Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! I survived week 2 of working from home! It actually hasn't been too bad and I'm thankful for all this extra time at home. I am really missing my students, though! Thank goodness for technology and our ability to stay in touch.

Today's Friday Favorites focuses on the things I have been loving during this quarantine period. I was surprised I could even come up with a list considering I haven't left the house or anything lately but somehow I did! I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy!

Zoom
If you haven't heard of Zoom yet, listen up! Zoom is a free app and website that allows you to video chat with friends and family. It is perfect to use during this time! So far my family has used it to just hang out and chat, a friend of ours hosted a trivia game, and tonight we are going to attempt a family game night! I like this video chat platform because you can have a lot of people (I am not sure if there is a limit) and all see each other the whole time.

Down Dog
I'm not even sure how I found this app, but I am glad I did! Down Dog is an app that offers yoga workouts. I am unsure how much it usually costs and what features you can normally get free, but from now until April 2nd you can access everything for free. Students, teachers, and healthcare workers are able to get the app free until July 1st by either registering their school's domain or filling out a short form on their website. Check out their Instagram, @downdogapp, for more information!

Smart Sweets Sour Blast Buddies
I picked these up when I bought the sweet fish but just got around to trying them. I had high hopes considering the sweet fish were delicious and I was NOT disappointed! They aren't overly sweet or sour and like the sweet fish, leave no aftertaste. The sour sugar coating is nowhere comparable to Sour Patch Kids but I strangely liked that. I've been mixing a handful of these with the sweet fish for a sweet treat throughout the week.

Question of the Day: What is something you have been loving lately?

Tips for Being Home All Day

I have been working from home for over a week now, and while it is getting to be a bit much, I am trying to focus on all the positive things. Having all this time at home is truly a gift and luckily I am healthy during this. I am naturally an introvert, but I have to admit that I am missing socializing and seeing my friends. I am sure others are starting to feel this way so I decided to share some tips I have been following to get through each day!

Keep your morning routine. My biggest life-saver the past week and a half has been keeping up with my morning routine. It's so tempting to sleep in but I've been making it a point to still get up at my usual time (or at least not too much later), but use the time I'd be getting ready or driving to stretch, work out, and enjoy my morning coffee. This little routine adds a bit of normalcy to my day.

Why not use this time to get some new PRs?

Do a workout at some point each day. I've been making a point to get some sort of workout in each day, whether it's a run or a strength training routine I found online. One day John and I even went on a long walk to get some fresh air. Whatever you do, just keep yourself moving. It's so easy to become inactive during this time but keeping yourself moving will help the time go by and make you feel good.

Jax is picking up the hobby of yoga as well!

Find a new hobby. This is a great time to start a new hobby! There is a YouTube video out there for almost anything you might want to teach yourself. Personally, I have started doing yoga by using the Down Dog app!

We FINALLY made the lemon shrimp & rice recipe my aunt shared with us at our wedding shower!

Try new recipes. Now is the time to try some of those recipes you've screenshot on Instagram or pinned on Pinterest! If you're low on ingredients, get creative and make your own new recipes using whatever you have in.

Question of the Day: What is something you are doing to keep yourself busy?

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! Wow, so much has happened since last Friday's post. You may have noticed that there wasn't a marathon training update on Monday. As you might've guessed, my marathon in April was cancelled due to COVID-19. While I'm still processing my feelings for that, I 100% understand that it was the best decision in order to keep everyone healthy. If anything, this may have been a blessing in disguise as I've had some hamstring pain the past couple weeks.

Anyway, like most of you, I am working from home! Teaching from home is a bit strange, but it's going. It's been pretty nice to not have to get up and drive somewhere each morning. I've also been completing a lot of tasks on my "home to-do list" throughout the week. 

It's a random selection, but today I am sharing some things I've been loving this week with you!

Smart Sweets Sweet Fish

I've had my eye on these for awhile and finally picked up a bag while doing some last minute shopping at Target. With only 3g of sugar, I wasn't sure if these would be as sweet as I'd like but to my surprise, they are! They're sweet without being overly sweet like some gummy candies can be. My favorite part is that they don't leave a weird after taste in my mouth like sugar-free gummies do. I just wish more came in a package :)

Maureen Gets Real At Home Workouts Post

With all the gyms closed, at home workouts are a must right now. I spent the beginning of this week doing the workouts I knew while also scouring the internet for new ideas. I was thrilled when Maureen posted this on Wednesday because it is a compiled list of all the workouts she enjoys doing so I know they're good. I've already done a few to help keep myself moving and they are great! I highly recommend checking out this list for your next at-home sweat sesh!

Bissell Carpet Cleaner

This may be my weirdest Friday Favorite to date but hear me out! When we first moved out, my grandparents insisted we take their carpet cleaner. We used it to carpet clean all the carpeting downstairs but really didn't feel like doing upstairs. It's been collecting dust in our garage since that day while a stain on our guest room carpet has been nagging the crap out of me. I finally decided on Wednesday to take a break from teaching and carpet clean our guest room and remove that stain once and for all! The carpet cleaner is super simple to use and is very similar to just vacuuming your carpet. I was done fairly quickly but had to wait a few hours for it to fully dry. The one I linked above seems to be the newest version of the one I have, but I'm sure they have good cheaper options!

Question of the Day: What is something you've been loving lately?

Friday Favorites

What a week this has been! There has been so much going on with work and preparing for possible school closures due to the CoronaVirus. We actually have a full day in-service today to prepare lessons in the event that we close school. Craziness! Luckily, I have a somewhat relaxing weekend ahead of me to recover from such a long week. I plan to get some running and working out in along with disinfecting my house :) I hope you have a great weekend!

