Lunch on the Lake

Woops - for some reason this didn't post last Thursday...So here it is late!!!

Yoga on the roof was great last night! There were clear skies, a nice breeze and a great group of yogis! Once I got home, I made a refried bean wrap with sauteed peppers, portabellas and corn from the cob and dipped it in this new salsa from Trader Joe's - Avocado Salsa...so delicious!

My favorite instructor teaches on thursday mornings at 6:30 am. I went last week and felt amazing afterward, so I decided to go again this week. Well...after two hard bootcamp classes and 2 power yoga classes already this week, it was pretty tough! My mind really wanted to give it my all, but my muscles and lower back were so sore. I took it pretty easy during the warm up and modified the vinyasas when I needed to. About half way through, I started feeling better and put a bit more into it. I think my body finally started accpeting what I was trying to do with it!

Needless to say, I felt amazing afterward and was STARVING! A green monster wasn't going to cut it this morning, I needed carbs and almond butter, stat! I whipped up a pot of oats with 1/2 cup old fashoined oats, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup milk, dash of salt and vanilla extract with half a banana (other half for instant gratification!) I added one egg white at the end and stired until cooked (this as well as the half cup of milk makes the consistency much creamier and added some needed protein). I topped with chia seeds, almond butter and blackberry preserves...it was glorious! It was a huge bowl (I almost finished it) and it kept me full through lunchtime.

For lunch I packed the leftover refried beans and mushroom/pepper/corn stir-fry over lettuce with the avocado salsa as dressing. I also brought a small bag of popchips for scooping! It was such a nice day, so I took my lunch down to Lake Union, which is a few blocks from my office. I need to do this more often! It is so relaxing down there watching boats go by and seaplanes take off. There were even a couple dogs playing catch with their owners! I love when dogs swim...its so cute! I snapped a few photos on my phone...I will have to remember to bring a good camera down there next time!

Tonight I plan to do some cleaning because I have a friend coming to visit and she's flying in tonight!!! We have an exciting weeked planned with hiking, kayaking, shopping the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale!!!!!, visiting the Space Needle, Pike's Place Market, A foodie festival, some fun restaurants and bars and drinks out on the deck of my apartment building overlooking the city! Can't wait!

What are your plans for the weekend? What is your favorite thing to do with visitors in your city?

Rooftop Yoga

My yoga studio (Mountain Flow Yoga) offers roof top yoga when it's nice outside. And today it is very nice out...77 degrees with clear skies. Once I'm done with work, I plan to bolt out of here to the studio for some much needed warmth and sun (my office keeps the AC on way too high!!!) I forgot my camera, but the next time I go to class on the roof, photos will follow! It's so beautiful practicing with views of Lake Washington, Mt Rainier and the Cascades in the background. I also love the sounds of the breeze, birds and children playing across the street at a playground. It's nice to take all these sounds of life in and be thankful.

I am excited to practice, however am very sore from an amazing bootcamp class I had this morning! I can't get over how much more fun and energizing it is working out when the weather is nice:) We did tons of strength training drills and sprints and my whole body is sore, it was a complete total body workout.

I have been rocking the wraps and salads for lunch lately and am loving the combo of hummus and salsa instead of a traditional salad dressing. I try to pair a big flavorful salads with some sort of protein like beans or left-over chicken with a small piece of fruit. Here is one of my lunch creations:

Green leaf with avocado, green onion, pico de gallo, and hummus with a piece of left-over chicken and a small apricot from the CSA. I find it's much more fun to have a voluminous lunch rather than something more calorie dense.

My other favorite in blog-land is the infamous banana soft serve. It's great because you can try so many variations. This one has 1 frozen banana, 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries, chia seeds and topped with cacao nibs for a little crunch. I could eat this every.single.day! MMmmmm!

Note - I made this around 9 pm for dessert...and it's still so light out! Have I mentioned that I love Seattle summers!?!?!

What's your favorite summer dessert?

