Liebster Award!!!

My dear friend over at Keeping Up With Kelsey nominated me for a Liebster Award! Isn't she a doll?! NO, no, Kelsey is not a doll, she's a rambunctious 20 something year old who has too much on her plate and somehow doesn't go crazy with it all...or maybe that's why she's rambunctious, its the only way she can keep caught up with everything :) Either way, I <3 her. She's one amazing chiquita banana.

Anyhow, Liebster award...Ive gotta answer a few questions and list 11 random facts about myself, then I have to nominate 11 more bloggers with less than 200 fans. I don't follow a ton of blogs with low rate so I'll start out with a few nominees and then add to the list as I find fantastic peeps who deserve the honor, give them a list of 11 new questions, and then they must pay it forward and do the same!

Ok so here's my 11 random factoids....

1. I'm obsessed with nail polishes. I have pretty decent natural nails and I like to keep them purdy!
2. I live in an uber small town with 1200ish people in it, sometimes it wierds me out since I've always lived in the city and not used to people saying hi, or knowing my kids' names, etc.
3. I love to cook. I really do. I love sugar and salt, and all things yummy.
4. To make up for my need to cook all the time, I workout 5 days or more a week. I'm a Beachbody Coach still working on my journey to a better me. 6 months have done my body good! Follow me on Facebook!
5. My favorite time of year is winter. I know, it's weird, but I like snow, I like to be bundled up, and I like cloudy days. Maybe I'm part vampire but the cloudier the happier I am.
6. I get random cravings for Mac and Cheese with garlic salt. It was something my dad always did, maybe those days are the days he's really looking after me.
7. I really wanted to name my youngest, Seamus. I'm Irish, hubby is Irish, made sense to use an Irish name...now I just want to buy a Golden Retriever and name him Seamus :) (pronounce Shay-mus for those who can't read)

8. Speaking of reading, I'm on my third book for the month...well the first one I just finished this month, it took me 2 months to finish.
9. Cant freakin wait for Christmas!! Favorite holiday of all time!
10. My favorite foods are french fries, mashed potatoes and gravy (from KFC), and nachos
11. I would rather die in a fire than drown.


Kelsey's QA!
1. What tv series are on your DVR list?-Oh gosh...Sleepy Hollow, The Walking Dead, Grey's Anatomy, Cheer Perfection, The White Queen, Tosh.0, Louis C.K., Son's of Anarchy, and a few others I can't remember. But those are the one's I keep up with. 2. Main reason you began blogging-I think it's easier to get my feelings and thoughts out when I write them down and Facebook has too short of a box lol. No but really, if people wanna know my business, they can know it all. If they don't then they can be satisfied with social network status'. Plus, I have a lot of good stuff to write about so I do :) 3. Where do you see your blog going in the future?-Ugh, I don't know. I've got so much going on, it takes me weeks to get to the blogs I want to do. I'd like to have a decent amount of followers but not sure if I want to get so into it that I start doing reviews and what not for others. Just want to inspire creativity and self respect for my readers. I'd like everyone to have the "if she can do it, I can too" mind set. 4. Ever played an instrument?-Yup, I can play the flute, sax, baritone sax, piano, and kind of the trumpet. Flute and b sax I actually played in school though. I still have my flute, still can read music but I don't think I sound as good as I used to :) 5. Which social media site are you the most addicted to? ....facebook and instagram
6. Any guilty pleasure's you'd like to air out?-Jersey Shore and chocolate chips (I have bags of them in the cupboards for a quick chocolate fix) 7. How many fbook pictures are your profile?-As in how many I have on fbook? or how many times have I changed my fbook profile photo? I'll list the both...I have 28albums, one is my instagram which has almost 700 photos alone lol. and i have 36 profile pics. 8. Reasoning behind your blog name?-My last name is Sullivan and we live in Nebraska, The Good Life. and since my blog is about my family and our life...well you get the picture. 9. Have you ever tried to sue someone?-nope, been sued for an apartment issue way back when, but never sued anyone 10. How did you find my blog? (Keeping up With Kelsey)-ugh...you link it like 20 times a day :) lol you know I how I found you! 11. Bath or shower?-Shower. I don't like baths, I have 4 kids who take baths and I get weird about it and have to completely scrub the tub before sitting in it, and that's too much work lol. I'd rather just sit down under the shower water.

sheesh...that took a lot of thinking! But now its the following blogger's turns!

My nominees!

Stefanie @ Husak Household
Julie @ Savvy Homemaking

And my Questions to the bloggers:

1. Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
2. If you had $50 to spend on something you wanted, not needed, what would you buy?
3. Are you closer to your mom or dad?
4. If the giraffe is purple and the sky is orange, what color is the tree? (ya seriously, thats my question)
5. Popcorn or Potato chips?
6. What is your best talent?
7. When you were younger what did you want to be when you grew up? Did that happen?
8. What's your shoe size?
9. Who's the hottest guy on tv?
10. What do you currently consider "your jam"?
11. If you celebrate them, whats your favorite holiday?

Steak Fried Rice

If you don't know, I'm Irish, very very Irish. Pale skin, freckles, a little red in my hair, IRISH!! But I hate Irish food, unless it's potatoes, omg I love potatoes, Fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, potato boats...getting a little Forrest Gump-ish on yall huh? Anyhow, I don't like Irish food, but I do love Mexican and Asian. I'm not huge on veggies but I will eat it if included in one of these dishes. Unfortunately where we live there isn't a single Mexican or Asian restaurant for 50 miles. It's wonderful...not. So I have to make my own food all the time. But there's only a handful of Asian dishes I can get most of the family to indulge in, and those dishes only include rice or noodles (duh...). So I had this veggie medley and a flank steak...and some rice! so voila, Steak fried rice!

