Today was a great day, but I think the fact that I forgot a sock gave it a strange feel. While you’re teaching multiple fitness classes, it’s hard to forget that you’re only wearing one sock with your shoes. Didn’t feel very good.

This did, though

(coming home to snuggle my favorite girl)

And this wasn’t too shabby, either…

(a voluptuous glass of Malbec + Cabernet)

When the Pilot and I each got home from work, we changed out of his flight suit and I braided my “still wet from teaching pool” hair and put some non-workout clothes on. Since I didn’t have time to make dinner during my lunch break and we were starving, the three of us went to The Abbey. We’ve been wanting to try it for quite a while and it’s always packed. Even on an early Wednesday evening, by the time we left, each table was full.

The atmosphere is quaint, funky and romantic- it feels like a mechanical garage that was swanked up- and they serve twists on American comfort food. Each day, there’s a salad, sandwich, seafood, meat and breakfast-for-dinner special.

While you wait for your food, you’re served truffle popcorn

and fresh pumpernickel-raisin bread with whipped butter and sea salt.

(I tried some of the Pilot’s slice and it was glorious)

For my entree, I rolled with the crispy salmon with a chive pesto crust, with carrot mash and Brussels sprouts (asked for no bacon).

The salmon was perfectly cooked – my favorite part was the carrot mash. It actually tasted like carrots, instead of the usual purees that are easily swimming in heavy cream and/or salt. It was lovely.

It’s funny because The Abbey almost feels like the Tucson version of 306 North and Two Friends in Valdosta. They were our spots to go on romantic dinners together or meet up with friends for dessert and cocktails. I have a feeling that The Abbey will be a new staple for us.

We’re back at the house now, and I’m going to lay low and gain my energy back for tomorrow’s classes. I have drums (eep!), a pool class and Zumba, and I’m extra excited to get through the day because Jeni is going to be here for the long weekend! We’ve both had babies and moved in the past year, so I haven’t seen her in so long. I can’t wait.

Thank you so much to those of you who have entered the foam roller giveaway! I’ll announced the lucky winner in the am.

Enjoy your night <3

xoxo

Gina

Do you have to wear socks with your workout shoes? I used to prefer bare feet in my dancer days but changed my mind pretty quickly. It feels so weird to me if I don’t wear socks with sneakers! What’s your restaurant staple –the one you’d take a date or a best friend to- in your city? In Tucson, we always choose between Eclectic Cafe, Blue Willow, Guadalajara Grill and Poca Cosa.

Something to do: Found this reggaeton the other day and love this girl’s choreo! Feel free to dance along:

Good morning! Happy weekend to ya

Last night was SO much fun.

(Don’t I work with some gorgeous ladies?)

It was our dance recital at work- the fitness staff usually performs (we did a bellydance and a Zumba dance)

along with professional dancers that teach class for the week and guests at the resort.

My mom, nana and the Pilot came to watch –Kyle and Meg hung out at our house with sleeping Livi- and after the show, the Pilot and I met up at Zona 78 with my work friends and their hubbies to celebrate.

Sparkling wine

the non-sparkling variety

appetizers

and a wonderful time with amazing people.

We came back home, where madre and nana left beautiful flowers on the counter:

and crashed out.

Here are some of the videos the Pilot took last night:

(A short snippet version of the bellydance and the Zumba pieces because they were each extremely long)

feel free to dance along

Hope you have a wonderful day!

I’ll be back later with my 4 month PDB post on the Family page.

xoxo

Gina

Something to do: Schweaty May Workout! Have you tried it yet? Let me know how it goes <3

Feels good to be home

Today ended up being a longer day than anticipated, so lunch break was a blitz through the house to grab more food and clothes

teach some more (it was a Zumba day! Always a great thing)

and then back home to my favorite people.

(I’m sad that picture turned out blurry)

With a sleek, groomed puppy

(who was looking a little homeless before her appointment. Sorry Bellerton.)

and a voluptuous glass of red.

We sat on the patio and caught up on our days while picking through the last of the chocolate.

