Hey Gym,

Nice to see you AGAIN! 🙂

I decided to change things up a bit today and hit up a strength training class at the GYM! I must say…..I’m a total GYM LOVER! Seriously, the entire atmosphere makes me sooo happy! A gal pal and I took a full-body strength class which was similar to Body Pump (Gold’s Gym) only it lacked a bit in the music department (Gold’s Gym seriously has a FABULOUS music coordinator!)

{talk about inspiration!}

 The last time I went to a class….pssshh! Ages ago and it didn’t last long because, well our hubbies had a hard time with two newborn babes to care after for an entire hour & a half or so, so needless to say, our previous gym class bubble was bursted when we realized our newborn babies love their mommies too much to let them get their ZUMBA on at the gym: hence the need to workout en la casa (at home). 😉

I’d say we gave these two cuties plenty of time to warm up to their daddy-o’s!!

{photo taken months ago…ahh! that hair! ❤ LOVE him!}

Of course since it had been forever since I did a complete strength training routine, my arms felt like noodles afterwards but that post-workout burn felt SOOO GOOD! My fitness goals as of lately have been mostly to tone up; I’m at a happy weight, ideally I would like to decrease my body fat but I’m not overly preoccupied with percentages right now since I’m still breastfeeding. {Speaking of BFing, did you know Danica McKeller (Winnie from Wonder Years), breastfed her son until he was 2 & 1/2? SO inspiring!}

Along with today’s strength training workout, my workouts this week have been really good and I’ve been feeling GREAT!!

Mon: 5 minute plank

Tues: 30 min 3 mile(hard) intervals

Wed: 3o min 3 mile (easier) intervals

Thurs: Strictly Strength Class

Fri: Not sure yet, maybe a long distance run?

This week I also signed up to do Giselle’s 3-week Summer Ready Challenge and have been doing these exercises as well & I can already feel it in my tummy. 🙂

I’m ready to get SUMMER Ready!!

Along with getting in some great workouts, I’ve been enjoying more clean eats with salad beasts like this:

{spinach & romaine lettuce with turkey breast, carrots, broccoli, avocado, tomatoes, blueberries, a side cottage cheese and a smear of hummus!}

Speaking of avocado…I’ve kind of developed an avocado obsession and have been eating it with everything! I wonder if my skin will turn greeeen!? haha! Anything your LOVING lately!?

Have you taken any group classes? If so, which is your favorite?

Well, I’m off to watch my team play and hope they get the job done tonight!

(source)

❤ Alicia

Take Time Tuesday {#6}

Thankful for…

my loves

a yummy mother’s day lunch

sweet cards

filled with silly & sweet notes!

an AWESOME package from Green Fork-N-Spoon that I won in a giveaway! {thanks, Sunnie hosting!}

a super scrumptious lunch

this little ham ❤

this tasty, successfully made (YAY!), smoothie! {Strawberries, Mango, Banana, Coconut Milk, 1 scoop protein= SOOO GOOD & perfectly textured like a MiLKShaKe!!}

Happy Tuesday friends! What are you thankful for lately!?

❤ Alicia

 

A delectable cookie

Happy Saturday ya’ll! ❤ With Mother’s Day tomorrow I figured I would share this awesome recipe I tried last week that was a total hit in our house! My hubby swears he doesn’t like sweets and rarely eats them, so typically when I bake its me and A with 3 dozen cookies or 2 loaves of bread to ourselves. However, after making this recipe, hubby turned into a little cookie monster!

“COOOKIEEEEE!!!”

I had been wanting to make these forever, but with school I simply never got around to doing it. I finally decided to give them a go, especially since if I didn’t, we’d have a full jar of this glorious goodness that I could eat by the spoonful all day long…

Thanks to my friend Mila for this oh-so-delicious cookie recipe. I’m not a big fan of chocolate chip cookies, (weird I know)  and these reminded me of them only they were BETTER! They’re SO good that you are sure to LOVE them too. 😉

I followed the recipe exactly and they were perfect! Seriously, perfectly scrumptious and really moist!

Yes! This is how crazy it gets when I’m baking. (but give me a break, I was baking TWO types of cookies that day!){oatmeal dark chocolate chip cookies on the left and middle, and the dough of cookie butter cookies on the left.}

{Perfection!}

Cookie Butter Cookies 

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup butter, softened 3/4 cup cookie butter 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 2 eggs 2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons water 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups chopped semisweet chocolate

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, cookie butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth.

