Your May sweat jams playlist is here! Can you even believe we’re almost to our final week of the Spring Slim Down!? OMG! It’s gonna be May and that means it’s time for a brand new set of sweat jams to help you grab those booty bands and get to work! Pssst…. we have some…
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Hi friends! Hope you’re having an amazing morning so far. I feel like we need to talk about Game of Thrones but to be totally honest, I’ve only seen like 5 episodes. (Don’t throw anything at me. I just never really got into it.) Each time I’ve watched it with the Pilot, he’s given me thorough synopses on the plot lines and characters. It’s enough to the point where I have an idea of what’s going on. But the last episode!!! WOWWWW. So crazy!! Also, don’t watch this if you haven’t seen it yet (spoilers), but I loved this clip from a bar so, so much. Watch for the drinks thrown in the air!
So for today, let’s talk about life hacks! Before I get into this post, I want to be very clear that I’m not writing this post from the vantage point of a life expert. I literally put my laundry in the oven sometimes and look for my sunglasses while I’m wearing them. Bu,t I’ve found a handful of rare gems that have made my life easier, so I thought it would be fun to share some life hacks with each other this fine morning.
(The queen of life hacks, Marie Kondo. Image source is here)
Here are some of the things that first popped into my head when I came up with the idea for this post:
Work + productivity:
– Leave the dishes in the sink. I love having a clean house, not only because it feels good and makes it way less stressful if you have impromptu guests or family over for dinner, but also because I feel more calm when my surroundings are in order. After I would drop off the girls at school, I’d easily spend 45 minutes cleaning up, and then I’d maybe catch a quick workout or get a few emails done and it was already time to pick up P. Those 3 hours go by QUICKLY. I finally realized that when the girls are in school, I need to focus on the things I can only do when they’re not home. This is work. I can do chores or cook and they’ll play happily together, but the second I take out my computer, everyone is suddenly injured or urgently needs me. So, I started leaving the dishes in the sink and doing basic cleanup stuff after I pick up P from school.
Beauty:
– I take off my dip nails the night before my appointment. I’ve posted about this on Instagram, but this dramatically decreases time at the salon. I can’t sit still for that long and it feels like such a time suck! I use a rough file to file the heck out of the top coat (so it no longer looks shiny), then soak 1/2 a cotton round in pure acetone, place it on top of my nail, and wrap in foil. I let it sick there for 20-30 minutes (it just glides off after that!), and do one hand at a time so I have free use of my other hand. Even though one hand is soaking, I’m at home instead of at the salon and can still move around freely and do other things. Now my appointments take 45 minutes max, and my favorite nail tech always thanks me for taking them off in advance. She says it makes her job way easier, so wins all around.
Laundry:
– You know those super bright clothes that look dingy after you wash them a few times? The color just isn’t as bright and they don’t look nearly as fresh as they did when you bought them. For these types of clothes, I do a vinegar soak before washing and they look bright and new!! You just full a bucket with cold water, add about 1/2 – 1 cup plain vinegar and soak for 15-20 minutes. Next, throw into the washer on a cold cycle, and air dry.
Pizza night:
– When we come home with to-go boxes from pizza night, instead of letting the pizza die a slow death in the fridge, I immediately put it in the freezer. It comes in handy a few weeks later when we might be low on groceries and the girls are looking for a snack.
Meal prep + cooking:
– Bulk meal prep for the entire week
– Buy pre-chopped onions and pre-chopped produce as much as possible
– Using my kitchen mixer to shred chicken
– Labeling all of the food that goes into the fridge! I’ve converted so many people
– I pack lunches while I clean up dinner and lay out clothes while putting the kids to bed (<— I do this one, too)
– Use Alexa for my grocery list. Have the app on your phone so you can’t lose your list!
– Freezing leftover rice/beans and other grains in muffin tins! Pop them out and store in a Ziploc in the freezer
– Setting the coffee pot the night before. Always appreciated in the morning
Beauty:
– Use beard dye to tint my eyebrows.. seriously life-changing and so cheap!
– Brushing my teeth in the shower
Productivity:
– I set alarms on my phone for things like medications, changing the litter, and drinking H2O
– Set a timer and do a quick power clean
Kids:
– Breakfast in the van on the way to school. No nagging for them to hurry up or we’ll be late. (* I used to do this until a child spilled an entire cup filled of waffles and syrup down the center console of my car. Never again lol.)
