Month: July 2014

This Week: Workouts, “The Truth Behind the Juice” & Things I’m Looking Forward To

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Hi there! How was your 4th of July? The rain may have cancelled some plans, but it didn’t ruin the long weekend- more on that later 🙂

I still cannot believe it’s July 7th- can you?! This is another crazy busy month: bachelorette party this weekend, BBQ the weekend after and Chicago the last weekend in July, but again, it’s all fun stuff so I really can’t complain!

Before I get to my workout recap, I wanted to share an article with you related to juicing. As you’ve probably seen or heard, juicing has recently become a new trend in the Boston area. Well, maybe not entirely “new”, but up until fairly recently, juice bars were few and far between. Boston Magazine’s Health Editor recently wrote an article called: The Truth Behind Green Juices, which has a lot of interesting facts behind juicing and what should be included in your “green juice”. Definitely worth a read if you’re looking into incorporating more juices in your diet.

Last Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I didn’t have to teach last Monday so I ran 4 miles (in the blistering heat!!) after work and did all of Kim’s stability ball exercises– loved them!

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  • Tuesday- I went to a new gym with some co-workers during lunch to go to a BodyPump class. Sadly, the class was not very good! Don’t get me wrong- I totally felt it the next day (holy quads and hamstrings and chest!), but the normal instructor was not teaching since she was letting a trainee teach the class in order to be videoed for her certification. The poor trainee was just not good. In BodyPump, you need to be able to catch a rhythm and go along to the beat and this girl just didn’t have it in her. I had a really hard time staying with her pace since it was so off compared to the music… so frustrating!
  • Wednesday- I ended up subbing the 5:30 Sports Conditioning class and did the workout with them. It was only 2 girls and they wanted to do glute and core work so we did some cardio and lots of glute and core stuff- it was a good workout! I taught my UXF burn class after- great crowd and we worked HARD. It was awesome!
  • Thursday- My classes were cancelled due to the holiday so I got up and did 45 minutes of kickboxing followed by 15 minutes of core work in my kitchen before heading to the Cape.
  • Friday- Since the rain held off until much later in the day, I was able to get in a 4 mile jog first thing in the morning. Felt great!

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  • Saturday- Saturday was my active rest day. I thought about doing one of the at-home workouts I posted last week, but decided to skip it. RM agreed to go for a walk with me and we ended up covering 5 miles!! Not a super fast pace, but it was a great active- rest day activity! I followed it up with some squats and core work and push-ups.
  • Sunday- We ended up leaving the Cape early so after the beach, I went for a run. I wanted to do 4 miles but ended up doing 5, which is always a nice surprise!

This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- I will have taught my 6am Muscle Work class and have done some cardio by the time this goes up. My sister and I have plans to go for a walk after work, too.
  • Tuesday- I think I’m going to go back to that new gym and try the BodyPump class again. My co-workers said the owner is subbing, so it should be much better!
  • Wednesday- The 5:30 instructor, Melissa, is subbing this class for me since I covered hers last week. I’m not sure what I will do for a workout, but I have something after work so I’ll have to do something before work or during the day.
  • Thursday- Back to my Thursday double!
  • Friday- I’m heading to Nantucket for Sheila’s bachelorette party on the 11am Ferry, so if I’m feeling up to it, I’ll try to sneak in a quickie workout before making the trek there.
  • Saturday and Sunday- I will be on Nantucket with a bunch of girls so I’m not sure what my workouts will look like. One day will be a rest day, but on the other I’d love to do something. Maybe some of the girls would want to join me?!

Things I’m Looking Forward To

Sheila’s Nantucket bachelorette party- duh!! I don’t know if I’ve ever been to Nantucket, and going with the group of girls that I’m going with will surely make it a fun first trip! I don’t know all the details of the weekend, but I can only imagine there will be plenty of shenanigans! I’m hoping the weather is nice because we’ll definitely be beaching it.

Questions for you: Do you “juice”? What’s your favorite healthy “green” juice? What was your best workout last week? Do you get annoyed when instructors are not on the beat in a class where it’s really important to be on the beat? Have you been to Nantucket? Any good bar recommendations?

Stephanie’s Avocado Tomato Corn Feta Dip {Perfect for the 4th of July!}

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In honor of the upcoming holiday, which is sure to bring about lots of BBQ’s and parties, I wanted to share an absolutely delicious appetizer dish that is most definitely a crowd pleaser. My gym friend, Stephanie, has brought a few variations of this “dip” to a couple of different gym friends parties and I was so happy she agreed to let me share it with all of you!

Stephanie’s Avocado Tomato Corn Feta Dip

Stephanie's Dip

Ingredients:

  • 3 large avocados chopped
  • 1lb diced grape tomato
  • 1 bag of sweet grilled corn
  • 6-8oz Mediterranean herb feta
  • 1 can black beans, rinsed
  • 1 diced red onion
  • 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 limes, squeezed
  • 2 tbsp minced garlic
  • salt to taste

Directions

  1. Chop your ingredients and place all of them together in a big bowl.
  2. Stir together and place in the fridge to chill for a few hours.
  3. Serve with tortilla chips or pita chips or your whatever dipping “utensil” you choose!

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I mean, how easy is that?! Nothing better than a 1 bowl recipe in my mind- easy clean up!

