The Anatomy of a Braves Game Attendee

As you can tell from my bio, I am huge fan of the Atlanta Braves. Win or lose, my favorite thing to do in the summer is pack in as many games as I can to support the best darn team in the South! Okay...maybe not the best right now but good fans stick with it! 

There are two things that come into play when I go to a game.

1) I do NOT do hot.

2) It's always hot in the South.

So, after attending too many a game with my thighs sticking to the seats, sweat collecting in a steamy puddle at my feet, and saying "It's hot" about 937567093 times...I finally mastered a few tricks to beat the heat! And being the good southern woman I am, I'm going to share them with you!

The (Unofficial) Anatomy of a Braves Game Attendee

1) Bring a hand towel. Not only do the seats get wicked hot to the touch, skin on plastic does not bode well in 100 degree heat. A hand towel is the perfect size to place on the edge of your seat to protect your legs and you can use it to dab sweat or even wet with water to cool you off! I figured this one out after countless times of stealing peoples shirts to sit on or padding my chair with napkins. Not a hot look.

2) Bring sunscreen. Okay, blog lady, you're not telling me something new here. I know, I know. But bringing sunscreen is worth mentioning because even the one time you forget, you will remember it forever...or at least your crazy tan lines will. I can't count the times I've shared my sunscreen with kids and babies at a game.

3) Wear sunglasses/a hat. Again, nothing new here, but if you forget them, you'll look ridiculous squinting and shielding your eyes for four innings until the sun dips down behind the stadium. I once got crafty and turned a cardboard drink holder into a visor before I got smart.

4) Bring a lightweight bag. Braves games are notorious for sending you home with a bunch of crap you didn't arrive with. Programs, free shirts, bobbleheads, souvenir cups, Dippin' Dots Braves helmets...and all of that is in addition to what you bring. So, I suggest a sturdy drawstring bag that you can easily fit everything into. Sure, you might look like a pack mule but it's worth it on your trek back to the car!

5) Know your clothes. If you know you get mad chub rub when you wear short shorts...don't wear them to a game! If you know it get's hotter than an oven under your dress...now isn't the time to bust out that new maxi dress you bought. Bermuda shorts work great for curvier gals (like myself) and also protect your legs from the hot seat in case you forget tip #1! Also, wearing Braves jerseys to the game over a tank top looks cute, it really does. But those things were not meant to be breathable. I almost always end up draping mine over my chair. So, that's your call.

6) Know your seats. My last tip isn't something you can bring, but something you can do ahead of time. When you're buying your game tickets, try to pick seats that are under one of the stadium overhangs, or as close to behind home plate as possible. Especially for day games, the sun is going to be shining directly onto the outfield seats, as well as the upper level seats that aren't protected by an overhang. If you're not fortunate enough to sit at the club level where you have access to the air conditioned hallway, trust me in being picky about your seat location. It can be the difference between sitting in blatant, miserable heat for half the game or enjoying it from the shade with your $12 souvenir coke.

So, those are the tips I try to go by whenever I attend a Braves game. Is there something I missed? Let me know in the comments!

Harry Potter Silhouette Painting

Happy November Everyone!

I did this painting a bit ago actually but thought, with the holidays coming up, it might be a good gift idea for the special Harry Potter nerd in your life!

I've mentioned before I love DIY's that let me paint...and I may have mentioned I'm ferociously obsessed with my favorite wizarding world. ;) So, this was the perfect blending of my passions and I have to say, I love how it turned out! 

It was pretty simple. I started out by choosing my favorite HP quote that represented what I was going for:

"Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure."

Next, I posed like the muggle I am with my personal wand straight from Ollivander's.

I don't have a picture of this next step, but I printed my muggleshot (get it? muggleshot? mugshot?) and used an exact-o knife to carefully cut out around my silhouette. I then laid it onto the lower corner of my canvas and traced it with a pencil and painted in the silhouette with black paint. Finally, I added some Potter-esque swirls coming out of my wand in what I hope channels a Patronus, and painted on my quote! Ta-da! 

I don't like my handwriting or spacing but I still love it. 

So, do you think you'll be making your own magical silhouette? Comment your painting below - I think this allows for so much creativity and I'd love to see what you come up with!

I bought 2 weeks of groceries while sitting on my couch with Walmart Grocery!

Hi Guys!

