Workout Videos I'm Loving

Hi everyone! How is everything going? As part of the #Next90Challenge, I have been working out for 30 minutes each day! Most days my workout consists of a run but on the rainy days or days I just don't feel like leaving the house I have been using online workout videos. I've been really enjoying my workouts lately so I thought I'd share some of the workout videos I've been following. Here are a few that have been useful for me AND don't necessarily need equipment but of course you can always use some for an extra burn :)

35-Minute Nike HIIT Workout
I found this video on PopSugar and saved it for a day where I just really wanted to sweat. It exceeded my expectations because I finished this workout feeling like I really got my butt kicked. Mission. Accomplished! I really like how it offers a modified version for when I just need to slow down and also a more advanced version for when I want to push myself.

30-Minute Flat Abs & Toned Booty Workout
Another PopSugar video! I have been loving trying different core workouts and this video has some great moves. Once again, it is split up into 3 levels so you can choose which works best for you along the way.

20-Minute Arms & Abs Workout
Okay, one last PopSugar video! This is a great video for when you just want a quick, efficient workout. I love the way some of the exercises both arms and the core at the same time. It might be a quick workout, but you really feel the burn- even if you do the modified exercises!

Blogilates Apartment Friendly Series
If you live in an apartment, the last thing you want to do is jump all around and annoy your neighbors. Cassey from Blogilates has a 7-video workout video series that are made for doing in an apartment (no jumping!). I personally don't live in an apartment but workout on my second floor so I don't really want to get too crazy during a workout. These are perfect because they aren't too long either but really make you hurt so good in just a short amount of time!


Question of the Day: Do you have a favorite work out video or series you always go to?

The Unsung Heroes of My Kitchen

Happy Wednesday! It's hard to believe that we have been quarantining for over a month now. Being home all the time now means we are spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Cooking our own meals has given me the chance to fully appreciate all the kitchen gadgets and utensils we were gifted for our bridal shower and wedding. Today I am sharing a handful of those products with you because they are too good not to! Also, maybe you didn't know you needed one of these things ;)

Tortilla Warmer
We recently started making our own tortillas so this is perfect to keep them warm while the rest are being made! You are also able to warm your tortillas in the microwave using this.

Wilton Scoop-It Batter Spoons
I have the set that allows me to scoop out the perfect portion of either mini muffins/cupcakes and regular sized muffins/cupcakes into my baking pans. I love that this takes the guesswork out of baking because I'm not wondering how much batter is too much or too little for each cup.

KitchenMaid Mini Food Chopper
This was not an appliance I really thought I needed at first but now I am glad we registered for it! I've used this mini chopper for many things so far, such as chopping onions, making oat flour out of whole oats, and pureeing ingredients for our homemade pasta sauce. Bonus: it's also super easy to clean!

OXO Good Grips Mixing Bowls
Owning just one of these bowls would be great but having the whole set is a dream when it comes to a recipe that requires multiple bowls. The grips on the bottom and handle make these bowls easy to handle and stay in place while mixing.

Dailyware 6-in-1 Server
I haven't used this server for all it's worth yet, but I'm already obsessed with the fact that it's the cutest cake dome. I keep it displayed on my dining room table as a decoration. It's a double win when I actually have a sweet treat in it ;)

Cuisinart Hand Mixer
I'm sure there are "better" hand mixers out there, and a Kitchenaid is #goals, but I love this one due to the easy storage. The cord and attachments store perfectly in a plastic holder that easily attaches to the bottom of the mixer. This allows me to store it without worrying about losing pieces.

Grippmat Cutting Boards
Once again, I'm sure there are "better" cutting boards out there, but these serve me the best at this point. They are thin and easy to store almost anywhere. The colors allow you to assign each one a specific item to cut on it (fruits, veggies, poultry, etc.) and the grip on the bottom keeps the mat in place while cutting.

Pyrex Storage Set
Once you're done cooking and baking to your heart's content, you will need to store those leftovers (if there are any!). My go-to storage option is a glass Pyrex dish. No matter the size or shape, these dishes are perfect and well worth the investment!


Question of the Day: What appliance or gadget is the unsung hero of your kitchen?