3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the honey, water, and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture.

4. Fold in chocolate chunks.

5. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.

6. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

7. Enjoy!

   Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

   

   ❤ Alicia

What We’re Reading {& Re-Reading!}

At the beginning of the year I had vowed that I would read to my little munchkin a variety of books weekly. I decided to choose 2-3 new books each week to introduce to him a variety as well as  further enhance his exposure to different books with the hope that he would, not only gain the benefits from reading, but also learn to love a diversity of books.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Everything was going great, each week we’d go to the library and pick out new books for him. He loved the Llama Llama series and many others, remember? I figured that by reading a different set of books to him over the course of a week would allow me to decide which books he LOVED so that I could eventually buy them for him for our own at home collection.

{He’s always been a reader 🙂 I can’t believe he was ever this little!<3}

Again, things were going great until we came across one book in particular:

He LOVED IT. He LOVED it so much that, he didn’t want to read anything else. Anytime I’d try to read a different book , he’d push it away or simply turn away from it and grab the Olivia book instead. We kept trying new books but would always end up reading his favorite. We know it word for word now, and even A knows its by heart and repeats specific words to us. I think it is so cute that he actually laughs at the funny parts of the text and sometimes even says the word BEFORE we read it. He’s also learned the word “three” because that’s how many books Olivia gets to read before bed. We also tell him “are you ready for your ‘you know what’?” at nap time { “you know what= a nap”} and he immediately shakes his head NO, every single time because of course Olivia “is not at all sleepy!” 😉

So just when I thought his obsession with Olivia would never end he found new favorite book. 😀

He is now currently loving…*drum roll please*

 The Pigeon Loves Things that Go! by Mo Willems.

Of course stemming from my educational background,  when I read I’m trying to make it as animated and enjoyable as possible and guess what…it WORKED! After the first read, as I animated “Choo-Choo, Pigeon Express coming through!” he laughed and immediately began copying me. I then had to read it 20 more times and he did the “choo-choo” part himself.  Now every night we read 1 different/new book, the Mo Willems book and end with Olivia.

We’re still trying to read a variety of books but he doesn’t take as much interest in  them or sometimes will only listen to portions of them, so we’re sticking to what he loves and just hoping he’ll continue to pick new favorites here and there.

What are YOUR favorite children’s books?

What are your children’s favorite books?

❤ Alicia

Marvelous Monday {MiMM #5}

Happy Monday Darlings! Hope you had a GREAT weekend and a FUN Cinco De Mayo, for those who celebrated. 🙂

Today is a MARVELOUS Monday {Thanks to the lovely Katie for hosting!} because…

1. I am DONE with my classes for this semester!! 😀 Hello SUMMER!! AND remember how I was stressing out a several weeks ago about completing & passing my licensure exams?….well I got all of my exam results back and I PASSED ALL THREE OF THEM!! 😀

2. Now that I’m done with classes it feels SO SO GOOD to just RELAX and do whatever I want. 🙂

3. On Saturday I got a little worried over the fact that my little man has been extra picky lately and I can’t get him to eat veggies and any type of meat. He LOVES fruit and cheese but rarely touches meat or veggies. Well I sorta got upset and super worried about it and began to really doubt my mommy-abilities. In fact, I felt like a complete failure as a mommy. 😦 But then I saw this sign somewhere online and realized that there will always be challenges we face as parents and no matter how difficult they are, these “obstacles” do NOT define who we are as parents. Half of the time we over-think and over-worry about the little things (which I know I’m completely guilty of) when we really should just acknowledge the positives and continue to persevere because any challenge can be tackled.

{Isn’t it just lovely!? You can order one here via Etsy!}

4. After a stressful Saturday evening trying to get my {teething} picky eater to eat, we ended up having a marvelous Sunday Funday in D.C. and enjoyed some good eats {YAY!}, which included yummy ICE CREAM!!

