A Fitness Routine, Meals, Farmer’s Market & Mom Life Recap

I have approximately 30 minutes before I wake my son up and sprint out the door for our morning walk. It has been in the upper 90s this entire month in South Carolina. I refuse to miss our morning walk, so we get out early before it becomes unbearable. I also bring Leo because I do not want it to be too hot for him.

A week and a half ago, I set some goals for myself. Running a bakery business means sugar, sugar, and more sugar. I have always walked and tried my best to eat healthy, but I found myself skipping meals and trading them for dessert. Instead of lunch, I would have a cup of coffee and pull a chocolate chip cookie from the freezer. My brain fog was bad, and I was feeling tired all the time. I am sure working late hours and early mornings did not help, but I just felt so unhealthy. I did not feel as strong as I needed to be.

My goals were to wake up early in the morning and stick to four miles, eat three healthy meals a day with healthy snacks, and avoid desserts instead of eating them as meals. My dessert now is fresh fruit or rice cakes with peanut butter. I am proud to say that I am on day ten of following through and feeling good. I am proud of myself for making it this far. I have attempted to be healthier for a while and kept making excuses, and I am glad I am finally in a routine that is working. Ten days is a short period of time, but when you are trying to eat better and move your body, it feels like a real accomplishment. There is no turning back now.

This blog post will include many of the meals I ate throughout the week, as well as our morning walks. Maybe you need some motivation to get out and walk or eat a better meal, so hopefully this can help. I have a lot of trips scheduled in the coming months, so we will see how well I can stay on this healthy path.

I am lucky that my son wakes up begging to go on morning walks. He says it the moment I walk into his room to wake him up. “Mama, eat, walk!” I make him breakfast, which usually consists of toast or waffles, a muffin, half a banana, and a fruit or veggie pouch.

 

Having him eat breakfast on the walk buys us a lot of entertainment time. I love that he is getting so much fresh air and spending the first few hours of the day in nature. I stash random objects like painted rocks, cars, flashcards, straws, and other little items under the stroller to pull out when he gets antsy. I also play music for him if he seems bored, which luckily does not happen often. He loves yelling out the colors of the cars that drive by, pointing at signs, and waving at every work truck. This is such a sweet time in the morning for us to talk and for me to ask him all kinds of questions.

All of my meals have had a ton of protein in them. I have been sticking to toast with avocado and eggs, and I recently replaced Greek yogurt with grilled chicken because the yogurt was hurting my stomach. There is something about the Oikos Pro that my body just cannot handle.

When it is really hot outside, I will make my son and me a smoothie with water, ice, berries, kale, spinach, and banana.

I have been having a wrap almost every day for lunch. The Flatout spinach wraps are my favorite. I stuff them with Caesar kale, avocado, turkey, and yellow mustard. I usually have fruit and veggies on the side.

Last Wednesday, I did a super hot yoga session at Anne Springs in the evening. It was so relaxing as the sun peeked through the trees, and the horses were right by the fence.

During nap time, I do fifteen minutes of a short strength workout. This is a workout I made up over ten years ago, and now I am back to doing it again. It can be done mostly on a yoga mat. The garage gets so hot in the middle of the day, so I may need to start doing this in the living room.

One afternoon, I took my son to the children’s playground at Anne Springs. This place is amazing for little explorers, especially those who love being in the mud and spending time in nature. It is such a great spot to let them use their imagination, play in the outdoor mud kitchen, and go on little adventures.

He made acorn soup.

I keep his stained clothes in a specific drawer in his room and always put those on when he is heading out to muddy parks or playing in the yard. I figured I should note this in case you are wondering why I put my child in all beige to play in the mud.

The kind and talented owner of Olives Mud Puddle painted this mural. My son loves it. He will stand there pointing to all the animals and naming them. I am not a talented painter, but it makes me want to do something fun like this in the playroom. Should I?

We still love spending our afternoons in the blowup pool. Sometimes I am the fun mom, letting him jump around with popsicles.

Morning at the park!

We met a friend at The Improper Pig for lunch. I want to eat this salad every day. It is the Cobb salad with basil dressing, and it is amazing.

And I guess dipping chicken fingers in applesauce is just a toddler thing to do.

I went a few days without my phone last week. I had the screen of death and had to go to the Apple Store to have it fixed. That meant five hours of walking around SouthPark Mall with a toddler while they worked on my phone. Thank goodness my mom tagged along with us. We went to the LEGO Store, where they had Legos to play with, and the outdoor playground, even though it was so hot. He also scarfed down some Five Guys french fries.

I was finished at the mall with him at 6 pm.

