Exam date set, quesadillas eaten, mystery strawberry beer revealed

First mom group outing: success!

Well…partial success. We made it to the Children’s Museum (on time, even! I was so shocked), but Mason had zero interest in the Tots in Motion class that we were supposed to be participating in and just wanted to roam.

There were about 20 other moms there, so I had no idea how I was supposed to find the 3-4 who were technically there for the same mom group meetup.

So I never did actually meet anyone in the mom group. I guess that’s a pretty big fail for a mom group outing, isn’t it?

Oh, well, we had fun anyway.

There was an outdoor roof space full of plants that kids could water…or, most importantly for Mason, there was a trough of water with measuring cups in it.

He loved sprinting down this crazy ramp that weaved around the room over everyone’s heads. I’m not sure if it was supposed to look like you’re running through a body cavity, or if that’s just coincidence.

And, of course, he managed to find some cars. This is a teeny tiny representation of our downtown area.

When we got home, I was staaarving. We’re super low on food in the house, so my options were slim, but sometimes desperation leads to creativity.

Behold, the tomato quesadilla:

So simple, but so powerful.

I liked it so much I had another one a few hours later. Today, I’m probably going to have the same thing (we have a bunch of tortillas from the cabin trip to use up), but this time I’ll add some of the green chilies I grabbed at Target last night (idea inspired by Elizabeth!).

When Mason went down for his nap, I got on the phone to schedule my NASM exam. Friday Nov. 22 is the big day! I’ve been feeling off my game in the studying department, so I was hoping that getting a solid date on the calendar would motivate me a little.

Once I had the date nailed down, I printed out a few blank calendars I found on the internet—one for September, October, and November—and wrote out a brand new super-personalized study plan, based on where I’m at and where I need to be on Nov. 22.

My days consist of reading chapters, writing out my study guide (basically, typing key terms/concepts into a giant Word document I’m creating—it’s the best way I learn), and reviewing the online content provided by NASM.

I gave myself Sundays off, and reserved Saturdays as a “catch up” day.

The whole exercise was definitely a wake-up call! Two months seems like a long time, but I could barely squeeze everything in. (So glad I used a pencil!)

When Mase woke up, we headed out to run a few errands, including a stop at the post office to pick up a package I’d missed:

Wild Harvest, one of the sponsors of the Healthy Living Summit, sent all of us attendees a little welcome gift. So nice!

It didn’t take me long to dive into those animal crackers. (It happened approximately 4 seconds after taking this picture.)

It didn’t take Brent long, either, when he got home from work. We swapped babysitting duties so I could run to Target, and when I got home, the first words out of his mouth were, “Those animal crackers are awesome!”

Oh! Before I go, I wanted to make sure to mention this. Remember that mystery strawberry beer I tried in Boston and was over the moon for?? Several of you asked what it was, so I finally found out. It was Abita Strawator.

If you like beer, you need to try this! You don’t even have to like fruity beer (I usually don’t!).

I’m not sure how widely distributed the stuff is, but keep an eye out for this:

Well, that’s it for me. But first, I’d be remiss not to say anything about what day it is today.

Remembering…