Hi friends! Happy almost-Friday! Hope your day is going well <3

I woke up with a crazy allergy attack! My nose and throat hate me. Teaching will be interesting, but maybe this means that cooler weather is on the way?

Thank goodness for a nice, hot bfast to help with the ick:

Gingah tea with honey in a Wizard of Oz cup

+ berry chocolate protein oats

-GF oats

-almond milk

-Sun Warrior

-frozen organic mixed berries <—added in a couple of minutes before oats were finished cooking

-cocoa powder

-cinnamon, Stevia, blob of almond butter

____________________________________________________________________________________________

I loved reading all of your FAQ questions!

Here are the ones I picked to answer this morning: [and it ended up being a way more wordy post than I anticipated]

I first got into blogging when the Pilot told me to “get a hobby” when we lived in Valdosta. I was so bored, we had just moved there, I had quit my soul-sucking job working as a department store area sales manager to become a personal trainer, didn’t have many friends yet since I was always working at the department store when the squadron would have events, and spent my free time online shopping or working out.

One day, I had googled a recipe and Jenna’s blog came up. I remember being shocked to see the types of food she was posting about… [“She likes quinoa?!”, “I like quinoa!”] and was so excited to see that there was someone out there who enjoyed eating healthy food and working out as much as I did. It kind of gave me a connection at a time where I felt totally lost in my new surroundings, especially is a less-health-minded city than I was used to. From there, I discovered a few other blogs (Kath’s and Tina’s) and decided that I could do that, too. I thought it would also be a fun way to share recipe and workout ideas with my clients, since they’d usually ask about what types of workouts and I food I enjoyed. From there, the little blog was born.

[Everyone says this, but] I really didn’t expect anyone to read it. I knew my mom and nana would, since they liked knowing what the Pilot and I were up to, and that a few clients might, but figured it might just be something fun that I did. I had no idea that behind the blogworld was an incredible community of men and women, of all ages, from all over the world, with similar interests, who would become future lifelong friends.

[with Ange, Gena and Sabrina]

I’ve met SO many amazing, intelligent, talented and caring people through the blogworld. Many of my good friends are bloggers, and having the community and support of the blog world (especially during tough times, like 2 out of the 3 deployments to Afghanistan for the Pilot) has been more valuable to me than you could ever imagine. Even when things were going on in my life that I couldn’t necessarily write about, having the blog helped me get through it.

My #1 tip for blogging is: write about what you love, not what you think others want you to say. Don’t think of it as a “job”, or go after it for the money. If you love what you do, it will show and the readers will follow. Blogging should be fun and the second the fun aspect starts to dwindle, it’s a good time to take a step back and reassess what you’re doing.

*more blogging tips are *here*

My traffic first started to significantly spike about 2 years ago, after my first blog facelift. It became my official-ish full-time job last summer (2010) and I started to focus even more of my attention towards making the blog as fun and informational as I can. I have some pretty huge goals and plans for the blog and am always trying to think of ways to make it better <3

How I keep everything in track:

-I wear a lot of different hats: wife, friend/daughter/sister, mom-to-be, puppy wrangler, fitness instructor, blogger, maid/cook The thing that helps me keep track of everything and make sure it all gets done is my trusty notebook. I write down EVERYTHING and plan out each day by what needs to be accomplished. I love ninja-kicking to-do lists and crossing things off. I’ve really learned how to cut myself some slack, so sometimes I take the day off from the gym, ditch the to-do list and take a breather. For the most part, it really helps me stay organized and on top of things.

When the little Nugette arrives, I plan to take time off from teaching, but not really from the blog. The Pilot will probably tweet for me when the baby is born and I’ll have some guest posts and pre-written content (like the Winter Shape Up!) ready to go I’ll also post a few updates in the first week or so until I resume my normal schedule.

As far as teaching goes, I still need to figure out how much time off I’ll get. I only teach part-time, so I’m not sure what the allotment for time off is. Might be a good time to start figuring that out…. I’m really thankful that we have so much family here in Tucson (my family has 132 people in it! Learned that from planning the wedding, haha) so it will be nice to have help when the baby is here and I need to teach a class, get in my daily workout, or take a shower

The second I found out the Pilot was in the military, my heart dropped. Immediately I thought about what it would be like to have him leave, and it scared me. I didn’t grow up in the military and only had a handful of friends with military families, so it wasn’t something I knew a lot about. It’s funny because the Pilot told me that he used to tell previous girls he dated that he was a kindergarten teacher because the second they found out he was a Pilot, things usually ended pretty quickly. For me, I knew I wanted to marry him pretty shortly after we started dating (I said “there’s my husband” the second I saw him!) so it was a sacrifice I was more than happy to make.

