Healthier Meals Makeover!

I’m excited to be working with The Motherhood, ConAgra, Rachel and Vanessa on aHealthier Meal Makeovers Cooking Connections Class.

Tomorrow, we 3, along with a wonderful group of co-hosts will be talking Healthy Meal Makeovers at 1 PM EST (12 Noon CST)

During the class, all of us will provide our best suggestions for making family friendly meals that are nutritious AND delicious. Join us to exchange recipes, ask questions, share your own suggestions and learn a few simple tips and tricks for making meals healthier!

I’ll be covering appetizers and soups, Renee – Main Dishes and Vanessa – Desserts.

We have a wonderful group of co-hosts who’ll be chatting and sharing along with us:

Christine Satterfield, I Dream of Clean, http://www.idreamofclean.net/
Ilina Ewen, Dirt and Noise, http://www.dirtandnoise.com/
Jessica Binder, Food Mayhem, http://www.foodmayhem.com/
Serena Yuen Beltz, Fresh, Local and Best, http://freshlocalandbest.blogspot.com/
Lisa Perez, New York Chica, http://newyorkchica.com/
Katie Goodman, Good Life Eats, http://www.goodlifeeats.com/
Wendy O’Neal, Around My Family Table, http://aroundmyfamilytable.com/
Amanda White, Oh Amanda, http://ohamanda.com/
Debbi, Debbi Does Dinner Healthy, http://debbidoesdinnerhealthy.blogspot.com/
Denise Sawyer, Wholesome Mommy, http://wholesomemommy.com/
Julie, Dinner with Julie, http://dinnerwithjulie.com/

I hope that you decide to join us; you can sign up here

If you have any questions or ideas, please feel free to share them in the comments below and we’ll do our best to incorporate them tomorrow in our class! Make sure you join us!

I'm A Princess!

In 7 days I'll be celebrating my birthday in the happiest place on Earth- Walt Disney World! And I'm so excited that I'll be running the Disney Princess Half-Marathon the following day. Well, I have my tiara, Team in Training shirt (did I mention that I'm on the Georgia Alumni Advisory Committee?) and my purple sparkle skirt! Never mind the missing E on my name, I'm going to try and find the iron on letters I used to make my shirt - hopefully before next week! 


Anyhow, what do you think? Am I ready to run like the wind? Like a Princess?????

Little Birdie - sponsored post

Although I don’t talk about it much, I am the Queen of bargains! I seldom pay full price for anything because I will search for coupons online, ask about sales when I’m in a store and of course I subscribe to group discount notifications from ScoutMob, GroupOn and the like. I will soon be adding another to my subscription list, Little Birdie!

Little birdie,  is your “go to” resource for insider tips for local, kid-friendly deals in your zip!  Little birdie will be landing in NYC and Atlanta in early March.  Parents (expecting or with children 12 years or younger) in those cities will be the first to experience little birdie deals with savings up to 90% off on kid-friendly activities, dining and so much more!

To celebrate, little birdie is holding the Feather Your Nest Giveaways.  Two lucky winners (one (1) NYC area and one (1) Atlanta area parent) will each receive a $4,500 dream nursery/kids’ room makeover from celebrity decorator, Sherri Blum.  A third winner chosen from anywhere in the U.S. will receive a $1,000 shopping spree.*  To learn more and enter, please visit http://bit.ly/dUCQJu
.
Little birdie is also excited to announce that they are hosting a Twitter Party complete with door prizes for participants!**
Little Birdie Twitter Party
When: Thursday, February 17th from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. ET
Where: #littlebirdieUSA  tag on Twitter
How: To participate, follow hostess @ResourcefulMom, sponsor @littlebirdieUSA, @littlebirdieATLand @littlebirdieNYC and special guest @SherriBlum.

PRIZES
(3) Three winners will each receive a personalized wall art canvas from celebrity decorator and guest, Sherri Blum
(3) Three winners will each receive a $25 little birdie credit to be used upon the launch of the site landing soon in NYC and Atlanta!
*No purchase necessary.  Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. & D.C., 18 or older who are expecting a child (pregnant or in the process of adopting or surrogacy) and/or have a child or children 12 or younger.  Sweepstakes starts 3:01pm ET 2/15/11 and ends 11:59 p.m. ET 3/31/11.  Void where prohibited.  For complete details, see Official Rules at http://bit.ly/dUCQJu, which govern.

