Weekend Recap of Mom's Birthday

This past weekend we celebrated my mom's birthday at the Brotherhood winery which is the oldest winery in America. We did a wine tasting and we took a tour and learned facts like, they actually stayed open during the prohibition to make wine for the churches.

At the winery, there was a cute little spot to sit outside and have a glass of wine while we waited to have lunch at the cafe on site. There was also a DJ outside playing music while people could stomp grapes and wine bottles of wine for the amount of juice they produced. 

At the Vinum Cafe, we ordered the most delicious cheese and a charcuterie platter for lunch. We sat outside on the back patio and listened to the cheers of the wedding going on in the distance. It was an amazing lunch with delicious food. 

After lunch, we took a tour underground to see where all of the wine is made and stored. It was fascinating to go in through these almost secret hidden tunnels filled with the product that they sell is made.

 After the tour, we had our tasting and got the chance to choose five wines that we would like to try. We also received oyster crackers to cleanse our pallet and the Brotherhood wine glass. 

After the winery, we headed back home to have dinner at mom's favorite restaurant and had cake to finish it all off!

Happy Birthday, momma!

 

My Favorite Healthy Snack

I try to eat as healthy as I can but sometimes I want a quick snack or even a small sweet treat while dieting this can be a hard task to do. I have recently found protein balls on Pinterest and decided to give them a try, and thank goodness I did because I am OBSESSED. Today I am sharing my favorites which are confetti protein balls. I love these for a mid-morning snack or a late night treat, you have to be careful as a late night snack because they do have protein powder in them.

These protein balls contain:

• 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder
• 1/4 cup of cashew butter
• 1 cup of oat flour
• 1/4 honey
• 2tsp vanilla 
• 2 tbsp milk (may need a little more)
• 2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles 

One hack for these balls is if you don't have oat flour, what I did was bought oats and ground them up very finely in our ninja bullet until it was a flour consistency. Another hack is that the recipe called for agave nectar but I only had honey and it works just the same. 

After you mix all of the ingredients together grab some of the mixtures and roll into small balls this mixture should make about 15 balls. 

Another great thing about these protein balls is that they are only 2 points on weight watchers. 

Taking a Break from Blogging and Why it's Okay

During the month of February, I took one of the longest breaks I think since I first started my blog, (this may not be true but it feels like the longest break ever to me). As some of you may know I am currently working on the last semester of my undergraduate degree. During the fall I had a tough semester which now can't even compare to this semester. I have never been more stressed out then I am with all the work and hurdles of this semester/year. I feel as though there is just one hurdle after the other to jump over in this past month and unfortunately this means that my blog was the last on my list of priorities. This actually broke my heart, I started this year and one of my goals was to throw myself completely into blogging because it is something that I am so passionate about. I'm not sure why I feel so strongly about writing this post this time after a break, maybe its because I'm feeling emotional about changes that are in the near future, or maybe because I had a goal and I didn't succeed with it. I think it's a combination of a bunch of different reasons. Just now as I read this I feel guilty that I'm not working on homework, which is the worst feeling in the world.

I think what I'm trying to say is that it's okay not to succeed on the first time on something. This is something that I'm learning how to cope with. Failing for the first time is OKAY, hell failing on the second and third time is okay too. Putting something on the back burner is okay also when something important needs to come first. BUT you should never forget about your dreams because your dream in life should be and is the most important aspect of your life. I think I read somewhere that Walt Disney was told he wasn't creative enough and a basketball player whose name I cannot remember didn't make his high school basketball team. Whatever your dream is that you want to achieve, never stop working towards it no matter how many breaks you need to take along the way.

So with that being said, I am back from my break and better because of it!