Our system goes like this:

-Take a bite, describe the flavor, and offer the rest to the other person

Dinner is cooking away

and we’re going to enjoy it al fresco on the balcony

Pimp my stretch playlist

At work, some of my work friends were talking about stretch teaching styles, because everyone teaches stretch differently. Some are really hilarious and throw in awesome jokes (like one of the girls who yells, “stretchy, stretchy!!”) and others are more what my friend likes to call “Airy Fairy.” I fall into the Airy Fairy category. I joke around a little bit, but make it make it more of a yoga-y, pay attention to the movement of your breath, breathe into the muscle, namaste type class.

Here’s the thing, though. I’m still using the basic playlist than I was using before I went on leave. I added a couple of new songs, like the Jason Mraz song I posted yesterday and “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri, but that’s it.

Do you have any relaxing, noodly, namaste tunes to share? I always love your suggestions and will post my new stretch playlist when I get it revamped.

Time to eat!

See ya in the am <3

xoxo

Gina

Source

Did you know that if you have red sangria on a Wednesday, it automatically makes the rest of the week so much better?

It is true.

The Pilot played hooky today He took a day of leave so I could go to the dentist (and then couldn’t get an appointment). He still has 90-something days of leave, and if you don’t use it, ya lose it, so we got to spend the day together. If only he could just take three months off starting now… but it doesn’t quite work that way.

A highlight of the day: a little late lunch/early dinner date at Blanco.

Chips, salsa, guac

Grilled chipotle shrimp tacos

A couple bites of tres leches cake

enjoyed with our favorite little sidekick.

(and the Pilot’s mustache)

Speaking of mustaches, how’s your March going?

I went back through the Marvelous March list to see how I’m doing:

-Try a new St. Patty’s Day recipe. I didn’t end up doing this one, but I was the happy taste tester for the madre’s lime gluten-free cupcakes.

-Create your own luck. This one was pretty easy since I decided to revisit an old project that fell by the wayside. I’m taking my time to get back into it, but it feels good to take another look at things with fresh eyes.

-One green meal a day. I’ve gotten so much better at this and am pretty much back to my usual eats. Vegetables like cray over here The thing that seemed to help the most was making Sunday a prep day: buying groceries for the entire week, chopping everything, boiling grains and pre-making some salads. Green smoothies are back, too

-Go for gold! Gold fingernails

-Plan a picnic. Not yet, but it’s supposed to be 80 again this weekend, so that might be an excellent plan.

-Start a March Madness bracket with a friend. No.. when the cats are out, basketball goes on the list with the all the other sports I don’t seem to care much about.

-Encourage (or discourage? haha) Mustache March. Everyday I make a random comment about the Pilot’s ‘stache.. and his van filled with candy.

-Take your workout outside. Lots of Sabino Canyon trips lately! The weather has been gorgeous (oh yeah, minus the one day that it SNOWED), and it’s a fun little outing for the whole fam.

-Get tatted up? Not yet, but when the Street Fair comes, there’s a henna lotus tattoo with my name on it

What have you done this month that you’re proud of? Something you’re looking forward to?

Favorite Mexican food libation? Sangria is #1, horchata is a close second.

See ya in the morning with a spring playlist!

xoxo

G

Last night I happily ditched the gym

and went on a date

(Malbec! Yum.)

During the week, when the Pilot comes home, we’ll hang out and have dinner, put Livi to bed, and I’ll hit up the gym for a little while. When my mom called on her way home from work to see if we wanted to go out while she hung out with Liv, we took her up on the offer It was our first time out together in almost 8 weeks without our little sidekick- weird and wonderful at the same time. When we came home, she was bathed, in her nightie, and cooing at her nana <3

Breakfast this morning was the return of one of my faves:

Breakfast cookie!

Why oh why haven’t I made one of these in so long? Oh yeah, because I’ll eat the same breakfast every day for a month or so, burn out, switch breakfasts and repeat

I got the mix together and added some blueberries

and left the required “taster” amount in the bowl to eat before putting the rest in the fridge

It was just as glorious as I remembered.

