Somewhere new

where will you go? ........

Easter Love

Yesterday was Easter, and I must say, was one of the best Easter's I can remember! We went away for the weekend to spend some time with the family and it was A-MAZING to get away and just spend some good 'ol quality time with the fam! Because this year has been a bit trying for us health-wise,  we made sure to try and make it as healthy as possible while still making it fun and yummy!

To get our exercise in, we went to a great Easter Egg Hunt with the kids and did a lot of running around! For the most part the kids at the egg hunt were really well behaved and looked like this:

 

the little ones are strollin' along...

while there were a number of older kids who decided to take charge, and it looked a little more like this: 

some of these kids mean serious business! 

Another part of our Easter festivities was, of course, food!!! We tried to eat as healthy as possible, but we also wanted the kids to  be able to enjoy some candy from the Easter Bunny! While I'm sure the kids would have looooooved for their Easter baskets to be filled with this stuff:

yikes! that's a lot of candy...

....we made sure to balance them out a bit like this: 

candy, stickers and toys! 

Dinner of course was amazing. We had so much food-- we decided to do it potluck(ish) style and have everyone bring or come and make a different dish. The fiance and I looooove Green Bean casserole, so we found a healthy recipe version of the not-s-healthy dish and it came out awesome! Everyone was raving about it (to try it out for yourself, go here!)! 

How was your Easter weekend? Did you have any fun stories or activities with the family?!?

Wedding Workouts

As I was flipping through channels this weekend I ran across an episode of Bridezillas -- you know the show I'm talking about -- the one where they show the Bride being a total B**** to all of her closest family and friends?! Don't get me wrong, I'm sure as the time gets closer to my own big day and the stresses start adding up that I will have my own freakout moments, but I REFUSE to turn into anything that resembles the women on this show!

"bridesmaid bootcamp!"

Anyways, back to my original intent... so I started to watch the show and was appalled at the "bootcamp" that this bride was putting her bridesmaids through in order to "look good" for the wedding day! Now, I am lucky that all of my bridesmaids are all classy ladies that take are of themselves and their appearances regularly -- but I couldn't imagine myself actually making them do bootcamp-type workouts so they look a certain way for pictures!

Buuuut, this got me thinking about what I was doing for my own workouts for THE BIG DAY. I have been doing my normal workouts such as yoga, biking, skiing, and some running thrown in here and there, but I haven't been focusing much on actually toning, which is an oversight on my part! Now, I still want to look like me at our wedding, but I want to look like a toned-me if you get what I'm saying. So I scoured the internet and found what I think is a helpful workout plan all based around the type of dress you are wearing. Now, I haven't gone dress shopping yet, but I do have an idea of what dresses I will most likely gravitate towards, and these all call for work on my arms, shoulders, core, back, and chest...

Shoulders:

military press

lateral raises

Triceps:

triceps kickback

triceps extension

Core:

plank

"Superman"

These are just a few examples.... anybody else have any great ideas for me on how to get toned for the big day?!

Yoga Anywhere

First of all, let me apologize for the lack of posts the last 2 weeks. I was feeling a bit under the weather and had other projects that I was trying to catch up on. Because of this, my blog -- and all of you -- was a bit neglected. For this, I am sorry, and promise to try harder to get back in your good graces :)

 With that said, when I was cuddled up under one of my favorite warm fleecy blankets, enjoying a hot cup of tea in the hopes of kicking whatever illness I had come down with, I was reading through some different online magazines and sites that offer up some great workout advice, I came across a piece from Shape magazine's website that centered around inspiration for people to get out of the yoga studio and try to do yoga anywhere and everywhere! They offered up some great photos of people doing just this, and I thought it was a really fun idea.

It got me thinking about my own yoga practice and how "in-adventurous" I have been with it -- why do I feel like I have want to go to a studio over bringing my practice with me wherever I go? Just a couple of weeks ago I wrote about how I adore doing yoga at home or in a studio, but had heard about an event known as Rave Yoga that I thought sounded so amazing... and yet, I haven't stepped out of my box to try anything new. I know what you're thinking... Carolyn, ease up, you have been sick since you wrote that last post. But still... I want to try and push myself to be more adventurous in my practice and start to get creative with it.

