Detox Smoothies

A month or so ago, my mom sent me some detox smoothie recipes she found and claims she's been losing a few inches after drinking them. She is usually able to drink both of them (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) - I haven't been able to drink the afternoon one. I personally don't really see/feel any difference from the smoothies but I've been enjoying the blueberry smoothie every morning on my way to work :)

Sorry for the quick pictures, I snapped them before rushing out the door for work.

Blueberry Detox Smoothie

Blend together:

- 1/2 cup apple juice

- 3/4 cup blueberries (I use frozen ones)

- 1/4 cup plain yogurt (I use vanilla Greek yogurt)

- 1/4 cup kale

- 2 Tbsp lemon juice

- 1 tbsp flax oil (My mom uses coconut oil and I don't use any - maybe that's why I'm not losing anything ;))

Peanut Butter Detox Shake

Blend together:

- 1 cup milk

- 1 frozen banana

- 1 tbsp peanut butter

- 1/4 cup oats

- 2 tbsp plain yogurt

- 5 ice cubes

I tried the peanut butter shake once and the recipe made an entire cup full which was too much for me and left me feeling sick all night. Whenever I try it again, I'll cut the recipe in half.

Now, I'm no doctor or nutritionist, my mom says it works for her, it hasn't worked for me but worst case, it's a good and healthy smoothie!

Linking up with Jessi.

Weekending: Astronaut Edition

Oh man, this weekend was busy but definitely one for the books!! We survived Friday the 13th and a full moon, dined in fancy outfits with astronauts and celebrated 3 birthdays!

Friday evening, we attended the Astronaut Hall of Fame Gala and had the best time. We arrived at Kennedy Space Center and enjoyed a cocktail hour in the Atlantis exhibit before being bused over to the Saturn V exhibit for dinner. Two astronauts were inducted into the hall of fame that weekend and it was such an honor to be involved. It was so crazy to think that we were in the same room as dozens and dozens of people who had traveled to space! Each table had an astronaut sitting with them and we had James Wetherbee sitting with us. James did 6 missions and was inducted into the hall of fame in the early 2000's. We loved hearing some of his stories, but unfortunately we didn't have too much time to talk to him. I'm so thankful Stephen got asked to attend through his company and we got to experience this together :)

Excuse the squinty eyes

An older man offered to take our picture together.. in front of an older Atlas rocket.. except he didn't get any of the rocket in the picture lol

Then a younger lady offered to take our picture in front of the Atlantis exhibit... and didn't get any of the Atlantis shuttle...

But at least we got a good picture in front of the real thing!

The lady behind me had the same dress on but a different color. Then, I realized she's the COO of Kennedy Space Center's wife - I'll gladly match her lol

After dinner we had to get a picture with Jim Wetherbee

Saturday, we slept in and then got ready to head over to Orlando for my co-worker's son's 1st birthday party. We had such a great time and loved seeing all the kids running around #babyfever. Afterwards, we headed to Target to return something and just browse. After our Target trip, we headed home and watched some LOST before ordering takeout and eating outside. It was a beautiful evening and we had a great time eating and chatting on the back porch. After dinner we finished up the night with more LOST.... of course lol

Sunday, we headed to church and then I ran to Publix while Stephen changed his oil and mowed the lawn. Afterwards, we headed to our friend's daughter's birthday party. They were born a few weeks from each other and just turned 2 and 4 so they threw a joint party at a local horse farm. It was the cutest place and the absolute best location for a little kid's birthday party. We had a great time and loved seeing all the kids have fun and run around. Stephen also joined in on the fun and played cops and robbers with the kids and their dads #babyfeverincrease. We were exhausted after (and so glad we didn't have to go home and take care of kids) so we headed home to finish up the laundry, get ready for the week ahead and watch some more LOST. 

Their mom did an amazing job and everything was so adorable

My friend gave me some of the centerpiece flowers to take home :)

It was a great weekend but we're really looking forward to Stephen being back on a normal schedule this week and having a slow weekend next weekend. I hope everyone else had a great weekend as well!

Linking up with Biana.

Five on Friday

I feel like I blinked and this week was over!! Granted I'm not going to complain because the bulk of Stephen's testing at work (accompanied by his late nights) should be over and we should be back on a normal schedule!

One
Our first big plan for the weekend is attending the Astronaut Hall of Fame Gala tonight through Stephen's work. We are so excited to get dressed up and have an amazing night at the Space Center! Cocktail hour will be in the Atlantis exhibit (which is amazing) and dinner will be in the Saturn exhibit - I've never seen this one but I've heard it's pretty neat. Stephen stepped up his formal game and even though he won't be dawning a tux, he learned how to tie a bow tie and I must say, he's gotten pretty good at it! Now I can start buying all the adorable bow ties that I obsess over in the stores ;)

Can't wait to put this dress on again tonight!!

