Howdy Howdy!

How was everyone's weekend? I hope it was restful and fun!

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I went home to College Station this weekend to attend TexFit! TexFit is a statewide fitness covention where a bunch of fitness instructors from all around the state get together to share ideas, choreography, teaching techniques and more. It was so fun to see all of the girls I used to teach with at A&M and meet a ton of new instructors. We worked out all day Saturday and spent Friday and Saturday night socializing. It was an AMAZING weekend, and I learned so much.

While in College Station, one of my good friends Alison surprised me with a little gift of the knowledge building variety.


I have been wanting to read this book for a while now. It looks like it has a lot of very sound information, and I am super excited to try out some of the recipes in the back of the book. I will be sharing all of the yummy eats with you of course! I will also give y'all a full recap as soon as I am finished reading. Has anyone read it? What did you think?

When I got home today, I was greeted with a package from my friend Maryann- Peanut Flour! I have been dying to get my hands on some of this stuff forever. Maryann to the rescue!



You all know I have a slight obsession with nut butters, so a flour that has a peanuty (is that a word?) taste sounds right up my alley. Check out these nutrtion facts!


I was really impressed by how much protein, folate, and magnesium it contained. This is for a 1/4 cup serving. I am beyond excited to try baking with this stuff! I have found a peanut butter cookie recipe I want to try out, but other than that I am open for ideas!

I am off to make some cake batter cookies for my office, and maybe Eric's if he's nice. They were requested a while ago, but I am just now getting around to making them. :) I feel a little guilty bringing unhealthy goodies to the office, but I'm a people pleaser so I want to give them what they want. I usually bring them a healthy alternative to at least try! Last time, I brought cake batter cookies and 2 loaves low-fat pumpkin bread, and all of the cookies were gone before 1/2 of one loaf of bread. Oh well, I try!

I hope you all have a marvelous Monday!

Q's and A's:
What did you do this weekend?
Have you read and of The Eat Clean Diet series?
If you have posted any recipes using peanut flour, I would love it if you would leave me the link below!

In health,

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Howdy Everyone,

How are you this evening? I have to be honest, I've definitely been better. I just got home after spending 3.5 hours in the dentist chair! Yes, you read that right, 3.5 hours. Luckily, he had me juiced up on laughing gas but it still wasn't fun at all. I was so nervous about going to the dentist, that I hardly ate anything for lunch so I was starving after my appointment. There was just one problem, I couldn't feel my mouth at all! My bottom lip is ginormous and I can't feel my tongue! The dentist warned me not to try and chew anything, seeing as I could bite my tongue and not even know it. Yikes!

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I decided to play it safe and make a green monster. However, my green monster turned into a gray monster. It contained blueberries, 1/2 banana, 1 handful of spinach, a little bit of almond milk, a few ice cubes, and a spoonful of peanut butter. The blueberries are to blame for the gray color. Seeing as I was still in a laughing gas daze, I forgot to take a picture. It took me forever to drink the smoothie, but I felt much better after I was done! Ok, enough complaining.

Since I knew I would feel pretty yucky this evening, I made sure to get my workout in this morning. I woke up early to get in a 5 mile run and then taught a yoga class at 11:30am.

Maryann, over at The Balanced Bean, mentioned that she loved the protein bars "Think Thin." I have seen them at the grocery store a few times, but never picked them up. I happened upon a coupon for them the other day, and couldn't pass up the opportunity to try them out. I purchased the crunchy peanut butter bar and the fudge brownie bar. They did not disappoint!

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Each of these bars contain between 15 and 20 grams of protein, 0 sugar, and are gluten free. They contain around 200 calories each, which is a little more than I would typically like in a bar but they're perfect on days when I know I'm not going to eat dinner until 8:00pm. They did a great job of keeping me full all afternoon, which is hard to do. I would definitely recommend them! Thanks Maryann for the great suggestion!

I'm off to bum around on the couch and try not to drool on myself. ;) I hope you have a wonderful evening!

P.S. please forgive any typos in this post, I'm still a little loopy. hahaha

Q's and A's:
Have you ever tried Think Think protein bars?
What's your go to bar when you have to last a long time between meals?

