A SMÖRGÅSBORD OF AWESOMENESS FOR MOMS!
We are certainly getting spoiled with nice weather this winter. I love it! Today I was able to take Molly to the park. She loved the swings and watching all the big kids run around. Part of me wants her to stay small, but I also can’t wait until she can join in on the fun.
I love moments like these.
I love my Mollybean SO much. She is just an amazing little person.
So, it’s 6:30pm and I haven’t blogged. However, I have:
Phew. I’m tired. And I still have to eat my dinner, walk the dog, finish decorating both cakes (Elmo and a monkey), make cookies and prep the crock pot dinner for tomorrow night. Well, I don’t have to do those last two things, but I really want to!
Here’s a sneak peek of the cakes I’m currently working on!
YAY! My site is live! I’m so excited for this new adventure. A huge ginormous thank you to Jessica at Southtown Creative for making this site absolutely perfect! Please, bear with me while I navigate these new WordPress.org waters and add my sponsors back to the site. I’m also switching out my photo since you can’t really see my face thanks to that mason jar filled with yummy red wine. 
What do you think about the new site?
Okay all my wonderful readers… today is the last day of NoVa Mom Blog. Starting tomorrow I will officially be launching SuperNoVa Mom!! My wonderful designer, Jessica at Southtown Creative, has been working her butt off to create my new site. I am SO excited to reveal it because I’m totally in love with everything we decided upon. I hope y’all like it too!
We are working on moving my RSS feed so that there are no hiccups, however, if you follow via Google Reader or any other RSS management systems you may just want to update your feed tomorrow. You don’t want to miss out on anything!
I will also let you know tomorrow if you will need to resubscribe via email. Fingers crossed that the migration goes smoothly!
I still plan on my weekly recipe post tomorrow, so be on the lookout for some yummy goodness!
Here’s a little sneak peak of the new site!!!!
If you follow me on facebook and twitter you will have seen that I’ve been doing the 30 Day Photo Challenge on Instagram. I am really enjoying it and love seeing what everyone comes up with everyday. It’s so interesting to see how people interpret each challenge.
I struggle with taking great pictures with my fancy camera (Canon Powershot G10)… I blame it on how little time I have to really learn all the fancy functions. So, my iPhone and Instagram make me feel like I have some kind of photography skills.
Here are my first 12 days of the challenge:
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Day 1: Me |
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Day 2: Breakfast |
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Day 3: Something You Adore |
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Day 4: Letterbox |
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Day 5: Something You Wore |
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Day 6: Makes You Smile |
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Day 7: Favorite |
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Day 8: Your Sky |
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Day 9: Daily Routine |
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Day 10: Childhood |
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Day 11: Where You Sleep |
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Day 12: Closeup |
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Are any of you doing the challenge? Follow me on Instagram!
Who is Gracie? Our new 8-month-old yellow lab pup! She’s currently snoring away on my lap as I type this. Yes, it’s a little awkward, but she doesn’t seem to mind.
We brought her home Saturday and have been in love since the moment we saw her! So how did we find Gracie? Long story short – my dad called us two days before Christmas with the news that a couple near him in SC was splitting and needed a home for their lab. Ben and I have been wanting a dog for a long long time and we couldn’t pass this opportunity up. On Saturday we drove halfway to meet my dad and pick her up! Okay, so maybe our condo is a little tighter now, but we have a plan in place and hope to be in a much bigger place later this spring/summer!
Gracie seems to be settling in quite well, however she is not a fan of sleeping in her crate. I think it’s because she is such a snuggler. The first night she only cried for 15 mins and then slept until 4:30am when she wanted to go out (yes, she’s potty trained! yay!). At that point we just let her sleep with us because I do not need our neighbors complaining about a dog crying at 4:30 in the morning. Well, last night she cried for about 10 mins then 30 mins later she started crying again. Ugh! Well we just decided to let her sleep with us. Are we suckers or what? THEN, Molly woke up crying around 1:30am. I think it was a bad dream, but I was with her for at least 45 mins before she went back to sleep.
Needless to say, I am totally exhausted. Buuuutt… it’s a good exhausted. If you’re wondering how Molly is adjusting to life with a lovable lab I’ll just let you see for yourself!
Ugh, I’ve been so unmotivated to work out lately. I think it’s because all the New Year’s Resolutioners (yeah, I made up a word) are up in the gym hogging all the equipment. I always go to the gym around 1 or 2pm because it’s usually pretty quiet. But now, it’s not. And it’s SO ANNOYING! So I’m blaming my un-motivation on them.
Working out is not my problem. I like working out and enjoy going to the gym. It’s curbing my love for food, in particular, my love for sweet things. The fastest way for me to lose weight is to change my diet — in particular, cutting out sugar and carbs. As well as portion control. I WANT TO EAT IT ALL UP AHHHH.
Today I stepped on the scale and my motivation is definitely a bit higher thanks to the number I saw. I typically don’t weigh myself… I just go by how my clothes fit. But because I pretty much live in workout clothes now it’s almost impossible to tell if I’ve put on some L Beeesssss.
When I got pregnant I was trying to lose around 5lbs of winter weight gain… oops. So now, after gaining 30lbs while pregnant, I’m only about 7lbs heavier, which means I’ve got 12lbs I want to lose. BLAH. But instead of doing some crazy diet I’m just going to try to make a few small changes that can make a big impact:
1. Drink way more water – less coffee.
2. No carbs after 4pm. – I need to bust out my South Beach Diet cookbook for some creative desserts.
3. Up the workout routine – harder, fastest, longer.
I can live with those three small changes.
