top row: coffee sweatshirt // pink heather leggings // camo leggings // purple moto leggings // middle row: workout tank // zip-up sweatshirt // Yeti water bottle // Fitbit Smartwatch // Louis Vuitton Fitbit band // bottom row: Adidas sneakers // gym bag // ballet sweater

Good morning, friends! I felt like the last couple of weeks we were diving deep into some heavy topics, and I wanted to keep things lighter today and take about some of my favorite workout gear that I love and use every day. (On the subject of heavy topics: I certainly never intend to scare anyone or resort to “scare tactics” – I’m simply sharing what I’ve learned from the research I’ve done, but I really encourage you all to do your own research and form your own opinions on the subjects we discuss on Monday Motivation days.)

For the past year or so, I’ve been really in love with Alo Yoga workout wear. Despite the name, Alo Yoga isn’t just for yoga – I wear their clothes to my barre classes and on runs, and even just for running errands in (because they also happen to be super cute!). They’re some of the most high-quality workout wear that I own – the pants are thick but breathable and their workout tanks are my absolute favorite. I really, really love the Goddess leggings for my barre classes – I own them in five or six colors and they come down over your heels, which makes me feel like a ballerina. 🙂 Another brand I love is Onzie – I ordered this low-back ballet sweater for the fall and I can’t wait for it to come in!

Other products that I’ve been using regularly include this Yeti water bottle – the BEST water bottle I’ve ever owned. If I put ice in here, it keeps my water cold for hours and hours – which is really nice when it’s hot outside! I once filled it up in the morning and the water was still cold at dinnertime. The design is also slim enough to fit in the water bottle holder on my bike and the cup holder in your car.

My parents got me a new Fitbit for my birthday this year (I have the all-black one) and I love using it to track my steps every day and also see how hard I’m working out. You can set it at the beginning of a workout and it will track your heart rate and calories burned. Whenever I’m trying to get some extra movement in, I wear my Fitbit – I aim for 8,000 steps a day. P.S. I found this Fitbit band that is only $10 and looks JUST like Louis Vuitton! I ordered it, so I’ll let you know how the quality is when it arrives in the mail.

And lastly, I want to touch on workout shoes. I have these Adidas sneakers and I LOVE THEM! They’re so incredibly comfortable, lightweight, breathable, and to be honest they didn’t even need to be “broken in” – they just kind of fit right away. Chris loves them too. We’re both wearing them in this Instagram post. Definitely size down a size in these, as they run big!

Kitchen Gadget I’m loving

I’m still head over heels in love with my Vitamix. If you don’t know what a Vitamix is, it’s basically a very high-powered blender – so high-powered, in fact, that it can even make soup (the friction actually heats up and cooks the ingredients)! I had a Ninja before, and there is definitely a big difference in my smoothies now that I own the Vitamix. When I used the Ninja, even after blending for several minutes, there would still be small chunks in my smoothies. When I use the Vitamix, no matter WHAT I put in it (like flaxseeds or whole chunks of fresh ginger), it does such a good job blending everything that it’s like drinking a juice – there are NO chunks at all. I use it almost every single morning that I’m home to make smoothies, and last winter Chris and I used it a lot to make soups – we make a delicious sweet potato soup and we have even made broccoli cheddar soup! I’ve also made pesto, cookie dough dip, pasta sauce, and more. I love that I can make my own fresh, homemade versions of dips and sauces at home – and I know EXACTLY what’s in them – no preservatives like the store-bought versions. If you’re on the fence about buying one like I was, just DO IT! You will thank me. I have the Vitamix A3500 (in white) and I would highly recommend that one, but there are some less expensive versions that are less “fancy” but work JUST as well.

Book of the week

You *might* have already heard of this one, but it’s a great one either way! I found Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis to be incredibly inspiring. Hollis writes in a loving but straight-forward way that makes you feel like she’s your best friend. If you need a kick in the butt to feel empowered and go after your dreams – this is the book for you! I personally really loved the chapter on not breaking promises to yourself – we feel so bad about breaking a promise to a friend, but somehow we let ourselves break promises to ourselves all the time. We ditch a workout to watch TV or drink a soda after making a commitment not to, and in turn, our subconscious thinks that we cannot be trusted after giving up on so many goals. It makes you really think through your commitments to yourself, and follow through after making a promise to yourself!

This week, drink more….

Tea! I am having a *moment* with tea right now. Maybe because the seasons are about to turn and cooler weather is upon us – but a mug of tea feels so comforting right now. I’m really loving it in the afternoons and at night before bedtime. In the afternoons, I like drinking organic green tea with honey and at night I love this lavender chamomile tea. With both, I like stirring a couple teaspoons of B. Powered superfood honey into the tea – it gives it a beautiful, sweet, honey taste that I love. And both tea and honey are SO GOOD for you! I’ve already discussed the benefits of honey in this post, so let’s move on to tea, which is chock full of polyphenols (a type of antioxidant) and phytochemicals. Tea is high in oxygen radical absorbance capacity, which is a fancy way of saying that it helps destroy free radicals formed by pollution in the body. It can also reduce the risk of heart attack and might help protect against a boatload of cancers, including breast, colon, colorectal, skin, lung, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, liver, ovarian, prostate and oral cancers. I don’t even think about all of the health benefits while I’m drinking tea, though – it is simply nice to slow down and enjoy moments during your day with a hot drink!

Clean beauty product I’m Loving

Last week I touched on the Living Libations brand that I had just discovered, and this week I’m adding a new “must-have” product to the list: the Frankincense Honey Mask. Made with four simple ingredients, this honey mask is made of real honey, frankincense, immortelle and cape chamomile. It does feel like you’re putting straight honey on your face, haha, but it smells sooo good and honestly it WORKS. I used this for the first time over the weekend and dare I say that I woke up with glowing skin the next morning. Now on to order every single thing from Living Libation’s website because I’m officially OBSESSED!

xoxo