In health,

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Good morning everyone!

Thank you for all the sweet comments about yesterday's recipe video blog! If you missed it, you can check it out here.
This post is going to be pretty brief because I was a bad girl and hit the snooze button this morning. It was just one of those days!

Yesterday's workout consisted of a five mile run in the morning and then teaching a yoga class at 11:30am. We are working on big toe hold  in that class, and my students are progressing amazingly. They get better and better witch each class, and it makes my heart so happy! :)

All this week, I have been enjoying trash salads for lunch. ("Trash" because I just throw everything I have in my fridge in the salad)

This beauty contains spinach, romaine, soy beans, mushrooms, avocado, and fat free feta. The little cutie on the side was the perfect dessert!

While I was sweating my but off on the stair master the other day, I glanced through this months Women's Health and learned some interesting facts I had to share with you!

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• 80% of people reported watching TV over the previous 24 hours, while only 5% reported doing vigorous activity. Is this sad or what?
• 14% of the foods we buy end up in the trash. To prevent this, try to plan out your meals in advance and only buy the amount of produce you can eat before it goes bad.
• Kiwi can help you absorb more iron from food. Women who chased an iron-fortified cereal with two kiwis raised their iron levels more than those who paired the cereal with a banana. This is great, since 12% of American women are iron deficient.
• People who looked at the calorie information on the nutrition labels of packaged foods ate 164 calories less per day than those who ignored the nutrition facts.

I thought those were just too good not to share! I'm off to sub a yoga class before I head into work! I hope you all have a fabulous day, and I will see you back here tomorrow for Try This Thursday!

Q's and A's:
What are your favorite salad toppings?
Have you read any interesting statistics lately you would like to share?
What did you do for exercise yesterday or what are you planning to do today?

In health,

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Howdy!

How are you today? I hope you are having a terrific Tuesday so far! This is going to be one yogatastic week for me. I am teaching my two regular yoga classes, subbing two other yoga classes, and then going to a fitness conference this weekend where I will be taking other instructors' classes! I am definitely making progress on my new year's resolution of deepening my yoga practice!

Yesterday's workout consisted of 30 minutes on the stairmaster, subbing a Yoga II class, and teaching my normal strength training class. I was once again reminded how much I love the stairmaster. It was 30 minutes of pure, sweat dripping, butt kicking, calorie blasting fun! I burned 406 calories in only 30 minutes. Now, that is a time effective workout.

Oh how I love you!

On to the fun! As part of the FoodBuzz Featured Publisher Tastemaker program, I was lucky enough to be sent a FlipHD camera and a coupon for 1 dozen Eggland's Best eggs. When I opened up the package and found the camera and coupon, I was beyond excited to make this video. Deep down inside, I really dream about being Rachel Ray!

Meet my new friend!

First of all, let me tell you a little bit about what makes Eggland's Best eggs different from regular eggs.

• They have 10 times more vitamin E than regular eggs
• Twice as much vitamin D than regular eggs
• Lower cholesterol than regular eggs
• 25% less saturated fat than regular eggs
• 115mg of Omega-3s (which we learned about in this post)

For someone who eats eggs almost everyday, these stats look pretty amazing. I was asked to create a recipe using Eggland's Best eggs and my brand new flipHD camera and to share it with y'all. So here it is! No making fun!





For those of you who like written directions, here they are as well!

Ingredients:
2 Eggland's Best eggs
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
2 bananas
6 pieces of whole wheat bread

Directions:

1. Spray a skillet with non-stick cooking spray and turn on medium-high heat.
2. Mix all wet ingredients together in a square container.
3. Coat both sides of the piece of bread with the mixture and place in the skillet.
4. Flip bread and allow to cook until both sides are slightly brown and the mixture has dried.
5. Top with the toppings of your choice. I used bananas and sugar free syrup, but you can use the nut butter of your choice, sliced apples, strawberries, blueberries, honey, agave, etc. The possibilities are endless.

