Make this for dinner tomorrow night.

You.have.to.make.this.recipe. Soooooo easy to throw together and it tastes amazing!

Here is where I got the recipe (pinned it, then followed link).

Cheers!

Team America

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July. I'm in pain today because of my Fourth of July - as in, too much sun and too much beverages...the kind that give you a headache the next day. :)

We spent the day playing Bocce and laying out on Sullivan's Island. Except for one random down pour at the end of the day (that made a lot of folks leave, so traffic was clear when we left..whoo hoo!), the weather was perfect.

Then we had a quick dinner at Kicken Chicken and headed to Waterfront Park under the bridge to watch the Patriot's Point fireworks.

Had to go in to work today (boo!), but I'm looking forward to the weekend and continuing with the Fourth of July festivities... which includes more beach time and a Redneck theme party... yes, my friends LOVE theme parties. :)

What did you do for the Fourth of July?

Cheers!

A Summer's Night Meal

Grilled chicken kabobs with cherry tomato, onions and green peppers with a side of grape tomato, mozzarella and parmesan asparagus salad. I used this Pin's recipe to cook my asparagus and just added the mozzarella and tomatoes. My husband said it was best asparagus he's ever had.

Yes, that's ketchup there on the left. I put ketchup on everything.

And I paired this meal with my favorite summer beer - New Belgium's Rolle Bolle... Mmmm!

Cheers!

Weigh In Wednesday

Two posts in one week.... say it isn't so!?! :)

I think every Wednesday I'm going to 'weigh in' so to speak on what I've been doing workout-wise for the past week -- not only to share my workouts (I love borrowing workouts from other bloggers to incorporate in my routine), but to also hold myself accountable.

One day a week I work out with a trainer at Daniel Island Gym. I love her! I started training with her at ESAC before my wedding, and have stayed with her as she's moved to different gyms. She pushes me past my limits so I always get an awesome workout every time. I also try to log my workouts after I meet with her, so I have an entire notebook full of workouts to pull from when I go to the gym by myself.

She also does circuit classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays - Noon to 12:45pm with optional 15 min abs afterwards. For non-members, it's only $20. They are crossfit-like workouts and will kick your butt. I take them randomly when I can. Here is one of her workouts below... we did abs using the TRX.

When the weather is cooler, I will run some outside -- but I am not a runner. I run the Cooper River Bridge Run every year and usually 'train' (not really) right before the race...but I am not a fan of slow and steady distance running. I get boooored and my head plays tricks on me and I get fatigued or feel pain after only a few miles -- it's all mental, but I can't get past it.

But I love running intervals on the treadmill -- my short little legs can sprint like hell for a good minute or so because in my mind I know I'll get a rest or a slower pace soon. There are so many treadmill interval workouts on Pinterest, so I like to try different ones each time to keep myself challenged. Here are two I recently did last week...

{via}

{via}

I saved up and bought a nice Precor Elliptical after I graduated college - best investment I ever made. I have used it so much in the past eight years. I put on one of my shows on the TV and steadily increase the resistance and incline. Monday I caught up on Mad Men and got in a good 50 minutes. I  need to start wearing my heart rate monitor because I'm not always sure the calorie count on the machine is accurate.

I followed up my Elliptical session with this ab workout from one of my fave fitness blogs, Blonde Ponytail.

I also like to find workouts from other bloggers and sites on Pinterest, and rework them to fit the equipment I have at hand - whether at the gym or at home.

Here are a few examples of recent workouts I've done...

A modified crossfit workout.

This workout is a slightly modified version of
a workout from the blog pumpsandiron.com. Added some
abs and altered the workout slightly - this workout was killer.

I also slightly modified a boot camp workout from the blog pgfingers.com - I made all the moves a full circuit and added in 10 minutes of elliptical to the beginning of each circuit.

In addition to these workouts, I'm also trying to add in as much Pilates and Ballet as I can. As a former dancer, I miss my regular ballet classes (used to take at DanceFX, but the location and class times...and cost...didn't work out for me), so I try to do my own barre exercises, Ballet workout DVDs and Pilates classes at home. There are so many free full Pilates workout videos online. I did this Ballet/Pilates fusion workout last week and really enjoyed it - I felt so stretched out afterwards.

View class on YouTube.

Well, this post ended up being a lot longer than I expected... going forward I'll try to report only on the workouts I've done for the week and not be so long winded. :)

I'm exhausted just thinking about all of these workouts -- even Willow is worn out...

Hope everyone is having a good week so far. Cheers!

I'm baaaaack.... maybe.

Hello blog readers....

{crickets}

...yes, I know...is anyone still here reading this? Maybe...maybe not.

I've struggled the past year keeping this little blog updated. I have many excuses - work, life, motivation - but I won't bore you with them.

I have though.....for now....become inspired to try and regularly post again. I don't blame you if you are thinking to yourself right now, "Yeah right...you will post one or two times this week and then be gone again for six months." And hey...you could be right.

But I'm going to 'try' - try being the keyword. Why have I been inspired out of the blue to try?

Two weekends ago, I was invited to a Blate. Blate = bloggers + date.

Kate from one of my favorite blogs Nautical By Nature contacted me about a Charleston blogger brunch. She was in town helping her sister move here and wanted to meet some local bloggers. As a big fan of her blog, I said 'Yes!'.

So I was fortunate enough to meet and get to know Kate, Heather of Sweat Tea Monograms, and Kelly of Honor, Courage, Commitment. We had brunch at Acme Lowcountry Cantina on Isle of Palms.

L to R: Kelly, Me, Heather, Kate

These ladies were super sweet and so friendly, and I'm ashamed that it took someone from across the country to actually organize some of us to meet up. Charleston bloggesses, we need to make this more of a regular thing.

So these ladies inspired me to try and start up this blog again - so we will see how it goes. I didn't think that my life was really that interesting to share...but after this weekend...

Hmm...these are just from wine club...er....book club. A camera with a timer and lots of wine - an interesting (and hilarious) combination. Maybe I do have something to blog about after all...

:)

Cheers!

Whatcha waiting for?