The Momma Bird started a health & wellness series this week and she has some great tips for those of you trying to get healthy in 2012. She even created a printable checklist so you can check off all your accomplishments throughout the day!
So in the interest of keeping it real, here’s my “before” picture. Okay, I know I’m wearing all black and that’s cheating, but I didn’t feel like changing just for a 2 second picture. To give you some perspective, I’m 5’4 and have a small frame, therefore the smallest amount of weight gain shows, particularly in my face. And I’m not giving you a side photo because you may or may not think I’m still pregnant (14 months after giving birth).
Are any of you making healthy changes this year? If so, what are they?
Happy New Year!!! Today I wanted to share my story about taking Biotin. I know I have raved about it before, but seriously, it has totally changed how my hair and skin look. I just have to share with everyone because not only is it is a tiny pill you only have to take once a day, it’s SO affordable and you will see results quickly.
I have done Proactiv and I’ve been on prescribed skin medication for my adult acne and neither of those worked like Biotin has. SRSLY! Check out the other reasons I love Biotin.
long hair. yay.
*psst. I do freelance write for Pure Matters, but they do not pay me for product reviews nor do they pay me to post on my personal blog. All opinions are my own.
I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone by. I know everyone says once you have kids the years fly by, but until you become a parent you can’t really grasp the reality of that statement. This year was filled with some of my highest highs and some of my lowest lows:
- diagnosed with postpartum depression
- eventually emerged from the depression thanks to Zoloft and time
- got laid off from my job at AOL after returning from maternity leave
- launched my blog
- started Noms by Nikki
- accomplished my goal of becoming a freelance writer
- officially became a Work From Home Mommy
- Ben found a great job that he loves after 6 months of unemployment
- FINALLY MARRIED!!!
- adopted a puppy
- Molly has grown into a smart, funny, outspoken toddler
I can’t wait to see what 2012 brings us! Hopefully a larger home for our growing family. We pick up Gracie (our pup) next weekend and I know it will make our condo feel even smaller! Anyone want to rent our place? You can easily stumble home from the bars. It doesn’t get any better than that!
2012 is also bringing a lot of changes to the blog! If you are my friend on Facebook… you should be… you will notice that my page changed from NoVa Mom Blog to SuperNoVa Mom. Yes, I am changing the title of the blog. I want my blog to be read by people all over, not just those in the Northern VA area. Therefore, I switched things up a little so the NoVa wasn’t so in your face. I will be totally changing my URL and the blog will be getting a facelift — complete with ad spots, so get excited! Don’t worry, I’ll warn you before it officially happens and you can update your RSS feeds!
So, that leaves me with the top 6 posts of 2011! Why six? Because I want to do six okay? What posts were most visited by you pretty folks? I’m pretty sure these are all the top posts thanks to people searching the interwebs… let’s just say there are a lot of you that want to know how to make Mickey Mouse cake pops!
6. Mickey Mouse Cake and Pops! Who doesn’t love a little Disney in their life? SO many people clicked on this post. Has anyone tackled these?
5. Go the Eff to Sleep. Oh how I love this book. And how I wish I had written it.
4. Thanksgiving Printable. Hahaha, my sorry excuse for a printable. Wow, I need to practice. How did this get so many views? I’m almost too embarrassed to show a photo.
3. Northern Virginia Mother’s Day Weekend Activities. I hope everyone that searched was able to find a fun activity to do on Mother’s Day! Keeping up with events has been really hard. I had every intention of posting events every Friday, but I couldn’t keep up with it. 
2. Spaghetti Squash Lasagna. I’m not surprised this was so popular because it is so goddamn delicious!
1. And the most popular post of the year? Leftover Halloween Candy Bark! YUM! Did anyone make this?
I want to thank all you amazing people for reading a blog written by little ‘ole me. I have loved watching it grow and I hope to continue putting all my heart and soul into my writing. I hope you’ll stick along for my journey. See you next year!
I saw this on The Momma Bird and thought it was SUCH a great idea, especially because Molly has changed so much over the past year. I can always count on Michelle for fun link up parties!
Be sure to visit Click.Pray.Love, NapTimeMomtog and Click it up a Notchfor their Top 11 in 2011 entry rules and join in on the fun! Good luck trying to narrow it down to just 11… these are just a few of my favorites!
3. Oh the adventures of eating solids! Here’s Molly a few days before turning 5 months eating her favorite: sweet potatoes!
4. Molly with her daddy at 5 months — taken in Charlottesville, VA after a walk. Look at that smirk! She’s such a ham.
5. A warm day in April – First time on the swings!
6. Sitting up at 6 months – my little prepster
7. Hiking on Father’s Day. We are a nature-loving family and I just love watching Ben show Molly all the bugs, plants and flowers when we go on our walks/hikes.
8. Someone is excited about the 4th of July! Molly loved playing peek-a-boo over the couch at my mom’s house.
9. Okay, so I can’t take credit for this photo because the awesome photographers of Sam Stroud’s Photography took it, but I was camera-less on my wedding day. I just had to have a photo of her from our wedding day (9-10-11) in this list. Forgive me!
10. Molly’s first UVA game on October 1, 2011. Look at those pigtails! She loves her Nannie (my mom).
11. We visited my dad in Murrell’s Inlet, SC for Thanksgiving and Molly got to experience the ocean for the first time. She LOVED it! I told Ben we may have to move. 
What a crazy, amazing year! I love being a mother and now a wife. I also am ecstatic that I have been able to do what I love for a living – write and bake! Let’s hope 2012 only brings more happiness and love into all of our lives. Happy New Year!
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