Two Meatballs: Spilling My Guts

July 19, 2018health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,hi kellytwomeatballsgetfit View all 12 comments

Hello World!!!!! Sara here. It’s safe to say at this point, when you don’t here from me, I’m not eating well!

I have a deep burning desire to share everything in my life, the good, the bad, the ugly, the vulnerable, the love that I have pouring from my heart each day, all in an effort to truly connect with others. My greatest desire is to rip myself open and let the world see who I really am and my greatest hope is that by doing that others will feel a safe place to do the same. I desire this level of intimacy with others. I delight when someone will let me in and go far below the surface in to the deep seas of emotion, truth and understanding. I want to know how everyone ticks. I like to explore how I work, what I’m really feeling and why and to do it without judgment. And I love telling on myself!

But I also crave control and safety. So I am happy to shout my truths and epiphanies when things are going well. I am comfortable “reflecting” on the tough times, the unwise decisions, the deep, dark thoughts and self judgments and even misguided disgust with myself…AFTER THE FACT. But you guys, when I am living it, I want to retreat as far as possible. How deep can I go into my self, where is my safety net, how many walls can I build to protect myself, how many times can I convincingly say, “I’m fine, everything is fine” to myself and others?! “I’m eating this ice cream because I want it” … but I’m eating it again and again because I’m now hooked on it and the temporary high I get and now I’m eating it because I’m sad and disappointed that I’m straying and now I’m having a hard time coping with my feelings and I’m not even enjoying it anymore. #spiral

Luckily this bout of partly cloudy, shitty, weird ritualistic eating was shorter than in the past. I think my self-awareness is rising. I can identify the spiral quicker. Because my positivity is so high, it feels soul crushing to feel sadness….especially the kind that takes your breathe away. When I feel myself getting out of control I feel unsafe. And when I feel unsafe I make even more poor eating choices to feel safe!?My normal MO is to comfort myself with food and it has been since the tornado. Since I was 6 years old, I have found the greatest of comfort in eating all of my feelings and suppressing them. Shoving them down with each and every bite. Oh, are those tears rising, better shove it down with fries. Is that fear creeping in, grab a bowl of ice cream. Anxiety knocking on the door, nope just Little Debbie thank goodness!

This isn’t new information if you read the blog, but my level of understanding grows each time I open this emotional box. When I peel another layer off of this onion that is my fear of my own dark side, I feel more open and free to really feel, experience the sadness, look at it, identify where it is coming from. In these moments of clarity it all feels worth it. However, leading up to this, filling my body full of all of its inflammation loving enemies (dairy, sugar, fried foods, grains, nothing is off limits) my self judgment comes in like it’s own tornado. And the crazy thing is logically, I know the outcome. I know this story so well:

Step 1: Something unsavory happens. (Break up, grieving, I made a bad choice, I’m overwhelmed)

Step 2: I don’t like how I’m feeling right now. I just want to feel happy.

Step 3: Ice Cream or French Fries will fix it.

Step 4: Momentary Relief (that is unsustainable)

Step 4: Try again, that ice cream made us feel better yesterday, so logic says eat it every day to feel great. #addict

Step 5: Stop grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning…completely.

Step 6: Order in food, alone, spend more time by yourself, eating things that you don’t want people to know that you are eating again, because you can’t stand the thought of disappointing people.

Step 7: Now I’m ______________ (sad, mad, scared, out of control, unsafe) ANNNNNNND I feel like shit.

Step 8: Gain Weight from misguided “comfort”.

Step 9: Start Spiraling down a black whole of avoidance, blinders, the art of distraction….all of the Candy Crush.

Step 10: Avoid things that actually make you happy and help you get to your goals.

Step 11: Time for the mean, damaging self talk and self judgment as I lay in bed trying to sleep, hoping tomorrow will be better, but not believing that I can change.

Step 12: The pinnacle…feeling hopelessly unworthy.

This is when I find the light, thank goodness. I put my oxygen mask on before the plane crash and I ask for the help that I need. And my hope is that this time frame will get smaller and smaller each time something in my life happens and these feelings start creeping up. It is so hard for me to identify my depression as it is happening. It is the quintessential gradually, then suddenly. One day I’m telling myself that it’s perfectly fine to occasionally indulge and the next day I hit an emotional rock bottom. And the major reason why this happens is that my body gets riddled with candida and changes my thought patterns. The inflammation affects me in an unreal way. I literally am what I eat.

I want to continue to grow and learn and evolve and accept my own feelings and beyond that, identify my holding patterns in real time. I am so comfortable with other people’s sadness and uncertainty. I spend most of my days trying to empower and uplift others and when things are good, this applies to me as well. So it is a very disconnecting feeling to not give that same power to myself when I’m in the spiral. So I thought it might help to re-write my story today. I think it helps to have an actual plan, clear intentions for how I would like to adapt in the future and this seemed like the best place to share it, with people whom I love and who have shown me nothing but love and acceptance at every turn.

Step 1: Something unsavory happens.

Step 2: I have a feeling that takes over (sadness, anger, frustration).

Step 3: I acknowledge my feelings without judgment.

Step 4: I give myself permission to feel my real feelings.

Step 5: I accept my feelings and try to look deeper in to the why behind.

Step 6: I talk about it with someone I trust with my heart.

Step 7: Comfort myself with this powerful statement: It’s ok to feel _______.

Step 8: Cry.

Step 9: Reassure myself that things will be ok, I won’t feel like this forever.

Step 10: Do something that makes me happy…listen to music, cook, sing, read a book, write in my journal, lean in to my loving family, talk to my friends, share my experience as it is happening so that I don’t feel alone.

I feel so excited about the future. It is too much pressure to try and be happy all of the time. It is unrealistic, shit happens and I have so many coping mechanisms that are positive and will actually make me feel better. Eating can make me feel better. When I make healthy choices, my body rejoices. There are so many things in this world to find pleasure in and I can also find pleasure in being true to myself.

I want to express that the deep sadness that I find myself in in the end comes from spiraling down with comfort eating. Not making good decisions lands me in a place that I absolutely hate. Now it’s seeing the truth. Bad decisions don’t make me a shit person.

Thank you for letting me pour my heart out. On to the love, light and acceptance..and cooking! I hope that you are having a great summer. As always I missed y’all oh so much.

Xoxo,

Your loving meatball Sara

My summer has had so many highlights beyond my avoidance of feelings, so here is a visual catch up. Talk again soon?

Two Meatballs: Nothing Standing in My WAY!

May 13, 2018health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,twomeatballsgetfit View all 8 comments

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!!! I hope you are enjoying your weekend!!!

Hello, Sara here! What a whirlwind of a week. Since last we spoke, I ended the past week in a weird place. I’ve never felt happier or more peaceful. I’m seeing my commitment to myself…I’m feeling schmadorable…#fearless #thatbow

And sometimes when this happens I find myself wiping my hands of this journey…feeling like I don’t need to keep doing what has been working. Leaning in to my immaturity and letting myself go again. Tricking myself in to thinking that everything can be on autopilot now and that I can do whatever I want again #idowhatiwant like eating all the fries and dark chocolate…

not wanting to cook and snacking more since I don’t have prepared meals, letting my dishes pile up (that’s really all of the time, but sometimes I realllllllllly let it go), spending a little more than I should! I don’t know why we hit these walls, or for me specifically, hit these walls when everything is going right (sabotage?!).

