Friday Things & A 25 Days of Christmas Workout!

December 20, 2013December 20, 201310 Comments

Happy Friday, B2B readers! I hope you’ve had a good week. Mine has been good… let’s catch up quickly!

Tuesday- We got so much snow! I went to the post office at 3pm and there was no snow. When I left work at 5:45, there was probably 4 inches. I loved it!

Wednesday- We had a company holiday dinner at The Palm (it’s in the same building as our new office!), but since I was going to a SMC girls Yankee Swap after, I just had wine and a few bites of the passed apps. Dinner at Jessi’s was amazing!! Honey mustard glazed chicken and cheesy mashed potatoes with a side spinach salad. So good! But even better? Getting together with some of my favorite girls. And presents. I love presents.

I ended up with an Alex and Ani bracelet. It was my first one and I was so excited about it, not to mention the one Nikia chose was perfect for me. Very special!

Thursday- I treated myself to Cosi for lunch as I got home a little late on Wednesday night and didn’t have the energy to pack a lunch for myself.

SO good. Do you guys like Cosi? Their signature salad is absolutely delicious. It was the perfect fuel to teach my Thursday double, which consisted of the following 25 Days of Christmas workout and then kickboxing. It was so fun!

This workout was awesome. It was a total body workout and I loved that once we did something (besides burpees… there can never be too many burpees 😉 ), we didn’t have to do it again. A bunch of members came up to me and said the same thing, so apparently it was a crowd pleaser! If you’re running short on time, feel free to skip the second round for the various exercises where I wrote “X2 rounds” after the exercise.

**Edited to Add: I was so tired when I was writing this last night that I forgot to say where I got this idea! I was looking through Facebook a while ago and came across this workout and just loved the idea. I took the first few exercises from Aimee’s Fitness Advent Calendar, but the rest were just random ideas I came up with. I also took the chest press & leg lift exercise from Athena, which I learned during her Fall Into Fitness challenge. It’s one of my favorite moves at the moment!

I’m hoping work flies by today because I have after-work drink plans with my sister and my old yoga instructor/friend Alyson, who I love! I think we are going to Granary Tavern, but that hasn’t been confirmed. Saturday will consist of a workout, birthday lunch for my friend Lauren and Sunday will hopefully will be ok weather for the Jingle Bell 5K!

Questions for you: What’s your “go-to” lunch place during the week (if you get lunch out)? Do you have any Alex and Ani bracelets? What are you looking forward to this weekend?

PS- We got new computers for my new company because we finally moved offices and they are tracked a lot more than before, so I haven’t read any blogs this week 😦 I will catch up over the weekend!

I have a granola obession…

December 19, 2013December 15, 201311 Comments

It’s no lie: I am a sucker for granola. There’s just something about it that requires serious self control on my end to not eat handful after handful of it. Even though granola is thought to be a “healthy” snack or yogurt topper, you have to be careful because some brands are super high in calories and sugar.

Last week, as I was perusing the granola section in the grocery store and reading labels, I thought back to the days where I would make my own granola and decided it was time to do that again. When making your own granola, you control what is going in it and the end result is generally a lot healthier than anything you’d buy in the store.

I can’t remember where I found this recipe, but it’s been one of my favorites.

Maple Cinnamon Peanut Butter Granola

Ingredients

3 1/2 cup oats
1/4-1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4-1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. peanut butter
1 egg white
1/3 cup maple syrup

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350*. Combine the wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately, excluding the dried cranberries.

2. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and place on a baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes, remove from the oven to stir, and then bake for another 10-15 minutes.

3. When the granola is done, remove from the stove and add in the dried cranberries.

Yum! Not only is this granola absolutely delicious, but it is relatively healthy, too. The only problem, and I’m warning you now, is that you may have a hard time with portion control. It’s sad, but I finished that entire batch in a little over a week… yeah, that was just me eating it. Whoops.

Questions for you: Do you like granola? Do you have a granola recipe to share? What’s your biggest weakness in the snack cabinet/kitchen?

