Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, we are officially in full-blown crazy busy holiday mode. From present wrapping and gift giving to holiday parties and cookie baking, 'tis the season for lots of busyness & festivities! And speaking of gift buying, today I wanted to share a holiday gift guide that's perfect for the women in your life who are constantly on the go, but also like to look stylish and feel good as they check things off of their to-do list. This list includes some of my current favorite things for my busy, active lifestyle. In fact, I own each and every item in this post. Let's get to it! Free People Laurie Vegan Crossbody Bag. This affordable bag has been my go-to this year as I'm running out the door - whether I'm popping into the grocery store, or heading ... [Read More]
Archives for November 2017
Healthy Pumpkin Brownie Bites {vegan}
Are you guys sick of pumpkin yet? Me neither! Well I hope that you aren't over pumpkin yet this season, because today I have another healthy recipe to share with you that's full of pumpkin-y goodness. Truth be told, I don't really remember being a big fan of pumpkin until a few years ago. This autumn I can't get enough of it. I'm putting pumpkin puree in my smoothies and pancake batters nonstop, and of course, coming up with some pumpkin baking creations. I came up with this recipe on a day when my hubby and I were meeting up with my friend Angi and her hubby for dinner that night. I wanted to bring her some healthy treats, and I was in a creative mood, so I whipped up these babies. The inspiration for these pumpkin brownie bites was these store-bought ... [Read More]
Awesome Holiday Gift Ideas for Your Fit Loved Ones
With Black Friday in just a few days, we all know what that means: It's time to think about finding the perfect gifts for our loved ones! Personally, I'm not likely to physically go to stores on Black Friday, but I do enjoy online Black Friday shopping. I do most of my gift buying in general online, especially because I usually buy gifts online and send them straight to my parents' house on the east coast. That way, when I fly out there, the gifts I've bought loved ones and are just waiting there to be wrapped. It makes packing my suitcase a bit easier! And speaking of gift buying, today I'm sharing my first gift guide of the year. This gift guide has ideas for the active women & men in your life, and include some of my favorite items that I use on a daily ... [Read More]
10 Ways I Avoid Weight Gain During the Holiday Season
Thanksgiving is upon us Americans in just a few days! Thanksgiving is the kickoff to the entire holiday season, which for most of us, means lots of celebration and time with loved ones. But the holiday season is also an extra busy time of the year that can throw a wrench in our normal healthy living routines. There are some things that I put into practice each year to make sure that I keep on implementing healthy habits & feeling great throughout the holiday season. While I'm currently in Spain on vacation and sort of skipping over Thanksgiving this year, these techniques are probably even more relevant to me than usual because I'm traveling for half of both November and December. Travel always makes it harder to be super healthy, but by following these guidelines, it's doable. ... [Read More]
Shoulder, Bicep & Leg Burner HIIT Workout
This HIIT workout combines upper body strength training with efficient leg-heavy cardio moves, including squat and lunge variations, for a butt-kicking workout (literally!) that focuses on the legs, shoulders & biceps. Keeping up with my goal of adding more HIIT routines into my workouts, lately I've been doing some interval training at home. I've done my election hangover HIIT workout too many times to count in the past year, and while I still very much have an election hangover (I think I'll continue having it every time I turn on the news for the next 3 years...), I wanted to come up with a new challenging go-to routine to switch it up. This HIIT workout really works the whole body, but it focuses most on shoulders, biceps and legs. All you need to do it is a pair of ... [Read More]
Hiking San Marco’s Double Peak Trail
"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order." - John Burroughs In September I put together a list of fun things that I wanted to do this autumn, and on that list was the goal of trying out three new hiking trails. A couple of weeks ago, I found myself exploring new trail #2 - even though that's not what I initially set out to do that day. Let me explain: The day started off with me planning on making a return trip with my pup to one of my favorite local hiking areas, Escondido's Elfin Forest, but unfortunately when I got to the park entrance, it was closed due to extremely high fire danger. This was at the same time that the NorCal Sonoma area fires were raging, and since the park is usually open even with high fire danger, it made me a ... [Read More]