I have had such a heady feeling of gratitude lately. And I know for me, if I let something stay in my mind only, it starts to fester. Then, the gratitude and inner dialogue start to shift, ever so gradually. I start thinking, what are you doing Sara. You know you need to cook, you’ve got a busy week ahead of you. (Nah, I’ll do it tomorrow) Is it smart to eat dark chocolate, you know it doesn’t make you feel very good (But it’s so good and I want it)!!! Then suddenly I get obsessive.

In an effort to stop the quiet obsession, I started talking about this pickle I got myself in to, to any and everyone who would listen. And what I found out is, this is a really relatable topic…getting healthy and losing our way. What feels very different this time is that this was after only a week of feeling myself side step…instead of a week turning in to a month, a year, 4 years, a decade. When I heard my inner self screaming, “look at what you’re doing, please oh please don’t turn back now”, I chose not to ignore it this time.

I sometimes start to think when I hit these bumps in the road that it must be something deep seeded inside of me. Some level of unworthiness, unknown or known trauma rearing it’s ugly head. But I know that I am doing the hard work to really get in touch with my emotions and all of the things that can really derail forward moving momentum. So with the help of my therapist, I went on a group journey to explore this question…what is preventing me from moving forward with my weight loss journey. I was expecting to have my mind blown by some realization that I had never even considered…I wanted to find the smoking gun, the thorn in my side, the hidden truth. Another mountain to cross, another cross to bear, I was ready to go deep and fight this good fight (or be distracted by yet another thing).

But as we started collectively peeling our own layers away, what I really found was that there is nothing in my way. There is no physical barrier. As each layer was shed from my onion I found my power. It is scary to find out that there is nothing between you and your dream of a healthy life, no adversity, no one to blame, nowhere to hide. There is no enemy number one to put my armor on for. And it is my job to help my mind, body and spirit know that I don’t have to create one. Failure can be so overwhelming. And I think sometimes we create self fulfilling prophecies to avoid unforeseen/accidental failure.

What I needed to do was move through my emotions, give myself peace. I needed to let go of my fear, limiting beliefs, doubt, unworthiness, past failures and let in love, light and belief that I can do this and that I am worth of living the healthy life of my dreams. I always think that I have conquered this step already, after all communication is in my top 5 Strengths Finders, but what I am learning is that this is a never ending conversation with myself and after all, the conversation is the relationship, so why would I ever want to end!!!

I believe that I can do this. I think my entire being needed to hear me say that out loud and to mean it from the bottom of my heart. I am capable, I am committed, I am able to overcome missteps without beating myself up or throwing the towel in. Sometimes things are going to get a little out of control, but I just need to gently guide myself back to my path. My path may change, I can be flexible, there are so many ways to get where you want to go.

I felt indescribable when I left Terri’s. I cried more than I have ever cried in front of relative strangers. But it was such a safe space to explore and I am forever grateful that my path led me here. With every tear that ran down my face, I let go of the past failures that haunted me and I embraced this imperfect journey.

So now what?! What do you do with all of this information. When Nothing is the answer? When “Nothing” suddenly feels so powerful!!!

I leaned in to my feelings. I felt inspired to cook so I cooked my heart out.

My Grandma Apple or Gigi always shows up just when I need her. As I cooked those beautiful roasted rosemary radishes (using rosemary from my own garden…squeeee with pride) I felt her with me the entire day. I just kept thinking about this story she would read me, Kelly and Kristina when we were kids called Down, Down the Mountain. It was the story of Hettie and Hank, they were on a journey to sell their turnips to buy shoes and they just kept hitting different road blocks. They ended up giving all of their turnips away to people who needed them. It’s a wonderful story and makes me feel so connected to my family and my own journey.

The significance didn’t dawn on me until I was writing this this very moment. #bawling Gigi is magical, even from beyond. I cooked these radishes the night before all of my revelations, so this feels extra meaningful to me at this moment. #excusemehavingamomenthere #lettingitsinkin #sheknewbeforeidid #noyouhangup

The radishes were divine and the time feeling her with me in the kitchen was even better. I literally ate them with every meal until they were gone just to keep that connectedness going. Here is the recipe!!!

I spent the rest of the week giving as much of myself and my time as I could to celebrate others!

I got to host the Samuel Cole Salon Mother’s Day Event…I was in heaven. There is nothing that makes me feel more at home or more alive than spreading love, gratitude and cheer #justcallmeBuddytheElf We celebrated everyone with gifts, drinks, sweet treats, raffles and flowers. Then I spent the rest of the weekend with my family.

Chase the Great turned 8 with all his buds!!! They were the living sweetest kids. Kelly hosted one hell of a party…this party had everything: water balloons, trampolines, fort night fun, piñata’s, cookie cakes, presents, movies…the works!!!

Then I went home and waxed creative on my very first homemade from scratch…blueberry lime cheesecake!!!

Here is the recipe!!!

I wanted to get a jump on preparation for spoiling my mom and sister for Mother’s Day!!! Plus, whenever I’m feeling stuck or in a backslide, getting creative and doing something challenging really helps to refocus me. As soon as I put the cheesecake in to the freezer, my parents came and scooped me up to go back over to Kelly’s for a much needed extended family cookout! #ilovemyfamily

We just kept talking all night about how much Gigi would have loved this, all of us being together!!! And damn my sister can cook!

Shout out to my mom too, that salad and homemade cilantro dressing were sooooo good! I left exhausted and excited from being together. Then we kicked off Mother’s Day today with a brunch extravaganza at my house this morning…I LOVE THIS TRADITION!!!

We had all of the food….hot and regular sausage, bacon (some burnt to damn death), fried eggs, a Split Acre Farm salad (spinach, salad mix, strawberries from the farm), air fried radishes (I wanted a little more time with Gigi), savory sweet potato waffles and hash browns!!! And don’t forget dessert….

We had so much fun together. You’d think we’d get sick of each other, but I was so sad when everyone left!!!

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone!!!

I hope that you all have had a lovely weekend. I also hope that you know how grateful I am that y’all read our online journal. I appreciate you letting me have this safe space to share and explore and trip and fall and grow. Love you all to the moon and back!

Two Meatballs: Gratefulness leads to Happiness and Happiness leads to Love!!!

May 6, 2018health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,Eloquii, Forever 21, hi kelly, ModCloth, split acre farmtwomeatballsgetfit View all 5 comments

Hello world!!! Sara here. Lately I have been feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Simultaneously, I’ve never felt so happy or more in love with everything and everyone!