At 6 pm, I had to head to the kitchen and start baking for the farmers market the next day. I almost called to cancel because I had nothing prepared, but I stuck with it and made a bunch of cookie dough, lemon cake, and sourdough cinnamon roll dough for the next morning. I get up at three on farmers market mornings to bake everything fresh. Even with only a few hours, I managed to do pretty well with the preparation.

I love doing my farmers market display. It is so fun to pick fresh flowers from the garden and make everything look pretty and presentable. I am still working on my farmers market blog post and answering your questions, so there is still time if you want to ask me anything. I will be sure to include those answers.

After the market on Saturday, I met up with Becca for lunch at The Improper Pig (I had that same salad) and a warm cup of coffee at Olives Mud Puddle. We relaxed while playing a little Christmas music on the piano and sitting in the comfy chairs talking. We made plans to bring our books there next time because it was so quiet and cozy. I love Olives so much.

After our coffee hour, we walked through a few downtown spots. It was almost 100 degrees out.

I picked up this Arctic savory seasoning at the farmers market on Saturday, and it has completely changed all my meals. I have been putting it on eggs, vegetables, salads, and chicken, and I would honestly drink it from the bottle if it were a liquid. It is amazing mixed with olive oil and drizzled over tomatoes and cucumbers. You can purchase it online, but it is better than any seasoning I have tried. I plan on buying several more this Saturday and using them as stocking stuffers this year.

One of my favorite purchases this week has been my reading light. I was using my cell phone flashlight to read my book in bed at night, and it was terrible. I saw this on TikTok Shop, and it completely changed my reading routine.

Sunday morning walk with my little man. He loves bringing his flag on all of his walks. I keep a jar of them in the garage, and he runs to grab one before I put him in the stroller. I love watching him wave it at people.

We decided to head out to the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market on Sunday. I had not been in over ten years, and I do not know why I waited so long. I cannot wait to return this weekend and grab more produce. They had the best heirloom tomatoes I have ever had. They tasted like candy. And with my new seasoning, I was in healthy food heaven.

We picked up fresh juice, croissants for my son, fresh flowers, veggies, garlic bread, and rocks for my rock loving toddler.

The peaches were amazing!

My son ate about three croissants for dinner that night.

Lately, I have been cutting up russet potatoes, tossing them in olive oil, and throwing them into our air fryer. They are so yummy. And you better believe I am putting the Arctic seasoning on them.

On Sunday, I made some delicious toddler muffins with hidden vegetables. We are on day four with them, and they are still going strong. He ate two of them on Monday morning’s walk.

I also made homemade gummy bears since he is obsessed with them, but he said, “Yuck.” I guess I will need to fix that recipe before sharing it. I probably used way too much lemon juice.

We picked up Almond Chocolate Chip protein bites at Costco, and wow, they are so good. Another toddler snack win. If you have a Costco membership, add them to your list.

Another week of more sunrise walks.

I bought this cup for him at the mall since he always steals mine, and they look the same. I thought it was so cute. I love Tullabee Boutique so much.

On Monday, we went in for our final doctor’s appointment before his little toddler school starts in September. Usually, he cries the entire time, but this time, he is so grown up and has real conversations with the doctor. I think the Trash Truck episode of The Doctor helped his fear!

Every night, I eat a salad with turkey spaghetti squash. It is funny how after eating better for a few days, food starts to taste better, and you begin craving healthy food instead of junk. I prep a massive batch of spaghetti squash on Sunday and eat it all week with a kale salad. After dinner, I have peanut butter on a rice cake and then drink a ton of water.

Feeling good on day ten!

I am such a grandma for obsessing over everyone’s crepe myrtles, but it is our favorite time of year to walk because of them. They almost make up for the nasty heat wave.

Can this corner house get any more perfect? I do not think so. Well, Leo helps.

After our walk yesterday, we headed to Grandma’s house for a pool day.

We threw together a plate of farmers market finds to snack on by the pool.

I just love our 6 am walks. The skies are like paintings.

It was so nice this morning that we decided to do five miles. I did not bring Leo with me because I wanted him to take a break after all the walking so we could go a few extra miles.

I know this blog post was filled with repetitive walking and food, but that is what I have been focusing on over the past week and a half. I am motivated to feel better, and I think it is working so far. I have some fun recipes and trips coming up soon.

I have a glamping trip planned with Becca, I am heading home to Iowa with my mom for the Iowa State Fair, traveling to the beach at the end of the month, and in September I am going to Europe. I cannot wait to share everything with you. I am so glad to be back in the groove of blogging too.

Questions for you!

1. Do you have any trips coming up?
2. Should I paint a fun mural in the playroom?
3. What blogs do you want to see from me soon?