Now that I’ve been in a military relationship for almost 6 years, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. The unknown, moving and deployments have been extremely hard, but when they come home, there’s nothing like it. It’s almost like honeymoon period never ended with us.. and I have a feeling it probably won’t

I started eating an almost entirely gluten-free diet when my doctor did a saliva DNA test to check my hormones and response to gluten. He said I was borderline intolerant (which I knew, because gluten had a knack for making me feel kind of gross) and recommended just staying away from it. This was last fall.

Since then, I’ve stayed away from gluten for the most part but will have some when I really want it. As long as I don’t have it more than two days in a row, I feel fine. If I do have it on consecutive days, even if it’s a small serving, my stomach isn’t my friend.

Something that is worth the gluten:

Nana’s funfetti Bundt cake

I used the train clients, but am now just teaching classes. At the resort, guests can book me for private training sessions, too.

The things I loved the most about training clients were: watching their results happen first-hand (and being able to cheer them on!) and the friendships I’ve made- many friends were once clients.

The hardest part about training for me was training people who weren’t yet ready for change. They liked the “idea” of having a trainer, but didn’t want to work hard or change their eating habits. This was extremely challenging for me to try to train them and not see any results, and also watch them waste money. Some people paid me to basically hang out with them and chit chat while they “kinda” worked out. In the end, I had to *break up* with these types of clients because it wasn’t beneficial for them, or for me as a trainer. When you’re training at a gym, you want other people at the gym to see your client working hard and changing their health/body. If this isn’t happening, it can affect your credibility.

If you’re still reading, thanks for hanging in there for this long-y post!

Your turn!

How do you keep track of the different *hats* you wear? If you’re a blogger, why/when did you start your blog? If you don’t blog, when did you first start reading blogs ? What’s the first blog you discovered?

Off to do the work thang It’s a Zumba and LaBlast kinda day!

xoxo

Gina

Hi friends <3 How was your humpday? Anyone else itching for the weekend to get here? Me <— so ready. Loved your comments on the Focus On post! If you’ve been wanting to try Turbofire, or any of Beachbody programs, hit up my friend Lizzie- she can [honestly] answer all of your questions. [She helped me pick my BB programs - she’s amazing]

So guess who actually went to yoga today?!

ME!

My goal was to practice more than I did in August, and 1 > 0, so I already accomplished that I’m gonna be real": It was ungainly and awkward, yet it felt awesome. There were some parts where I just went into child’s pose or did cat cow combos instead of the prone exercises they were doing, did bow pose on my side instead of my stomach, and reaaaaalllly needed those hip stretches. I call it a win, but nothing near as fun as my old practice. I’m definitely stoked to get back into Bikram and power yoga come January

Today was also a Buddha necklace kinda day:

I had two stretch classes at work, so I tend to dress more yoga-y on those days. Also wore my Tiny Devotions bracelets, which I’m obsessed with (coming up in a future fashion post).

Some eats:

Bfast was a green smoothie

-almond milk

-1/2 banana, 1/2 farmer’s market mango

-Sun Warrior

-handful of spinach

-Ice

and toast with almond butterrrrr.

For lunch, I made the most random egg creation ever.

A flat egg + 2 egg whites with greens, beets, goat cheese, sundried tomato and balsamic [I’m not usually a “weird combo” person, but it was so good!]

and a couple handfuls of Mary’s Crack [curry sticks and twigs- my fave!]

The Pilot just got home, so I think I’m going to grill him a pizza for dinner

Have a great night <3

xoxo

Gina

Today’s workout jam: “Resistance” by Muse

Something to talk about: Random Q & A time! It’s been forever since I’ve done a Q & A post (maybe since I just throw everything out there on the Family page? haha), but thought it would be a good time to bring it back. I love it because it also gives me a chance to learn more about you guys, too, and let’s face it: I like you.. and I’m nosy So ask me anything! I’ll post responses tomorrow

Hi friends How are you? Hope you’re having a fabulous morning.

Here’s the little FAQ video we wanted to do for you guys (The list of questions we picked from were on *this post*)

The topics we chose for this video:

-Our ethnicities

-Do we do a joint bank account or separate?