{Doesn’t ice cream just make everything better!}

5. This morning we had a marvelous breakfast which included lots of yummy VEGGIES!

{Zucchini squash, baby portabella mushrooms, spinach and a sprinkle of cheese omelete with a side of Sriracha sauce} {p.s. have you tried Sriracha? OMG!!! I ❤ it! & prefer calling it “srirachi* instead-don’t ask why 😛 I’m a goof}

{A peak inside…..sooooo good!!}

And after much praise and admiration…somebunny ate all of his eggs AND oats…and afterwards  he DIDN’T even want many blueberries which is usually ALL he ever wants. 😀

{this was him saying “Mmmm”}

{Mommy did a HAPPY DANCE over this almost empty oats bowl! YAY A!}

6. Lastly…a little marvelous movtivation for the week..

Hope you have a MARVELOUS day!!

❤ Alicia

The not-so-smooth smoothie queen

Can you believe it’s MAY already!?!? Are you ready for SUMMER yet!? I know I sure am!

One of my favorite things about the warmer weather is…fresh berries, cold refreshing drinks, and SMOOTHIES!!

I do have to confess one thing though…

I’m the worst smoothie maker. No joke!

{one sad smoothie}

I’ve tried and tried on several occasions but I just can’t make them as tasty, delicious and absolutely wonderful as I would like/hope they would be. I guess my issue is that I love to just throw things into the blender with the hope that the combo is as lovely as I envision….however half of time they are beautiful in color and totally lacking in taste! 😦 So the whole “winging-it” when making smoothies clearly does NOT work for me.

While I lack smoothie making skills….I have to say my husband is quite the opposite and is officially the *SMOOTHIE KING* of the casa!! He whips up an ever-so-delicious green smoothie! ❤

{Smoothie for TWO please!!}

Even my little picky munchkin LOVES the smoothie king’s green smoothie!! 😉

So since I’m clearly one who needs to follow a smoothie recipe step-by-step, I’ve been looking for new smoothie recipes online and came across a few that look pretty tasty! {Now if only I can make them taste as good as they look! lol}

{I’ve never made a smoothie with green tea, but it sounds yummy!!}

Healthy Smoothie Recipes via FitSugar

What are your FAVORITE smoothie recipes? Do you stick to measurements or just “wing-it”?

❤ Alicia

Take Time Tuesday {#5}

Thanks to Katie for another Take Time Tuesday! 🙂

This week I’m thankful for my awesome, sweet, caring, and always inspiring and motivating hubby. ❤

Not only is he a caring, loving and genuinely sweet person, he’s a fantastic daddy and super sweet husband! I especially adore the fact that he gets ME and all the things I’m completely and entirely passionate about. I especially love that he always motivates me and always allows me to take the time I need for myself.

Last night, I was exhausted and decided to skip out on my evening cardio. I had literally just decided to take it easy and slack off, even though I knew  I would feel better if I ran. I simply had no desire and no motivation whatsoever. Then my husband says, “hey babe, go for a run, I’ll keep an eye on A”  Instantly, those few words did it. It was nothing big, no glorious speech or motivational spiel, just a simple: “do what you gotta do for YOU” kind of thing.

I went from ZERO motivation to a TON with just that little boost and best part of all? I had an AWESOME  one of my BEST cardio workouts yet! Talk about a win-win in everybodys book! 🙂 And I would not have done it without *MY LOVE*.

So thank you babe, for always loving me despite all of my imperfections. Thanks for always acknowledging and accepting all of the quirky fitness and health related ideas, trends and foods that I’m ever so passionate about and for always inspiring me to BEST that I can be! ❤ Most importantly, thanks for being *YOU* and loving ME. ❤

❤  Alicia

At home workouts

As much as I’d like to count chasing my little handsome toddler around the casa as a workout….I can’t therefore, in trying to tone up and maintain a regular workout schedule I’ve started some new things that enable me to get my sweat on while at home with my little sweetheart.

