My Interview with Club Solutions

Here's an interview I did with Club Solutions, after my article about why I love my gym. Check it out! Here's the original link to the story: Kristi's interview with Club Solutions

CLUB SOLUTIONS MAGAZINE MAY 2012 

When Kristi Houston Gilbert and her family moved to Clarendon Hills, Ill. after 10 years of city living in Chicago, the top priority on Gilbert’s list when looking for a new gym was childcare. 

“There are gyms all over. I did some preliminary research online and the only thing I looked at was childcare,” she said. Encouraged by what she saw on Life Time Fitness’ website, its location was the only club she actually visited in person, and she was immediately impressed. “When I saw Life Time’s center I said — ‘I’m ready to sign up.’ I didn’t even look at anything else in the club.” 

Cleanliness, an experienced staff and amenities drew Gilbert in and gave her a great first impression. Looking for a club that would be able to adequately take care of her two children, 2-year-old Ava, and 5-month-old Jack, the Burr Ridge, Ill. location equipped Gilbert with  everything she needed to feel safe leaving her children in LifeTime Fitness’ care. That included amenities such as climbing tubes, slides, art supplies, toys, multiple TVs and even Wii games for kids. “When I walked into Life Time it was like Six Flags, it was awesome. 

It was like night and day [compared to other gyms]. The staff is excellent.” Staff at the childcare center at Life Time Fitness are either in school for childcare or child development, or have a degree in education, said Shqipe Sulejmani, the kid’s activities department head for Life Time Fitness. The club provides training courses to employees including child CPR and first aid, in order to provide the best and safest environment possible. 

Having a great staff and well-equipped childcare center put Gilbert’s mind at ease, allowing her to focus more easily on her workout. “Being a new mom, you don’t get a lot of time for yourself. The childcare center allowed me time to myself to try to lose my baby weight. “Mentally, it’s a break. I’m a stay-at-home mom. Working moms get to get away from the kids for a while, focus on something else. Working out lets me de-stress. It does wonders for my mental health state, it gives me more energy so I can play with my kids — it’s just overall great for my state of mind.” 

Life Time Fitness requires parents to make reservations before bringing their child to the center, and slots can be held up to two days in advance. This gives Life Time adequate time to staff the proper number of employees in accordance to how many children will be attending, said Sulejmani. At all times, there is at least one staff member to every 12 children. In the infant room, one employee to every four infants is required. 

Setting the appointments has helped Gilbert stay motivated. “If I set the appointments and it’s on the calendar, then I have to go.” Though sometimes it’s not always easy, she said. “You have to get your gear and get the kids all dressed — but once I get there it’s well worth all the effort.”

As a result of her efforts, Gilbert has almost reached her goal weight, and found an added benefit — her new babysitter. “We were able to find our babysitters through the childcare center. That’s been great, especially being new to the area since you don’t know anybody.”

Sometimes, her daughter Ava doesn’t want to go. Life Time Fitness assists her in that situation as well. “They’re really good at distracting your kids so you can make your getaway,” she joked. After her workout, Gilbert and her children grab a snack from the Life Time Café. “It really makes the day go by faster. 

When you’re a stay-at-home mom, every day can be like Groundhog Day. Going to the gym breaks [it up]. It’s good for everyone.” 

"It's a party hat!"

Ava: "Look Mom! Jack's wearing a party hat!"
Me: "No honey. That's not a party hat. That's a pee-pee teepee."
Ava: "No Mom. It's a party hat!"
Me: "Okay Ava. Whatever you say kiddo."

Souper!

I recently attended a small dinner party and on the menu was Chicken Tortilla Soup. 


Ken raised an eyebrow when he heard, thinking he would probably need to hit up Mickey D's afterward because he was convinced it wouldn't put a dent in his appetite. 


Well, after watching him devour 2 large bowls I insisted she share the recipe with me. She actually laughed because she said this was the first time in her life that someone has asked her for a recipe. Don't worry Jen, your cooking skills are just fine in my book!


Well, she gave me the recipe (which actually came from Molly, a mutual friend) and told me how incredibly easy it was. And after dumping everything in the crockpot and merely turning it on, I too think this is one of the easiest (and most delicious) meals on the planet!

Ready for the ingredients? Here goes:

• 2 jars Frontera black bean chili starter (Whole Foods)
• 1 can drained black beans
• 1 can drained corn
• 1 whole can diced tomatos- I prefer garlic!
• 1 can diced green chilis
• 1 jar salsa- I made my own (recipe here) 
• 4-6 raw chicken breasts

Dump EVERYTHING in a slow cooker and either cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours!!! Use 2 forks to shred chicken and throw it back in the pot. You can add a little water if you prefer more 'soupy' or leave as is for thicker consistency.