All week long people have been telling me that I am radiating happiness and I am here for it!!! #thankskelsey #thanksmichelle

About a week ago, I ordered and started writing in my Five Minute Journal…

What is The Five Minute Journal you ask…oh my gosh thank you for asking!!! It is a practice in gratitude. It is a guided journal that you write in during the morning and evening. You name things that you are grateful for, things that would make the day great and your mantra in the morning. In the evening you reflect on what made the day amazing and what could have made it even better and you phrase everything in the positive…for example, if getting up earlier would have made my day better, I write, “I wake up before my alarm goes off.”

Now I am already a positive person, but putting things in such bright and powerful terms changes the way that you think and more importantly to me, the way I feel. And writing down the same mantra everyday really helps you “fake it until you become it” as Amy Cuddy says! Which by the way if you haven’t watched her TedTalk, it’s life changing!!!

The mantra that I write for myself every.single.day is:

I am healthy mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally. I maintain healthy boundaries with myself and others.

There is something about this repetition and me writing it down that makes it feel so real. I feel so healthy in so many ways. I feel like I used to really struggle identifying, putting it to place and maintaining boundaries, but now saying that I do all of these things over and over again puts it in the forefront of my mind daily.

It has also changed the dialogue with my boyfriend, family, friends, co-workers and clients. Since I am constantly thinking about what is going right in my life and what I am grateful for, I am putting good, geniune energy in to the world which is contagious.

Before when my boyfriend asked me how my day was, I might be tempted to start with the thing that was the least pleasant…which is also contagious. Then we either: start a bitch fest which only leads to more toxicity in the air, or his positivity (he makes me look like a realist) would try and make it better by telling me “At least (fill in the blank) didn’t happen” which would only piss me off since it made me feel like he didn’t hear me or was devaluing my experience…which would lead to a fight or uncomfortable silence on my part, which would only make a bad day worse.

Now I tell him the best parts about my day and I feel like he rises to the challenge and tells me what made his day so great. We have had an amazing week. We are really spending quality time together and we both feel so grateful to have each other in our lives…guys, I’ve never been this in love before!!!

We’ve been going on all the dates, hanging out with my parents, going grocery shopping , cooking together and this week, making pinterest boards full of healthy desserts to try together.

This last one is for banana crunch cookies…to die for!!!

(It wouldn’t let me paste the link separately haha I don’t know why…just click on the sentence above for this recipe!)

In fact, things have been going so well that we took a huge step this week and I met some of his kids!!! I couldn’t have been more nervous, but Ben is always great at reminding me that it doesn’t have to be perfect and you know what; everything went great! I built the pressure of this moment up so much in my mind that it felt really overwhelming, but it couldn’t have been more normal and adorable! I am grateful and honored that he wanted me to meet them!!! #theyarethecutest #ilovehimsomuch#hopefullyIwillbelessshynexttime

I love continuing to go down this road and getting to know each other better and deeper and letting the love wash over us.

I’ve been super grateful at work!!!! I just love my work family so much!!! I got to be a part of all the funnest classes this week, I got to see and learn from my old pal Nikki, dig deeper with my team, help stylists find their stride, celebrate the victories, I got to do amazing hair and bond with my clients even more, see my meatball…who could ask for anything more?!

I’ve felt so excited about my career and my weight loss that I’ve even been fine-tuning my own brand!

I’m just going to go full on crazy cat lady in this pinafore and I’m obsessed!!!

Another thing I’ve been super grateful for lately is my farm share from Split Acre Farm!

I feel so connected to nature, North Carolina, eating hyper local and supporting Joe and Lisbeth’s sustainable farm journey as they support my journey to health with their farm fresh produce. I love opening a box each week and getting creative. Using ingredients I’ve never tried before…this weeks box had green garlic in it and a recipe for green garlic dressing…tried it and loved it!!!!!!!!!!!! This is keeping me on my toes and keeping cooking interesting! Can’t wait to see what is coming this week! Here is the recipe from Joe and Lisbeth:

I also have never felt closer to or more in love with my family…which makes me burst with gratitude. I have been called a “Pollyanna” or “Brown Noser” my whole life because of statements like this, but I couldn’t be being any more authentic to who I am. This week we celebrated Chase the Great Turning Eight at Kanki…the Beard traditions continue!!!

The night was amazing…I ate as healthy as I could which basically means no rice My only regret…sitting so far away from my sister!!!! #hikelly

And we spent the night laughing and celebrating this sweet angel!

Chase is the sweetest, funnest, funniest, most loving snuggle bug of all times. He is a taurus and he does what he wants and gives zero fox about it.

Just look at the face!!!! Happy birthday twinnie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Family time means so much to me…so when I woke up too early Saturday morning, I reached out to my mom to see what she was up to. We decided to have breakfast together on her porch with dad and I brought the coffee!!!

What a great way to start the day with the people I cherish. Later we had a cookout and I brought my Split Acre Farm salad with Green Garlic Dressing!!!

Dad manned the grill, mom made the best potatoes and guacamole of life and we had a feast!

It helps tremendously when everyone is on the same healthy page. We were stuffed. But we spent the rest of the night snuggling and talking about better communication and flowers! My mom’s garden is giving me allllllllllllll the inspiration for my newly found green thumb!

After a full day spent together, they sent me home with some beautiful peonies…

Which I put outside on my front porch or as I am now referring to it as my secret garden. I had breakfast out here this morning just to enjoy the view!

I’ve also had all the phone dates with Kelly, Katie and Jenny!!! My world feels so happy and content!!!

I am grateful for so many things and my amazing life. I couldn’t be happier and more at peace and I am more in love than I ever have been before. I love you all and I’m so grateful you are taking this journey with us. WE love you the most.

Xoxo

Two Meatballs: Split Acre Farm to Table!!!

April 29, 2018health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,Farm to Table, hi kelly, split acre farm, support local farmers, support small farmstwomeatballsgetfit View all 8 comments

Hello world!!! Last week ended with a bang! I just love celebrating my mom! What you didn’t know was that I was in agony that day. I had a cyst that just wouldn’t quit and left me feeling like this…

All night long I thought, should I go to the hospital!?! But my practical side said, wait until the morning and go to your doctor!!! Which is exactly what I did. I love my doctor, she is one of my longest time clients and I feel like she is a rare person in the medical field because she actually looks at me and she finds a way to make the experience personal. Long story short, I had a cone shaped infected cyst and had to go in for a procedure. I was out of work and out of it in general until Thursday. When things like this happen, these are always the moments where you question your lifestyle change. Not because you don’t believe in it, just because it’s a lot of effort and you don’t feel your best. Ordering food is so easy and cooking (shopping, chopping, etc) really takes effort. But I feel so different now and honestly, I’ve never been so grateful for leftovers!

People always try to help me and I used to always push them off…I didn’t want to be a bother. But now I am so grateful for help when I need it.

My parents came through in the biggest way!!! They cooked me food so I could be ready to go back to work.

My mom helped me clean and kept me company. Both my parents happily drove me to appointments when I couldn’t drive. (Thank you will never be enough, but thank you so much! I love y’all so much and am so grateful for everything that y’all do for me to help me stay focused and moving forward #mycuprunethover!!!) Jenny brought me a coffee, lunch and company. My sweet sister checked in on me frequently and so did my friends. Ben brought me flowers and all the cuddles!!!