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! This week really flew by for me. It was technically my spring break but the only real difference compared to the past couple weeks is that I wasn’t on any real schedule during the day. All in all it was a good week! We have a pretty low key weekend ahead of us. My only real plan is to “run” with my friend Rachel this weekend since Sunday would’ve been our marathon. As of now I think we are planning to do a 10-miler and talk to each other during it.

Here are a few things I’ve been loving this week!

The Science of Well-Being Yale University Class
Honestly, I don't even remember how I found out about this, probably somewhere on Facebook. But anyway, Yale offers their class The Science of Well-Being for FREE (unless you want to pay like, $50 to get an actual course completion certificate) through Coursera! I chose to audit the class because I really didn't need to prove to anybody that I took it. It's a 10-week class but you can take it as fast or as slow as you want. I've made it a habit to complete the lectures on Monday or Tuesday and then focus on the "rewirements" for the week. The "rewirements" are little tasks we need to complete daily that go along with the week's topic. For example, this week we are talking about gratitude so the "rewirement" is to write down 5 things we are grateful this week. All in all, it's been a wonderful time-killer for me during everything going on right now and if it can really help increase my happiness and build more productive habits, then it's a win-win.

Snail Mail
Continuing on with ways to distract myself, snail mail has been a fun way to pass the time lately! My nephew and I have been sending mail back and forth which gives me something to look forward to. He sends me adorable drawings and I usually respond with a fun card and some stickers. I also have a pen pal from Minnesota who has been fun to keep up with. A friend of mine even sent me a cute card a week or so ago that made my day! Long story short, snail mail has been a great distraction lately so I highly recommend taking a few minutes to send a cute card or letter to a friend or family member.

Limited Edition Nuun Flavors
On April 1st, Nuun released two new limited edition flavors Nuun Sport that everyone went wild about. The first one was a new, never before seen flavor, Kiwi Strawberry. The second was a long-awaited returning flavor that had been retired in 2015, Kona Cola + Caffeine! I hadn't tried the Kona Cola flavor in the past but decided I needed to try it due to the way everybody raved about it. I ordered a few tubes of each and was thrilled when they showed up last week. I've had the chance to try both (maybe even more than once) and in my opinion, both are great! Kiwi Strawberry has a great fruity flavor that I crave after a long run. Kona Cola tablets smell like those bottle cap candies, but once dissolved in water, they have a flavor that is a mix between flat soda and those cola gummies. I've never been a soda person but for some reason am loving Kona Cola! Even though they are limited edition flavors, both are still available to order as of now.

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

Recipes We've Tried and Love

Happy Easter Monday! Can you believe we are entering week 5 of quarantine? This week is technically my school's spring break but the only real difference for me is that I don't have to do anything work related each day. I've made a plan to get some home projects done since those are the things I've really been pushing off lately.

John and I made a goal for 2020 to make 24 new recipes. We chose 24 assuming we'd try 2 a month but with this quarantine, we are way ahead of schedule. The recipes we choose are a mix of ones we find online and ones from the recipe cards our friends and family gave us at our wedding shower in June. Today I want to share a few of the recipes we've tried and really enjoyed! If it is a recipe from one of our recipe cards, I will add a photo of the recipe so you have it!


Don Pablo's Spoon Bread
If you never had the opportunity to dine at at Don Pablo's while the chain was still alive, I am so sorry! Don Pablo's was the place where John and I went to celebrate anything, when we didn't know where else to choose, when all we wanted was their delicious queso blanco, etc. The last chain location (the location closest to us) closed in July, we were devastated so we knew the first recipe we had to try was a copy-cat of their spoon bread. Spoon bread is pretty much mushy cornbread cake. Okay, I see how that could sound gross, but it is SO GOOD! The recipe we found is super easy to make, a typical mix-everything-up-and-pop-it-in-the-oven type. We made it for a dinner with my family and everybody agreed it tasted just like Don Pablo's! Also we apparently ate it way too quickly because I never got a picture...

Not the prettiest picture but I promise it was tasty!

Turkey Trot Meatballs
This was a recipe I had dog-eared in my Run Fast. Cook Fast. Eat Slow. cookbook for awhile now. This was another super easy recipe to make and I personally love the versatility of meatballs in general. We chose to top of edamame pasta with them but I want to make them again for meatball subs maybe! When making these, we chose to use oat flour and leaner ground turkey (99%). They turned out slightly dryer than I like so my only suggestion would be either less oat flour (if that is what you choose) or 93% ground turkey.

