My husband and I are currently eating no grains, dairy, legumes, sugar (real or fake) or alcohol so our cart is filled with fruits, veggies and lean meat. Right now we couldn’t live without almonds and raspberries. I could eat a whole pint of berries in one sitting. I am also always buying goat’s milk for my two-year old son (he’s sensitive to cow’s milk).
2. What are you reading (honestly)?
I’m currently reading Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run by Kristin Armstrong. It is a compilation of her blog entries written for “Runner’s World” magazine. They are great little bits of motivation since she too is a busy mom who loves running, like me.
3. What is your guilty pleasure when you get a break from the kids?
My husband and I like to take the boat out and go fishing. We don’t get to do that much when we take both the boys since they are so young. I also enjoy dinner and drinks with my great mom friends.
4. What would we be surprised to find in your purse?
Actually, I feel like my purse is a cliche for the stay at home mom. I’m not sure any particular item is shocking. Maybe the sheer volume would be a surprise. My husband is a chiropractor and definitely doesn’t approve of my heavy bag. But I need everything in there!
5. What is your favorite reality TV show?
I LOVE the Real Housewives of New York and Beverly Hills (but I will watch them all), Flipping Out and The Amazing Race. I would love to be on that show.
6. What is your cocktail of choice?
Right now I’m not drinking so my exciting beverage of choice is coconut soda water. When I do drink I love a good margarita or Chimay (a dark Belgian ale).
7. What is the funniest thing your kids have said or done lately?
Wyland, 2, has just really started talking a bunch and a lot of what he says, or how he says it, is super-cute. No matter how many times we correct him, he insists on calling his grandmother (my mom) Nano instead of Nana, which I think is adorable!
8. What is your favorite quotation?
“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”
- Ellen Parr
9. What are the top songs on your iPod playlist right now?
I really enjoy running without my iPod since life with a two-year old and a baby can be loud and chaotic. But when I do get a chance to listen to my music (instead of kid’s music) I love anything by the Avett Brothers or Vampire Weekend.
10. Who is your favorite celebrity mom and why?
I really like Bethenney Frankel. She seems very hands on with her daughter, Bryn, while being a savvy businesswoman. She is sensible about diet and fitness. I understand that her personality isn’t for everyone, but I find her brutal honesty hysterical.
11. What is one thing most people don’t know about you?
I consider myself to be shy and get really nervous when I have to speak in public. My husband is outgoing and very involved in our community. I think the people who know us just assume that it comes naturally for both of us. Since I’ve had kids I’ve really made a concerted effort to overcome this by getting involved in various groups, events and committees in town.
12. What is your secret to staying Hot & Healthy?
I giggle every time I think of myself as a “hot” mom but I am definitely proud as well. I always told myself that when I had kids I wouldn’t be one of those women that let everything go. It’s like when you’re in an airplane and they give you the safety schpeel. They always say to put your oxygen mask on and then assist others. I also believe this is true with a family. You can’t truly take care your children if you don’t take care of yourself. I believe it sets a good example for my kids.
Goal setting is also very important for me. Shortly after I had Sawyer, I signed up for my first half marathon. I’d never really been a runner before, but having committed to this event made me get out and run. Now it is something I love doing. My two-year old knows when I put on my workout clothes, Mommy’s going running. Not only is it great for the body, but running gives me time to decompress, which is great for the mind!
I also think to be “Hot & Health” you need a support system. Mine begins with my husband. Not only is he always telling me I’m hot (with a slight eye roll from me). He keeps me on track. If it’s been a hard day, and I don’t feel like running, he will always remind me that I should go. And he brings the boys to most of my races to cheer me on, which is awesome. It always pumps me up!
America is horrified and fascinated by your story but don’t get confused by this attention; America pretty much hates you and I am willing to bet, young moms hate you most.
Living only a few hours from you, I began following your story in 2008 when your beautiful child went missing and I had a newborn. I projected onto you how I would feel if my new daughter were missing. The thought made my stomach hurt yet I stayed glued to the set.
When they found your daughter’s body in a trash bag in the woods with tape over her mouth, my daughter was a still-screaming-non-stop-7-month-old. I thought about you. I wondered if you lost your shit. I wanted to lose my shit too. I was angry that my baby was so hard while others’ seemed easy. I was anxious and worried about crazy things like giant snakes getting into my house and biting my baby while she slept. My sleep deprivation fueled some dark post-partum thoughts, too horrible to write here. But I put my child first; I didn’t allow myself to entertain these thoughts.
I asked for help, something you had in abundance. How blessed to have your parents, not only involved, but willing to house you and help you in any way they could.
I wondered if you were too young to understand the unspoken maternal code that we protect against all costs. This means that there is no more “you” as you existed before. Moms mourn that loss of self and move forward through packing lunches and nighttime routines and potty training and kissing boo boos. This means that playing drinking games with tatted college dropout types while wrapped in an American flag is not an activity you get to do anymore. Pretty much every action that made you a reckless 20-something girl is out and the Mom order is in. In even shorter terms- suck it up and be effing responsible for the child you created. Even when you don’t want to. Even when you are careening on the edge of your own sanity. Even when it is no damned fun. Even when you are still a girl yourself.
Do what all the moms do. Pop a Xanax. Have a cigarette. Pour yourself a glass of wine and call your friend. Give yourself a Time Out before the unspeakable can be entertained.