I reached out to all my people for things that I could do to heal quicker and everyone obliged!

So what does this mean!? It means that by midweek, instead of looking at the nothingness in my fridge like this…

and then housing pizza straight to my face like I used to when these situations would arise and ultimately feeling worse because then you start dreaming of awful food…

I actually ate healthy things that will heal my body and followed my new lifestyle change as an actual lifestyle. And thanks to some pre-planning and having waffles in the freezer, breakfast was a breeze.

I followed the advice of those that I trust and I took the help that was offered to me so lovingly. I rested. I let my body heal so that I could go back to work in one piece instead of sad, broken little pieces. I listened to my body and I listened to my doctor. And now, a week later, I am feeling so much better and not depleted. Thank you to everyone who reached out!

On another note, some really exciting things happened this week!!!! First, I got this email…

And a couple of days later, I received my first produce delivery box from Split Acre Farm!!!!!

My sister Kelly and I decided to split a box. In the past when I have gotten a produce box, it was too much for me to eat in one week before it all went bad. And I love sharing, especially with Kelly!!! I opened up the box to find…

Lettuce, green onions, bok choy, spinach and swiss chard…something I’ve never eaten before!!! I had very little energy until yesterday, but I made a Pinterest board called Split Acre Farm (@meatballsgetfit) to get myself excited about all these ingredients!

The first thing I felt able to tackle was that beautiful red leaf lettuce!!! I chopped it up with heirloom carrots, tossed with Primal Kitchen Caesar Dressing and I used my new Air Fryer to make radish croutons!

I ate this with fried eggs, sausage and a giant pickle!!! What a freaking difference fresh ingredients make!!! This salad was delicious!!! Y’all, those radishes were everything! I have also made some ribbon fries and roasted nuts in the air fryer!

Then I used some of my own home grown basil (squeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!) to make slow roasted cherry tomatoes preserved in olive oil!

I tweaked a recipe by Heartbeet Kitchen:

2 pints heirloom cherry tomatoes

3/4 cup high quality olive oil

6 basil leaves, torn

8 cloves of garlic, smashed with knife

1/2 tsp kosher salt

fresh ground black pepper

Heat oven to 225 lay tomatoes on rimmed baking sheet, add olive oil, basil, garlic and s&p, toss to combine, making sure that everything is coated so that it won’t burn. Cook 2 hours 20 minutes, stirring about 3 times throughout.

This is flipping delicious! My mind is exploding thinking of all of the possibilities! Today, I ate it with brunch!

And I haven’t stopped cooking! I don’t want to wasted any of this beautiful food. So on my farm to table menu:

Sweet potato noodles with spinach

https://pin.it/2hdabyqmlsyrr4

I deviated from this recipe and added coconut aminos and fish sauce! But look at that beautiful, farm fresh spinach and green onions! So good!

Swiss Chard with raisins, pine nuts and Porkitos from Nom Nom Paleo

https://pin.it/ntrza4lxbh2gad

Now this was my first rodeo with swiss chard and I’ve got to say…big fan!!! This was so savory which you know is my favorite!!! Here is the recipe for the Porkitos!!!

https://pin.it/twkdjphbv6zmi3

So crispy and salty…my dream!

Then I made the yummiest bok choy EVER!!!

I winged this:

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 lb bok choy

4 cloves of garlic

3 handfuls of spinach

4 chicken sausages

2 tbsp Thai Almond Sauce

3 green onions chopped

1/2 tbsp sesame seeds

1/2 tsp kosher salt

pepper

Heat up the sesame oil over medium heat in a non stick pan, add garlic then bok choy, add salt now…when they start to wilt, add spinach. Then add your almond sauce and stir everything around. Chop up chicken sausage and toss in the mix. Reduce heat and cook with lid on until everything combines. Probably 7 minutes total (if your sausage is precooked, if not cook longer) Add green onions and sesame seeds and go to town!

I have officially used everything in my box and I have healthy delicious food for the next couple of days. I cannot WAIT for my next box and my flower delivery to start in May! Thank you Split Acre Farm Joe and Lisbeth, thank y’all for contributing to my healthy lifestyle!!! And thank you to everyone for all the positive vibes and actual help this week when I was down for the count.

What a beautiful day it is today. I had the pleasure of writing outside today.

I am grateful for so many things. Thank you for reading and sharing this journey with me. Can’t wait to see you next week. Xoxo

Two Meatballs: Mother Earth Day!!!

April 22, 2018health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,twomeatballsgetfit View all 4 comments

Hello world!!! April 22nd is one of my very favorite days every single year! Today is the day my sweet mom was born.

Somebody look at that smile!!!

It also happens to be Earth Day, which is so symbolic.

Anna Beard loves flowers, trees, gardening, window boxes, animals, mostly squirrels, dogs and birds, a good breeze, the beach, the mountains and everything else Mother Earth has to offer. My mom is the sweetest, kindest, most helpful, loving, caring, loyal, beautiful on the inside and out…this list could go on forever!!! So it is always a joy to throw her a birthday party and make her feel as special as she makes everyone else feel.

I meaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan….how adorable are my parents!? Hello fountain of youth!

And y’all know I love an excuse to cook for my loved ones!

Today on the menu was a lovely spring salad:

https://pin.it/hxn76b4wlwuljs

Fried Okra from my new Faberware Air Fry:

I put the air fryer on 400 for 7 minutes a batch, lightly tossed whole okra in 1 tbsp avocado oil and shook the fryer basket every two minutes then tossed in sea salt!

These super savory sweet potato waffles:

Boil, remove skin and mash 2 sweet potatoes (or get the microwave kind to save time. Toss this and the rest of the ingredients into a food processor

1/2 can unsweetened coconut milk (I use Trader Joe’s)

1 cup cashews (I use roasted and salted)

3 tbsp 4th & Heart original ghee

3 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 sea salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

Blend until combined and use spray coconut oil to grease waffle iron, cooks in 5-7. Let cool completely then package in a baggie and lay flat in the freezer. Reheat in toaster, once on highest setting then once again on lowest to make sure the center is fully cooked.

And, the easiest, most amazing salmon that I can’t stop making:

https://pin.it/xhe7v5zuhzcdnu

http://nestingwithgrace.com/favorite-healthy-dinner/

Somebody look at this feast!

After lunch we sang, blew out candles and made wishes:

And ate the most delicious little sweet potato blondies!!!

https://pin.it/xttawab3ghhrc2

And also, can you guys EVEN with these new plates and serving dishes from Anthropologie!?! Wait, what??? What did you say???? Sorry, my dining room just got a lot louder (bahahahahahahaha, I am so funny to me), you’re going to have to speak up! I love bright colors and bold prints, I am so here for this!

Then we celebrated with cards, gifts and my mom’s favorite…flowers!

Then we enjoyed this Earth Day/Birthday on my cozy little front porch! We told stories and snuggled and took all the cutest family pics!

Overall it was the living best day with the OGB’s:

I literally can’t even with this pic! I just love my little family so much, can’t wait to celebrate mom and Kelly for Mother’s Day…I’m already menu and flower planning!

