healthy hydration

The summer heat can seriously dehydrate you, especially in Houston, Texas.  Sure the air may be fully quenched at 99.9% humidity, but that does not mean your body is.  I have never had the problem of disliking the “taste” of water as some people do.  If you ever see me, I always have my water by my side.  It can be plain, with lemon, or a creative infusion of sorts.  Infusing water has been the latest trend it seems, and I have happily hopped on board.  For my birthday, I was gifted a water bottle with an infusion chamber that I have been having much fun with.  I really get creative with the natural flavor pairings I come up with. (See my Raspberry Lemon Water here.)

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not-so-texas-sized texas sheet cake mini cupcakes

I am finally satisfied with this recipe!  I have been working on it and perfecting it for a week now, and last night’s batch was the winner!  I am so excited with how these turned out!  They are soft, light, chocolatey, and very moist for being gluten-free.  This experiment first began as a Texas Sheet Cake (which I still want to make), but I was lacking ingredients for a full cake.  Then, I decided to cut down the recipe and make a small loaf of “sheet” cake.  I was trying to make this recipe gluten-free and healthier as I always do too.  

cherry vanilla smoothie

I made this smoothie a couple of days ago for my post-run pick-me-up.  If you did not already know, I am a smoothie addict!  This smoothie was inspired by the fresh organic cherries I bought at the store the other day. Cherries always remind me of summer, probably because they are in season now.  If you say you do not like cherries and the only cherries you have had are those neon red Maraschino cherries… shame on you… I love cherries, but I loathe those fake ones.  I suggest you give real cherries another shot.  Why not begin with my Cherry Vanilla Smoothie?

kick-start circuit series:rotation six

Yesterday was a good day.  I received my Liveashore workout tank in the mail, had a day full of great snacks, and filled with kick-butt workouts!  It all began with my morning run as I continue training for my half-marathon(s).  I have just been running 6-8 miles a week since I have not registered for any halfs yet, and Jessi’s is in all the way in May.  It has been really hot here in Houston, so I learned to listen to my body and heart and slow it down.

kick-start circuit series: rotation five

I have almost given you all of my morning wake-up workouts!  After this one, just one more to go!  If you happened to miss the the other four, check them out!  

Notice that this rotation is repeated four times (the others were usually three).  This is because when I did this circuit only three times, it took me six minutes and burnt 20 calories (*based on my body and level of exertion).  Maybe I just was not feeling “it” this morning, but my heart rate stayed pretty low.  If this is the case with you as well, do my recommended four repetitions.  As always though, listen to your body.  You know it best.

frozen: “love is an open door”

This reminded me of Jessi—in so so sooo many ways.  

1.  We both loved Frozen.

2.  It took us forever to see this movie together, so we had to wait until it came out on DVD and we had a movie watching get together with our friends.

3.  Jessi always recorded funny videos of herself singing and being silly on her road trips home and back to school.

All-in-all, this video screams my best friend.  She would have adored it.  This would have been something that I posted on her Facebook wall this summer and texted her about.

I do not think I will ever hear this song in the same note again, but in a very good way.  It has so much meaning now thanks to Todd Stocker and his blog.  I follow him because I knew his daughter Makenzie and danced with her.  He recently wrote a post about this song/video in which he relates the lyrics “love is an open door” back to God and Christ.  Jessi would have loved this even more, as I now do.  

He refers back to the fact that “In Christ, we find our place.  In Christ, we see God’s face.  We say goodbye to the past… He wipes away every tear.”

It really hit home for me, thank you Mr. Stocker.  

Visit him here at toddstocker.com.

kick-start circuit series: rotation four

Good evening everyone!  I hope your Sunday has been nice and relaxing.  If today was your “rest” day, get ready to kick back into gear with my circuit series tomorrow because here is rotation four! 

Rotation four took about 12 minutes to complete and burnt about 60 calories (*time and calories burnt are based off of my body and level of exertion). And YES, I know I spelled “Bicycles” wrong, but the edit took too long to redo—my apologies.

farmer’s market morning

Yesterday, I did one of my favorite things: I ventured to the  local Farmer’s Market!  Like I said before, I love going grocery shopping, and a farmer’s market is just like outdoor grocery shoppin—full of fresh and local treasures!  Back in Fort Collins, I went to the Farmer’s Market every Saturday to stock up on my fresh fruits and veggies for the week until they moved indoors for the winter.  During the winter, they periodically held indoor markets that I scribbled down on my calendar so I would not miss the few that they had!

kick-start circuit series: rotation three

Good afternoon everyone!  Here is day three of my morning Circuit Series (if you missed day one or two find them here and here).  This one took about 10 minutes and burnt 50 calories!  The highest yet! (*calories burnt based on my body and exertion level)

kick-start circuit series: rotation two

Hello all!  It is day two of my Circuit Series!  (If you missed day one, find it here!)  I completed the second rotation this morning in under nine minutes and burnt about 40 calories (keep in mind that every body is different and this is just an estimate based off of how I performed*).