Two
The other fun events on the agenda for this weekend are two birthday parties!! Saturday, my co-worker and friend is having her son's first fiesta and then on Sunday we're going to our church friends' girl's 2nd and 4th birthday party. It's going to be an exhausting weekend but we're so looking forward to it! I'm also assuming we'll just be watching LOST all weekend when we aren't out partying ;)

Three
Yesterday after waking up, I randomly started feeling awful back pain in my lower back. I must have done something to my muscles the day before because it was rough. My SIL told me to use a heating pad and take aleve so I dawned my heating pad with stride at work! Thankfully, I didn't have a lot of meetings so I was able to keep heat on it throughout the day. The Aleve really made all the difference! Does anyone else experience this and if so, do you know why?

Four
I ran to TJ Maxx during lunch yesterday to look for a formal clutch for tonight and found this adorable PJ shirt dress. I didn't find a clutch, but I just HAD to have the dress - I mean, how can I pass up a navy cotton dress, with gold pineapples and a bow on the back? I couldn't find it online :(

Five
Yesterday after work, I was able to meet up with my good friend from college (and sorority little) who was in town with her boyfriend! She moved to CO over a year and a half ago and I haven't seen her since she left FL. It was so good to see her again and catch up!! Can't wait to see her again in August when we go to CO!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Confessions

It's been a while since I've done a confession post (since Jessica stopped blogging actually) but today is the perfect day to get it going!!

I confess that...

Our gala is tomorrow and I'm so excited but I completely forgot that I still need to get a formal clutch

I decided to do a "day in the life" post. I was going to do one on Monday but completely forgot until Tuesday morning so I tried yesterday and hopefully it won't be boring

I booked my travel for my Atlanta business trip next month. I was supposed to go every quarter but completely missed Q2...

I finally got some fire under my butt (and time) to start scheduling landscaping companies to come and give us quotes. Hopefully the quotes aren't worse that what I'm thinking they'll be

I had no clue that Publix sold fresh kale - I always thought you had to buy it in the bag and it was always dry and bitter. Our friends made an amazing kale salad at supper club last weekend and that's when my kale world changed for the better. I bought some fresh kale and we've been loving it - I can't taste it in my smoothie anymore either!!

I haven't gotten my hair cut since Christmas.. is that too gross? Usually I get it cut every few months, once it becomes too thick and hard to control. It really hadn't been giving me too many problems and I want to grow it out some so I didn't want to mess with it but lately, it's been SO thick. I'm due for a fresh cut very soon

Happy Thursday! Linking up with Annie.

Weekending

Our Mother's Day weekend with my in-laws was officially a success!! After work on Friday, I dashed home to get some last minute things cleaned and thankfully, Stephen was able to get off work at a descent time! Everyone came over that evening, Stephen grilled some delicious food and I made roasted veggies. Everyone seemed super impressed with Stephen's food (guess they didn't believe all of his bragging ;)) and we had a great time eating outside in the beautiful weather. Our new outdoor table was fantastic and fit everyone comfortably - even Siena had her own little seat at the table :) After dinner, we had cake and presents before Stephen's brother's headed out for the night. His parents stayed the night and we started watching Tomorrowland.

Saturday morning we took our time waking up and I made some cinnamon french toast for breakfast before we headed out to explore with Stephen's parents. Our first stop was at a local farm where they were growing all sorts of fresh food that you can pick - we didn't get anything but we're definitely going to have to go back. Afterwards, we headed over to a neat nursery across the street to look at all of their plants - it's so quaint and we're both going to be re-doing our landscaping at some point so it was fun getting ideas. After the nursery, we grabbed lunch at a local seafood restaurant on the water and then made a stop into Lowes to get a new outdoor fan and carriage light. We're not sure when we'll end up getting those installed but we can't wait to get them up! We were all exhausted so we finished Tomorrowland (such a bad movie!!) and then my in-laws left giving us enough time to get the grill cleaned and for us to get ready for supper club.

This month, we went to our friend's apartment for supper club and we had a great time!! The food was delicious and the company was a blast! We ended up playing hours worth of Nertz and we had so much fun. We didn't leave until after midnight and on our way out, I dropped half our Phase 10 card deck down the stairs. Stephen helped me pick them all up but then proceeded to drop them 2 more times - we were tired lol

Sunday we went to church and then to Publix. After getting home, Stephen mowed the yard while I worked on embroidering a towel... that turned into a multiple hour fiasco because the needle kept breaking. It was a hot mess but I think Stephen fixed it. I swear, every time I use that machine, something always goes wrong!! Too bad I've got a handful more towels to work on this week - hopefully practice makes perfect. After dealing with that, we watched a few episodes of LOST, ate dinner, face-timed with my family and then put the laundry away.