The apple sauce and cinnamon gives this french toast something extra special. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks again to Foodbuzz and Eggland's Best for making this video possible.

Although these products were sent to me for review by Eggland's Best, the thoughts and opinions are all my own.

Q's and A's:
What is your favorite piece of cardio equipment?
What did your workout consist of today?
What's your favorite type of french toast or breakfast goody?
In health,

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Howdy!

It's Monday, which means a fresh start to a new week! How was your weekend?

E and I had a pretty chill weekend, and it was just what we both needed. I did manage to get quite a bit of homework done, which is always a good thing. We subscribed to Netflix on Friday! It's so cool to be able to stream movies right when you want them. On Saturday morning, I watched a yoga documentary called Enlighten Up. It's about a journalist who doesn't have a lot of experience with yoga but sets out to discover what it's all about. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but it was cool to listen to his interviews with some of the biggest yoga gurus around. Has anyone else seen it? What were your thoughts?

Saturday night, Eric and I tried out a new restaurant called The Hacienda on Henderson. It was soooo delicious! Of course, I forgot to take pictures, but I found this one online. The weather was beautiful so we sat out on the porch. It had such a fun atmosphere about it.

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I ordered cilantro lime tilapia with grilled veggies. Now that is my kind of Mexican food! E went with a more traditional dish: fajitas. We were super impressed. We saved some money by purchasing a gift certificate on restaurant.com before we went. This website sells gift certificates to a bunch of different restaurants at a pretty nice discount. For The Hacienda on Henderson, they were offering a $25 gift certificate for $17.50. Not bad right? However, I checked at retailmenot.com and found a discount promo code for 70% off restaurant.com. Yep, I used a coupon to buy a coupon. (Disclaimer: Eric is the one that taught me how to do this.) Talk about thrifty. After the discount, we paid $5.25 for a $25 gift certificate. Dinner just tastes better when you know you're saving money! :) Restaurant.com offers gift certificates to a ton of restaurants all over the U.S, and you can find promo codes for everything from clothes to exercise equipment at retailmenot.com.

First thing Sunday morning, I went for a 10 mile run. I am happy to report, it went much better than last week! After my run, I was STARVING so I whipped up some ABC (apple, banana, cinnamon) french toast and some egg whites. I topped one piece with almond butter and 1/2 a banana and then left the other one plain. Both slices got a healthy dose of sugar free syrup. Not to brag, but this is the most delicious creation I have made in a long time!


I will share this recipe tomorrow in my very first video blog! That's right, I hired a producer and a camera crew (E & E), and turned my kitchen into a Food Network set. Ok not really, but I wish. You should definitely check back tomorrow to watch me attempt to do my best impression of Rachel Ray, while teaching you how to make this scrumptious breakfast dish! :)

After going grocery shopping and stopping by Sam's for E's 48 pack of Snickers (pause to pick your jaw up off the floor), I was hungry again. I decided to make a yummy Green Monster.


This little beauty contained: 1/2 a frozen banana, 5 strawberries, a handful of ice, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 scoop of protein powder, and an extra large handful of spinach. It was the perfect afternoon snack.

I am off to start working on my video blog. Wish me luck!

Q's and A's:
How was your weekend?
Have you ever used restaurant.com or retailmenot.com? Is there another site you use?
What's in your favorite green monster?

In health,

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Happy Friday!!

This is probably the cutest card I have ever seen. My in-laws sent it to Eric and I for Valentine's day. I don't think it could be any more perfect. This is exactly what we look like every Friday night. We sit down to watch a movie, and I end up falling asleep while E finishes the movie! :) This card now has a permanent spot on our fridge.

How is your Friday treating you so far? I must say, mine started out pretty fabulously. I woke up this morning and went for an amazing run. It was a beautiful 65 degrees outside with a slight breeze. Perfection! Next, I headed out to teach a strength training class. I am still pretty sore, but that class is always so fun. After class, I took a little pit stop by Whole Foods for some retail therapy. :) I picked up some pumpkin flax granola, chia seeds, and garbanzo bean flour. I have been looking all over Kroger for this flour, but to no avail. Of course, I found it no problem at Whole Foods!



