January 15, 2016

I love lists Friday

Welcome to I Love Lists Friday! Let’s surf the internet together:

This approach to $ and kids is interesting
I want to be in a car with Adele!
What a beautiful table!
These paintings are exquisite.
Inside this artist’s toolbox. Love this series!
A therapist’s lessons about happiness
Victoria painted her house black and I LOVE IT.
This trailer is way less than buying a house in the bay.
27 Little Things Every Woman Needs.
Snapchat vs. Instagram
He never saw it coming.
The best restaurants in SF right now according to Thrillist
This woman is awesome.
For those of you who also can’t stand LED lights. There’s hope!
London’s Big Dig Reveals Amazing Layers of History
These photos are incredible.
If you don’t like talking on the phone (like me!) you’ll appreciate this.
These Ahi Tuna Poke Quinoa Bowls look amaze.
I like the things that Hula likes.
Repurpose old kitchen stuff!
If David Sedaris Were an Anima, He’d be an Oyster.

January 13, 2016

Baked Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

There was this one time when Cooper was about 3 and I didn’t let him get up from the table until he had a bite of spaghetti. It was a spaghetti recipe a lot like this one….meaty/cheesy goodness. There was one small bite wrapped up around his teeny tiny kid fork. At the 20 minute mark (he’s stubborn/there might have been tears), he told me he had to go to the bathroom and I said he could do so when he took a bite. I thought it was that simple.

Sidenote—

I MEAN JUST TAKE A BITE. IT’S NOT GONNA KILL YOU, CHILD.

He still wouldn’t and then he just went to the bathroom….right there in his kid chair at the table. Like….all over the place. It was one of those out of body experiences. Mixed emotions. Feelings of guilt/bewilderment/utter confusion. What just happened??? I mean, when I was a kid my parents had to STOP us from eating our third helping of pasta…

All of this over pasta….

Stillllllllll not a pasta fan… but that doesn’t stop Casey and I from eating it on occasion. I had a craving for meaty pasta smothered with melted/crispy cheese on Sunday night. The weather was begging for it.

I know I’m not reinventing the wheel here. You probably already have a spaghetti situation in your life. BUT, let me tell you that when you twirl the pasta into little nests, cover them in cheese and bake them, it makes for an incredible dinner. Making the pasta into little mounds makes it really easy to spoon out and serve too!

recipes

January 11, 2016

Meal Prep: Week 1

Shutterbean Meal Prep – Week 1!

We’ll see how often I can do this/keep it up BUT I wanted a place to put all of my meal prep stuff, so here we are. I’d like to talk about the things I learned each week I do meal prep (like…what’s realistic for our family and what’s not). Chances are I won’t be doing meal prep EVERY single week, but at least I have something motivating me to keep up the routine I love so much.

THIS WEEK’S MEAL PREP:

4 salads
chorizo tortilla soup
batch of brownies (I used Trader Joe’s GF brownie mix)
tuna salad for sandwiches + salads
cooked potatoes (in microwave) for hashes
wrapped up bananas in foil for the freezer
a bowl of almonds + raisins for snacking
chorizo spinach + quinoa saute
lettuce washed for sandwiches + salads
carrots + cucumbers for snacks
sliced oranges for snacks

MEAL PREP IN ACTION:

Chorizo Tortilla Soup for dinner with tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, hot sauce & cilantro. I made up the recipe on the fly and ended up freezing most of it in single serving containers. There’s only so many times Casey is cool with eating soup for dinner; he’s not a huge soup fan like I am. I plan on bringing some to work in the near future.

Tuna salad for lunch at work. Little did I know that Casey was going to get into the tuna salad while he was working from home. I planned to put a scoop on all the salads I made this week for extra protein. Womp womp. Here’s my lunch last Monday. It was goooood.

Chorizo spinach quinoa with a fried egg + avocado for dinner.

Chorizo spinach quinoa with scrambled egg, salsa, + sour cream for breakfast.

Salad and toast for dinner. I added parmesan + tomatoes.

This week I made roast beef for One Potato, so I used the leftovers with the cooked potatoes and made a hash for breakfast. I added onions & jalapeños and fried some eggs to go with.

The Roast Beef hash leftovers for lunch with cut up avocado.

OTHER NOTES:

We did really great with the snacks this week. There were no vegetables & fruit left at the end of the week. We did have a few leftover brownies (what?!) so I wrapped a few up and popped them in the freezer for future late night cravings. I would have prepped a little bit more if I didn’t have a few photo shoots this week. Our fridge was kinda packed, so what I did prep helped filled in the gaps for the week.

Hope this inspires you to do some meal prep this week.

If you need more inspiration, follow my #shutterbeanmealprep hashtag on Instagram.

