Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

Hey Blogland!  Guess what?  Judging from the title, you're probably thinking I'm planning a wedding; well, not exactly.  I have a new toy to tell you about.

Something old: I threw my old blender away.  It had certainly seen better days and was disagreeable most of the time.  It was definitely ready for the blender grave yard. 

Something new! my sweet daughter Aly was home over Mother's Day weekend so of course we had to go shopping.  She had told me about a wonderful smoothie blender that she had bought and was using regularly.  There was a smile on my face and my head was nodding as if I was listening but my thoughts were " yeah, yeah, yeah, blenders are all the same; a pain to use, a pain to clean and a pain to store!" I'll simply buy my smoothies at the smoothie place.  While we were shopping she took me by the small appliances and showed me the blender she had bought. When I saw it, I knew this blender was going to work for me.   Easy to use, easy clean-up and easy to store.

Something borrowed.  So, I bought it on the spot; took it home and whipped up my first  smoothie that day.  My son and daughter-in-law were there so I shared some of my smoothie with them.  When my daughter-in-law saw how simple it was and how wonderful the smoothies are well, she has borrowed that blender ever since.  She bought her own smoothie container to use on the blender base.

Something blue. My smoothie machine is blue but they come in a range of different colors.  And,  blueberry smoothies are so delicious!  I'm including a recipe for them along with a couple of others.

Blue Berry Smoothie

1 cup of blueberries
1 cup of yogurt
1 sliced banana
1 cup of almond milk
1 cup of ice
1/2 cup of water or green tea

Blend until  smooth

Strawberry Banana

1 cup of sliced strawberries
1 cup of strawberry yogurt
2 sliced banana
1 cup of ice
1 cup of water

Blend until smooth

My favorite

Spinach Raspberry Smoothie

1 cup of raspberries (I use frozen)
1 sliced banana
1 cup of almond milk
1 cup of vanilla yogurt
1 handful of baby spinach
2/3 cup of water
A few pieces of ice cubes.

Blend until smooth.

This smoothie is so nutritious and a great weight loss smoothie.  It is filling.  I make it up and take it to work for my breakfast.  It stays with me a long time, more so than oatmeal.

I use almond milk rather than regular milk because it has less calories and more taste.  It also is a good source of protein.

You can use different juices in your smoothie instead of the water.  V-8 makes great juice called V-fusion. Of course if you are calorie counting, there a no calories in water.

Til next time

~willa~ 

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Pleeeeze...Inspire Me!

Has anyone out there been struggling with inspiration? I certainly have! I need to be inspired in so many ways! First, to paint. I haven't painted anything since the first of the year. I want to but that driving inspiration simply isn't there. Second, my flower gardens are in great need of some TLC but, needless to say, I'm completely uninspired to work in them. Third, my house needs some freshening, such as paint, new curtains, new rugs; you know those things that can give a room a face lift but it's not happening because I've hit bottom in the inspiration department. I could keep going with fourth, fifth, sixth, but you get the picture so I'll stop there.

 I'm completely surprised that I'm uninspired to get these things done because, honestly, there is so much out there to inspire me. I've thought maybe it's not inspiration that's the problem but a lack of energy. But if you are truly inspired the energy to get it done is part of the package. Inspiration ignites excitement and excitement ignites energy.

 I found this little bit of inspiration (photo) on Pinterest. It does inspire me. I've been wanting to do a chalk board for my kitchen and the chalkboard in this photo has me excited to get started on it. I have some chalkboard paint and a frame, you can bet it is on my list of things to do this weekend. I so love the wire basket in this photo as well so I am going to try to find a way to add it to my finished chalkboard.

 One thing that I was inspired to do recently was put board and batton up in my dining room. Well, truthfully, I didn't put it up, my husband and son did. But I did help paint it. That's another post though. I have photos to share. Look at that, I am inspired to do another post.

Til next time

~willa~ Pin It Now!