Staring a 12 week biking boot camp

Don't worry, stress less Sunday will continue next week, but tomorrow I'm starting an intensive "bike boot camp" and thought I'd talk a little more about it since you'll hear me talk about it on my posts from time to time. My husband created this biking schedule based on a lot of research. In September, I'm riding a relay race from Salt Lake to St. George. For those of you who don't know, that's 403 miles. We have a team of 8 so we are each doing 3 legs of 25 to 30 miles. Basically it all just means I need to get my butt in gear and start training.
As someone who never rode bikes when they were a kid, starting bike riding was scary for me. Since starting last year I've come a long way, but in order to be prepared for this upcoming race, I've got to train intensively (daily) while making sure I don't cause any injury to my legs/knees/hips, etc. Today we rode a flat 30 with our group which was awesome. We are lucky to be in a group with a lot of strong riders, some who are great at endurance, other at hill climbs so we have a good mix. My training will basically consist of shorter rides with steeper hills (hill training) mixed with longer endurance training rides, as well as physical therapy and weight training. Basically, if I sound at all crazy within the next 12 weeks, it's because I will be getting my butt kicked! Wish me luck...

We're missing a few people today but this is our amazing bike squad, also known as "The Coastbusters"

Me and my absolutely amazing (and gorgeous) teammate and friend

If you want more in depth info on biking, follow my hubby over at blissful cyclist, he provides so much great information on biking and how to spring back from injury. Let's all just hope I make these next 12 weeks. Happy Sunday you lovely folks!

Greek Chicken Salad Sandwich

I really like sandwiches. And I really like pita bread. So I was thinking one day how good it would be to make a pita bread type sandwich, which naturally transitioned into a Greek chicken salad sandwich. The thing I love about this recipe is it can be made 100 different ways. This is how I did mine...

Ingredients
2 tbsp basil and garlic infused oil (any oil is fine)
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts - cut into bite size pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 to 3/4 red bell pepper chopped
1/2 cucumber chopped
1/2 block crumbling feta cheese
1/2 cup Greek salad dressing
Mediterranean Herb Hummus
Pita Pockets/Sandwich Thins

*Here is where you can get creative; if you like red onion, olives, artichokes (I totally forgot to use mine!) tomatoes, absolutely add them in! If you prefer green bell peppers instead of red, use them. You can replace the Greek salad dressing for Greek yogurt, Tzatziki sauce or even mayonnaise. Chop the veggies based on whether you like chunky pieces or not, use whatever kind of bread and hummus you want, it's all about what you like!

I started by cooking the chicken and bell peppers together in the oil. As you'll be able to see, I like my salads chunky. I lightly salted and peppered it because I knew the other ingredients would add a lot of flavor on their own. When those were finished cooking I threw them into a large mixing bowl.

 

At this point add in the rest of your veggies and cheese and toss in your sauce. If you add more veggies adjust your sauce accordingly. Also if you add mayo to make it creamy like a normal chicken salad you may want to omit the hummus as that's where my creaminess comes from. You can even stir in hummus as your sauce if you choose to do that. The possibilities are literally endless.

I used sandwich thins because I couldn't find  pita pockets but I like the idea of this sandwich in a pita pocket or even pita bread cut in half to make a sandwich. I toasted my bread and spread my hummus on each side.

 The completed sandwich

This recipe makes a ton of salad so you can refrigerate and keep it to eat for the rest of the week. I honestly wasn't too sure how this would turn out but I loved it, it was sooo good and pretty healthy as well.

Let me know in the comments if you make a variation of this or what your favorite sandwich recipe is for summer!

Weekly Roundup : Friday Faves #5

Another week has come and gone, they seem to go faster and faster. Happy Friday!

I talked about this scent in the I Heart Spring tag but this will carry  me well into summer. Anna Sui's Rock Me perfume is such a light, fresh scent; I love it for warmer weather. And the bottle is too cute.

Lets be honest, I go through hand sanitizer like it's water and I love Bath and Body's scented ones. This White Lily and Lime is so refreshing, I love it for the warmer months.

I finally found my go to shades! These are the perfect combination of chic yet edgy. They are by Chloe in the style Suzanna Cats Eyes.

 This lip pencil has been my go to this week. It's the perfect pinky nude, goes on matte but isn't drying and was super duper cheap at Sally's. I'm not sure why it's a "Herbal Lip Balm" as it's not minty or anything, but it is moisturizing so there you have it.

Looking over my list most of these things are really Summer favorites, but it's what I've been loving this week.

Tell me what you guys have been loving!

Femme Couture Face and Body Luminizer

I'm not a super big highlight person, I'll just get that out there right now. It's not that I don't love a good highlight and it's so beautiful on so many people, but since I have a natural sheen (a.k.a. I'm super oily) I tend to only use a tiny tiny amount, if any. That's why it was really weird for me to even look at this product, much less buy it, but I am so glad I did. What really sold me was that it was also a body luminizer. I've always loved the idea of having beautifully luminized skin in the summer and this product doesn't disappoint. While I think it would make a beautiful highlight, either stippled on the cheek or mixed in with a foundation, it is absolutely gorgeous on the body. I used a tiny bit on my neck and shoulders and some down the front of my legs and my skin looked so glowy and pretty, perfect for summer. And a small bit goes a very long way so this bottle will last a long time.