Oh you want the recipe now do ya?! ok....

Here its:

1 flank or skirt steak (i don't know what the ozs were but it was about $14 so decent sized)

marinate (for a few hours) in 2tbs balsamic vinegar, 1tbs soy sauce, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1 minced garlic clove (real garlic is so much better than the jar stuff fyi) 

I cooked my steak out on the grill this time but I have done it in my cast iron skillet before too and it was perfect.

Fried rice:

Boil 2 cups of brown rice according to directions and let cool or use cold leftover rice

Heat 1/4 cup of coconut oil in a large skillet (cocnut oil has a low melting point, make sure you watch it so you don't burn it)

saute frozen veggies

add rice, 1tbsp soy sauce, and 1/2 tbsp sesame oil. 

Let that all get nice and toasty and cut your steak into strips as thin or thick as you'd like.

Scoot rice to one side of the skillet and add 1-2 eggs to the other half. Scramble.

Once eggs are cooked stir the rice and eggs together and add your steak.

And BAM! steak fried rice. So yummy. I fed myself and all 4 kids and still filled a ziplock baggie up to shove in the freezer for another time.

Now, I may not have made it REAL Asian, so don't blame me if I'm way off, I like my American Asian food so you should too :) Enjoy and please let me know if you make it, I'd love some feedback!

Small town living-2months

Well life is certainly different here in Fullerton compared to living in Lincoln or Omaha. Being a "city girl" there's a lot of things that are hard to get used to but for the most part I'm actually happy to live here. It's so incredibly quiet and I never spend money because I don't have anywhere to go! lol I mean we do have a grocery store, but it closes at 6 as do most places other than the bar or Subway. But then again that is it's downside, there's nothing open, no where to go shopping unless I want to drive an hour to get there. Some days it stresses me out, like the other night when I had a horrible stomach ache and desperately needed some Tums and nothing was open to get some so I cried myself to sleep. Bleh, no more Pizza Hut for me I guess. (Oh ya, we can get Pizza Hut but it's still 20 minutes away).
Anyhow I decided to compile a list of things I'd like to call ....

You know you live in a small town when:
1. The high school parking lot is full of dirty pickup trucks.
2. You have to stop yourself from waving while driving at everyone when you go to the city or you look like a freak.
3. You drive with at least one hand on the top of the steering wheel so you don't look like a jerk because you cant get a wave in fast enough.
4. You leave you house unlocked pretty much every time you leave unless you plan to be gone all day.
5. Your groceries get carried out to the car while you pay for them.
6. You can get groceries on credit!
7. Pay day is the only day you go to the store because the cost of gas doesn't make it worth it to go any other time of the week.
8. You have to ask around for things like "where can my kid go to dance? is there a place for karate? when do sports start?" because there ISNT places like that. You have to go to the town 20 minutes away that has a population of 300 more than yours does.
9. Families walk in clans. As in there are 5 families around here directly related to mine and I live right next door to my father in law and his wife. In some ways it's weird to show up places and all sit in our group, but in the other its nice because you're automatically accepted as part of the town.
10. My kids have 2 cousin's in school with them, and a handful of "step-cousins" as well.  Next year my older boys will both have a cousin in their classes. Why? because there is only one class per grade!
11. Speaking of school, when I was in high school there were not AG classes available. You did not take crop science classes or learn how to raise cattle. Nor did you aspire to do any of these things.


Im gonna have a lot more coming up so stay tuned. This small town weirdness is only 2 months in, I'm sure I'm in for a lot more!

T25, NAILED IT!

Finished my second Beachbody Workout a couple of weeks ago!! T25 is definitely my kind of work out. It's tough, it builds muscle, has cardio, and it's short! Seriously, 25 minutes! Granted its non-stop, literally, ShaunT never ever says "go get a drink". Insanity, as hard as it is, there were all kind of breaks and people dying out. Not T25. Its tough, not Insanity tough, but it's tough. And I've definitely built my stamina up and have developed a lot of muscle definition. I kind of quit weighing myself though because it just frustrates me to not see the scale move despite smaller measurements and I end up just crying about it even though it doesn't matter.
So here's my results: Starting weight: 187.5 waist:32.5   hips:37  arms: 12.5  thighs: 20.5  calves:15.5 chest: 35"

   

 Final results: I haven't actually weighed myself since my mental break down around week 3 of Beta because J threw out my scale lol. so ending weight: 181.5" waist 31" hips:35.5" arms:11 3/4" thighs(I have 2 measurements here because I realized I was measuring in the wrong spot to begin with):19 and 22.5 calves: 14 3/4" chest 32"

 

SEE!!! I have abs now!! and my legs don't touch as much. I've never had "the gap" but hope to see it soon! My legs have ALWAYS been my least favorite part. I still look in the mirror and have a really hard time seeing any changes, but I suppose thats the way it is for everyone. I keep telling myself that eventually I won't be upset with how I look, but I don't know if there's any woman out there who is completely happy with herself. If there is, well then...more power to her lol.

Anyhow, there's results for the first round of t25, just started my second round which is obviously a crap ton easier. I can't wait to see my results in two months. Now I'm off to go apply for my tshirt (and maybe some money :))