Lemon Shrimp & Rice
My aunt had given us this recipe at my bridal shower and it wasn't until I did another look-through of my recipe box when I realized how easy-peasy this recipe is. I've posted a photo of the recipe card above but I could honestly sum it up in 2 sentences. Melt a stick of butter on a baking pan in a 350 degree oven before adding lemon slices and shrimp to the pan. Sprinkle with Italian dressing seasoning in the packet and bake for 15 minutes. Bonus sentence: add the shrimp on top of a bed of rice with some veggies for a delicious dinner!

Question of the Day: Have you tried any new recipes lately?

Friday Favorites

Is it Friday already?! Wow, these days feel both incredibly slow and fast at the same time. This Sunday is Easter, but due to COVID-19 and social distancing, we are doing our own little Easter dinner at home. It's going to feel weird not celebrating with our families but I am just trying to be positive and think about all the fun times we will have once this is all over. At some point this weekend I am participating in a "running scavenger hunt" a local running group of mine is having. They will send us out the list of items we need to find during a run and photograph sometime today and then we have to send in those photos by Monday morning. I'm eager to get the list so I can plan my route accordingly :) I'm really looking forward to it and maybe I'll make a post with my own running scavenger hunt on here next week!

Somehow I have a lot of things I've been loving all week so without further ado, here it is!

Drippy Pots
If you've never heard of Drippy Pots, then you need to stop what you're doing and go check out @brianginiewski on Instagram. Go ahead, I'll wait while you swoon over his amazing ceramic work. Somebody I follow posted their new drippy mug on their Insta story last week and I have been obsessed ever since! Brian is an artist based out of Philadelphia which makes me love him even more. The only downside is his pieces are pretty pricey ($55 for my dream drippy mug!) but from what I've heard, it's worth it. I am still working on getting John on board with letting me buy one ;)

Bradbucks
To be honest, I had never heard of Brad Goreski until I stumbled across an article on BuzzFeed about his viral IGTV videos where he pretends to be a barista for his husband, Gary. Gary used to go to Starbucks every day for his usual (grande iced cafe mocha with 2 pumps of mocha, almond milk, and no whip). Now that he is self-quarantining, his husband Brad has turned their kitchen into "Bradbucks" and films their little interaction every morning. Somehow I find this super entertaining and crack up watching them every day. All the videos can be found on Brad's Instagram, @bradgoreski.

Gratitude Journal
Thanks to Rachel Hollis and her #Next90Challenge, I have been starting out each morning by listing 5 things I am grateful for. With everything going on in the world right now, it has been extremely helpful for me to sit and think about the good I have in each day regardless of everything else going on. I just use a cute journal I had sitting around my house, unused and empty. Like Rachel says, you can write your gratitude list on anything so go ahead and get started!

Rise Podcast, Episode 140: What Your Next Few Weeks Will Look Like (And What You Can Do About It) With David Bach
With Rachel Hollis in my head a lot lately, I started listening to her Rise podcast. I started out with her most recent episode (one more has been released since I've listened to this one) where she chats with her friend, David Bach, who is currently living in Italy for the year. He spends a majority of the episode explaining his experiences with the Coronavirus while living in Italy. David also shares some ways to help people get through this since his family has already been through what we are about to experience. This episode was recorded on March 25th, so the information is a bit outdated (isn't that crazy to think a 2-week-old podcast is outdated?!) but I still found it super interesting to listen to while out on a walk.

Whipped Coffee
After seeing this magical "whipped coffee" or "Dalgona" coffee all over my social media and then again in a BuzzFeed video, I knew I had to try it. The recipe is super simple. You add 2 tablespoons of instant coffee, 2 tablespoons of sugar (I use Splenda and it works fine), and 2 tablespoons of hot water to a cup or bowl. Next, whip it up! I've seen people use everything from a handheld whisk, which takes awhile, to their hand mixer. I opted to use my little milk frother and that worked perfectly. Once your coffee is whipped up, you add it to a glass of your favorite milk and stir. I like to add some vanilla creamer to mine to add more flavor! This has been my go-to midday treat to keep me going the rest of the day.