-The Pilot’s tips for someone about to start pilot training

-How I decide what to blog and what not to blog

-Food we couldn’t live without

-Who hogs the covers

-Future family plans

Only one futon was hurt in the making of this <— blooper at the end

Some more Q & A fun:

It would seem counterintuitive, because my Pilot eats enough for a family of 4, but I’m MORE motivated the workout and eat well when he’s home. Remember the whole “feeling like a nun” think I mentioned while he’s away? Well since I don’t have to worry about that when he’s home, it makes me want to eat better and workout      

I don’t have a *regular* workout routine- I think that’s what causes boredom to set in (I get bored so easily!) and keeps me from getting stuck in a rut. Sunday is pretty much my planning day- I’ll plan out my workout schedule for the week, meals for the week (just dinner ideas + a few lunches, bfasts are pretty standard over here), and tentative blog ideas for the week.

As far as the workout thang goes, I almost always dance at least 5x per week. I’ll combine in some weights (or Bodyrock) and yoga according to what my schedule is like. I’ve found that weights/Bodyrock dance and yoga is a great mix for me right now

I really do believe that living a vegan lifestyle is the best thing one can do for the planet. However, it can be very, very difficult for some people to get the nutrients they need on a vegan diet. I’m one of those people. My body doesn’t thrive on a totally vegan diet, but does extremely well on a high plant-based diet with a sprinkle of goat cheese, fish, eggs and very occasional chicken thrown in. [You can read more about why I decided to bring chicken back *here*]

I figure that since I choose not to be a full-time vegan, by eating vegan-ish sometimes,and using my shopping cart as my voting ballot –if there’s a certified organic option, I always buy that over conventional- that’s my way of helping the planet and my body.

Pilot: I don’t mind at all. It really doesn’t affect me because she usually makes a “pilot” version of the food she’s eating (i.e. adding chicken or other organic meats to the meal). Other than that, I don’t mind eating meatless now and then because a lot of those foods are so healthy and I’m pretty open to new foods.

I’m so sorry to hear that you were in a similar situation. Mine was pretty traumatizing, and it took me probably a year after dating the Pilot until I was “normal” again. My self esteem was so messed up, and when I first started seeing the Pilot, I put up a lot of walls. I was so afraid of getting hurt again, and thought for sure that he was “too nice.” I kept waiting for him to go pyschopath like my previous boyfriend, but it obviously never happened

I think my biggest piece of advice is to be patient with yourself. I also really wish I would have practiced yoga at that time in my life because I think it would have helped me. The Pilot is the kindest, most patient person I’ve ever met, so he was extra sweet and patient with me which helped my fear of commitment to melt away, until I became myself again.

Just be confident that there’s someone out there that will make you feel like a queen, and help you get through and forget the hurt you’ve been through <3

No. Hahaha. I’ve begged, but I think the most I’ll get out of him is “spectator.”

Well we’re off to meet with the realtor! See ya later today

xoxo

Gina

Something to talk about:

Your turn!

-Food you can’t live without

-Do you -or would you choose to, if you’re not attached- roll with joint or separate bank accounts?

-How many kids do you want?

Hiiiiii How are you guys? Hope your day has been wonderful!

We’ve been snack machines today

Smoothies:

(Banana Peanut Butter for him and Strawberry for me- my Sun Warrior came while I was away, so that was a happy surprise! I missed it so)

Snack plates:

and ballz

I couldn’t wait to make some amazeballz using Sun Warrior (instead of the icky Standard Process protein I used in the meantime), with homemade cashew butter:

(Roasted cashews whirred around in the mini food processor with cinnamon, vanilla and sea salt)

Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments you’ve posted about the Pilot’s return and our goobery love for each other

Just to prove it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows –coming back from deployment is a HUGE adjustment for everyone involved- here’s a snippet of our conversation while the Pilot was driving today.

Me: Stop braking like that! You’re making me sick! Guess who hasn’t driven a car in 6 months?

Pilot: I like the sound of enemy gunfire more than listening to you complain.

Hahaha.

We took Bell to the dog park this morning –she was in heaven- and then to look at the house I’m in love with.

He likes it, but isn’t as crazy about it as I was hoping….

If anyone has some legendary persuasion techniques, please send them my way

We also grabbed some groceries. A stocked fridge is a very good feeling

+ plentiful produce

Well I’m off to get ready to teach, but I hope you have a great night! Meet me back here in the morning for Luon for a Cause – e have a TON of amazing items to choose from, as well as a macaroon raffle

See ya in the AM!

xoxo

Gina

Something to talk about: Q&A time! I lovelove when other bloggers do Q&A sessions –I’m kinda nosy like that haha- and think video posts are even more awesome. So since it’s been over a year since I’ve done a Q&A post, the Pilot and I were thinking it would be fun to do a little Q&A video together.

