Friday Favorites

TGIF!! Am I right? And for those of us who observe market holidays PTL (praise the lord, Mom), we have a 3 day weekend! I am pretty sure 3 day weekends are my love language. You get a day for fun, a day for rest, and a day for productivity. Sounds pretty great to me! 

I'm linking up with Andrea, Narci, and Erika to share our favs.

ONE

I shared a post close to my heart yesterday...I'm working on practicing more self-care in 2017. I want to set my focus on making my life fulfilling with simple pleasures. If you didn't have a chance to read it, I would love to hear your thoughts!

On Tuesday, I put my money where my mouth is and decided to take. a random day off of work. I had a lot of things on my to do list and I knew it would invigorate me to cross them off. I slept in a little, had a good workout, and crossed off lots from my to- do list! But I still managed to fit in time for a pedicure....

...and a long walk with my boo. It was a beautiful day to get outside!

TWO

My parent's are the best. They are coming up to visit on Saturday...whoo hoo! They made my day on Tuesday by sending my little love a Valentine's Day card!

 I mean...can you handle the cuteness!?!

Also, my Dad regularly sends me texts like this one:

THREE

I shared with y'all on Monday my favorite types of workouts. I went to Orange Theory this week as normal and it killed me...as normal! I want to prove it to y'all. I wear old workout clothes, I have my hair in a messy bun, I sweat from every surface, and I turn the color of a tomato. Want proof?

Even my eyelids are red! Also, I squatted so hard this week that I ripped my shorts. RIP

What workouts kept you motivated this week?

FOUR

As always, breakfast has been my favorite meal of the day. I could eat breakfast food for every meal! I love trying new recipes for breakfast. I always try to incorporate a lot of protein, some carbs, and veggies cooked in fat. My breakfast is crucial for muscle repair because it is my first meal of the day after a hard workout!

My current breakfast obsessions are pan-fried plantains and chorizo. NOMZ. What should I try in the morning? Any interest in food posts?

What are y'all up to this weekend? See you back here next week! xo

Workout Wednesday

Hi Friends! I hope your week is going swell. I'm back today for another Workout Wednesday! I'm sharing a workout routine that I'm doing this morning followed by my wellness tip of the week. I would love to hear y'all's feedback. Do you like seeing workouts? Diet tips? Recipes? Lifestyle? ETC. I love using my blog as a way to bond with people who share similar interests as myself. I love hearing what y'all think about what I'm writing about and use that to grow. Well anyways...here's my workout for the week!

So like I mentioned I love to start off with a great 2 minute jog to warm up. If jogging isn't your cup of tea, feel free to switch it up with any cardio...rowing machine, jumping jacks, cycling, etc. Then do each set 3 times before moving onto the next set. Between sets I have a quick cardio burst of running up the 5 flights of stairs at my gym. If you don't have access to stairs...do high knees, run up and down your stairs 5 times, do jumping jacks, etc. 

If this workout doesn't seem right for you, check out my workout from last week. These workouts aren't super long and really don't require much equipment. I work at 8 am in the mornings and get to the gym around 6:20 am because #keepingitreal I can't get myself there any earlier :) So I have to make sure I have an effective yet efficient workout so that I have time to shower and get changed for work. 

For my wellness tip for this week I have another recipe for you to try! It's a healthy alternative for one of my favorite treats, Froyo. I stumbled across Kelly's Healthy Strawberry Frozen Yogurt and knew I had to try it. It's easy, healthy, and seriously delicious. I'm not kidding. You can whip it up in your food processor or blender in less than 5 minutes and it's a really satisfying treat. 

I didn't measure the ingredients I just eyeballed it and taste tested it. I hope y'all get the opportunity to try it!

Well there ya have it folks! I hope you enjoyed this post. Happy Wednesday :) xo

Workout Wednesday

HUMP DAYYYYYY! Congratulations people, you made it through half of the week! #Amen. I'm trying something new this week...Workout Wednesday. I picture this being a way for me to a) share some workouts that I've been doing, b) give you a wellness tip that I've been trying and c) keep me accountable to my readers :).

A quick disclaimer though, I am by no means a personal trainer, nutritionist, workout instructor, etc. These are workouts and tips I've cultivated from years of working out and striving to be healthy.

So here's my workout for you this week:

So to break it down for you...I usually start any workout with 2 minutes on the treadmill. I usually do 6.5-7 but chose the speed that's most comfortable to you. Then I have 3 circuits, which you repeat 3 times before moving on to the next one. In between the circuits I do what I call 20/10, which is a 20 second sprint followed by 10 seconds of rest for about 2 minutes. So usually what I do is about 8 for 20 seconds then jump on to the sideboards for the 10 second rest. It's a great cardio bursts between sets. If you have particular questions about certain exercises please comment below and I'd be happy to explain it!

My wellness tip for this week is going to be a recipe that I made recently. I made Monique's Healthy Turkey Chili on Sunday and it was delicious! I made some modifications so that I could cook it in the crockpot. I browned the turkey and threw everything in on low for 7 hours. I also threw in some jalapenos because I'm obsessed with them! It is such a satisfying meal for only 336 calories!

