FAVORITE MOMENTS OF 2015

Hi friends!  Can you believe 2015 is already coming to a close?  I am still in disbelief with how quickly the year zoomed by.  Seems sort of surreal.  Anyone feel the same way?

Last year around this time I shared my Favorite Moments of 2014, and it feels really special to look back on those blessed times with a super grateful heart.  Keeping with tradition, here is a recap of a few of my favorites from this year!

Starting & growing my business 

Being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart.  It takes a lot of hard work and patience, and will always be a learning process.  I am grateful for this opportunity, and also proud of myself for taking such a big leap.  It wasn’t easy, but it’s so worth it!

Consistently writing here on The HHB

I am SO grateful to my readers, and to everyone that brings be inspiration!  Consistently writing and showing up here on The HHB has been such a gift, and it’s amazing to see how everything has unfolded (and will continue to unfold).

Surprise Birthday Party

Greg, Emma, and other family and friends threw me a surprise birthday party this year, and I was SHOCKED (like many expletives shocked, haha).  It was so sweet of them, and one of the best nights of the year!

NYC 

Such a fun biz/girls trip with Paige and Sim to one of my favorite cities!  We learned a lot, connected with each other, and had so much fun!

Moving from Ventura to Pasadena

I’ll be honest and say that for several months this was quite a challenge for me.  I missed my community of support so much, and felt like a part of me was missing.  Now, I still miss everyone, but it’s getting better with time, and I am learning to embrace my new town.  I’m grateful for this opportunity, and even more grateful that Greg and I are doing it as a team.

 Renewing Mom and Dad’s vows

This was such a special moment for me!  I renewed my parents vows for their 30th anniversary. So much fun, and so much love!

4th of July in Mammoth with family

This is becoming an annual family trip, and I couldn’t enjoy it more.  It is one of my most fond memories of the year, and I just love the relationship I have with my family.

Receiving my Spiritual Practitioner license

Holy smokes!  This was deep, meaningful, and super special four year program that came to a close this year.  I am really proud of myself for earning my Spiritual Practitioner license, and love incorporating it into my work.

Graduating from IIN

YAY!  IIN was a fabulous program, and the knowledge and skills I received were life changing. PLUS, this catapulted my health coaching business, where I am able to work with the most amazing clients!

Adopting Charlie

I have to say that adopting Charlie as part of our little family was definitely in the top, if not the greatest moment of 2015.  When we brought him home, I thought we were helping him, and while we were, he helped us (me in particular) more than I thought possible, and I am so grateful for that.  He is such a sweet soul, and we just love him so much.

Cruise with Greg

Greg and I went on the most relaxing cruise in November, and it was great!  It really recharged both of us, and was a great self/relationship-care trip.  Love my man!

This year was full of love, self-care, connection, challenge, and lots of opportunities for growth. I had a million amazing moments, and these were just a few.  I feel SO very blessed, and am thrilled for the upcoming year.

In the next few weeks I will be discussing intention, and a few specific ways that we can focus in on our desires and goals in a meaningful way, that is individual to each of us.  How does that sound?  If you have any other questions or topics that you would like me to discuss (specifically surrounding the new year, or beyond), let me know!

Hope you all have a fantastic day, and I’ll see you on Wednesday!

xo.  Jen

 

INTERVIEW RECAP

Happy Friday, friends!  I thought it would be fun to do an interview recap post today, for those that haven’t read them, and for those who want to read them again (ME!!).  Take a peek below at some of my fave Q+A’s with some incredible, powerful, and stunning women!

Ashten Giardine from Just Go Left

Rev. Bonnie Rose from VCSL

Raquel & Marisol from She Arises

Raven Pinsker, Professional Make-Up Artist

Helya Naghibi from The Studio

Stephanie from Love Living Whole

I hope you all enjoyed this round-up of interviews with some spectacular women!  Aren’t they amazing?!  Sending you all love, and hope you have a fantastic weekend!

xo.  Jen

P.S. Don’t forget to enter Week 3 of my Holiday Giveaway for your chance to win a gorgeous Himalayan Sea Salt Lamp!

WEEKEND RECAP #35

Good morning, friends!  Did everyone have a nice holiday weekend?  Mine was really great, but I have to admit, it was really difficult to wake up this morning.  I was sleepy!

