Friday Faves
Hi friends! HAPPY FRI-YAY! Thank you so much for all of the wonderful comments on this morningโs tattoo post. Iโm so happy so many of you like the design, too. I love love loveeeeeee it. Itโs a lot less sore today, and continuing to heal well. That fact does not make me think I want another one. One tattoo, and weโre done here haha.
Time to start the weekly Friday Faves party! Itโs always fun to share what Iโm reading, wearing, eating and loving each week, and I always enjoy hearing about your faves, too. Please shout them out in the comments if youโd like to join in!
A major one for this week: we officially started venturing into solids with miss P. During her pediatrician appointment on Monday, I mentioned that sheโs been trying to eat our food off the table. Sheโll grab a plate with both hands and try to bring it to her mouth, and is notorious for making a quick dash at my morning egg burrito tortilla. The ped said to offer it to her if she seems interested, since sheโs 5 1/2 months and a bigger baby. I made her some pureed gluten-free oats with steamed apple.
(Here’s a baby food post and another one! Iโll be creating some new ones, too.)
She LOVES it. She only has a handful of bites as a snack in between her second bottle and nap, but is really starting to get the hang of it. Sheโll face dive into the spoon, mouth wide open. Itโs the best. Iโm going to offer foods very slowly since sheโs MSPI, just to make sure she doesnโt react to anything. Iโm already wondering if the apple is a little too acidic, so Iโm going to tone it down in the oats for next week. Next, weโre going to do sweet potato!
Skype with Brittany! I ran a sneaky Post Baby Bod giveaway, and Brittany won a copy of the plan plus a free Skype training consultation with me. I had so much fun chatting with her, and was able to talk about her goals, current routine, and do some movement assessment. I sent her a weekly custom workout plan based on our talk and her movement assessment. It was so much fun, and Iโm hoping to do more of these in the future on a limited basis.
(so beautiful!)
These wedges. Iโve been wanting a pair of Valentinos for a long time, but always balked at the price. Many of the heeled styles just donโt seem realistic for my life -even though they are so pretty for date nights and special occasions- but I love how these wedges are casual enough for more regular wear. Plus, I love wedges! Itโs nice to have some extra height without tottering around like a baby giraffe.
This candle! Rewind candles are still my #1 candle love (which says a lot). Iโve been burning the Rose, and it smells heavenly. These candles are fragrant without being overbearing and last so much longer than many of the other brands Iโve tried.
An amazing post from my friend Julie. Loved all of the insightful and honest comments, too! Fellow mamas, check it out.
Saffron. Betsy introduced me to this (she knows all the good spots in SD) and Iโm obsessed. Itโs super healthy Thai food. This is the โbrain foodโ which was kale, chicken and sweet potato with spices like ginger and turmeric. I could eat this for lunch every day!
Speaking of lunch, weโve had lots of kale salads lately. The almond butter dressing in this post is my jam.
(This kale Caesar looks bomb dot com)
A good reminder to stop comparing and do what you love.
Liv and I made some awesome blueberry muffins the other day. I wish I would have written down the recipe because they were on the fly and ended up SO good.
YES!! So excited for my friend Anne and this program on intuitive eating.
An awesome collection of high-intensity workouts.
Special thanks to my friends at Paul Mitchell for the goodies. Iโm a huge fan of their products (love that they are cruelty-free and do not contain parabens) — the lemon sage scent smells gorgeous.
The Pilot is home! He was gone this week for work, so it was amazing having madre here since I was still recovering. We miss her already! Always happy to have our favorite guy home. <3
Not really a fave: you guys wonโt believe this (or maybe you will), but it looks like another surgery is in the near future. This is for my thumb. Since I accidentally cut it with the steak knife a year and a half ago -word to the word: use a spatula, NOT A KNIFE to get bread out of a pan- it has been numb and hurting. If I touch the scar, pain shoots down my hand, and the numbness has not improved. When it first happened, a few doctors passed me around and said it would get better, but itโs remained the same. I figured Iโd see a neurologist because I wanted to ask if the pain would remain the same or get worse over time. He took one look at it, knew exactly where the numbness and pain was located, and said he could absolutely fix it. Apparently since the nerve was completely severed, itโs trying to grow back together and bundling in the process, which is where the pain is coming from. He can put nerves in the gap so they have somewhere to grow. Pretty incredible, right? Since I canโt work out anyway, weโre just going to get it over with. Iโm excited to be able to hold a dumbbell normally again! (Right now, I have to usually โclawโ them with my left hand since pressure on the spot causes pain.) This is all Iโll probably write about this until after itโs over because I donโt want the blog to transform into Ginaโs year of random medical blah haha.
