[REVIEW] ReserveAge Collagen Powders & Collagen Candy

     If you've had any experience with keto OR a large amount of weight loss then you've probably dealt with some sort of loose skin! I never thought I'd be one of those people, not because I didn't think I could have loose skin from weight loss, but that I'd ever make it far enough to get loose skin! When you make a plan and stick to it, you get rewarded for it! Anyway, so I was on the search for some collagen products and I was offered a chance to try some to review from ReserveAge! I'm so happy that I've gotten to try their products!

     The first product that I tried was ReserveAge Collagen Replenish Powder (Unflavored). I added it to my coffee and it worked great adding it to there. I love how well it blended in and just kinda melted into my coffee. I like the unflavored one so far probably the best because since it's unflavored, it's easy to add it into just about anything! Baking it into food or adding it to yogurt is also a suggestion, not just beverages!

     Next, I tried ReserveAge Collagen Candy (Sour Apple flavored)! I absolutely LOVED how the first thing it reminded me of was an over-sized pixie stick! I didn't personally like the flavor, but not because it tasted bad, because it still tasted good, it was just super sour!! I know a LOT of people who would LOVE it because it's sour though! They also have another flavor for the collagen candy, Cucumber Watermelon!

     Lastly, I was sent another ReserveAge Collagen Replenish Powder, but this one was flavored, Strawberry Hibiscus! With the strawberry and hibiscus combination, tasting it instantly brought me back to eat strawberry flavored PEZ candy!! Seriously, that's exactly what it tasted like! I tried it in my coffee and I didn't like it as much, but I did love it in my water!

     From their website, it lists the benefits of the collagen powders!

Reduces volume of eye wrinkles by 20% in 8 weeks*

Helps maintain skin elasticity and increases elastin production by 18%*

Increased pro-collagen production by 65%*

Helps improve skin smoothness on women’s thighs*

May help increase nail growth and decrease broken nails*

     I've been drinking these for a few weeks now and I feel like I'm really noticing a difference so to say that I'm in love with the products is an understatement. Next time, I'll want to try some of their other flavors though like they also have a Chai Pear! I'd also love to try their Collagen Replenish Chews! They have all sorts of different collagen products to keep you and your skin VERY happy!

Disclosure: I received these products for free so that I could review them. I was not paid for my review, there was nothing even mentioned of wanting it to be a GOOD review (obviously always hope that it is),  there was no obligation of me to give a positive review. These are my own opinions and I'm sorry if they differ from yours and your experience, but they are mine.

Happy MLK, Jr. Day!

     I'm having a pretty good day. How about you? Layla had her birthday party yesterday and it went well. Some friends came and some family came, it was a good day! Then today, it being Martin Luther King Jr Day, Layla had the day off of school! She also got a haircut on Saturday. It looks so cute! I'll have to get a picture of just her with her haircut!

    I have some exciting things coming up, a couple reviews, at least 1 giveaway, and I'm planning our next keto potluck meetup! How many of you have gone to at least 1 keto meetup? How was it? A lot of sponsors? I'd love to make it as great as it was last time, or better of course! We'll see how well it goes.

     I'm in a good mood today, but I didn't sleep specifically well. Rosalie has been sick the last few nights and gets super congested trying to go to sleep and I think she's passed it along to me. I woke up this morning and my throat was all scratchy! Sharing is caring, right? She's too cute to even be upset about it though! While sick, she's just been trying to be a little Momma today. She's been feeding her baby doll, comforting the baby, giving the baby kisses. See, even when we're sick, caring for our babies never stop! <3

Something in the air?

     You ever feel in your bones that something is going to happen? I mean, sometimes you might get a feeling that something is going to happen- you kind of get a feeling whether it's good or bad too. Well, I've been feeling it recently, I feel somewhere inside that something really good is going to happen for us, I'm not sure WHAT that something is, but all I can do is hope for the things it might be. I drink my coffee in the morning and then a couple hours later I make myself some breakfast along with making it for the kiddos.  Rosalie steals my breakfast, usually eggs of some form, no matter what I've already made her and her eating. It never fails though, she's gotta eat my eggs! I make scrambled eggs- she must have some too! I make baked eggs- she must have some too! If I made some just for her- she'd still need MINE! Babies/Kids are funny like that, you can have the exact same thing as them but they want what YOU got because since you're having it, it MUST be better! :P I made them cinnamon rolls and those seem good too, but whatever, she must eat it all. I'm happy she's not a picky eater though, at least so far that I can see!

     I have not stopped wanting to be on here talking to you all, but sometimes I think of all the things I want to write and then not sure how much everyone else wants to hear. I can't tell if I'm just rambling on things I want to say or people will find it funny quirky. I hope for the latter. I need to write down some of the conversations that I have with the kiddos because they are funny!

     I was talking to my friend yesterday about how my kid is smart (and all kids in general) and it's fun & interesting watching the wheels turning figuring out how different things work. Rosalie doesn't have a ton of experience with using a spoon on her own, but yesterday she was using it eating macaroni & cheese like a champ. Like she's known how the whole time and it was just a breeze. After watching her do so well, when she got tired of eating the food, she just flips the spoon and tries putting the handle in her mouth and then I thought, there we go! That's more of what I was expecting to see! :P  Rosalie's personality is really starting to come out and she's so silly and amusing to watch! She can't say many words, but last week we were at the store and I kept saying "Girrrrrrrl" to Layla and then Rosalie kept repeating it back to me, "Girrrrrrl" and then I just couldn't help but laugh her bringing out some sass!

