Hi friends!
I had such an awesome time on vacation last week, but I missed you guys! Even though I had access to my computer some of the time, I really stayed away and just enjoyed visiting my family and friends in Jersey. Between my full-time work, blog/freelance work, and personal email, I get a ridiculous amount of emails, and it felt kind of nice to ignore them for an entire 9 days. Now I’m just trying to catch up and decompress from the craziness that was last week!
My hubby flew back to San Diego yesterday, while I’m staying with my parents in Jersey and working from here for the next few weeks to get more quality time in with my loved ones. I decided that since this is a long trip, I’m going to post weekly workout recaps while I’m away from my home. It can be tough to keep up with workouts when I’m not on a normal routine and in my own house, but I’ve been finding ways to keep nice and active.
This week’s workout theme? No excuses! There are nearly always reasons you can come up with for why you should skip exercise, and on the flip side, there are nearly always ways that you can fit it in with some effort and a bit of planning ahead.
So let’s go ahead and recap my workouts since I’ve been home! To exemplify how I make it work and have no excuses when it comes to an active lifestyle, I’m also going to share with you what I was up to that day – because I’ve been all over the place and crazy busy since flying to the east coast!
Backing it up to last weekend when we arrived, last Saturday I was at my parents’ beach house. Some of my family – I think there was around 40 of us! – got together for fun in the sun and lots of good food and drinks. My hubby’s birthday was the day before, and my cousin and I had our birthdays coming up in a few days, so everyone celebrated with us.
It was an awesome first full day home! Since I knew the afternoon and evening would be hectic, I woke up and got a workout in: a 15 minute walk with my parents’ dog + 45 minutes of kickboxing & conditioning exercises + 15 minutes of yoga and stretching. A and I also wound up canoeing for 30 minutes in the early afternoon, which was fun!
We enjoyed canoeing so much on Saturday, we did it again on Sunday morning. A 45-minute canoe ride was the perfect low-key movement to cure a bit of jet lag and tiredness from partying on Saturday, before we made the 2-hour drive south to visit A’s dad, who threw us a surprise family birthday party on Sunday evening. We were spoiled with birthday celebrations this year!
Monday was a rest day, as our day was jam-packed with getting up early to take A’s dad’s boat out on a nice ride to Chesapeake City, Maryland. We walked around and checked out all of the neat little antique shops and had lunch there before driving to Philly to take his dad to the airport for a work trip, and heading back to his house to get ready for dinner at A’s grandparents’ place.
I had wanted to workout that night following dinner, but we didn’t wind up getting back to his dad’s to go to sleep until 11:30 pm, so….Tuesday I woke up bright and early to get a quick workout in. I did a 30-minute treadmill interval workout, followed by 10 minutes of squats, sit-ups and pushups. Not surprisingly, I hated every minute of it! I’m still not a treadmill fan.
We then drove 45-minutes to A’s mom’s house, then headed down to Philly to see the Eagles training camp open practice. We had fun watching all of the players practice with 20,000 other fans, and I’m getting excited for football season to start…. though let’s be clear, I’m still a Giants fan myself! 😉
After making the 90 minute drive back to my parents’ house that night, on Wednesday I got a nice workout in while my nephews were all napping. My mom babysits them on Wednesdays, and whew, helping to take care of 3 kids 3 and under was a bit of a workout in itself!
But, I managed to get in a pretty long workout: 60 minutes of upper body exercise with Jillian Michaels’ DVD workouts + 15 minutes of abdominal exercises & stretching.
Thursday was my birthday, and after a birthday brunch with my hubby….
….I squeezed in a 30-minute Jillian Michaels’ Ripped in 30 workout, along with 20 minutes of walking with A and my parents’ dog + yoga play.
That evening we drove 90 minutes north for my best friend Meg’s wedding rehearsal dinner. After 8 years of them dating, 1 1/2 years as an engaged couple, her Miami bachelorette party, and lots of wedding planning, it was so exciting to have her wedding day finally upon us!
Friday morning A and I slept in, visited my grandpa, and got ready to head back up north for the weekend for wedding festivities. I fit in a 30 minute Killer Body Jillian Michaels ab/cardio workout + 10 minutes of stretching.
Friday night we had a great time meeting up with my friend Danielle and her boyfriend for drinks before heading to dinner at the site of our first date almost 9 years ago – an adorable Italian BYOB eatery called Queen Margherita Trattoria – then driving to the wedding hotel.
