IIt's Sunday night and another weekend has flown by. Here are some snapshots of my last couple of days: Hiking around a nearby lake Racking my homemade wine again My first pro soccer game: the San Jose Earthquakes My hubby introduced me to an awesome sandwich shop called Ike's. I tried the Sometimes I'm a Vegetarian sandwich - grilled mushrooms, marinated artichoke hearts, pesto & provolone - on whole wheat bread and it was seriously delicious. Found a new beach spot with forests that back up to the sand A pineapple, orange, kale, spirulina & carrot green monster breakfast Plant shopping I bought the plant pictured above solely because it completely reminds me of Katniss Everdeen & The Hunger Games. The plant looks on fire just as she's ... [Read More]
exercise
Hiking the Merry-Go-Round Trail at Mount Madonna County Park
Hope that everyone had a great weekend and Mother's Day! My hubby gave me flowers for being a wonderful canine mother. ;-) I was thinking a lot about my mom yesterday and how much I appreciate her. Even though we live on opposite coasts, we talk at least once a day and are really close. She was on vacation with my dad in Aruba the past several days, so I kept thinking it was strange not getting to call her and wish her a happy Mother's Day. I love my mama! Yesterday Adam, Harley and I went hiking at a new spot nearby, called Mount Madonna County Park. Adam and I were just recently talking about how neither of us have really seen Redwood trees before - because we're planning a trip up to Redwood forests very soon! - and we were pleasantly surprised when we got to the ... [Read More]
Live with Intention
Last night after watching my DVRed episode of The Following (SO good yet SO disturbing!), I needed to watch something lighter to get visions of psychopaths and murder out of my head before going to sleep. I wound up putting on a reality TV show about Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte. In the episode, Ryan talks about his work hard, play hard mentality. While I don't think show is meant to be inspirational or anything more than goofy late night entertainment, I went to sleep thinking about how this mindset really resonates with me and is how I always want to live my life giving my all, taking chances, and living life to the fullest. When I woke up, I zipped through my work with great productivity. Later on I had a session with a personal trainer at my gym. I went into the workout with Ryan ... [Read More]
At-Home Cardio Blast Workout
(source) I came across an article on Buzzfeed today titled 18 People Who Shouldn't be Allowed to Use the Gym. I always find fitness related humor to be funny, and it seriously had me cracking up. If you enjoy seeing people do ridiculous things like wear heels to the gym (I can barely walk in heels, let alone exercise in them!) or eat an ice cream cone while on the bike (seriously?!), you need to check it out. Speaking of the gym, I checked out one last weekend nearby but have yet to become a member of one in my new area, so at-home/outside workouts are my thing at the moment. When it came to exercising today, I felt like I haven't gotten a really heart pounding workout in lately, so I came up with a quick routine that I was confident would leave me very sweaty... and it did! I ... [Read More]
A Body in Motion
Staying active looks different to different people. For some, it's that daily long walk with their dog. For others, it means regularly going to CrossFit, boxing, running, biking, weight lifting, and the list goes on and on. I think that as we go through different phases and stages of our lives, our fitness regimen sometimes changes. There's nothing wrong with that friends, as long as we keep on moving. I find that I go through phases of being into different types of exercise. While last year I was at the gym almost everyday, lately I've hardly been there at all - even before I moved last weekend and actually had a gym that I could go to (must join a new one soon!). Instead, I've been more into outdoor workouts - mainly hiking, tennis and biking. Those workouts have just felt more ... [Read More]
Product Review: Polar FT40 Heart Rate Watch
A few months ago, I reviewed a heart rate monitor from Sportline that I wasn't too happy with. After writing that post and knowing that I needed a better watch to work out with, I reached out to my fellow Girls Gone Sporty ambassadors to see what their picks were. I received some great feedback from some women and decided to go with a Polar heart rate watch, or what they refer to as a training computer. If you're curious as to how wearing a heart rate monitor during exercise can benefit you, check out an article I just wrote on FitKit on this subject here. I've been reluctant to try a sport watch with a chest strap, for the simple fact that I was convinced it would annoy me. I guess I'm weird in that I hate things bothering me during workouts. For instance, my iPhone armband ... [Read More]