What's for Dinner? Week of 6/29

Hard to believe that it's already the end of June! And even harder to believe that it was just last weekend that I was visiting my family in MN. Guess it's a good thing when the week flies by. PLUS this is a short week with the 4th of July on Friday. Don't you just love it when the 4th lands on a  Friday! Yay!! 3-day weekend!!!

Last week's workouts? Great week of training with Jeff! So far, so good on the half marathon training plan.

Birthday Greetings to Selena!

Happy Friday! And a very happy birthday to my gorgeous niece, Selena.

Today my sister's baby girl is 18. Wow!

Seems like just the other day that I was piling her brothers and mine into my tiny Dodge Daytona to go see her in the hospital.

This is the same niece that I flew to MN to see last weekend for her graduation party. I'm so proud of her! She'll be going to the University of Wisconsin - Superior next year, and I wish her the best of luck!!

She was kind of recruited to be on the track team, and she'll be playing either soccer or hockey, too. Hockey's her first choice, of course.

She's been playing hockey since she could barely walk.

I couldn't find a great picture of her out on the ice.

She started soccer much later (middle school, I think), and she's excelled at that sport, too.

I love this girl so much and know she's going to do great in college and playing the sports that she loves.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SELENA-BEAN!!!

I hope you have a fantastic birthday weekend - filled with lots of love, friendship, and fun memories!!! You deserve it all. :)
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Happy National Iced Tea Month

I can't believe how quickly June has gone by! I'm a little late to the party, but did you know that June is National Iced Tea Month?

I had no idea until I received a Summer Fit Kit complimentary from Pure Via as a FitFluential ambassador.
In fact, I'd never even tried iced tea before! Crazy, I know. :)

I've been having some fun testing out Pure Via stevia sweetener. In tea. In coffee. In whatever. It's good.

Pure Via comes in either packets or liquid. Both are an all natural alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners. The packets are also non-GMO (the liquid isn't), which is just one more plus in my book.

The liquid comes in two flavors - original and vanilla. Both are delicious, but the vanilla is my favorite. I made a papaya sweet tea with the vanilla, and it was perfection!

One packet of Pure Via equals about 2 teaspoons of sugar and one squeeze of the liquid is about 1 teaspoon of sugar.

What I loved most about both the packets and liquid was the clean, sweet taste! No weird flavor like with some other sweeteners I've tried, and I dare say I might even like it better than regular sugar.

Maybe you'd like to give it a try, too! Pure Via was generous enough to offer one of my readers a Summer Fit Kit - just like the one I received.

The ‘Pure Via Summer Fit Kit’ contains:

• Box of Pure Via® non-GMO packets
• Bottle of Pure Via® stevia liquid
• Bottle of Pure Via® vanilla stevia liquid
• Container of instant iced tea
• Pure Via mason jar
• Pure Via pedometer
• Pure Via SPF 15 lip balm

Enter to win using the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
I'm excited to keep experimenting with Pure Via and hope to create a few fun recipes to share this summer.

Here's my first one.

Apple Vodka Iced Tea

An adult twist on the classic sweetened iced tea. Perfect for summertime!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 tsp Lipton Unsweetened Iced Tea
• 1/2 cup UV apple-flavored vodka
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3 squirts Pure Via liquid stevia
• 5-6 ice cubes

Directions

1. Mix together all ingredients, except the ice cubes, in a mason jar. Stir until dissolved.
2. Add ice cubes.
3. ENJOY!

What's your favorite flavor of iced tea?
Have you tried Pure Via?
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What's for Dinner? Week of 6/22

It's been a fun weekend! I took the redeye Friday morning back home to Minnesota. I like to think I brought some sunshine with me because it's been gorgeous here this weekend! And it had been pretty rainy the previous few weeks, I guess.  The humidity did stick around through, which gives the heat that ew gross kinda feeling, which I do not miss at all. Currently it's 70% humidity here in MN and only 9% in Vegas. Oh, how I love the dry heat of Vegas!

Last week's workouts? Jeff and I did start training for our half marathon last week {more on that later}, so I did get in a few good runs. Plus, I'm doing good on my LBD challenge. The yoga challenge this month does have quite a few poses that are a bit too advanced for me, so I've skipped a few days. Overall, I'm very pleased with my workouts last week!

Happy Friday!!

Who is ready for the weekend?! I know I am. :) The secret surprise that I mentioned during the Ultimate Coffee Date is happening this weekend, and I am STOKED! It's likely not going to be nearly as exciting for all of you, but be sure to stay tuned to Instagram and Twitter for all the excitement. :)

In other news, I ran fast yesterday morning, and it felt amazing! 

Jeff and I headed out for a 3 mile run, and about .8 miles in Jeff was hurting pretty bad, so we altered our route to shorten our run. We ended up doing about 1.6 miles, and then I continued for another .9 miles. And I kicked it into high gear. I haven't run like that in quite some time. I'd love to say it was a breeze. It wasn't, but it was exhilarating. Or breath taking. LOL. Cuz I was definitely out of breath by the time I was back home. :D

One last thing before I leave you to enjoy the weekend. My birthday is fast approaching. 7 more weeks. Or something like that. ;) Perhaps you remember my virtual race to celebrate my 36th birthday? The Factors of 36 virtual race?? It was so much fun!

That I wanted to do another little something to celebrate this year. Make it a tradition, you know.

BUT doing a Factors of 37 wouldn't be nearly as much fun since your only options would be run 1 mile or run 37. Ugh.

So, let's go streaking instead!!

Your choices are 37 days of running (at least one mile) or 37 days of yoga. Or some combination of the two.

Either way the streaks will begin on July 5th and continue until my birthday on Aug 10th.

ARE YOU IN??

