A day to dine-out
Hi friends <3 I loved reading your responses on this morning’s post! I had no idea so many went commando at the gym, but totally understand- the liners are there for a reason, eh? After a few responses, just wanted to clarify that I couldn’t give a flying you-know about other peopler’s panty lines. You go to the gym, I’m proud of you. I don’t care what you’re wearing 😉 I do, however, know that I get in a better workout when I’m comfortable and wearing functional clothes. Enough people asked about it, so I thought it warranted a post. Didn’t mean or want to get anyone’s… errr, panties in a twist?
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There’s nothing like sleeping to a soundtrack of a huge storm. Something about thunder, lightning and wind makes it so cozy…
that is until a little Cavalier starts howling in the night.
It scared her pretty badly and even though she woke me up from an awesome dream, I had to laugh because her little howl is so dang cute.
Needless to say, I’ve been a little tired all day… and have let other people do the cooking. Dining out in Dine-In December…
From tonight’s dinner enchilada, tamale, beans and chips:
(with the Pilot and my favorite little dining buddy. As you can see, I chickened out with any major hair changes but it feels so nice to have it trimmed! And clean. Clean is always good)
and lunch with some friends at work.
Check out the turkey sliders and zucchini fritters (with pistachios cooked in)
and raspberry sorbet.
Perfection.
Other exciting events included the case of moose munch that arrived:
(There’s a hole where the bag was dwelling that madre and I decided to test out)
and teaching today, which included Zumba and a Ballast ball class.
The ball class hasn’t one of my faves because it was new to me, and it’s always challenging to figure out a class layout and cardio/strength balance for a new class format. (Like the pool classes I used to dread, and now they’re NBD.) You can practice as much as you like, but you never really know how it will go until you’re in there. Today, I finally felt like I had my class set up the way I like it: polished and flowing easily from one move to the next. Class was packed, too, and the energy always makes things more fun.
One of the interesting things about using the Ballast ball is that the sand (which adds 7-8 lbs to the ball) can be your enemy or your friend. I often find that for cardio it’s the enemy (holding the ball makes all of the moves so much more challenging with the added weight) and for strength, it helps to stabilize (like for single leg squats with the ball or hamstring curls). Whatever you’re doing, you get a core workout as the moves are core-driven.
Some of my favorite Ballast ball moves:
Sand impact shifts (lunges and squats tapping the ball to the floor then raising it up- alternating quiet, stationary sand and hitting the sand to the top of the ball)
Ball slams
Ball throws and shuffles
Ball “slices” -side-to-sde lunges, making a slicing motion on each side of the ball (awesome oblique challenge)
Jump squats holding the ball (quiet sand), then with a sand shift to the top
If you’re gym has one, I definitely recommend trying it out to change things up during your next workout.
Hope you’re having a great week so far and I’ll see ya in the am with your holiday Tabata workout!
xoxo
Gina
What are you looking forward to this weekend? Friday night it’s our work holiday party, Saturday my MIL gets here, Sunday is brunch at my nana’s and then the Christmas festivities begin. I’m so, so excited this year <3 Have you used a Ballast ball before?
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I’m SO excited for Christmas this year as a family of 3. I may or may not have teared up watching Tripp help his daddy decorate the tree. 🙂
Friday we have a dinner at one of my husband’s coworkers’ house, Saturday is a holiday open house at his Nino & Nina’s, and Sunday is our little family day before festivities begin!
Tripp got to put a dollar in the Salvation Army bucket today and tomorrow we’ll bake some muffins to drop off at the fire station to kick off our 26 random acts. 🙂 I love this!!
Don’t apologize! If people read into the subject too much that is their own fault (involving a terrible day/holiday stress i’m guessing) for them to react that way. I loved your post, found it helpful, and enjoy that you listened to your readers requesting the subject in the first place.
it’s your blog after all, no one is forced to read it 🙂
Thanks for being real!
Oops, this was supposed to be a separate comment…stupid phone.
My bro has a ballast ball…thinking I might steal it tomorrow! 😉 thanks for the workout tips! And I’m so jealous of that Moose Munch!!!