**No purchase necessary.  Must be a legal resident of the 50 U.S. or DC, 18 or older.  Ends 9:00 p.m. ET 2/17/11.  Void where prohibited.  Winners will be selected on a random basis during the party by @ResourcefulMom and will be notified via @reply. Failure to claim via an online form within 48 hrs of notification will result in prize forfeiture.  Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible participants.  Credit is subject to terms and conditions specified by little birdie. Sponsor of Door Prize Giveaway: ResourcefulMommy.com.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I’ve been compensated to spread the word about Little Birdie.

The Disney Dream - Staying Healthy on a Cruise!

Last month I had the honor of going on the Inaugural cruise of the newest Disney Cruise Line Ship - The Disney Dream. I have so many pictures, video, etc that I just have been procrastinating posting. But I procrastinate no more. I promise I’ll blog about all of the wonderful things that I experienced but first I’ll talk about health!

When people think about cruises, the first thing to come to mind is usually the many food options on a ship. Food is pretty much available 24/7 on cruise ships and The Disney Dream was no exception. So, how do you continue to eat “healthy” when there are so many options? Well, I’ll let you know what I did. 

For lunch the first day I chose high protein seafood and salad. There were other options, like burgers and fries, cheesy sandwiches but I steered clear of that area. I hit up the seafood counter because I love seafood and I also know that eating protein would keep me full and it isn’t highly caloric. Since I was on a vacation I also made a decision - I’d either have a drink or a dessert with meals. Extra calories yes but I truly believe in everything in moderation. I had a GREAT mojito, just one, and savored it!

For dinner I dined at one of the many restaurants on The Dream. What I appreciated about The Dream is that the menus highlight the healthy options. When given the choice, I decided on a healthy option. I’m not going to lie, I also had dessert, serious dessert - I tried a little of everything! The verdict? Delicious!

For breakfast I stuck with fruits, yogurt and/or oatmeal. I kept my belly full and was ready for the day. But in addition to the eating healthy, I also took advantage of the many physical activities both on and off the ship. After touring the gym, I decided to take the spinning class that was offered the following morning. I woke up early and joined the 45 minute class. 

It was absolutely amazing! I haven’t taken a spinning class in forever so it was perfect. But my other options were to run on the treadmill - with a beautiful view of the Bahamas or even better, to run around the ship on the track! Because I don’t have a gym membership I chose the gym and sadly the following day it rained so I couldn’t use the outdoor track. 

After my morning workout I hit the beach. I swam, chased my son around and even ventured out to the Pirate slide. It was a workout to get to the slide because you have to swim about 200 yards to get there. The ride was worth it and like a big kid I went back for more!  After spending time on the beach I played with my son in the family pool, took him up on the kids slide and watched him frolick in Nemo’s Reef play area. I also rode the AquaDuck, the onboard “water coaster” I did that twice too! Once by myself and another time with my friend Colleen of Classy Mommy. 

In the evening I had the chance to hit the clubs - The Dream has an entire floor dedicated to entertainment! Dancing certainly would have burned calories but I decided to take it easy and watch Tron (with Whoopi Goldberg) in 3D at the best movie theater I’ve ever been in!

As you can see, cruises certainly afford opportunities to maintain a healthy lifestyle. And since I’m not one to just lay back and relax when on vacation, I look at it as an opportunity to get my body moving, try new and interesting cuisine and just enjoy myself. The key is everything in moderation, don’t over indulge and you could possibly leave the cruise lighter than when you got on!

I’ll be talking more about the Disney Dream in the upcoming weeks! Suffice it to say, we LOVED IT!

Disclosure: My personal travel and accommodations were covered by Disney but as usual all of the opinions are 100% my own!

The Disney Princess Half-Marathon

On Sunday, February 27th I'll be running the Disney Princess Half-Marathon. I've spoken about it before but haven't really being saying too much about it here. Registering for the race was a birthday present for myself and I've been able to recruit a couple of women from church, a friend from a Mom's group and one of my neighbors to run(but I don't think she is running this time around), and one of my blogging buddies too!  They all watched my first foray into the half-marathon world with the Nike Women's in October and when I went to twitter to recruit a party for the Disney Princess the response was overwhelming! 


Well, I have to say that I've been a bit overwhelmed because not The Blogrollers have partnered with Disney and I will be going to cover the event! So, all of my expenses (with the exception of my race registration) are going to be taken care of by Disney. And I know Disney, this is going to be BIG!
I can't think of a better way to celebrate my birthday and I'm so grateful for this birthday present!!!!


On the training front, well, my training has been less than stellar. It has been cold (and I don't do cold) and this year I ran for the first time this past Saturday. Check me out before the run - not a happy camper! 