The blogging world has been buzzing about socca for some time now, so I've been dying to try it. Think of it as a not-so-sweet pancake. It definitely cures any carb cravings and has a decent amount of fiber and protein for minimal calories. You can eat it by itself, or top it with anything you can imagine. It is ridiculously easy to make. Simply mix equal parts flour and water. Then cook in a frying pan just like a pancake.


I ended up just pouring the entire mixture into the pan and making one gigantic socca. After it was finished cooking, I cut it in half. I ate half with my lunch, and saved the rest for later.


They turned out absolutely delicious and so filling. I made some southwest scrambled eggs (eggwhites, black beans and salsa) to scoop up with my socca. It was definitely a winning combination. I had a green apple on the side to round out my lunch. MMMM MMMM Good!


So it might not be the prettiest lunch in the world, but my stomach sure loved it! I am off to finish up some homework and then go layout by the pool. Yes, I said lay out by the pool! Can you believe that a week and a half after the entire city was shut down for a snow day it's warm enough to wear a swimsuit outside? Geeezeeee I LOVE Texas. Swimsuits in February is my kind of weather. I have two books I am dying to read, and reading out in the sun sounds like the best idea I've heard in a long long time.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Q's & A's:
Have you ever tried socca?
Did you try any new recipes this week? If you shared them on your blog, I would love it if you would leave a comment with a link to your deliciousness!
What are your plans for this weekend?

In health,

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Hey Everyone!

Happy Try This Thursday! How are you doing so far today? I would have to say that I am doing pretty great! It is an amazingly beautiful 65 degrees here in Dallas, my morning run went great, and I get to teach one of my favorite classes, yoga, at 11:30am! So much to be thankful for!

If you missed yesterday's post (because I posted it so late) on giving your body a little love, please check it out! I loved hearing what everyone loved about their body and why, and I want to hear from you too!

For today's Try This Thursday, I have a yummy new cookie for you to taste test and a great new yoga pose for you to incorporate into your workout routine (yogis and non-yogis alike)!

Let's start with the cookies, since I really want one right now even though I just finished breakfast! :)

These are my new favorite store bought treat! Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Soft-Baked Cookies; those just sound amazing right? They are pretty delicious I must say, and the nutrition facts aren't too shabby either. Check it out.


130 calories might seem like quite a bit for one cookie, but these things are pretty substantial. With 4g of fiber, 2g of protein, and only 8g of sugar, they are a winner in my book. There are a couple of other flavors, like oatmeal raisin etc., but these are the only ones I have tried. Have you tried any of the other TLC cookies? What did you think?

Next up, is our new move of the week - Dolphin. This move can be added to your yoga routine, strength training routine, or even your post run core work and stretching. This pose is a wonderful stretch for your chest and hamstrings, and also strengthens your shoulders and core.

[source]

Here is Yoga Journal's description on how to perform this pose: Come onto the floor on your hands and knees. Set your knees directly below your hips and your forearms on the floor with your shoulders directly above your wrists. Firmly press your palms together and your forearms into the floor. Curl your toes under, then exhale and lift your knees away from the floor. At first, keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor. Lengthen your tailbone away from the back of your pelvis.  Hold your head between the upper arms; don't let it hang or press heavily against the floor. You can straighten your knees if you like, but if your upper back rounds it's best to keep them bent.

Hold dolphin for 5-10 breathes and then release beck into child's pose. You can also flow between dolphin and plank for a great core workout!

Lastly, you all know how much I love sushi, but seemingly healthy and innocent sushi can really be a fat trap waiting to suck you in. Check out this great slide show from "Eat This Not That." It shows you which rolls are good for your waistline, and which ones might give you a few new rolls of your own! Just kidding! :)

MMMMM my favorite, the California roll! [source] Thankfully, this was on the "healthier" list! :)

I hope you all have an amazing Thursday, and I will see you soon!

Q's and A's:
Have you tried any of the TLC cookies?
If you missed yesterday's post, what is your favorite body part and why? I love my arms because they allow me to hug the ones I love.
Do you like sushi?