This interview with my favorite chef.
Happy happy Friday!
xoxo
Gina
I’ve been looking for a cute pair of espadrille wedges too, and loved the ones you chose–until I saw the price. Nearly $1000?!? Geeez. I could NEVER love a shoe that much.
right?! it blows my mind when i see girls with multiple pairs. i mean if you can do it, go for it, but that’s WAY more than i usually pay for shoes. if i get a pair, it will be one pair, and i’ll wear them forever haha
Gina, I totally had sticker shock when I saw that price, but if ya’ll can do it… because it’d be a nice reward for Gina’s medical year of blah, maybe? I hope the thumb repair goes well, and good job being proactive about all this.
thank you, friend. i mentioned them to tom a while ago and he said to go for it with everything that’s been going on. material things aren’t the answer… but they sure can make you feel better sometimes ๐
Absolutely true. I have some Le Creuset pieces in my kitchen that agree with you. ๐
You won’t! I made the horrible mistake of splurging on rope espadrilles…that material just doesn’t stand the test of time. They ended up looking frayed, dingy and ratty after two seasons of regular wear. Sadly do not recommend ๐
no way! wow, good to know
I would love to hear more about baby food making! So far I’ve been using half and half homemade and the organic pouches.
i love making baby food so i’ll definitely post more about it! xoxo
Little one’s first food venture is always so exciting. My girl’s first food was broccoli and I was terrified haha. Glad it went well.
Hi Gina! Completely off topic from this post but I saw one your posts about Olivia being in dance and you should get her on the ice especially while you’re living in SD! I was a figure skater for 10 years and can’t recommend it enough. Plus there are multiple rinks in the SD area and she’s the perfect age! ๐
that is a great idea! it would definitely be a fun thing to do before we move, too
Wow I hope everything goes well with surgery on your hand. Awesome you found someone who could solve the problem. Don’t feel bad about talking about it, it makes you seem normal (which of course you are). Love your tattoo and P is getting so big and cute! Glad she is coping well with solids!
yeah it was so crazy. i had zero intention of talking to him about operating (i just wanted to see if it would be hurting worse and dangling there when i’m old) and he was like “when do you want to get this fixed?” it’s pretty incredible since so many other doctors told me to essentially deal with it. it’s just a thumb, but man, it’s been bothering me for a long time
hope you have a great weekend!
good luck with your surgery! i think its interesting if you write about it and how you recover from it. i love that you talk about real issues and events in your life!
thank you! the good news is that the surgery said recovery should be fairly easy since it’s not muscular, it’s just nerve related. he’s going to put graft nerves where they’re severed and i’ll wear a split on my hand for a couple of weeks and then it comes off and i can use it again NBD. so hopefully that’s the case! i’m actually really excited. he said it should be “easy” compared to the surgery i just went through, and it will be so cool to have feeling (and no pain!) in my thumb again
I need to try that salad dressing! And I’m sorry about your thumb ๐
Gina, is it ok if I ask you a question about your dogs? I just adopted my second. She has a slight physical disibility (well…she’s missing a leg) and is a little fearful. I seem to recall reading you had some fear issues with your second girl, the cavalier? So you usually walk your little white fluffy girl alone.
How does that work? Is the little Cavalier jealous that she’d left home or is it ok? I just feel so guilty but I know the new girlie can’t keep up with my crazy boy and that she’s going to have to stay home alone for our long walks. I know she’ll be happier but…you know. I’m human and have mom guilt ha! Any advice?
Ah I’m sorry about the surgery! My dad severed a nerve in his finger probably close to 10 years ago and had lost sensation in his thumb because of it and had some associated pain. He had surgery done and I’m pretty sure it’s either fully or close to completely normal after his nerve reattachment. I hope this at least a little assuring!
Surgery AGAIN?! You poor thing! But if you’re already on a required break from working out, now should be the best time. Plus, you don’t want to be in pain, of course!
Hey.
Sorry about the surgery! and your thumb.
Would be interesting to hear from you about the recovery. I like how to share your real life stories.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks,
Emily
Sorry about your thumb.. Iโm happy it wasnโt muscular and is going to be a easy recovery. About a year ago I broke my arm and it took most of the feeling out my fingers from the damage. It took quite a while, but after a while Iโve got most of my feeling back. I hope your recovery was excellent as well. I just stumbled upon this blog, and am happy i did, i am definitely going to be a new reader! Thank you for sharing your post.