Please leave any questions you’d like us to answer in the comments section, and we’ll post the video in the next couple of days.

Morning friends! Hope you’re having a great day. Hope you enjoy the last week of Bridal Bootcamp

Vies and I are all packed up for Valdizzy.

Vies is going to her favorite kennel until after Thanksgiving (since I’ll be gone two more times until then!) and I’m going to the dentist and having early b-day celebration with the girls <3

B-fast was fast and furious, since I’m gonna load up the car and peace out early.

A gluten-free English muffin with two egg whites, arugula, mustard + Dante cheese (I’m obsessed)

If any San Fran bloggy wants to trade me macaroons for cheese replenishment, hit me up

The plan was to hit up the gym before leaving, but there’s going to be a lot of running around today- as soon as I get to Valdizzy, I have to get dog food for Viesser, drop her off at Jeni’s, get my teeth scraped and prodded, take Vies to the vet, then to the kennel, then back to Jeni’s. Whew! I may throw in a 20 minute TurboFire sesh at Jeni’s but we shall see

Hope you have a wonderful day and I’ll see ya from V-town

xoxo,

Gina

Q & A: Here are a few questions I’ve received lately:

1. What’s the difference between juices and smoothies? Can you make a juice in a blender?

The difference between juices and smoothies is that juices are made in a juicer, smoothies are made in a blender. So whenever I have juice in the morning, I use the Jack Lalanne juicer (which I bought from Heaby over a year ago)- I love it! We used a Breville model at culinary school and I recommend that one as well.

Juices provide all of the water, nutrients and enzymes of the fruit/veggies that you juice, minus all of the fiber, which makes them easier to digest. If you were to make a smoothie with the same veggies, it would end up being like a gazpacho or blended salad. Still delicious, but different

Which one is better/ more important??

The thing is, they’re totally different beasts. Juice is great for a morning pick-me-up in lieu of coffee, while I love making a smoothie for snack or lunch. I think if you have to choose between investing in a juicer or blender, I say go for the blender. The Vita-mix changed my life forever- I use it at least once everyday. I even brought it with us on our honeymoon!

For my favorite juice combos, check out *this post*, for tips on making a meal out of your smoothie, here’s a *post for that* + reader-submitted smoothie recipes

2. Why aren’t you down with food combining? What is it anyway?
 

Food combining is the notion that it takes a different amount of time to break down and digest different types of food. Fruit takes 30 minutes to digest from start to finish, whereas a starch, nut or flesh-based meal (meat, eggs, fish) can take 3-4 hours. The idea is that you eat similar foods together (starch with starch, flesh with flesh, nut/dried fruit with nut/dried fruit) -fresh vegetables combine with everything- so that your food can digest more easily and your body’s energy can more efficiently be used for other processes, since it isn’t trying to break down poor food combos.

I think our bodies are intelligent machines and can, um, take the trash out on their own without us having to worry about the food combinations. And honestly, I think it’s a little boring I like cheese with starch, nuts with starch (almond butter + bread are SUPPOSED to go together!), etc. I tried the food combo thing for a little while last year, and realized it wasn’t for me. That’s not to say it doesn’t work for other people, especially those with digestion probs.

For a helpful post on food combining, check out *this one* by my friend Gena

See ya laterrrrrr

Heyyyyy! Happy Monday Hope your morning is going well.

We met up with some friends for dinner at Longhorn and a movie last night.

I still snicker at the fact that my third favorite restaurant here –Indian is first and 306 North is second- has fake cow’s heads on the walls :/

The usual nutritionally-devoid icebreg lettuce salad (no cheese, no croutons, balsamic on the side)

And the salmon with no butter sauce, a plain baked sweet potato and veggies.

My so-called 7 oz salmon fillet was the size of a chicken finger. Not joking. Oh well, I devoured every bite

Valentine’s Day was fabulous –Jeni and I enjoyed the eye candy- and then I came home to a night with the Kardashians. CRAZY season finale, no???