{Holiday Series} Wednesday Workout: Warm Up Your Core!

December 18, 2013December 15, 20137 Comments

Happy Wednesday, friends! Today, I have the third workout for your Holiday Series Wednesday Workout. If you missed parts one and two, you can find them here and here.

For this week, since I’ve focused on lower and upper body exercises already, I decided to focus on the core! I love core exercises and always try to incorporate planks and cardio into my core exercises. These moves are sure to get your heart rate up and get your core burning. In order to make this a “no thinking” type of workout, I kept the moves simple, meaning all you have to do is get up and do it- no thinking required 🙂

I designed this to move from 45 seconds of a core-focused cardio move to 15 reps of a core exercise. Feel free to add weight for some of the exercises if you’re ready for that!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my “Holiday Series” Wednesday Workout posts this month. I realized next Wednesday is Christmas, so I won’t be posting a Wednesday Workout post for you. If you’re looking for something to do on Christmas, though, and want a full body workout, I suggest combining the 3 Holiday Series workouts because they target everything!

Questions for you: What was your favorite Holiday Series Wednesday Workout post? If you were only allowed to do one thing, would it be cardio, core, upper body or lower body?

Weekend Catch-Up: Sister time, shopping, partying, relaxing

December 17, 2013December 15, 20136 Comments

I think we can all agree that December is a crazy busy month, right?! This past weekend was no different, but it was nice because I was able to relax on Sunday and catch up on blogging, baking cookies, doing laundry, writing Christmas cards, etc. Even though I am not always good at this, it is so important to make some time for yourself to do whatever it is that makes you happy and makes you escape from the craziness of the holiday season.

Friday

I had to go to the office to pack up my stuff for the move, but it wasn’t so bad because I treated myself to lunch at Flour Bakery. JP and I always used to get lunch out on Thursdays when we worked together, but since he left, I’ve been bringing my lunch almost every day (which is good for the waist and the wallet).

After work, I came home and dealt with organizing the Pampered Chef stuff before picking up my sister at the airport and heading to Ecco for drinks and then walking across the street to Santarpio’s for dinner. Danielle had never eaten there so I was so excited to bring her!

Saturday

I started my day the best way: teaching kickboxing at the Y. From there, I went to Target to get all sorts of random stuff. This was apparently the week of treating myself to indulgences because I got a Skinny Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks, which I NEVER do anymore. It was so, so good.

After Target, I went into the city and was done shopping within 30 minutes. I know. I was impressed, too.

My friends Jessi and Cristina had their annual Christmas party at their apartment in Charlestown, so Danielle and I braved the storm and headed there. It was so good to catch up with everyone, but getting a cab home in the snow storm? Notsomuch. I started calling cabs at 11:45 and didn’t get one until after 1am. Yuck! Otherwise, it was a really fun night!

Sunday

I started my day with breakfast, blogging, laundry and baking some adorable snowmen cookies!

It was so nice being around and having a chance to relax on Sunday morning. I don’t do that nearly enough! After I worked out and had lunch, I headed to TJ Max and Market Basket and then spent the rest of my Sunday puttering around my apartment, getting Christmas gifts together, doing a little more baking, prepping my lunches for the week, etc. I made a super simple dinner since I won’t be around on Tuesday and Wednesday for dinner. Market Basket rotisserie chickens are the best. thing. ever!

Questions for you: Did the weather ruin any plans for you this weekend? Is your Christmas shopping done? When’s the last time you had a jello shot?

This Week: Workouts, Schedule, Things I’m Looking Forward To

December 16, 2013December 15, 20132 Comments

Do you realize there is only a week and a half until Christmas?! Crazy! This week, things start to get pretty busy for me, but it’s all good stuff, so I can’t really complain, right?! It’s always a little hard planning out my workouts during weeks where I have a lot going on, but I like doing it because when I have it planned out, I’m way less likely to skip it.