In health,

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Hi Everyone,

Apparently, grad school is getting the best of me this semester. Yet another day when I can't manage to post until 8 o'clock at night. Oh well, what can you do? How are you this evening? Did you have a nice hump day?

Today's Workouts: a quick 4 mile run this morning before work, teaching a strength training class, and then taking a friend's boot camp class

Sticking with yesterday's theme of the power of positive thinking, I had another negative thought moment today. While doing a football drill in the boot camp class I attended, I caught a glimpse of my back side in the mirror, and I thought to my self, "Geeeezeeee look at that jiggle." I have always known that baby's got back, but when you are surrounded on three sides by mirrors, the song starts to play a little louder in your head. Anybody else know what I mean? Anybody? So once I recognized the thought was not positive or productive, I started to think of all of the things my "strong" lower half does for me. I began to realize that although I am not 100% happy with my body (who is?), there are a lot of things I do love.

For example:

I love my lungs because they allow me to breath in the fresh Texas air.

I love my heart because it gives me the power to love others.

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I love my hands because they grip the weights that make me strong and hold the hands of the ones I never want to let go.

I love my sore knees because they let me know when I need to rest.

I love my arms because they allow me to hug the ones I love.

[source]

I love my ears because they allow me to hear sweet sweet music that makes me smile.

I love my eyes because they allow me to watch the sunrise during a great morning run.

[source]

I love my flat feet because they let me stand on them all day without too much complaining.

Saving the best (or the one I need to work on loving the most) for last. I love my legs because they give me the ability to run, which keeps my mind, heart and body strong.

We all deserve to love ourselves just the way we are right now. Next time you have negative thoughts or are not so happy with the way a certain body part looks, think about all of the wonderful things it is doing for you in that very moment. How can you hate your stomach when your abs allow you to sit and stand up straight all day?

Tell me what part of your body you love and why!


In health and love,

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Howdy All!

I apologize for my absence yesterday; I was suffering from a nasty nasty stomach bug. I hope you all had an amazing Valentine's Day! Eric and I went out to dinner at a fancy place in Uptown Dallas and then to see Just Go With It. It was definitely a good one! He also treated me to some frozen yogurt, which is my fave!! I thought all of the fun ended on Saturday, but I came home to find these! He's the best!

On Sunday, my training plan called for me to do a 10 mile long run. It was pretty chilly and very windy when I woke up, so I decided to wait until the afternoon to head out for my run. I ate my usual weekend lunch: an egg white sandwich with an apple and Greek yogurt/peanut butter dip at 1:00pm. By 3:00pm, I felt like my food had pretty much digested, and I headed out for my run. I was beyond excited because the weather was AMAZING, and I had 2 new Marathon Training Academy podcasts to listen to.

I wish I was running here! [source]

I usually always run in the morning, so I was a little hesitant about doing such a long run in the afternoon. I am definitely a creature of habit, and this was out of my normal routine. The run started out ok, but about mile 5 I started to feel a little queasy. I blame this on myself because I had just bragged to Eric earlier in the day about my "iron stomach." Well, my iron stomach was about to show me who is boss.

Or here! [source]

I kept on plodding along, and by about mile 7 there was no ignoring my stomach anymore. I can run through knee pain, an aggravated ankle, and even a tight lower back (although you shouldn't), but when your stomach is slowly moving towards your esophagus, there is just no ignoring that! I eventually slowed to a walk and started to head back home.

Right when I stopped running, I began with the negative self talk. You know how it goes, "I can't believe you're quitting," "Your whole training plan is going to be messed up now," "Stop being such a whiny baby."

This wouldn't be too bad either! [source]

Then, I had had an epiphany. I am completely overreacting over 2 measly miles. In the grand scheme of things, are these 2 miles going to keep me from accomplishing my half marathon? Really even if I skipped the entire 10 mile run, it probably would not change my training all that much.