We definitely didn't get to relax as much as we wanted but we had a great weekend! This week is looking like it is going to be pretty crazy again but at least I don't have to get our house ready for guests. I hope everyone had an amazing weekend and all the mamma's out there felt so loved!

Linking up with Biana.

Five on Friday... or not

So I don't have a fun Friday post this week... whomp whomp

My in-laws are are coming in tonight for a Mother's Day cookout and I have to work... an hour away from home so needless to say, I was running around like a mad woman last night and didn't have time to write a post. I'm also praying Stephen gets off work today at a normal time so he can actually do the cooking out - if not, we'll be meatless ;)

Since I didn't have time to write anything, I wanted to use this post to find out if there's anything y'all want to see me write about! I've never asked this question on the blog before (mainly because I feel like no body really cares that much) but I figured why not throw it out there. So, let me know in the comments what you'd like to see over here at Hanging with the Hirsts!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a fantastic Mother's Day! Hopefully we'll survive tonight and get lots of baby hugs from my niece :)

Thoughts for Thursday: Life Lately

Things have been quite busy in the Hirst household the past few weeks. Stephen's been putting in 14+ hours at work on a daily basis now which is hard because we wake up at 5 am because now he's pushing to go to bed around 8:30 pm every night. Tomorrow night, all of Stephen's family is coming over for a Mother's Day cookout so tonight it's all about prepping and cleaning so I have minimal work to do on Friday once I get home from work.

Wearing
After about a month hiatus, I've finally picked back up with embroidery! The other evening, I finally monogrammed my Old Navy v-neck shirt that I snagged during one of their Saturday sales for like $5. My college roommate got all of her bridesmaids monogrammed J Crew V necks to wear while we got ready for her wedding and I'm obsessed with mine so I was dying to make another one. I love how it turned out and I foresee lots more in my future ;) (All ON shirts are up to 50% off this week and the shirt I got is on sale)

Please ignore my super awk selfie and makeup under my eyes...

Reading
Well, I'd be lying if I said I was reading anything more than my daily devotions and blogs... One of my friends lent me her book, For the Love, a few months ago and I really need to start reading it! I've been wanting to pick up a good book but I either forget that I ever had that idea or I end up watching TV with Stephen instead.

Loving
I'm loving how our house is slowly coming together! In some aspects, things came together quicker than I thought and some things slower. We've been there for about 11 months and things are finally feeling complete. There's still a ton of little things we want to do but the big items (inside) are done! Our recent big accomplishments are finishing (for the most part) the living room, dining room and finally getting an outdoor patio table

Wanting
I'm totally on board with the off the shoulder trend that's happening right now. I unfortunately don't have anything to support this new love but I'm eyeing this shirt and waiting for it to go on sale. I've also recently discovered my J crew chino shorts are looking a little too short right now so I need to add a few pairs of shorts to my collection. Old Navy has some adorable printed shorts this season like these, these, these and these. I'm trying to wait until they run their shorts for $12.50 before I snag them.

Watching
Oh gah, I'm sure y'all are all tired of hearing me say this but LOST has consumed our lives right now! We just finished season 2 on Monday and we're waiting until the weekend before we jump into season 3 since we have a lot going on. I know a lot of people say it's not that good later down the road and the ending completely sucks but right now, it's so fantastic!

Eating
We've been eating tacos for dinner this week since there were BOGO kits at Publix and I wanted something easy to make. For our cookout tomorrow, we plan on making pork loin, brats, roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted broccoli, baked brie, Italian grilled tomatoes, grilled garlic with Italian bread and chocolate tres leches bunt cake for dessert. It's going to be a feast!! I also realized I need to make breakfast for Stephen's parents on Saturday but they aren't big breakfast people so I figured I'd make cinnamon french toast since it's so easy and delicious!

Drinking
I've been loving the recipe my mom sent for a blueberry kale detox smoothie. I've been making one every morning for breakfast and it's delicious! I'm still not sure if it's melting the fat since I've only been drinking it for a week. You're also supposed to drink a banana peanut butter smoothie in the afternoon/evening but I haven't had any time to make those. I'll share the recipes in a week or so!

Listening
This might sounds weird but ever since Sophomore year of college, I discovered the best Pandora station ever - film scores. The music is amazing and doesn't have any words so I don't get distracted with singing along in my head. I found this amazing Interstellar medley and I've been listening to it non-stop at work.

Quoting

I totally used the topics from Sydney's weekly lately posts... Linking up with Annie.