This month overall has just been really amazing. I have been cooking up a storm and keeping it so interesting. I have been trying all the new grocery stores and gasp, actually shopping for myself instead of InstaCarting! Just look at all this yumminess!

I’ve also had all of the dates with Ben!!!

We can’t take a good pic to save our lives but it has been so nice spending alllllllll the time together!

I’ve also gotten so much family time…and it’s been so quality I don’t really have many pics!

Jenny and I have had so much QT together and literally a million dates this month!

These last three pics are of a foot detox we went and did…and it as EVERYTHING!!! It was so fun, but very spa like which doesn’t match with our loud, laughter filled dates…we felt it right away and couldn’t stop laughing!

We were only shushed twice, so victory…we will def go again! Look at all this fun!

Then we spent the rest of the day together indulging my newly found green thumb

Looking for paint swatches for my mini-reno

And cooking the night away and playing with Baby Tatum!!!

Tatum is just the sweetest little nugget.

It remains to be seen whether this video will work yet, so if you see a black box of nothing…it didn’t work! Hahaha!

My mom has also been helping me get my thumb a little greener. She helped me plant these gorgeous flowers from my client Camber..

And she helped me start an herb garden!!!

We’ve got basil, rosemary and cilantro!!!! I love all of this getting back to nature stuff…I am a self professed “Indoor Girl” but something inside of me is dying to dig in dirt and be the hippie that I know is in here! I’m feeling so grateful everyday for all that I have and all of the people that I get to share it with. Mom!!! Happy birthday!!! I love you so much that it hurts! And Mother Earth, happy day to you too! I love you all…see y’all next week!

By the by…I’ve lost 61 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eating healthy is working!!! Time to make some more beautiful food! Xoxo

Two Meatballs: Taking This Show On The Road!!!

April 15, 2018health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,twomeatballsgetfit View all 4 comments

Hello world!!! Did y’all miss me!?!?! I missed y’all so much! It’s been a whole week since I got back from my glorious spring break week at the beach with my amazing, loving, fun, funny, wonderful family!!!

I rode down with my sister and the kids and we had the BEST time! Kelly and I sang all of our favorite songs at the top of our lungs. The kids chimed in tooooo. We decided to do Easter part one when we got to Summer Winds…a Beard family favorite!

The kids got all the candy and our mom made us the cutest baskets! Chase and Kelly also dyed eggs,

We had a normal daytime egg hunt and had a night time beach egg hunt with glow in the dark candle eggs! Somebody look at all this fun!

And somebody look at this Blue Moon…is it me are is there a prism of color shooting out from both directions…so magical!!!

We had the funnest time!!!! Then we went to dinner at another Beard family favorite…El Zarape!!!

I always get a little nervous leaving my bubble at home when I’m trying to be healthy. But this time around it has really sunken in for me that this is A LIFESTYLE CHANGE so part of a lifestyle is leaving your home to go on a fun vacay and I can always make good decisions or just eat at home! And I am so lucky to have the most supportive family!

The Beards are creatures of habits so we actually ended up having Mexican twice and I ate so healthy…fajitas sans tortillas both times with all the shrimp, chicken and beef my little carnivorous heart could handle! We also ate at The Crab Shack twice (fried seafood and hushpuppy heaven) and I really couldn’t find anything that I could eat so I just went for the company and bonding both times and ate at home either before or after! #victory

We spent the rest of the week on the beach,

at the aquarium,

exploring Fort Macon,

We saw and were so close to ALLLLLL OF THE DOLPHINS and braved the freezing cold water…

and when it was raining we watched Anne of Green Gable, another Beard family fav

…annnnnnd I braided everybody’s hair and played with Kelly’s makeup!!! #neverstoppracticing

Somebody look at this fishtail…how beach appropriate!?!

Even the kids let me play!!! Wyatt did NOT WANT HIS PICTURE TAKEN! So here is Chase!

We also did so much snuggling!!!

And all of the cooking!

It is so nice to not have to hurry off of the beach to get showered and ready to go out to dinner! Knowing that you are going to cook leaves everything at an unrushed pace! Overall, this week was theeeeeeeee best!!!

I can’t wait to go back in June and have another amazing week with my family!!!! Love you all, feels so good to be back writing! Bonus, I lost .5 on vacation!!!

Lesson learned…I can do this…anywhere! Don’t miss out because you are scared of change!!!

Love you all so much!

Two Meatballs: Self(ie) Help!!!

March 26, 2018health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,hi kellytwomeatballsgetfit View all 3 comments

Hello World!!! Sara here! This week I got a violent but quick little stomach bug and had to miss a day of work for the first time this year.

Which is a BIG deal for me. I made it until almost April without getting sick!!!!!! Wahoooo!!!!

In general, I’m feeling SO MUCH BETTER IN EVERY WAY!!!! But I am not immune to viruses and sometimes you catch the bug that’s going around! I hate missing work. First off, I love what I do!!! I love my bosses, my team, my meatball, my clients…basically everything and everyone!!!

I am also REALLY busy at work, which I love, so I hate not being able to come in. With clients and mentoring, it is so important for me to be present…literally!

Last year (probably more like the past 3 years…30ish years!?) I really struggled with my health. I felt really awful a lot…especially with my knee pain pre and some post surgery. So, to turn this corner and have these long stretches of great health, feels really inspiring and makes me so hopeful for an even healthier future!

So leading up to the bug, I went shopping at Aldi without a grocery list last Sunday, so I bought from memory things for chicken chow mein!!! Have I told y’all I love shopping and cooking!? So good!

This week was also the beginning of Mega season at work which is a fun and busy time, so this week I for sure needed to meal prep!!! Somebody look at all this yummy!

I am doing this round of inspiring meetings with all of the stylists by myself (all the more reason to bounce back quickly from sickness) and I love it!!! I love getting this 45 minute solo time with each and every Sammie Cole stylist. Y’all know I love 1 on 1 time! So Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday flewwwwww by! I started feeling bad on Wednesday, but Thursday morning I just couldn’t even stand up straight. I tried to weather the storm, but I lost haha. I called in and rescheduled my clients and spent the rest of the day on my bathroom floor. It took me until 4:30 in the afternoon to get downstairs and attempt to drink water. I was so exhausted and terrified to eat anything. But self care is so important so I went to bed super early so I could get ALLLL the rest. The next morning I got up and got ready for work. I felt a lot better!!! And also so glad to be out of my house and back at work! The only food I had in my house was…you guessed it Kelly Whitley…salad!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And boiled eggs and bacon…barf! So I grabbed a mini bag of cashews and headed out the door! I braved really eating once I got off work! No picture of the sad bacon salad hahahahahah! I went to bed sooooo early again #selfcare and then Saturday morning I woke up….SO TINNNNY!!!!

I hated being sick, but I will take this silver lining. I spent this weekend taking it easy! I finally ate a real meal!

I had not gone grocery shopping yet though!!!

