Mother's Day + Memorial Day

 It's been a little while since I did a family update. So here are two weekends that we had a lot of fun recently! Mother's day was lovely. A hike in our old stomping grounds of Frenchtown. Followed by lunch at Moo, a walk around Lake Nochamixon and a some ice cream at our favorite Owowcow!

Memorial Day was spent up in the mountains visiting Family! It was a nice weekend to get away, and we even had friends come up for a day as well. We enjoyed some hikes, a wagon ride and time with our family who we don't get to see too often. May was a good month!

Jungle Themed BABY shower cakes TWO ways!

I had the honor of doing two jungle animal baby shower cakes back to back! It was my first time making a zebra, which was a lot of fun. I changed it up a bit for each monkey. Can you see the subtle differences? The giraffe and elephant are like old friends. You can see the original jungle cake here. 
Look for more cake and cupcakes updates soon.

life this week:

watching- "Call the Midwife" on PBS
favorite snack: "Food Should Taste Good" salt and pepper sweet potato chips
drink: gingerade kombucha
wishing: my dry skin would clear up with this warmer weather
looking forward to: our weekend away to the mountains to see family
proud of: Liam for making this most amazing tower today on his own and bringing me over to see it!
the house: well... a laundry room and powder room have been dry walled
growing: lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and herbs this year

21 days without sugar

^^ clockwise: cottage cheese and applesuace + salad in a jar, cauliflower crust pizza, basil cream artichoke baked chicken + asparagus, "apple muffins"-grain free, sweet potato and chicken burrito bowl, tuna salad in a jar, baked spaghetti squash bake, egg muffins, spinach and artichoke stuffed chicken with asparagus.

I know your thinking this blog is about cakes, happy home endeavors and my adorable little boy... and it is, but it's also a about our day to day life as well. So hear me out on this one.

Jason and I have been feeling so tired, sluggish and unhappy with the way our bodies just don't seem to get us through the day very easily. Hopped up on caffeine and sugar, these were our coping mechanisms to working long shifts, staying up too late, running a small business, renovating our house and caring for our son. We both decided things really needed to change, so we decided to cut out sugar for 21 days. We based it loosely off of the 21 day sugar detox. We did eat dairy and some beans, however. Those just felt like sacrifices we couldn't make. Other than that we didn't eat any sugar ( other than what was in our fruit of the day) or carbs. Spaghetti squash, cauliflower and sweet potatoes became my new best friends!

Let's just say the first couple of days were hard. We both had major headaches, irritability and some mild hunger. After 4-5 days, eating our whole foods became routine. It's not like we haven't eaten fairly healthy in our lives and have a taste for whole foods, we do, we just got off course these last few years. Our biggest obstacles to overcome were soda, feeling like I needed something sweet and mindless snacking. I packed breakfast and lunch for each of us each night before bed , so we didn't have to think about what to eat in the morning. We enjoyed a lot of new salad creations and dinners, thanks to some fabulous recipes found on instagram from @wholesome_goodness  @lesleywgraham @jennaskitchen @marcicooks @eating_whole 

We finished up last week and we both feel good. Really good!  So good that we think we are going to try and keep up this eating lifestyle, with the occasional sweet treat ( and taste-testing new recipes of course! I am a baker after all) We have energy again, so much so that I actually look forward to working out! We lost some weight and have a better idea of what our bodies need on a daily basis, instead of just shoveling in whatever we feel like and paying for it later.

So, that what's been going on around here this last month. Just thought I'd share, to inspire you if you are in a rut, like we were, crazy busy and overwhelmed. If you take just a little extra time per day and planning per week to make thoughtful healthy meals, you really can see and feel a difference in your health ( body + mind) in a short amount of time.