But I ran with my friends from Team in Training for the All-Sport run and soon I felt much better. 

I put in a good 5 miles on Saturday and although I was sore the next day it wasn't too bad. Today I decided to up my mileage and ran 8.2 miles. 

(just finished 8.2 miles in 1:35 minutes, still smiling, sweaty and not interested in retaking blurry picture!)


It is amazing how much different I feel this time around.  I guess because I KNOW I can go the distance, I'm not pressed. And the Disney Princess is a FUN race. I'm not worried about my time. I'll be running with friends and enjoying the sights and sounds at the happiest place on Earth! 


I've got my tiara, my sparkly skirt is on the way - Disney Princess Half-Marathon in 12 days, I'm ready for you!

Valentine's Day 2011 - Love Yourself!

I have never been a big fan of Valentine’s Day. If you love someone let them know daily not just on a manufactured holiday! Anyhow, this year I’ve been invited to a date-less party and I look forward to going....check out my video and you’ll find out why.



This year I am encouraging you to LOVE YOURSELF! Celebrate you this Valentine’s Day. I did it by simply buying a new outfit at Walmart. I didn’t go crazy, I spent less than $40 but I look and feel good! By stepping out of my comfort zone and loving myself (imperfections and all) I’ve surprised myself and am wearing a dress that I wouldn’t be caught dead in not so long ago (like yesterday).

Although I may sound like a broken record, I’m going to say it again - this Valentine’s Day LOVE YOURSELF! Treat yourself to something special, an outfit, a spa trip, a solo trip to a bookstore or coffeeshop. Make time for you!

Disclosure: I'm a Walmart Mom and was provided with a gift card to make myself feel beautiful this Valentine's Day.  I've also been compensated for my time to write this post, shop and shoot this video. But as usual, all opinions are my own.

Moms Think!

Moms Think. We are the holders of the purse strings in our households and we are often the ones that make the buying and purchasing decisions. We cut coupons, decide on family vacations, major purchases and as thinking women we recognize how we are effected by the state of the economy.  One of the issues that has me fired up is healthcare. I am an ambassador for MomThink.org and we are moms that are opening up the dialogue and discussion about issues that impact our children and their future.

In January I was supposed to go the Capital Hill with my a group of mom bloggers on a trip which we lovingly nicknamed - Mrs. Mom Blogger goes to Washington! I did the preliminary work and set up a meeting with my congressman and was fired up to hear his take on the federal budget. Sadly, snowmaggedon hit and I was stuck in Atlanta. No visit to the Capital for me. BUT my interest in issues affecting my family has not waned.

Since I’ve been focused on my health I wanted to share some things with you. I am by no means an expert in healthcare, the healthcare bill or the like but I can speak about my experience and the experiences of my friends. As a self-employed person, I am responsible for my own healthcare. For the last 3 years I’ve paid for health insurance for my family. I currently pay $650 a month for a family of 3. And this is the bare minimum plan! I still have an approximately $3000 deductible, must spend $150 for an ER visit and honestly have been unable to get my baseline mamogram because the cost of the exam is crazy!

I keep my insurance for annual physicals for myself and my son but I have to say I’m disappointed by the people that are against universal healthcare because seriously? The costs for me and my family and my friends are going up! My girlfriend pays over $400 a month for healthcare for her family of 3 and her insurance is subsidized!

I don’t have the solutions but is my hope that opening up about my experience and sharing it with others will give us all an opportunity to discuss issues like healthcare. MomThink.org is the place where we can have these types of conversations and I hope that you join us there. It doesn’t matter what side of the aisle you are on, let’s talk about the issues!

If issues like healthcare, the national debt and  national security are important to you please visit MomThink.org and join the conversation!



Disclosure: I am a MomThink.org ambassador and am compensated for my time but all of my opinions are 100% my own.

Valentine's Day Treats - the healthy version! (sponsored post)

Can you believe that Valentine’s Day is a mere 11 days away? And you know what that means. Chocolate, candies and delectable treats! I’m here to tell you that you can enjoy Valentine’s Day treats without holding on to a bunch of guilt. I suggest making your own “special” treats and topping them off with a special drink for that evening. I also believe in celebrating Valentine’s Day even if you don’t have a Valentine because heck, we can all be our own Valentine’s! We deserve special treatment and why not give it to ourselves?



So, here are my suggestions for a nice Valentine’s Day. First it starts with fresh fruit. You can use whatever fruit floats your boat but I am partial to strawberries. I was able to purchase these for $2.88! Score!