This was super cheap, I only paid a couple dollars for this 1.5 oz bottle, and a little goes a very long way. I purchased this product at Sally's Beauty Supply.

I love that this product has a pinky tinge. So many body illuminzers are bronzey and as someone who is on the pale side and doesn't fake tan (or real tan for that matter) I feel like the bronze ones can be too dark. This one is super pretty and leaves a beautiful sheen.

The light reflection makes the color appear to be a pinky gold which is amazing on the skin.

How do you guys feel about body luminizers? Have you tried any good ones?

What I Ate Wednesday

I'm back with another What I Ate. I realized that displaying what I eat to tons and tons of people made me think more about what I ate, and for someone like me who can over-indulge at the drop of a hat, that was actually a good thing. So here's what I ate today...

To start my day off I had my usual coffee. I always try to drink it out of a straw so as not to stain my teeth too much. I may have refilled this a couple times today...

For breakfast I had a bowl of the Nature's Path Organic Summer Berries Granola. It has dried blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and greek yogurt in it. It is also gluten free and super yummy. I have mine with vanilla soy milk. I don't know if this is weird but I prefer soy milk for cereals/granolas or my coffee but almond milk for cooking/baking. Anyone with me?

For lunch I just had a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup. I make a huge crockpot of this and it lasts forever, it's so easy and so good. If you notice the lack of veggies it's because my hubby doesn't eat them. I could put them in and he would just pick around them but I hate waste...if I really was good I would just steam up some veggies for a side but I'm rarely good...

My snack was a Galbani cheddar cheese stick. I love cheese. I seriously seriously love cheese.

For dinner the hubby fired up the grill, stood in the rain and grilled us up some steaks. I made an easy potato side dish with tons and tons of...cheese. Yep, more cheese, it's my weakness haha.

That wraps up what I ate today, hopefully you guys had a great Wednesday!

Stress Less...Weekend?!

Yep, I took the whole weekend off and did nothing. Well...not really nothing, I did a lot of things but they were all geared towards relaxation, which was nice. We all need to give ourselves a break sometimes!

I went on a nice bike ride to a trail I rarely ride and it was such a relaxing fun day!

Later that day we went to Crystal Hot Springs. Unfortunately a thunder storm rolled through while we were there and they closed early. We all got rain checks though so Yay for another Springs day soon! I wrote a post on it here; I'd like to take some pictures while I'm there but I always feel strange whipping out my camera around a bunch of people who are half dressed...

I even got to do some baking. True, it was only Rice Krispie Treats which are like the easiest thing to make...not even baking really but still, I love any sort of cooking I get to have the time to do! It was definitely a nice relaxing weekend.

What did you guys get up to over the holiday weekend?

Himalayan Salt Rock Lamp

If you know me, then you know I suffer from allergies year round. Sometimes they're manageable with a salt solution rinse and some Tylenol and sometimes I'm popping Benadryl like it's candy and wishing I could cut my nose off. I first came across Himalayan rock salt products on Etsy and ended up buying 3 tea light holders made out of Himalayan salt. There is scientific evidence that when Himalayan salt heats up it releases negative ions that help purify the air from particulates caused by smoke, bacteria, viruses, mold, pollen, dander and much more. The problem was, I was going through candles like crazy. While doing more research I found a Himalayan Salt Rock Lamp and thought I'd give it a go since I liked the tea lights so much.

Some of my favorite characteristics about this lamp is each one is hand carved so no two lamps are the same and the lamp has a dimmer switch so it can be as bright or dim as you like. Even if it's all a myth and this doesn't work, it's still a beautiful piece to own! They come in all different sizes as well as different styles.

Find the lamp here.

Would you ever try a lamp like this?

Weekly Roundup : Friday Faves #4

Surprisingly, I have no lipstick, blush OR e.l.f. products in my faves this week! This one is a pretty random mix-up, but these are what I have been absolutely loving this week.

This is by far the best thing of the week! While on our lunch break my husband and I ran to a grocery store by where we work and we spotted this mama duck walking her little ducklings. Right smack dab in the middle of the city! It was so sweet, I wish now I would have gotten a video of it.

I suffer from super dry skin and this lotion is the best thing I've ever used! It also has SPF 15 in it so that's a great added bonus going into the warmer months.

I have worn this every day since getting it earlier this week and it is amazing. It definitely keeps my oily skin way more matte looking and it has good overall coverage. The bonus? It smells really really good. I don't know how to describe it, and in the bottle it doesn't smell the same, but once applied to the skin it just smells good.

This one is really random, but I recently started using this with my laundry detergent. My husband has really sensitive skin and this didn't irritate it. It also made our clothes and towels smell freshly washed even a week later!