Big thanks to Stephanie for sharing her recipe with us- I plan on making a batch of this for the 4th!

Questions for you: What’s your favorite party appetizer? Do you have a “go-to” dish that people always request from you? What are you making for the 4th this year?

Wednesday Workout: Five 4th of July Themed Workouts

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Hi, friends! In honor of the 4th of July on Friday, I’ve decided to dedicate this post to some fun, 4th of July themed workouts! I am sure there are others who will be traveling for the holiday, and thus not able to get to your normal classes or workouts at the gym (I won’t have equipment and won’t want to dedicate as much time to my workouts when I’m on the Cape!), so I thought it would be helpful to put together a list of quick, efficient, no or little equipment necessary workouts. I’m always on the hunt for new at-home workouts to do, so hopefully we can all benefit from this 🙂

4th of July themed at-home workouts

Wednesday Workout: 4th of July Workout!– I made this workout up last year and remember doing it on the 4th of July- I liked it. Star jumps are killer 😉

4th of July Stars & Stripes Workout– I also did this workout last year! While it requires equipment, it’s a great workout

Red, White & Burpee– Definitely trying this!!!

Tone It Up Stars & Stripes Workout– There are 2 workouts in this link and I think I’ll be doing the first one since it doesn’t require equipment!

Fourth of July Firework Workout– Super cute names for the moves in this workout, including some all together new-to-me moves, so I’ll definitely be incorporating some, if not all, of this workout into my weekend!

I am really looking forward to trying out some of these workouts. Sometimes, one of the best motivators for me to get a workout in (and be excited about it) is to find NEW ONES to try! Let me know if you try any of these… or, if you found a good one that you’d think I’d like, please link me to it in the comments!

Cheers to a happy and fit fourth!

Weekending: A busy, but relaxing weekend {Tia’s, visitors, beach day, Bostonia, soaking up the sun}

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Hi there! How are you today? Anyone have this week off? I’m hoping to take Thursday off, which would be a nice addition to the long weekend!

If you’ve been reading B2B for a while, you’ve probably noticed how busy I’ve been- both during the week and on the weekends. This past weekend, although I had a lot of plans and did a lot, was relaxing on it’s own because I didn’t have multiple back to back plans that required me to hop around a lot. Besides Friday night, the rest of my weekend was totally mine for the taking, and it was the best feeling!!

Friday Night

My friend, Tim, was in town for a conference so we were able to align our schedules for Friday night. We tried to get a few more co-workers (former co-workers for me) to join us, but it didn’t work out. My sister ended up being around, so it was fun to have her join us! We started out at Tia’s because it’s the best place for after work drinks in the summer.

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I had zero intentions of going “out-out”, but between the weather, it being a Friday and being out with my sister and Tim, it ended up being a bit of an “out-out” night. Whoops! 😉 After Tia’s, we headed to Granary Tavern for a drink then to Warehouse for the last drinks. Although I woke up on Saturday feeling like I had had one too many wines, it was totally worth it!

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Saturday

After kickboxing on Saturday morning, I treated myself to a much-needed pedicure.

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Once I got home, I packed up and headed to meet my sister and her friends at a beach in Southie. I was expecting a bit of a sh*t-show beach scene with lots of loud, drunken people, but I was pleasantly surprised by how quiet and calm it was!

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After a brief nap, I agreed to a Bud Light Lime- I’m not a big beer drinker, and definitely not a Bud Light person, but there’s something about BLL’s that I just love so much! Perfect beach drink if you ask me 😉

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Saturday night was date night for RM and me. He had a gift card to Bostonia Public House, so we figured it was a perfect night to try it out. He parks at the Intercontinental Hotel and when we realized how nice it was outside, we decided to swing by their outdoor bar for a cocktail before dinner.

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We joked that it felt like we were back in Miami- I had been at the beach all day and he had been golfing and we were catching up over cocktails at a hotel bar. It was a fun “staycation” night!

Dinner at Bostonia was amazing!! We, of course, shared a few different things: Organic Baby Spinach Salad, Berber Spiced Pork Ribs, French Fries (I was craving them!) and the Scallops. They’ve got a whole Gluten Free menu which was a nice surprise!

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Everything was absolutely delicious! We both found ourselves continuously raving about the food with each bite! I don’t usually eat to being really full, but that night I left there with a very full, and very happy belly!

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Such a fun date-night! I loved being able to be out and about in the city!

Sunday

I ended up sleeping until 9, which is unheard of for me! It felt amazing 🙂 Once up, I did some yoga and core work before having a protein pancake breakfast with RM (gluten and dairy free).

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After breakfast, we went for a nice, 45 minute walk throughout Eastie. It’s a nice little thing we’ve been doing- we don’t need to be sitting on the couch all the time- a little extra is always a good thing 🙂

Later in the day we went to his brother and sister in law’s new condo to use the community pool and then had a delicious BBQ at his mom’s house. It was a perfect Sunday… and weekend, for that matter!

Questions for you: What did you do this weekend? Where’s your favorite summer bar in Boston? Have you been to Bostonia Public House?

Ps! My gym friend/in real life friend/blog friend, Athena got engaged over the weekend and I couldn’t be more happy for her and Tim! They are such a great couple:) congrats again, lady!!!