Hello everybody,
  
I hope you enjoyed your nice long weekend as I did.  And just like that, it's Friday again! Yay!  Well, last Friday I was explaining all of the activities we were going to do over the holiday weekend and we did a lot.  Instead of the Ortega's though we hiked the Santa Rosa Plateau in Wildomar which is just a couple exits down the freeway from us.  We took the boys on a beautiful 4 mile hike and they did surprisingly well!  Especially my 5 year old who has a tendency to get whiny on long journeys.

Gorgeous day on the Plateau

Me and my babies <3

 Diet wise.... I didn't do so great. lol  Besides the hike, we ran intervals Monday morning which was great... And we still had our breakfast and lunch shakes but... then we went to our friends house to barbeque to celebrate Memorial Day.  I had too many Mimosas and chips.  Quite a combo, huh?  And when I say too many Mimosas I mean because of all the sugar and calories in the champagne and orange juice, not that I was drunk.  I mean, I was, don't get me wrong but that's not what I meant. ;)  I also had a turkey dog and 2 brats (OMG amazingly delish) without buns though.  Anyway, needless to say I found a few of those pounds I had lost last week. Luckily for me I got back on the wagon after Monday and am this morning back at 133.8. Phew!   I did find that since we've been exercising I didn't feel  bigger when my weight went up so that's awesome.  I plan on being much smarter this weekend.  Having no money to buy extra junk helps.

Tomorrow I'm gonna have a yard sale to get rid of some clutter and all those "maybe we can use that someday" items that have sat in the garage for years.  Our budget this summer is going to be tight due to the kids being out of school so there's more daycare payments to be made, plus my birthday bash in Palm Springs doesn't help funds.  But I'm really amazed with how we've been able to get by.  I'm really proud of how frugal we can be and make due with what we have in our fridge/pantry.  I've found that meal planning really helps.  We see what we have and make a list of what we'll make each day for the week.  I'm sure most of you are going, "Well duh!" but we're used to buying ingredients for a specific meal that we're in the mood for and that cost can really add up.  Whenever we have gone over budget in the past it's usually at the grocery store.  Drinking the Vi shakes for breakfast and lunch really helps keep our cost down of course.  Also, the 99 Cent Only Store is a real life saver.  Yesterday I got a loaf of bread, package of turkey bologna, a package of American cheese slices, a pack of hot dogs, hot dog buns, and a 12 pack of cookies which is 12 packs of 4 cookies each (perfect for the boys lunches).  And all for $5!  I mean, come on, you can't beat that.  I made the discovery that a gallon of milk is 10 cents cheaper at Target though, and it's not "sell by tomorrow". Haha

My recent Pinterest attempt was this Creamy Taco Soup that I pinned the other day.  Here's the link if ya wanna try it.  http://pinterest.com/pin/30047522486596758/  It was really good!  I suggest having extra plain Greek yogurt on hand to use as sour cream but other than that it was great.  Also I didn't use the whole serving of lime juice they call for because I'm not a huge fan of that taste and I added some avocado, but I didn't change anything else.  



Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Yesterday I realized that today marks 30 days until I turn 30!!! Holy shnikes!  I never thought it would bother me, and I'm sure when all is said and done I won't really care, but I'm really having anxiety about it!  I think it's just the fact that I'm counting down to something that most people cringe at and the fact that I still think of myself as 18...  It's so weird, I'll look at someone like say Selena Gomez and think we're the same age.  Then I find out they're 20 or so and I'm like... Oh... Right... LOL 

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!
Love
Holly