resolutions got you down?

GIRLFRIEND.
Are you feeling the pain of your resolutions setting in?
Started off with a bang and it's starting to fizzle?

I've got just the thing!

If you've been around long enough you know I NEVER set New Years Resolutions.
I wrote a little blog about it years ago and it turned into a proper E-Book!

Want a FREE copy? Just click this link to get yours: https://bit.ly/2TFxHXP

Come back and tell me what you think!
My choice in 2019...FOCUS...you'll get it after you read it.
What's yours?

-McGee

what to make AFTER the holidays?

If I see one more potato,

eat anything else that tastes like Turkey

or see another pie I might throw a fit.

Reached for a family favorite in the realm of clean eating tonight and thought I would share it with you! It's simple. It's clean. And my entire family devours it. Best of all? It reminds me of my Grandma Veda's Casserole but in this dish cabbage replaces pasta. It's the bomb dot com you guys. Here you go...

UNSTUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 pounds lean ground beef

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced *I add more but we love garlic*

1 green cabbage, chopped

2 cans (14.5 ounces each) low sodium diced tomatoes

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning 

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and onion and cook, stirring, until ground beef is no longer pink and onion is tender.

Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute.

Add the chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8. I wish I could take credit for this dish or give proper credit-it was passed to me by a friend from a friend from likely an old Weight Watchers source. Apparently the entire dish is only 7 points in the old school WW Points program! 

If you try it let me know what you think! We often serve it as a one bowl dinner or add a salad. 

It's filling AND delicious. 

And bonus this week? 

It tastes nothing like turkey.

Enjoy...

-McGee

don't miss a thing.

With Mr. Man working out of town right now any time I spend decompressing by myself at the end of a night is priceless and sacred. Last night I was trying to get into Mr. Robot.

*Side note* Do we like Mr. Robot? I got a couple episodes in and I'm not entirely sure I'm getting it all nor want to keep going. Please advise!

So I was watching TV and winding down when our littlest comes in already mid-sentence as she does. She's very confident and loves to talk. ALL.THE.TIME. Like I literally hear HER voice more often and always louder than the voice in my head. Legit. I was trying to hear her while not missing anything being said on TV and got irritated. This is how the conversation played out...

Me: "Kiddo-seriously-I'm trying to watch this and I need to pay attention."

Kiddo: "Why do you need to pay attention?"

Me: "Because I don't want to miss anything."

Kiddo: "Oh because then you won't know anything about that person?"

Me: "Exactly. Please go play. This isn't a kid show....go!"

I know, I know but listen, I'm a great mom 90% of the time. Sometimes I just need a minute. And don't worry...I did keep watching to catch my breath after a long week but she also made me pause at the absurdity of what I had just done.

Hey kid...yeah I know you are looking for my attention and that our time together will go so quickly that there will be days I wish you were 6 again. But I really want to pay attention to this tv thing so I don't miss out on anything and know all about this fictional character on TV that I don't yet understand.

#Hello
#MomFail

So today...the kid went in for the ultimate kill. She found her makeup kit *someone* must have hidden in the very back of the bathroom cupboards far away from her little hands and she couldn't wait to go to town...on MY face. Taking my cues from our stellar convo last night I took her extended hand as she led me to her official grand opening of "Chloe's Salon" promptly at 12:01pm.

You should know...this makeup kit was not your ordinary six year old princess make up kit. This was the annual Christmas Edition of a Sephora gift collection that her Nana had gifted her older sister YEARS ago and has prepared MANY lovely little children's faces for their close up over the years, hence it's "hiding spot" tucked neatly away out of sight...

She practiced on herself and really nailed it so I was clearly all in for my very own make up sesh at her brilliant hands. As she picked each color and applied it with flair she would step back to admire her work and choose the next perfect shade for my face. I don't know much about makeup but I do feel like she's really got the whole eyeshadow wing thing down solid.

So I'm still not sure about Mr. Robot and I'm pretty sure I missed some key things about him last night but I do know my kid and I had a blast getting all dolled up. Our Sunday was one for the books.

Sometimes you gotta take the break, watch the show, check out for a bit.

But then you gotta jump back in...often both feet at a time...or at least both cheeks!

Love this kid.

-McGee

P.S. I have the strangest urge to watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang again...

girls day.

Growing up the highlight of my year was Girls Day.  

It was the stuff dreams were made of. 

It signified the start of the Christmas season and I lived for it. 

The Friday after Thanksgiving my mom gathered my sisters and any combination of aunts, cousins or other women in our lives and we would head into San Francisco for a day of shopping and fun. It wasn't until I was older that I understood the origins of our ever growing tradition. 

When I was too little to really be aware my mom was a single mom of two little girls, broke as a joke, trying to make ends meet. Holidays were nerve wracking I'm sure. In an effort to make something special out of the holiday season she would take my little sister and me on a BART ride up to San Francisco. We would hop off at the Powell Street station, stop to grab a warm street pretzel and watch the street performers bang their buckets and do their thing. Brake dancing was big-I remember stopping to watch head spinning on slabs of cardboard at nearly every corner. 



She would give us both a few dollars-like maybe literally five bucks to spend. At the time it felt like the biggest treat ever. Five whole dollars to spend on ourselves? We had hit the jackpot. We would check out the Hello Kitty store with their pens and tempting little gum packets but inevitably save most of our dollars for our trip to Woolworth's-the OG five and dime store. I honestly cannot recall a single thing I ever bought there with my coveted Girls Day dollars but I do remember feeling so rich and so spoiled. Just seeing the Woolworth sign coming around the corner was enough to make me giddy. 

