She Loves Michigan

Today is day 30 of Whole 30! I am going to be completely honest, I made it successfully through 24 days. I caved when I went out to eat to Red Lobster and couldn't resist the cheese biscuits. With that being said, I have decided to add a couple days to make up for my cheat days.  Anyways... While trying out new recipes during Whole 30, I tried 5 ingredients I had never used before that I fell in love with: 1.) Butternut Squash 2.) Canned Coconut Milk 3.) Ghee Butter 4.) Artichoke Hearts 5.) Avocado Oil Let's talk about each, shall we? 1.) BUTTERNUT SQUASH According to wholeliving.com , " ... butternut squash  delivers an ample dose of dietary fiber, making it an exceptionally heart-friendly choice. It provides significant amounts of potassium, important for bone health, and vitamin B6, essential for the proper functioning of both the nervous and immune systems."  Try this delicious BUTTERNUT SQUASH CHORIZO CHILI recipe I...

It's day 4 of my 10 day vacation from work and I am already feeling so refreshed! I am someone who loves to be outside and go on hikes and I finally had some free time this past Saturday to go on one! It's seriously been months since I've walked on any kind of trail and I was craving some nature!  Here are the 5 reasons why I chose Rosy Mound for my hike: 1.) LOCATION If you live in West Michigan, this hike is right in your backyard. If you live in another part of Michigan but may be planning a weekend trip to come to the westside, this would be an easy activity to get to! The trail itself is also in a wonderful location, taking you straight out to Lake Michigan. Distances from Michigan Cities according to Google Maps - Grand Rapids: 40 min // 39.0 miles - Holland: 25 min // 18.2 miles - Lansing: 1 hr 36 min // 104 miles - Traverse City:  2 hr 47 min // 172 miles - Detroit: 2 hr 54 min // 194 miles - Ann Arbor: 2 hr 32 min // 169 miles ...

It's finally 2018 and it's my wedding year! That means I am budgeting like crazy. With that being said, I only give myself $100 for groceries for 2 weeks at a time. If you do the math this is what it looks like: $100 / 14 (days) / 3 (meals) = $2.38! MEAL PLANNING WILL SAVE YOU SO MUCH MONEY AND IT CAN BE 10X HEALTHIER FOR YOU TOO! I am currently doing the Whole 30 program  and choosing recipes that are compliant with the program.  These are the steps I take when budgeting/meal planning for two weeks: 1.) Pick 4 -6 recipes you would like to make (by doing this, you start to accumulate tons of spices for other recipes). 2.) ALWAYS HAVE STAPLE FOODS ON YOUR GROCERY LIST (if you run out)! - Lemons - Olive/Avocado Oil - Eggs - Fresh Garlic - Salt/Pepper - Garlic Powder - Veggie - Fruit - Any kind of flour (I usually have almond flour) - Bulk package of protein (I buy the 2lb bag of wild caught salmon from Aldi for $7) - Starch (...

I don't know about you, but my 2017 was full of growth, change, heartbreak, joy, anxieties, life lessons, grace, and gratitude. Some of my top moments were: 1.) Quitting my corporate marketing/graphic design job 2.) Becoming an Assistant Manager at Abercrombie and Fitch 3.) Moving back to Grand Rapids with someone I barely knew who is now one of my cherished friends - love you Joy! 4.) Exploring Sleeping Bear Dunes for the first time 5.) Going on my first Mission's Trip to the inner city of Chicago 6.) Doing a Tough Mudder! 7.) Joining a Crossfit gym and doing my first Crossfit competition 8.) Officially becoming independent! Life is expensive - so many bills! 9.) Exploring Taquamenon Falls for the first time 10.) Buying my own Toyota Rav 4! Our Tough Mudder Team! All in all, 2017 was full of incredible moments, but 2018 is just around the corner! What a great time to start over, recharge, refresh, and improve, right? I felt inspired to write this p...

Currently, one of the biggest trends in West Michigan are Escape Rooms. However, that is not exactly what we participated in tonight - it was cooler!  Grand Rapids Public Museum has put its own spin on an Escape Room and has created a Puzzle Room - Quest for Conviction ! Instead of trying to get out of the room we were in, we had to figure out how to convict a real-life murder suspect from the early 1900's in 1 hour by finding 5 pieces of evidence!  Now you're probably wondering how we found this activity... My Wednesday night small group co-leader and I decided we were going to do an "Escape Room" for our get together with the high school students. Except we ran into a little financial issue...  While researching other alternatives in the area, I stumbled upon the Grand Rapids Public Museum's page. Now, to be completely honest, I was not expecting the experience to be spectacular. I truly thought it was going to be lame... but IT WASN'T! ...

If you live in Grand Rapids, you know that Robinette's is thee apple orchard to go to.  Sorry Robinette's, but Crane's in Fennville has you beat by a long shot! Last Saturday, Josh and I traveled to Crane's together for the first time.  Typically, driving from Grand Rapids, it should only have taken about 40 minutes.  Except it took us about 1.5 hours because of my amazing driving direction capabilities. When we finally arrived we went to Crane's restaurant to try and do the U-Pick. Well, that was not the correct place for picking apples... Let's just say if you ever travel with me, it is always an adventure! The U-Pick was right up the road, and marked with a huge U-Pick sign. How we missed this, I have no idea? WE ARE HONESTLY BLIND!  There were so many trees to pick from, except the Galas barely had any fruit.  We ended up finding only two baby Galas, and I was pretty disappointed.  However, my smart, amazing, handso...