Healthy Chicks

[mi familia]

Hola chicas! Pardon my Español, but I just returned from my 8-day excursion to Punta Cana and have been speaking in Spanish the past week. I’ve also been soaking up the sun, “un-plugging” (for the most part), exercising, wining and dining, sipping on fresh fruit juice, and for the most part, simply pausing to relax (something that I nearly forgot how to do).

While I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t just a little sad being back to reality, I can’t complain about Boston’s 69-degree weather. And though I’m not enjoying my itchy sun rash on my chest, I am itching to get back to business on the health coaching front (hint: I’m in the midst of planning my first wellness workshop for April) Oh right, and then there’s That Boy I haven’t seen in over a week too…

So while my vacation to paradise is now officially over, here are some little lessons I picked up while in the Domincan that’ll hopefully stay with me as I return to my busy, go-go-go, anxious-at-times city girl self.

1. A little movement goes a long way: I am proud to say that first thing every … Read More!

Good morning ladies! As you’re reading this post, I am most likely laying on the beach, sipping a margarita on the rocks while catching up on my magazine reading. Yup, I am on vacation for the week to Punta Cana with my family, and won’t return to Boston until Sunday the 11th.

While many people may cringe at the thought of vacationing with the family, I’ve never been so excited to get away. You see, my family is quite the hoot and I’m always my happiest, most comfortable self when I’m with them (well, maybe not all the time but you get what I mean). My dad is better friends with my guy friends than I am, my mom is the little one we all poke fun at, and my sister is the reasonable, smart adventurous one. All in all, we make quite the clan.

I look forward to a week filled with good laughs, good wine, and good tanning. But most of all, I’m excited about unwinding and “unplugging” for the week. Yes, that means leaving my Mac and cellphone behind and just being. While I very well could spend the week catching up on work, sending and replying … Read More!

{as you can see, I couldn’t resist drinking some before the picture}

In the Mix:

• 4 small to medium carrots, organic if possible
• 1 small apple, organic (I used Granny Smith because that’s what I had on hand, but any juicy apple works)
• handful of mixed greens (I used a blend of arugula, spinach, and romaine)
• one inch cut of fresh ginger
• juice of 1/2 small lemon

Use your juicer to blend the carrots, apple, greens and ginger. Add lemon juice at the end for an extra zing!

My Top Four Benefits of This Juice: Anti-aging from the beta-carotene in carrots (which works as a powerful antioxidant), skin-clearing (from vitamin A and liver detoxification properties of carrots), Cholesterol Control (the pectin in apples can lower LDL, your “bad cholesterol”), de-bloating (from the ginger and lemon, especially in the a.m)… Read More!

We all know exercise is beneficial not only for our body (who doesn’t love a little extra glute-toning), but for our mental health as well. Many women track hours at the gym, have a strict running routine, or even take several group fitness classes (such as core fusion) in one day. But what’s a girl to do when she’s simply not feeling it? Do we really need to be so strict on ourselves?

Let’s face it, we are only human. While many of us strive to be superwoman at times, even the fitness fanatics among us have their “off” days. And guess what? That’s totally OK and get this…normal.

I know what it’s like to feel guilt for skipping a workout. Heck, I even skipped my 6:15 a.m. Core Fusion Cardio class this morning because the gloomy weather was a huge turnoff, and well, my need for a good night’s sleep was much more important to me. I had a busy week, I was tired and I needed some good old-fashioned beauty rest. Old me would have beat myself up over this for days, but new me simply let’s it go. Now I don’t skip my workouts every … Read More!

If food really is the way to a man’s heart, I knew I had better be making my man the meal of all meal’s this past weekend. The Boy recently had a loss in his family, and rather than buying him an Edible Arrangement or a prewritten Hallmark card, I decided to get my little butt in the kitchen. I know just how much fresh garlic & seasonings, red wine and a home-cooked meal made with TLC  can really mean (far more than any cliche gift in my book), and well that’s what I wanted to do.

So I thought, and I thought and I thought and I thought.

What would be extra special? What would really show how much I care?

And alas, the idea was born. It started out with a CD my sister had given me a while back filled with authentic Italian dinner music. Italian theme it was!

And then came the menu that I designed, printed out and placed aside the table settings with the card I had written him. Ristorante Di Amore or shall I say, “Restaurant of Love.” Here’s a mini preview below:

Primi (First Course): Field green salad with assorted vegetables; … Read More!

Happy Friday loves! Hope your weekend is off to a good start so far. Today I took myself on an amazing date to Whole Foods, where I stayed for a good portion of the afternoon. I had a lot of work to get done today, and most of it I could do without the internet, so I decided to unplug from my Mac for a solid 4+ hours. However, I did bring an old-fashioned notebook and my IIN iPod in order to catch up on my latest lectures for nutrition school.

I loved everything I learned about today, from the pros, cons, and logistics of soy products to lessons of healthy eating from cultures years ago, like eating REAL, RAW butter and cheese and consuming all natural meat and fish products (fat and all) for nutrient optimization.

It definitely helped that I was listening to my lectures while eating a delicious, wholesome meal from the Whole Foods’ salad bar. My plate included lentils, spicy chickpeas, raw pumpkin seeds, salmon salad, roasted mushrooms, quinoa and feta among some other samplers. I absolutely love the different variations you can make at Whole Foods, and if I could I would go there … Read More!

Last night, I attended my very first Boston Bloggers Meet + Greet, which took place at the ever so chic Sonsie on Newbury. I have been to other local blogger events in the past, but never one hosted by Boston Bloggers, so I was excited to try something new. On that note, I had also never been to Sonsie before but have always heard great things about this little hot spot.

I must say, the event was unlike any blogger event I’d ever gone to before. First and foremost, it was PACKED, which while intimidating at first glance, was a good way to push myself out of my comfort zone.  In addition, there were more than 60 bloggers there, all with different backgrounds and passions which was a breath of fresh air compared to some events I’d been to in the past with ALL healthy living bloggers, or ALL fashion bloggers.

The best part was that one of my best friends, who’s also a blogger and lives in the North End, Megan (Balanced in Boston) came with her boyfriend Ross (Ross Donovan Photography) for their very first blogger event! I was so happy to see … Read More!

Remember when I told you guys I made a vision board with The Boy last month? Well, I decided to revamp it completely! You see, my first vision board was on a scrap piece of white-lined paper and it didn’t give me enough room to really express every little thing I want in life. Plus, with all the focus lately on my new health counseling business Zesty Living, I’ve been thinking a lot about goals and what I want for myself.

That’s when the vision board construction went down. For the past few days, I’ve been tearing witty words, motivating pictures, and inspirational phrases out of magazines, as well as surfing the web for ideas.

Voilà! This is the result:

I decided to break it down into sections: career, relationship, and personal well-being.

Career/Financial:

• Create and sell some sort of wellness product, be it inspirational greeting cards, all-natural body scrubs or innovative spice blends!
• Be financially stable, with a comfortable salary that I can support myself with & not have to cringe every time I “treat” myself to something nice
• Have a successful, positive, buzzing health counseling business a la Zesty Living with 1-on-1 coaching, group workshops, and (HOPERFULLY)