Fascinating Friday Links #36

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Hey!

The AP Bio exam is today at 12PM, which is good because I got to sleep in, and not so good because…I have to take the test. But once this AP is done, a great weight will be lifted off our shoulders— LAST AP EVER.

I guess I haven’t been sharing my moves with you much this week, so here’s what I’ve been doing:

Monday: 5 min row + TRX arm workout (something like this or this) + random ab exercises + plank

Tuesday: rest + Blogilates

Wednesday: rest + some burpees and walking in there

Thursday: ~60 air squats, pushups, and sit-ups (I had been chipping away at the 100 challenge while studying) + modern dance class

Friday: We shall see!

Alrighty then! While I’m scavenging my noggin for my knowledge on cells, DNA, and evolution, you can all read some of this week’s Fascinating Friday Links. Enjoy!

Health and Fitness

[Healthy eating doesn’t have to make your wallet cry] Healthy and Affordable Pantry Staples via Kath Eats Real Food + Veg Girl RD

[Don’t underestimate the dumbbell] 5 Dumbbell Moves You Should Do via Nutrition Nut on the Run

[Get the most out of your lower body workouts] Tips For Lower Body Training via Fitnessista

[Group fitness etiquette] Confessions of a Group Fitness Instructor via Snack Therapy

[Just don’t trust what cardio machines say] Mythbusting: The “Fat Burning” Zone via The Skinny on Health

[Fuel and refuel] 50 Awesome Pre- and Post-Workout Snacks via Greatist

[Move and groove] Squat Overload Leg Workout via Peanut Butter Fingers + Wild and Crazy 15 Min AMRAP via Purely Twins + Core and Cardio Interval Circuit Workout via Your Trainer Paige

Food for Thought

[We attack looks because it’s the easiest thing to do. That needs to change.] Stop Attacking Looks, Start Attacking the Problem via Olive to Run

[Not a perspective we often see] What It’s Like to Wait Until Your Wedding Night via Perfection Isn’t Happy

[I can relate] Things to Never Say to a Person With Anxiety via The Lunchbox Diaries

[Getting from “pseudo-recovery” to “true recovery”] Choosing True Recovery via The Story of a Girl

[It takes time to develop a strong relationship] 9 Things Happy Couples Never Think via Marc and Angel Hack Life

[“Prayer works”] Humans of NY Photo on Instagram

Food for Belly

[Cheeeeeese] White Pizza Quinoa Casserole via Edible Perspective

[5-star restaurant status] Crispy Avocado Wedges with Crab Salad via Family Fresh Cooking

[Brownie love] Coconut Brownies via Two Peas and Their Pod + Banana Brownies with Peanut Butter Frosting via Taste and Tell

[Need to make these] Feel Good Hearty Granola Bars via Oh She Glows

[Genius] Waffle Iron Eggs via Weelicious

[Can someone make this for me?!] Gluten Free Carrot Cake via The Healthy Maven

[Oh.] Grilled Lobster Tails with Sriracha Butter via Fifteen Spatulas

[Want this so badly] Coconut Chai Ice Cream via Minougirl

[Red, white, and blue] 30 Light Memorial Day Recipes via Skinnytaste

Miscellaneous Fun

[Bloggers] Food Photo Tip for Capturing Motion via Edible Perspective + How to Start a Blog via Running with Spoons + Social Media for Newbie Bloggers via The Healthy Maven

[Important skill] How to Choose a Perfect Avocado via According to Elle

[“Reverse progress” can mean a happier person] This Fitness Gained 14 Pounds and She’s Never Felt Better via Greatist

[Inspiring, especially for an ex-running-hater like me] My Journey: Becoming a Runner via Nut Butter Runner

[Also inspiring and so funny (her running buddy is my brother!)] The Real Life of a Newbie Runner Part 2 via I Think In Comics

Hope you enjoyed some of these links! Happy Friday, and I hope my fellow Americans have an awesome Memorial day weekend!

So tell me:

What are your plans for this weekend?

We’re going to visit Ben on Sunday!

Which links did you enjoy?

Friday Should Be Added to the Weekend {MIMM #18}

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Good morning!

I think it’s safe to say that we are actually back into routine mode now. With only one day of school last Thursday and then a snow day on Friday, it basically feels like we haven’t gone back to school yet, which is a-okay with me. Long live Christmas break!

A lot of marvelous things went on this weekend, so the extra day off was definitely welcomed. Can Friday just be added to the weekend?

Linking up with the fabulous Katie for Marvelous in My Monday!

Here’s how my weekend looked:

Snuggling up by the space heater.

These things are called space heaters because they look like UFOs, right? I love it because it warms me up (if I hog it and sit right in front of it), but it also creeps me out. Whenever it heats up, it makes a weird metallic noise that is like a sound effect from a horror movie….Which means it has to be from outer space.

Sledding with Ben!

