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Sunday Summary, Uncategorized

Sunday Summary: Kayla Itsines Week 5

March 30, 2014
Kayla Itsines Week 5

Hey everyone!

What a whirlwind spring break week this has been! I had work from Tuesday-Thursday so it really was not much of a break lol. My lovely friend Shivvy who I have known since high school has come to visit me for just under two weeks, so we have been doing lots of fun and tourist-y things. This is her first visit to America so of course we have been sampling all the food. Surprisingly we actually ate quite well save for tonight when we ordered loads at a Japanese restaurant in Lodi, CA called Haru Sushi.

San Francisco (and California in general, but particularly the bay area) is such a fun place to visit! It is great having a friend visit because it forces me to do tourist-y things that I normally wouldn’t do. On Friday, we went to Haight-Ashbury and spent hours shopping and had some lunch at the Citrus Club. They specialize in Asian food and noodles, and attempt to us less oil  by substituting it with citrus. You MUST go to Haight-Ashbury if you want a good shopping experience – they have a lot of unique boutique shops and thrift shops. I found the black shirt I am wearing in a few photo’s below for only $8!!

We then went to explore Buena Vista park and took some photo’s.

Kayla Itsines Week 5

After that we ventured to Chinatown. I think Chinatown is awesome but OMG the traffic is horrendous, and I swear that the steepest hills in SF are on the way to Chinatown!!! I wish we had just walked from the BART (bay area rapid transit – train basically) but eh, it was worth it in the end. We got some really delicious boba (this is milk tea with tapioca pearls) from Cool Tea Bar. Naaaht healthy haha, but I asked for 50% less sugar so at least you can customize them a little.

Kayla Itsines Week 5

Saturday was gross and rainy so let’s just skip that recap haha. This morning we went to the beach; we oohed and aahed at all the sweet dogs and puppies that were also at the beach, and just had fun walking around in general. Naturally I had to show off my yoga skills hehe. Ick, I really need a tan …

Kayla Itsines Week 5

Kayla Itsines Week 5

Kayla Itsines Week 5

Kayla Itsines Week 5

Kayla Itsines Week 5

I finished week 5 of Kayla Itsine’s bikini body guide, woo hoo! This week set of workouts are definitely more advanced in nature, particularly the arm workouts. I absolutely loved it, although I am not loving the amount of cardio. We have to quite a bit more cardio but oh well .. it is so worth it. I am seeing improvement in my legs and my abs look more toned 🙂 The only thing I wish it would focus more on is the back. I have some really gross fat on my back and although I KNOW YOU CAN’T SPOT REDUCE, it would be nice to have workouts that focused on the back.

I hope you have all had a great week everyone! Please let me know what type of posts you would like to see, or if you have any questions; I would love to hear what they are 🙂

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