where I've converted my lifestyle into somewhat of a girl who lifts. I'm a part of an online fitness family even though I have an alias and people don't really know who I am or where I come from. 
That's the amazing thing about hashtags and social media. You don't need to know people's life story in order to connect with them, you just need the same purpose and the same goal. 
And this goal is HEALTH. 

I'm amazed at the transformation my body has taken especially over this past month. Call it a new years un'resolution. It's not a fad, it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change. And every day when I wake up and look in the mirror, I'm amazed at how changing your diet, your fitness routine, and your interests, can actually change your life for the better. 

So this is a huge thank you to hashtags. And an even bigger thank you to the FitFam out there including @gymgirljessie, @dallasrae, and @jazzythings. You have inspired me to be better and do great things. Now go follow those girls, because they too can change your life with their crazy awesome ideas! 

Much love,

Emma

How Yoga Pants are Magical

For every mother that reads the title of this post, I imagine they will utter the words, "AMEN!" as they raise their hands high as if they are in a Southern church on Sunday!
After bearing a child, yoga pants somehow turn into your best friend. They always seem to be there, laying at the end of your bed calling out to you every day. They know your body shape, they cling to the mommy belly pooch that seems to hang below the waist, in this sad, helpless state. What is that anyway?! (Three years later, and it stares back at me everyday!) The pants always make you feel better when you're having a FAT DAY, or, just a 'day'. Because when motherhood begins, all the days mix together and it's just one cluster$%#*! The pants don't judge you because you're still carrying your baby weight. So it's been three years, I can still use that excuse right? The pants even have a matching twin, because standing in the aisles of Walmart you thought, I need two of the exact same pair. And it's the best decision you made, because when one pair is dirty, you rifle your closet for your best friend to make yourself feel better. You can dress them up or down, seriously, they are the little black dresses of mommy world. If you put it with a cute top, say hello mommy date! If you add your husband's sweatshirt, it's a way of saying, 'I haven't slept in 21 hours and I don't give a hoot what I look like'. I made myself a promise that I would never leave the house in sweat or yoga pants, just as a general rule so I wouldn't succumb to the lazy lifestyle I knew was upon me. But alas, my first bad day after my son was born, I was all  hopped up on painkillers from my C-section, the blue day happened and I was as emotional and crying as much as my newborn baby, and I said you know what, YOGA PANTS BRING IT ON! And I left the house donning the delicious and sexy black pants I said I'd never wear except to the gym. That's right I said sexy, the one thing that made me happy in amongst a terribly dark day.

So the next time you need to feel good about yourself, the next time you want to look skinnier in 10 seconds, you put on those lovely black yoga pants and you strutt your mama stuff!

Black yoga pants UNITE!!

-Em


...And no, this picture below is not me.......I would sell bad things on the black market to look THAT good in yoga pants. Damn her, I bet she's not even a Mom. (But let's be honest, no one wants to see my crooked baby belly in yoga pants, so you can have cute yoga pants model instead. Cheers friends.

Switching It Up!

I've decided to switch up the content in my blog, refresh things a little bit, and make it more relevant to my current lifestyle. I'm hoping that the switch will keep me constantly posting because it's of interest to me, and hopefully interest to my followers. Which currently I have none of, so for now, I'm posting to the world wide web of nothingness. ;)
Let me start by saying I'm most proud to be a mother of a toddler, the wife to an amazing man, and lastly, a fitness instructor at our local gym. I'm currently striving to finish my group fitness instructor certification which has been a long time coming!
I'm hoping that everything I post will benefit you in some way, even if you get a small tidbit of information, at least you're better of now than you were before you read. I am by no means an expert, I do not claim to know everything about health, fitness, and "mommydom". But I can tell you I'm as real as they come, and am in the same boat as everyone else. Striving to life a better, healthier, peaceful, more balanced life.

I hope this blog switch will benefit us all.

Blessings,

Em

Organic Homemade Baby Wipes

It's been a while since my last "organic" post, so this time I thought I would try something different.
I came across a recipe for homemade wipes that happened to be organic if you use the right ingredients.
The best part, these money saving wipes contained items that were already in my cupboards!

Here's what you need to save your babies bum some dryness and save your 5 dollar bills for the college fund:)

- 7 cup Rubbermaid container with a snap lid
- Roll of "Bounty" paper towel, cut in half
-Organic coconut oil
-A few squirts of organic baby wash
-2 cups of warm water

Take your Bounty or desired paper towel roll and cut it in half with a VERY sharp knife. Stay away from the serrated knives as they leave "fluffer-nutters" behind and create a huge mess.

The Bounty rolls we purchased were huge, but they managed to just squeeze in the container. I added the spoon so you could see how thick it was. 

I purchased this coconut oil from the grocery store in the organic section, it has no aroma and is great for cooking in lieu of butter or oil. 

Coconut oil is antibacterial, anti-fungal, and is extremely moisturizing for your babies skin! On it's own it is a great body moisturizer. It's so safe and so silky to the touch it's even sold as a personal lubricant. 

Anyways, enough about coconut oil, I could go on for hours about the benefits!!

We use the "Live Clean-Baby" products on Oliver, they are certified organic and 98% plant derived. We used to use Johnson's brand, but after the huge uproar about their products possibly containing cancerous materials, we switched! Live Clean isn't that much more, you can buy it at Walmart or Shoppers Drug Mart. We love using it knowing that it's all natural ingredients going on our baby's sweet skin :) 

Melt your coconut oil in a warm frying pan, just enough to turn it into a watery liquid. I let the pan heat up on the burner before I added the oil, then took it off the stove and let it melt by itself. 

