Memorial Day {and 30th Birthday} Happenings!

Dress | Onesie | Jacket | Shorts | Hat | Wagon | Sunglasses | Swing

Hi Friends...and Happy Friday!

I am so happy it's a three-day weekend...I always feel like Memorial Day officially kicks off the summer...and we have a lot of fun planned for this weekend.  My sister-in-law's bridal shower is tomorrow and Ryan's 30th birthday is on Sunday!  We're having a big barbecue to celebrate...I'm thinking it will be a nice preview of Ethan's birthday...lots of red, white and blue!  And ideally we'll be spending a lot of time outdoors!

Not sure what to wear this weekend?  Check out this super cute striped tank or this great linen dress.

Hope you all have a happy {and safe!} Memorial Day Weekend!

xo natasha

PS...for those of you who saw my panic last night over my Instagram account, I'm happy to say it's back and all is well...whew!  It did make me realize that I should be backing up my photos regularly.  It also made me realize what an asshole I sound like, complaining about Instagram when there are waaaaaay more pressing things in life.  Lesson learned.  

DIY Fruit Popsicles

With Memorial Day right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to introduce you to a new friend, Sarah, and have her share a great recipe for this weekend!  Sarah is an adorable mama to two and has some awesome DIY ideas...like this fruit popsicles!  Take it away Sarah!

 Hi, I'm Sarah and I write a blog called A Girl In Transit. I've been a fan of Natasha's blog for a while now. My son, Sean, is only a day younger than Ethan so it's neat watching them reach the same milestones around the same time. Thank you so much Natasha for letting me come and share a little bit of what my family loves with your readers! 

With Summer approaching, creating fun ways to stay cool starts to flood pinterest. I stumbled across THIS pin on how to make these lovely DIY popsicles. I ordered THESE pop molds and picked a day to make ice pops with my toddler. My daughter, Samantha who is 2 years old, is in that "helping" stage so I knew she'd love helping me makes these pops... oh, and eating them...and making a crazy sticky mess too of course.  Sean is teething so these pops were perfect for those poor little gums to get some relief. This season I'm going through with my kids is a lot of work, but the joy that comes along with it overflows in me. Watching my daughter be so happy to do something as simple as cutting shapes out of watermelon, or that wild excited look in my son's eyes when he gets his first taste of the popsicle gives that heavy, loving joy and thankfulness in my heart. I don't want to let go of these sweet moments with my kids. I'm thankful I have my blog to always help me remember, because with how fast time is flying by it's really easy to forget these little moments in time. Below are some pictures on making your own easy DIY popsicles. Thanks again for letting me visit Natasha! 

Thanks to Sarah for being here today!

xo natasha

Baby Ethan: Week 47

Weight: Unknown...maybe around 19 pounds?

Health: A little bit of a runny nose, which could be from teething but is more likely a result of seasonal allergies.  

Sleep: Still hit or miss.  Some nights he sleeps great and other nights he's up 1-2 times.  Luckily, as always, once he gets a bottle, he goes right back down.

Social: Ethan had a SUPER social weekend this past weekend.  We went down to the bay area to celebrate Ryan's 30th birthday along with college friends.  Ethan got to meet two new baby friends and was held by almost everyone there.  He did great and was a big ham, as usual.  It's funny to see how our social outings have changed with baby!  :)

Diet: Starting to eat most anything!  He had his first bolognese pasta the other day and scarfed it down.  I'm pretty sure he'd be happy to skip the meat puree and go straight to the real deal.  Though he has taken to more of the pureed meat options.  He also loves raspberries!

Clothes: We're officially moving from 9 month jammies to 12-18 month jams!  I just can't believe how fast he's growing!

Baby Gear Love: Baby Man still loves his walkers and balls!  And he got to play with a water table for the first time a couple weeks ago and loved that too!  

Crying: Still has that dramatic flair going on!

Likes: I will say...he loves his mama, which of course, I love.  He also still loves the kitty and bath time.

Postpartum: You know I've had some recent success with finally losing those last pesty pounds.

Milestones: Baby boy had his first bump against the coffee table.  Total mother of the year moment, since it happened on my watch.  :(  Luckily, our little guy is pretty resilient   

xo natasha

Dr Oz's Three Day Cleanse: My Review

I want to preface this by saying, that I've never done a cleanse before.  I bought the Master Cleanse Book and was too scared to actually go through with it.  I'm not really about starving myself and want to lose weight in a healthy way.  So when I saw Alissa's review on Dr. Oz's 3 Day Cleanse, I was definitely intrigued.  First of all, Dr Oz seems like a pretty reputable source {I mean, hello Oprah!} and second of all, I trust Alissa, since I know she's a "real" person!  ;)  Third of all, this is a cleanse that has  substance to it.  You essentially drink 4 whole shakes which consist of vegetables, fruits, and other fats.  No starving involved. 