Here are a few pictures of inspiration to get outside of your "yoga comfort zone" and start to spice up your practice a bit.

sun salutation on the beach 

yoga in the mountains

rooftop yoga

yoga in the woods

yoga in the city 

Yoga is supposed to be about unifying yourself with the world, your spirit, and all of our beautiful surroundings, yet I have let myself be boxed in. Not anymore! My mission is to step outside of my own comfort zone and pishm myself to be more creative, daring, and adventurous in my practice.

What about you? Have you been creative and daring in y our own practice? Any tips or pictures you would like to share? I would love to hear from you! Have a blessed day my friends :)

Rave Yoga

This past weekend I went to a great yoga class at one of the local studios, and I have to say I was really impressed with the people who were there. I love doing yoga at home because I can just do it on my own schedule when it is most convenient, and I don't have to get all bundled up to go outside in the frigid cold, just to take most of it off as soon as I get to the studio! However, there is something even more special about taking a class at an actual studio. It must be a mix of the environment, the people who are there that are all coming together for the same purpose, and just the amazing power that comes from  being a part of something that is greater than myself. I just love it, and it is so worth dragging my butt outside through the snowy weather to be able to feel something so powerful, both collectively asa group, but also on my own as well. I love it!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=951800173367&set=t.626837123&type=3&theater

However, as much as I love my studio classes, I ran across a great event that happened in Rochester back in January that I wished I had known about! There was a Winter Wonderland Rave Yoga workshop held that looked amazing!! I couldn't even imagine how awesome it must have been to come together with so many awesome yogis at such a large workshop, while also getting to practice in the dark with glow sticks, awesome music, and so many people having a good time. I will have to keep my eyes and ears open to see when something like this comes around again!


Have any of you ever been to anything like a Rave Yoga workshop?!?

Wedding Theme Ideas!!!

So we are still enjoying the "engagement honeymoon period" we are currently still in, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't starting to think about the kind of wedding I might wjavascript:;ant to have. I was never the kind of girl who had my dream-wedding picked out since I was 5 -- don't get me wrong, I have had lots of ideas bounce around in my head -- but I have never had something set in my mind that was ABSOLUTELY what I had to have. Besides, doesn't my fiance have any say into what kind of wedding we should have? I know a lot of guys aren't interested in a lot of the details, but I feel pretty lucky that my guy has expressed interest in the whole planning process. I don't care if it makes some decisions harder since there will be 2 of us deciding -- I like that he cares!! Anyways, I have been scouring Pinterest -- no, I haven't gotten my own account yet-- I still like to bug my friend and use hers :) -- and some other wedding websites to get some ideas on possible themes. Here are a few ideas I have liked so far....

 1. BEACH

love these colors!!

beautiful

gorgeous setting

groom's attire

neat idea!

bridesmaid dresses?

               
















2. RUSTIC

table setting

table setting 2

outdoor

ceremony

3. FALL

season

colors!!

centerpieces?

so pretty

4. MASQUERADE

so much fun!

so colorful         

                  

Obviously there are some major differences among these, but I find myself drawn to all of them for different reasons. Of couse, I still need to ask the fiance what he even thinks of each of them, but hey, it's a start! 

What are some of your favorite wedding themes? Any suggestions on wedding websites to use for inspiration?! 

Skiing!

This past weekend we decided to get ourselves outside and enjoy the snowy weather. Yes, I did just say the words "enjoy" and "snowy" in the same sentence..... and the world isn't ending! Who knew?!

I have been doing really well with my weekly routines of yoga and cycling. I throw some running into the mix now and then, but since I am not a big fan of running .... I'm sorry, no matter how hard I try I just. cannot. get excited about running. Although I've been doing well with my routines, I felt the onset of boredom coming on so I knew I had to do something a little different this weekend to change it up a bit! Boy, am I glad I did! The fiance and I got a group of friends together and drove to Lake Placid to hit up Whiteface Mountain. It was amazing! I haven't really gone skiing much this winter season, and definitely NOT on a hill as big as Whiteface. It took a little bit to get myself to feel comfortable with riding such a gigantic hill, but once we went down a few times it felt liken nothing awesome! 

What was even better was the workout we got from going all weekend! We did 2 days (technically 1 1/2 since we had to drive home late last night) and it was such a great workout! I didn't even feel like I Was exercising, which is always the best kind! Plus, it was great to do a little getaway for the weekend with some of our friends -- we haven't really done much of that in a while since the engagement so it was definitely an awesome all-around trip!

What are some of your favorite places to ski or snowboard?!?