My weekend started on Wednesday at noon (my office closed early), which was SO nice!  I ran errands that day, and started prepping for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was amazing!  We hosted, but it was a total group effort food wise.  Everything was delicious!  Here is a photo of our group on Thanksgiving.  My Mom and Dad accidentally got cut out of the group photo, but there is a cute one of them to make up for it.  🙂

Friday we went to Ventura, and completely relaxed at my parents house all day.  It was just what we all needed!  Saturday morning I met some girlfriends for coffee and a beach walk.  It was a gorgeous day, but the conversation was even better.  Isn’t quality time with friends the best?!

We had a memorial service to attend on Saturday afternoon, and while it was very sad to lose a loved one, the service was beautiful.  I was so happy to have been there.

After the service I had an appointment to get my hair done.  I cut 8 inches off!!!  This is a huge deal for me, as I’ve had long hair for years.  I loved my long hair, but I am totally digging the short, simple cut.  So bouncy and fun!

 Sunday was church, then afterwards we all went downtown to do some small business shopping.  So fun!  After that, we headed back to Pasadena to unpack, and unwind.  As you can see, Charlie was quite chilly when we got home!  HA!

All in all, it was a FABULOUS holiday weekend!  I hope you all had a great one, and know how very grateful I am for each and every one of you!

xo.  Jen

 

 

 

WEEKEND RECAP #30

Happy Monday, friends!  How was your weekend?  Mine was fun, but really relaxing at the same time.  Also, here in southern California we received some much needed rain, and it was so magical.  I love the rain!

On to my weekend recap…

Friday night was date night!  We went to El Portal, where we sipped some margs, and ate some yummy food.  Plus, their chips and salsa are SO good!

Saturday morning we walked to Peets for coffee (love there café au laits), and a bagel shop is right next door.  Normally I am not a huge bagel fan (too much grain for my belly), but it sounded so good to me.  I listened to my body, and got a sandwich on 12-grain bagel with egg, Swiss cheese, spinach, and mushrooms.  It was DELICIOUS!  I actually only ate half of it, as it was really filling.  After that, we walked some more, then headed home to get ready for the day.

Selfie in the car on the way to LACMA.  I went with a bold red lip (just for fun), and loved it!

 Saturday we met Greg’s brother Jon at LACMA.  I love museums, and LACMA is definitely one of my faves.  There is so much to see, and so many areas to explore.  Absolutely beautiful!  They currently have a Frank Gehry exhibition that is definitely worth seeing.

We had lunch at their cafeteria, which by the way is definitely the best cafeteria I’ve ever been to.  I had a huge salad, and a lavender sparkling soda.  SO GOOD!  Doesn’t that look amazing?!

Jon took off after lunch, and Greg and I had a coffee and explored some more.  Such a relaxing day!

Sunday was spent lounging around, reading, watching movies, cuddling with Charlie, prepping food for the week, and making a TJ’s run.  Perfect Sunday!

I love weekends like this!  Hope you all have an amazing week!

xo.  Jen

WEEKEND RECAP #3

Good afternoon!  Yesterday was super busy, so I am a day late on my Weekend Recap, but thought I’d share anyway.  For the most part the weekend was pretty mellow.  I had a few events, but lots of relaxing was involved, too.  Hope yours was great as well!

Friday evening we stayed in and had some super yummy vegan chili that I made.  This chili ended up lasting us (including a few guests) a total of 10 meals.  I totally goofed up though!  I was so excited to eat my chili, that I didn’t take a photo of the final product, just all the steps getting there.  Fail!  Would any of you still want to see the recipe?  Or should I do it over?  Let me know!

On Saturday morning I made Greg a chili omelette (with leftover chili obviously, ha!), and I made myself PB+J oatmeal.  I used almond butter, my blueberry vanilla applesauce, and a dash of cinnamon.  Soooo good, and reminded me of a PB+J sandwich, hence the name.

After breakfast we took a nice walk around the neighborhood, and over to our local swapmeet. We didn’t end up getting anything, but it was definitely fun to stroll around and peek at all the goodies.  There was one vendor that was selling chiles, and he must have had over 20 varieties. They were beautiful, albeit a bit intimidating.