Yoga For Hope

Saturday morning I walked down to the Seattle Center to participate in an outdoor yoga class sponsored by City of Hope, which is a program dedicated to patient care, cancer research and new treatments. The yoga event was from 10-12:30 and cost $30 to participate and participants were encouraged to raise additional donations. The registration fee went directly to research and the treatment of patients. All together there were approximately 350 participants and over $30,000 raised!!! Plus we made a world record of the largest outdoor yoga class:)

The experience was absolutely amazing. I met up with a few friends from Mountain Flow Yoga and we lined up our mats in the center of the field.We practiced 108 sun salutations under the sun. It was intense! They had 9 yoga instructors from studios around Seattle lead the group in 12 sun salutations each, totalling 108. I thought this was a great idea, because each instructor had a different teaching style and that kept things interesting and fun as we went along. They provided sunscreen, water and snacks throughout the practice, which was necessary with such a hot sunny day...it was about 80 degrees with maybe 1 or 2 clouds in the sky! As the 7th instructor began her sun salutations, I started to feel the effects of the practice. I took it easy by drinking lots of water and practicing child's pose to regain some strength. This really helped me to end the class on a positive note with a yoga high! I felt so great afterward I practically skipped home!
I got home a little after 1:00, changed my clothes and headed out with the boyfriend's family for some kayaking. Since it was the first sunny weekend in Seattle this summer, the place was packed. We waited in line for an hour (with water and sunscreen!) and finally got up to the front only to realize that his little bro and sis had to be accompanied by an adult since they are both under 18. Since we had a group of 5...I had a solo kayak. I was soooo sore and tired from 2+ hours of yoga...it was rough! But I guess the beautiful view of Lake Union and downtown made up for it. We kayaked for an hour and then had some yummy Mexican food. We all inhaled a nacho appetizer, then I got tacos with yams, peppers, onions and avocado sauce...so good!

I ended the day with some reading out on the deck of my apartment and we BBQd some buffalo burgers with corn and asparagus and a beer. It was a great end to such a fun day!

Yoga Buzz

I woke up bright and early again this morning for 6:30 yoga class. It was already close to 70 degrees at 6 am...crazy! I set the coffee maker for 5 am for a little extra motivation and finally rolled out of bed around 5:50. I had a half cup of coffee and one of those chocolate/walnut/date balls I made the other day for some fuel. Usually when I go to the morning classes it takes me awhile to really get into it, however, today I was ready to go before I even got there. I felt so amazing afterward, like a huge endorphin buzz. The class was awesome as the instructor took us through so many creative flows (I'm hoping I can remember these for my home practice!) Days like today make me want to stick to a healthy lifestyle!

I've decided coffee is my magic early morning workout drug!!! I can't believe I never tried drinking a little coffee pre-morning workouts before. Now that I have come out of the dark on this one, I will be sticking to about half of a cup each morning that I have a planned early workout (which includes most days now!)

One of the girls in my class told me about this Yoga for Hope event happening at the Seattle Center this Saturday. They are having a big outdoor class from 10-12:30 and all registration fees go toward cancer research. The slogan is to practice 108 sun salutations under the sun...should be challenging and inspiring:) I will try and take pictures between poses!

Tonight I plan to get back into running, either with a short outdoor run or some speed intervals on the treadmill. It's supposed to be 90 degrees today, so not sure if I want to bear the heat.

Does anyone have tips for running in the heat?

The Sun is Finally Out!

Summer decided to come to Seattle yesterday bringing us beautiful sunny skies and warmth! I woke up to the heat of the sun coming through my windows this morning and I was incredibly motivated to go to the 6 am SassyFit bootcamp. The bootcamps this month are free...sponsored by the vitaminwater social club. They provided both smartwater and vitaminwater during the class. Since they are more guys showing up to these bootcamps, they seem to have become more challenging! My legs felt like lead during sprints...something I am really going to start working on...I am so slow!

The club sent us home with some vitaminwater and Kind bars. I selected the vitaminwater zero in the lemonade flavor...and I may become obsessed with this flavor! I love anything lemon, but not so much the super sweet lemonades. This one was perfect...like a slightly watered down lemonade, but enough zing to make it tasty! I chose the Almond Coconut Kind bar, which I will devour for my afternoon snack. I've had a few of these bars and have loved every flavor so far that I've tried. They also gave everyone a free yoga mat...not bad! I guess their marketing worked on me though as I will likely purchase their products in the future.

When I got home, I made a purple monster with:

1 scoop Vega

1/2 TBS chia seeds

2 cups spinach

1 small banana

1 cup skim milk

1 cup frozen mixed berries

It was refreshing and delicious. I snaked on a piece of (healthified) homemade banana bread later in the morning.

Last night, I made these yummy snacks. I can't remember which blog I got the idea from...I wrote it down a week ago. Anywho...they were made in the foodprocessor with walnuts, dates, cacao, shredded coconut, cacao nibs and water. I rolled into balls and put them in the fridge to set. I had one with my lunch and was slightly disappointed. They were a bit crumbly and didn't have too much staying power. I made something like this in the past with oats, almond butter, honey and a few other ingredients and liked those much better.

