MOVE MOVE MOVE - I'm Looking for ACTION!!

It's JULY and you need to take control of your fitness activity (or at least add it to your daily activities)!

Whether you can get moving here at lunch time or when you get home from work - let's try and fit this pyramid in TODAY and then every-other-day!

YOU CAN DO IT!

PICK-ME-UP Pyramid (from Tone It Up)
*If you have a set of stairs, walk up & down twice then GO!

10 jumping jacks

20 lunges

30 tummy tucks

40 second plank on your forearms

30 squats

20 bicycle crunches

10 push-ups

(x2)

I originally found these ladies on Facebook. They always have some fun posts with recipes or workouts!

I know you can do this pyramid! SO enjoy it!
If you are already feeling physically fit - put this in at the beginning of a run or planned workout and again at the end! MOVE Your FULL BODY!

When you get this mastered - increase each set by 10!

NEW Blog

This will continue to be my blog for all I said it would be... however, we just added our blog to be about us and our adventures in this new married life!

http://philipandcarla.blogspot.com

The Taste of Summer - Easy Creations!

There are so many things to love about Summer!
The beach, lake or pool time. The long days. The amount of fresh produce that you crave (hopefully that is not just me).
So, one of my favorite things about this season is the cooking! There is so much to make while the produce is great and the grill is hot!

While here in Chicago, we do not have a grill, Philip and I have enjoyed so many different types of dishes to satisfy our Summer palate. When we were on our honeymoon in Kaua'i we ordered a dish that I knew I would need to replicate when returning to the mainland.

Philip is not a guy who would choose fish if offered chicken or steak - however, this dish has become a favorite of his and it is such a simple, healthy and fun summer dinner!

* If buying fresh fish - always talk to the fish butcher about what you like and do not like. If you like a buttery fish or want an easy one to grill, they will give you great advice, even regarding what to purchase from the frozen packaged section!

____________________________________________

Wahoo Fillet

FISH QUESADILLAS for 2
INGREDIENTS
- 12-24 oz White Fish (Wahoo/Ono, Halibut, Flounder, Tilipia)
- 2 Large Flour Tortilla (Spinach or Whole Wheat)
- 1/2 Avocado (sliced moderately thin)
- Cheddar cheese (shredded) - or a mixed cheese pkg
- 1 Small Lime (optional - and cut into wedges)
- Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper


THEN HERE YOU GO....
- Preheat oven or grill to cook fish of choice. I like to rub a small amount of olive oil on the fish then sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides - I like to squeeze one wedge of lime over the fish. Completely cook fish till meat can easily be pulled apart. Set aside.

Fish Quesadillas

- On a frying pan (large enough to fit entire tortilla) turn to medium heat and put one drop of olive oil in center. Place tortilla in the center as the pan is warming up and rub the tortilla on the olive oil, spreading it on the pan as well - leaving it face open. // If grilling - brush a light layer of olive oil to one side of the tortilla and place open on grill over low heat.
- Sprinkle shredded cheese (not so heavy) filling up half of the open tortilla.
- Pull cooked fish apart so you have pieces to place on top of cheese. Evenly spread fish on the cheese.
- Take sliced avocado, place on fish and cheese, evenly spread to your desire.
- Sprinkle shredded cheese then fold the empty tortilla side over. Using a turner, turn your now quesadilla over to melt cheese you just put on top.
- Wait till cheese is melted and tortilla starts to get a bit crispy, ~5 min (depending on heat source). Remove from heat, let cool for a few minutes then slice into 3-4 sections.
* Optional - drizzle a line or two of ranch of choice on top of quesadillas and have sliced limes and salsa standing by for extra flavor.

____________________________________________

GOOD SIDES

• Spruce up your Salads with some fruit and mix green leaf lettuce with spinach leaves!
• A favorite: Lettuce, Spinach, Carrots, Shredded Italian Cheese and Peaches with a BBQ Ranch dressing (1/3 BBQ sauce + 2/3 Ranch + a pinch of grilling seasoning)
• Take the time to make a fruit salad to keep in a large container or bowl:
• 1/2 Watermelon, 1 Mango, 1 Pineapple, 1 lb. Strawberries, ~1 lb. Blueberries, 2-3 Kiwi, 2 Peaches (All in tiny pieces, mix and enjoy all day, at any time, with any meal!)
• Fruit is such a great way to also stay hydrated during these hot summer months!
• DESSERT!! for 2
• Low fat berry ice cream or frozen yogurt, chocolate pudding, oreos, fresh berries.
• In a small glass/wine glass: 1 scoop of ice cream, 1/2 pack of pudding snack pack (low fat), 1 oreo crumbled then berries of your choice - be active & treat yourself! 

____________________________________________

Hope you enjoy these little ideas for your meals at home!

Bridal Portraits by The Mondays Photography

If you want your Wedding day captured, it is so important to find a photographer who has a style you love and a personality you can get-along with.

