Livinglovingandexploring!

Can you believe it? Another year and Halloween is here already! 2021 seems to have flown by! I’m so excited for the upcoming couple of weeks/months, or however you want to look at it! I have several gift ideas coming up that I’ll be posting about soon, thanks to some wonderful PR folks around the country! Not the same as my Mother’s Day suggestions back in May (click here for a reference); which would still work good for Mother’s Day 2022 – or just because 🙂

In the meantime, by the time you read this message, I’ll either be out trick-or-treating with my two boys; or we’ll already be done and at home sorting out candy. Fortunately for me, Declan isn’t a big chocolate fan; and neither is Tristan. Unfortunately, Declan and Tristan aren’t big chocolate fans like I said before, LOL – which means the candy goes to Tyler and me. But, if I’m honest, Tyler isn’t a big candy fan either – so…. huh. Maybe that’s why I gained so much weight the past several years LOLOL!

Just kidding. Well, sort of. But in all seriousness, I’ve lost close to 20 pounds the past two months just by sticking to intermittent fasting. I eat better (cutting out my absolute FAVORITE food group ever – ice cream) and make myself a healthy shake for breakfast that includes a TON of great things for my body!

I want to share my recipe with you today as well, because I’ve been doing this for two months now, and I SWEAR TO YOU; I’m in a better mood mentally and physically; my body hasn’t felt this GREAT in years! I believe it’s all due to the natural items I throw in there every day, especially the turmeric!

Here’s the breakdown:

• 1 cup of almond milk
• 2 whole bananas (either frozen or not; your preference)
• 1/2 cup of strawberry yogurt (I prefer Greek)
• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric (click the link for a breakdown of benefits of Turmeric!)
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (click the link for more info!)
• 1 teaspoon of ginger (find health info here for including this one!)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla (thanks for the extra info Dr. Axe!)
• 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon of honey (Additional information on how good this can be for you!)
• Several cubes of ice (I like my shakes COLD!)

Now, that’s the BASE of the shake I make every day. Depending on my mood, here are the other things I might toss in:

• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Pecans
• Shredded coconut
• Some dark chocolate Hershey’s morsels
• a shot of espresso
• A tablespoon of cappuccino flavoring
• Chia seeds
• Rolled oats

VOILA! That’s it! Now, depending on my mood, I may start using other items too – but that’s what is so great about this particular shake. You can play around with the ingredients to your liking. I like the things I use as a base because of the great benefits I get for my body. The rest are just extra perks for flavor (or energy!)

Now that I’ve shared that with you:

Back to my original post about Halloween and the upcoming holidays. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! I used to love getting dressed up and going out in search of the best candy out there! My parents let us go out around our neighborhood first once we saw other kids start their adventures.

Once we finished in our neighborhood, we’d pack up in the car, costumes, bags and all, and head over to my Grandma and Grandpa’s neighborhood, where the homes were slightly more prominent, and almost every house participated in Halloween shenanigans in one way or another. A few times, one or two of the places turned into a haunted house on the block! I about jumped out of my costume when a guy lying in a COFFIN jumped out at me. I wasn’t expecting that at 10 or 12 or however old I was, LOL!

Did anything like that ever happen to you?

So far, we’ve tried to keep the kids away from the SCARY versions that you can see on Halloween; and we mostly stay out with the relatively younger crowd seeing as Dec and T are only 3 & 5 right now. But, if I get my way, they’ll be going to haunted houses with me when they’re much older! I love it! The scare, the thrill, the worry that someone will pop out from behind a door or wall!

….Tyler…. not so much. I convinced him to go with me inside of a haunted house (The DARKNESS in Soulard, St. Louis, MO – considered one of America’s BEST haunted attractions) ONE time in all the years I’ve known him (almost 15 years now….), and we made it a quarter of a way through, when a guy JUMPED out at us, wearing a mask, of course; and Tyler PICKED ME UP and THREW me towards the guy. The guy jumped, I screamed, Tyler yelled. The guy took off his mask; I asked for the nearest exit for Tyler, who quickly left, and I finished the haunted house with my friend by myself, lol.

This year…..

We also just discovered that there is a street/area down in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where each house participates in dressing up for Halloween! I mean, they go ALL OUT! When I say they go all out, upon further research, it’s just one guy! He dresses up his entire neighborhood for Halloween! How insanely awesome is that!? We heard about it through a friend and drove down there one day – and realized where it was and made sure to stop by!

I took a ton of videos and pictures because I was so excited! I mean, they had a GHOST flying across the street, tied on a string from one tree to another – it was EXCELLENT! My kids weren’t quite as thrilled, but it is what it is, lol. I love any sort of decoration. But Halloween and Christmas are my favorites! If you’re in Cape for whatever reason, this street IS doing trick-or-treating! Here’s their FB page!

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What do you and yours do for Halloween? This year, I just didn’t have it in me to decorate and go through all of my totes. I’m hoping to have the drive and determination for Christmas, though!

As for tonight, toodles and goodnight to you! I’m headed for bed shortly! Thanks for tuning in! PS – in case you missed my most recent post about FACC, check it out!

Love ya,

Kelly Ann

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