Later that day we headed to Ojai (about 20 minutes north of us) for the afternoon, but first stopped to go wine tasting at our favorite local place, and pick up our shipment.  I do have a few pictures, but someone doesn’t care for them. Ha!

For lunch we went to Farmer and the Cook.  How this was my first time eating there, I do not know.  This place is AMAZING!  We were super hungry, so decided to share an apple oat bar before our food came out.  Holy moly you guys, this thing was delcious!  I am definitely going to try to re-create this recipe.

How gorgeous is this lunch?  Greg had the raw tacos, and I had the veggie tacos.  Mine came with rice, beans, and a sort of pickled coleslaw (awesome!), which we shared.  I only ended up eating one taco, because of how filling the apple oat bar was. Ooops!  If you’re local, I highly recommend this place.

Sunday morning I made french toast on sprouted wheat bread with more of my blueberry vanilla applesauce, and a sprinkle of toasted coconut on top.  Again, cozy, healthy, and delicious.

Lastly, if you live in southern California you may be on the same page as me…I really want Autumn to be here!  Technically, it is Autumn, but when the weather is in the 80’s and 90’s, it hardly feels like it.  I’m ready to break out my riding boots and chunky sweaters!  Until then, these flowers and place mats will have to do.  Sigh…

See you tomorrow for a simple, green, and mouth watering stir-fry recipe!

xo.  Jen

 

 

 

 

WEEKEND RECAP #2

Happy Monday, friends!  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Mine was great, and SO MUCH FUN!  It was Greg’s birthday this past week, so we rented a beach front home close to where we live, and both our families were able to come out and celebrate.  We basically just lounged around, laid in the sun, and went in the ocean.  We swam, surfed, boogie boarded, body surfed, and paddle boarded.  It was a blast!

It was so funny, because I pretty much had to be pried out of the ocean.  I’ve always been a water baby, but I forgot how much I LOVE boogie boarding!  It was so fun being one with the waves, and riding them in.  Ahh…

I didn’t document any food this weekend, but I think you’ll find that the views of the ocean are even better!

Greg couldn’t wait 5 minutes to get down to his board shorts.  Ha!  Vacation time, baby!

Sunset our first night.  Seriously, I feel so blessed to live where I live.  Breathtaking!

You can’t see, but my Mom made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (100% from scratch) for Greg’s birthday cake. His absolute favorite!  It was DELICIOUS, and such a treat!

View of the islands.

My girlfriend Emma and I playing around.  Love her!

Farewell sunset on our last day.

My love, relaxing.  So happy he got to do this!

I know there are so many other photos that everyone else took, but I haven’t received them yet. Hint-hint, family! Seriously though, this was one of the best weekends ever.  Full of relaxation, fun, and family.  Love that!  I went to work this morning missing the beach house, but super refreshed.

See you tomorrow!

xo.  Jen

 

 

 

WEEKEND RECAP

 

 

Happy Monday!  I hope you all had a great weekend!  Mine was both relaxing, yet full.  I thought I would incorporate some of my weekend with a small recap.  Let me know if you guys like it, and maybe I will continue with a series.  Aren’t my roses from TJ’s beautiful?!  I love flowers!

Friday I was craving chips and guacamole, so I made homemade chips out of Ezekiel tortillas.  So good, and a much healthier option!

Is anything better than brunch?  It has to be my favorite time to eat, and my favorite meal to eat.  Saturday I completely listened to my body, and had over-medium basted eggs over Brussels sprouts.  Seriously, so random, but freaking amazing!  You gotta try it!  Mmm…

Saturday night, Greg, my girlfriend Emma, and I went to the comedy club here in Ventura.  It was hilarious, and if you’re local, I highly recommend you check it out!  Before we went, I made us spaghetti squash with sauteed mushrooms and a quick, homemade marinara sauce.  Super simple, but really flavorful.  Plus, there were leftovers!

Below is a Sunday selfie of Greg and I.  I thought it was cute that we were both in orange.  #orangeisthenewblack <— I crack myself up!

Anyway, let me know if you like the recap, and maybe I’ll keep doing it.  Fun to share other bits of my life! Have a wonderful week!

xo.  Jen

P.S.  Tomorrow I have a REALLY fun and exciting post!  You’ll have to check it out! 🙂