I hope your Sunday is spent surrounded by people you love <3

Sending wishes for a beautiful day to all of the moms out there, mothers-in-law, fur moms, moms-to-be, blog moms who inspire me, and to caretakers who give so selflessly to others.

I’m blessed to have many amazing women in my life.

.

(with my nana, great-grandmother and madre- 5 generations!)

Thank you to my madre, stepmom, nanas and aunties who have taught me about who I really want to be when I grow up,

to my mother-in-law, who raised one heck of an amazing man

and to Livi. I’m so lucky to belong to you.

See ya later with some pics from the day <3

xoxo

Whether you’re celebrating Easter, Passover, or a beautiful Sunday

I hope it’s spent surrounded by those you love,

with delicious food (and chocolate),

and is taken as a chance to refresh, relax , start a clean slate, and enjoy every single moment <3

Sending love to you and your family,

Gina, The Pilot, Livi and Bella

I own exactly one green shirt, and I wore it today… not about to re-wear it tomorrow after what it’s been through this afternoon Green isn’t a color I regularly purchase, and I feel like a St. Patty’s Day scrooge since it’s one of my all-time favorite holidays. Give this girl a piece of soda bread with butter, a Baileys creation, a jig (slip jig is my fave but I’m not picky)

and I’m a happy kid. I am scary stoked about this recipe my friend Ashley posted, and this recipe from the lovely Angela. Looks like I have a couple of fun projects to take on this weekend.

If you’re spending a little bit of St. Patrick’s Day in the gym, how about a lucky love handle workout to target those fun oblique/lower back areas that can get a little droopy now and again?

In order to tighten up the sides of our stomachs, a few things need to happen:

-Clean eats

-Cardio

-Tone the entire core, particularly the abdominal external obliques

Here’s an ab burner focusing on this muscle group, but keep in mind that abdominal work isn’t really necessary if you eat extremely well and do cardio of alternating intensities. We actually work our core ALL day, but often don’t realize it: bending down to get dishes out of the dishwasher, rotating and twisting to reach for things, stabilizing our entire core each time we sit and stand, etc.

Feel free to top off your next cardio workout with this burner, complete it on its own, or in conjunction with a weights routine.

*As always, check with a doc before making any fitness changes, honor your body and modify as necessary.

-Dumbbell side bends: alternating sides, 25 total <—go LIGHT with the weights, 5-10 lbs max

-Plank- hold for 10 seconds, rest for 5 <—repeat 5 more times for a total of 60 seconds of planking

-Side jackknife- left side, 20 reps

-Sliding plank: hold a regular plank pose, then slide forward 2 inches and back 2 inches maintaining proper alignment. Continue this for 30 seconds.

-Side jackknife- right side, 20 reps

-Supine windshield wipers: 10 on each side

-Pilates swimming: 30 seconds

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tonight was a laid back and fun Friday night. The Pilot had a roll call, so we met up with Marisa and Meg at Eclectic Cafe:

and then headed to the O Club to pick up the Pilot

Things had died down in there quite a bit, so Liv and I hung out for a while before we all headed home.

St. Patrick’s Day plans:

-Dance Cardio

-Lunch on 4th Ave

-Dinner with the fam

What about you?

xoxo,

Gina

A little tip: for a more natural green coloring, add some spirulina

6 years ago, Bella was a Valentine’s Day gift from the Pilot.

Same sassy face, 6 years later:

We had gone to look at puppies one weekend, and I knew Bell was the one, so we decided to go back the following weekend. She came from a family here in Tucson –none of whom spoke English- and the Pilot went to pick her up while I was at home studying. They gave her a bath, wrapped her in a T-shirt, and when the Pilot came back to my apartment, he put her tiny puppy face into the doorway first.

Of course, it was love at first sight.

Bella and I have been through a lot together: 3 deployments, living in Tucson, North Carolina, Valdosta, Orlando and back to Tucson. She’s traveled with us all over the place, and now she’s a protective mama dog to Livi.

My funny little valentine. My other valentine is currently snoozing on my chest in the Moby

Chicken, however, is Bella’s true love and always will be.

Last night, she gave us a little bit of a scare when she decided to take the rest of the Pilot’s chicken drumstick off his plate while we were upstairs. She ate all of the meat, and half of one of the bones. After a call to the emergency vet, they told us to watch her but she should be ok. She just loves chicken a little too much sometimes…

It was really awesome having the Pilot home yesterday. We got a lot done around the house:

(Dance Central 2 and Fruit Ninja)

made dinner together, and ran a few errands.

