Our honeymoon had to be put on hold due to the fact that I'm in school. This turned out to be a good thing, as well as, a bad thing... Bad because we had to wait to go. I really would have loved to just run away for a week right after the wedding. But good because we had more time to save! Now we get to go on a much bigger vacation (my dream vacation) to Europe!
June 4, we leave out of NYC and fly to Barcelona, Spain. From there we're taking a Mediterranean cruise to Italy and France. I am beyond excited. Mike, not so much...
First of all, let me start by saying he DID agree to this vacation. Although, I guess I didn't really give him much of an option. It's seriously my DREAM vacation! I've been to the Caribbean... I've done beaches. And let's be honest, we can go to a beach anytime. We may never get the chance to go to Europe again. Especially once we have more kids.
As soon as I put the deposit down on the cruise Mike googled what types of sharks are in the Mediterranean Sea (seriously?!) He also wanted to know how far we would be from land and if it's possible for him to swim to shore if something were to happen. So when all of this worry started I reminded him that he did in fact agree to this. His response? "It was a battle I wasn't going to win." Smart man (happy wife, happy life).
His latest thing is that he's terrified to fly over the ocean.. "there's no emergency landing site over the ocean, Rachael." He has also never taken a flight longer than 2 hours... there's a good chance I might have to drug him.. or at least get him drunk. I'm hoping that since our flight there is an over night flight he will sleep.
143 more days! Wish me luck!
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Monday, January 9, 2017
Go home and make a baby!
Evan really wants a baby brother or sister. We've known this for some time now. The Friday before the wedding Evan was telling people that we could have a baby Sunday since we were getting married on Saturday. Now that we are married, he pretty frequently asks when he will have a new baby brother or sister, and as much as I really want a baby we just aren't trying right now. I'm in the middle of my Master's degree and we're going to Europe for our honeymoon in June... so maybe after that.
Anyway, a couple weeks ago Evan, Mike, and myself had gone to dinner. On our way home Evan got on the subject of a baby again. He then out of nowhere says, "Mom will be pregnant next month! So go home and do whatever you have to do to make a baby!" Mike and I instantly burst out laughing! To which Evan replies, "What is so funny?!?! Go home and make a baby!!"
Seriously?? So funny! I was in tears... Kids say some pretty hilarious things sometimes!
Anyway, a couple weeks ago Evan, Mike, and myself had gone to dinner. On our way home Evan got on the subject of a baby again. He then out of nowhere says, "Mom will be pregnant next month! So go home and do whatever you have to do to make a baby!" Mike and I instantly burst out laughing! To which Evan replies, "What is so funny?!?! Go home and make a baby!!"
Seriously?? So funny! I was in tears... Kids say some pretty hilarious things sometimes!
Friday, January 6, 2017
Whole30 challenge
Two years ago I joined a Whole 30 challenge group with a couple of friends. Not as a "diet" but to cleanse my body from all the crap I had been eating. The idea behind Whole 30 is not weight loss (although most people do lose some weight), but to stop eating the things that are common irritants to the body for 30 days and then slowly readmit them into your diet to see how each item affects you personally. Sounds easy, right?! I thought so too until I found out what exactly had to be left out of your diet for 30 days...
No added sugar
No processed foods
No alcohol
No grains
No legumes
No dairy
So basically you eat: Meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit and nuts. But it's only for 30 days!
It was hard. Really hard. The first day (of course) seems easy.. but it's only the first day. By day two or three most people go through the "hangover" stage. You literally feel hungover. Your body doesn't know what to do without all those foods you had been eating. Hangover then turns angry (hangry?)... and by day 6 or 7 you just want to SLEEP! Day 8 and 9 I thought I was doing something wrong because my clothes actually felt TIGHTER (apparently that's common at this stage).
The rest of that second week is usually the hardest. That's when you really start to crave junkfood. Even if you don't usually eat a lot of junk food. Something about knowing you can't have it makes you want it that much more!
By the third and fourth week you have more energy and you start to see changes in the mirror. You feel great! And just like that it's over. You have this immense feeling of accomplishment. And what's even better is that your body feels great.
So why am I bringing this up now, two years later? Because I'm doing it AGAIN!
I'm currently on day 4 and not nearly as hangry as I was the first time around. I think it's really because I didn't have as much to omit this time. I really don't drink milk. I cook with it occasionally and I do like cheese but not to the point that it bothers me to get rid of it. Same with grains and legumes... I eat them but not daily. And I only drink occasionally.
The hard part for me is SUGAR!! I have such a sweet tooth. There are still Christmas cookies at my house... and I love icecream! Some people would just get all these things out of their house so the temptation isn't there but since Mike and Evan are NOT on board with this little challenge, that's nearly impossible! But so far I'm doing good! I have yet to slip up.. which you may be thinking: slip up? it's only day 4? Well it's easier than you'd think to screw this thing up. There's added sugar in pretty much everything.