Random tidbit: the Pilot haaaaaaates breakfast cookies. Whenever I’m making one, I tease him and say something like “your favorite breakfast will be waiting for you in the morning!” just to watch him roll his eyes. Once he said when I get a book deal, he’ll eat an entire breakfast cookie. I’ll load it up with chia seeds, mesquite powder, cacao nibs, goji berries, spirulina, the works

So today is the beginning of a new month, a chance to start fresh, plan out goals and events, and evaluate how February went. Here’s how fantastic it was over here:

1. Buy something red. New red top: check

2. Make a new Superbowl recipe. No Superbowl recipes over here, but I did make some new amazeballs flavors!

3. See a mushy, lovey flick. I haven’t been to the movies since… Horrible Bosses with my friend Emily? It’s been a LONG time! I still am dying to see The Vow, but looks like I may be waiting until we can watch it On Demand. That way, I can eat bowls full of popcorn with chocolate chips and cinnamon on our own comfy couch

4. Do something that you’ve been putting off. I dominate the mail pile, next on the list: a trip to the department of motor vehicles. My soul.

5. Profess your love or gratitude to someone unexpected- just a simple email or card to tell someone you appreciate someone can go a long way. Not totally unexpected, but I put together something for the midwives to tell them how much we love and appreciate them.

6. Take someone special out on a date. Last night! And it was awesome

7. Try out a new cardio workout. I started taking employee Tabata and World Beat classes at work to get ready to start teaching again. I definitely need to take more Zumba classes to refresh my “shaker” muscles and am still really weak as far as endurance goes. Every day I get a little bit stronger, and I feel like by the time I go back, I’ll be ready for it.

If you’re looking for a new workout to try, here are the ones I posted in February:

- WSU week 4 and Schweaty February Workout

-V-day Booty Blast

-Biscuits are burning! Elliptical workout

-Leap Year Leg Workout

8. Buy some Valentine’s candy. Eat it. I ate quite a bit of chocolate in February… but that’s not unlike any other month I am sad to say I missed out on the chalky candy hearts- the white ones are my favorite.

9. Master a heart-opening yoga pose. I love camel pose, and the next heart opener I want to work on is scorpion:

Source

Pretty badass, huh?

I could do it against a wall this time last year, so after getting that back, being able to do it unassisted is a yoga goal of mine.

10. Find a new blog to add to your rotation. Per your suggestions, the blog that I became hooked on in February is Enjoying the Small Things. I read the birth story, cried my eyes out and was instantly inspired and filled with love for this beautiful family. The photography is amazing, too.

So how was your February? What’s something you accomplished that you’re proud of?

Hope your day is going well so far!

xoxo

Gina

Flowers

vino

and a pizza picnic with three valentines (a baby, a man and a creature). How lucky does a girl get?

Hope that you had a fabulous night, too!

This morning’s bfast was one of the usual suspects:

(egg puff sandwich with greens, goat cheese and hummus, with strawberries and tea)

I can’t believe I forgot to blog about this yesterday morning, but my pleasantly sore hammies just reminded me: I finally got the chance to try a Winter Shape Up workout the other night!

I always like to test out workouts before I post them, but with my pregnancy and recovery process, I’ve had to treat the things I post more like I would personal training sessions- get an idea of what I’d like to do and wing it from there. It was so much fun to try a workout that I’d already created and posted, instead of going through the process at the same time.

So Monday night, the Pilot chilled with snoozing Livi while I went to the gym for a little while. It felt so nice to clear my mind and sweat a little, even though I did hear phantom crying a couple of times

Workout of choice was the Week 2 workout with a few modifications:

-jump roping instead of mountain climbers

-no pullover crunches (it’s best to avoid crunching motions after having a baby to give the abdominal muscles a chance to fully heal – TVA, aka transverse abdominis, exercises like plank pose are ok. If you crunch too soon, it could increase the chance of diastasis recti- separation of the abdominal muscles, which can sometimes require surgery)

-taking the HIIT a little easier than I normally would- it was more like traditional interval training than HIIT.

While I was working out, there was an older man in the gym busting out plyo moves the entire time. He was like a jumping bean! It made me think about when I first got into plyo and explosive cardio blasts and how apprehensive I felt about doing them in the weight room… I’d always go in the side aerobics room to do BodyRock workouts. Here’s the thing, though: at the gym, everyone is too worried about their own workouts to care about what you’re doing. Unless you’re jumping plyo man- then I just think you’re hardcore.