Aside from all of that, I've been really struggling to lose those last 10 pounds from my pregnancy.  Nothing seems to work.  Just when I think I make progress, I gain 2-3 pounds back.  It's been super frustrating.  So I figured, this would be a good way to rein in my out of control food proportions {breastfeeding was the culprit here}, curb my sweet tooth, and maybe even lose a couple pounds.  

Here's an overview of what's involved:

And here's my review:

Day 1

I started the day with the hot tea and lemon...I skipped the sweetener   The breakfast smoothie was yummy!  I loved the combo of raspberries, banana and almond butter.  Speaking of, how have I never had almond butter?!  It's so delicious!  I was off to a good start!

The lunch smoothie is one word: DISGUSTING!  It's not so much the ingredients...I like apples, cucumber and can tolerate kale...it's the texture.  It's really dense and thick and just gross.  It took me 3 hours to choke down the first day. 

I got pretty hungry between lunch and dinner, so I made myself half of a breakfast smoothie again.  And then had the dinner smoothie 2 hours later.  The dinner smoothie is not bad...just a little spicy because of the cayenne pepper.

That night I took the epsom salt bath, which was nice, but it's hard to find time to really enjoy it with a small baby around the corner.  I did get to bed by 9:30 which is unheard of!  I was super tired.

Day 2

Still love the tea and breakfast smoothie and actually look forward to it.  I'm not missing caffeine nearly as much as I thought I would.  

I reduced the celery to two stalks and used a food processor which helped immensely with the texture.  It's not AS bad, but still my least favorite.  

I'm still hungry after work, but decide to just eat the raspberries and banana with a little almond butter instead of making the entire shake.  I was literally licking the almond butter spoon.

Dinner is the same.  I actually had the hardest time with day two.  It was hard knowing what I was going into and knowing that today wasn't the last day.  I end the day with another bath.  

Day 3

SO happy it's the last day!  Happily drink my breakfast smoothie and choke down my lunch smoothie.  Had the same snack after work and then my dinner smoothie followed by the bath.  I notice that I'm not as hungry as the first day and even feel less bloated.

Results

I can't say I felt immensely better...more energized and such.  But I did notice my skin seemed a bit clearer, and most importantly, I lost 7 WHOLE POUNDS!  Yes, I was shocked to read the scale on the 4th morning.  It's been two weeks since I did the cleanse and I've kept five pounds off...not bad for three days.  I can already tell that my cravings have been curbed and my proportions are much more in control.

If you're thinking of kick starting a healthy lifestyle, I would recommend this cleanse.  I really feel like you can do anything for 3 days...and it's probably best to start at the beginning of the week.  I even had a similar breakfast shake on the 4th morning, I was that hooked.  Update: I've been having a variety of the shake every morning along with the green tea and lemon.  I really do love it!

I hope this helps!  Let me know if you have any questions.

xo natasha

Ethan's 9 Month Photo Shoot

I'm kicking off my weekend by sharing Ethan's 9 month photos!  I'm so happy with how these turned out...Darcy of Artyard Photo captured the moment perfectly {as usual!}.  I wanted to get outdoors to showcase our spring and incorporate some fun and whimsical details, like the adorable tepee below.  We also took some shots in his nursery...totally obsessed with all of them!

 Doing high fives!

 We adore his Freshly Picked Moccs.  They're the best!

I LOVE our tepee!  It's by TwoFeetFirst and I highly recommend them!  The tepees are made in the states and come customized with the poles.  Megan was awesome to work with!

 Ethan's Shirt: Zara Pants: Gap  My shirt: Zara

 Seriously...one of my faves.

 Shirt: Zara Pants: Gap

 Crawling like crazy!

And we're done!  :)

Hope they made you smile today...Happy Friday!

xo natasha

F21 Finds {and Zara too!}

I'm not a regular Forever 21 shopper...I get way too overwhelmed when I step foot in a store and usually leaved empty handed.  But when some of my favorite bloggers, like Andee and Natalie, post about their fabulous finds, I always get hooked.  I just bought the following items and love all of them!  Better check them out before they sell out!

Popcorn Chain Bracelet

Best $4 I've spent in a long time...this is actually two bracelets, but they're great for layering with gold or silver because of the two tones.  I think they look pretty high-end too!

Cheetah Print Top

Such an easy top...I've already worn it with some boyfriend jeans.  I also plan to dress it up with slacks for work.

Faceted Spike Studs

These are a little bigger than I anticipated, but they're grown on me now that I've worn them a couple times.

Cutout Floral Midi Dress

How adorable is this dress?  I love the length and the little cutout!  It's definitely meant for a bustier gal {so sad my BF boobs are gone!} but it's nothing a little alter can't fix!

Another retailer that I love, but don't get to very often is Zara.  I love all of their things, but can also sometimes get a bit overwhelmed with all of their inventory.  I found this dress on my last trip to SF and love it!

Do you shop at F21 or Zara?  What are your favorite finds as of late?

xo natasha