Well I’m off to get started on the day’s to-dos, but before I go, here’s the final week of the Winter Shape Up:

This week, we’ll be repeating Week 4’s workout. This is one of my favorites from the Shape Up and I definitely think it needs another week Try to kick up the intensity a little (if possible- BE SMART!) and challenge yourself. It’s the LAST WEEK!!! Please send any Winter Shape Up success stories my way: fitnessista at gmail dot com  – I’d love to include them in next week’s re-cap.

Enjoy your day and I’ll see you this afternoon!

xoxo,

Gina

Questions and Answers: This is the last round from the Ask Me Anything page. It was fun while it lasted, but time to move on

Hey! What was your first job?

I was 13 years old and a junior camp counselor at a summer day camp in Tucson. I was with the pre-schoolers for the first half of the summer and the babies for the second half. I definitely learned a lot that summer! It was so much fun, though

how many calories do you eat in a day?

Enjoy to make me feel satisfied and able to conquer the day’s activities. It really varies from day-to-day depending on what I’m doing and what my teaching and exercise schedule looks like.

How often does the Pilot read your blog?

He’s read every post

what do you think about insanity and p 90x workouts?

It’s hard for me to say because I’ve never tried them. From what I hear though, they can offer great results but are a little unnecessary. There’s no reason to go balls to the wall every.single.day. You can get excellent results from eating well and moderate exercise, so why go crazy if you don’t need to?? Another thing is that once they’re over, that intensity level will be impossible to maintain, thus less calories burned and the chance that lost weight could be gained back. I don’t know many people who would want to exercise at that intensity on a daily basis for a consistent amount of time.

That being said, I could be totally wrong. I’d love to try a couple of the workouts and see what I think.

have you ever done a detox?

No, but I have considered doing one because I’ve heard great things. The only problemo is that I’m always teaching, training and on-the-go and from my understanding, while doing a detox, one must take it suuuuuper easy. In the future, I would try one to give digestion a break – detoxes should not be done for weight loss purposes.

Which of your favorite cookbooks would you recommend for someone interested in trying more raw/vegan dishes?

Everyday Raw by Matthew Kenney (Everyday Raw Desserts is coming out very soon and I can’t wait)

Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen –she has a new book coming out in April!- by Ani Phyo

Eat, Drink and Be Vegan by Dreena Burton

Living Raw Food by Sarma Melngailis

do you and the pilot ever have jealousy towards one another? With regards to other men and women??

Nahhh. We’re confident enough with each other and ourselves that we can joke around about it. He knows about my love for Patrick Dempsey and Gerard Butler and I share his appreciation for Jessica Biel’s awesome bod.

If this isn’t tempting, I don’t know what is….

Macaroon dough.

I always, always save myself a little at the bottom of the bowl, but today I didn’t have any due to my Lenten thang.

100% willpower, beebs. It wasn’t easy though….

I may have had two mugs full of brown rice cereal to distract me from the dough

Today’s meals have been a little scatterbrained.. kind of like me I can’t find my base ID ANYWHERE!

I had some millet with AB and banana before hitting the gym with Ash:

We did legs today and it was fierce, then I came back from some protein:

(Egg + egg white puff with nutritional yeast and chili powder)

And an hour nap with the puppers. "’Twas glorious

When I woke up, I made a green juice:

Salad:

Kelp noodles with Goddess dressing:

And then went to work.

Work was lovely, and one of my clients (nicknamed Tinkerbell) surprised me with some goodies from her New York trip:

BABYCAKES GOODIES!

A supercute shirt and a cookbook –she also got me a thing of mints from Dylan’s candy with my name on it. Such a wonderful surprise

Something to talk about:

The original plan was to do a Q & A sesh per usual (lately) but I received my first backwards mean question. I mean, obviously it was bound to happen sooner or later, and after 400+ questions of pure loveliness and fun, I was kind of surprised to see this in the mix.

Here’s how it went:

Hi Gina! I’m just curious..but what happened to your nose?

i’ve broken it 3 times, and am super self- conscious about the bump on it

I get quite a few questions on the Ask Me Anything page regarding self-consciousness and if I ever have “down days” or struggle with appearance, as well as many questions regarding plastic surgery. As far as the off days, of course I do! Usually I feel pretty good, but I am 100% pure girl and I certainly have days where I don’t feel cute or suddenly despise all of the clothes in my closet. A lot of it has to do with hormones and I’m sure that many girls deal with off-days like this. For the most part, I try to focus on the things I’m grateful for and find quirks in the little things I can’t change.

