Another weekend flew by, and another busy Monday has come and gone. While Mondays are usually just a "back to the grind" kind of day, this Monday in particular was an exciting day for my family. Earlier my second nephew was welcomed into the world! The one major downside to living in California is being on opposite coasts from my family... especially during times like this, when I just want to see this munchkin for myself instead of through my iPhone! But, I'll have to wait to meet the little guy until I fly back to Jersey in 2 months. Moving on to exercise, you may notice that when I talk about workouts, I frequently mention how much I love changing up my fitness routine. I feel that doing the same exercises over and over mentally leads to boredom, and physically leads to your body ... [Read More]
workouts
Travel Snacks & A Rowing Workout
Hello from Amsterdam! After a long trip - one that included traffic, a layover, an overnight flight with hardly any sleep, missed trains, and getting lost trying to find my hotel - I made it to my hotel this morning and had a chance to enjoy this lovely city. Let me back up though, and share with you a post I wrote en route to Chicago yesterday (I had to pause and figure out if it was technically earlier today, yesterday or two days ago - that's what travel and no sleep will do to ya ;-) ). Remembering 9/11 Though I don’t want to get too into it and freak myself out on a day when I’m flying, I want to at least recognize that it’s 9/11. I can’t believe it has been 12 years already since that horrible day that has forever impacted America. Like most people, I’ll never forget ... [Read More]
Back to Hiking…Or Not
For all of my readers in the U.S. and Canada, YAY for Labor Day weekend! I'm looking forward to what seems like it'll be a pretty low-key next couple of days. Today I decided to try getting back to my usual Friday routine of going for a hike with Harley girl. I haven't hiked lately since getting a boot on for my foot injury, but now that the cast has been off for a week and it's feeling pretty good, I figured I'd try to do a somewhat easy & short hike. Quite honestly, I've been dying to go hiking. The views are so gorgeous around here, and I just adore getting some fresh air and clearing my mind during a hike. After a nicely productive morning of work, I took Harley to our usual nearby park that we hike at for a lunchtime workout. It's pretty toasty out today - about 90 and bright ... [Read More]
A Dose of Workout Inspiration
I'm a big fan of mantras and affirmations, and today I felt like checking out some quotes for workout inspiration. I thought I'd share my favorites that I just came across. I'm about to hit the gym, and I hope that this inspires you to go exercise and get those endorphins flowing today too! (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) (source) ... [Read More]
“Sick” Food & My New Love for Rowing
I get bored just thinking about doing the same workout day in and day out, which is why I'm always changing up my exercise routine. In the past week, my workouts have included strength training, plyometric exercises, yoga, the stair master, biking both indoors and outdoors, hiking, and my new favorite piece of gym equipment: the rowing machine. (source <-- this site also has some nice basic info on rowing) I recently started incorporating the rowing machine into my fitness regimen. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but it caught my eye one day so I hopped on it to try it out. I really like how rowing fatigues my arms, gives my legs a bit of a break and is low impact on my joints. A bunch of times now I've rowed for part of my workout, usually doing 4 sets of 5 minutes as ... [Read More]
My New Workout Playlist {May 2013}
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]