V-day breakfast appetizer:

(sea salt AND almonds)

and the main course:

Raspberry oats –add the berries in just before the oats are finished cooking- with Sun Warrior, hemp seeds and tea

We’re going to go on a little walk before it starts to rain, and then nana is coming over to visit

Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day <3

xoxo

Gina

Some of my favorite mushy love-y posts:

-How I met the Pilot + a love story

-Anniversary posts: Four years, three years, two years

-Pilot comes home from deployment

Our New Year’s Eve was filled with

family

friends

(of the human and fur variety)

food

and fireworks.

Ball so hard.

Fireworks were illegal here for a long as I can remember, and just a few years ago, they changed that.

Needless to say, my brothers and husband were very excited…

We ended up coming home shortly before midnight, and slept in until 11. A lovely holiday indeed

This morning, the Pilot is cooking pancakes and eggs on the new griddle

and then we’re off for a family hike.

Hope your year is off to an amazing start!

See ya later today with a New Year’s Ab burner <3

xoxo

Gina

Something to think:

“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” 

Oprah Winfrey

New Year’s Eveeeee?”

If you haven’t seen this video yet, it’s super cute.

They just belong together.

Something to look forward to in the New Year?

More INDIAN FOOD

As you guys know, my beloved cuisine has taken a backseat to Thai since we haven’t really found an Indian restaurant in Tucson that we’re crazy about. A couple are very good, but not anything we crave on a regular basis.

We finally found a place:

Saffron serves modern twists on Indian favorites and the atmosphere is super casual and laid-back. The food was all beautifully plated and perfectly spiced.

The ultimate test of whether or not I like an Indian restaurant? Ordering the Baigan Bhartha (eggplant) to see how it compares.

It was everything I could wish for. It wasn’t greasy at all, and I had asked for it spicy–  to my surprise, it actually had a kick to it. This means a lot to a girl who eats whole jalapanos.

I also had a couple of bites of the Pilot’s chicken tikka masala, which was very mild but flavorful

he enjoyed some fluffy naan

and we shared saffron basmati rice.

An amazing Indian meal <3

This morning I went into work to cover for a friend for a few hours, and we’re going to take Bell on an adventure before heading to a New Year’s Eve party. No clubbing for us this year, and I might end up watching the ball drop on DVR tomorrow, but it should still be a lot of fun

Have a wonderful night and I’ll see ya next year!

xoxo

Gina

What are you doing New Year’s Eve? Remember to be safe tonight and if you find yourself in a situation where you’re unable to drive, call AAA- many locations will give you a ride home and tow your car for free, whether you’re a member or not: 1-800-222-4357. For other options to get home safely, check out this article.

To cap off an incredible weekend of festivities,

-Christmas Eve dinner at my dadoo’s house

-Christmas brunch at our house

we all took naps and relaxed yesterday afternoon –I watched Christmas Story twice. Once with my eyes open, and once with them closed- and then went over to my mom’s house for Christmas dinner and gifts.

Per usual, dinner at my madre’s was a comfort food extravaganza- she and my nana are amazing cooks. Lasagna, stuffed baked potatoes, green bean casserole, chicken meatballs, brown rice pasta, tilapia with marinara, appetizers and treats galore.

My plate:

(She even saved a little green bean casserole in a dish without the crunchies on top)

+ copious amounts of trail mix and chocolate-covered almonds

We listened to Mexican music, played with my bro’s Xbox Kinect –the Pilot IS the fruit ninja- and little Bella happily hopped from lap to lap. She was very confused when we got home after midnight, as she usually puts herself to bed around 10pm, and instantly crashed out. It was a very full and happy weekend <3

Now that we’re all slowing getting back in the swing of things, I thought it would be a good time to put the call out for inspiration boards. As you guys know, every year I make an inspiration board to hang in my closet, which serves as a visual reminder of what I’d like to accomplish in the new year. Pinterest is awesome and everything, but there’s something to be said about physically making the board and having it in a place where you’ll see it every day. I truly believe that if we’re constantly reminded of our goals, we’ll be more mindful to make little steps along the way to accomplish them.

I always love posting your inspiration boards, too, so if you’d like a little arts and crafts project this week, please send me a photo of your completed inspiration board by this Saturday, December 31 (fitnessista at gmail dot com, subject: inspiration board).

I’m off to Zumba –my arms are a little sore from Fruit Ninja, haha- and then to see which day-after-Christmas sales haven’t been too horribly picked over

Have a wonderful day!

See ya later with a Family post <3

xoxo

Gina

Inspiration for the inspiration board: Here’s last year’s, two years ago, and 15 health tips for the new year

Have you ever made an inspiration board? If not, give it a try! I can’t wait to see the ones you send in <3