Tag Archive | friday favorites

Friday Favorites – March 6, 2015

Well ya’ll, we made it to March. That means SPRING is inevitably just around the corner! However, we got slammed with a foot of snow yesterday, just to remind us that we can have hope, but we ain’t outta the woods yet. Pretty? Yes. Timely? Hardly. (Sorry anyone from the northeast US, I know I should just hush up now.)

Although, cold and snowy weather means plenty of time to find these pretties online to share with you guys. Here are some of my favorite and useful stops online this week:

Favorite Crafty Find:

These bright hydrangea blooms from A Piece of Rainbow caught my eye and made me smile. They are beautiful, but if you read the directions, I bet the process of making them would make quite a few kiddos happy as well. Bring on spring!

Favorite Food Find:

A little different path on the food find this week, but had to share these images from Emily Blincoe with you guys. She is a photographer that has a wide portfolio, but her neat food layouts sucked me and made me sigh. Just perfect. Wait til you see the French fries!

Favorite Fitness Find:

You guys know I swear by Beachbody programs. They are my go to workouts and I literally have a LIBRARY of DVDs collected in my “gym” (let’s be real, it’s a basement.) Well this week, Beachbody changed the game and it is nothing short of EPIC.

Beachbody On Demand is now available for a weekly fee of $2.99. THREE DOLLARS A WEEK. I spent more than that on a daily coffee. My mind is blown. Ok, so what does that even mean? Your club membership of $2.99 a week gives you streaming access to programs like P90X, P90X3, TurboFire, Brazil Butt Lift, INSANITY, and more. Did ya’ll see that? P90X?! Insanity?! These are the godfathers of Beachbody programs, selling at over $100 each for $2.99, AND you can access them ANYWHERE?? I’m dead.

And since this is just the beginning, the streaming access will also have taste tester workouts from Beachbody’s newest programs including 21 Day Fix Extreme, INSANITY Max 30, and PiYo. I’m telling you guys, if you ever thought about doing any of these programs, this is the time. If you don’t think your health is worth $2.99 a week, you better email me because we have some talking to do.

You can sign up for access here (click Join and make sure you pick Club membership) or if you have any questions just shoot me a message or ask below. If you can’t tell, I’m a little excited about this so I’m MORE than happy to chat with you about it!

Now excuse me while I stream every. workout. ever.

Favorite Lifestyle Find:

All this snow is giving me the heebie jeebies so I just had to get a spring break trip booked stat. Yes, 30 year old married people can take spring break trips, back up.

With the help of my friend Lindsay over at Travelfied, I nailed down Charleston, SC as the destination. We will be headed down in April and she gave me tons of tips on what to do, what’s nearby and what to eat. Check out Travelfied for lots of good travel tips from booking hotels to watching for deals!

This one is gonna be a road trip folks, so get ready for a fun recap when we get back! Here’s to not wearing a coat!

Wishing you a fantastic weekend full of things that make you smile!

Cheers!

Friday Favorites – February 20, 2015

Feb20

Another work week in the books! Hope you all had a good one, and managed to stay warm! I know Pennsylvania isn’t the only place in this situation, but um…it’s colder than Antarctica today. Wowzers, guys. Hang in there!

Here’s the goodies that caught my eye enough to hang on to them to share on Friday. Enjoy!

Favorite Crafty Find:

I kept this project open in my browser all week. I keep glancing at it and trying to figure out what I love the most about it. The amazing wrapping paper she used as a background? The soft but bright color palette? The milk glass birdies? THAT IT COST $12? Oh, let me quit while I’m ahead. Either way, swing by Remodelaholic and check out her DIY drawer shelves, they are totally worth Pinning and pretending you’ll make them someday….

Favorite Food Find:

As I mentioned last week, I took a quick trip to NYC this past weekend. I think you already know how it was. COLD. But we managed to have a good time anyway. Made some visits, saw some sights, sipped some suds and DEVOURED THESE BAGELS. I heard about Black Seed Bagels on an episode of Food Networks short lived “Best Ever.” (I know, how original, on the Food Network….) But seriously, Alex Guarnaschelli described these bagels in her typical “doesn’t leave the kitchen enough to realize she’s a nutcase” style and she had me drooling during the whole segment. We’re talking Montreal bagel and New York bagel had a crazy affair and this is the outcome. Boiled THEN baked in a wood fired oven, with the most divine ingredients for the best bagel sammie you ever put in your mouth. Ok, I’m done talking about it. If you are ever in NYC, make the trip and wait in line, you will not be sorry.

Favorite Fitness Find:

“You can’t be satisfied today with what worked yesterday.”

~ Autumn Calabrese

Now that my over indulgence of drinks and food in NYC is over, I’ve started the 21 Day Fix Extreme this week with my online fitness team. I love the original 21 Day Fix program because it teaches so much about nutrition, but I will be honest, some of the workouts were not as difficult as I would have liked. Back up to last night’s Pilates workout. I’m in love. Was I sweating in a pile on the floor? Nah. Did I work muscles I usually don’t? YES! This workout includes a resistance band and it might have changed my life (definitely my butt, but maybe my life too). I’m almost done my first week of this program and can definitely give you advice if you are thinking about trying it…just ask!

Favorite Lifestyle Find:

BREAKING NEWS (at least to me!): Submerge a cut avocado in water to keep from browning.

I can’t remember where I originally read this, but I saw online that if you want to keep your guacamole from browning, you should pour a bit of water on top to create a barrier to the air. This seemed brilliant to me. Yesterday, I had half an avocado on my sandwich and when I was done, I plopped that puppy in some water. I think the results speak for themselves. If I’m late to this train, just let me have my glory because I’M SO HAPPY. Now, the only problem is I can’t have avocado for two more days because I’m following the 21 Day Fix Countdown to Competition guide. Let’s see if this little fellow can last that long?