The other part that's hard is getting the amount of calories your body needs. Most people don't have this problem. In general, we eat too many calories. So why would calorie intake be a problem? Well, fruits and vegetables have hardly any calories.. so you have to eat a lot of them to make up for all the bread and processed foods you aren't eating. For this reason, I use the MyFitnessPal app and put in all the foods I eat. The app will tell you if you're eating enough to maintain a healthy weight. It works really nice for a challenge like this. The app also allows you to put exercise in too.
Stay tuned to hear how the rest of my Whole 30 challenge goes this month. And for more whole 30 questions go to whole30.com
No added sugar
No processed foods
No alcohol
No grains
No legumes
No dairy
So basically you eat: Meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit and nuts. But it's only for 30 days!
It was hard. Really hard. The first day (of course) seems easy.. but it's only the first day. By day two or three most people go through the "hangover" stage. You literally feel hungover. Your body doesn't know what to do without all those foods you had been eating. Hangover then turns angry (hangry?)... and by day 6 or 7 you just want to SLEEP! Day 8 and 9 I thought I was doing something wrong because my clothes actually felt TIGHTER (apparently that's common at this stage).
The rest of that second week is usually the hardest. That's when you really start to crave junkfood. Even if you don't usually eat a lot of junk food. Something about knowing you can't have it makes you want it that much more!
By the third and fourth week you have more energy and you start to see changes in the mirror. You feel great! And just like that it's over. You have this immense feeling of accomplishment. And what's even better is that your body feels great.
So why am I bringing this up now, two years later? Because I'm doing it AGAIN!
I'm currently on day 4 and not nearly as hangry as I was the first time around. I think it's really because I didn't have as much to omit this time. I really don't drink milk. I cook with it occasionally and I do like cheese but not to the point that it bothers me to get rid of it. Same with grains and legumes... I eat them but not daily. And I only drink occasionally.
The hard part for me is SUGAR!! I have such a sweet tooth. There are still Christmas cookies at my house... and I love icecream! Some people would just get all these things out of their house so the temptation isn't there but since Mike and Evan are NOT on board with this little challenge, that's nearly impossible! But so far I'm doing good! I have yet to slip up.. which you may be thinking: slip up? it's only day 4? Well it's easier than you'd think to screw this thing up. There's added sugar in pretty much everything.
The other part that's hard is getting the amount of calories your body needs. Most people don't have this problem. In general, we eat too many calories. So why would calorie intake be a problem? Well, fruits and vegetables have hardly any calories.. so you have to eat a lot of them to make up for all the bread and processed foods you aren't eating. For this reason, I use the MyFitnessPal app and put in all the foods I eat. The app will tell you if you're eating enough to maintain a healthy weight. It works really nice for a challenge like this. The app also allows you to put exercise in too.
Stay tuned to hear how the rest of my Whole 30 challenge goes this month. And for more whole 30 questions go to whole30.com
Toy review: Cosmo robot
For Christmas, Evan wanted this toy robot named Cosmo. Fortunately, I bought it right away since it was quickly sold out everywhere! He opened it up and started playing with it right away. Cosmo is pretty neat. It works with an app that you download on a phone or tablet. Through the app you can play various games with Cosmo and the more you play with him, the more personality he has. However, there is one thing with Cosmo that is just a little bit creepy. It has a facial recognition feature. When you open up the screen on the app you type in the person's name and then look at Cosmo. Cosmo then scans the persons face and says the name. From then on Cosmo will recognize that person by name! Weird!
Monday, January 2, 2017
Christmas
Christmas in the Stevenson/McPherson house was great. Very busy, as it usually is. I was supposed to work 11-7 Christmas eve night but got called off, which was nice. Christmas Eve, Evan went to his dads house since they do Arctic League in the morning on Christmas. This allowed Mike and I to sleep in on Christmas morning. Evan came home around 11am and we opened gifts at our house. I got a remote car starter from Mike (pretty much the best gift ever), Mike got tools, and Evan got a lot of things but was most happy about a little robot named Cosmo!
Next, we went up the road to my parents house to meet the rest of my family for Christmas. My sister, brother, and nephews were there also. Finally, we headed up to my grandfathers' house for dinner. We headed home early from dinner so I could take a nap and then head to work at 11pm!
The following day, we were able to go to Mike's dads' house to have Christmas with them! Even though Christmas is always so busy, it's always nice to have family time!
Next, we went up the road to my parents house to meet the rest of my family for Christmas. My sister, brother, and nephews were there also. Finally, we headed up to my grandfathers' house for dinner. We headed home early from dinner so I could take a nap and then head to work at 11pm!
The following day, we were able to go to Mike's dads' house to have Christmas with them! Even though Christmas is always so busy, it's always nice to have family time!
We didn't even dance.. update
Evan went to a wedding with Mike and I in December. We made sure that he was able to dance with me this time. However, Evan's idea of dancing and mine were not quite the same. Here I thought Evan wanted to slow dance with me... NOPE! He wanted to fast dance.. which I don't usually do! So we did, and he was happy again.
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