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

Self-Care Sunday Ideas

Now that I'm no longer marathon training, my Monday's seem pretty empty without posting my training log from the previous week. I considered going back to posting my week in pictures but let's be honest, nothing exciting it going on in my life at the moment, haha. While I think about a new Monday post, I thought I'd share a post I've been thinking about for awhile now.

Back before COVID-19 and the need to quarantine, I used to dedicate a small part of my Sunday for some self-care. Now more then ever, I feel the need to perform some sort of self-care on a daily basis to keep myself sane. Today I am sharing a few of the things I choose to do to take care of myself. I'd love to hear what you love to do for self-care!

Face Masks
I love doing a face mask because they are easy and relatively cheap! You can find face makes almost anywhere but I find a lot my favorite ones at Dollar Tree. They tend to have name brand face masks and for only a dollar is a steal! I like to put my face mask on as soon as I get out of the shower and then let it sit while I take my time putting on lotion. For me, that is a relaxing time but you can choose anytime for yourself!

Take a Bath
If you have a tub suitable for a relaxing bath, then take advantage of it! This is another easy and cheap option. Your bath can be as basic (hot water, some bubbles, etc.) or as extravagant (Epsom salts, bath bombs, music, candles, etc.) as you want it, as long as it is relaxing for you. I personally love to use Epsom salts and Bath & Body Works stress relief bubble bath to relax my body after a long week of work and running/working out.

Bake or Cook Something
I find both the act of baking or cooking and enjoying what I made as relaxing. I love to find a fun looking recipe online (preferably a comfort food), take the time to make it, and then share the food with my husband. Even popping some ready-to-bake cookie dough in the oven can be some great self-care!

Curl up with a Good Book
Something about curling up on my couch with a cozy blanket while reading a book is so relaxing to me! A library card is free and opens you up to endless options. Obviously most, if not all, libraries are closed right now, but a lot of libraries offer access to e-books which can be downloaded to e-readers and phones. Whatever your favorite genre of books may be, pick one up and get lost in it!

Do a Workout of Your Choice
For me, a run relaxes me and clears my mind. For others, a fast-paced HIIT workout or yoga might be your idea of self-care. If it relaxes you, do it! If you are trying to get into working out, there are plenty of options for in-home workouts! Some suggestions I have are any Blogilates videos, the Down Dog app, and the 7 Minute Workout app.

Question of the Day: What is your favorite form of self-care?

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday & the end of week 3 of quarantine! Somehow this week flew by for me even though it was probably my least productive week so far. The sun made an appearance the last few days which definitely perked me up. As you could probably guess, we don't have any real plans on the agenda this weekend. Tonight we are ordering pizza from our favorite local pizza place (I may have been thinking about it since we made that decision on Sunday..), I'll probably go on a long run at some point, and then we'll probably find some little odds and ends to do around the house.

Here are a few things I have been loving lately! I hope you have a nice, relaxing weekend :)

Green Tea Aloe Mint Scented Lotion
This was a Christmas gift from my friend, Rachel, that I have been loving for awhile now! The scent is nice and light while the consistency of the lotion isn't greasy. I've kept it on my desk these past 2 weeks of working from home and love putting it on throughout the day for both the moisturizing aspect and scent. The smell reminds me of our honeymoon for some reason so it's a nice little reminder each time I use it! I believe she bought it at Target so I'm unsure if they still sell it, but if I ever find it, I'm stocking up!

Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal
Last week I had a few bananas that were ripening too quickly and wanted to switch up my breakfast. After some searching, I came across this baked oatmeal recipe. Once I saw I had all the ingredients for it (besides the blueberries but I wasn't too upset about that), I mixed them all up and popped this wonderful creation in the oven. I ate a piece fresh out of the oven with some brown sugar, a drizzle of milk, and some raisins. It was delicious! Once the rest cooled, I cut it up, put it in a container, and have been enjoying a piece each day since!

#Next90Challenge
Rachel Hollis, the author of Girl, Wash Your Face, created the #Next90Challenge as a way for us all to commit to living intentionally despite what is happening in the world outside of our control right now. It's a 100% free 14 week challenge that will give you some accountability during these stressful times. Each week you will receive an email with the theme for the week along with the resources. I just completed Week 1, which focuses on perspective, and so far I'm hooked! The website is linked above so check it out if you're interested (or want a much better explanation than I can give 🤣).

Question of the Day: What is something you’ve been loving this week?