Zevia Soda Review + Giveway and Why it’s Special to Me

06/25/2014 R.C. Liley 10 Comments

Hey there, happy Hump Day! How’s your week going so far?

Doing good here, and now that it’s summer, the Texas weather is wasting no time on turning up the heat! If you’re looking for a way to cool down with a refreshing drink, look no further than Zevia, the zero calorie soda.

Zevia offers 15 flavors of zero calorie deliciousness and anyone is sure to find a favorite or two…..or more! Not only do I love the company for creating a healthy alternative to those unhealthy sugary sodas or dangerous sugar-free sweeteners, but they are helping to spread the word and fight against childhood obesity.

Here’s a video they have on YouTube that gets the message across pretty well!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_40WYH0kWQ&w=560&h=315]

As a major supporter in the fight against obesity and raising awareness of what we are putting in our bodies and feeding our children, I love to see companies that help spread the word. And, now that I’m a parent to the most precious little girl ever (Biased? Nahhhh), I know it’ll be tough trying to teach her about all of the processed food we don’t eat when so many of her peers and parents will have it daily. It will be a struggle, but something I will never back down from or give up on. Thanks to companies like Zevia, the fight will be easier.

Avery’s not ready to drink anything other than mommy’s milk right now, but you can rest assured I’ll happily share a can of Zevia on a hot summer day when that time comes. Who says being healthy is boring? I say it’s only what you make of it, and it is far from boring!

Zevia sent a 6-pack sampler for me to review which included their Cream Soda (yes!), Ginger Ale (double yes!), Ginger Root Beer, Grapefruit Citrus, Grape, and Cherry Cola flavors. I’ve tried these in the past, but not since they’ve “cracked the code” with their next gen sweetening system, SweetSmart.

I was already more than happy with their flavors before, so I had to find out if they could actually get any better. Turns out, they can! Ha ha, get it? Can? Anyone? *Crickets chirping*

Grape – If you like grape soda, you’ll love this one! It’s crisp, bubbly, and not overwhelming. I’m not a huge fan of grape flavored drinks, but if someone offered this to me, I’d happily accept.

Cream Soda – Loved it before, and now I love it even more! Going Mom and I both rank this as one of our favorites! If you’re trying to get off the sugar-laden cream sodas out there, you’ll be surprised to find you’re not sacrificing anything by switching to Zevia’s Cream Soda.

Ginger Ale – I buy this one often, and enjoy it with a little bourbon every now and then. Alone, it’s not a very strong ginger flavor, but it’s light, refreshing, and subtle. Perfect in the Texas heat!

Grapefruit Citrus – Probably my least favorite of the sampler pack, but by no means bad. I actually like the real grapefruit and its slight bitterness, but the slight bitterness in this drink just didn’t do it for me. Like the grape, I’d happily accept if offered to me, but wouldn’t buy this one for myself.

Ginger Root Beer – Ginger + Root Beer = two things I love! Another favorite of ours, and one that I also use with bourbon or a little vodka. This has more of a root beer flavor than anything, but that’s okay with me.

Decisions, decisions.... — Decisions, decisions….

Cherry Cola – Another winner for me! I used to love Cherry Coke back in my “heavy boy” days and was excited when Zevia first released this flavor. It tastes just like a cherry cola should, and is a perfect replacement for the high calorie, liquid sugar alternative.

Something I found a few years ago was a recipe to make cake with Zevia. The instructions were simple; just use a boxed cake mix and follow the instructions using a can of Zevia for the liquid. If it was yellow cake, Cream Soda was the preferred choice, and if it was chocolate cake, Dr. Zevia (like Dr. Pepper) was suggested.

Well, I’m not a fan of using boxed anything, so I skipped that and tried my own recipe with Cherry Cola. The result was a big hit and Zevia even has it on their website now. Check out my Zevia Cherry Cola Protein Bread recipe here and look around at other creative ways to cook with Zevia.

Kelley and I have been enjoying Zevia for several years now, and have enjoyed watching the health-minded company expand as more people caught on to their guilt-free sodas. Zevia is the only soda we’ve had in our home for a long time, and it was always a treat for us to share a can during lunch when we both worked together.

When Kelley was pregnant with Avery, we anxiously counted each passing week of her pregnancy, and it became a weekly tradition to have a celebratory Zevia to cheers with. Every Wednesday, the completion of another week pregnant, I would pack either a can of Cream Soda or Ginger Root Beer Zevia for us to share. For the major milestones, I’d pack 2 full cans for us each to enjoy!