Despite your new upswept ponytail and your pastel button down tops, we cannot get out of our heads the pictures of you partying while your daughter was missing. Whatever the jury comes back with, we moms have already found you guilty. Guilty of putting yourself before your innocent child.
whipped cream (store-bought or homemade
Preparation
Wash, hull, and core strawberries (a melon scoop works nicely). Make sure to find large strawberries to use to make it easier.
Fill each strawberry with whipped cream
Top with washed blueberries and serve immediately.
Tip: These are best served right away since the whipped cream will melt. If making for later, prepare fruit and then fill with whipped cream just before serving. You can try refrigerating these for a short time before serving to keep cool too.
Watermelon Stars on a Stick
Not that these need much instruction but just in case…
Ingredients
Watermelon
Popsicle sticks
Star-shaped cookie cutter
Preparation
Use a cookie cutter to cut juicy star shapes from 1-inch-thick slices of seedless watermelon.
Insert a Popsicle stick into each star, then set the pops on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.
Cover the stars with another sheet of foil and freeze for 1 hour or until firm.
Patriotic Strawberries
Ingredients
12 ounces white chocolate chips
Strawberries
Blue sugar or edible glitter
Preparation
Melt 12 ounces of white chocolate chips in a microwave according to the package directions (make sure the container and the berries are dry; even a little moisture will alter the texture of the candy).
One at a time, dip strawberries into the chocolate and then into blue sugar or edible glitter.
Set them to harden on waxed paper.
Makes 35 to 45 decorated berries.
Berry Ricotta Crostini
*Personal Favorite -LOVE, LOVE the ricotta*
Ingredients
Ricotta Cheese
Bread
Fresh or Frozen Mixed Berries (any combination of blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries will do)
Orange Juice
Vanilla
Preparation
Toast the bread as desired.
Mix 1/4 tsp of vanilla into ricotta
Spread a layer of the ricotta mixture on the bread.
Meanwhile microwave mixed berries with a splash of orange juice for 30-45 seconds. You can use fresh or frozen berries.
Pour the sauce on top of the ricotta and then add the excess berries.
Fruit Flag
The kids will want to help with this one. Trust me. Just watch them with the skewers. No one wants to spend the holiday in the emergency room. Save the accidents for the sparklers later in the evening.
Ingredients
Wooden skewers – 7 or 8 for each flag
Strawberries – about 10 small strawberries for each flag
Blueberries – about 20 for each flag
Bananas – 2 medium bananas for each flag
Lemon juice (add to banana slices to prevent browning)
Preparation
1. Begin by creating the stars by threading about 5 blueberries onto a skewer. Slide the blueberries to the (non-pointy) end of the skewer. Repeat this for three more skewers.
2. Take each blueberry skewer and create four ‘stripes’ by adding one banana slice (lengthwise), one strawberry slice, one banana, and one strawberry. Repeat for each of the four blueberry skewers.
3. Create three more skewers of stripes by adding a strawberry first, then alternating bananas and strawberries until you have seven stripes total.
On a plate, arrange the skewers to create the flag. And there you have it.
Once a week there is a nighttime knock on my door, followed by an exchange of quizzical looks between my husband and me, and then I sprint to the door to mouth to the tall, familiar man on my doorstep, “My husband is home. Come back later”.
Thank God my UPS man just gets me.
The hiding of packages and bags is an art form bestowed upon me by my mother, the fashionable and well-shopped Donna Diva who knew all her UPS men on a first-name basis. My mom fondly retells her first mail-order story from the 1960’s when she was a sixth grader longing for a contraption that held up her school knee socks. (Catholic school girls have limited self-expression by day). From there she was hooked on mail-order shopping and I followed suit. When I was in high school, our nighttime routine involved perusing catalogues in bed together. From J.Crew to VSC to Boston Proper and the one with a romantic story per garment; we loved to browse for ideas to recreate looks.
My mom had many secret shopping skills. She left bags in her trunk until the coast was clear to transfer. She had packages delivered to work. She learned from a savvy neighbor how to do the charge/send while traveling so your husband wouldn’t ever see your purchases and the item comes conveniently to your house after you’re settled back in. Genius. Call it financial infidelity or fun, most women I know employ sneaky tricks to avoid Husband Tweakage.
As my mom kicked plastic bags under her bed at the sound of the garage door going up, my mail order habit grew and I learned to track down any item in Vogue that I desired. I still have a pair of Anne Klein kitten heels with laser cut pink and red leather flowers that I ordered from New York as soon as I could save my Steinmart paychecks to cover the price tag.
Then two things happened to my shopping life that altered it forever. The internet was born and one could shop 24 hours a day in their pajamas and, I married my sweet and fiscally-conservative high school friend who majored in Finance. Of course he was madly charmed by me, but not as in love with my spending habits, so the packages moved to my car trunk. That was over a decade ago.
I have learned to budget, but I still consider shopping online my fave sport, even if it is only vitamins or kid’s crap or sale stuff. Occasionally something fun for me creeps into my online shopping cart like make-up.
The reward that online ordering offers is the ultimate Pleasure Delay. How boring to shop at a mall when the transaction is quickly finished and the shopping high swashed. From the click of the Place Order button until the goods arrive at my house, I wait with anticipation for the beautiful sound of the UPS truck brakes screeching before my house. Then I slice open. And sample. And bask. In total privacy. I love to shop alone, without my dear husband lurking for the price tags.
Family folklore has it that my mother later divorced over an argument involving her purchase of $500 red leather boots. I choose a different path. If I can’t have Carrie Bradshaw’s closet and Mr. Big then I am more interested in staying married to my man. That doesn’t mean however, that I have to totally stop seeing my UPS man.