Curious about meal prep? Read my post here!

my everyday life, Photography

January 10, 2016

My Everyday Life: Week 1

Here’s what My Everyday Life – Week 1 looked like:

This sunflower display at anthro brightened my day.

Waiting in line last night at Cobb’s.

Epiphany at lunch.

Sometimes the best notes are written on the back of envelopes.

YOU GUYS!!! I’m cleaning out my closet and pairing down like WHOA.

Stay tuned for that!

Casey’s been making good ice lately.

January 8, 2016

I love lists Friday!

Welcome to I Love lists Friday! Let’s surf the net together!

Food styling tricks from advertising experts.
Cat has secret family!
21 Benefits of Having a Cat
Make Your Partner Feel Important So Your Relationship has a Chance
This soup looks incredible.
I’ve been craving hot chocolate lately. Here’s how to make the best hot chocolate!
Realistic Mom Goals for 2016.
Dude. These cookies. WANT. All of them. Now.
Netflix Hacks for 2016
These boots caught my eye same with this top
I love seeing how others use the Bullet Journal System!
Holiday Decoration Organization! We’re so close to be done with putting ours away.
If you’re into Making a Murderer, you might like these other documentaries.
Also if you’re watching the show, this is a good read. I didn’t even think about what it feels like from her perspective. Wow.
Currently working on pairing down my wardrobe. This post was inspiring.
These muffins with these lattes. Please/thank you.
I love Conan. This bit made me laugh so hard.
My latest Pinterest search followed by this query.
It’s amazing what an iPhone can do.
Most expensive homes in every state! Whoa.
It’s fascinating to see what Tom Brady + Gisele eat.
How to clean a dutch oven!
52 Ways to Awaken Your Playful Spirit.

Thanks for the inspiration, Marvin Gaye!

Inspiration

January 6, 2016

Habit Forming

My friend and I were talking about habits yesterday and what we would like to add to our daily routine this year. It’s a fun conversation to have because you can see how everyone differs. For example, my friend is in the habit of emptying the dishwasher first thing when she wakes up, while I’m in the habit of waiting until I have too many dishes piled up on the counter before I empty mine. On the flipside, I MUST MUST MUST make my bed first thing when I wake up but she’s not in the habit of doing so. These habits make us all unique. I find them kind of fascinating.

We are going to be having our kitchen cabinets painted this month, which means it will be out of commission for at least a week and I can’t waaaaaaaaaait to take everything out and put it back in again. Is that weird? I’m in this headspace of editing the crap out of my life right now because all of the stuff I have is OWNING ME. I just want simplicity. I want better habits. I want a better foundation & routine.

This first week of the new year, I’m looking into my everyday habits and trying to figure out what I want to add and what I want to keep. I am also trying to be super realistic about this because life gets in the way and some habits never stick and some die hard.

Let’s talk about some of my habits and how I plan to change them…..

Inspiration, my everyday life

January 4, 2016

Highlights of 2015:

It’s the first Monday of the new year. It’s also my Mom’s birthday. Happy birthday, Mom! I owe you some profiteroles Instead of getting stressed about all we want to do and accomplish today/this week/this month/this year, let’s give ourselves a moment to look back at 2015. Go easy on yourself today. If you’re feeling a little anxious, go through some pictures of last year and find the moments that defined the year. The good/the bad…. all of it.

Here’s how my 2015 went:

Cooper lost 6 teeth this year. He has big kid teeth now. It’s crazy.

We experienced a lot of good sunsets- this one stood out the most.

Meal prep! If you look at #shutterbeanmealprep tag on Instagram, you can see all of the weeks I meal prepped. I kinda fell off the wagon during the last few months of the year because of work but I’m hoping to create more space and time to do it in 2016 as it only benefits my family and saves me time throughout the week. You can read more about meal prep here.

I volunteered a lot at Cooper’s school this year. Highlight- bingo night.

This year I wanted to dedicate more time to making art. I got Cooper involved. It’s something I am going to continue doing in 2016. I’d like to spend at least one night a week working on art together.

I wrote a post about my favorite coloring books and shared some of my favorite books for drawing in 2015.

I spent a chunk of time analyzing/figuring out how to organize my purse system. I wrote a whole post about it. The only thing that’s changed is that I have gotten rid of the folders and created a binder/ calendar system to keep my life in check. Once I have my system nailed down, I’ll share it with you. I’m still experimenting.

I had a nice visit with Maj! She came for a weekend and we went to the beach.

We stopped podcasting this year because of our work schedules. I’m not sure if we’re going to start up again. I miss it a lot, but I am not sure how I ever made time for it in years past! We’ll see what 2016 will bring.