Are there any exercises you avoid? I used to think hip raises were slightly inappropriate, then I got over it

Hope you’re having a wonderful day and I’ll see ya later with a Family post.

xoxo

Gina

Zumba song of the day: An old flamenco fave

Hi friends! How was your Friday?? I’m a little late posting tonight, because it was one of the very few times in my life when I wasn’t sure what to write about.

Of course I cried watching the Royal Wedding (as expected- so beautiful), went to work for a half day and ate some very usual things.

Something exciting?

Boxed organic egg whites – I’m so glad you guys told me about these! I’m no longer a yolk waster

The good news is that I got out of my standard-ness, to go out to dinner with some friends <3

We munched at Blue Willow, which is one of my Tucson favorites- TONS of vegetarian and gluten-free options, plus they serve b-fast all day. Anywhere that serves b-fast all day is a friend of mine

I had a lovely glass of Shiraz:

and instead of doing the b-fast thing, I got the standard: Greek salad with goat cheese instead of feta + blackened salmon

I was having a MAD hankering for blackened salmon, and this was everything I wished for.

And then the table shared these beauties:

chocolate crepes with strawberries.

A happy meal indeed

Well I’m heading home to make my meals and pack up for work tomorrow.

Have a great night! <3

xoxo

Gina

Show Me Your Fit:

Lauren: Here is a picture of me after a killer Turbo Fire workout!

Nicole: Hi Gina! I just got back from Italy and wanted to share this "show my your fit" pic! I stayed fit Italy by walking everywhere, indulging in everything, and doing an occasional yoga pose!

Monica: I do so many different sports and routines to stay fit what can I say, I am like you!  I bike almost everyday living in Sunny Santa Monica but I also come from a snowboard and skateboard background. I think that is the secret… to keep on changing things up! EVERYTHING should be fun not dreadful. I love how strong I feel after biking, or extreme sports, or a blissful yoga session, and strength training-I just feel alive! I Love my job as a trainer to encourage as many people as I can to feel and look their best.

Keri: Since I post a zillion running pictures on my blog, I thought I would show you something different. This is from a hike with a friend. She is a stunt woman and she tried to get me to climb up the tree. It didn’t happen but I tried!

Sandy: This jump is called a "crescent", I dance ballet, jazz, modern, hip hop and many others forms!

Something to think:

Something to talk about: I start teaching Zumba again in a week! Any fun new song ideas???

Morning friends <3 Hope your day is going well so far!

Since it’s Easter Sunday, I have to post my favorite Easter pic of Vies:

Yesterday ended up being pretty chill. We went swimming, I munched a couple of random snacks:

(veg with nutritional yeast and pineapple protein ice cream. I haven’t had pineapple since last summer… it tasted like tropical candy)

and then I got ready to go to a friend’s house for taco and Brad Pitt night.

Gifts for the hostess:

When I got there, I was so excited to meet the new member of their family: a baby Great Dane!

She doesn’t have a name yet, but Luna is looking favorable She was such a sweetie, and even at 6 weeks old, weighs more than Bella. She’s going to be a very big dog

The taco spread was glorious:

(Spinach, lettuce, tomato, cilantro, green onion, sour cream, cheese, salsa)

and tasted like my childhood. They were fried, the way my madre makes them, and so soooo delicious. I wasn’t originally planning on having tacos when I came over –figured I’d make myself a veggie taco or a salad- but they were made of turkey instead of beef, so I decided to roll with it. So. Insanely. Good.

After tacos, the Brad Pitt movie of choice was Snatch. I couldn’t understand a SINGLE WORD. Many unique and strong accents, combined with what was already not a Gina type of movie = snooze sesh on the couch with the puppy. I crashed out after about 20 minutes into the movie- party animal

This morning, we’re off to a legendary brunch at my nana’s.

Be back later with a re-cap

Have a very happy Sunday, and Happy Easter to those of you who are celebrating today <3 Thank you for being one of the many blessings in my life.

xoxo

Gina

Hiiiii Happy Saturday! How has your day been?

We started ours off by packing the Pilot’s stuff (mayjah sad face), and taking Bell for a little walk. The good news is that my roomies got back a few nights ago. They’ve been doing disaster relief overseas, and I missed their faces.

B-fast was simple:

Brown rice toast with goat cream cheese and wild blueberries

+ a Meyer Lemon Lavender macaroon

(Crunchy on the outside… soft and gooey on the inside)

Speaking of gooey (haha), we had a glorious dinner at Cheesecake Factory with some friends last night.