Have you heard about Walmart's Grocery option where you can order your groceries online and pick them up at the store for FREE? It's amazing! My roommate and I heard about it and had some questions, but thought "Hey, we'll try it out and if it doesn't work out we won't do it again."

Turns out, this is how we'll be buying our groceries from now on! We already shopped for groceries at Walmart because I believe it's where you can get the most bang for your buck. The downside is I have SUCH a low tolerance for buggy rage, 2 hours of shopping even with a list, or ridiculous check out lines. So, I was quite intrigued by the Walmart Grocery idea. Here's how it went down...

1. We went to the online site: http://grocery.walmart.com

2. Checked our zip code

3. Registered an account

4. Picked our groceries

5. Reserved a time slot

6. And picked them up!

Now, this is where things got impressive. We called the number when we arrived and were promptly greeted by this nice man who gave us our grocery print out and told us to relax in the car!

                                                                                 The print out was nice to have because it showed all of our items, their price, and even showed the temperatures that our groceries were stored in!

When it came to our bread and eggs, he gave them to me up front to hold, also asking us to check that our eggs weren't cracked! Maybe I don't get out much, but this was fancy service to me! 

 

Finally, he explained to us what our substitutions were (something we knew was a possibility), of which there was only one. I ordered a pound of brussel sprouts and they were substituted for a generic brand (PictSweet) of the same amount. I loved that it was clear what was substituted. No guesswork!

 Before we left, we also got a reusable bag of goodies! I was SO impressed by this point! It included a sample of Aveeno shampoo and conditioner, a small bottle of Palmolive dish soap, a goodnessknows bar, and a pamphlet explaining the products! 

The last thing that was a bonus was that our bill ended up costing about $10 less than the online quote. How it works is after you choose all your groceries, they quote you a price for the total. It can vary for two reasons. 1) They might have to substitute one or several items with a different brand or quantity. 2) Some items you can't choose an exact quantity. The first reason I have zero issue with. The second reason was a little weird to me. For example, we wanted 1 lb of beef stew meat. Our only option was to choose 1-3 lbs at $5 a pound. I'm not sure of the process they use to figure out what amount you get, but this was the only product that had this limitation. And because we only got about 1 lb of meat after all, our bill was $10 cheaper than quoted! Nice!

Again, I don't know about you, but this was sooooo much easier than going grocery shopping! We got to sit on our couch and comfortably pick out what we needed, checking recipes with ease for missing ingredients, and all without dodging slow movers, long lines, or buying a bunch of tasty looking crap we don't need. We never even had to get out of the car!

So, all in all, I give Walmart Grocery a 10/10 and will definitely be using this FREE service exclusively for groceries in the future! I highly recommend you give it a shot! I am not being endorsed for this post. All opinions are my own. 

Plexus: Going Pink

PLEXUS. 

I'm sure you've heard about it from someone; a co-worker, avid Facebook group request-maker, friend, etc. The "pink drink" has been popping up everywhere leaving many (including myself) to quickly discount it as just another weight loss fad. Just like ItWorks, or Shakeology, or Advocare, or the million other popular programs lately. So, what do I do when I get invited to a Plexus information party? I attend, get my free sample, take notes, and begin my skeptical journey...

First, let me give you some background on what Plexus is in case you don't know. At its core, Plexus is an all-natural supplement program developed to get your body systems back on track. It is NOT first and foremost a weight loss program. Weight loss has just been an often reported positive outcome of using the program. Its base product is called Triplex (more on that later) with the option of adding in other supplements for weight loss, vitamins, or pain relief.

This concept is what initially led me to go forward with trying it - an easy to use program that makes your system healthy again with great benefits. This is important to me because, having gone through anxiety, depression, and a panic disorder I know just how important it is to help your body maintain homeostasis in all of its systems. If one messes up, so follows the rest. That's the Plexus concept. Boost one thing and you get a domino effect on the rest.

So, I started with Triplex. Triplex consists of Plexus Slim, BioCleanse, and ProBio5. I'll give you the gist of each but going to a Plexus informational meeting is really your best bet for learning the most about the product line. Not endorsing it, just saying it's a LOT of good info!