We loved the fact that Zevia was an extremely delicious safe drink to enjoy while Kelley was pregnant, and it will always have a place in our heart when thinking back to those 9 months leading up when we first met Avery.

Now that I’m a stay-at-home parent, we aren’t able to share a Zevia at lunch, but every now and then, I still pack a can for Kelley to enjoy on Wednesday. It makes me happy just picturing the smile on her face as she opens her lunch bag to see a Zevia waiting for her to enjoy.

Another reason to love Zevia is that they have agreed to give 5 lucky readers a 6-pack of their wonderfully refreshing and guilt-free soda. Winners can select the flavor of their choice. All you have to do to enter is complete the Rafflecopter entries below.

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

Make sure to check out Zevia on the following social media sites and look for great deals and coupons that they’re always sharing! Or go to their site and print off a coupon now!

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Good luck and happy drinking!

Life, Parenting

The Morning Phases of Our Baby: Wake Up, Smile, Fart, Crawl, Cry, Happy

06/24/2014 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

As all parents know, babies are not predictable as they are constantly changing physically and mentally. But, there’s usually some sort of routine you have established which helps ease the mind at least a little.

Right now, at 7 months, we are usually greeted with a smile upon entering Avery’s room first thing in the morning. Even if she is already awake and crying, she’ll stop and flash her pearly whites rosy gums at us. The smiles may quickly turn to screams and cries as we try to feed her or set her down after changing her diaper, but those smiles are priceless.

Yesterday morning I captured what a typical morning for Avery and me is like during the workweek, when Going Mom is at work.

Starting with smiles upon seeing one of her parents, I then try to feed her a bottle, which 9 times out of 10 proves unsuccessful. Then I’ll change her into a new cloth diaper, set her down on a blanket to put the dirty diaper away and wash my hands, listen to her cry as I leave the room, and then stop and act like all is well once I re-enter.

She’s become very clingy and will let the whole neighborhood know she’s not getting enough attention; it’s fun! After she’s changed, we will play on the floor for a while to release some energy and work on crawling. Eventually, I’ll bring her to the kitchen and set her in her jumper while I clean whatever dishes are in the sink. I am OCD about dishes in the sink and feel that I must clean them immediately!

Once that’s done, we go into the garage and I’ll workout while she’s next to me in her jumper. Not sure why, but for whatever reason, Avery is usually happier in her jumper when it’s in the garage as opposed to in the kitchen area. It’s great since trying to focus on lifting heavy is difficult when you have a screaming baby to contend with, but I wish she’d be good inside too! After working out, we’ll go back inside where I clean myself and try to stop sweating so much before feeding Avery.

She’s better about taking the bottle at this point, and sometimes even falls asleep while eating. If she does, we’ll go to the nursery to change her and lay her down to sleep. If she’s still awake, we’ll either play a little more or she will watch me make something in the kitchen. Not much longer and she’ll be yawning, rubbing her face, and most likely getting fussy; all signs it’s time for a nap!

I don’t eat my first meal of the day until after she’s asleep, which is typically around 1 or 2 pm after factoring in the time it takes to cook my meal. It works thus far, and I usually have 1.5 – 2.5 hours before she wakes. But this post is about the morning, so I’ll stop there.

To help you better visualize Avery’s morning phases, I will share the video with you here:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Cc65AAukQw&w=560&h=315]

Our daughter’s morning phases at 7 months. She’s learning to crawl and even lets out a nice fart. She’s going to resent me in a few years…

Does your baby have any particular morning “phases”?

Have you established a daily routine with your kid(s) or at least tried?

Life, Parenting

Weekend Recap and My First Donut in Years

06/23/2014 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

Right now, if you know me or have been reading my blog, you might be thinking “What?! Going Dad had a donut after talking so much about eating healthy?!”

Well, it’s not that kind of donut, so you can breathe again; or go on not caring in the first place. 🙂

After an already seemingly long day out with Avery on Saturday, I walked out of the Tom Thumb to find my precious Subaru with a flat tire. Good thing I didn’t have any frozen veggies or anything perishable. Oh wait, I DID! At least Avery thought it was funny….

Luckily, I’ve put in my time working on several types of cars and had the spare (a.k.a. donut) on in no time.

So yeah, I’m not a hypocrite because I didn’t have one of those sugary fried dough confections. Of course they taste good, but I simply don’t derive satisfaction from something that’s non-nutritive and even harmful to my body.