I started off with a glass of Malbec and shared two appetizers with the Pilot for our meal:

(*Sorry for the pic quality- I was playing sneaky blogger and used my iPhone)

Thai Chicken Lettuce wraps

(The Pilot made himself chicken lettuce wraps and I made myself veggie ones with all of the veggies, dipped them into the foodgasmic peanut sauce)

Ahi Carpaccio

and then THIS happened.

Godiva flourless chocolate cheesecake.

Just as amazing as it looks

We’re off the seize the day and I’m going to dominate my book proposal. The first two were cranked out pretty quickly (and were denied), but this one is taking forever. Maybe I’ll throw a party when I finally send it out

Have a lovely Saturday!

xoxo,

Gina

Last round of Show Me Your Fit! This is the last set I’m going to do for this week — thank you for your amazing feedback on it! I agree that it’s been so motivating to see others taking charge of their fitness, whether it’s through unique workouts, healthy eats, whatever they’ve found to work for them.

It will become a weekly feature on the bloggy, so if you’d like to be included, holler to fitnessista at gmail dot com, Subject “Show Me Your Fit.” Due to the incredible amount of pictures I receive, not all can be featured, but please don’t let that discourage you from sending a pic in!

Caitlin: I have a new love for weight lifting and am showing you my "super big arm muscles". I’m proud of how much stronger I feel!

I am woman hear me roar

Laura: I like to be fit, sister style! Last fall, my lovely sister Annie and I climbed Pikes Peak as part of a charity event. It was a grueling 13.1 miles, and my puny flat-lander lungs were not digging the elevation gain. It was an awesome experience and so cool to complete it together.

Here we are halfway up, via the Barr Trail!

Carolyn: "White Lightening" My new ride, designed to keep me active outside in the summer heat.

Ann: TLT (tempeh, lettuce and tomato!) open-faced sandwich. Delish and all vegan!

Jenny: With my favorite running buddy, my 1 year old pup Mosely. He reminds me that running and all exercise should be unadulterated fun!

Hi friends! Happy Saturday!

We slept until 10 this morning and I don’t even know who I am right now I always joke with the Pilot by saying he makes me lazy, because when he’s home I feel so comfy and content. When I finally rolled over and open my eyes, I looked at him and said “you did this to me.”

It felt soooo good to sleep in, and even better to wake up to lazy weather. Spring had un-spring overnight– it’s freezing and raining! I kinda like it

Lazy morning French toast:

Brown rice French toast with maple syrup and blackberries

Last night, we had a little date night together.

We put on REAL clothes and headed to North, which is a fun place to chill on a Friday night.

North is located at La Encantada, which is an outdoor shopping center here in T-town.

They have an open kitchen:

Modern atmosphere:

and on the weekends, they play club music out on the patio- it gets pretty packed

The food is amazing, which is also a bonus.

First we had some vino (white for him, Shiraz for me)

and they brought out some bread with sundried tomato butter.

For an appetizer, we rolled with the grilled artichoke hearts with sea salt and lemon aioli.

Yay for finger foods at swanky places
We had to ask our server how it was prepared, because it blew away out at-home artichoke experiences. She said that they steam the artichoke first, then brush it with butter, grill it for about 30 seconds and then sprinkle sea salt on top. The lemon aioli it was served with was so creamy and tangy, too. Ridic.

For my entree, I chose the salmon:

Few things in the world make me as happy as perfectly cooked salmon. It’s right up there with designer jeans on sale, finding money in a winter coat, and having just enough almond butter left in the jar that it would be silly to use it for anything other than a spoon dip

The Pilot ordered the pork tenderloin- he said it was also perfectly cooked and raved about the BBQ sauce that it was served with.

We’re off to see a movie. It’s that kinda day

Have an amazing Saturday and I’ll see you later!

xoxo

Gina

Something to think:

“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.”

Oprah Winfrey

Just for fun:

I was drinking water out of a plastic cup last night, since they were left over here from a get-together and all of our cups were in the dishwasher.

Bella kept biting at it and trying to knock it over… and then determined that it was the best toy ever. So much for her $9.99 Martha Stewart toys… hahah