Hello, hello! Can you guys believe that we're already towards the end of July? It seems like the summer is just whizzing by! Next weekend starts the beginning of a month of travel for me. First, I leave for the east coast to spend time with my family and friends out there for a few weeks. My hubby was already scheduled to take a trip to Philly for a weeklong class to start his Masters degree at Temple University, so it seemed like a good time for me to head east too. I'll be based at my parents' house in Jersey, but will also traveling around the state to visit in-laws and friends, heading to Philly a few times to see my hubby, and will probably visit NYC once or twice. Then, I come back to Cali for a week of normalcy before heading out to Ireland. I've never been there before ... [Read More]
Archives for July 2016
Peaches & Cream Muffins [gf]
All of us have a few pretty useless talents up our sleeves, and one of mine is knowing the lyrics to about a million songs. I can hear a song once or twice and forever have the words in my vault of a brain. For some reason I'm especially good at remembering lyrics from songs that came out when I was in middle school and high school. I attribute this partly to my strange but good memory, and partly to my musical abilities thanks to playing the piano from age 4 up. Do you know when my lyrical memory comes in handy? When I'm driving with my hubby listening to the Pop2K and 90's stations on Sirius XM radio. They play nonstop music from all of the 90s and 2000s, and it's nothing short of awesome. Usually as I rap Ashanti and Ja Rule tunes, A looks at me and shakes his head as he asks, "How the ... [Read More]
Chocolate Cake Batter Hemp Super Smoothie [vegan & gf] + Bob’s Red Mill Giveaway!
Hi friends! How's the weather by you? It's feeling pretty hot in SoCal this week! I realize that hot is a relative term and that some might not consider 82 degrees all that hot, but the California sun is STRONG and I don't have air conditioning in my house... (which is a pretty common thing in SoCal) so it gets toasty! Luckily my house has lots of ceiling fans and I have a pool (which is currently 85 degrees!) to keep me cool, but some tell-tale signs of summer lately have been: a.) the fruit in my fruit basket is ripening in the blink of an eye, b.) I took coconut oil out of my kitchen pantry to bake earlier today and it was complete liquid, c.) my plants need some extra loving to stay alive, and d.) I'm drinking smoothies like it's my job. Oh smoothies, you forever have my heart. ... [Read More]
IDEA World Convention 2016: Working Out with Jillian Michaels & Trying POP Pilates
If you're an exercise enthusiast, the IDEA World Convention is a wonderful event to attend. Not only does it attract lots of personal trainers, but it also brings bloggers and health coaches like myself together, along with fitness lovers who don't work in the industry and come solely to participate in the workouts and get inspired by motivational speakers in the fitness world. Last weekend I got the chance to attend this year's IDEA World Convention. A few years ago I was able to go to Fit Approach's Blogfest within IDEA World (recaps here, here and here), but unfortunately this year I could only make it up to Los Angeles for a day. There were some seminars that looked interesting, but I decided to keep it simple and instead participate in a few workouts, then explore the expo ... [Read More]
The Best Day Date Ever
Happy Friday friends! What's up for your weekend? I'm heading up to LA later today to hang out with my cousin and stay at her place, and then tomorrow I'll be attending IDEA World to workout with Jillian Michaels and see the latest & greatest in the fitness world! If any of you are attending IDEA as well, definitely shoot me an email or let me know in the comments below. I love meeting fellow fitness enthusiasts & bloggers! Backing it up to last weekend, today I want to recap my date last Saturday with my hubby -- AKA the best day date ever. We decided to head south into the area we used to live in in San Diego. First up on our agenda was hitting up my favorite farmers' market, the Little Italy Mercato. I used to go this market nearly every weekend when we lived ... [Read More]
The Healthy Habits I Practice Daily
The following post is sponsored by Dandy®. If there's something that every single health professional and enthusiast in the world can agree on, I think it's that being healthy is not a destination, it's a lifestyle. It's something you have to put in the effort for each and every day. Consistently making healthy decisions makes me feel strong, capable, and confident, and it transcends into every other area of my life. Today I wanted to share some of the healthy habits that are part of my everyday routine. They're ways of life for me that make me feel vibrant and energized, and help me to be the healthiest, happiest person I can be. Let's get to it! Stretch. Stretching is something that I not only do before and after my workouts, but also on my rest days too. I think it feels ... [Read More]