     Well, I leave you wonderful readers with that for now and maybe I can get some writing in later or tomorrow! Thanks for reading!

Happy National Keto Day!

     Today is National Keto Day! Yay! I've been doing keto for over a year now and I'm pretty happy to be living this lifestyle and pretty thankful for it too! It's helped a lot and while it wasn't entirely for the weight loss, it's definitely an added bonus! I used to faint sometimes because my sugar would get low, but I haven't had that issue since being on keto. 

    In other news, I wanted to post yesterday, but I had a massive headache for over half the day. I still felt like I wanted to do so much but it was just temporarily putting me out. Since today I'm feeling a lot better, I'm even more pumped and motivated today! I got a stove stop smoker yesterday and I cannot WAIT to try it!! We have an outdoor smoker, but it hasn't been great because it's one of those Wi-Fi ones and we don't always specifically have the best Wi-Fi connections for it so it's always going off and on. Needless to say, we don't like the smoker! I didn't realize when I bought it that it worked ONLY solely while connected to the Wi-Fi. I just thought it was nice feature that you could check your times on your phone through the app and what not-- wrong! Anyway, lesson learned though. I look forward to trying the smoker that came yesterday though. I'm just excited about a lot of things, really!!

     I've been in a funk (blog-wise) for years it feels like and I can definitely say that I'm out of it based on how I've been feeling a lot lately! I feel like I'm ready to take on the world right now! I'm ready to product review with full force again! I absolutely get passionate about telling people how I feel about products whether it is good or bad. If I try a product and it's awesome, I love letting people know! It's just like when I find a good deal on something- I just CANNOT keep it to myself! I must share with the world!!

Hello, 2020! Happy New Year!

     I'm hopeful that this year is going to be a good year! I mean, surely everyone HOPES that. I know there will be ups and downs, but overall I hope it's still a good year! In our household, this morning it started off well so far- I woke up and got nice hot shower. I started drinking my hot cup of coffee- Cinnamon Sugar Cookie flavor! My kids are still asleep in bed! I guess, I'm just in a good mood waking up grateful for the things that I have rather than the things that I don't! I hope to take down my Christmas tree today, it's bad luck to take it down before January 1st and I didn't think I needed any of that so I waited! I was talking to my sister-in-law about this very thing a few days ago, we're considerably very lucky-- we have a roof over our heads, heat, hot water, etc.. clothes, extra things like internet and phone, Netflix.. I mean, I could list everything we have that some people may not, but that's just silly- the point is that we are very lucky for what we DO have! So, I'm trying to have a better outlook on the things to be grateful for rather than the not's! I think that's my New Year's Resolution this year, to be more positive thinking rather than just the down side! It's real easy to just look at the down side.

     Anyway, I hope all of you are having as good of a morning as I am today! 

What makes you grateful this morning?

Hey There!

I know, I know.. it's been awhile, but I've been busy babysitting kiddos, being a Mom, and still going strong doing keto!! I've gone past my ketoversary so that was exciting! I've been doing it for over a year now! I've lost weight, still not where I want to be, but I feel like I've come a long way! This is just the first of many posts and activeness to come from me again. Since I've been so busy, I wanted to make it easier on myself so I asked for a Chromebook for Christmas... and what do you know, Santa (my mother-in-law) brought me one!! I have so much to do on here, like all these goals going on in my head and I'm SO excited about getting them done! Now that I have the Chromebook, it makes it more accessible to blog more without a problem so that was the goal for me! :) Anyway, I just wanted to put that out there but I'll start posting more!!

2 Months on Keto and counting

            Yesterday marked 2 months since starting my keto journey. It was Valentine's Day so I was nice and made Jed & Layla lasagna. I rarely ever make it and they loved it! I still did good by me and ate eggs & turkey sausage. It doesn't sound as good, but I very much still enjoyed it!
            I'm feeling great! My scale isn't always changing and I'm okay with that, but I feel like changes are always happening. My stomach is by no means even close to flat but I feel it tightening up all the same. I'm not entirely sure why that is though at the moment, but I'll take it. I've lost a total of 19 pounds since I started my journey. I'm within 10 pounds of my first goal and that's to be less than 200 lbs. It's been a VERY long time since I've been below 200 pounds. It was before Layla was born (10 years ago), when I got pregnant with her I was at 180, then dropped down to 170 from all the morning sickness and then packed it all back on during my pregnancy and then some and never got rid of it. My highest weight was weighing in at 260.8 and I felt awful. I'm not going back that direction and I'm so happy to be making a change in my life to make myself healthy. Doesn't matter if it was on a keto journey or another one, my goal is to be healthy. I don't want to  have to worry about dying at a young age because I decided to eat bad things all the time! I don't eat perfectly even still, but I'm trying to do better with what I'm putting in my body.
            Some days it is a lot more challenging! Challenging to not take the easy way and just pop something in the microwave that is extremely unhealthy for me, but again, quick and easy. I've been really good about not detouring right now, but there's not very often that it isn't a struggle. To be clear, I don't feel like I'm depriving myself of food by no means. It's more of a struggle with how lazy I am, but I'd like to get more active as well. Not just with making my own food, but I'm SO looking forward to warmer weather so I can go for walks. I would now, but right now, I'd have to drag my 6 month old out into the cold too.
            I'm currently in the process of planning a keto potluck meetup. I'm really excited about doing it! I also can't wait to try some keto products/companies- not specifically for the meetup, but in general. :) I haven't lost my excitement for my journey.