Backtracking to Saturday morning, Going Mom and I were treated to a longer than usual sleeping baby which gave us an extra hour’s sleep! Mornings like these have become scarce, but they’re always well received.

When she finally woke, we went about our normal Saturday routine; Kelley fed and changed Avery as I made a batch of chocolate banana protein pancakes. Kelley brewed our black gold in the French Press which we both readily consumed…..maybe too fast. After a couple hours, it was time to grab the Fiskars Reel Mower and kick some grass.

After kicking the grass, I then mowed it. Since Kelley was home and kept Avery, I didn’t wear her in the Onya, so I wore my 20lb vest instead. Just preparing for when Avery hits the 20lb mark; I’ll be ready!

Several areas in the house have been bothering Kelley, and I told her I’d take Avery out for some errands while she cleaned to her liking. I try to keep a clean house so she doesn’t have to worry about these things on the weekend, but in reality, I suck at most cleaning. Literally, I vacuum a lot.

I’ve been wanting to make an activity board for Avery for a while, so I went to Home Depot to find a few items that would be great for her to play with. I wasn’t exactly sure what all I would find, but door stops were an obvious choice. Every time we set her down in her nursery, Avery will head right toward the door stop and pull it and release.

Door stops should be located in the toy aisle. — I wonder what would happen if I put my face next to it when I let go….

One of our neighbors had given me some extra MDF to use for the board, and bought another piece from the scrap wood from Home Depot. Have you ever checked out the scrap section at a hardware store? You can get some great deals on quality wood!

After we left Home Depot, we went to Tom Thumb where I came back out to the flat tire. The culprit was a shiny screw from all of the new construction around our neighborhood….yay. I’m going to Costco today, so hopefully they can patch it to be good as new….or close to it!

Going Mom was still “going” with the cleaning when we arrived home, but she had a lot done and we just needed to finish a few things. We did our best to keep Avery entertained the rest of the night, which is getting more challenging than usual.

I'm sorry, did you say something? — I’m sorry, did you say something?

After an already long day, we pushed our luck and tried to see if Avery would improve her new crawling skills before bedtime. Nope, she was tired, fussy, hungry, and wanted nothing to do with us. So off to bed she went and with how tired she had to of been, we were sure we’d have another day of sleeping in.

Silly parents, when will we learn? Avery was up talking to herself and moving all over her crib nice and early. We laid in bed, listening to her noises until they turned into cries, at which point I brought her to Kelley to eat.

It was a perfect lazy Sunday morning with cloud covered skies and rain falling steadily. I cooked pumpkin teff and my wife, knowing the key to my heart, brewed coffee in the French Press. We sat outside to enjoy the coffee and watch the rain with Avery. She kept pretty active as Kelley held her squirmy body, but eventually she gave in to her tiredness and was out fast!

Kelley was able to carry her inside and put her in the crib without waking her, so we did what any couple would do with a sleeping baby; Kelley cleaned and I went for a run in the rain.

6.5 miles plus 31 burpees, pushups, and squats later, I returned, drenched from non-stop rain, to find Avery awake and with Kelley in the kitchen. The nap was short-lived, but both girls seemed to be in a good mood. Phew!

Besides going on a long walk together after the rain cleared, we hung around the house the rest of the day and finished a few chores while having classic Donald Duck cartoons playing on YouTube through our TV. Donald Duck quarreling with Chip and Dale are the cartoons I remember growing up on, and hope to get Avery into watching them more often with us. So far, we’re off to a bad start as she doesn’t understand she needs to face the TV to watch it…

But I’m not too concerned since we don’t want her having a lot of screen time anyway! Once again, we pushed our limits with our daughter and tried capturing her crawling in action. This time was better than Saturday night, and I went a little video crazy on Instagram. But hey, our little girl is getting the hang of this crawling thing!!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad)

She wasn’t fussy, but it was late, so we called it a night and Kelley laid her down to sleep after feeding her. Now it’s back to Monday and Avery and I are already missing Mommy; hopefully she’ll be home on time!

Even as a stay-at-home parent, I still feel the dreadful effects of a weekend coming to an end just because I’ll be without my wife/partner in crime the next day. But we can’t sit and sulk, instead I’ll celebrate the fact that we had a pleasant weekend together and look forward to another great weekend ahead!

Are you an at-home parent who is still affected by a typical workweek?

Ever have to change a tire, or something worse, in the middle of a parking lot…..with kids?