Well. Today officially marks the end of the last week of my summer break. Like I said before, I’m actually a lucky duck, since some of my friends started school this week. The thing is, that only equated to two days for the first week of school for some people and only one day for others (due to Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah). Like, what’s the point? I guess they’ll just have one or two fewer days of school come June when I’ll really just want to get out of high school and get my diploma 😉

In order to fully take advantage of my last week of summer, I decided to try some new things that I may or may not be able to do once school starts. Some foods, fitness things, and reflection things!

Slow Down Challenge

I mentioned this in my Fascinating Friday Links yesterday and you’ve probably seen #slowdownchallenge on my Instagram or Twitter if you follow. I first came across the challenge on Lindsay’s (at Cotter Crunch) blog, and I was immediately interested. I’m the kind of person that tries to go a mile a minute in order to get things done or get to things that I think are more exciting (like reading blogs instead of doing AP Bio…….). I rush when I’m eating sometimes, which ain’t good for my belly or my ability to appreciate the food. Thus, Jeff Goin’s challenge seemed like the perfect opportunity to just “stop and smell the roses.” It’s certainly called a challenge for a reason, but I’m on day 3 and already appreciating the effects. I’ll do a more in-depth recap in another post. Definitely check it out and see if it’s something from which you might benefit!

New Workouts and the 100 Challenge

I tried this burpee workout from Bonnie Lang on Wednesday! Yayforburpees. Muahaha.

Click on the image to see Bonnie demonstrate the variations!

Also mentioned in my links yesterday was Jess’ #100challenge, to which I’ve surprisingly been committed these past few days. For 21 days, you’re supposed to do 100 squats, 100 pushups, and 100 situps every day. Gets the body movin’ and groovin’ so I’m all for it. I kind of procrastinated last night though and did 30 pushups and 30 situps right before bed. Oy.

I also came up with a doozie of a workout yesterday. Sometimes I think I’m some sort of buff Crossfitter and make a workout with a bunch of hard exercises one after the other. Then I try it, think I’m gonna die, and modify it. I’ll share it on Monday!

The Fitnessista’s Cookie Dough Cereal

I FINALLY tried Gina’s famous recipe after seeing so many bloggers rave about it (especially Ashley :)). And since I’m such a mainstreamer, I had to. It was quite delightful!

Topped with banana and peach. Yum 🙂

Original Wheat Thins with Cowboy Caviar

I just tried this out on a whim, and it was good. The sweetness of the Wheat Thin perfectly complimented the sweet, yet hearty flavor of the Cowboy Caviar, which is less spicy than the TJs version, but still tasty!

Blood Orange Chobani

I know, I know, some Chobani products have been re-called, but I’ve been eating these all week and I’m still as happy as a clam. Maybe I’m just lucky. But don’t worry, I wouldn’t eat them if I noticed a funky flava. Like the lemon flavor, I was skeptical about blood orange, but it is tangy and sweet in the best way!

Kylie’s Whole Wheat Deep Dish Pizza Quiche

If you’ve visited my blogroll, you might know that I think all Kylie’s recipes are genius, but I’ve never actually gotten around to making ONE. So today was the day when I saw this recipe, and knew I had all the ingredients. I made it for dinner, and even though I ate about a half hour after the rest of my family (I need to work on my timing for making dinner), it was more than worth it.

Mine is obviously a lot uglier than hers, so if you want to see it in all its true glory, I urge you to check out her page. As you can see, mine even got a little pool of mozzarella water on top since I used fresh mozzarella. But that was discarded and did not affect the utter deliciousness of this baby at all. In honor of the #slowdownchallenge, I savored every single little bite. It took me almost an hour to finish it! What a happy hour it was. I tweeted about this before I made it, I tweeted/Instagrammed it after I made it, and I even emailed Kylie about how much I LOVE the crust. She’s probably a little creeped out.

Baked Salmon with Lime-Dill Yogurt Sauce

Still amazed that my kitchen-clutzy hands made this. Even more amazed that my family loved it (they didn’t just eat it out of sympathy…)! 😉

That’s some of the good stuff that’s been going on here! Starting Monday, clogging blogging will probably be on the back burner as I drown in college applications, homework, dance, and everything in between. I’m kinda bummed because I finally feel like I’ve gotten into a groove with blogging, but I hope to still post at least twice a week. We shall see if that holds up. I am excited that this is SENIOR YEAR of high school though! Woop woop.

So tell me: Did you try anything new this week that you loved? Would you try any of the things above?