May Report Card

Is it just me, or did May fly by even faster than April? Lots of changes at work in May, and with that came a lot of craziness. There were plentiful of days that were straight up STRESSFUL!

The Bikini Series really helped to keep me sane. 😊

23 Songs Perfect for Summer

Yesterday was the unofficial start to summer! Are you ready for it?! Hope you did something fun to celebrate the season and the sunshine!!

In honor of summer and sunshine - two of my favorite things - I created a playlist on Spotify that is absolutely perfect for summer.

Black Bean, Corn, Zucchini Salad with Cilantro Dressing

I have been in LOVE with cilantro lately. It's a little unfortunate because my husband is one of those people who HATE cilantro.

Or maybe not unfortunate, because it just means MORE for me. 😋

A couple weeks ago, my phone died on me. It's all good a replacement was sent out free of charge. While I was without a phone, I had to old-school it a bit by digging out an actual cookbook. It was difficult to try to follow a recipe from Pinterest when my computer was in a different room.

It was fun to thumb through my few cookbooks to find some new recipes, though. I really should do it more often.

I adapted the following recipe from 1,000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson. The original didn't include zucchini, but I love raw zucchini and since I had some in the fridge that needed to be used, I chopped it up and added it in.

It's served cold, so if you're headed to a Memorial Day picnic today, this would be a perfect addition to the usual picnic fare. Plus, it's super quick and easy to throw together.

Serves 6.

Week in Review - 5/28

Ooph! This was kind of a tough week. So much more mindless snacking during the workday than in the first half of the series. FOR NO GOOD REASON! But isn't that usually the case with mindless snacking?! :-)

Work is still crazy, but it was a little less busy this week. I think that played into the additional snacking. Boredom. Whoops.

I did create the most delicious kale salad one morning. I'll share the recipe soon, but it was so good!

Goal Check-In:
NO Fast Food ✔
Starbucks 1x per week ✔
72 oz of water a day 😒 - I fell short both Tues & Fri
Stick to the workout plan ✔
Sub 10:00 min/mile - Current avg pace: 10:31
Lose 10 lbs - ↓ 6.8 lbs

Favorite Songs of 2017 (so far)

It's my first time linking up for Tunes Tuesday with Kim, Steff, and Janelle for real (I linked up once before with just an IG pic).

I've been listening to music a bit more on my runs, but the music on my phone has gotten a bit stale.

I needed to mix it up.

So, I finally redeemed my coupon code for a free year of Spotify Premium to see if I like using it on my runs. I was going to test out the free version before redeeming, but Premium allows you to download to your phone, and I try to use the least amount of data during my runs as possible, so Premium it is. :)

On the 4th Tuesday of each month, the Tunes Tuesday topic is Current Favorite Music. I'm loving so many new songs this year! I think artists are really bringing their A game right now, and it makes my commute so much more enjoyable.

Here is a playlist of my Top 10 Songs of 2017 (so far). Enjoy!

@EnjoytheCourse shares her Top 10 Songs of 2017 (so far). What's your favorite?

They may or may not be good for running. ;-) I'm testing it out for the first time this morning!
What do you think? Will this be a good playlist for running?
Stay tuned to Twitter and IG to see what I thought.
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If you use Spotify, feel free to follow me - Clarinda Dodson - or leave your name in the comments, so I can follow you. Also, please share any Spotify tips & tricks with this newbie.

Don't forget to head over to our hosts to see what music everyone else is currently loving!

Week in Review - 5/21

I can hardly believe that I just finished Week 4 of the Bikini Series! Halfway done!! It's going by so fast. Must be my hard work and commitment that's making it fly by. ;-)

The workouts have been TOUGH, but I find myself looking forward to them each morning. I like how there's a mix of videos, live workouts (I've only done 2, but they have 2 each week), and Daily Moves.

I meant to take some halfway done pics, but my day got away from me.
Maybe at the end of Week 5.

Goal Check-In:
NO Fast Food ✔
Starbucks 1x per week ✔
72 oz of water a day ✔
Stick to the workout plan ✔
Sub 10:00 min/mile - Current avg pace: 10:29
Lose 10 lbs - ↓ 5.6 lbs (yes, I gained a little last week, but it's OK.)

Week in Review - 5/14

This was a tough week. Work is going through a lot of changes, which means lots of meetings and conversations. It's exhausting.

The cherry, of course, was Wed morning, when my phone decided to turn off and never turn back on. Support was very helpful and is shipping me a replacement phone free of charge. Unfortunately, the timing was the worst. I submitted the order for the replacement around 7pm on Wed and it took until Fri morning to process the order. So, even though it was shipped FedEx Overnight, it's not arriving until tomorrow because overnight from Fri doesn't include the weekend. Boooo.

At least I had the Bikini Series to help keep me somewhat sane. 👍

Goal Check-In:
NO Fast Food ✔
Starbucks 1x per week ✔ (not even once this week!)
72 oz of water a day 😒 -  I was short on water both Fri & Sat
Stick to the workout plan ✔
Sub 10:00 min/mile - Current avg pace: 10:37
Lose 10 lbs - ↓ 6 lbs

The Why's & How's of Foam Rolling

Quick! What are some of your first thoughts when I say Foam Roller?

If you're like me, you might have come up with things like:

Self-massage, Injury prevention, I need to do this more often, but never find the time
Painful, Good for recovery, I know I should, but...

Did you know that today is National Foam Rolling Day?!
I know! There is a national day for everything nowadays. :)

I find the thought of foam rolling to be kind of intimidating. I know there are a ton of benefits, but sometimes I can get caught up in the HOW of it all.

First, let's talk about the WHY.

Once upon a time I tried a Green Tea Latte from Starbucks. I wasn't a huge fan.
It tasted too earthy. Too green.

One of the primary ingredients was matcha powder.

So, when I received a big package of matcha in my goodie bag from the #TIUVegas meetup a couple weeks ago, I wasn't sure I'd like/use it.

I took a shot and experimented with it in a smoothie.

It was heaven!

The other secret ingredients that made this smoothie super delicious were the cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla protein powder. Oh, and the apple juice. These ingredients really helped make the smoothie delectable.

Vanilla Cinnamon Kale Smoothie

Takes 10 min, serves 4.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch kale, stems removed
• 2 cups almond milk, original unsweetened
• 1 cube Pop&Cook crushed ginger
• 125 g zucchini
• 358 g strawberries
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp matcha powder
• 8 oz apple juice
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder

Instructions

1. Blend kale and almond milk together.
2. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.
3. Divide equally into mason jars. Drink one immediately and freeze or refrigerate the other 3 to enjoy throughout the week.

What's your favorite smoothie ingredient?
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I'm linking up today with Deborah and Sarah for Meatless Mondays.

Week in Review - 5/07

Another successful week of the Bikini Series! I didn't miss a workout and feel like I'm recovering a bit faster after them now. I still get sore, but it doesn't last as long.

Goal Check-In:
NO Fast Food ✔
Starbucks 1x per week ✔
72 oz of water a day ✔
Stick to the workout plan ✔
Sub 10:00 min/mile - Current pace: 10:41
Lose 10 lbs - ↓ 4.2 lbs

April Report Card

Where did April go? I mean seriously. It was 1000x better than March, and it really flew by.

I'm having a very difficult time believing it is May already. :-)