Weekend Challenge July 20th and 21st

Really? It’s already almost August? It feels like 2 weeks ago that I was obsessing over fall foods and pumpkin scented candles and Christmas shopping and now it’s almost time to start that process all over again? I guess this is what life is like when you’re not in school anymore. Everything just runs together. I need a dog. I’m going to be 40 before I know it.

We had a nice week and a full house. My boyfriend and his twin sister, also my roommate, celebrated their birthday(s) on Tuesday. Their mommy was in town as well, so everyone had a nice time. With everyone in the house crossing paths and coordinating schedules around each other this week sometimes the environment got stressful, which leads me to our weekend challenge….

This weekend, before you fall asleep, lay on your back and take a deep breath. As you exhale, starting with the top of your head, release all of the tension you’ve been bottling up. Move down your face, from your forehead to your eyes to your cheeks to your mouth to your neck and shoulders, arms, hands, legs, feet. Go nice and slow. Reeeellllllaaaaax. I find so often as I lie in bed at night that I’m stiff as a board. It has helped to loosen up my neck and back in the mornings and throughout the day.

During the day, keep a conscious eye on your shoulders. As you sit on the couch, are your shoulders up by your ears? Do a shoulder check as often as your think about it. Again, relax. Built up tension in your neck, shoulders, and back can lead to stiffness and headaches. Yuck! So become more conscious of your body tension and control your stress with a little muscle debriefing.

Better start spending more time outside since it’s going to be December in a week. I’m going to take a spin class tomorrow morning and then head to the farmer’s market. Hopefully the rain stays away enough to spend some time in the sun tomorrow afternoon. I have some library books to finish! Enjoy your weekend! Tell someone you love them (and mean it)!!

Good Things 🙂

FS&JJ

 

Weekend Challenge July 13th and 14th

Here it is! Another week gone, and another Weekend Challenge upon us. So what’ll it be this time? How about we try out some arm funsies (as one of my clients refers to them)… PUSH UPS! Your challenge this weekend is to do 60 push ups each day (Yes, Saturday and Sunday, and if you’re reading this on Friday then congrats, you get to do them tonight, too!) 30 regular and 30 diamond type. Spread it out throughout the day or do a couple of sets at once. They’re great for toning your arms, shoulders, and back.

Now I don’t know if the following picture will look appetizing to you or not, but it’s a picture of my dinner and I just had to document it because it was so dee-licious. A (Jennie-O’s) turkey burger, sunny side up egg, slice of tomato, and avocado slices. Take a gander…
Mmhmm, yummy.

Also, remember how I was thrown into the smartphone world last week? Well, turns out there is a panorama option on my camera. The following was my first shot, a view of Flagler College while our company was visiting in St. Augustine. Beautiful.
I’ve got a busy weekend ahead. Our roommate is coming back and I’m having a thirty-one party on Sunday. If you want to take a look at (and even order!) products check out http://www.mythirtyone.com/amberzabriskie. Click on “My Parties” at the top, and my name, Kelli, then shop away! I’m making lots of healthy snacks, like veggie and fruit trays, crock-pot meatballs, black bean brownies, and pink lemonade cupcakes! Of course, I’ll be documenting and hopefully putting up some recipes. Stay tuned!

Make good use of your weekend!

Good Things 🙂

FS&JJ

Weekend Challenge July 6th and 7th

Hello hello!

Excuse my tardiness on posting halfway through Saturday. Time flies when you’ve got company and a holiday to celebrate!

Your weekend challenge is to 1) try to work off all that BBQ you ate on Thursday before the fireworks. Go for a walk, hit the gym and air conditioning, do something touristy in your own town, etc… and 2) STRETCH! It’s so good for you. Try for 10-15 minutes before bed tonight and tomorrow night (and preferably every night). It really does help to make you feel better. More limber, less stiff, more ready for the day when you wake up in the morning. It also helps to alleviate muscle soreness before you even start to get sore after a hard workout. Give it a try. See what you think!

Fireworks from the fort in St. Augustine

Good Things 🙂

FS&JJ

Weekend Challenge June 29th & 30th

A happiest of happy Fridays to you! Did you have a nice week? What was the best thing that happened? What did you do for someone else? What was the best food you ate this week?