Garnish with shredded cheese, sour cream, or tortilla chips!

Yes, it's THAT easy! Happy cooking! Thanks for sharing the recipe, Jen! And no, we didn't hit McDonald's after your party! Full bellies were had by all! 

Big Jack- sitting all by his little self!

Dinner's Ready!

Well sort of. It's prepared and is just waiting to go into my lovely oven.

I made another goodie that I found on Pinterest: Creamy Chicken Enchiladas. I cannot tell you how excited I am to dig into this dish of ooey-gooey love!

It was pretty easy to make, which means if it's a hit with the family, it will become a new staple around here.

I'm also making some spanish rice and refrieds, to put on the side (to soak up all that cheesy yumminess). Add a little homemade guac and chips-- and voila! Dinner is SERVED! Now I'm craving margaritas. PLEASE tell me we have Tequila!

Did I mention how much I love all mexican food-- absolutely LOVE it. And it's even more fun to eat when you make it yourself (especially if it's delish).

Earlier this week I made Chicken Ranch Tacos in the crockpot (see, I told you I'm addicted to Mexican food). They were out of control-- Jaw-dropping good! And even better-- they were easier than anything I've ever made.

Want instructions? Here goes: You put raw chicken breasts in the crockpot. Pour in one Ranch dressing seasoning packet. Add one packet of Taco Seasoning. Add 1 cup chicken broth. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours. That's it! When it was done cooking, I shredded it and we stuffed it into hard shell tacos, with all the fixings. Thumbs up from all at the table!

All this talk of food is making me hungry (and thirsty!!). Is it 5:00 yet?!

Move over diaper cake!

I recently attended a baby shower for a friend of mine. We were asked to bring some must have baby items, all to give the second-time Mommy some stuff to welcome her baby boy. Well, I had originally thought I could give her a box of diapers. But that seemed WAY too boring. Then I thought about doing a diaper cake-- but I had never done one before. So off to Google I went. I saw some darling ones. But then I saw the one I knew I HAD to do. It was a diaper motorcylce. Talk about adorable!

So I immediately got to work, shopping for all the necessary items to put this little fella together.

Here are the items necessary to complete the bike:

• 3 bibs
• 1 bottle
• 2 receiving blankets
• 1 pair shoes
• 2 linky rings
• Stuffed animal
• Newborn outfit
• Newborn sunglasses
• Newborn hat

Loop one of the receiving blankets through center of each of the wheels, hiding the ends in the wheels

Pull another receiving blanket through the front wheel and secure on top with 2 linky rings.

Be sure to add "tread" to the wheels (I used red and white polkadot ribbon)

Shoes as handlebars!

Bottle as motorcycle headlight

Lastly, secure your little guy (dressed in the newborn outfit, sunglasses and hat) to the bike.

He looks like a little stud, eh?!

It was a hit! And I'll be making this from now on for baby showers!

Party in MY Room!

My day started early. I woke up at 3 A.M. to the sound of Ava playing in her room-- with every single light on.  I told her (through the monitor) to turn off the lights and go to sleep. Well, as soon as I did that, I scared the bejeezus out of her and sent her wailing; she must have thought a friggin' demon was talking from inside the walls. So I crawled into her room, turned out the lights and snuggled into bed with her, silently celebrating the fact we went with the full size bed instead of the twin.

I truly love sleeping in bed with my kids-- LOVE it-- but I also know that overindulging in those sweet moments can create bad habits, something I've been hellbent on avoiding since day one. And snuggling with Ava is the absolute best.

In my sleepy slumber, I would wake to her kissing my forehead, saying "Sweet Deems Mommy"-- the very thing I do and say to her each night. I wanted to open my eyes and maul her! But I knew if I did that, she would think it was party time. So I laid there, pretending to sleep while she sweetly kissed my cheeks, nose and forehead. I must be doing something right, right?! Seriously need to add that to my list of "Top 5 Sweetest Moments".


I eventually dozed off, as did she. At 6:30, Ken nudged me, telling me Jack was up (I guess I will sleep when I'm dead) which alerted Ava that the day has officially begun.

Lucky guy crawled back into bed while I stayed up and took care of the kids. Not long after getting up, I noticed Ava went up to our room. After not hearing from her for a few minutes, I went upstairs to find this:

Looks like today's DIY project is all about childproofing light switches.

Light switch meet duct tape.

That was easy.

Where do I even begin?!

I know, you're sick of seeing me talk about it today... but I'm still floating on cloud 9! I am thrilled with the segment that Lee Woodruff and "CBS This Morning" did on our party (video available here)!!