Except for my nose…

I have debated for YEARS on getting rhinoplasty, as I’ve broken my nose 3 times and was left with a crooked bumpy thing in its place. But after all of that (and the pilot’s begging to just keep it the way it is), I decided against it. Something about someone prying the skin off my face and taking a hammer to my schnoz doesn’t sound appealing to me.

As far as plastic surgery in general goes, I really don’t see a prob with it. Of course we should be happy and love the bodies we were blessed with, but if someone is so self-conscious to the extreme that surgery would help them gain back some confidence, then I say go for it. You’ve gotta do what’s best for you, always. Heidi Montag on the other hand, is a totally different story. She is a beautiful girl and had no reason to let a plastic surgeon go buck wild with her under the knife.

Just my two cents

Please keep those lovely and fun questions coming and I’ll see ya in the morning with the name of the cafe!!!

xoxo,

Gina

Hey hey hey Hope you’re having a fabulous almost-Friday! I LOVE reading all of your name suggestions for the cafe!! I knew you would be an amazing resource and I can’t wait to meet with the owners and pick one out. We’ll let you know tomorrow

The rest of yesterday started out mellow, then turned into a frantic scatterbrained frenzy.

Lunch was glorious:

I made a Thai-style salad beast, by putting greens, bell pepper, shredded carrot, cucumber, fresh pineapple and 1/2 diced avocado into a bowl

Then topped it off with a dressing made of raw almond butter, rice wine vinegar, cayenne and Nama shoyu and fresh cilantro

Face was rocked

Next time I think I’ll skip out on the avocado, though. The salad had plenty of healthy fat from the almond butter and didn’t technically need more, but the taste didn’t match as well as I thought it would. Mung bean sprouts would be great in this, too

I had a training appointment, came back to the casa to walk the puppers and make dinner to pack up and take to the gym.

Tonight was the Jumble-aya from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan (I’ve made this before, and knew it would be perfect to have after work).

I packed it up into containers to take to the gym, and one for the pilot:

When the batch was finished (using sticky brown rice.. one of my favorite carby delights), I was really, really hankering for some sweets.I didn’t think it would hit me so soon (Lent started THAT DAY) but I think it was the fact that I was subconsciously telling myself to stay away from them. This my friends is why diets are painful and often unsuccessful. What makes you want something more than anything in the world? Telling yourself you can’t have it.

Lent obviously isn’t a *diet* but staying away from sweets has that same forbidden attitude, which should make these 40 days very interesting (and very rewarding when I stuff my face with a Liz Lovely cookie, or three, on Easter).

To fill the *sweets void* I had some brown rice cereal:

After leaving the casa and getting to base for pilates, I realized that I left my base ID at home. I did this last week, too, and they will NOT let you on base without an ID. It doesn’t matter how much you beg, tell them you work there, or bribe with raw macaroons… they just won’t go for it. Last week, I drove the half hour home to get the ID then back to base (and missed pilates) but tonight I just wasn’t going to do it. Thank goodness Ashley met me on base to get a visitor’s pass for me (thank you, friend).

Zumba was glorious, and then I came to the squadron to wait for the pilot who is debriefing right now after his flight.

I wrote this post from the squadron bar (yes, they have a bar at their place of employment) and munched my jumble-aya.

Usually don’t mind hanging out at the squadron but I couldn’t wait to get home, take a shower and put some jammies on

The pilot and I came back to the casa and CRASHED!
I’m off to make some green juice, meet Ashley at the gym and then go for a run. I *will not* let the cold get in my way….

See ya this afternoon <3

xoxo,

Gina

Q & A (from the Ask Me Anything page)

You have a huge amount of people that follow your blog, which is awesome! How did you get people to notice it in the beginning?

In the beginning, I just wrote my little heart out about things I know and care about. I also made sure to read and leave quality comments on other blogs (more than “looks good!” but tried to think of something fun and different to say) with hopes that other blog readers and bloggies would visit my blog. I kept on trucking on, and am very fortunate to have the amazing readership I have today.

What exactly is in the Indian dish that you always get? Any other suggestions for healthy, low-cal Indian food?

I LOVE baigan bhartha (pureed eggplant with tomatoes, peas and spices) and dal bukara (which has lentils and spices), with some tandoori roti (whole wheat naan) to scoop everything up Other low-cal and healthy options are veg jalfreezi (mixed veggies, I ask for no potatoes), channa masala (chickpeas with tomatoes and spices) and (assuming you eat meat) anything from the tandoori menu, which is grilled meat with peppers and onions.