Well there ya have it, my first Workout Wednesday! What do y'all think? Any comments, questions, concerns, feedback? I'd love to hear what y'all think. I hope you have a great day and see you back here Friday!

Christmas Cooking

Hi ya! I hope everyone had a fun-filled weekend. I had an accidentally low-key weekend. Picture this, I get up for the gym on Friday and feel "off." You know what I mean, right? Anyway, I decide to forgo the gym and just go to work and power through. Well, around 11 I hit a WALL. I decided to just take the rest of the day to take a breather. Well, within 2 hours my fever jumped to 102.5. So needless to say I was in bed most of the weekend. I went absolutely stir crazy but I could tell my body was telling me I needed to rest. 

Luckily, on Sunday I was feeling much better and made it to church and the local hockey game, the Charlotte Checkers. I got free tickets through work so I was excited to try it out! I'm admittedly not a huge hockey game but I love any sort of sporting event. And of course, I went with my roomie :)

So, the entire game my roomie's little sister and I tried so hard to get on the screen. Well, finally during overtime we did and needless to say, I was excited!

So that's what went down this weekend so back to today's scheduled post. I feel like Christmas week is full of cooking and baking. I already know of several things I'll be whipping up this week...boy, am I excited! I'm making several batches of cookies for reason's that shall remain unnamed ;) Here are some of my favorite cookie recipes to try...

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So I love being able to cook and plan Christmas' meal but this year I just can't do it. I work Christmas eve and have to drive over an hour and a half to get home after that so I just don't have time to get it all accomplished. So this year I'm just going to make 2 veggie sides on actual Christmas for our dinner celebration. Here are 2 tried and true favorites...if you need veggie sides these are real winners.

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I might make a dessert as well...here are some of my ideas...

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I would love to hear any suggestions y'all have! I'm always looking for new recipes and ideas to try out! Have a great, Monday!! xoxo

Healthy Meals

Hello my people! Hope everyone is doing great. I loved hearing y'alls' feedback on my Guest Post on Monday. If you missed it, you should definitely check it out. Let's just say...that I talk about how potatoes gross me out. Yeah, it got real.

Well, a month ago I talked about how I was going to start eating healthier rather than dieting. I've struggled some but I feel like I've gotten on track for the most part. When I mentioned some recipes I received some feedback to share some of what I've been cooking. So here I am! I've tried a few recipes I think you will love. For the most part I eat cereal for breakfast and a quick meal like leftovers or sandwich for lunch. So I'm sharing recipes for dinner and dessert!

I pretty much solely cook chicken for my protein. 

I loved this meal. What I liked about it was that it was an entire meal in one. Also, it has lots of veggies in it. It was super delicious and easy! I loved that I stuck the chicken in the crockpot in the morning and assembled the bowl when I got home from work. Also, the healthy ranch dressing is delicious.

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I love this chicken. It's my favorite thing to cook after work because it's so quick. All you need is a stocked spice cabinet and chicken thighs. I usually mix the spices the night before so it's quicker in the afternoon.

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The chicken is very tender and flavorful. I also love that it's just spices for flavor. Healthy and delicious is my jam.

Sides are tricky sometimes. You don't want to be cooking a million different things at the same time but you also can't just eat chicken. Sides are when I get very excited. My new obsession is brussels sprouts. I have no idea why but I'm liking it. Mostly because they are so healthy and I crave them...what!? My go to brussels sprouts recipe is this one...

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...they are SO GOOD. They are quick and easy. Seriously, try them. I'm not exaggerating when I say I've made 3 pounds worth of brussels sprouts with this recipe. Is that weird?

Or this one is tasty too...

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Yummmm I want some! These are yummy because they are more chargrilled. Usually, I pair chicken, a brussels sprouts dish, and another dish. Maybe my mashed cauliflower that I blogged about awhile ago or roasted sweet potatoes. 

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And I always have to have dessert after dinner. It's a horrible habit but it is what it is. I'm pretty good at avoiding sugar during the day but at night I like my treat. I mentioned that I was going to try the healthy frozen yogurt and I did. It is so delicious. I would never know it was so healthy.

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It tastes like ice cream and really does the trick for my sweet tooth. I mentioned it on Friday but I also am loving me some pumpkin muffins! Well, it might not be the healthiest dessert ever but it's also not awful for you. The best part too is that I feel very satisfied after just 1. It's 1 box of spiced cake mix, 1 cup of white chocolate chips, and 1 can of pumpkin. Bake for 15-17 minutes at 350 degrees. So easy and so good!

I am obsessed. So that's what I've been eating lately. It isn't strict calorie counting but it is eating cleaner and incorporating more vegetables. I've already lost a view pounds and my clothes are fitting differently just from eating better not less. I don't feel deprived at all. 

I would love to hear what y'all think! Any yummy recipes I should try next? Well toodles for now friends. xoxo

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