link-up – the Whitney Michaels blog

Five on Friday

October 20, 2017October 20, 2017five on friday, motherhood, UncategorizedLeave a Comment

Happy Friday! I am joining April, Christina, and Natasha for their 5 on Friday link up!

one | I was able to take both girls solo to their own field trips to the pumpkin patch last week and it was so fun to have some one on one time with each of them! We love Underwood Family Farms at any time in the year, but the Fall Festival is super fun!

two | I attempted using my InstantPot again and was pleasantly surprised! I love to make shredded bbq chicken sandwiches using my CrockPot, but once again I forgot to start it at nap time and 4:30 rolled around and I panicked. InstantPot for the win! I found this recipe off of Pinterest and modified it a bit because I didn’t have potatoes. But it was great and we were eating within 40 min of starting the process! I typically show you what I am up to at dinner time over on InstaStories!

three | We went camping a couple weekends ago and I attempted to make my first Michelada. I did a sad job and I didn’t love it. Literally half a little can of Clamato, topped with Corona and a shake of Tajin. I’ve been searching for some good recipes and found a few on Pinterest, so I’ll have to update when I try again! But doesn’t this look so yummy?! Excited to try this one!

micheladas-2494

four | Fall Bucket List update: we went camping! We also went to the pumpkin patch, but since I took the girls individually I’ll wait till we go as a family to cross it off our list. The girls are getting to a different stage now since I originally wrote about camping with babies…definitely going to need to update it to camping with toddlers!

five| The girls had picture day at school this week and it was just adorable. Moments like that make me stop and enjoy this stage in their life because I know they are going to quickly move on and grow! We had a little practice photo shoot before we left for school. And how cute are Aubrey and Jacob?! In class together since they were about 6 months old…I just love them!

Happy Friday!

xoxo

Whitney

Be sure to catch April, Christina, and Natasha!

as well as Erika, Narci and Andrea

Friday Favorites

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Five on Friday | National Coffee Day

September 29, 2017September 29, 2017five on friday, motherhood, style, UncategorizedLeave a Comment

The last Friday in September…where has the time gone! I’m so excited to bring on the fall activities. I am joining April, Christina, and Natasha for their 5 on Friday link up!

one | As if being Friday wasn’t exciting enough, today is National Coffee Day! You know I will be celebrating ALL. DAY. LONG.

two | Speaking of coffee, I checked one thing off my bucket list! I had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte. Every year I have to be festive and every year I feel like its not my thing. But I ordered it with only half of the flavor pumps and it was way better!

three | I got those olive leggings from target a couple weeks ago and I LOVE them! High waisted, stretchy, and perfect for fall. They had a few other styles and I think I’ve gotta head back. They were on sale at the time, I’m not sure if they still are.

four | Sharon (from MamaChitChat) and I got to have the most fun experience over the weekend and I cannot wait to tell you all about it! I love going to the Stonehaus!

five|Next week, the first Thursday of the month Sharon and I will be hosting our third month of our color inspiration link up! We would love you to participate and share!! Can’t wait to share all things black for October. You can check out August and September.

Hope you guys have a happy friYAY and a wonderful weekend welcoming October!

xoxo

Whitney

Be sure to catch April, Christina, and Natasha!

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Color Inspiration | August 2017

August 10, 2017August 10, 2017products, Uncategorized1 Comment

One of my good friends Sharon is also a lifestyle blogger over at Mama Chit Chat. We met in a mommy and me class for my oldest and her youngest and have stuck with our friendship beyond class since then! We both participate in other link ups we love and decided, “Hey…why don’t we host one?”. And here we are! Our first monthly link up sharing things that inspire us in a pretty way – by color. We would love to have you join us! This month – Red!

RED| There is still over a month left of summer and we are taking advantage of the sweet berries right now! My dad brought us a flat fresh from Oxnard the other day and I’m pretty sure my girls would eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if they could! I love using my Thieves Fruit & Veggie Spray to make sure they’re squeaky clean for the girls!