– Totally put my kids in their “tomorrow clothes” when they come out of the bath at night
– Keep a paint brush in your beach bag. Use it to brush the sand off your chairs, toys, and feet.
Laundry/clothes:
– Throw away all of your socks and buy all the same socks in the same color. (THIS IS GENIUS)
– Folding little kids’ laundry… wrap up piles in clean bath towel. Way easier to transport!
So friends, please share something that makes your life easier in the comments section below! I can’t wait to read about your favorite life hacks.
Have a wonderful day.
xo
Gina
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Simple ways to get more sleep
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Hi friends! Happy Monday! I hope your morning is off to a wonderful start.
What a weekend. Betsy and her fam spent a few days in Tucson with us, and we spent time together at the pool, checking out some of our favorite spots, and eating all the good stuff.
Friday morning, we hit the hotel pool bright and early. The kiddos played and splashed around for 3 hours (!) while the adults chatted, drank prickly pear margaritas, and we all snacked on nachos and quesadillas. It feels like summer is officially here, and after a full day of swimming, we came back home for nap time and quiet time.
Later that evening, we had a get-together with the neighbors from our street. I wish I would have gotten a pic of the entire spread, but it was a legit feast. Our contribution: Uncle Eric’s famous pasta salad (you need this in your life!), some brownies with peanut butter frosting, and a cooler of LaCriox. There was also an entire smoked turkey, BBQ ribs, beef with green chilies and homemade tortillas, three different types of salads, chopped fresh fruit, potato salad, handmade pork dumplings and mochi (!!!!), cucumbers in a red chili sauce that were out of this world, pies, cakes, and cookies. It was crazy!! We sat in one of the neighbor’s driveways, eating and talking, while the kiddos played tag in the cul-de-sac.
Needless to say, we’ve moved around A LOT, and we haven’t experienced anything like our neighbors in Tucson. I can’t even tell you guys how many times different people on our street saved the day while Tom was gone. One changed the lightbulbs on our porch with his enormous ladder, another put a fresh battery in my garage clicker when he saw me standing outside trying to get our garage to open, and we were constantly surprised by baked goodies and treats while he was away. It’s not unusual for me to get out of the car with the girls and a neighbor to run over with Fudgesicles for each of them. We try to share the love whenever I make fresh bread or enchiladas. 
After our street party, we’d promised the girls we’d meet up with Betsy and the kiddos at Trail Dust Town, but by that point, they had headed back to the hotel, totally exhausted from a full day. We ended up taking the girls anyway to ride a couple of rides, and then back home for them to crash into bed!
Our Saturday adventures included an Orangetheory class,
miniature golf and bumper boats at Golf n’ Stuff,
and dinner at Commoner & Co. Of course, we got the Chef’s Tile and Goat Cheese Tart, the mussels,
and for my entree, I got the usual salmon. It has creamy mushroom risotto, crispy kale chips, and a lemon gremolata. I hope they never take it off the menu.
Even though we were pretty stuffed at this point, we headed across the street to Blue Ice for gelato. We enjoyed it outside on the patio, while the kids all danced around to the live music. It was perfect. <3
(Wy really wanted to photobomb us hahah)
The kids:
Sunday morning, Betsy and I caught an early barre3 class,
grabbed a green juice,
and then got ready to head to Ventana for their famous Blues, Brews & BBQ Sunday brunch. If you even visit Tucson over a weekend, this is a must-do. Just make sure to get reservations in advance. The spread includes the usual breakfast buffet fare (salads, omelet station, potatoes, Benedict, waffles, pastries, breakfast meats, etc), but they also have an outdoor BBQ with grilled fruits and veggies, mac n’ cheese, Sonoran hot dogs, cornbread, and mashed potatoes. Inside, there’s a full cold bars with shrimp, oysters, and sushi, and they have a giant dessert table with a chocolate fountain and any type of baked treat you could wish for.
(Living their very best lives all weekend)
My first plate usually looks something like this:
They also have endless mimosas, Bloody Marys, beer, and coffee.
After brunch, we went to the pool the spend the rest of the day swimming. The water was too cold for me and P – we’re more hot tub kinda girls – so she napped on my lap in the shade. I could have spent the entire day out there, watching Livi swim like a mermaid, and the weather was absolutely perfect.