I went to Trader Joe's last night after a yoga class and bought some smoked salmon among a heavy basket full of other yummies! I decided to create a wrap with this cilantro/chive/yogurt dip (from TJs), spinach, smoked salmon, and 2 egg whites. I packed a raw kale salad massaged with rice wine vinegar and half a small avocado. The lunch was really tasty and filled me up. It was so nice out that a couple co-workers and I took our lunches down the hill to the lake and envied all the people on kayaks and boats!

I get my CSA box today and am looking forward to the blueberries and cherries it is supposed to contain. Also hoping for some yummy veggies to roast for dinner tonight.

I have an early dinner and yoga planned for the evening.

Do you choose to workout outside more often in the summer, or do you still attend gyms or indoor classes?

My studio has been holding yoga on the roof with a view of the lake and mountains...It's pretty amazing. I am hoping the later class is also held up there. I feel much better about going to a yoga class on a nice day when it is held outdoors:) I feel like I am missing out on something when I spend a gorgeous day inside...but this may be due to the fact that we have so few here!

Yoga at Home

I love practicing yoga at a studio, but sometimes it just doesn't fit my schedule. I've been thinking about practicing on my own without yogadownload or an on demand source. I have a vacation to Mexico coming up in about 3 weeks and my plan is to stay active on the trip (between laying poolside and spa activities!) I thought staring out my mornings with some yoga on the beach would be great, and maybe even a short jog to warm up. I also plan to take swim breaks from being completely lethargic next to the pool!

So on Friday, I made a yoga playlist including some Enya, Dido and slower Incubus tracks and rolled out my mat in the living room. I chose sequences that I like from classes I've taken and just by what was feeling good at the moment. I practiced for about 35 minutes and it felt great...I could have kept going. I am confident that I will have no problems practicing solo on the beach in a few weeks. I think it will be a great way to start the day and hopefully keep my somewhat on track!

After my practice, I set up the camera to capture a few of my favorite poses. I didn't include all of them, but it was neat to see what I look like and a good way to make note of corrections in form I can work on.

Ps. that is a new shirt from Lululemon that I absolutely LOVE! it's not great for yoga because it moves too much, but is great for cardio and/or weight training. I think its great to wear with regular clothes as well. In fact, I wore it to work with jeans and a blazer...I just love the pale yellow color this spring!

Are you comfortable practicing yoga on your own, or do you need instruction? What is your favorite pose? I also like dancer pose because I am getting better at it, but didn't take a phot of that one!

Morning Yoga...

Oh how I love thee!!!

My favorite yoga studio (Mountain Flow in Madison Park for anyone in Seattle) started offering a 6:30 am Power Hour on Tuesday's and Thursday's. I went on Tuesday and I wasn't so sure about the whole morning thing. My body was tight and I couldn't get as deep a stretch as I can in the evenings...plus all I could think about was going back to bed:( I got through the class and felt AMAZING the rest of my day...I even had enough energy to do some jogging and strength training after work!

So, of course I went again this morning! I felt a lot better this time around. *I got up and did an early workout yesterday morning as well, so I am hoping to train myself to switch my workouts to the mornings. It is just a matter of getting out of bed and getting my body used to moving first thing.* I worked up a great sweat...the room is heated to 80-85 degrees, which I love! I swear it warms my muscles up faster and I can get a much better stretch (plus dripping sweat makes me feel like I got a better workout in...and a little hardcore!).

Last night, I took a Restorative Yoga class, which includes about 55-60 minutes of power yoga and 15-20 minutes of restorative poses. I love the restorative poses, I always feel so great and really get good sleep after those classes.

After yoga, I went to this cute local market across the street and picked up some salmon, sweet potato and brussels sprouts. I roasted the potato and sprouts in olive oil, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. I broiled the salmon with a little honey, coarse mustard and wheat germ as topping. Sadly I got distracted on my computer and ended up overcooking the fish and burning the sprouts (left the sprouts in the oven during the broiling process...oops!). I sort of saved the sprouts by pealing off the burned layer, but the fish wasn't so lucky. Only about half of it was edible:( Oh well...I was so "zen" at that point (and starving) that it didn't mater!

I don't have any workouts scheduled for tonight, but I am planning to get back into the gym for some running and strength training tomorrow morning before work.