Pour your melted oil into a measuring cup and add 2 cups of warm water. 

Add in two or three pumps of your favourite baby wash and stir.

Add your measuring cup mix to your container.

Set in your giant paper towel roll and press down firmly.

 

 After forcing the roll down into the container, pop on the lid and turn it upside down. Do not open it for at least 5 minutes. Trust me!  

 Once the time is up and you can see from the outside that the roll is completely submerged in water you can flip it back upright and take out the cardboard roll. 

Et voila!! :) 

The easiest, cheapest, and healthiest way to make baby wipes! 

This container costs about $.75 and is 100% natural!

I honestly made these wipes in less time than it would take me to get in the car and drive to the store to pick them up, especially when you already have the ingredients in your house.

These wipes are also great as a makeup remover or to freshen up after a workout. 

Thanks for reading! 

Enjoy,

Cat

Delicious Quinoa Breakfast Delight!

So this is my new favourite breakfast item! 

It's absolutely amazing, and the perfect beginning to get your morning started.

What you need: 

Cooked quinoa - I eat a recommended serving of 1/2 cup

Pecans or your favourite kind of nuts

1/2 Granny smith apple

Splash of almond milk 

1 tsp Agave nectar

The above measurements don't have to be precise because you can adjust it to your taste buds. If you've already pre-made the quinoa, which I recommend, then be sure to throw the granny smiths in the quinoa before you microwave it. The apples warm up and make it even more wonderful, throwing them in at the end is fine, but I love hot apples!

I also bought unsalted, natural pumpkin seeds to throw in to mix it up instead of pecans, etc.

I love quinoa for the simple fact that it's literally a powerhouse of protein, fiber, and iron. It's amazing because with a little serving it fills you up like oatmeal does, without all the heavy gluten properties. 

Banana Buckwheat Bread

I had some rotting bananas sitting on my counter that I had to get rid of today, so either I ditched them in the trash or I ditched them into some yummy bread! 

I found this recipe that I modified a bit to make it more fun and more healthy. This recipe is not completely organic because a.) It's ridiculously expensive and b.) I didn't have all the ingredients. 

What you need: 

2 cups - Buckwheat flour

3/4 tsp - Baking soda

1 tsp - Nutmeg

Sprinkles of cinnamon

1/2 cup - Sucanat sugar

1/4 cup - melted organic butter

1 cup - Ripe bananas

1/3 cup - plain yogurt

1 egg

1/3 cup - ground flax seeds

1 tbsp - Agave nectar 

1 cup- Homemade Almond Milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease your loaf pan with coconut oil (or whatever you like) 

Mix together the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, and flax seeds. 

Mix together the wet ingredients- bananas, melted butter, yogurt, egg, agave, and almond milk. 

Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix together. 

Pour into a loaf pan and sprinkle some sucanat sugar, cinnamon and flax seed on top for decoration and extra taste! 

Bake in the oven for about an hour, or until it gets a bit golden brown, and you can stick a fork into it and it comes out clean! 

Enjoy with some organic butter spread on top or some organic honey, YUM! : )

Much love,

Em

Quinoa and Flax Bread

So today I made my first loaf of bread, well.....first successful loaf! I tried it yesterday and it was hard as a rock! Turns out, you shouldn't use expired yeast, ha!! I had my Mom's help today and the bread came out amazing, and tasted delish! Check out the recipe below to make some great smelling, wonderfully tasting, quinoa and flax bread!

1cup Quinoa (cooked) - So measure out 1/2 cup because it doubles in size, YUM! 
2 cups Buckwheat flour, whole wheat flour, or gluten free, whatever you like!
1/4 cup Olive oil -Still trying to find a good substitute...maybe coconut oil?! :) 
3 tbsp Flax seeds
1tbsp Active dry yeast
1tsp Agave nectar - You can substitute for any king of sugar but I love Agave it's so good for you. It's amazingly low on the glycemic index so it doesn't shoot your blood sugar up like regular sugar does. 
1cup Warm water (almost hot!) 



1.) Start with the quinoa because it takes the longest to cook, set aside
2.) Mix together the agave nectar, yeast, and water. The water has to be almost hot, the first time I did it the water wasn't hot enough and the yeast didn't activate. Let it sit for 5 minutes or until it grows nice and foamy!
3.) Mix together the quinoa, flour, flax seeds, and yeast mixture together. Add in the olive oil. 
Knead it really well and add in some flour with your hands so it's not too sticky. My Grandma taught me to knead with the heels of your hands, just dig in and work it! I wasn't doing a good job today kneading so I know she was yelling at me from up in heaven. :) 
4.) Grease a bowl with some olive oil and put your dough in. Make sure you go all the way up the sides of the bowl so when it grows it won't stick. Grease a bit of saran wrap too before you cover it just to make sure it doesn't stick. If it does, it may deflate the bread when you try to take it out! (Little trick from my Mama!) 
Cover with a tea towel and place in the oven with the light on for about an hour or until it doubles in size.
5.) Take it back out and re-knead it, this time placing it in your greased loaf pan. Repeat the covering and oven part! 
6.) Once it's doubled and looks delicious, throw it in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Note: Please make sure the plastic wrap and towel are off first ;) 


Let it cool before you eat it because it gets all doughy when it's hot. Spread a little organic honey on a piece and ENJOY! It's SO delicious, I hope you love it as much as I love! 


Much love,
Em