It was a great weekend with wonderful friends, and I’m pretty pumped that we get to see then again in a few weeks for our cruise!
For now, it’s back to work for this girl. I’m starting to get everything together for Summer Shape Up and can’t wait to share it with you in June.
Happy Monday, friends!
xo
Gina
Looking for a workout? I’ve got you, boo.
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We're more than halfway there!
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OMG so good!
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Meet our April Sweat Babe Crush!
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Oh hello there! I’m so sorry for disappearing a bit on ya this week. It’s been a crazy one. I feel like I didn’t do much work this past weekend (Easter mode) and paid the price for it playing catch-up this week. (It was so worth it, though!) There’s a lot happening behind the scenes and I can’t wait to share more with you soon!
For now, it’s party time because Betsy and her fam got into Tucson last night. This is easily my #1 fave for the week. We have some fun Tucson adventures on the horizon, including lots of pool time, brunch, and a neighborhood block party. I’d love to hear what you have going on!
(After brunch at my friend Liz’s house, she invited us to make bouquets out of the blooming roses surrounding her pool. They look and smell incredible.)
Some more faves from the week and around the web:
More Trunk Club winners. So many of you told me to give Trunk Club a whirl and I can’t believe I waited this long!! The boxes have been mostly home runs, with at least 1-2 classics pieces each box that I can add to my collection. The quality is amazing, the pieces are from brands I know and love, and I can decline pieces that I don’t like before the shipment is sent, and they’re replaced with other options. It’s also fun to share links with my stylist of things that I like so she can get a better idea of my style and even track down the same items. If you’ve been wanting to check it out, my referral link is here! I hope you love it as much as I do.
How cute is this little straw crossbody?
Sephora Beauty Insider Event is happening now! They only have occasional sales, so this is when I stock up on some of my very faves. If you’re an Insider (you just have to create an account and you get points for shopping), you get special deals throughout the year. This weekend, VIBROUGE members get 20% off with code HEYROUGE. After May 2, all tiers get discounts: VIBS get 15% off with code HEYVIB and Insiders get 10% with HEYINSIDER.
Some of my very fave finds:
Moroccan oil. I use this on my hair every time I wash it, and we also use it on the girls’ hair! We never have to deal with tangles and it smells like a dream.
This Tarte compact. I use these eyeshadows almost every day! They’re versatile and neutral browns.
These undereye bag patches. I stash these in my suitcase or carry-on bag every time we travel. They make eye bag swelling go down a ton, so they’re helpful for mornings when I’m a little tired or look swollen from traveling.
This mascara primer is a gamechanger. It adds a ton of length to your lashes – I’m often asked if I have eyelash extensions when I use this stuff – and I think it helps to condition them a bit, too.
This is the time of year when I’ll treat myself to a jar of this magic. I don’t love all of the ingredients, but the texture is incredible and it’s so hydrating. (Beautycounter is launching a new night cream this summer that’s supposed to have a similar texture, so hopefully I can transition to that one.)
We had a date night at Culinary Dropout – it was our first time – and we were pleasantly surprised by the food. YOU CAN BUILD YOUR OWN CHEESE BOARD (<— sorry I needed to yell; I just get so excited) and I met my very favorite salad. It had chicken, sweet potato ribbons, kale, pine nuts, bread crumbs, brussels sprouts, asparagus, and a lemon tahini vinaigrette.
Another reason to not stress about overindulging every now and again.
Love using this technique in oats.
Let’s all give a round of applause for the beauty that is Costco! Each time we go, I’m blown away by the brand selection and by the prices. I find that some of the prices are even better than my beloved Thrive Market. We enjoy stocking up on giant boxes of Perfect Bars, organic meats and eggs, organic fruit, nut butter, oatmeal, the list goes on and on. We also don’t mind the samples. The other day, P and I had quite a few tasty treats while we were shopping.
Some Coscto staples:
Perfect Bars
Paleo Chicken Sausage and Organic Chicken Meatballs
Banza Pasta
2 huge jars of Rao’s (the best!!!)
Almond Butter powder
Avocado oil spray (both of these were $5.99. So good.)
Nuttzo
Mama friends, check out this prenatal workout video!
Tips for increasing running distance.
As someone who has avoided posting because of Instagram pressure, this was really refreshing to read.
