1. Thanks so much to those of you who are sticking with me right now during what I’m calling a bit of a”dry spell” when it comes to the blog. We’ve been busy, and I’ve been dealing with some major writer’s block, so that’s just how things are rollin’ right now!
2. Jay and I finally upgraded our phones earlier this week and I am now the proud owner of the iPhone 7 Plus. I really like it so far and am trying to get used to the larger size.
But I am totally loving the new portrait mode <3 <3
3. If you follow my Instagram stories then you already know this, but I ended up grabbing this huge salad from Walmart for lunch yesterday and I was super impressed by the fact that it was only $3.98 and quite large!
They had at least five or six different varieties, too, so I’ll definitely be keeping those in mind for the days that I don’t give myself enough time to make my own lunch.
4. I’ve been having fun switching up workouts a bit lately! I got into such a routine of doing some of the same workout videos (check out this post for 5 of my favorites and this post for some other favorites that are also pregnancy-friendly!!) that they started getting a bit stale for me. So I’ve started adding in some more HIIT workouts and a little more barre, as well as some more heavier lifting…and I am definitely feelin’ the burn! Here are a few of ’em:
- 10 Minute Full Body HIIT Workout
- 20 Minute Bikini HIIT Workout
- 40 Minute Metabolic Conditioning Workout
- 20 Minute Tank Top Arms
- 24 Minute Lower Body Barre Workout
What workouts are you guys diggin’ lately? I still TOTALLY want to try an Orangetheory Fitness class, but there aren’t any that are all that close to me. Maybe one of these days!
5. You guys, I honestly cannot tell you how much I am completely and utterly OBSESSED with the wipe clean books from Usborne. And I swear, I am not just saying this because I sell them.
Lucas loves these books, and I am SO impressed with the skills that he has learned from them. He writes the names of everyone in our family, he can write most of his numbers, he’s starting to learn some simple math, and he can identify a number of words, too.
I’m not saying this to brag on my kid at all (although, I’m not ashamed to admit I’m super proud of him!) but for a little guy who is ON. THE. GO. from sun up til sun down, this is one of the few things that will actually keep his attention (and keep him still) for a decent chunk of time.
Here are some of our favorites (FYI, all are links to my direct shop!):
- Big Wipe Clean Activity Book
- Wipe-Clean First Numbers
- Wipe-Clean Capital Letters
- Wipe-Clean Alphabet
- Wipe-Clean First Math
Of course, you can always host a party with me and get some FOR FREE! Shoot me an email if you’re interested!
6. I got to enjoy a fun dinner out last night with a couple of the neighborhood girlfriends. I love these girls!
We hit up Brown’s (one of my favorites) so I totally had to get a Cherry Raspberry beer and I also tried a sample of their raspberry sour beer (also good!). For dinner, I went with a turkey Reuben, which was actually just so-so.
But the company made up for it : )
7. A night out for mom also = quality time for the boys.
They’re just the best <3
8. I’ve had Alex’s 10 month post half-written for about a week now. Hopefully I’ll have some time this weekend to finish that up and post it next week (only about 2 weeks late…whooops!).
9. This weekend we have Alex’s baptism and we’re hopefully going to finalize the plans for our back deck, too. I cannot WAIT to have that finished up this spring!!
I hope you guys have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend ahead, whatever you may be doing <3
Wow! That picture of Alex is adorable and you took it with your phone? I can’t wait upgrade mine now! Hope you have a great weekend!!
Yes!! Portrait mode!
Bethanni I lurve your skinny girl cocktails! The chocolate bars and popcorn not so much. Taste like ceiling popcorn.
Love hearing what’s new in life! I have family in the Albany area and we love going to Brown’s, too! I’m going to need to get me some cherry raspberry beer!
YES, you must! It’s so good :)
I just go a new phone too, I love how good the cameras are getting, but I do wish the new ones weren’t so huge! I think it’s funny how they were getting smaller and smaller for a while and now getting larger and larger. Maybe they’ll be car phone sized soon…
Hahaha, I totally agree! I’m still struggling with the one handed text…the phone is so big!
I want the new iPhone so badly! The photos come out amazing and seems so much better for blog pictures!
Happy baptism,Alex! I always enjoyed your workout posts and recipes, too!
BRINE, PLZ.
Thanks for the recommendation, I just sent my nephew the activity book! Anything that might help him sit still is worth it’s weight in gold ;)
OHHH, I saw the order come through! THANK YOU so much, Chelsea! You’ll have to let me know how he likes it!! :)
Oh I’m excited to try some of those HIIT workouts you listed! I feel like adding in one of those into my routine is so effective. I also love tone it up workouts too!
I actually don’t think I’ve ever tried a tone it up workout?!
Oh my gosh! You need to look them up! (Tone It Up.com) They have plenty of YouTube videos! They have your routines, yoga or just general strength routines. You’ll love them!
THATS AN amazing price for a salad! Salads in san francisco average 15-20 bucks. Its stupid. Im totally loving weights and sprints/ HIIT workouts. Thats what I pretty much always do. Love getting quick and tough workouts in!
Girl why so expensive? I lurve the lobster rolls in SF tho! MMMMMMM
Wasn’t it Marketplace salads from Walmart that bat pieces were found in ??? Hope you checked yours, it might of been just here in Florida they found the pieces tho……not sure, but your salad looked really good. ??? for you a few posts ago you said you were going to show us a new project you were working on for the house, have I missed it ?? You showed a box with brown paper covering it….just curious……Loved the picture of Alex, he’s getting so Big !!!! Have a Fun weekend !!
Gahhhhh, WHAAT?!?!? I had not heard about that…but now I’m totally grossed out!
And no, you haven’t missed anything yet, haha…I haven’t gotten them hung up :)
Happy Friday!
Nadine PLZ.
i couldn’t be more jealous of your new phone, that camera is epic!!! and i am alllll about the cheap & ready salads – i love going to tj’s for those, but to be honest they’re not always big enough to fill me up! in terms of workouts, i’ve really been loving the stairmaster lately, even though i look like a total lobster when i’m done. it kicks my butt!!!
I can always count on you to introduce me to new work outs….. Last year when I was pregnant I discovered Jessica smith after reading one of your blogs. I was getting bored of the same videos for about the last month so I’m excited to try some of these! Also, I know this is a little creepy but I as reading one of yours and some other blogs’ baby updates of trying to gather info about how my LO compares to other 9 month olds. You had mentioned about transitioning bedtime to a later point to fit more with your schedules, how did you go about doing this? I’m thinking about summer and it’s going to be a drag to be stuck in the house at 6:30pm every night which is bedtime, trying to push it out until 8.
fitnessblender.com has awesome HIIT and strength workouts…it’s all I ever use to work out! They’re all free and they even have programs you can buy that set up your week of work outs for you…I’ve followed your blog for many years and really enjoy reading–just never commented–but fitnessblender was worth commenting about! :-)
Nah girl it wasn’t