(strawberry close up and raspberry images via Google)

RED| If ya’ll know me, you’d know I’m not a lipstick gal. I’ve always been chapstick obsessed but never made the effort to wear lipstick. Between having to re apply it all the time, worrying about it on my teeth, or smudging when I ate…I just decided it wasn’t worth it. Enter LipSense – the lipcolor taking the mom groups by storm. I swiped on this everlasting, smudge-proof lip color at a friends house for the first time and knew I could get on board. All the things I disliked about traditional lipstick were a non issue! Now I’m not saying I wear it all the time (heck, my daily routine is a layer of mascara if I’m lucky) but if I’m making the effort to put on a full face of makeup and get dressed, I love adding it to complete my look! The most daring color of all…RED! Try it. You won’t regret it. My girl Melanie can answer all of your burning questions and get it in your hands ASAP!

blu red

RED| I can’t have a post all about red without bringing up Ningxia Red! If you follow me on any other social media platforms, you’ll know that we are a Young Living family! I love to incorporate essential oils into our daily routines and have made a few changes with our household products (nothing crazy…I still shop at Target and wear deodorant – don’t worry!). One of my favorite additions to enhance my health has been drinking Ningxia Red, Young Living’s antioxidant rich drink. I love the support for my energy levels, and knowing it’s benefiting my body down to the cellular level!

That’s my RED inspiration for the month! What is inspiring you? Are you seeing red everywhere reminding you of back to school? Or that infamous bullseye that we can’t stay away from and love to give all of our money to? (side note: I’ve heard Target is changing brands/layout and so much more! I’ve been steering clear if I don’t truly “need” anything but I’m excited to see the changes!)

I cannot wait to come together next month with all the BLUE things! Want to link up? Look below!

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xoxo

Whitney

Over the Weekend

July 12, 2017July 10, 2017Uncategorized3 Comments

In this season of life, our weekends don’t get too crazy. Since I don’t have a typical “work day” outside the home, the weekends look pretty similar to the week for me. Kids still need 3 meals plus 37 snacks, naps, and to be to bed at a reasonable hour. So with my husband (usually) home we just try to fit in things together or use the time to do some things around our house. Our home has been a work in progress over the last couple years! From a full renovation to recent landscape and now just the finishing touches. I’m not sure how but I feel like my husband was able to build an entire addition in the same amount of time it’s taken me to find a solution for the extra toilet paper in the powder room. Maybe it’s running errands with 2 young children, maybe it’s my indecisive nature…but the finishing touches take time.

This past weekend I was able to sneak away for an hour to get my nails done (thanks to my mother in law), my hard working husband thoroughly cleaned the back patio (after being dirt and concrete for over a year this was a huge feat!), we organized patio toys, ran some errands with the rest of the world on Sunday morning, and tried to spend some time relaxing together.

I love the new storage solution for the patio! This big box has three sections so we found a home for mega block logos, all the balls, and all of the tools/water toys/ gardening toys. And it’s so nice to look at! Before we had all of the toys piled in the pool and it always just looked so messy! My friend Kelli can give you so many storage/bag solutions!

So glad I cleaned the slider…not! Aubrey had fun “helping” daddy pressure wash and Blake was their little cheerleader inside!

I’m not sure what possessed us to hit up Costco at 10:15 on a Sunday. But I could only compare it to lines at Disneyland or Black Friday shopping! Fun part: Blake got to sit in the big girl seat for the first time! I usually bring her in the Beco carrier but she was getting restless in the line so I put her in the cart with sissy!

In the summer – and most of the year actually – we love using the barbecue. We planned to use this skillet on the barbecue but we were cooking meat for the week so we ran out of room. But cast iron is a delicious way to cook veggies! Side note: Costco currently has Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon, which is one of our favorites! When it’s in stock, we buy multiple packages and cut the filets into meal size portions to freeze using our food saver. It really is the best way to store food in the freezer and makes it convenient that we can make our own portions (because who wants leftover fish?! I can’t stand the smell when I have to reheat it!) Our dinner Sunday night was chicken, sweet potatoes, and the veggies above. We left a package of salmon in the fridge for dinner in the week.

How do you spend your summer weekends? Trips? Errands? Activities? Lounging? I’d love to hear in the comments!

A couple of gals, Shay and Erika host a monthly link up – Workin’ it Wednesday. My friend Sharon from Mama Chit Chat and I participated this week! Go check it out to read about their weekends and see how to link up next month!

Happy Hump Day!

Whitney