By the end of your "Special Day," you will have your photos to look back at and share with family and friends for years to come. My first piece of advice for anyone planning a wedding is to find photographers who have a style you love but then to work with one that has a personality you know you will enjoy on wedding day. The only other advice I can share would be to have your Engagement and Bridal pictures/portraits done by the same photographer(s) - spend that extra money, you will have results beyond what you pay for.

Philip and I met Allie and Levi Monday through our church, NewSpring. They are an awesome couple and great photographers who work so well together on a photo shoot. When we choose The Mondays Photography for our Wedding we knew we wanted our Engagement and my Bridal photos from them as well.

Engagements are just fun! At least, that is what they should be! It is a great way to capture a couple at this special time in their life where they soak up the days of fiance' love, looking forward to the spouse title they will have within the months to come. However, on the technical side of things, Engagement photos allow you to fully absorb the time in front of a camera with your loved one and understand the style your Photographer will use when working with you and your wedding. We had an amazing time and results during our Engagement shoot and could play off of Allie and Levi the entire time!

Bridal portraits are whatever you want them to be. Traditional, classic, organic, glamorous, artistic and/or fun. It is a time to show off the bride, her gown and style for the wedding. However, on the technical side again, it is the perfect opportunity to figure out if the "look" you want/like for your wedding day is going to be exactly what you think on camera! I learned so much about myself in the gown from the portraits and what I did and did not want to change for the wedding day.

I had the opportunity to do portraits in two different ways. My first shoot at The Cliffs on Lake Keowee (Keowee Vineyards) was total Bridal with my hair in "wedding day style" and my dressed fully assembled as if it were June 4th. My second shoot was much more organic on a dock along Lake Hartwell with my hair down, no veil and with my dress in its most simple of form, all white, no accessories.

Allie and Levi Monday are absolutely wonderful to work with. It was such a blessing to have them capture all of our Wedding fun!

Enjoy The Mondays Photography bridal portraits

 

 

My Official Bridal Portrait for Wedding Day!

My dress from Mary's Bridal in Annapolis was a Mary Couture - she made the dress for me based on another one of her personal designs. While the dress is all lace, there are lace appliques from the upper chest to the bottom of the skirt. We took those same appliques to line my veil for more of a Spanish mantilla look (embracing my Puertorican roots). The navy flower and ribbon was for a splash of modern fun with our coastal/country club wedding. It was attached by a simple hook. A comb was added to the back of the flower in case I wanted to add it to my hair during the reception.

My jewelry included my engagement ring, my Clemson class ring and a simple pair of earrings, tear-drop pearls from a gold stud.

Here's a sneak peak at our wedding photographs and The Mondays blog!

Photographers: The Mondays Photography

Bouquet: by Carla, silk hydrangeas, roses and rope combination

Locations: The Cliffs at Keowee Vineyards & Lake Hartwell

Dress & Veil: Mary’s Bridal, Annapolis

Shoes: RSVP

Hair: Rachel Fastenau, Studio 81 Anderson SC

Makeup: Covergirl

Inspiration Board

Immediately after Philip and I were engaged people began to ask me how our wedding would be? what style? what colors? where? etc... To be completely honest, I repeatedly answered "I'm not sure yet, we have time to figure that out..." - In other words, I had not exactly been that girl  who planned out "my wedding day," (went to college from my MRS) or knew how everything was to run with me in the white dress.

While I am familiar with events and I absolutely love weddings and things that require a lot of design/set-up, I did not have our wedding planned before the engagement, nor within the months following.

This process is something to soak in when it is your own and you choose to have a full wedding day. I knew I did not want to hire a "wedding planner." I'm sorry, while I fully support and respect (dream about) that career, I have too much pride in my own personal Do-It-Yourself tactics, design and personality. (Plus, if you pick a venue that has an awesome coordinator, you have a great deal of help!) Philip and I both have strong enough personalities and opinions so we knew that we wanted to make our special day reflect us.

From style to colors, we knew we wanted to find some way to mash my mid-Atlantic coastal roots with his rustic Southern boy charm. Our love of the water, being comfortable, classic style and dining preferences made it a bit difficult to settle on a venue (which honestly, controls every other thing you do and plan).

During the year and half I had the opportunity to watch wedding blogs and come up with plenty of ideas for the day. I constantly check Style Me Pretty and Wedding Chicks for any fun ideas or great designs. One thing that Style Me Pretty taught me was to make an inspiration board. From years of athletics, Inspiration Boards were used to set goals and succeed in them. While I had plenty of boards for the wedding, different ones for different parts of the wedding, it really kept me focused on the design quality of the entire day.
Coming soon, I cannot wait to post all the stationary we designed & used!
This is our Wedding in an Inspiration Board...