I also had some me time…investing some time into spicing up my hair and makeup routine…something I love to do and that is long overdue! #poet

Now that I have this beautiful makeup space I just want to be practicing and trying new things all of the time. I used to be MACsclusive, but lately I’ve been wanting change, so I ordered some things to try from Glossier and Fenty Beauty and I’m OBSESSED with all of it! Also, I’ve been watching ALLLLLL of the tutorials online. I was doing EVERYTHING wrong before!

On to the Self(ie) Care rant/portion of your regularly scheduled post: Is it hard for anyone else in their 30’s and beyond to take a damn selfie?! I feel like I can’t get the light right, I don’t know how to get my phone out of the pic and I always have one eye that won’t cooperate and my crooked smile!? I mean where does my top lip even go???? When I look in the mirror as I’m taking the pic, I’m like girl, you look great and then I look at the pic and I’m like HOWWWWWWWWWW!?!? And before you say anything like, Sara, that picture is lovely….(thank you!) well it was the 700th one I took!!!!

So give your girl some tips on how to nail it sooner if you’ve got ideas! Here are more examples…the winners and all of my fun weekend hairstyles:

I’m newly obsessed with space buns!!! So on brand for me, why haven’t I been wearing these every single day!? Then two dutch braids, then dutch braids into a bun and then post braid beachy waves!!! Loving all my options!

What it took to get there AKA The Losersss:

Where am I looking!? Why do I have dead shark eyes?! Why is it so hard to get a pic of the back of your head!? What is that face!?!? And honestly I delete the really bad ones! I didn’t know this was going to end up a post focus, so I now regret that because the really bad ones were WAY WORSE and so funny! But here are some cringy ones:

The living deadest eyes…both of my eyes are failing me in pic 2 but my boobs showed up for the party…and I look like the biggest creep in the third one or like I’m farting! Ewwwww!!!! Ok back to reality…

I also spent Saturday with you guessed it…my mom!!! We went to Sola’s pop up market

and almost fell down this little incline hahahahahaha!!! We survived and found the cutest stuff! Don’t worry Joelle, I paid down my HVAC first!

Mom and I got matching earrings from Windblown Jewelry…cutest packaging ever and I got the kids some hilarious cards and bath bombs for Easter! We leave for the beach in less than a week!!!! Then we went grocery shopping because even I get tired of breakfast salads!!! We decided to try Lidl and you guysssss! It was great!

I got so much for $66!!! I even got some fresh flowers, which y’all know I live for!

I will for sure be back! Mom left to go home and sew and I lumped around until Jenny came over!!!

Even with SnapChat I have a dead eye!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had so much fun! We had Guasaca for dinner, my new weekend ritual and we watched stand up comedy, tutorials, choreography videos, fantasized about new furniture, talked about meatballs….we did it all! I got so much Jenny time and it was amazing!

Then Sunday morning I woke up, put gym clothes on and surprised my dad at the gym! Talk about self care!!!!!!!!!!

The look on his face when I walked in was priceless…I was the last person on earth he expected to see! I gotta get to the gym more. We had so much fun together and it felt great to work out…I have been wanting to do it, but not actually doing it for sometime now! Then mom made the living best breakfast:

I mean is there anything better than your mom’s cooking!? Then I got to see my boyfriend for a little while which was so nice and then I spent the rest of the day until this very moment cooking and doing laundry! This week on the menu: Spaghetti squash chow mein, egg roll meatballs and chicken thighs in a mushroom sauce!!!

Self care is a new concept that I am really starting to grasp. I have to make the time to cook for myself every week. I need/want to work out. I want to see my family and friends. I love learning new things and exploring new places. Going to bed early is a gift. Listening to what my body/mind/soul/spirit needs and obliging! And of course, learning to take a good selfie…it will happen one day right!?! Until next time…I love you all so much.

Xoxo,

Two months ago vs yesterday…feeling so different!

Two Meatballs: Snow Thank You!!!

March 18, 2018health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,hi kelly, yoga inspiredtwomeatballsgetfit View all 2 comments

Hello world, Sara here!!! Guyyyyyyys, where the hell is SPRING!?!? This meme is everything right now:

Last week when we last spoke I was making what ended up being maybe my favorite meal ever…or at least for right now #ilovefavorites Potsticker burgers, butternut squash fries and asian coleslaw! All of the recipes are on our Pinterest page with is: meatballsgetfit and they are under the board “today 2”.

I also treated myself to some disposable gloves for the kitchen…have we talked about my obsession with not getting salmonella!?

These were a life saver (LITERALLY) when mixing the raw turkey for the burgers!!!

Then Monday, out of nowhere, it snowed in Raleigh!!!

When I was a kid, there was no more exciting news in this world than the possibility of snow. I would glue myself to the tv to watch for snowclosures…just waiting to see Wake County scroll by. As an adult…I do NOT feel the same. First of all “snow” in the south is usually ice. We aren’t prepared, we don’t know how to drive (as anyone who did not grow up here but lives here now will tell you repeatedly) and honestly….it’s March, enough with this shit! My mom loves snow and I know so many others who still delight in this weather, so this ins’t meant to squash your love. But when you work in a commission field, your want to be open and to have clients who can make it in is high!!! Luckily, the snow ended up just being beautiful and totally gone the next day. Sooooo, all that bitching for nothing hahaha! Ben came over and we enjoyed the beautiful snow globeish flakes and a healthy, delicious classic: Korean Beef!!!

Ben loves ALL the sriracha….and it was cold so it was a great way to warm up. This meal is so comfy and so incredibly easy to make, which I really appreciate now that I cook all the time. Tuesday was sunny and beautiful and it was hard to believe that the day before was dumping sweet little buckets of snow. Work was amazing and then I came home to cook another weeknight favorite: Spicy ground turkey and green beans!

Which became an instant Wednesday night date night classic! I added a spring mix salad with pine nuts and Tessemae’s Ranch dressing to beef it up since I had already been eating on it for a few meals! I also saw Terri from Structural Wisdom on Wednesday, my structural integratist/therapist/shaman and I just love her. I feel like I’ve been taking everything really personally lately and that isn’t always like me.

So we talked it through and decided that I suppressed my feelings for so long that I may just be trying to sift through my actual feelings and she gave me some great coping mechanisms! Plus we worked on my constantly twisted body and working out the kinks. I feel so amazing when I leave Terri, my body feels better and stronger and my heart and soul do as well! She always helps me look at myself and how I contribute to the situation and what I can do differently. #loveyouterri

Then Thursday rolled around…how do the weeks fly by so fast now!?! Work was amazing and again, flew by but I’m grateful that I got to meet with my meatball! #hijenny

And then after work I did something that I haven’t done in TWO YEARS…I went to a yoga class…at a new studio! I have really been struggling to get my butt in gear with moving my body. I was talking about it on Wednesday and my friend Denise said, come to yoga with me. She proactively got her phone out and we picked a class I thought I could handle…restorative flow. Yoga has been on my brain literally for two years. My insecurities show up in weird ways. I don’t like going back to something when I’ve gained weight. Now let me clarify that I realize that this is BAT SHIT CRAZY! Honestly I’ve needed yoga so desperately, but my nerves just wouldn’t let me go. I love feeling strong and capable and when I backslide I have a really hard time showing up again. But the fact that we signed up for a class the next night didn’t give me much time to stress or back out. I found a cute outfit which always makes me feel better, brought my clothes to work, changed after my last client and met Denise at Yoga Inspired off of Lead Mine and Sawmill! My client Christine had been telling my about how much she loved this place and a lot of my co-workers had gone, so I knew it was going to be great. I ran in to Denise’s friend and the owner of the studio, Anil as soon as I walked up! He had a great calm energy meanwhile, I couldn’t have had more pent up nervous energy!