I often talk to people who I knew were training for races, and when I ask them what happened, they will say I missed a couple of runs so I just gave up. Training is all about the accumulation of all of your hard work, not about each individual run. Sure you need to get in as close to all of your training runs in as you can, but don't beat yourself up if you have an off run or even an off workout. Before my last race, I twisted my ankle then got the flu and was out for almost 2 weeks. I simply picked up where I left off with my training and still had a great race.

Who wouldn't want to go for a run here? [source]

You put in a ton of work leading up to a race, so don't throw it down the drain after one lousy run. I felt the need to write this post because of the negative thoughts I had right after I threw in the towel at mile 8. That was just silly! So next time you have negative thoughts during a run, just remember that you can do this and maybe today just isn't your day, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't run again tomorrow! :)

Q's and A's:
How do you pep yourself up after a bad run?
What did you do for Valentines day?
Tell me about the best run you ever had!

In health,

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This little guy has been featured in the past, but he is my all time favorite so he gets a second post! [source]

How ya doing today! Wahoo for Friday and for the sun being out! It is finally starting to warm up a bit here in Dallas, and I really really hope it stays that way! Do you have any big plans for the weekend?

Today's workout: Five miles on the treadmill plus teaching a strength training class. I was so excited because my hip flexor really didn't bother me too bad during my run today. I am hoping to be able to run outside tomorrow and Sunday. Please weather man help me out here!

So on to the topic of the day. One of my friends and reader, Jennifer, asked me to do a post on fish oils, so that is precisely what we are going to talk about today!

[source]

Fish oil, just as the name implies, is taken directly from this tissues of oily fish. It contains many important vitamins for the body, the most commonly known one being Omega 3 which is an essential fatty acid that contains eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The benefits of fish oil have been constantly researched over the past few years.

Benefits of Fish Oil:

• Reduces Pain and Inflammation: Fish oils regulate your body's inflammation cycle, which prevents and relieves painful conditions like arthritis, prostatitis, cystitis and anything else ending in "itis."
• Improves Cardiovascular Health: Fish oil does wonders for your cardiovascular system by lowering cholesterol, triglycerides, LDLs and blood pressure while increasing HDL's (or good cholesterol).
• Protection from Stroke and Heart Attack: Omega 3 has been shown to break up blood clots which can cause strokes and heart attacks.
• Improved Brain Function: According to a study at UCLA, the omega 3 fatty acids in fish oil can  help the brain produce plaque-fighting proteins which is useful in preventing Alzheimer’s. Studies have also linked low levels of omega 3 to depression and anxiety. Psychiatry department researchers at the University of Sheffield, along with numerous other research studies, found that omega 3 fish oil supplements "alleviate" the symptoms of depression, bipolar and psychosis. Researchers have also found that countries with the highest intake of fatty fish have lower depression rates.
• Lower Incidence of Childhood Disorders: Studies have shown that children (and adults) with ADD and ADHD experience a greatly improved quality of life with adequate omega 3 intake. It has also shown to help with dyslexia, dyspraxia, and compulsive disorders.
• Reduces Risk of Breast, Colon and Prostate Cancer: Omgea 3 fish oil has been proven to help prevent 3 of the most common forms of cancer: breast, colon and prostate cancer. They do this by stopping the transformation of a healthy cell to a cancerous mass, inhibiting unwanted cellular growth and causing apoptosis (or cellular death) of cancer cells 

So should we all go out and buy fish oil supplements right now? If you have had a heart attack, have high triglycerides, or suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, you would probably benefit greatly from fish oil supplements. They are also great if you are a vegetarian or simply don't like fish. Additionally, vegetarians often intake more omega 6 fatty acids since they eat a lot of vegetables and might have a higher intake of corn oil.  While omega 6 is needed for proper bodily function, if it is taken at high levels without a similar intake of omega 3 (ideally 1 : 1)  it will  lead to a reverse of all the benefits of omega 3 which we definitely do not want. People with any kind of bleeding disorder or who are on anticoagulants and people with immune disorders should avoid taking fish oil supplements unless otherwise prescribed by a doctor.

If you decided to add fish oil supplements into your daily vitamin regimen, make sure you following the dosage directions on the bottle, you don't want to over do it. You should also take fish oil supplement with food to avoid upsetting your stomach.

