We're Married!

John (Lammer) & I finally tied the knot and our day was a dream come true. 

We couldn't be any happier!

Check out a snip-it of our day HERE. 

Many more pictures to come!

Engagement Party Bliss

In the locket around my neck were pictures of my honey.

This past weekend was our official engagement party at Lammer's sister's home in Garden City, Long Island.  We were blessed with beautiful weather along with amazing friends and family.  We are so excited to celebrate our love with the people we love and the fun is only beginning!

Lammer & Lauren

After our gorgeous party we all huddled around a warm fire.

L & J = Love

 Lammer and I took a paddle out in Sandy Hook the other night and stopped for a bit to watch the sunset.  Sometimes I'm bursting with so much love for him that I have to express it!  

That night I wrote it in the sand.  

Racetrack Moonshine

Lammer and I spent yesterday at the Monmouth Racetrack with a ton of friends.  Since beer is no longer a part of my life (damn you gluten), I have to pack my own shoot as far as booze goes.  My new thing is grabbing a ball jar and pouring a little Tito's vodka, then some coconut water into it.  I squeeze a wedge of lime and rub some mint sprigs into it and close the top.  When I arrive to wherever I'm partying, I'll fill the rest of the jar up with seltzer water and ice.  It's my own moonshine, without the whiskey - HA!  I can't tell you how many asks I get about the drink because it looks so refreshing.  Give it a whirl and enjoy responsibly.

Above, Lammer and I are enjoying ourselves at the track...and Lammer looks like he is wearing a giant sombrero.  

Sassy!

My boyfriend teases me saying that I'm "sassy."  The first few times it bothered me and made me feel bad - that maybe I needed to work on being sweeter.  But the more I thought about it I realized, yea, I am sassy and love it!  Guess it's the Jersey shore gal in me that's got a bite to my personality.  Instead of harping on the negative and consider ways to change aspects of my personality that others may or may not particularly like, I want to embrace my sassiness and confidently own it.  

It's what makes me who I am!  What's more sassy than that?  

SASSY:  Lively, bold, and full of spirit; cheeky.

Holiday Fun with Kiddies

Lammer & I had a fun filled holiday with both my family and his.  We embraced every chance we could to spend time with the ones we love most and we're so glad we did.

Below are just a few shots of this past weekend in beautiful Lake George, which was the last of our visits.  My cousin's little munchkins (there were 7 of them!) were the highlight of our visit and so much fun to be around!

Lammer is ridiculous with kids - in a very good way!
They were having a pretty serious phone conversation.

Lovey-dovey time with Auntie Yaya!

JG's "Shake What Ya Mama Gave You" Recipe

Lammer drinking his "Shake What Your Mama Gave You" before a late

morning surf session outside of our place in Nicaragua.

Before Lammer & I headed to the house we rented in Nicaragua for the week (this past spring), we loaded a cart full of delicious, ripe, colorful fruit and veggies.  Thank heavens there was a blender where we were staying to blend cold shakes on the hot, hot days.  This was one of the shakes Lammer threw together in between surf sessions.  The beauty with shakes is that there is no right or wrong  of whatever you're putting in it (just be mindful of how much sugar is going into it).  You can always taste test while throwing something together and add more of something when you need it.  He used lots of already chopped up fruit just sitting in the fridge for this one.  It came out so refreshing!  Keep in mind, this shake is loaded with sugar...and I only splurged on it because we were on vacation.  However, if he made this while at home, I would have froze them for smaller portions of ice pops!  Moral of this blog post - experiment on your own!

Ingredients:
juice of some oranges (slice in half and squeeze juice into blender)
banana
apple (with skin)
pineapple
watermelon
mango
lime
ice cubes

Directions:
Blend until smooth.  Pour into glass and enjoy!
*Tip:  If you end up making a little too much, freeze the rest in freezer pops for a yummy treat later!

Please note, this shake above is more of a refreshing and fun shake.  If you needed to make more of a meal out of this, add some protein and healthy fat like hemp powder, a teaspoon of your favorite nut butter, or just nosh on a handful of nuts/seeds to compliment this drink.  An easy way to add healthy fat to a shake (beyond the good fat from the nuts/seeds) is to add a 1/4-1/2 teaspoon coconut oil, a squirt of flax oil (or ground flax or chia seeds), or a sliver of some avocado.  Remember, spirulina powder (blue green algae) is an excellent source of vegetable protein that may turn your shake green, but sure does vamp it up.  Highly recommended!

Still at a loss for shake ideas?  Check out IIN's 47 Smoothies for Summer post (featuring another one of my shake recipes under "fortify" Lauren's #1 Green Shake) for more healthy and delicious inspiration!

Spring Cleaning: Out with the old, in with the new!

Every spring we all get that itch (well, at least I do) to clean up our space, go through our closets and toss what we no longer need. I get this bug baaaad every year around this time, but I love it! There is such a sense of pleasure for me to get rid of things that I haven't been using, expired food that is just taking up space in my kitchen, clothes that I haven't been wearing, etc. I get a thrill from the extra space that it creates and enjoy the feeling of "lightness" it brings! 

 I follow a few rules of Feng Shui and create 3 different piles while sorting through my closets/drawers/belongings:
1. things to definitely keep.
2. things to definitely throw away (or give away!)
3. an undecided pile to think about, and/or see if you use within the next 6 months (then purge if not!)

 Then I follow my purging with a quick wipe down of the area with a dampened rag with a little vinegar/water.

The beau, also known as Lammer, is preparing his house to be listed within the next few months. So, my strong desire to purge and clean has been rubbing off on him. This past weekend as we enjoyed the lovely Memorial Day weather we turned up the reggae and buzzed around the house cleaning, sorting, planting, washing, reorganizing, disposing, etc. Gosh, did it feel good!

Later in the afternoon I saw him roll out his ex-girlfriend's pretty pink Cadillac bike that's just been collecting dust in his basement (all while driving me NUTS each and every time I do laundry down there). "Ex-girlfriend's bike, fifty bucks, gotta go! How does that sound?!" he said to me as he was writing up a sign for it. "Love it!" I replied, super excited to get that old thing out of our lives! Within 5 minutes someone was knocking on the door with cash in their hand for the bike, but requested that it came along with the sign since it was so funny! Now someone else can enjoy the pretty pink bike without any of the baggage that it brought the two of us. Feng Shui at it's best!!

Happy spring cleaning to all!

This blog post was originally posted on Live. Breathe. Grow.'s blog. I'm an Inspiration Nation blogger for them, and so proud of it!

JG's "UR Beet Salad" Recipe

Lammer in between surf sessions in our cabana in Nicaragua.
He was very insistent on the name & spelling of this recipe - HA!

While the beau (Lammer) and I were in Nicaragua this past spring, we made sure to stock the fridge with plenty of fresh produce since we were staying in a place far, far away from any kinds of grocery stores where food was available.  One morning, Lammer got his groove on in the kitchen and threw this amazing salad together from what we had in the fridge.  The ingredients below have no measurements because we had no measurements in the kitchen that trip.  Use your best judgement and have fun making this salad to your taste!

Ingredients:
cooked beets (peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks)
celery (chopped fine)
white onion (chopped fine)
yellow & red pepper (chopped fine)
garlic cloves (minced)
dash of sea salt (the chunky kind would be ideal)
extra virgin olive oil
fresh chopped cilantro

Directions:
While beets are being boiled, chop up the rest of the ingredients.  Throw everything into a large bowl and mix very well.  The more this salad marinates, the yummier it becomes.  Enjoy!