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Fitness, Sunday Summary

Sunday Summary

February 23, 2014

This has been another of those weeks that have just flown by! Do you guys ever get that? I accredit that feeling primarily to the fact that I am busy 24/7 with my MA work …

I was also invited to Santa Cruz this weekend by my sorority sister to go to their semi-formal (I am an alumn of Kappa Kappa Gamma). It was great to see my friends and to visit Santa Cruz for a little while, plus Santa Cruz has such good food! Have any of you ever been?

Fitness wise, my upper body strength has definitely improved. With the assistance of a resistance band, I am now able to do 6 chin ups! And 1 pull up … baby steps people, baby steps. I am also planning to start Kayla Itsine’s 12 week training program called the ‘Bikini Body Guide’. She is the inspiration for my chin up and pull up challenge actually!

KI training ebook

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Kayla, here’s a quick summary about this amazing lady. She is a personal trainer based in Australia who specifically focuses on helping women achieve a bikini body; toned arms and legs, shapely butt, and a flat and toned stomach. She became famous after posting photos of her own amazing bikini body, and several client transformations on her instagram account (who all start to achieve the same coveted look). She has a very realistic and no nonsense attitude which is so refreshing to see, no endorsements of silly products and quick fixes, just good old fashioned exercise and eating right!! I am really excited to give her program a go and to see how it helps my own problem area’s. Let me know if any of you have tried it, or are interested in trying it!

Food wise, I went out to an amazing Japanese place in Lodi (California) called Komachi Sushi with my boyfriend and our friends this Saturday. The food was fantastic, and they had some really original options such as Japanese nachos, seasoned edamame, and Japanese pizza! The photos below are of the Japanese style nachos with salmon, and my entree of broiled squid. If any of you are in the Central Valley or live nearby, I certainly recommend you try them out. My Japanese friend has described them as the ‘best Japanese food in the Valley!’

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That’s it from my end! For next weeks Friday Fare I am planning an infused goody for you all .. betcha can’t guess what it is 😉 And I will also be telling you all about an amazing new food blog I found as well, so stay tuned!

Honestly yours,
Alice

Fitness, Health, Sunday Summary

Sunday Summary

February 16, 2014

Congratulations on another successful week everyone! I hope you have all been mindful of what you have been eating (Valentine’s Day is of course an exception!) and making sure you are staying active throughout the week.

What did you all do for Valentine’s Day? My Valentine of 5 years was sweet enough to come and see visit me (he lives about an hour and a half away) and we went out for Japanese food. I had a delicious and hearty soup of soba noodles (soba noodles are made out of buckwheat) and we shared some gyoza (how can you not?) and some grilled lamb chops.

We went to Sushi Zen; have any of you San Franciscans ever been there?

Apart from the extremely decadent banoffee pie (recipe here) I made as a Valentine’s Day gift, this weekend has been surprisingly healthy. I for one always give myself a little more wiggle room during the weekends because I like to meet up for meals with friends and I know that it is unrealistic to expect to eat healthily 100% of the time. My boyfriend and I went to a great restaurant for lunch yesterday in the Castro area of San Francisco called Chow. They had many healthy options, and a lot of their offerings were organic which is always nice to see. I got a Chai BaBa Chai to drink (delishhhh), Arancini as a shared appetizer and an amazing Beet salad with greens, fennel, endive, grapefruit, goat cheese and avocado.

Jump rope is #bae

In fitness news, I have re-discovered my love for jump rope (a.k.a skipping for all my European readers)! I became inspired by seeing amazing jump rope videos by the likes of Michael Olajide, Jr. who trains various models including Adriana Lima, and bernapril20 from Instagram. Jump rope is also a great form of cardio and strength conditioning so I highly recommend you try it out. I recently reached out to Miss Galaxy Australia 2012, Danielle Johnson, and asked her what she did to keep her legs in amazing shape, and one of her pieces of advice was to jump rope! So just do it everyone, it’s cheap, can be done anywhere and portable.

Here is a little video I posted of me on Instagram doing criss-cross jumps. I was SO excited I could do these again … they are harder than they look everyone!!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1yxSXAEfTY&feature=youtu.be]

Hope everyone had a great weekend, and have a great fresh start to your week! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave a message in the comment section below, email me or get in touch via my social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest).

Honestly yours,
Alice

Fitness

Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas

February 12, 2014

Hey everyone!

So I decided it would be fun to create a Valentine’s Day gift guide for the health and fit conscious! This is just a fun and personal wish list of mine, and I am sure it will appeal to other ladies who are into health and fitness. Secretly hoping my boyfriend see’s this … just kidding 🙂

valentine’s day gift ideas for the fitness lover

valentine's day gift ideas for the fitness lover

Feel free to share this list to anyone who is desperately thinking of Valentine’s Day gifts for their beloved!

1. ‘Arrive in Style’ bouquet, $55.99 from A Mystic Garden, San Francisco

valentine's day gift ideas for the fitness lover

2. ‘Rose Hip Oil’, $6.99, Now Solutions

valentine's day gift ideas for the fitness lover

3. ‘The Bombshell in P.Space/Pink Moss’ Women’s Sports bra, $48, Strut This

valentine's day gift ideas for the fitness lover

4. Nikki’s Coconut Butter, $12.99, Nikki’s Coconut Butter

valentine's day gift ideas for the fitness lover

5. Bodyism Exercise Band, $12, Bodyism

valentine's day gift ideas for the fitness lover

6. Affirmats, I am Wonderfully Made yoga Mat, $66, Affirmats

valentine's day gift ideas for the fitness lover

7. Harbringers, Women’s power gloves, $9.99, Modells

valentine's day gift ideas for the fitness lover

8. Polar FT4 Fitness Women’s Heart Rate Monitor, $62.50, Polar

valentine's day gift ideas for the fitness lover

9. Nike Free 3.0 Women’s Running Shoe, $79.97, Nike

valentine's day gift ideas for the fitness lover

10. The Ultimate wish: Professional Series 200, $479, Vitamix

valentine's day gift ideas for the fitness lover

And then you know there are silly gift idea’s such as unlimited spending money, a car, unlimited boxes of cookies and cream quest bars, a free for all go wild shopping spree at Whole Foods and Victoria’s Secret …… hey, I dream big okay.

Hope you all enjoyed my personal wish list and hope they help you figure what to ask for Valentine’s, or what to choose for your significant other. Don’t forget to ‘like’ my facebook page and share this post if you liked it.

Honestly yours,
Alice