Ideally, I’d love to go to the gym and get in a nice, sweaty workout in using machines and free weights..but when you become a mom, priorities change and having enough time for everything is something you are forever seeking.  The thing I love most about them is how convienent they are-if he wakes up, I just tend to him in an instant, and pick up right where I left off, it’s a win win for everybody! 😉 I usually do them when the little one in napping or in bed for the night (weights and circuits during the day and interval & distance runs in the evening). {Never in my life did I think I’d ever be doing two-a-days again…haha!}

Here are some of the workouts I’ve done this lately (& LOVE):

1. Arms & Core Workout

{repeat 3 times}

2. 5 minute Plank via Purely Twins

3. Interval Running

{repeat 3 times}

4. Arm Slimming Exercises by Sarah Fit

5. 30 Minute Treadmill Interval Workout via PB Fingers

6. Quick 20 minute workout via Tales of a Domestic Mama 

7. The Butt Bible Lower Level 2 via Renee @ Fit for Motherhood

{did this one today and WHOA! I can feel it!}

For more awesome workout ideas check out my lovely friend Renee’s blog post here.

So tell me, what are some of your favorite at home workouts!?!

❤ Alicia

NYC trip + MiMM #4

Lately I’ve realized how precious life is. Obviously with the two tragedies from last week and other personal instances that have occured recently, I can’t help but feel grounded in the notion that in life every second counts and nothing should be taken for granted.

So after this past week, I’ve realized that I need to embrace, acknowledge and enjoy every moment including all the chaos and the imperfections of life. ❤

(source)

Last weekend we went to NYC! While I was totally stressing out about traveling with a toddler, I have to say it was 100% BETTER than I anticpated, in fact it was pretty stinkin’ AWESOME. A did absolutely wonderful and was a complete traveling champ. 🙂 It made us realize we need to get out MORE!

{Elmo kept him happy during the early mornings in our hotel room}

One of my favorite parts of our trip was the bus tours we took, lots to see in a short amount of time! l would definitely recommend them to everyone, especially those with little ones!

All A wanted to do was walk around like a big boy and say hi to everyone. He definitely got tons of attention from others visitors as well, but can you blame them?…who wouldn’t smile at this sweet little face!?!

Despite all my worries about the trip, we had tons of fun with our little man and some great friends. ❤ Lots of exploring, sight-seeing, getting lost, and tons & tons of walking with a baby in the Boba carrier (mommy definitely got a full body workout!) but it was SO SO worth it!

Along with last weekend being wonderful, this weekend ended nicely as well, making today extra marvelous!

Marvelous in My Monday, thanks to the lovely Katie! ❤

Yesterday, I entered to win a free photo session with the girl who took our 2012 family Christmas photos &

I *WON*

All credit due to family & friends who voted for me via FB! ❤

So sometime soon I’ll hopefully getting some photos of my little man! ❤ Especially now that he’s rocking his boy haircut! 😉

To top things off last night, I ended it with a much-needed, mind-clearing, sweat-drenching interval run on the treadmill. I hadn’t ran but maybe ONCE all week and felt frustrated that I wasn’t keeping up with my workout schedule. I tend to stress over the smallest things, including the pressure of working out regularly, especially since I read tons of blogs where mommy’s are getting their sweat on a daily basis, typically in the early mornings. I sometimes feel like I’m not as commited to fitness as I should or would like to be when I compare myself to others, but after yesterdays run, which I completed promptly at 10 pm on the dot, I thought to myself “WHO CARES!?”

I realized I’ve got to do what works best for ME and if that means working out at night, so be it. I also realized that the comparision trap in ugly and I’ve got to stopping subjecting myself to it.

& of course after that intense, yet joyful run…I was in a complete state of peace-my mind, body and soul were in complete and pure state of bliss.

(source)

After yesterday’s cleansing run, I’m so ready for this week!

Happy {Marvelous} Monday friends & also

Happy EARTH DAY!

❤ Alicia

Take Time Tuesday {#4}

Another Take Time Tuesday, thanks to Katie!!

Last week’s Take Time Tueday was pretty sweet, in fact I got in *6* different runs during the entire week! 😀

This week I’m thankful for the little things in life like…

1. COFFEE (especially NEW coffee! ❤ Keurig!!)

Wolf Gang Puck Breakfast in Bed is my absolute FAVORITE

& although it’s a light roast, Green Mountain Island Coconut smells heavenly!!

2. The smell of Spring in the air

Yesterday we had the windows open and the breeze was lovely!

3. Warm weather

84?!!? YESS!!!

4. Sweet convos with my momma/B.F.F.!

5. A clean refrigerator (yes, crazy, I know…but I LOVE a clean fridge!)

& of course

6. Reading with these handsome guys<3

Happy Tuesday!! What are you thankful for!?!

❤ Alicia