And I'm even more thrilled to learn (from a friend who is a regular reader of Huffington Post), that my party is being featured as a top story (read here)-- Only this article has even more personal info about yours truly, with links to my Patch column, as well as my Pinterest boards. Yee-FREAKING-haw!!

And THEN... (yes, there's more!), my Step-Sis Karen informed me there is a feature of our story on Business Insider! Will someone hire me already?!

It's been a super day. In fact, I think I got more love on FB today than I did on my bday which is hard to top. Thank you all for your kind words of support and for being my biggest cheerleaders! You have all made my day one of the brightest!

Look What I Did Today!

This is our "before" pic

A dear friend of mine is an interior designer. I asked her for some ideas on what to do with our overly-large bedroom. I know, having a large bedroom is not REALLY a problem, but it just didn't look finished, no matter how much I put in the room.

When I began contemplating a stripper pole (don't worry Mom, I'm only joking) and tanning booth, I turned to her for help-- and she suggested custom built-ins.

I LOVED the idea--but I didn't love the price tag. She then told me about the mother of all good deals: IKEA; apparently they have GREAT built ins... the only catch is YOU have to assemble them.

If you know me, you know I've been an IKEA groupie for years... buying stuff here and there. For goodness sake, my bedroom outfit (when I lived with my roomies in the city) was IKEA... in fact, I invested in a new set every few years because my taste was always changing.

And don't even get me started on the kid's stuff! Such a great deal-- and more importantly, durable!

Long story short, another friend of mine that was interested in installing built ins bit the bullet on the IKEA Liatorp series. After hearing her thoughts, I immediately followed suit. I bought them yesterday and arranged to have them delivered today (for the record, $99 to have the folks at IKEA deliver the ridiculously heavy furniture is worth EVERY penny!).

They arrived at 10 am... and by 9:30 p.m... I. Am. Done! And so am I, unfortunately.

I'm seriously EXHAUSTED! I built those "son-uva b's" all by my lonesome, except for the hoisting of the middle shelf, to which I referred to my muscular hubby to hold it up.

Needless to say, my manicure is shot. My back is aching. And I'm keeping my eyes open with toothpicks (and wine).

But you know what?! My bedroom is GORGEOUS, now! Here is a little preview of the progress I made throughout the day:

Now I just need to invest in accessories... and apparently a larger TV. :-/

CBS Joins the Pinterest Party!

Set your DVRs, folks! The Pinterest Party I hosted last Saturday will be featured on CBS This Morning on Thursday!

If you're wondering how this came to fruition, allow me to explain: a few weeks back I threw my very first Pinterest Party. Let’s just say it was a success—such a success that a producer from CBS' national morning show contacted me to see if I would be throwing another one anytime soon that they could feature for an upcoming Pinterest segment. Without hesitation, I told her I would absolutely throw one if it meant they would come and film the party. A few emails and phone conversations later, she booked the flights and I sent out the Evite!

“Holy cow! CBS is coming to our house!” I told my hubby.

Then that panic set in. CBS is coming to my house? I have WAY too much to do and not much time to get it done. I had to act fast. I started cleaning, organizing, planting flowers, hired landscapers, etc. You name it, I was on it. I was as cool as a cucumber until the crew arrived ahead of schedule on Saturday morning. I was literally in the middle of preparing and finishing the appetizers, cleaning the kids' messes, and spot cleaning when the car pulled up. Lucky for me, they needed time to set up which gave me a few extra minutes to try and get things in order. I will tell you this, though: my kitchen was no way near as organized, clean or set up the way I had planned it. In fact, when I see it on TV I will likely be mortified. Don’t quit your day job, Martha. I still have a long way to go!

Let me begin by first telling you how amazing, wonderful, down to earth, beautiful and HILARIOUS Lee Woodruff is; Lee is the CBS correspondent that covered the party. (She is married to Bob Woodruff, the well-known reporter that was hit by a roadside bomb in 2006 while covering the Iraq war.) Talk about one incredible (and very loveable) woman. She’s down to earth, kind, fun—I didn’t want her to leave. In fact, I told her that if she ever decides to relocate from the New York area, we’d love to have her here in our neck of the woods. And I wasn’t the only one that thought so; all the girls were gaga over her. She’s remarkable.

The entire crew was amazing, too. They transformed my little home into a TV set within minutes. We started the party with the usual antics: mingling, drinking and snacking. Only this time, there was a famous woman in my kitchen equipped with a cameraman, sound guy and producer. It was hilarious to watch the other girls getting interviewed with a huge camera inches from their faces. It's safe to say the wine was going down VERY easily.