I have been all about this Hard Candy eye palette this week. It's pretty much a no brainer; the shades are all neutrals that work well together and the palette was about $6 at Walmart. It also came with an eye primer and tiny eyeliner so it was a great deal.

Tell me what you guys have been loving this week!

Revolution Blush Palettes

Yep...more blush. These are 2 of the 5 palettes I bought of the Revolution Blush Palettes. Yep, 5. So I have a blush problem...and a collection problem. When I saw there were 5 different ones I just had to get them all, it couldn't be helped. Thank goodness these were super affordable, otherwise I'd have to severely edit this post down so my hubby doesn't kill me when he sees this...hi babe. Anyway, like I was saying, I'm only featuring 2 right now because I've only used these 2, but boy oh boy, they are amazing. Literally the most beautiful and pigmented blushes, highlights and bronzers I have ever seen. Basically I'll never need to buy another blush again...probably...maybe...

Just look at these beauties! Do I even need to say more? I probably don't need to say more but I'm going to anyways. The first palette called Golden Sugar is tons of bronzy colors but the top pink, 3rd from the left, is the most perfect matte mauve shade. It is easily my favorite blush. The Sugar and Spice palette has beautiful spring colors, 6 matte shades and two highlights at the far right. These blushes are so pigmented, and the highlights are just stunning. I cannot recommend these palettes enough; go out and buy them all. Or, if you're not a hoarder like me, buy 1 of them and I promise you won't be disappointed!

What I ate Wednesday

I love snooping into peoples lives. I don't mean this in a bad or creepy sort of way, I just really like to know what's going on with people in their actual, real lives. I've seen a few of these posts and I absolutely love them so I thought I'd do one and hopefully everyone enjoys them as much as I do!

*disclaimer - I doubt I need to say this but I am by no means the healthiest eater out there, I just thought it'd be fun to share what I enjoy eating in a day.

 Every single morning I start my day out with coffee. I would love to say I'm one of these healthy people who drinks a whole glass of water or who eats this big healthy breakfast, but lets be honest, I wake up super early for work so there is no way I could even function unless I drank at least one cup of coffee right away.

 Breakfast is usually a quick granola bar. This one is actually low FODMAP and pretty healthy. It's got rolled oats, rolled quinoa, rolled amaranth, chocolate chips, peanut butter and is sweetened with evaporated cane juice. For a pre-packaged bar it's definitely one of the better ones.

As far as drinks go, I drink about 10 to 12 8 oz glasses of water a day. Since doing the low FODMAP style of eating, I no longer drink soda and since I'm trying to cut a lot of sugar out of my diet I don't drink fruit juices very often. If I want to change it up I add fruit to my water to give it a little boost. 

For lunch I had a Shaggy Dog sushi roll. This roll is literally the hottest thing ever but it is so so so good. Lunch is something I change up almost daily because I love food so much I have to have variety.

For a snack I usually have a handful of these coconut cashews from Trader Joe's. They are super tasty and are a better replacement for my old afternoon candy bar.

Dinner ended up being chicken noodle soup and mac n' cheese from Noodles and Co because I was feeling kind of yucky by the end of the day and could not muster the energy to fix dinner...and I basically just needed some good old comfort food.

That wraps up my meals for the day. I want to see what you guys eat throughout the day. Also, if you work long long long hours like I do, how do you prepare your meals for the week? Let me know in the comments below!

A few beauty bits...

First off, let me say a big CONGRATS to my hubby who graduated from Real Estate School recently. He received his graduation packet yesterday and I couldn't be more proud. Just one more national test and he is a certified Real Estate Agent which is super duper exciting.

I recently bought a few beauty bits and bobs and thought I'd show you what I picked up.

It's no surprise that I bought more of these lip stains, I absolutely love them. I picked up the colors (from left) Parisian Passion and London Posh. I haven't tried either yet but I'm sure either one or both will end up in my weekly faves at some point!

I've never tried the Revlon Colorstay 24 hr foundation before but I've heard great things about it. I picked up the one specific to oily skin so we'll see how it goes. I picked it up in the color Natural Beige which seemed to match my current skin tone. The Maybelline foundation is a favorite that I repurchased. You can find my full review of it here. 

I love the formula of the Revlon Parfumerie nail polishes. I don't love the smell of them but they don't really bother me either. I picked up the colors Apricot Nectar (which is reminiscent of Essie's Tart Deco), Orange Blossom and Bordeaux.

The last two items I bought were a Maybelline Color Elixr in Glistening Coral and the Burt's Bees Ultra Conditioning Lip Balm with Kokum Butter. I already have a Color Elixr in another color and I absolutely love it. The Burt's Bees is the only thing I've tried so far from the entire purchase and to be honest, I really don't like it. It does moisturize my lips but the taste is really gross. I think I'll stick to my Burt's Bees pomegranate lip balm instead.

Let me know if you have tried any of these products and how you like them in the comments below!