Amy Schumer’s collab with Beautycounter is one of the best things I’ve seen this week. She loved the company so much that she reached out to them about partnering. One of her good friends is a consultant. The full video is here if you’d like to check it out!
Happy Friday, friends!
xo
Gina
The post Friday Faves appeared first on The Fitnessista.
Any guesses what it is?!
Your GLUTES, baby.
I feel like it’s easy for us to think that we train our glutes a lot, especially if we’re into the fitness game and like to squat and deadlift.
But here’s the thing: squatting is not enough.
Strong glutes are insanely important for function: they help to support our hips, knees, back, and pelvic floor, and are responsible for abduction, rotation and hip extension. They’re also notoriously weak. Whenever I do fitness assessments, I can almost immediately guess that a client is going to have weak glutes. They’re a larger muscle group, but it’s easy for us to depend on supporting structures and let these guys get away with a bit of slacking.
– It can help to improve posture and alignment. When our glutes are weak, this can tilt our hips (tight hip flexors, weak glutes and lower back). It creates a domino effect throughout the entire body, and can lead to a belly that pushes out, an an unnatural arch in our back. (If you need help with posture and alignment, I highly recommend Katy Bowman’s work and this book.)
– It can help with fitness performance. Glutes that properly activate can help us to work harder, faster, and longer. Think faster run times, stronger endurance performance, higher jumps, etc.
– It can help with injury prevention. If you’re active, getting injured is one of the worst things that can happen. Strong glutes can help to support our knees, hips, back, and pelvic floor, which means that we’re less likely to depend on supporting muscle groups to lead the way. Muscle compensation can lead to altered movement patterns, overuse injuries, and pain.
If you turn the focus to isolating your glutes on a regular basis, you may be surprised to see that knees, back, or hips might not hurt as much. (Worth mentioning here that if you’re experiencing an injury or any type of muscular pain, get thee to a Physical Therapist ASAP, mmm k?)
Here are some of my favorite exercises to target and strengthen your glutes. The best part is that you can do these ANYWHERE, and if they get to the point where they start to feel easy, you can add some resistance through a loop. I got this cute one at Target (the Tone It Up girls are rocking the branding and product line). The resistance band loops also make excellent travel companions. Toss one in your suitcase and you can do some glute strengthening and barre exercises on the go. All of the exercises below can be made more challenging with a loop.
1) Standing hip extension: From standing, step one foot back and gently tap it on the floor. Keep both hips facing forward, and bring your hands to your hips or to a wall or chair for extra balance. Engage your glutes to lift your leg off the floor, as high as it will go. Gently tap back down, and lift. You’ll do 20 of these before holding the highest point and completing 20 pulses at the top.
2) Clamshells: Start on your side and rest on your elbow, or all the way onto the floor. Keep your knees bent, and squeeze your glutes to open your knees. Lower down with control, then exhale to open as far as you possibly can.
3) Side to side squat walks: Come into a squat position with your booty back, chest lifted and core tight. Keep your hips low as you step out to the side, and then step back together into your squat. Continue to squat walk 5 to the right, 5 to the left, for 1 minute total.
4) Side lying leg raises: Start on your side and rest on your elbow, or all the way onto the floor. Extend your legs, keeping the top foot flexed and the toes pointed forward. Raise your top leg, pressing out through your heel and making sure that your hips don’t rock from side to side. Lower down with control and repeat. Try for 40 on each side, or keep going until you feel a nice burn.
5) Hip thrust: Start on your back, with knees bent and feet pressing into the floor. Press your hips up towards the ceiling (stop when your hips are in line with your torso), and lower down with control. For these ones, it feels easy to load on weight at the gym but sometimes lose the connection with our glutes. Instead, try these with bodyweight or a band loop first and exhale at the top, really squeezing your glutes and engaging your core.
So real talk: how often do you strength train your glutes? Are these any muscle groups you feel are neglected?
Hope you have a wonderful day and I’ll see ya later!
xo
Gina
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Hi friends! Happy Monday! Anyone else moving verryyyyyy slowly after the weekend’s festivities? I hope you had a wonderful weekend.
Ours was packed with tons of fun:
movie night at the pool with friends
miniature golf with the crew
a wine and barre girls’ night
Easter festivities
and Trevor’s birthday celebration at the fair.