Your weekend challenge this week is to get in 300 reps of abs both Saturday and Sunday. I know that sounds like a lot, but you could do that in 20 minutes, or split it up for 150 reps before breakfast and bed. Change up your exercises to keep it interesting. (Each second of a plank counts for 1 rep- i.e. 1 minutes=60 reps.

I’m thinking about doing a month-long “subject”- maybe a “Challenge Month”. I’ve thought of a few different ones, like an Ab Exercise a Day, A Healthy Recipe a Day, Inspiration a Day, etc. Thoughts? What would you like to see? Usually contributors (you) are more creative than inventors (me), so get thinking!

This week was avocado week. I bought a bag at Sam’s (You know how they come. Packs of a million, aka five). On Wednesday night I made a turkey burger with an egg (sunny side up!), tomato, and avocado. Last night I had stuffed avocado with tuna and tomato. Tonight I had turkey meatballs with chopped up tomato and avocado (okay I was running out of time and ingredients) and brown rice. Tomorrow I’m either making flatbread or pizza with regular pizza toppings and… you guessed it… avocado! I hope I’m not all avocado’ed out by the time they’re gone, but they sure are good for you and summery.

Mom, Dad, my boyfriend, my brother’s girlfriend, and some family friends will all be here for the 4th of July. Can’t wait! Happy 4th of July to all of you, and may the fireworks be all you dreamed they would be (and the food, can’t forget the food!.

Good Things 🙂

FS&JJ

Weekend Challenge June 22nd and 23rd

Hi! I made it! Did you? It’s time for another weekend challenge. Time flies when… life happens?

This Saturday and Sunday let’s try some cardio and abs. Three times each day, try this little routine:

50 jumping jacks
25 crunches
25 bicycles
10 burpees
15 push-ups
50 mountain climbers
1 minutes plank

It will only take you a few minutes, and will get your heart nice and pumped up in exchange for your time. Hooray for heart pumping!

Tomorrow is the last Lil’s practice of the season! Afterwards I’m driving to see my boyfriend’s new place and meet his roommates/friends. It’s always nice to put faces to names you keep hearing over and over… and over. Hopefully it’s not as rainy as the weatherman is predicting. Good thing the weekend challenge can be an inside activity 😉

Good Things 🙂

FS&JJ

Weekend Challenge June 15th & 16th

Either you guys need to start sending me reminders  or I need to stop having guests come visit for a while. This is too late to be posting a weekend challenge!

How did your food journal go? How long did you keep it up? Did you see anything different from what you thought you were doing? Change any habits?

You have two challenges this weekend. Your first is to complete 200 reps of abs both today (Saturday) and tomorrow. Spice it up and do some different exercises. Leg raises, full crunch, planks, side exercises, bicycles, kayakers, etc… Check out my previous posts for ab ideas, or go to the ever-reliable Google machine for even more options.

Your second challenge is to make a new, healthy recipe this weekend. Lunch, dinner, snack, whatever it is. Check out my Pinterest page here for some ideas, or try the one you ripped out of that magazine a couple months ago and have yet to try.

Headed to the pool to enjoy the sunshine today! Get outside and do some form of the same. I’m hoping to get a real post up here this week now that everything is finally settling down.

Good Things 🙂

FS&JJ

 

Weekend Challenge June 8th and 9th

HELLOOOOOOO!

I’m sorry I haven’t been posting! Between hiking and friends visiting and doctor appointments and work and life in general, I guess you can say it’s been a bit busy. But that’s no excuse to have slacked on a weekend challenge. I hope you’ve been active and healthy and happy while I was gone. Time to get back on track.

You weekend challenge is to keep a food journal. Just for Saturday and Sunday (or more if you’d like). Be truthful with yourself. No one else will see it (unless your child brings it to show and tell on Monday…). Did you have three oreos? Write down all three. Think it’s not important to write down that little snack you had a half hour before dinner? Do it anyways! Don’t forget to record your fluid intake- especially water! Do you ever find yourself saying “Oh I don’t usually eat _____, so it’s okay if I have one tonight”? Maybe it turns out you don’t eat Exhibit A every night, but you do eat a similarly unhealthy Exhibit B, C, D, etc. and over time that may leave more of a mark than you think. So write down what you eat this weekend. If you’d like, do it for a whole week. You may be surprised with what you see!