Last Week’s Workouts

Monday- I went to a spin class again! My butt still hurt, so everyone who told me the pain goes away the second time was lying. The class was good and I pushed myself more (covered 15.5 miles in about 45 minutes… is that in the normal range??), but I still didn’t leave feeling like “omg I am beat!”. I want that. I finished my workout with additional core work.
Tuesday- I went to the gym after work and I ran a mile before completing an upper body and core stability ball-focused workout. I’ll post it for you soon because it was fun!
Wednesday- I forgot that I was subbing Melissa’s Sports Conditioning when I planned out my workouts last week, but it all worked out! I taught a fun, but different, circuit/stations boot camp type of class (taken from what I learned from the Best of Boot Camp session I attended at the MANIA event) first, then my normal UXF Burn class.
Thursday- I went to the gym for round 2 of teaching a double. By the end of kickboxing, I am literally beat, in a good way! I taught another stations class in SHRED, which I think I have posted on here at some point, and then a high cardio kickboxing class after. It was a fun day!
Friday- Nothing! Well, more than usual since I walked to the T and to the office and home (about 2.5 miles total), but nothing in the sense of a “real” workout.
Saturday- Taught kickboxing at the Y. It was another big group and I loved that they allowed me (and were really excited about it!) to play my Christmas mix. It was so fun!!
Sunday- I wasn’t in the mood to get up and trek through the ice and snow to get to the 10:30 Y Pump class, so I did my own 35 minutes strength workout in my apartment. I did 2 rounds of this (15 reps instead of 60 second intervals and skipped the cardio) and then followed up with some heavier isolated lifting for biceps, triceps, chest, shoulders, back and abs. It was a good workout!

This Week’s Workouts

Monday- I am subbing kickboxing at the Watertown BSC at 6:30pm- If you’re in the area, please come 🙂
Tuesday- I have plans after work, but not until later, so I think I’ll have time to get to the gym for a quick strength session after work. We are in our new office, located in International Place, so I am not sure what the gym situation is there. I think you have to pay for a membership, which I won’t do since I have memberships through the BSC and the YMCA. I have so many BSC gyms close to my new office so I’m excited to hop around to those.
Wednesday- I will do a cardio and core workout in the morning at my apartment before work since I have my company dinner and my SMC girls dinner after work. BSCers- I know I told you I’d be there next week (this week), but I lied. Melissa Shaw is subbing so you’re in good hands!
Thursday- Teaching my double: SHRED and Kickboxing. It’s the last class before the holidays and I heard there is NO CLASS on the 26th, so enjoy your time off!
Friday- Rest day!
Saturday- For the first time in a month, I am not scheduled to teach. My instructor friend, Kate, teaches spinning at 9 and 10 at the Central Square BSC so I may go to that, or I may try to get to BodyPump. We will see!
Sunday- I am subbing the 9AM UXF Burn at the Allston BSC- definitely try to come if you’re around! It will be good to be back to my old stomping grounds! The Jingle Bell 5K was rescheduled for Sunday, so I will also be running that at 11.

Schedule

As I said, it’s a bit of a busy week. Between subbing on Monday, plans on Tuesday, 2 parties on Wednesday, subbing on Sunday and running a 5K… it’s a little cray-cray! I am happy that I decided to get a sub for Wednesday because trying to fit in 2 parties AND teaching was just too much to think about.

Things I’m looking forward to

So much this week! For one, we are finally in our new office which is SO SO SO much nicer than our other one. I love the location and the fact I can run errands so easily during my lunch break. Next, I am excited for the dinner/yankee swap at Jessi’s with all of my SMC girls. Lastly, I am excited to run the Jingle Bell 5K on Sunday (they postponed it from yesterday to next week because of the weather). I don’t know if my parents will come down or if my sister will run it, which makes me sad, but I just love running races, especially festive ones!

Questions for you: Do you know of any good spinning classes I should try to get to? Do you have holiday parties this week? What are you most looking forward to?

PS- I decorated my tree last week… how cute is it? It’s so little, but so perfect for my little apartment!