I even added a little spin from the last Pinterest party I threw. This time, I had a DIY craft that the girls could make and take home as a little gift from me. To make them, I spray-painted 12 terracotta pots with black chalkboard paint ahead of time (in order to speed things up while at the party). Also on the table were some herbs for the girls to plant in the pots. (I chose Thyme and Basil.) Most girls wrote the name of the herb on the pot, but clever Lee wrote “Lee’s Pot,” and then she said something funny about having trouble getting it through security at the airport. We all laughed so hard!

During the craft and throughout the party, she was asking us questions about why we love Pinterest. It was so fun and we are without a doubt pumped for Thursday, when we can all sit and overanalyze our every move, love handle, double chin, etc. We are all our own worst critics, right? I for one can't stand seeing myself in videos, so it will be interesting to see!

On a similar note, while prepping the food on Friday night I sliced my index finger, which meant I had to wear a big, ugly band-aid on my newly manicured nails—not nearly the Giada De Laurentis hands I had envisioned. I bribed the cameraman with a peanut butter brownie to delete any footage of the "band-aid finger." Let's hope he holds up his end of the bargain!

We exchanged our gifts white-elephant style, just like last time. It was great seeing the new ideas the girls came up with. I even gave Lee and the producer a little something for spending the day with us.

All of the girls, including our new friend Lee, were given parting gifts of cowgirl cookies (which I gave away at the last party), as well as homemade lemon-sugar hand scrub. Both were a hit. I felt sorry for the girls though. They literally had two mason jars, a planted pot and a huge bag (containing the gift they got from the exchange) to take home. Maybe next time I’ll invest in some wagons so they can get all of the loot to their cars. Hey, that actually might be a cute idea!
It was a blast. And the best part was meeting Lee. What a great woman.

Here is my Pinterest board with the foods we ate, the drinks we drank, and the crafts that were exchanged.

So be sure to watch on Thursday. Who knows, maybe it will inspire you to throw your very own Pinterest Party. Or at the very least you can poke fun at the girls you will undoubtedly recognize as your friends, neighbors, and acquaintances!

Giant cupcake for the birthday girl

No Bake Cake Bites

Cowgirl cookies I made for the girls to take home

Strawberry Cheesecake Bites

BLT Bites

Another parting gift I made for the girls: Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub

"Fairies in a Jar"

"Birthday Book"

Centerpieces with sliced limes. It's because of these limes I had to wear that awful, ugly bandaid on my pretty manicured nails. :(

The many hostess gifts from my darling guests!

HYSTERICAL!

Never seen a more darling wine bottle!

How's it feel to have the camera on YOU, guys?!

This story was published on 3/26/12 on Patch.com. Follow my column, Goodbye Miniskirt! Hello Minivan!

What have I gotten myself into?!

If you read my blog, then you already know that this Saturday I will be hosting a nationally televised Pinterest Party. The segment is being filmed by "CBS This Morning" and will likely air some time next week (I'll have a better idea when the producer tells me). The crew is flying in from NY on Saturday morning and arriving at our house by 10... party starts at 2:00. They are getting there early to film me prepping, hanging with my little fam, etc.

Anywho, with that said, I've been a friggin' planning machine! I mean, tell me all the stuff you would be doing if you knew your house was going to be shown for all to see...?!  Exactly.

I've been cleaning, shopping, weeding, planting, etc. I've got the have the house in tip-top shape before Saturday... and still find time to get myself cleaned up in the meantime (manicure, hair colored/ cut, etc). There aren't enough hours in the day for me to accomplish everything I need to do by Saturday. In fact, I had our sitter come over for a few hours this morning just so I could get out of the house and run a ton of errands; it's insane how fast I move when I'm not chasing a runaway toddler down the frozen foods aisle, while also pushing a stroller that is piled high with groceries. 

I thought I would show you the flowers I planted on the deck today. We will be doing a little DIY craft during the party and it's a messy one, so the deck will be the scene of the crime. I can't even tell you how much better it looks, compared to this morning. It's literally come to life in a few hours!

Chances are, the flowers will all be dead by Sunday, but who cares!?? The party is Saturday... so the little buggers just need to hang in there for a few more days! C'mon Miracle Grow.. grant me a miracle!

Also, I tackled the party favors for my guests: Homemade Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub in mason jars (No peeking, girls of the party!!!)

Here are the ingredients:

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil (3/4 cup)
• Sugar (2 cups)
• Lemon Juice (4 Tbsp)  

Simply pour in the EVOO and lemon juice. Then add the sugar while stirring, to blend. Last, finish with a spoon (got these spoons at Crate and Barrell for a $1 a piece!) and a cute little ribbon. Voila!

 

Aren't they cute?!

2.5 more days until the PAR-TAY! Wish me luck... and say a prayer I get everything done in time! Don't forget to "like" CBS This Morning on Facebook so you can catch the segment (in the event you miss it LIVE!)

Happy humpday people! :)