Get outside this weekend and do something active! It’s finally summertime and we need to take advantage of it. One of my best friends is visiting from Michigan. Tomorrow morning she’s going to help me coach Lils’ basketball and then we’re going to take a spin class together. Hopefully the rain stays away, but whether it’s wet or dry we’re going to have a fun time. YOU BETTER HAVE A FUN TIME, TOO!

I promise to be better about updating. Scout’s Honor.

Good Things 🙂

FS&JJ

Weekend Challenge May 18th and 19th… Almost

Excuse my tardiness! It almost doesn’t count as a weekend challenge when I post something on Sunday. GOSH, silly me. Between my roommate going out of town, a Skype session, and addictive jewelry making, I forgot about you! Please don’t be mad.

So today, and maybe yesterday, your challenge is/was just to be active. Do something outside, do everything outside. Go for a walk or run, go canoeing, go to the beach, plant new flowers and veggies in the garden, anything. I hope you could do this yesterday without me asking you to, but today I’m telling you to instead.

I leave for a family vacation to the Grand Canyon on Wednesday. Before that I am hoping to post some two-for-one exercises that work your whole body (for the days when you just don’t have much time, or for those who really don’t like using weights).

Have an awesome rest of the weekend!

Good Things 🙂

FS&JJ

Weekend Challenge May 11th and 12th

Here’s to the weekend! Time to kick back and relax, whether relaxing means hanging out on the couch or doing something active with every moment of your free time, it’s the not-being-at-work part that really counts. So, how are you spending your weekend?

Hopefully you incorporate this weekend challenge into your Saturday and Sunday morning. When you roll out of bed, whether it be before you wash your face and brush your teeth or while breakfast is cooking, try to get your metabolism awake with this mini total body workout.

50 Jumping Jacks
20 Push Ups
20 Lunges (each side)
30 second Wall Sit
50 Crunches
1 minute plank

This week I made this crock pot macaroni and cheese recipe. However, instead of using two cups of macaroni I substituted half of that with about a cup or cup and a half of cauliflower. I used frozen cauliflower, heated it up a bit so I could tear it into “macaroni-sized” pieces, and dumped it in the crock pot. It was good! Something needs to be added to the recipe to give it a bit more flavor. I used a little ketchup this time, but I’m hoping to find something else to make it taste cheesier. Any suggestions?

Tomorrow is the first Lil’ Kickers (soccer) practice. The soccer portion of Lil’s is my FAVORITE! A friend I’ve known from 4th grade is visiting this week. We’ll hit up the beach and hopefully head to Disney on Sunday. One of my life mottos: When in doubt, DISNEY!

Everyone have an awesome weekend. Spend some time outside. You’ll feel better, I promise.

Good Things 🙂

FS&JJ

Weekend Challenge May 4th and 5th

Happy Cinco de Mayo! In honor of the weekend holiday you have one and a half challenges. The “one” because you have to and the “half” because it would be cool if you did. So here you go.

One: Try this holiday-inspired exercise. Lay something down on the floor, like a jump rope or long towel, use a tile line in the kitchen, the meeting of the wood floor and carpet, a sidewalk crack etc. Basically, you need something to jump over. Start on one side, and simply hop back and forth from one side of the line to the other. I’m calling this the “Mexican Jumping Bean.” Hop as fast as you can back and forth for 30-60 seconds Saturday and Sunday before every meal and every time you get up from sitting for a long time. Wake up those stiff limbs and that metabolism. Play some spicy music while you do it for extra credit.

Half: Find a healthy Mexican recipe to make once this weekend. Whether it be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. A family favorite or a new experiment. You may find some ideas here, or you can easily google something like “Healthy Cinco de Mayo recipes”.

On an unrelated noted, National Star Wars Day, tomorrow is. Use the force and stay healthy!

Good Things 🙂

FS&JJ