Friday afternoon, Liv had pictures at the dance studio, and then we headed to the pool to meet up with friends. Last summer, we spent almost every Friday night at the pool with them: the adults with margaritas in hand, and the kiddos munching on quesadillas or chicken fingers in between swimming their little hearts out. Sometimes they’ll project movies onto a giant screen. This weekend it was Incredibles 2 and the kids had the best time. It made me feel like summer is officially here.
Our big adventure for Saturday was putt-putt golfing at Golf n’ Stuff, plus arcade games and riding the bumper boats. It’s funny because I used to go to Golf n’ Stuff as a kid, and literally nothing has changed. The weather was perfect for walking around golfing, both kids were into it (No tears of frustration! We made it to the sweet spot), and Liv got not one, but TWO holes in one. Oh hey, tiny Tiger Woods.
Later that evening, I my friend Sam for a wine and barre event at BC Dance. You know, just a casual Saturday night in a tutu, sipping some wine lol.
We enjoyed drinks and appetizers, were fitted for our tutus (heh), the spa next door offered $10 per unit Botox (quite a few of the ladies took advantage of this special and we both totally had a “everyone else is doing it, so maybe we should, too?” moment. In the end, we ended up spectating. I LOVE the idea of a smooth forehead but knowing my luck, I’d be allergic to it or something), they had raffles (I won $50 to Athleta! yeah yeah), and then we took a ballet class from the fabulous Mr. Cory. He is a treasure of a person; so fun and talented. I can absolutely see why his studio is so successful. (Confession: the girls dance at another great studio but after this experience, we’re considering switching over.) We did some work at the barre – I could feel the squandered dancer inside of me break free, just a teeny bit – some turns, and a short combo. It was even more fun with the fact that everyone in the room had enjoyed at least a glass or two of wine at that point. 
I’m convinced that a couple glasses of wine makes anyone a ballerina.
After class, we walked over to Fleming’s and sat at the bar. We chatted, ate steak, calamari, and veggies, and it was perfect. I got home with enough time to finish prepping the cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning and set out the girls’ Easter baskets before crashing into bed.
The year, they got some candy (the only thing they actually requested), the same flip flops they wore all summer last year (I wish they had these in my size!), swimsuits (Liv got a unicorn and P got a mermaid), books, Kinetic sand, a small stuffed bunny, bunny ears (which they wore all morning), and a toy for each. When they woke up in the morning, they were SO pumped and cute with their baskets,
and couldn’t wait to hunt for eggs outside. Liv was so sweet helping P find eggs, and they they shared the “goods” at the dining room table, swapping chocolate for jelly beans and coins for dollars.
They played with their new toys, ate a ton of candy, I put the cinnamon rolls in the oven, and then we headed to my nana’s house for the classic Easter brunch. I look forward to this pretty much all year. Easter is one of my favorite holidays; there’s not a huge focus on gifts, you get to spend time with the family together, and you can drink mimosas and eat amazing food.
(My dress is here; wedges are from last year butt the brand is Dolce Vita)
Dessert table!
These two kept randomly disappearing inside and totally cleared out every caramel chocolate egg my nana had in a little dish haha.
Kyle, Meg, EJ, and Baby August made it to brunch, too, and everyone loved getting to see the newest member of our family. He’s still so sleepy and snuggly, and smells so, so good. The sweetest.
After brunch, we came back home to relax for a bit and recharge for the evening. Easter coincided with my brother Trevor’s birthday this year, so we headed to the Pima County Fair to ride the rides and hang out with him. The girls pretty much lived their best lives all weekend. <3
This morning, it’s back into the swing of things and starting to get excited because Betsy and the fam are visiting this weekend! We CAN’T WAIT to see them and have some fun Tucson adventures planned. I’m also teaching a spin class later so I need to get a playlist together.
I hope you have a happy Monday and I’ll see ya in the am with a new workout post.
xoxo
Gina
Looking for a workout? Try this barre workout; it has some of my very favorite moves.
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Let's do it!
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Make these for Easter brunch!
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Hi friends. Happy Friday to you! I hope you have a lovely weekend ahead and that those of you who are celebrating Easter enjoy a beautiful holiday. We’ll be eating egg casserole at Nana’s house and celebrating my brother Trevor’s birthday, so I know it will be a good one.
