Happy March, friends! I mentioned in this post that I’d be taking the entire month of February off of social media and explained why. I had this nagging desire for a while but it felt equal parts irresponsible and selfish for some reason. As much as I tried to ignore it, that conviction wouldn’t go away so I decided it was must be necessary. Reflecting back on the beautiful month of February, that word “necessary” doesn’t even come close. I do have to say, it felt strange not posting little snippets to stories every day so it’s time for a proper catch-up. Here’s what I’ve been reading, eating, watching, enjoying, wearing and doing this past month! 

Listening to: I’ve shared my top 10 favorite podcasts before, but I have so many others I regularly listen to and enjoy. Here are a few podcast episodes I listened to this month that really stood out:

Risen Motherhood Episode 118: Gray areas- Personal Conscience in Motherhood

The Messy Table Episode 5: Fearless Moms + Strong-Willed Children. “Typically with a strong willed blessing, the most important thing we can teach them is authority. You may not agree with me, but you must obey me…we are to help set them up for their relationship with their Heavenly Father. There will be times they don’t understand what God is saying or why He’s saying it but their responsibility is to trust and obey. We’re the first opportunity our children have is to trust and obey authority. I have a strong willed blessing. A really, really strong willed blessing. This episode was encouraging and so timely.

Don’t Mom Alone Episode 234: Habits of a Healthy Marriage with Paul David Tripp

Knowing Faith Podcast: Episode 29 ‘Can Kids be Theologians?’ and Episode #30 How to Read the Bible. (I have such great respect for these three and have listened to every episode from the start. I can’t recommend it highly enough!)

Online Marketing Made Easy Episode 250: The Step by Step Process to Create a 3 Month Content Calendar

I have many more. Many! But i’ll leave it here. If you’re curious about more of my favorite podcast episodes, leave a comment here or on social media and I’ll put something together!

Eating: If you’re new here, I ate a plant based diet for 16 months until I began working with a nutritionist to heal my body. Friends…last month, I started eating meat. If you’ve been here since the beginning you may have just gasped and trust me, it was a shock to me too! My nutritionist made a strong case for the fact that I need to diversify my protein intake. I’ve eaten turkey and fish throughout the whole month and last week finally was able to stomach beef (one and done but I’m staying open to it.) I don’t think I’ll be able to eat chicken again to be honest but I’m more than content with these three thus far. I still eating to get my thyroid numbers in a thriving place so I haven’t touched dairy, grains, gluten or legumes in months upon months but one thing I did get the green light for in December was unrefined sugar. Elated, I began eating some form of natural sugar (maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar, dates…) every day and at the end of the month, found myself in a giant flare up. It was time to cut the sugar again until my body can heal some more. I have a few more weeks on the protocol for gut healing so things like onions, kale, pineapple, tapioca/cassava, tomato and banana are still off the table for me.

Eating this way calls for tons of cooking since pretty much anything in a box or bag is not possible right now. I was feeling sad and overwhelmed but after much prayer, I’ve shifted perspective to be so grateful the Lord has given me a love for cooking, a passion for taking care of myself and my family and the insight to my health to know the things I want to eat are hurting me, not helping me. It’s such a gift. A whole post dedicated to this is coming soon!

I discovered Downshiftology in the midst of this flare up and found her content to be immensely helpful. She has 4 autoimmune diseases and thrives by living a healthy, active lifestyle and heals her body with food. Her recipes are delicious and her YouTube videos are super helpful (and addictive!).

I’ve also started having a smoothie following Kelly LeVeque’s Fab 4 Smoothie system (fiber, protein, greens, fat) for breakfast nearly every morning and am loving it. If I’m on the go, I’ve been pouring it in my giant Yeti tumblr (which has been a game changer for me..more on that later) since it keeps it nice and cold. When I’m ready to drink it, I stick a stainless steel straw in it and I’m good to go!

Watching: Top Chef! I’ve been a Top Chef fan since the start and I went back to season 13 and have been watching from that point on these past few months. I can’t tell you how happy this show makes me!!! It’s on Hulu if you want to watch too. I also find myself watching Cheers on Netflix and will often put on a clip of Nigella Lawson on the weekends. Did anyone else grow up watching her cook? This show carries such a sense of nostalgia for me and finding the four hour mashup of it on YouTube last year felt like winning the lottery.

Wearing: I brought a bit of a capsule wardrobe to Memphis since we’re only here for a few months. Let’s just say that my selected wardrobe was extremely optimistic. I brought plenty of things for the April portion of our stay and pretty much overlooked the full blown winter portion of our time here. Rookie mistake. I’ve lived in my giant coat, rain boots and my favorite jeans so nothing too exciting here. I’ve been eyeing my Warm Weather Shop all month and adding to it weekly because the few days of sun we have gotten make me SO excited for Spring! I did just get get these sunglasses for my birthday because I was in the market for a tortoise pair and at under $70 they look triple the price. Lat week, I spotted them on the Royal Highness Meghan Markle herself and it made them even more lovely. The shoes in the above photo got lots of questions this past weekend-was I freezing? Sure. Are they worth it? Absolutely.

OH! I finally found the most flattering swimsuit bottoms of all time. If you, like me, have had a baby or two and no matter how flat your stomach actually is, you have a fun little skin pouch happening around your belly button then these are your best friend. The back has good coverage (never happens) they don’t cost more than $70 (sadly lately also never happens) and they survived the mirror test. Win! They’ve since sold out on Anthropologie’s website but I found them here!

Reading: Good & Angry. My friend Hunter recommended this and when I asked for her thoughts on it she said it’s an essential. The tagline for this book is “Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining, and Bitterness. Yes please. I’ve been pushing my sleeves up and really digging into why I’ve struggled with anger in motherhood. I opened up completely on the topic during my MamaWell takeover which you can find under the saved Highlight ‘Jill. A’ right here.  It’s not a fluffy book to make you feel better, it’s a nitty gritty, get-to-work type of book which I love.

What are you listening to, reading, eating and wearing lately? I’d love to know!