The space was beautiful and the class was everything. I even ran in to my client buddy Christine who had told me I should try it out! #fate

I really took for granted though that I haven’t spent much time on a wooden floor on my knees since my knee surgery and it was intense!!! But what I love about yoga is that you can do you if you need to. At times I just stood up to take the pressure off, but I for sure need to get some knee pads before I go next time! I had forgotten all about my yoga breathing, setting intentions, breathing through poses!!! I can’t wait to go back. I’ll be more upfront next time about my limitations so that I can know what the alternative poses are!!! Thanks so much for a great class Anil and thank you so much Denise for bringing me back to something I love. You made it so easy to say yes! Xoxo can’t wait to do it again!

Then wouldn’t you know it, it was already Friday. I am the Director of Mentoring at Samuel Cole Salon as well as being behind the chair. I work with an associate everyday and I am in charge of teaching them everything I know. I am so grateful to be in this position, I have had the joy and pleasure of working so closely with most of my team at the salon. The relationship that you build working so closely with someone is a dream come true for me. I love watching the associates learn, progress, grow, become stylists, get promoted…etc…I love it all. Friday happened to be my last day with sweet Zoey before she moves on the her new mentors and when I came in, this was on my station!

A hand written/painted card with the most thoughtful and kind words and a beautiful mason jar of fresh flowers #myfavorite in my favorite color! Zoey, I am going to miss working with you every day, but I love seeing how much you’ve grown and can’t wait to see you on the floor! Love you!!!

And just like that it was Saturday morning, off to acupuncture with my mom! So relaxing!!! She thought me how to do a Gua Sha facial to help me with my rosacea and I’m so excited to commit and see the results…this is my official before pic!

Somebody look at those rosy cheeks…and say goodbye to them! I made lunch for me and mom after our session: Egg Roll in a Bowl!!!

Then my sister, my nephews and myself met at our parents for a cook out! I have been on a real breakfast salad kick lately…

So naturally, I brought a salad!!!

IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!! I took at bag of spring mix salad and layered in shredded carrots, diced tomatoes, diced shallots, minced garlic, pickled jalapeños, avocados, toasted pine nuts and Tesserae’s Ranch (so good and made with great ingredients)!!! The cookout was a blast and super healthy:

Mom made loaded baked sweet potatoes with ghee, crumbled bacon, chives and spring onions. Kelly brought Italian sausage, chicken wings and hot dogs and her and dad cooked them to blackened perfection on the grill along with peppers and onions! So good and look at all that green for St. Patty’s day! We had a blast hanging out together and unlike the beginning of the week, the weather was GORGEOUS! As you all know, I love my family. I love that we can eat healthy together and just enjoy being together. We are headed to the beach in a couple of weeks and I literally can’t wait for all the togetherness!!!!

And for once, I took zero pictures… I lived in the moment and snuggled all my boos! Then I turned the amazing leftover salad bits in to breakfast this morning!

I then started laundry, got a mani with my main squeeze Lee and had my first Aldi shopping experience! I had been a little extravagant lately and I need to reign in my spending and pay off this damn HVAC bill! I saw a video on Facebook and the lady made it seem like you were insane if you DIDN’T shop here and save money.

I got allllll of this for $35!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two kinds of meat, two kinds of nuts, all of the produce!!!!! So excited to save money and get all of the things I need to stay on track. I’m going to start cooking right after I publish this…on the menu for the beginning of the week: Chicken Chow Mein and another round of Spicy ground turkey and green beans..I just didn’t get enough last week! Then it is off to see Black Panther again with the fam, so flipping excited!!!!!!!!!!!

Lesson learned, try new/old things again!!! Do the things your heart is telling you to do…you can always go back! And as always, spend the time with the ones you love!!! One final food for thought:

Until next week!!! Xoxo

Two Meatballs: Art You Kidding ME?!?

March 11, 2018health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,#rosehipsstudio, #thepeppermillshop, hi kellytwomeatballsgetfit View all 4 comments

Hello world, Sara here!!! What a great week it’s been!!! After I posted last week, Jenny came over and we did our favorite thing, talked and snuggled forever!

Thank goodness for SnapChat filters…this was not a pretty day haha! While she was over, I made us raspberry turmeric smoothies…so tart and delish!

Then I did my cooking for the week!

This week I made another migas scramble without the rotisserie chicken this time, bacon, spicy roasted sweet potato wedges, roasted cabbage with spinach, mushrooms and chicken sausage, burrito bowls with guacamole and a tuscan chicken bake!!! Work was amazing, I celebrated International Women’s Day,

#hisarah, spent time with my boo and then, I felt like I blinked and the weekend was almost here!

Thursday night I stopped by my parents house after work. Kelly and the kids were there too! Kelly told mom about a craft fair at the State Farmer’s Market and they decided to go. They sweetly asked me and told me that they were going to get going at 8 am. Now 8 isn’t like the earliest time ever, but I like to be lazy on Saturdays!!!! So I made a face…

And politely declined. Mom and Kelly do all kinds of fun things together that just aren’t my jam…The Christmas Parade, antiquing…you know! And it wasn’t even that I don’t like crafts…it was just the early morning thing. Something that I know to be true about myself is that since my life with work and all of my outside of work appointments is so scheduled, sometimes I have a hard time committing to actual plans…even when I want to do them! But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go! I love my family, I love crafts and I HATE TO MISS OUT! So Friday afternoon after another amazing facial with Kat from Rosehips Studios, I called my mom and asked if I could spend the night. I love a sleepover and I knew that if I were already there I would go on their adventure! We had such a fun sleepover; we had Guasaca for dinner…

we watched a documentary on the Avett Brothers, listened to music, watched SNL reruns and enjoyed each others company! The next morning mom made the yummiest breakfast…

Then, Kelly picked us up and we were off. I was instantly glad I said yes!!! We got coffee (Starbucks for me and mom, Cup of Joe for Kelly) and got to the craft fair in no time! It was FREEEEEEZING and a little windy. But don’t you just love the Farmer’s Market??!! I love looking at the fresh produce, the herbs and plants…fantasizing about my non- existent indoor garden! But this day…there was ALL OF THE ART! My mom, sister and I all have a deep love for the arts. We love movies, books, music, plays, arts, crafts…you name it we love it. I sometimes forget that we are all so similar. We had so much fun, looking at EVERYTHING and shopping!

