The Big White Farmhouse | intentional living, little by little

March 9, 2015

{life list} Support 100 Small Business Mammas: Number Four (and a Giveaway!)

We’re nine days into March and guys, I am rocking my goals for more water and a salad everyday! I’ve been having my salad at lunch and it actually has been really filling. And the water? I think my success is all due to this new mason jar tumbler I bought from Hustle Mama Handmade.

I don’t really know what it is…maybe the straw? Maybe the fact that it’s huge (but also thin-it can fit in a cup holder), so I can carry it around the house without constantly having to fill it up? It may be that’s it’s just pretty to look at! Whatever the reason, I am in love.

Some of my long-time readers will remember when I started working on my life list goal of supporting 100 small business mammas and I’m excited to resurrect that again this year! As a reminder: these posts are not sponsored, I’ve purchased everything with my own money and the mamas don’t even know I’m writing about them. My hope is that I can introduce you to some great businesses and bring these mamas a bit of traffic and sales.

Okay, onto the fun part! Half of the fun of finding new small businesses is picking a product to give away to one of you! I am giving away a tumbler just like mine, only with a polka dot fabric sleeve. You’ll also get two BPA free straws in coordinating blue and orange. The giveaway will be open until Friday, March 13 at 12:00 AM, so enter through the Rafflecopter below! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

{Supporting Small Business Mammas Archives: #001, #002, #003}

March 6, 2015

{around here} Week 09/52: Week of 3.2.15

A collection of our ordinary days, recorded every week. At the end of the year, I’ll publish them into a keepsake to treasure.

Around here, I have been:

watching MORE snow outside. I’m starting to wonder how many more weeks I’ll have to say that. This time, we got almost eight inches.

laughing at D’s description about winning Crazy Eight: “I knew M was going to do a move that was pretty sophisticated, so I pulled out a crazy eight and boom! I won.”

working on Sophie’s big girl room. I have been making to-do lists, measuring walls and ordering the first furniture pieces. She loves to browse on Pinterest with me and everything she sees is “ooh cuuute!”

reading Overcoming Dyslexia (still!) and The Secret Keeper.

planning our Greek unit coming up. I found some go-along picture books as well as a few easy chapter books that M can read on his own. I’ve got a family Olympics and a big Greek feast in the works as well.

deciding when to cut my hair. I’ve been growing it out to donate again, but it is driving me crazy. I’m thinking around Easter…definitely before May. I need a new look for spring!

ordering lots of new product for Big White Farmhouse! Purchasing inventory for the store is exhilarating and nerve-wracking, but I think I picked some good pieces. I also did a lot of re-ordering sold out favorites, like the “You are my Sunshine” garden marker, vintage silverware napkin rings and “Love” dish towel. Can’t wait to share more soon.

homeschool notes:
+ Wednesday was “S” day in kindergarten. D made a skunk using a tutorial from Art for Kids and it turned out so cute.
+ We started a new read aloud and M can’t get enough. The book is called Evertaster.
+ In history, we learned all about Ashurbanipal and the Assyrians. M made a siege tower complete with battering ram out of Legos.

March 4, 2015

{health} My Top Five Favorites for Cool Weather Running

Today I’m linking up with Rachel (she’s taking over for Jenna this week!) and sharing my top five favorite items I’ve been using when I run this winter:

Victory Fleece Pullover from Target // I love this sweatshirt and have it in two colors. It’s super warm and I love how the back is just a little bit longer and covers my butt. Great for running and just bumming around the house.

New Balance Women’s WT10v2 Minimus Trail Running Shoe // These are my second pair of Minimus shoes and I won’t wear anything else! They are on the barefoot running spectrum and have a Vibram sole. I find them so comfortable and use them for all of my runs.

Garmin Forerunner 220 // Mark surprised me with this watch when I signed up for the half marathon. While I originally balked at the price, I have used it on a few outdoor runs and I quickly discovered its worth. I love that I can see my time, distance and pace at a glance. Another handy feature is the ability to upload my runs onto the Runkeeper app.

The Flipbelt // I found this handy belt on Pinterest and it is so great! I feel safest when I bring my phone while running, but am always frustrated with my arm band. The Flipbelt lets me carry my phone around my waist (along with my keys, etc) with no jiggling around! It’s awesome.

Bon Jovi Pandora Station // I do most of my weekday runs during a break in our homeschooling and on the treadmill. Not my favorite way to run, but you do what you gotta do, right? Those miles can be brutal though, so I’m not ashamed to tell you that classic rock gets me through. The Bon Jovi station on Pandora has a pretty good mix of songs to keep me distracted.

March 3, 2015

{a year of challenges} March is for Health & Fitness

Welcome to the third month of my Year of Challenges!

Can you believe it is March already? Despite the snow outside, spring is just around the corner and with that comes the shedding of over-sized sweaters and bulky sweatshirts. I tend to hibernate in the winter, putting off workouts and eating way more than I know I should. But neither are great habits to have when you don’t have extra clothing to camouflage and baby weight still to lose.

March is my time to stop making excuses and to start taking better care of myself. You too? I’m out of the new baby fog and ready to put in the work. I won’t tell you that I’m working toward a “bikini body”…because, um, hello body that birthed five babies. But I am hoping that this month will work as a little boot camp of sorts, whipping myself into gear and creating better habits.

I’ll also let you in on a little secret: I’m training for my first half marathon in May. This is a big dream of mine and I’m really excited to cross this goal off of my life list. It’s also even more incentive to work toward an athlete’s body.

So here we go!

My challenge this month: