family + travel + lifestyle + wellness
Since we’re trying to teach the kids Spanish, I love this idea of a subscription box.
12 interesting ways to clean with hydrogen peroxide. I haven’t tried any yet but the greasy pots and pans tip looks awesome!
If you’re trying to grow out your hair, check out these tips! And no, this isn’t a post for any pyramid scheme products 😉
Like most women and especially fellow moms who don’t work outside the home, I would love a spotless home 24/7. With 2 kids and a dog, things can get messy if we don’t keep up the effort to keep the house relatively clean. A few years ago, I read a tip I really liked: keep your house in a condition as if guests were coming in 10 minutes. How much could you tidy up in 10 minutes? If you think someone is going to be coming into your house, it’s easier to try and tidy things up, wipe down surfaces, and keep clutter to a minimum. While real life happens and it’s always more important to spend time with my kids versus clean, I’ve tried to stick to this advice. It’s helped us get in the habit of putting things in their place and cleaning as we go rather than letting things pile up and try and clean a lot later. This doesn’t mean that our house is clutter free but the mentality definitely helps.
My favorite chore is definitely vacuuming! It’s relaxing and nice to see instant results of a clean floor. We’ve never had a fancy vacuum but even a regular one has been sufficient. We recently upgraded our dust buster hand vacuum from one we had since we got married 10 years ago and it’s so nice with increased technology ha, ha. We got this Shark model
Our Texas home and current home we’re renting have all wooden and tiled floors and I’ve had my eye on robotic vacuums (like a knock off Roomba
*our favorite dog products for cleaner home here
One of my earlier memories is when I was probably 3 or 4, around Tessa’s age, and we were at the beach with my family. I was collecting seashells all afternoon and had a full bag. Right before we were about to go home, we noticed one shell was actually a little hermit crab. It was gross to me and I remember being so sad (and probably cried) that I had to dump out the entire bag. This memory may not be 100% accurate because why we didn’t just take the crab out of the bag we’ll never know, ha, ha! Anyway, even though we don’t live super close to the beach we are excited to be living a lot closer than before!
This weekend Brent didn’t have any Saturday sports (the pee wee sports he’s been doing through the city rec center) so we decided to check out Newport Beach (which only took us about 40 minutes). It was a little chilly at first which was actually perfect because the beach seemed less crowded and we found a front row parking spot. I underestimated how much the kids would want to play in the cold water so we didn’t dress them in their swimsuits but we still had fun wading in the water, watching surfers, and building sand castles. Neither of the kids had any interest in collecting shells but were very into the waves. The weather turned out to be perfect and it was fun to see the kids’ excitement since the last time we were at a beach was when Tessa was 6 months old.
After the beach, we went to Hop Doddy, which is a gourmet burger place that we had tried in Austin. If I had to compare it, it would be similar to Shake Shack in price and restaurant vibe but like 10x better than Shake Shack. I like Hop Doddy’s quality of meat, variety of burgers, the basic fries are very flavorful and they also have shakes which I’ve heard are delicious. Luckily for us, there are a few locations outside of Texas including Southern California (the one we went to was in Tustin).
Because of all the rain this winter, the wildflowers are in full bloom and everything is more vibrant and lush than normal. It is gorgeous in Chino Hills with all the rolling hills and the highways lined with yellow and purple wildflowers. We wish every Saturday could be like this!
I usually struggle finding pants, skirts and dresses that are a good length for me (short girl problems ha, ha) I enjoyed this post about how to style a long coat for shorter females
A comprehensive list of ethical shops online
How gorgeous is this black dress?! I love the details on the sleeves.
Today is my parents’ 38th anniversary! Here’s to many more to my amazing mom and dad 🙂
One of the most use body parts that we often forgot to stretch is our hands and forearms! Most everyone uses their hands all day whether it’s kids playing, writing at school, typing on a computer or phone, working, cooking, cleaning, driving, etc.
This stretch below is one of my most favorite stretches that instantly relieves any tension in the wrist and forearm. It only takes a few seconds but is crucial for good wrist health and flexibility. This stretch and other simple stretches such as wrist rotations can help prevent wrist fatigue, pain associated with carpal tunnel syndrome or overuse.
Extend arm with fingers towards the ground. Use the opposite hand to gently pull fingers back towards your body. (Stop if you feel any pain!)
Extend arm with fingers pointed towards the sky. Use opposite hand to gently pull fingers back towards your body.