Vendors

Photographer: The Mondays Photography

Videographer: Remedy Films

Florist: Sara York Grimshaw Design

Venue: The Daniel Island Club

DJ: Austin Booth

Invitations: Cards & Pockets

Dress: Mary’s Bridal, Annapolis

Bridesmaids: Alfred Sung, Bella Bridesmaid

Hair: Rachel Fastenau

Makeup: Jennifer Cox

Here We Go

I cannot believe how much time can pass when you focus on other things. I stepped into the shoes of a "wedding planner" & bride and have finally settled into the seat I have left neglected for so many months.

Getting on a blog requires a discipline that I had yet to gain endurance for... nonetheless, as Philip and I start our life together here in IL and all of the steps to follow, I am going to gain the endurance to write and post about our life, adventures and whatever else comes up that seems good enough to post.

We are so blessed and excited for these new steps ahead! I'm so happy you are joining us!

Pour Me A Drink For Some Abs!

Would it not be wonderful if all you had to do to get in shape, to have a 6 or possibly 8 pack, was take a "magic" pill or drink an odd color liquid? 

NO, not wonderful! And yet, advertisements for this magic still exist in health magazines and on the TV. I am honestly amazed that those companies have enough money to produce those marketing ventures... but then again, people continue to buy despite a lack of results (because let's be honest, if an affordable pill could be taken once a day to give you a washboard stomach and some tone arms - then everyone taking it would look amazing, pass it on to a friend and the multiplication process would be outstanding, not to mention everyone in the country would be mistaken for a Nike or Underarmour model)!


Well I abandoned my writers block, finally! - all because of two things: 1. My new month of Runner's World arrived yesterday and 2. People saying I'm skinny, or wasting away to nothing, or (my personal favorite) you're so lucky you have that body, "it's sooo easy for you"!


I honestly do wish that I could make a part-time profession for myself by being a "Life Coach." I have a handful of people who I need to be finishing workout schedules for or nutritional packets... my apologies for my extreme tardiness. But here is the thing, I stay in the shape I am partly because of my genetics but a lot of it comes from what I consume, when I consume and what I choose to do for activities. So, I am sharing my liquid fitness tips - because I'm not wasting away to nothing and "sooo easy" to have this body just means I work at it. 


FOR ALL OF THOSE SEARCHING FOR THOSE LINES ABOVE THE HIPS AND BELOW THE CHEST This following information is for you to drink!


1. Do NOT DRINK your calories. This needs to be your mantra if you are trying to see your abs! However, when I say that I am not excluding protein shakes or soups - those are great! What I am hoping you will avoid is the 8 oz. coffee with creamer & sugar, the caffeine free soda, juice of any kind, mix drinks and beer. Your body wants water, it needs water and while you may not like the taste of it... your tongue will get over it. 


2. I LIKE it HOT. Almost after every meal I have a warm cup of tea. In the morning with breakfast I will drink hot black coffee, then about an hour or two later I will consume a green tea (when I have a sweet tooth I add honey or agave)... finally, later in the day I will turn towards a caffeine free or specifically a white tea. Even a cup of warm water with fresh lemon juice has made it onto my evening drink menu. If there is any specific scientific reason for this consumption, I do not know it well enough to properly explain it, however I do know/believe it plays a part in keeping me fit.


3. CHOCOLATE RECOVERY. If you are very active and do have great workouts at the gym or runs that break you down, recover with a glass of chocolate milk (I drink chocolate slimfast - I cannot drink milk but can somehow consume this). All water does is semi-replace your sweat. Chocolate milk has DOUBLE the carbs and protein compared to most sports drinks or plain milk. The water part of C.M. replaces your fluids lost in sweating, it adds a nutritional jackpot of calcium, a bit of sodium and sugar - which is exactly what you need for recovery and energy after a good workout. Notice that at no point did I say Chocolate Milkshake. All in all, if you are helping your muscles recover from workouts then you are not "too sore" to do something the next day! And so the fitness cycle begins!


*4. MARGARITA BARTENDER PLEASE. Drinking is NOT going to maintain abs. But let's enjoy the social life when you spend the first part of your day dying with P90X! While the drinks may not be as "sweet" as the original recipes, you can make alterations to most popular "chick" drinks and cut the calories by 200+. My example - The Skinny Margarita: 
Add your ice to the glass, ~2 oz. of white tequila, juice from 4 lime wedges and a splash or Grand Marnier
Or
Margarita Glass of Ice, ~2 oz. of white tequila, juice from 4 lime wedges and one lemon wedge, a small packet of splenda or a few drops of agave syrup
A margarita at a girlfriends house or the bar could easily be up to 300 calories and almost 30 carbs per drink (depending on the mix they use!)! The recipes above from me may max out at 100 calories and carbs are drastically cut! Again, DO not drink your Calories!

Whether one of these points can become a habit for you, or all of them, remember that things take time and if you are looking for your fitness - do not give up, stay confident and change the little things first!