I cried on Friday night because Ben left for college on Saturday morning after staying with us for a whole semester while he was doing his work-study program here. Our last bro-sis quality time before he left was sledding, something we’ve done since we were nuggets. It was not the most successful round of sledding (we think we’re getting too heavy), but I just loved spending time with him. *tear*

De-grossifying our floors.

I try to help clean the floors in our highest traffic areas regularly, because they can get nasty really quickly. I just wish I had some birds to come sing on my shoulders and other creatures of the forest as cleaning buddies.

[source]

Discovering the InstaFood app.

My mom heard of this app from a friend, and she wanted me to buy it to try it out (ya know, since we’re basically food photographers now). It’s a pretty fun app if you love taking pictures of your food (especially at restaurants, since it shows the location and time of where you took your food picture). It does cost $1.99, which is $1.99 more than we usually spend on apps, so this is for strict food enthusiasts only. 😉

Epiphany (Three Kings Day)!

This is the cover of my prayer book for this month (we subscribe to Magnificat if any Catholics were wondering), and the king with the green sleeves made me laugh. It totally looks like he’s saying, “Imma hook Baby Jesus up with some frankincense.”

Sunday was also the first day back at religious education after the break. I did a mini lesson on Epiphany with my third graders, and we did a game where one student hides a small paper clip (representing Baby Jesus) somewhere in the room while another student stands outside so he/she doesn’t see where it is hidden. Then the student outside comes back into the room and the other students give hints to help him/her find the paper clip by saying “The star is dim….getting brighter…VERY bright!” I got the game idea from online somewhere, and they enjoyed it! That’s a big win in my book, because I feel like I can easily start lecturing to those poor third graders.

Surprise birthday dinner for one of my best friends, Daliza.

I didn’t actually get any pictures, except for my food. Whoops.

We went to The Cheesecake Factory, and I ordered the chicken, pear, blue cheese, and endive salad. It was delicious!

Afterwards, we tried finding a frozen yogurt place, but all of them were closed. So instead, we went to ShopRite and bought a carton of Yoplait peach froyo to share. Straight from the carton, baby.

First company rehearsal of 2014.

I have no pictures of this, but yesterday, it was back to Sunday brunch and a four hour rehearsal with our new choreographer. I missed dancing with my girls!

Seeing this:

A lovely lady pinned the Daily Moves and Grooves banner onto her “Favorite Blogs” board. Sometimes, I still can’t believe people actually read my blog. Thanks so much, Ms. Unruh! This put a huge smile on my face. And thank you, everyone who reads this little blog of mine 🙂

Those are the highlights! Of course, I loved the less exciting, but equally marvelous things that went on: avocado toast (twice!), watching Youtube videos, reading blogs, working out, and spending time with my family.

Hope you all have a great week!

So tell me:

Do you use space heaters?

Do/Did you like sledding?

Tell me three things you loved about this weekend!

Tea & Scones {MIMM #14}

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Cheerio!

That greeting seemed appropriate considering the title of this post. Unless you say “Cheerio” as a departing remark…

This long weekend has gone by insanely quickly as all long weekends do. But that’s a sign of a fun one, right? This weekend definitely brought about many blessings, lots of family time, and much needed rest. Marvelous indeed!

Head over to Katie’s blog for more marvelousness!

Marvelous is…

A tea and scones date with dance sis, Lilly! We had been wanting to bake together for such a long time, and we finally got the chance to do so yesterday. I was eager to use the vanilla beans that my mom bought, like, two months ago, so we decided to make some vanilla bean scones!

Just splendid!

We accompanied our baking with some of Lilly’s videos of her past ballet performances, including the Nutcracker. ‘Tis the season! Can you believe I’ve never seen an actual Nutcracker production in person before?! I think I’ve said that before, but it’s just mind-boggling. Anyway, I had a lovely, relaxing time with my lil’ sis 🙂

Marvelous is…

A night in with Ben! It happened to be the day to treat yourself for #Elf4Health, so our night in perfectly coincided with that.

Fuzzy PJs, the Game of Life, and green tea ice cream. YEAH-YA. My pajamas match the board game.

I won both times we played 😀

Marvelous is…

A new wall sit record! I used a 17.5 lb KB for an extra challenge. My quads were crying…in a good way.

Marvelous is…

Eating pomegranate arils by the spoonful. Just because more deliciousness gets into my mouth that way.

Efficiency

Marvelous is…

Thanksgiving and the bounty of leftovers it has left us. Besides all the delicious food enjoyed on the actual day, we have been enjoying our turkey dinner in the form of frittata (recipe here!), wraps, and curry soup that I made on Saturday.

I was still in the mood to do more with the leftovers two days after Thanksgiving, so I searched a recipe for leftover turkey soup. Then my eye caught a glimpse of the curry powder in our cabinet, so I searched for curried turkey soup and found Julia Child’s recipe. It was perfect because it uses mashed potatoes as the thickener, and we had lots of that left over as well!