Joining the fun is super easy! Just run or do yoga every day from 7/5 to 8/10 and tweet or instagram a photo using #ETCRunStreak or #ETCYogaStreak or #ETCStreaks.

Easy-peasy.

I'm still working on lining up some sponsors and fun prizes, so stay tuned for that, but I just wanted get it out there for those who might want some advance notice. :)

Now, go out there and enjoy the beautiful weekend. Unless you're still at work. Then, you know, it's *almost* the weekend, so SMILE!!

What are your weekend plans?
Will you celebrate my birthday with me?
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Saturday is the official start to summer! Whoo hoo!!

If you stopped by yesterday, you already know a few of the things I have planned this summer, but let's face it. When the dog days of summer hit in a month or so, all I'll be thinking about are ways to stay cool.

5 Ways to Beat the Heat

1. Pooltime. We're lucky enough to have a pool practically out our backdoor in our apartment complex, so it's super easy to jump in for a quick cool down. If you're not so lucky, find a community pool or beach that you can hang out at for an afternoon. Or you can always take a cool bath in the privacy of your own bathroom.

2. Don't forget the sunscreen. It won't necessarily help you stay cool in the moment, but it will certainly help you stay cool hours later after you're back home. If you've ever had a bad sunburn, you know how hot and uncomfortable it can make you for days and days.

10 Plans for Summer

I haven't done a Monday Listicles post since *gasp* February! Where has 2014 gone? But when I saw the topic for this week, I simply couldn't pass it up.

Not sure if I'll get to all of these, but here's my little summer bucket list.

1.   Train for, and run, a half marathon with Jeff
2.   Lots of yoga
3.   Lounge in the hammock on the patio
4.   Pooltime
5.   Visit the Grand Canyon
6.   Road trip to San Diego
7.   Couple good bike rides
8.   Indoor skydiving
9.   SCUBA diving
10. Create some summertime drink recipes

What are your summertime plans?
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Head on over to The Good Life to see what everyone else is up to this summer.

What's for Dinner? Week of 6/15

I did THE craziest thing last week - I started a 30-day challenge. In the middle of the month. In the middle of the week! I'm usually one who waits until the 1st of the month or a Monday to start a challenge, but I started the Little Black Dress Challenge last Wednesday on June 11. Weird! But it's off to a great start.

Actually, after 3 relatively easy days of the challenge (day 4 was a rest day), I was surprised how hard it was to walk up and down stairs yesterday. Even the curbs. lol.

Last week's workouts? Lots of yoga! I still haven't really started running again since Trails of Fury. There's still twinges of pain, but I do think it's getting better.

Ultimate Coffee Date

Good morning! So, yeah, I'm a week late to the party, but I still have a few things I wanted to share and didn't want to wait all the way until July!

Plus, who doesn't like a little coffee date with your closest blogging friends anytime of the month.

Sprinkler Sprint 5k recap

This past Saturday, Jeff and I met up with some friends for the 2nd annual Sprinkler Sprint 5k. Last year's race was on my birthday in Aug, and we had so much fun running it, that we knew we wanted to do it again in 2014.

We bought another Groupon for the 2 race entries, which meant no shirt this year, so we just wore the ones we got last year. :-)

We biked the 3+ miles to the race start to make the 5k into our own little duathlon. We hadn't ridden our bikes in forever, so we left with plenty of time to take a nice, easy ride. It was a great warm-up!

What's for Dinner? Week of 6/8

June is off to a great start! I got in several good yoga sessions last week, which felt amazing! I'm really coming to love morning yoga out on the patio with the birds chirping just as the sun is rising. It's becoming my happy place indeed.

Staying Fit While Traveling

Good morning! It's FRIDAY!

And I think that summer is officially HERE! I know most people think of Memorial Day weekend as the unofficial start to summer, but I think more when school is out - even though I'm no longer in school.

With summer, comes travel. At least I like to pretend. :) We don't really have too many travel plans on the agenda the year, but a girl can dream.

And be prepared.

Hiking Bristlecone Loop

Sunday morning, Jeff and I got up bright and early. Well, early for us on a weekend. :) We met some friends and headed to Mt Charleston for a morning of hiking.

Gorgeous morning for a hike!

We parked in the Lower Bristlecone Loop parking lot and started our hike from there. In total there were 8 humans and 5 dogs in our little hiking party.

The Sallie-girl came along with us, and she had a total blast walking along the trail with us without her leash. She played a little with the other dogs, but she was so good staying near us and not running off to explore places and things that she shouldn't.

I'd forgotten to charge my watch, so I left it at home. I wasn't planning on running, so I wasn't too concerned about time or distance. I'm guessing we did about 5.5-6 miles, and it took us roughly 3 hours. If I'm remembering correctly.

More on how Sallie, Jeff, and I survived the hike in a bit, but first, let's talk about the actual trail.

Bristlecone Loop is pretty easy to find. From Las Vegas, you travel north on US-95 for a few miles outside of the city. From there you'll take Lee Canyon Rd. It's a left-hand turn, and I'm pretty sure that it's well-marked. Don't take Kyle Canyon Road. That's the first Mt Charleston sign you'll see, but you'll end up on the wrong side of the mountain.

We weren't really paying attention to the odometer, so I'm not sure how many miles you drive once you're on Lee Canyon road, but you'll pass a few campsites and at least one other trailhead, Sawmill. There's a good sign for the Bristlecone Lower Loop parking lot.

What's for Dinner? Week of 6/1

Happy June! In case you missed it, I wrote a recap of May yesterday. It was a super fun month, and I'm looking forward to some continued fun in June! Yay for living an active lifestyle - makes life more fun and exciting, don't you think?!

Unfortunately, my workouts did kind of peter out toward the end of the week, but they're going to be so much better throughout June, ok?