S'mores Built Bar

I'm pretty sure I've shared about Built Bars in the past but I just have to share this new flavor because it is delicious! Built bars are bars that are high in protein, only 110 calories, and have an amazing taste. The outside coating is chocolate so you feel like you are eating candy. The s'mores flavor is new and one of the few flavors with a milk chocolate coating. The taste is as close to a s'mores flavor as I think possible or at least I think so. They are only available online but often offer awesome deals, so keep an eye out for them!

Gummi Fun Mix Sour Party

This has been quite a week and after my second trip to the grocery trip in less than 2 days, I somehow found myself down the candy aisle where this candy jumped into my cart. I'm a sucker for sour gummy candy so a mixed variety of just that sounded perfect. I snacked on a few of them before my run the other day (balance, right?!) and had to stop myself from eating the whole bag. I think I'm loving these a lot because of the fact that there are so many different varieties of the candy in the bag. Plus the sourness is spot-on!

Question of the Day: What is something you're loving this week?

Our Rhode Trip

Okay okay, I just had to be punny with the title! Anywho, John and I hit the road this past weekend and headed up to Rhode Island to visit my brother at school. We left after work on Friday which meant we didn’t arrive in Rhode Island until close to midnight. We had all of Saturday and half of Sunday in the area and managed to see a lot! Today I’m sharing some of the photos from our trip so I hope you enjoy!

We stopped somewhere in Connecticut for the most delicious pizza! The place was super cute and the most perfect place to rest halfway through the drive up.

Since we arrived in the dark {it was also snowing!!}, we didn’t see our awesome views until we woke up the next morning.

After we woke up, we went downstairs to get coffee and explore. The common room, where the coffee was kept, had the cutest decor and old fashioned board games to play.

I got to see the cute porch when I left for my run.

I had the most amazing views on my run! Our hotel was right on a bay so I just ran right along it. I was shocked that I wasn’t too cold.

I can’t pass up collecting shells!

We did some research for where to have brunch which led us to Annie’s, a cute brunch spot in Newport.

They are apparently known for their eggs Benedict so I figured it was the best place to try them. I highly recommend!

Afterwards we went to another online find, the Cliff Walk. It’s a path that takes you along Newport’s shore while giving you amazing views of some of the mansions.

We entered the spot where you can walk down the forty steps to get a closer view of the water.

The views were great! We were in awe at how beautiful the mansions were.

At one point we even saw people surfing. We both agreed we think that’s the first time we ever saw people surfing live in-person.

For dinner, we ended up at the Brick Alley Pub where I tried my first lobster roll.

Of course I found a running store to check out ;)

The views from our room were even more beautiful the second day!

We spent all of Sunday morning with my brother. He showed us around the base he’s been staying on while we caught up on life. Once we left him, we picked up some Dunkin’ and then headed home. We of course made a pit stop at the Pez Visitor Center!

Fun fact: I collected Pez dispensers growing up and still have the collection!

We saw so many cool Pez at the museum, both old and new! It was so cool for a collector like me!

We got a little after dinner time, just in time to prep for work the next day. It’s Wednesday and I still feel like we are recovering from our short road trip!

Question of the Day: Have you ever travelled to Rhode Island? If so, where is your favorite place there?

Coastal Delaware Marathon Training Week 12

Happy Tuesday! We got back late from Rhode Island on Sunday night so I figured this post could hold off until today. This week was a tough one. While it start out strong with some strength training and solid runs, I ended up with some pretty nasty knee pain towards the end of the week. I made the executive decision to skip my long run over the weekend. It was already going to be hard to fit in while in Rhode Island so this made it easier. I figured I’ve put following my training plan super closely the past 12 weeks and one missed workout wouldn’t kill me. This gave me the chance to really explore the area and I even squeezed in an easy 3 mile run by the bay!

Monday: strength training

Tuesday: 4 miles

Wednesday: REST

Thursday: 4 miles with strides at the end

Friday: REST {left for Rhode Island}

Saturday: 3 miles + TONS of walking

Sunday: REST {left to head home to NJ}

Weekly Total: 11 miles

Question of the Day: Do you like to run while on a vacation?

Friday Favorites

Hi and Happy Friday! This was another long week for me but we have a fun weekend ahead of us so all is well now. We leave after work to go visit my brother in Rhode Island and I am beyond excited! It’s been a few months since we saw him last. It’ll be nice to catch up and also see where he’s been living. Before I chug through this work day as quickly as possible, I’m sharing some things I’ve been loving lately!

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

I'm not going to lie, compared to all the other thrillers I've read, this wasn't my all-time favorite but I felt it was good enough to share. Emily is in a new relationship with Adam who has a mother that a girl can only dread. Adam is constantly defending his mother, Pammie, which just makes Emily feel even more crazy. This book follows along the course of their relationship and the strain Pammie puts on it. I stayed up late one night to finish the last half of this book and man, did the ending throw me for a loop! Definitely a good read for anyone who loves a thriller.

ROADiD Nylon Loop Wrist ID

Since becoming an ambassador for ROADiD, I decided to order a wrist ID since all I had until now was my shoe ID. I opted for the nylon loop option because it is advertised as soft and breathable that attaches easily with a hook and loop. I'm glad I went with the nylon loop because it is lightweight and I forget I'm even wearing it! I got a few badges to accessorize it as well.

Source 

Brooks Running Empower Her Collection

I fell in love with this collection as soon as I saw it because one, I love that it supports giving every girl the chance to run, and two, PURPLE! The collection offers purple versions of the Launch, Adrenaline, and Ghost. They also have some cute tops and socks! Brooks and Dick's together are donating money from every purchase to a charity that enables girls' running programs. I may or may not be close to purchasing the purple tie dye ghosts...

Question of the Day: What is something you're loving this week?