I’m training for a half marathon & trying to lose about 7 lbs. Online I’ve found that I should eat 1395 calories/day to lose, yet I see so many bloggers who eat WAY more than that and maintain a low weight. Any thoughts on this??

I think that during training isn’t a very good time to focus on weight loss goals, as you can inefficiently fuel yourself and result in injury. Some bloggers have super metabolisms, which I wasn’t blessed with, and I know for me, I wouldn’t be able to eat as many calories as they do (or the types of food they do) on a regular basis and maintain my weight. Every body is different and it really is an art to find what works for you. I’d say focus on your half marathon training and goals (making sure to fuel your body with the best nutrients and not worry too much about calories), and if the additional training doesn’t get you where you want to be, tweak your eats once the half is over.

When I’ve seen you have goat cheese on your salads at restaurants, is that on the menu or are you asking for it? Do most restaurants have goat cheese as a substitute in their kitchens?

Many restaurants carry goat cheese, and if they do, I’ll ask for some on my salad instead of whatever cheese is offered. Usually I’ll scope out the menu to see if “goat cheese” is a component of any of the meal options and if it is, you can bet your booty I’m asking for some

if/when you have babies…how many do you and pilot want? Will you raise them vegetarian/pescatarian or no? and will you continue to make menus and be head chef for the cafe even when you move? ps I think you rock

I want 2, and the pilot wants 100 (haha), so maybe we’ll compromise and have 3? We’ll have to see how all of that goes We want to raise our kids eating white meat only (organic), with red meat on occasion (kind of how the pilot eats), but if they decide they don’t want to eat meat later on, that’s fine too.

I’d love to continue to make menus for the cafe after I move- I hope it works out that way!

how much do you weigh? you talk about weight being just a number but how do you know if you’re gaining ‘weight” or muscle??

I don’t like to talk about weight on the blog for obvious reasons. That information wouldn’t help anyone and would just make readers compare themselves to me, which is just silly because the chances are very low that they would have the same height, weight, activity level, body fat, and age as I do. Every so often, I pinch myself with the calipers (or have a friend do it) to check my body fat but usually I’ll just go by how my clothes fit. If my jeans are comfy, things are bueno. If they start to get tight, it’s time to evaluate my workout routine and eats (by going through my planner).

what nationality is "the pilot?"

A mix of seksi, hawt, Irish and German

Hi guys Hope your morning is going well!

From the Ask Me Anything page, I was surprised to see that mixed in with all of the baby questions (which I’ll answer in a near future post), height/weight/size questions (which I probably won’t answer, because that information won’t help anyone..they’re just silly numbers), and the pilot questions, were quite a few hair questions.

Here are a few:

What hair products do you use? Your hair always looks shiny and sassy.

First off, I love your blog! I have a question about your hair. It is so beautiful and I am wondering how you maintain your long hair and what products you use? I have hair envy!

I love your hair. It’s got so much volume and bounce. How do you style it?

Thank you so much for the sweet hair compliments With the exception of when I was a baby –I was bald and my mom had to glue hairbows onto my head until I was one- I’ve always had a thick, wavy mane.

Straightened:  Bedhead:

Here are some of my favorite hair goodies:

Many are courtesy of the madre, who’s a stylist and usually hooks it up with awesome hair products

My favorite shampoo and conditioner is Halo:

  (Source)

This stuff smells like HEAVEN and is thick enough to coat my hair, make it shiny and doesn’t leave a residue. The bummer is that I’m out of it right now and you can only get it at beauty supply stores, so until I can get some more I’m using Nexxus:

You can find it anywhere (including grocery stores and Targizzle) and I’m a fan

I get a LOT of questions asking whether or not I wash my hair everyday.

The answer:

No way!!!

Washing your hair every day can dry it out and even though I work out pretty intensely, I can’t afford to wash it every day. My hair would turn into straw :/

So, if I’ve washed my hair the night before and then exercise to the point where my hair is drenched (after a run or Zumba), I shower and wet my hair and just put conditioner in, and rinse it out.

If my hair isn’t wet, I’ll use dry shampoo.