• Plexus Slim, or the infamous "Pink Drink" is the star of the trio - a pink powder you mix into 12-20 ounces of water and drink 1-3 times a day, ideally before a meal. It's designed to help you lose weight by managing cravings. Again, it's all natural, sweetened with stevia, and is non-thermogenic meaning it doesn't have stimulants that heat the body up to boost weight loss. This is important for me with handling my anxiety because any stressors on my system do not go unnoticed. 
• Next is BioCleanse, a capsule taken to help "energize" your digestive system. Its main ingredient is magnesium, which the body constantly needs for many reasons such as energy production and detoxification. 
• To round out the Triplex, there's ProBio5. As the name suggests, it's a dietary probiotic. Probiotics help with EVERYTHING but mainly keeping a healthy, active gut with good bacteria and enzymes. 

Pre-Plexus: It's important to note my jumping off point here. This is a list of issues I struggle with on a daily basis that I am curious to see if Plexus helps at all. 

-migraines

-sleepiness/no energy

-menstrual/abdominal cramps

-anxiety/depression

-IBS

-acid reflux

-gastritis

-joint pain

Here's my journey so far.

Day 1: I started slow with just the pink drink today. I took it about an hour after waking up and ate about an hour after that. It tasted GREAT! I was weary of the fruity taste being too much on an empty morning stomach - several of my gastro issues force me to be very careful with my morning choices. It was great tasting and I enjoyed sipping until it was gone. No aftertaste. I had no notable differences today.

Day 2: I drank Slim about 45 minutes before eating breakfast. Again, I didn't notice any particular differences today. Something to note is I had terrible acid reflux on Day 1, so it overshadowed most of my senses.

Day 3-4: I took a break because I ended up getting very sick from my GERD. Drinking liquids on an empty stomach makes it much worse so I took a break these days.

Day 5: I skipped Slim again today but introduced one ProBio5 after lunch. 

Day 6-8: In all honesty, I just fell off the bandwagon these three days. I took a Plexus hiatus because I just plum forgot.

Day 9: Back to Slim! I drank the slim with my breakfast today instead of half an hour prior and it made a huge difference by not drinking it on an empty stomach.

Day 10-20: Big chunk of time there, I know! But what's good is that I went full on Plexus Triplex nuts for the past week and a half. I bought a cheap pill organizer and put one BioCleanse in the AM and one ProBio5 in the PM. Every morning, I drink a packet of slim with breakfast and take a BioCleanse. At night, I take a ProBio5. I understand this is different from the suggested use but it works best for my memory and stomach issues. BUT WAIT...HERE'S THE THINGS I'VE NOTICED THIS WEEK!!!!

1. I am falling asleep sooner, quicker, and easier. Let me preface this by saying sleep has NEVER in my life come easy to me. Ever. Perhaps as an infant, but that ended as soon as I left diapers. Which makes me want to believe that Plexus is helping me use more energy efficiently during the day and regulating my system so that when it comes time for bed, I'm now ready to sleep by 9 or 10 (before it was 1 or 2 am!) and I no longer lay in bed for hours-I drift right to sleep. I will say that my quality of sleep hasn't changed much yet but I'm hoping to see improvement here as well.

2. I'm starting to have less cravings!!! I've noticed that I'm not as hungry as often as I normally am. When I eat, I get full before finishing my entire meal whereas I would normally eat everything on my plate. I'm not sure I can say my sweet tooth has gone down, but more important to me is that how often I find myself wanting to eat has gone down. It's not as much of a thought anymore! How great is it to not always be thinking about when you're going to eat next?!

3. I'm starting to have more consistent bowel movements. Yes...I'm talking to you about poop. But Plexus might as well be synonymous with poop because so many of us suffer from bad guts that healthy pooping is often a top benefit from doing Plexus! So, with my myriad of gastro issues, I've been all over the place but mostly, I have VERY frequent BM's that are mainly diarrhea or non-solid. (Yuck, right? But hang in there, there's worse things in life than crap!) Over this week, my number of trips to the bathroom have gone down I'd say by about half, and about half or more of those movements have been solid! Hooray for healthy pooping! It's cause for celebration in my house.

I have to say I haven't experienced any negative side effects yet. Change is slowly coming about, but in a positive direction so I intend to keep up with my daily regime and make changes as needed. A huge disclaimer is that I am not being endorsed to make this post-this is all my personal experience and honest opinions. I obviously have an issue with consistency so your starting experience might be even better! So hopefully, this answers some questions you might have and gives you an insight on a completely normal person's experience with starting Plexus. I'll continue to post updates on my journey and we'll see where it takes me!