Next I found some dark chocolate. Yes, you can indulge in Dark Chocolate- did you know that it is full of antioxidants and having a little every day is actually GOOD for you! Yes it is. And I believe in indulging when it is beneficial!

Finally, I melt the ORGANIC chocolate and dip the strawberries!

A very nice and tasty treat that is simple to make and is oh so delicious and decadent! For that extra special touch I add champagne - Barefoot Bubbly Moscato Spumanti champagne is not only tasty but inexpensive too! It is on the sweet side because Moscato is used but it is very nice paired with dark chocolate covered strawberries!

If you are not interested in alcoholic beverages, I enjoy sparkling cider and this one is my favorite! 

All of the items that I purchased are available at Walmart and to make a very special Valentines treat you will spend between $8 - $16 depending on if you chose an alcohol or non-alcoholic beverage. I’ve tried both and you can’t go wrong with either choice!





Method:
Wash Strawberries
Heat chocolate - use either microwave (my preferred method) or double broiler. I use the microwave with an entire slab of chocolate and set it for 30 seconds. I check on the consistency and if needed I’ll put it on for another 20 or 30 seconds.

I then dip the strawberries in the chocolate and place them on wax paper. The chocolate will set on the strawberries in less than 10 minutes but if you are in a hurry you can place the dipped strawberries in the refrigerator.

Once the chocolate has set - ENJOY!!!!

Remember to love and celebrate yourself this Valentine’s Day!

Disclosure: I was given a gift card to Walmart to purchase the items in this post and as a Walmart Mom I've been compensated for my time to write and purchase the products for this post. 

Go Red for Women! - Giveaway!

For the past three years I have participated in the Go Red for Women campaign. I believe in the movement by the American Heart Association to raise awareness about heart disease in women. Did you know that heart disease is the number one killer of women? And that when having a heart attack, in addition to chest pain, women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain.Take a visit and explore the Go Red for Women website. There are so many great resources available there including the Go Red Heart CheckUp and the 12 week Better U program.  If you have a story about how you are saving your heart, you might be chosen to be a national spokesperson for the Go Red Campaign!

As you can see I am wearing my red top. You can also see that it is not weather appropriate. Since my last Go Red postings I’ve lost approximately 50 pounds by doing great things for my heart - diet and exercise. Running a half-marathon, dancing, and strength training are things that I do to keep my heart healthy. As a result, I don’t have any clothes that are red that fit - except for the top I’m wearing.

Believe me, I’m not complaining! I’m actually inviting you to join me and wear red today too! Help educate others about heart disease and women. Also, if you are a shopper, you might want to stop by Macy’s today because you will get 20 percent off of your purchases for wearing red! 

GIVEAWAY

Can’t make it to Macy’s? Need something red? Well, as a sponsor of Go Red for Women, Macy’s has provided me with a $50.00 gift card for one of my readers (they also provided one for me too. I guess I’ll have no excuse for ill-fitting red clothing next year)!

To enter simply tell me what you are doing to keep your heart healthy! If you are not registered on blogger please be sure to leave your email address in your comment.

For an extra entry you can tweet about this contest: “Go Red for Women win Macys $50 gc on @Cutiebootycakes http://bit.ly/eeUzJ7 ”  

Good Luck! Contest is open until next Friday at 11:00PM EST.

Fitness at Home!

I've been very honest about my weight loss here on my blog. I've told you about my struggles and my successes and I am quick to tell anyone that asks that weight loss and getting is shape is possible - at home! I've had my friends and family to keep me accountable and last night I was able to share some of my secrets with all of the Atlanta area on a segment on our NBC affiliate 11 Alive. Check it out!

Blissdom 2011

Me and my girl Mishi

photo courtesy of Mishelle Lane

I've literally been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off! I spent last week in Nashville with my friends at Blissdom. Blissdom holds a very special place in my heart. It was the first blogging conference I ever attended and this was my third year! Third Year! Being there among my "peeps" was absolutely wonderful. 

From riding to Nashville with my girl Mishi, to participating in my first Flash Mob - imagine 100 ladies, dancing in waves to Miley Cyrus "Dance Party in the USA" to giving a class on Marketing and Media Training, Blissdom 11 was simply delightful. I'm still recovering and have so many posts to write about all of the wonderful things I've been up to these past few weeks. All I can say is I wish Blissdom was everyday because seeing my friends, meeting new ones and marveling in the success of Barbara and Ali brings tears to my eyes! I can't wait until next year!