Goals Goals Goals

It's the very last day of January 2019 and I wanted to document the month.

I am going to say that I worked VERY hard to crush some goals this month. The week before 2019 I decided I was going to write down some goals and then accomplish small goals each month. January was a VERY successful month.

1. Whole 30.
Done and done. I completed a very successful round of Whole 30. I feel amazing. I've even made a new friend in this journey! If you have not read, It Starts With Food... get it! Now!

2. Cook ALLLLLL the meals at home. (Go out to eat as a family less than 5 times in the entire month.) Done and done. 3 meals a day, every single day... cooked at home. If I am being honest, we only had two or three meals that were repeated. I should also be honest and say that this is the goal I am most proud of completing. It was a family goal. We LOVE going out to eat on the weekends. Not to mention I am one tired mama during the week, and would love to let Publix cook for me... but we did not let this stop us. We cooked so many amazing meals at home each day. It was super awesome to complete this goal. (Would anyone read a post on the top 4 kitchen gadgets I couldn't live without? I feel like I need to share this.)

3. Join a small group at church.
Done! Mondays are going to be my  new favorite!

4. Attend the membership class at church.
Done and done. This was a huge step for Coach. Southside has always been home. I am super proud of us for taking that huge step. It may not seem big.. but to us... it was!

January was packed! I'm not even going to try to hide the fact that I am super proud of what all we accomplished this month! Here are a few more small unplanned victories:

• Met the Cray Family for dinner at the half way mark. We need to do this monthly.  
  
• Read 4 books. (2 in one week while we were still on break...) 
• Went to a parenting/ marriage class with a mama bestie. It was until 10pm on a school night... big time! 
• Got monthly pictures of Calla. 
  
• Ran every day for 31 days. (Does this need a whole post of its own?) This was NOT a goal I set for January. It kinda just started... and I couldn't stop. Will I run every day in February? This has yet to be determined. 
• Submitted my attendance every morning on time. Hahahahaha.... I'm telling ya... crushin it! 

Quick and Easy Shrimp Dinner

It's Friday night. I deserve two awards.
The first award is for cooking on a Friday. Who am I?
The second award is for cooking a dinner and blogging about it in the same night.


I finally did it. I finally made the perfect shrimp scampi dish that was absolutely amazing... and Whole30 approved. (If you are not worried about Whole30, most of the time I am not either. But it does help when trying to pick super clean and healthy family dinners.)

I got the idea from the Whole30 slow cooker cookbook. I just can't decide if I am ready for shrimp in the crockpot. Plus, shrimp take two minutes to cook, so I don't see the need. So I made my own twist, and I think it was much better. I still love that book... and totally recommend it! 

I apologize for the iPhone pictures. I really did not expect this to be such a hit. But it soooo was. Set your clocks for 13 minutes, because that is what it takes to make this amazing dinner. I should also say that I am NOT one to measure things when I am cooking. I'm just not that type... but I will try. (For you 1s that need a plan.) 

What you will need: 
2 pounds of shrimp
2 zucchini
1 cup of mushrooms
Ghee
Garlic (fresh)
Garlic powder
Parsley
1/2 lemon


Here we go:
Thaw 2 pounds of frozen shrimp. (Or buy them from Publix when they are having a sale.)

Spiralize 2 zucchini. Top them with a paper towel while you cook the shrimp.
In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of ghee.
When ghee is hot, throw in your shrimp.
Add 3 cloves of garlic.
Cover the shrimp with garlic powder.
Stir for 3-4 minutes until the shrimp is pink. (Took me years to learn this... don't over cook the shrimp)
Remove the shrimp and juice from the hot pan.
Heat another tablespoon of ghee.
When the pan is hot, add your zucchini and a cup of mushrooms.
Add two cloves of minced garlic.
Stir for 3 minutes to make soft and cook the mushrooms.
When the veggies are soft, add the shrimp back to the pan.
Stir for one minute to mix.
Top with parsley and the juice of half of a lemon.

I promise. So good. So so good. If you have someone in your house that looks at you like you are cray when you put some zucchini noodles on a plate, you can serve them this dish with noodles. Totally works too..... here is proof of that! Ha!

Love love,
C^2

Blowing the Dust Off of the Blog

• New House 
• New School (For all three of us) 
• New Church 
• New Team
• New Friends 
• New Routine

Lots of NEW in the Cain House. I think we have a pretty good groove going... finally. I think it is time to schedule posts again. 

Until then...

We had our very first successful visit with Santa.... 

Love love, 

C2 

CainLife

There is seriously a long  list of blog topics in the notes app on my phone. Ideas that come to me at 2am, or on a long run, or when I am driving to and from the football field. Then life happens and a blog doesn't happen.

But it really is my absolute favorite.

So today... on the 17th of September... I'm blowing the dust off of the blog and dumping my photos from life over the last few months.