I’m pretty sure we used one of these balls at the gym I now go to (would have used it in bootcamp). I remember feeling like it REALLY worked my arms and core (I think we shook it??). I also used a kettle ball for the first time last Saturday and holy cupcakes, that thing rocked! We did kettle ball swings combined with a squat. After two minutes, my entire body was feeling the burn. I LOVED that move! ps Merry Christmas, Gina!
Have you heard of thunder shirt? http://tok2.thundershirt.com. helps our pup who gets anxious especially during storms, fireworks, etc. Even during other stressful environments for her 🙂
Gina, have you ever tried the Tucson Tamale Company? I know they’re probably not as good as your nana’s but they’re what I give my own nana for Xmas every year! Wondering if you’ve tried them/heard about them.
Liv is such your mini-me! So beautiful!
I don’t think many gyms offer Ballast Ball classes yet (probably only major cities), but it definitely seems like an amazing workout…not to mention a fun way to shake things up a bit- no pun intended 😉
You should do a video!
We’re having our big family Christmas on my hubby’s side on Saturday. We’re pretty excited because for the past 2 years we’ve had this ongoing joke with his grandpa. He makes honey and always says not to eat jelly because jelly is his competition. Haha
So, the first time we did this, we used Winnie the Pooh. We bought a stuffed animal and a jar of jelly. Then I wrote with crayons in a very childlike way that Winnie the Pooh has discovered something he likes even more than honey…jelly. And that PawPaw should try it and get his bees to make it. Well, since then, we’ve found all the Pooh characters and left letters from them too.
He’s talked about it and is convinced that one of his long time buddies is playing this joke. He’s even played jokes back! Haha and every time we see them, they give us the stuff animals for our son. They have no clue it’s been us all this time. We’re revealing ourselves on Saturday in a fun way!
That workouts sounds amazing! I never heard of ballast ball before and probably until 2020 here, because Switzerland is always thousands years behind…I feel a bit like in the middle-age here, reading all the blogs with this exciting stuff 🙂 I think I said it before, but your daughter is just so supercute. We have our work holiday party tonight! So excited!
I’ve never even heard of a Ballast ball…I’ll have to keep my eye out!
I’ve never heard of that class before but it sounds like a good workout!
This weekend I’m looking forward to a potluck Christmas dinner with my friends… I need to think of something to bring though!
O I like ball slams! I need to try some of those other moves! I love working the core! We have such a busy weekend. Friday, holiday train display at the chidrens museum, sat my husbands family Christmas, Sunday my aunts house for Christmas, Mon. I work on christmas eve for a few hours 🙁 Then off to church for Christmas Eve service,. and Tues is Christmas, wow!
Your hair still looks so gorgeous! SO jealous.
I’ve never heard of the ball class but Zumba is one of my absolute favorites!
I love the haircut. Makes me want to get my bangs done again. That class sounds like fun. I love the stability balls but never tried a ballast ball before. Bet it makes for a great workout!
Great post! I love the zucchini fritters. 🙂
People got upset about talking about panties? That’s kinda ridicolous- some people are way too sensitive!
I have never even heard of a ballast ball before- but I can see it being a great workout!
I am also so excited for this weekend, Friday I have Christmas with my boyfriend’s sister and her family (she has 2 little girls and they’re old enough to get really excited for Santa. Santa always makes an early trip when we’re there so it’s a very exciting, and early, morning), Saturday we’re doing Christmas with my boyfriend’s family, and then Sunday we’re driving 10 hours to see my family for the week! Very excited for that!
People getting their panties in a twist about panties? psh. If underwear is that big of a deal, I hate to see the reaction people have to way more serious topics. You shouldn’t have to apologize either…you run a fitness-oriented blog where you express YOUR opinion and open up a forum on topics related to that. And honestly, I would be lying if I wasn’t thinking about the panty topic last week…because I was wondering if people just wore regular undies, went commando, or wore special ones.
This weekend I have a holiday party and then a night out with a friend who needs a momma’s night out…so I am looking forward to that. I also need to wrap Christmas gifts haha. Nothing like waiting until the last minute…
thank you <3
i haven't wrapped anything, either 😉
xoxo