This one is my favorite (you can find it at Sephora)

After I wash my hair (or just condition it if it’s an in-between day), I’ll rub in some Ion anti-frizz (from Sally’s)

  (Source)

  and dry it using the Chi Rocket and a flat brush:

If I’m going to wear my hair straight, I’ll then straighten it with my straightener:

  (This one is by Bespoke Labs and it’s incredible)

And rub some Freddrick Fekkai smoother or Jonathon serum  on for frizzies: (both from Sephora… I usually get travel-sized everything so that they’re easy to pack up for trips)

If it’s a curly day, I’ll use the diffuser to dry my hair and then curl the wavy pieces with a 1-in curling iron I bought at Targizzle (for like $15.. and it works great)—or if I’m in a rush, I’ll throw in some hot rollers

And spray:

That’s pretty much the whole she-bang. (For another beauty product- related post, check out Reader’s Request: Skincare)

I try not to use a lot of product on my hair, and at night if I’m not going anyway, I’ll let it air dry. It doesn’t look very cute, but it keeps me from damaging it with heat-styling all the time.

Keep those Ask Me Anything questions coming! I love them

Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you this afternoon with a GIVEAWAY!

xoxo,

Gina

Something to talk about:What are your favorite hair products?? Anything fun/new I need to try??

(Kenra volume spray)

Hey hey hey How’s your evening going?

I loved reading about your Lent ideas and spring challenges- keep ‘em coming It’s funny because usually I’d be living up Fat Tuesday in full splendor, but after my Valentine’s feast, I don’t feel a need to. I think I’ll be satisfied on the sweet front for 40 days.. at least that’s what I say for now

This morning’s snack was this little gem (which yes, is considered a “sweet”, so after today, it’s out of commission for a while)

I ran a boatload of errands, cleaned the casa and met with the cafe owners to go over a tentative menu and plans. We actually have a crazy awesome giveaway planned for tomorrow so stay tuned!

For lunch, I couldn’t wait to break out this classy new vinegar:

Mmmmm

I made a salad beast with rainbow chard, spiralized beet, tomatoes, raw goat cheddar, oregano, fresh basil, sweet onion and fig vinegar.

After mashing everything around:

Rainbow chard is by far my favorite green. Now I just have to figure out how to plant it because it’s not sold anywhere in Valdosta (yet).

Dessert was some millet with maca and cinnamon:

(Please excuse the fine china)

I hit up the gym before my first training appointment and did 30 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes on the treadmill and 20 minutes of shoulders, triceps and chest. It was a fast and furious weight workout and then I trained a client.

When I got back to the casa in between appointments, I had a two egg white puff, coated in chili powder and nutritional yeast.

The nutritional yeast was so BUTTERY on top of the egg! Uhhhhhmazin’. As I was devouring, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’m a hypocrite for not eating chickens and still eating their unfertilized embryos. Don’t answer that I just love eggies so and always, always buy organic.

I had two more appointments and then came back to make a shrimp feast for my pilot love and I. Time for jammies and chillaxin’

See ya tomorrow with a fun reader’s request post and a giveaway!

xoxo,

Gina

Questions and answers: (from Ask Me Anything)

How old is the pilot? Has he been in the air force for a long time?

The pilot is 29 and he’s been in the Air Force for a little under 7 years.

What ever happened with giving Viesa away? Is she better with Bella? Are you keeping her for good? (I love when you post puppy pics!)

For now, we’re keeping Viesa until my brother and his girlfriend can adopt her. She’s been incredibly good *knock on wood* because we’ve had to lay the smack down with disciplining both of the dogs. I had a tendency to let them walk all over me because they’re so cute –I was the only one here every time Viesa would attack Bella- so I’ve been making the dogs sit before I pet them or give them love, and have been trying to act like *master* of the casa. We also treat Viesa as the alpha dog, which is what she needs.. so she always gets treats first and her food first.

Why would you open a cafe if you are going to move in a year? Isn’t that a waste of time? Why not wait till you move?

A year is a year, and I’m going to live it up! The amazing thing is that this is something I’ve really wanted to do, and now that I have an investor, I really need to take this opportunity. The fact that I can get my online bakery started as well is just icing on the cake. I’ll be able to get experience and knowledge and when we move, it will be much easier for me to open my own place.

What do you mean when you say that you are going to give up "sweets?" Does that include all desserts and anything with sugar? What about food containing agave or stevia? I want to join you!!

Yup, that includes all desserts and sugar. This doesn’t include cacao powder or Sun Warrior protein, but includes Larabars (they’re like dessert to me), Stevia (YIKES!) and agave. Fruit is definitely ok and I’d love some sweet-free company for the 40 days!

Sometimes I look at your life an am struck by extreme life envy … if you could change ONE thing about your life, what would it be?

I promise that my life isn’t perfect The main thing I would change would be the ability to live wherever I wanted. Sometimes I feel like SO many things would be easier if we could live wherever we chose!