It’s time to share some faves from the week and around the web. If you have something you’re loving, or any fun weekend plans, I’d love to hear about them.
My favorite DR exercises are in this post.
How time of day affects our exercise.
So many amazing messages following the Beautycounter sale. I’m so happy so many of you found new faves! And yes, the peel is this awesome.
LOVE this off-shoulder dress. The fabric is super light and the off-shoulder vibe adds a little something fun.
Old Navy has so many cute dresses for the girls, and they’re all 50% off this weekend. These cute little everyday dresses are $10!
This Kite Hill everything cream cheese spread. It’s dairy-free and tastes so great with sourdough + Everything But the Bagel seasoning from Trader Joe’s.
Love this easy sheet pan recipe for breakfast.
If you make anything for Easter brunch, let it be this egg casserole or French toast bake!
I literally gasped while I was watching it, but she was so sweet and handled it so well.
I finished The Great Alone earlier this week, and it was easily the best book I’ve read this year. It felt like it covered an entire lifetime of events, yet I didn’t want it to end. It takes a bizarre turn around 75% of the way through the book (no spoilers), but the ending was way better than I was expecting. There’s a reason why it has so many positive Amazon reviews.
Finally, while we have so many reasons to fill our hearts with joy this weekend, we received some sobering news. One of my aunts passed away at the beginning of the week. I haven’t fully processed it yet. I feel silly saying that I don’t handle grief well, because who does? I tend to push it away and ignore it until it all bubbles up and then I can’t figure out why I’m crying so much. I didn’t get to see her for the past few years because they of where they lived, but she was a big part of my life growing up. She was at every single musical theatre play, dance recital, and family event. She was a shining star: bright, resourceful, and funny. She and my uncle loved each other dearly. I feel very sad that she’s not here anymore and I’m praying that we can develop a cure for cancer, which takes too many young lives too quickly.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
xo
Gina
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It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts! When I reviewed survey results earlier this week – I look at them all year, so thank you so much to those of you who chimed in! I truly value all of your feedback and refer back to it often – there were a lot of requests for more posts like this. We had a day this week that was pretty *normal* (what does that even mean?) and I remembered to snap some pics, so here we go!
7:15: I wake up feeling EXTREMELY rested. I reach down for my phone and see that it’s 7:15… an entire hour after I had set my alarm to go off. I had set it for “Every Saturday” so it didn’t go off and I just enjoyed a nice little slumber. We have exactly 30 minutes before we have to be out the door, so I throw on a lulu top and some leggings, some sneakers, run a brush through my hair, and blitz downstairs. The girls are hanging out on the couch watching a show, so I put their piles of clothes next to them to get dressed (feeling very thankful I put out their outfits the night before) and make them a quick breakfast. They have hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, and toast, and I put their lunches into their backpacks, fill water bottles, do their hair, make sure they have their teeth brushed, put sunscreen on them, and we’re out the door. 99% of the time, I make Bulletproof Decaf coffee in my Yeti mug to take with us, but I’m out of coffee.
8:50: I’m done with school drop-offs, so I head to the Starbucks at the grocery store to grab a coffee. Decaf almond milk latte with 1 pump of vanilla.
9:10 Back at home, and I put some sourdough into the oven that I prepped the night before. While the first loaf is baking, I finishing writing my blog post for that day and hit publish before putting the second loaf into the oven. I know it’s kind of a busy day, which works out well since it’s my rest day from the gym. While the second loaf is in the oven, I head upstairs for 7 minutes of meditation, a quick journal exercise, and do some easy stretches and mobility work.
10:20 Bread is done, so I cut a couple of slices for myself and make breakfast: 6 scrambled liquid egg whites, 1 whole egg, sautéed spinach, nutritional yeast, and bread with Kite Hill everything cream cheese spread and Everything But the Bagel seasoning from Trader Joe’s + a side of strawberries.
In between eating, I run the eufy (still my favorite ever), clean up the kitchen from the girls’ breakfast and the bread adventures, throw some laundry into the washer, make the beds, and spray down the countertops. I also take my supplements and fill up my giant water bottle to take for the day’s adventures.
10:50 I pick up Nani to go visit Baby August! She hadn’t met him yet, and I wanted to take Kyle and Meg some bread, so it was perfect timing. I swoop Nani, and we have a wonderful visit with Kyle, Meg, EJ, and August.