First of all... it is football season. On our 11th year of being Brandon and Carley... It came to me: Somehow this amazing love of my life has managed to take my one day of the week that isn't football related... and make it football related as we cheer for our Dawgs together. Somehow he has managed to make Day Dates in the fall: Football games. How? (Not mad at all about it really.)

I also remember Callahan being a tiny baby and being stressed to take her to a game. I thought it was a ton of work. You know... when she would just lay in my arms or sleep in her seat. Yeah, so much work. ha. ha. ha.

Now we wake up on Fridays yelling GAMEDAY!!!! GAMEDAY!!!! We live for our Fridays at the stadium. Twenty minutes of running on the field is worth the all week long wait.

My new school. It has my whole entire heart.  I could write an entire post on how super amazing life is at my new school. I'll just leave it at this: My class, my team, my family.... just the perfect mixture of perfection.

Although we are still in a crib... with zero intentions of moving out of it... We are happy to say we are 80% potty trained.

We are also fully obsessed with all things "ballerina school."

Speaking of obsessed... Daddy is out favorite person. I agree.

The Cain Weims are still just living the dream.....

And then there is the stuff that makes this all possible: Spark. Ha.
Kidding.
No I'm serious.

All is well over here in the CainLife.

Love love,
C^2

Go Fish.

Ya know how Calla Cain's life is pretty much centered around football season? It's all she knows. She goes to games. Daddy is a coach. Daddy watches film. Daddy yells at the TV. Friday night he is on the field, Saturdays are for the Dawgs. Daddy loves football. It is life in the CainHouse. 

(Did you know in our vows we said, "For wins or for losses" Rather than, "For better or for worse.") 

Well.... for me, when I was little: It was all about fishing. My dad fishes. He is all about fishing. Saturdays are for fishing. We went camping... to fish. I did Father Daughter fishing trips. It's what I knew. 

Then I became an adult. I honestly haven't fished in probably twenty years. Not because I hate it... I just don't. We break down defenses in this house. We grade film. We go to football games. 

I was talking to someone in town one day about how I love our new town, but I missed the perks of ATL living: The Zoo. It was truly our favorite way to spend a morning. We never got tired of it. They said, "Oh, she will love the Go Fish Center!" I did a quick search and KNEW we had to visit. 

My parents came to visit one weekend and I knew it was the perfect time. 

We went on a Saturday morning and there were maybe 10 people visiting. It was super clean, very nice, and the perfect mixture of inside and outside. Plus... it was less than $10. 

Inside you can "catch" a fresh water fish....

 or go deep sea fishing. 

This made me laugh until I was crying. I love him. 

You can practice

your boat driving skills... 

Outside you can visit all of the different types of ecosystems you will find in Georgia. Calla was in love. 

Then you can spend the rest of the afternoon (or thirty minutes if you're 2) outside fishing at the catch and release pond. 

You fish with hotdogs... and the fish are really good at just stealing your bait. Either that or I am a little rusty on setting the hook. 

Then it happened.... she caught one! Her very first fish! When I asked her what she thought... she said... "EW! It's disgusting." (Eye roll emoji!) 

It wasn't Zoo Atlanta... but the memories are just the same. 

How?

How is it the last official week of Summer Break (NOT the last week of Summer. You best believe we will spend our weekends in the water and eating ice cream for a few more months!)  and I haven't published one single blog post all summer? Oh... wait... we moved. And I have an extremely active almost 3 year old. (I be three in August... her current favorite thing to tell someone.) 

Memorial Day weekend was just like last weekend... right?

Here are a few summer facts:

I didn't take my "big" camera anywhere this summer. Usually it is attached to my arm for the many memories that need documenting. This summer the iphone X was my jam. And believe it or not, memories were still made. And documented.

When I grow up I want to sell ice cream on the beach. I'll charge $3 for each one and put the $4 man out of business. It's a good thing Calla Cain gets ice cream money from family for her birthday. She did a good job saving it for the summer. ;)

Our new town is simply Perrydise. From food trucks to water days, perfect afternoon shopping, and the sweetest little ice cream shop walking distance from our front door.... life is really really great.

Oh... and did I mention these views while I run?

My front porch has become my favorite place to sit in the evenings.And mornings. And afternoons. It's just my favorite. 

As Always,
C^2

Life Is Like....

Life is like... really good right now.

We made it... May is here. Bring on the to do list that is 18 miles long.

 Rather than the millions of things that should be done... here is what the CainFam has been doing in our free time:



Lots and lots of time playing outside with our favorite CainWeims.

Speaking of the CainWeims... we LIVE for evening runs. They kinda get us all kinds of crunk.

Quick trips to the city...

Visits to our favorite Whale Sharks.

Oh.... and trips to the park where you leave your teacher rules at home and let your kid slide head first.

Love love, 

C^2