We found all of these cool animal works of art from a super friendly artist names Joseph! We met another artist, Karen from Wake Forest and fell in love with her stuff as well! We all ended up leaving with something special from both artists!!! Here is mom’s stash…

And Kelly’s…

And mine…

I love what everyone got and I love that we all have something from the same artists in our homes. I also got earrings, a beautiful bowl and these magnets from the coolest lady on the planet!!!

Y’all know how I love a pun! This lady is obsessed with puns and 90’s hip hop, I mean, did we just become best friends!? #yup Her store is called The Peppermill Shop and she is based in Wilmington. Look at this hilarious cut out she had…we couldn’t get enough #idontcarrotall

Take Two:

The morning flew by and I shopped my heart out and loved spending the day with my mom and sis. We had so much fun that we met dad at Kelly’s house to do some projects…this next segment is called…How many Beards does it take to change a mailbox!? #toomany #splitthewood #28extensioncordswerentenough

Kelly needed a new, nice mailbox and so the family pitched in…and by pitched in I mean I took selfies…

provided comic relief by asking everyone who walked by to help us and I also held up the mailbox for when Betty came by and we weren’t yet ready!

And viola…new mailbox!!!

Kelly and dad are so much alike, it’s hilarious to watch them tackle a project together!

What a fun day with my family!!! I spent the rest of the day DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, besides ordering groceries!

Then I woke up this morning thinking I had gotten up so early…totally forgot about Spring Forward! I have to say though, I know we lost an hour and I probably won’t get much sleep tonight, but I LOVE that it will be lighter, later…I am solar powered! My mom came over to keep the project tackling going! Last weekend her and I bought chalk paint for an old flaky vanity that is in my room. She painted it and her and my dad dropped it off yesterday. Today, I organized it and I couldn’t be more in love!

I’m so in love. The color is perfect and I’ve never felt so organized…I’m sure this will be the only day it looks this good, but I’ll take it. Thank you so much mom!!! Then we tackled more closet organization and continuing to get rid of clothes that I don’t wear anymore! Then I spent the rest of the day cooking to prepare for the upcoming week! This week on the menu, homemade sausage, sautéed carrots and shallots, enchilada bowls with cauliflower rice and homemade pico and potsticker burgers with asian cole slaw and spicy butternut squash fries…

I haven’t made the burgers and fries yet…but they are going to be so good, I just know it!

And on one last final note before I go, I have officially lost 51 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel so good and so motivated and so proud. Thank you for all of your support. Love you all to the moon and back. Lesson learned…make the plans, spend the time with the people you love and eating healthy works. Until next time,

Xoxo

Two Meatballs: Reclaiming My Space!!!

March 4, 2018health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,hi kelly, split acre farmtwomeatballsgetfit View all 6 comments

Hello everyone!!! Sara here! How was your weekend!?

Mine was pretty low key…I feel like I’ve got a baby cold or my allergies are starting to take over, so I am as snuggled up on my couch as a person could be, writing this post!!!!!!

Literally every blanket is on me!!! I’m taking baking soda, elderberry extract, vitamin C and all of my supplements so I know I will feel fresh as a daisy tomorrow! #positivethoughts

But otherwise, I’ve been all about de-hoarding my house lately and upping the organization factor at chez Beard with the help of my sweet parents and my boo. Somebody look at this …

Do you see that weird thing at the bottom…it’s the floor!!! I haven’t seen the actual carpet in my closet for months…bc this is usually the place where I throw everything in when I’m “quick cleaning up”! Hahahahah If only I had taken a before pic!!! The mountain of clothes that took over my bed was so overwhelming!!! But my mom and I tackled it one bite at a time and my room has never looked better. My closet hasn’t been this clean since Ryan from Newman Builders built it! I ordered some cute little cube boxes so I can make the built ins even more streamlined! My goal is to keep cleaning out everything so that I can ultimately get rid of the big bulky dresser in my room! I want to reclaim my space and make my room into a quiet, clean sanctuary of peace and comfiness! I have a little ways to go to get there, but purging feels so good!

I’ve kept up to projects and shopping in my kitchen too! Somebody look at my rack!

My cabinet next to my stove was OVERFLOWING, so I found this sweet little chicken wire spice rack on Amazon and fell in love. And now my cabinet is roomy as hell and this little piece is giving my kitchen so much character…speaking of adorable…

I got these little cuties on Etsy from a store called Do Take it Personally!!! I love a pun and I totally hate doing stupid dishes! I want to be in my kitchen all the time and thank goodness, because y’all, that is exactly what to takes to stay on track. But first, I had to reclaim some counter top space!!!

My kitchen is gorgeous (another Newman Builders project) but I am very limited on space and since I live in a small townhouse style condo, every fucking wall is load bearing! I have had to accepted the foot print of my house…but this only makes it more and more important to reclaim my space. My countertops were crammed with appliances, so I rearranged my beautiful shelves (Newman Builders) to accommodate my growing collection of kitchen tools and reclaimed alllllllll of my cooking spaces!

Now I have all the room for chopping and mixing annnnnd flowers!

I found these at Trader Joe’s! I am counting down the days until my first farm fresh flower delivery from Split Acre!!!

Now that I have this big roomy kitchen, it feels even better to cook in! Lately I have been wanting to eat garbage, so instead, I made butternut squash fries…

This satisfied my cravings so well! I ate them with Tessemae’s Whole 30 approved ketchup mixed with Paleo sriracha! I bought the squash pre- zig zagged at Trader Joe’s, tossed them in avocado oil, sea salt, garlic and tumeric and roasted the hell out of them for 15 minutes ( I did 400, I would do 375 next time so that they aren’t QUITE as charred).

I also made the living best roasted dijon mustard pork!!! I ate it on top of salads, chopped up for breakfast and in an asian carrot dish!!! This week I also ate cilantro lime chicken zoodles and all of the sweet potato waffles!!!

Today, I slept in and started the day by eating the best breakfast!!!

Hummus and black beans are the two non Whole 30 things that I partake in, so this morning I smeared Roots mango sriracha hummus all over my waffles, made a 3 egg concoction and some tomato slices with a little sea salt sprinkled on top! And of course my cold match latte! I then started 1100 loads of laundry and cooked my life away this morning! I roasted some cabbage in the oven in one pan and cooked some bacon in another! On the stove top, I sautéed some mushrooms, shallots, spinach and chicken sausage in fish sauce and coconut aminos, I tossed this on top of the roasted cabbage! And in another pan I made paleo burrito bowl loaded!!!

So colorful, so yummy!!!! I had enough peppers and onions leftover that I made another migas scramble, without the rotisserie chicken this time!

I tossed the freshly cooked bacon on top and now I have two breakfasts, two lunches and three dinners ready to go! I think the key for me to keep it interesting is to not plan for more than 2-3 days at a time.

I have the second load of laundry in the dryer now, one more in the wash and one more to go and it’s only 3:40 on Sunday!!! Jenny is coming over soon and I’m so excited to see my meatball! I hope that y’all have had a great weekend and that you’ll have a great week! See you again real soon! Xoxo,

Two Meatballs Get Fit

We had so much fun getting fat together. Now we're going to have even more fun getting fit!