How perfect are his little toes???
I hang out outside playing games with EJ and get to hold sweet August again, and we have a lovely visit with them.
12:30 I’m back from picking up P, and I grab her a quick snack (a Perfect bar and a sliced apple). We also play dolls and do a puzzle in the playroom for a bit. She settles down to watch a show – we try to let the girls stick to a “2 shows per day” rule – and I make myself some lunch and answer a couple of quick emails. I eat lunch outside while she swings on the swing set.
This is a frozen chicken burger from Whole Foods with Sir Kensington’s Mayo, roasted red bell pepper, spinach, mustard, on a brown rice tortilla. Notice the bite marks on the outside of the tortilla, courtesy of P, haha.
1:30 We take the dogs for a walk together around the neighborhood. The weather is so gorgeous and P is officially a pro dog walker. It’s crazy to think of how many walks I spent with her in the Ergo or in the stroller and now here she is, walking a dog completely by herself.
I think it’s so cute that Bella lets her hold her, too. She doesn’t mind it at all.
I switch the laundry out, and then P helps me make some cookie dough. I’ve been using this recipe and it’s INSANE (I just make the cookies smaller than the recipe suggests and skip the walnuts).
I wish I could say I just had this tiny bit of cookie dough, but let’s be real here. After scooping spoonfuls onto the cookie sheets, I cleaned the bowl with a spoon. SO good.
After baking the cookies, we let them cool and head out to pick up Liv.
3:15 We’re back home from picking up Liv. I make the girls a snack plate (bell pepper, carrots, hummus, pepperoni, cheese, and crackers) and they eat it outside playing while I make some dinner to take to Kyle and Meg’s house. While I’m cooking, I have a Larabar and some tea with collagen.
I put rice into the Instant Pot, and chop a quick Greek salad (romaine, spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, roasted red pepper, kalamata olives, and feta), then start on the Chicken Parmesan. Enchiladas are my go-to baby meal, but since I made them enchiladas a couple of weeks ago, I want to switch it up. I make doubles of everything and wrap it in the fridge since that will be the girls’ dinner that night, too.
4:45 Everything is packed up and ready to go,
so we drive down to Kyle and Meg’s. The Pilot is there waiting for us, snuggling with August. <3
I watch the little cousins play outside while Kyle and Meg eat and the Pilot holds August. After a little while, we switch out. Usually we would be driving to gymnastics, but I let the girls skip class since they hadn’t met the baby yet. They loved holding their new little cousin. It’s hard to believe that he’ll be running around with all of them before we know it!
6:00 We’re back at home, so I make the girls their dinner plates, switch the dishes out, and clean up from the enormous mess I made baking cookies and frying chicken. Usually we would just all eat together, but I asked our babysitter to come over that night. (It wasn’t the best planning on my part. Usually when the Pilot and I go out, I make the girls something super easy, like meatballs, pasta, and some chopped fruit or sautéed veggies on the side.) I set out the girls’ pajamas and toothbrushes, and then we get ready to go.
7:00 Nerd date! The Pilot and I have a date once a week, and quite often they’re something we call “nerd dates.” Basically, we’ll grab a quick snack or glass of wine somewhere, and then head to a coffee shop to catch up on work stuff. We sit there with our computers and headphones on like nerds, but at least we’re together.
We have poke bowls and wine at Ra, and then go to Cartel for tea and nerd time. He’s studying like crazy for airline interviews, and I have a ton of blog stuff to catch up on, especially since I didn’t spend much time working during the day. (Usually when the girls are at school, I blitz on as much work stuff as possible!)
9:30 We’re back home! The Pilot packs Livi’s lunch for the next day – P only stays for lunch at preschool a couple of times each week – and I head upstairs to fold laundry. I used to go to bed super late – easily midnight or 1am – but ever since the girls have been going to sleep at a normal time and staying in their beds (!!!) I’ve felt like I can go to sleep much earlier. I’m tired now by about 10, and ready to wake up around 6 most days. It’s amazing to meditate a little, catch up on work, or even take a Peloton class before we start on the morning chaos. I set out the girls outfits for the next day, set out my clothes and fill up a water bottle for a morning Peloton class, and crawl into bed to read for a few minutes until my eyes start to droop.
10:15 Bed.. and ready to do it all over again.
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