One last random tidbit, my Facebook page has finally caught up with the blog, so please join me over there at Create Your Joy on Facebook for daily goodies.

Have a safe and happy weekend! Be kind to those around you. ❤

Cheers!

Friday Favorites – February 13, 2015

Feb13

Oh, is it Friday already? Said no one, EVER. Finally, the best day of the week is here! My husband and I are headed to New York City for a little getaway this weekend & although the weather is going to be pretty much arctic, I’m still looking forward to going. We love the city and always eat too much, walk too much and get into as much as we can when we are there.

To all the lovers (& even the haters) out there…have a wonderful and happy Valentine’s day. Remember to celebrate your partner, your family, your friends and yourself every day. You can never have too much love ❤

Favorite Crafty Find:

Help me. Please. I keep finding new hobbies that I want (no, NEED) to be amazing at. There’s not enough time in the day or muscles in my fingers to keep up with my brain. But be serious, hand embroidery is MAGIC. I stumbled upon the Needle n Thread website this week and I’ve been back each.and.every.day. For real, I’m obsessed. This site is a treasure trove of information and tutorials. It is really well done and I can’t wait to devour it all. If I weren’t feverishly knitting a scarf out of blanket yarn (you heard it, don’t judge) right now, you better believe I’d be tackling some way over my head embroidery project RIGHT NOW. Which, based on this HISTORICAL piece here….I’ve got a lot of room to improve 😉

*Circa way too long ago*

Favorite Food Find:

Hummus will either make you fast friends or make the person sitting next to you on the train disgusted for the duration of your snack (not that I have any experience with that). Either way, it is delicious. I am in love with the Tribe brand of hummus and lo, they have just released another scratch batch with IT flavor of the moment…SRIRACHA! Spicy hummus on a cool crisp green pepper…just give me a minute. But really, all of the Tribe flavors are really great (Lemon Rosemary Focaccia, get it together). Their website has a store locator, find some near you!

Favorite Fitness Find:

“You’re not technically “healthy” unless you are also “happy.” Keep that in mind when considering dessert!”

~ Chef Robert Irvine

This is an interesting post regarding “cheat meals” and the impact of eating a little crazy sometimes on the body and the brain. I was recently reading a post of a super fit mama who mentioned she ‘went off track’ and indulged on some whole wheat crackers and blue cheese and her abs paid the price the next day. (Her abs are amazing.) As someone who loves food as much as they love fitness, my ‘off track’ days involve oh, just a TAD more than cheese and crackers, but it is so important to remember that pleasing your mind, your palette, your WHOLE self is just as important as being fit and healthy.

Favorite Lifestyle Find:

You may have seen this video already, as it appeared on almost every social media outlet I’m on during the week, but it is worth sharing just in case you didn’t see it. I eat hard boiled eggs every stinking (literally) week. They are a quick and easy way to snack protein, so I make a bunch at once. This hack for peeling eggs looked way too good to be true, but I tried it anyway. It worked and I was giddy. It’s the simple things, people. (Also, add just a smidge of baking soda to your boiling water and it takes this to another level. Look out your eggs don’t hop out of the shells on their own. Creepy.)

Have a safe and happy weekend! Take care of your people and your pets! ❤

Cheers!

Friday Favorites – February 6, 2015

Feb6

I love a good online roundup. Lots of things I’m interested in all wrapped up in one single click? Yes, please…count me in. Now that I’m posting here, I figured what better way to tie up all that “lifestyle research” (that sounds way better than mindless surfing) I’ve been doing all week than to post my own list. So, ***drum roll please*** I welcome you to the inaugural Friday Favorite list, where each week I’ll be sharing my favorite finds from all the places I follow, or topical information in my favorite areas: Crafts, Food, Fitness/Wellness and Lifestyle. Enjoy and TGIF!

Favorite Crafty Find:

I just love this post on sprucing up your stuff with spray paint. Admittedly, I have work to do on my spray paint skills, but some of these ideas are so clever for making your “affordable” things look fancy.

Favorite Food Find:

Was anyone else’s social media exploding with World Nutella day posts this week? Everything looked so delicious, it was almost NSFW. As usual though, I was looking to enjoy without also consuming an entire stick of butter or no less than 3 cups of sugar. So I turned to Skinnytaste, of course! (Most healthy eating folks are familiar with this site already, but if you aren’t…go. Now.) Loved her simple and just the right amount of treat Nutella Cookies.

Favorite Fitness Find:

Have you heard of the 21 Day Fix from Beachbody? It is so ridiculous. And now there is another one, 21 Day Fix extreme. The first one was SO ridiculous because, now stay with me, it combined daily workouts with spot on nutrition and DELIVERED RESULTS. It seemed like an embarrassingly simple concept but dang if it didn’t work. I was already eating clean, but it taught me so much about portions and the balance of nutrients that I needed throughout the day. I lost 4 lbs and my abs were the best I’d ever seen them. I loved my results so much so that I ordered the latest edition, 21 Day Fix Extreme on the day it was released and will be starting it on 2/16. I will definitely be doing a review and posting my results when done. If you want to join me, send me a message, we can keep in touch for 21 days and do it together!

~SUMMER BODIES ARE MADE IN THE WINTER~

Favorite Lifestyle Find:

My husband and I generally take a trip around his birthday, April 1. It gives us something to look forward to so we don’t go crazy during winter in Pennsylvania. This year we were thinking about going to Texas and then I saw this roundup of all things Texas. Ok, I’m sold. We will probably hit up Austin as our home base. Anyone have their own personal Austin favorites to share? (PS, sorry for TWO Buzzfeed lists, it was just that kind of week!)

Happy weekend everyone, thanks for stopping by!

Cheers!