[source]

If you want the benefits of Omega 3s, but aren't a huge fan of supplements, try to incorporate fish such as salmon, trout, sardines and mackerel into your diet at least twice a week. You can also get omega 3 from flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, soybeans, shrimp, tofu, and soy and canola oil.

I think fish oil is a great supplement, and I take it often. Everyone is different, so make sure you do what is right for you and check with your doctor if you have any questions or concerns. I have also attached quite a few articles to the bottom of this post, if you want to research deeper into the subject.

I hope I answered your question Jennifer! Have a great weekend everyone, and I will talk to you on Monday!

Q's and A's:
Do you currently take a fish oil supplement?
Any advice for people who are considering adding one to their diet?
What are your plans for the weekend?

In health,

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Howdy!

How are you today? Good, I hope! School and work opened back up today! I love my Tuesday/Thursday yoga class, so I am super excited the gym will be open today. I used the eucalyptus & spearmint aromatherapy spray in class on Tuesday, and I think they really liked it. I only had one person that didn't like the smell, and I made sure I didn't spray any near her. It was a very light scent so she was ok with it. I think it just adds a little something extra to class.

Side Note: Right now (it's Wednesday night), I am sitting on the coach writing tomorrow's post while Eric is sitting in his recliner with his head in his hands because the Aggies are down by 1 to Colorado with 44 seconds left in the game. There is a whole lot of huffing, rapid texting, and swearing under his breath coming from across the room. I am worried he is about to have a heart attack. We are going to need to start checking his blood pressure soon if the Aggies don't start winning! :) Crap we just went into overtime, he is so going to have a heart attack!

This first thing I want to share with you today isn't exactly new, but I just rekindled my love for it. I love water, but I loved flavored water even more. Since I don't want to inhale tons of artificial sweetners every day in the form of Crystal Light, these little packets are the perfect solution. Each packet has 100% of your DV of vitamin C, zero calories and spices up your water in no time. They are so easy to carry with you to school, work or while your running errands.

I had to borrow this picture because my box is a little torn. [source]

Since I was cooped up in the house all last week, I had to get creative with my workouts. I found these no equipment necessary moves on Self.com and loved them! Next time you are not feeling like hitting the gym, try these out in the comfort of your own home. Really, you can do these anywhere: home, gym, hotel room on vacation, you name it!


This exercise works your abs, obliques, glutes, and legs. If this exercise will give me legs like hers, I will do it all day every day! :) Start in wide stance with toes pointing out. Keeping butt tucked in, bend knees until thighs are parallel to floor and press palms together. Lift right heel and rotate torso right (as shown). Lower heel; return torso to center. Repeat on left side for 1 rep. Do 8 reps


Works shoulders, arms, chest and back. I felt like a scorpion when I was doing this one, but I liked it! To start, lie facedown, hands under shoulders, elbows in. Push chest an inch off floor, then, in one fluid motion, bend left knee and rotate hips to stretch left foot across body to right side (as shown). Slowly release and return to start. Repeat on opposite side for 1 rep. Do 4 reps.



This one is the total package. It works your arms, back, legs and abs! Lie faceup, legs extended straight up. Clasp hands together, arms pointing to ceiling, and engage abs to lift shoulders off floor. Lower right leg as low as possible without arching back or touching floor. Let arms follow and reach between legs (as shown). Return to start, keeping shoulders lifted. Repeat with left leg for 1 rep. Do 4 reps

Can you tell I have pretty bad exercise ADD? I love adding new moves to my workout routine every week. When I do the same routine for more than 3 weeks, I feel like I stop getting results. That could be because I get bored and start avoiding the weight room. Oooops! But anyways, I know that switching things up constantly works best for my body and my mind! I hope you like these new moves and have an absolutely wonderful Thursday!

Maryanne over at The Balanced Bean is doing a peanut flour giveaway! You should chck it out.

Thank goodness the Aggies just won! My husband will live to see another day! :)

Q's and A's:
Do you prefer plain or flavored water?
How often do you switch up your strength routine.

In health,

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