Oh yeah…it’s Freedom Friday!!!

Another chilly start to a Bay Area morning.  Brrrr.  38° at 8:10am?  Bleah!

So a Janathon update is in order!  If you don’t know what Janathon is, click on that handy hyperlink up there and check it out.  It’s a super fun way to keep you moving and help with the accountability part (yeah the sucky part).    What you do is you blog (or FB post or Tweet) within 24 hours of completing your daily exercise.  So like I said yesterday I kinda bombed on the 24 hour update on January 1st…but then caught right back up with yesterday’s update.  So I’m here again to be accountable for not sucking.  😀

Last night I headed to XploreYoga for my normal 5-6pm Muscle & Flow class…unfortunately my instructor was out sick so I did another 5-6pm Vinyasa Flex with Elise.  I love the flex class but was hoping for some core and super sweating.  So Elise nicely added in some power yoga sequences to her normal flow.  I’m getting much more confident in my Wheel poses – not as worried I’m going to snap my neck because of my weak arms.  So bonus for me.  😀

Then this morning I dragged myself out of my warm bed…for which I shall thank my overheating body.  I don’t know what’s the deal but I get so hot when I sleep so it’s either on with the covers or off with the covers.  Drives HunBun absolutely nuts.  So I was too hot to stay in bed – which means I got dressed in my warm work out clothes to go freeze in the garage.  At least freeze until I got all warmed up from jumping around.  I did my 30 minute circuit (12 cycles of 1 min on and 10 sec rest for 2 circuits.  I did a bunch of old school calisthenics for the first circuit and focused on arms and squats (lift that butt up!) in the second circuit.  I held my forearm plank for the very last minute – WHOO WHEE!  That was a nice finish!

So Janathon report – Complete!

Thursday, January 3: 1 hour Vinyasa Flex class with Elise

Friday, January 4: 30 minute circuit in the garage!

For breakfast I ate some gluten free overnight oats I made up yesterday.  Super simple: 1/4 cup Oikos greek yogurt, 1/4 cup GF steel cut oats, chopped up apple, chopped up pecans and some pumpkin pie spice.  Stir it up and put in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.  I put it in canning jars with the screw lid to make it easy.   I prefer the GF steel cut oats – gives it more chew.

So that’s it for my Friday morning.  I must say I’m off to a great start!

See ya later!

Cathy

 

Review: NatureBox = Tasty!

NatureBox revealed

So a bit ago I got an email from Molly at NatureBox asking if I’d like to try out their mail order snack boxes.  To which I said “really?  me?  of course? but do you have some gluten free items for HunBun”.  Yes, it was like that – all in one sentence.  Although they didn’t have GF certified items, they did send a variety that did not include GF ingredients but were made in facilities that processed wheat, nuts, etc….   Since HunBun and I got together I have spent more time reading labels on food than at any other point in my life….even when I’m buying “normal” food I’m still reading those labels.  Good habits are hard to break! 😉

Back to the box (hey, my yellow polish matched the packing material – HA!)…  So inside the box was 5 packaged snacking delights and a super cute explainer card.

What’s in the box?

PIstachio Power Clusters

Dried Pears

Lemon Pucker Pistachios

Wild Blueberry Flax Granola

Masa Chips

I LOVED the masa chips!  I love salty & crunchy snacks and these were fantastic.  The little bags are super convenient to travel with too.  I took the masa chips with me on a 2 day business trip and finished the bag up while waiting at the Burbank airport for my flight back to Oakland.  It was so nice not to spend $12 for a darn snack at the aiport – RIDICULOUS!

10yo is eating up the Lemon Pucker Pistachios.  That Pucker is no joke…the lemon flavor is right up in your face and brings a sense of springtime to the pistachio.  It’s a really great flavor combination.  Pistachios are nature’s way of portion control…because you get so tired of opening up those shells that you only take a handful.  Thanks Nature!

Dried fruit is always a winner and these dried pears were no different.  They were nice a chewy and just a tiny bit sweet.  We ate them straight out of the bag, but you could totally use them to top off a nice mixed green salad or on some steaming hot oatmeal.

If you want to try out a NatureBox of your own, lovely Molly and the folks there are offering you sweet readers a promo code that will get you 25% off  your first month’s subscription.  The 25% discount is if you do a month-to-month box order…but if you do a 6 month subscription you’ll get your first month FREE and if you do a 12 month subscription you’ll get three months FREE!

The boxes are seasonal and are a great way to try some new snacks that you may not find at your local grocery or specialty market.  The bags are substantial and offer a lot of snacking opportunity. 🙂  As a bonus, on the back of the snack card is a recipe that uses one of the ingredients.  My card had a recipe for Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup that used the masa crisps as a garnish.

Thanks Molly with NatureBox!

See ya later

Cathy

 

This is a really great idea for people