Saturday was my friend Meg’s wedding day! I was at her house by 5 am getting my hair and makeup done with all of the other bridesmaids, and then off we went for picture taking, her daytime wedding, and many hours of partying afterwards. She looked absolutely gorgeous, and the day went off without a hitch! I got to catch up with some college friends and people that I hadn’t seen in awhile. The wedding had an awesome group of guests that danced their asses off, including myself, so workout-wise it was an active rest day of dancing. 🙂
Can you see why I’m recuperating from last week?! It was a whirlwind, which it usually is every time we visit our home state and have so many people to see, but I’ve been having such a blast!
Tell me… What was the best workout you did last week? When was the last wedding you attended?
Dani @ Dani California Cooks says
Best workout I did last week was definitely spinning! I get the best “highs” from spinning!
foodielovesfitness says
Agreed, a great spinning class definitely gets those endorphins pumping!
Laura @ Sprint 2 the Table says
That looks like such a great trip home. I’m going home to ATL for the first time since I moved here next month and I can’t WAIT! Enjoy the rest of your time there!
Serious pancake envy right now too. 🙂
foodielovesfitness says
Thanks girl, I had the best trip! So many fun days with so many people I love.
Sam @ PancakeWarriors says
Girl you sure know how to vacation! I’m lucky if I get to see half my family when I go back to Philly, it’s so great you got all that visiting in! Love these workout recaps – you are right, with some determination it’s not that hard to find 30 minutes to workout, even on vacation!! You and the bride looked gorgeous!
foodielovesfitness says
Thank you, Sam! It is a highly organized trip whenever we go home – otherwise we’d never fit everyone in! It’s a lot of coordination with figuring out how we’re going to get places, and with our family and friends living all over the place, but we get it done somehow… and have a blast!
Heather says
Great photos!! Aside from walking I have been slacking in working out. Need to keep thinking no excuses..have a hard time working out by myself when there is no class or my friend is traveling. Any suggestions I taking.
Last wedding were my sister and stepsister and friend next month. In two out of three!
foodielovesfitness says
Sounds like lots of wedding fun for you!
Something that I do when I really don’t feel like working out (like yesterday!) is I workout in my living room with a DVD or class on my laptop, while catching up on some trashy TV. It makes the workout go by so much faster watching some TV, but I get my workout in so that’s all that matters 🙂
GiGi Eats says
Exercise to me is like brushing my teeth in the morning (and night)… IT GETS DONE regardless of how tired or busy I am!!! Ha! It’s just part of the routine! Much like having to eat! 😉
foodielovesfitness says
Yea, you seem like a no excuses girl GiGi!
Marielle says
That little dog Jada looks so cute! What a good workout buddy! Sounds like a fun trip….I haven’t tried any of the Jillian Michaels DVD’s yet but, I’ve heard good things!!
foodielovesfitness says
Jillian’s DVDs are always a good workout, you should definitely try em!
Brittany says
I love all the Jillian action in this post. I have that ripped in 30 dvd and love it.
foodielovesfitness says
Ripped in 30 is AWESOME!
Sarah @ Making Thyme for Health says
I’m so glad you’re having fun in Jersey! And how nice that you’re able to stay longer and work from there. That’s awesome!
Great job keeping up with your workouts too! I’ve never done a Jillian Michaels DVD but they sound great!
foodielovesfitness says
Thanks lady! Ah yes, the perks of telecommuting 🙂
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
It’s nice to take some time off, but it’s tough to get back in to a routine, isn’t it.
I love canoeing – I wish there were more places around here to do it, but I hope to do it a few times in the U.S.
foodielovesfitness says
It certainly can be tough getting back to a routine… but then once I get back into the swing of things within a few days I’m usually pretty good. Hope you get to canoe here in America!
Lauren @ ihadabiglunch says
I’m the queen of excuses lately — I really have a lot to learn from you. Not to mention you make it all look so fun! What a killer vacation, pancakes and all 🙂 my favorite workout as of late was a butt/leg HIIT workout that straight up shredded my lower body. It’s been two days and i still don’t know what to do to work out because my legs and butt still hurt so badly. See? Excuses! Help me!! haha
foodielovesfitness says
Awwww, thanks Lauren! Nice, I love both HIIT and lower body focused workouts. Hope you did some upper body weight work while your booty was recovering 😉