On a recent solo weekend to San Francisco coming up out of the BART station on Powell I had to catch my breath for a moment as it all flooded back. There it was. The Woolworth building in all it's glory. Woolworth has long been gone but the sign still stood, the building still graced Powell with all it's stature and it was like being that little girl again holding tight to her five dollars dressed in her Goodwill coat and mittens in awe of the big city around her.


As we grew up, Girls Day did too. It became an annual pilgrimage full of aunts and girl cousins occasionally friends and girls day adoptees. At times we even outgrew San Francisco and as my mom's life became more financially successful our Girls Days became more extravagant. At one point we traveled with MY little girls to Chicago first class for a whirlwind weekend filled with American Girl Doll store fun and well more than $5 in their little pockets. 

But when push comes to shove,
the Girls Days I cherish most
included warm pretzels,
five single dollar bills
and the Woolworth store. 

Thank you for that mom.
You did good.
And I love you. 

-McGee

are YOU ready?

Oh how I love the idea of luck.

I mean truly love.

What if it was that simple?

It feels that way sometimes doesn't it?

Like some people just have the best of luck.

But what if that wasn't it?

Maybe, just maybe, they were simply ready.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. I could point to an endless number or quotastic people who've said this as far back as ancient Roman philosopher Seneca. Even Oprah has said a version of this. And you KNOW I worship at the Church of Oprah, long live my Qween!

But seriously...luck is what happens in that moment you're presented an opportunity and you are READY for it. That's it. That's the whole thing right there. When you work and work and work and prepare to be who you want to be, the universe has a way of dropping opportunity in your way and when you're ready for it-that's the magic. When you take that chance and LIVE the life you want to live you are literally getting ready.

Take my girl Jenna. Jenna is a powerhouse in her own right. She has a topic close to her heart that she's lived, breathed and trained on several times. She works consistently on her message and what she wants to deliver to the world at large. Just this past week she was asked to step in for a presenter at a national company convention with legit twenty minutes notice. Did she get lucky? Nope. Did she crush it? Sure did. How did she do that? Jenna. Was. Ready.

What if you focused so hard on the person you want to be, became obsessed with her, did the daily work to move you toward that vision of yourself? What if THAT'S the ticket-the move-the magic? When the universe drops an opportunity in your way...guess what...you're already doing it. You're ready!

So what does that look like for you?

What is it you want to do?

What are you hoping to "get lucky" at?

What keeps you up at night dreaming of and hoping for?

Take THAT dream. Reverse engineer it. Work backwards. Break it down into bite size chunks and start with one at a time. DO the work. Get READY. LIVE as though you already are that thing you want to be and when OPPORTUNITY hits you up...you've PREPARED...not gotten lucky. You'll be ready and you'll crush it.

I love luck. I do.

In Vegas at the craps table. 

When I run a mostly yellow light and there's no cop around.

On the day I can't catch a break and finally do.

But when it comes to my dreams?

I'm getting ready.

Are you?

-McGee

**Jenna Green is a phenomenal resource for anyone who cannot work a traditional 9-5 job due to chronic illness, mental health or other factors. She's also a dear friend whom I'm insanely proud to know. If her mission interests you go check out her Facebook group Full of Grit & Grace!**

Above Foothill.

We always had plans to live above Foothill Avenue.

That was the goal.

Of course...we thought it would be in Monrovia!

But life happens, changes are made, surprises are thrown your way and you do what you can to make a new plan. That's what life is, right? A series of plans made, surprises or bumps, and then an adjustment to a new plan. I can wholeheartedly tell you when I first moved to LA eight and a half years ago I would never have ever considered living in the 909. And now, for far more reasons than I can list life has guided us right square into Rancho Cucamonga.

I know, right?

It's a real city, true story.

Trust me. Autocorrect LOVES this town.

So here we are. And at this point all I can say is just yup. This is my town. These are my kind of peeps. This is where we will stay to raise our kids and I couldn't be more settled than to be here. This makes all kinds of sense that I never saw coming.

Hanging on our front porch and checking out our view I can't help but have a great appreciation for where we are and where we started and everything in between.

We are now, officially and happily, waaaaaay above Foothill!

-McGee

P.S. Look for exciting news on the blog this week-big big LuLa changes coming!!

DO right or BE right?

Is it better to BE right or to DO what is right?

I love to be right.
No I mean I REALLY love to be right.
And I'm married to a man who loves to be right.
I parent kids who love to be right.
I was raised in a family where EVERYONE loves to be right.

I'm an expert on being right. Or at least needing to be right.

But every once in awhile something comes up and sparks the question is it better to actually be right or to do what is right because really-there is a difference.

Being right is insisting you're right, fighting to the death, not listening, screaming on Facebook in person or by text that by golly I AM RIGHT and YOU ARE WRONG to people who probably won't even hear you. I've been here all too often-being SO "right" that the only space the other person can find is to defend themselves and close their ears. It's a constant theme right now to BE right in the world.

That sounds like a recipe for success, no?
(Where is that sarcasm font when you need it)

So what does it look like to care less about BEING right and more about DOING what is right?

DOING what is right is so much harder.

Doing what is right often means closing your mouth, opening your ears and softening your heart. It's realizing that it's ok not to fight back with your spouse when they've had a bad day and pick a silly argument. It's scrolling past the Facebook post you don't like. Its loving people even if you don't understand them. It's trying to understand or hear the other side. Doing right means responding when necessary with a listening heart rather than reacting with the urge to shout your rightness (that's a word, right?). Doing what is right is going about your path, following your right and living the way you see fit while allowing others the same grace.

DOING right is often much quieter than BEING right.

Today I will focus on DOING the right thing rather than a desire to BE right.
Today I will be grateful for ALL the people in my life and love them however I can.
Today I will let things go that I feel are wrong because right is subjective anyway.

Today I will try to DO what is right rather than worry if YOU understand how right I am.

That sounds like a peaceful Sunday to me, don't you think?

-McGee