These stretches are so great for any repetitious action especially working on a computer or phone. Even after playing the piano, cleaning, washing dishes, knitting, or driving for a long time my hands, wrists and forearms can be tight or exhausted and I find it so beneficial to stretch them.
Other awesome stretches for the hands, wrists and forearm include wrist rolls, squeezing a tennis ball or stress ball and the prayer pose stretch.
The main reason I started making jewelry a few years ago (before I started my Etsy shop) was because I could picture the jewelry I wanted that was my style but couldn’t find it in physical shops or online. I experimented with several different methods, designs, materials, suppliers, etc and through lots of trial and error and google, was able to design and create the pieces I was looking for. While my work needs a lot of practice and work, it makes me happy to be able to turn my vision into an actual product.
Here are a few new earrings I’ve been experimenting with – my first experiment with wire hoop earrings. The top pair has details of tiny gold geometric seed beads. The bottom pictures are similar design with a leftover herkimer diamond (from a necklace I made) paired with the same gold seed beads as the top pair of earrings. I’m pleasantly surprised with how they turned out and that all my tinkering and manipulating the wire turned out ok 😉
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We’re headed to an NHL game tonight (Anaheim Ducks vs. Buffalo Sabres)! We didn’t realize it was St. Patrick’s Day but it’ll be a fun way to celebrate. This will be our 2nd hockey game – the first was in DC to see the Capitals and it was so fun!
We’d love to go back to Ireland one day! We were in Dublin for a few days when we moved back from Edinburgh and I’d love to see the Cliffs of Moher:
Love this dainty horseshoe good luck charm necklace:
One of our favorite things to do as a family is nightly walks. It’s great exercise and we’ve found a way that makes it enjoyable for the kids too. When we first got married we would go on an evening walk usually on Sundays since it’s a more relaxing day and a nice way to start the week, talk and enjoy nature. When we lived in Virginia and I was pregnant with Brent we walked a ton since it was supposed to help induce healthy labor. Plus we also had Bruce and it was good exercise for him, and us. When Tessa was a newborn we continued to do our daily walks even though it was winter in Utah. It was fun to bundle up and get out of the house (we would push Tessa in her stroller that had a zipped winter cover).
When we lived in Texas, we still wanted to do our walk and since it was so hot, we usually wouldn’t go until the sun went down and we had the kids bring their mini flashlights which they absolutely love! It makes it fun for them especially if we’re going for a long walk and they’re in the stroller. We’ve still been doing our favorite family activity with the flashlights and it’s still great to stretch your legs at the end of the day, relax, breathe fresh air and talk together. If you’re looking for a way to walk more, get more exercise and feel refreshed, adopt our evening walk tradition! 🙂
[mini flashlights from the dollar store, we love our BOB Sport Utility Duallie double jogging Stroller
My usual breakfast is a granola bar as I’m running out the door, ha, ha! Here are some solid reasons you should never skip breakfast!
Getting fit for the right reasons 🙂
One of my nails randomly broke this week which has never happened! I found these tips very insightful and helpful!
It’s started to feel like Spring this last week (even though it’s been our most mild winter in 10 years ha!) and it’s especially nice because my skin is less dry. I received these Farmhouse Fresh masks for my birthday and they are so awesome. The green is avocado butter (a super hydrator), the white is tapioca (to improve texture) and the orange is pumpkin (to boost radiance) and smells exactly like a delicious pumpkin pie! All three of them smell so good and feel very gentle on your skin.
I also got this avocado cuticle oil from a local beauty supply store and I feel like it’s definitely helped soften and moisturize my cuticles. I was hesitant at first because I wasn’t sure how oily it would be or how well it would absorb. Luckily, it absorbs well and doesn’t leave your nails or fingers feeling oily. I was going to post the Amazon link but it was $8 — I found it locally for $1.95! So if you’re looking for it, hopefully you can find it for cheaper. While I was out, I also found this pineapple hand cream at Bath and Body Works ($3) which is my favorite flavor!
And…a Spring haircut! I normally prefer my hair long but every few years get in the mood to cut it shoulder length. The first cut it always scary and I feel like it’s always shorter than I imagine but luckily hair grows back 🙂 One of the challenges with moving so much is not having a regular hair stylist. You have to find the right people to get recommendations from, finding a good price, and salon aesthetic that suits you. I found this stylist off Yelp recommendations based on the fact that I wanted someone right in Chino Hills as opposed to driving downtown or to Orange County. The layers were a bit too choppy for my style, but it’s nice to have a fresh, light cut. 
Jen Holtkamp 