plank3

New to the Sweet Life? Check us out on Instagram & Facebook too! 

Did you watch the Superbowl last night? I did and totally enjoyed the commercials 🙂 I was rooting for Denver because I’m from Indiana and well, you know we Hoosiers love Peyton Manning!

This weekend was a great one! It kind of started on Friday for me when I got to hang out with some awesome bloggers from across the country! As some of you know, I work in social and digital media professionally in the political sphere.

It’s a blast to connect with bloggers in the arena! Here’s a shot of us strategizing and brainstorming over at the Franklin Center on Friday…that’s me at the end of the table if you can’t tell! Some of my friends in the in photo include Kira Davis, Kelly Maher (she was just on the Daily Show!!) and Jim Geraghty — all awesome folks to work with!

blogger

Physical Therapy

After spending the day with those folks, I headed over to my physical therapy appointment at Solutions. We spent time getting out some kinks in my back, working on planks and other core exercises that will also help strengthen my left leg.

At the end, I got the stem & heat therapy, which is so totally relaxing…I honestly just fall asleep and want to go to bed!

Weekend Workouts

I’ve been very diligent about the Core Power Challenge. Having this accountability really does make a difference. I’ve actually never been this consistent with my core in my life so hopefully it makes a big difference!

Over the weekend, I spent some time on the elliptical, bike and the pool. Saturday I did all my core exercises at home in the living room. Take a look at some of the moves.

plank1

plank5

plank6

What I Wore: 

  • New Balance Top from Sports Authority
  • Reebok capris
  • New Mizuno running shoes
  • YurBuds inspired Sweaty bands
  • Nike Sports bra

Other Fun Stuff

A few other fun things from this weekend are in order. The first one is how cute my husband is. Rick loves giving gifts and he can never wait until you are supposed to give them to do so. So I came home Saturday afternoon to find my Valentine’s Day present awaiting me. Really? I’m used to it and he is an awesome present giver so I figured it couldn’t hurt to open! Guess what i got?!

kingsdominion6

I’m so pumped to use my new Kindle Fire! My original Kindle broke a long time ago and I’ve been using an iPad app since then. Unfortunately, that thing is heavy and clunky. The Fire is basically like a mini-iPad — you can watch movies, tv, listen to music, a ton of stuff. I will mostly just be using for books though. After hearing many good things, I just bought “The Fault in Their Stars” by John Green. Have you read it? I’m looking forward to it!

KindleFireReview

Corechallenge

Let’s ease back into the week, shall we? For today, let’s get our plank practice on. Do the best you can! Here ya go:

  • Plank #1: Depending on your skill level, hold plank at your most advanced time. This may be 1:30, 1 minute, 45 seconds or 30 seconds. Do what you can!
  • Plank #2: Hold a side plank on your elbow for 30 seconds on each side (x2)
  • Plank #3: Get into a high plank (not elbows). Attempt to hold one arm in the air and hold plank for 5 seconds. Repeat with the other arm. Do this twice.

bestfoot

It’s time for another workout karma link love! Here’s how my week went down:

  • Monday: 3 mile speed walk, 15 minutes bike, core
  • Tuesday: 30 min. modified zumba, core work
  • Wednesday: 45 minutes swimming, core work
  • Thursday: REST (core work)
  • Friday: REST (core work)
  • Saturday: 2 mile walk, 20 min. treadmill, 10 min. bike, core work
  • Sunday: 40 min. swim, arm workout, core work

Join Run to the Finish, Darwinian Fail & I by linking up below!

‘); // ]]>

 

Spotlight of the Week: Redeeming Grounds 

Do you like coffee? Do you like your purchases to mean something? Perfect. My friend has started a very cool organization dedicated to providing amazingly deliciously coffee for a good cause — and obviously I was not paid to tell you how sweet this stuff is! 🙂

Redeeming Grounds is a company that produces coffee from Colombia, from men and women who have come out of the drug business and turned their lives to God. All the money made goes back to the communities in which the coffee is made. It’s delicious (I’ve tried it) and an awesome new coffee to try if you are a coffee person! Here’s my friend Santi in Colombia with some of the local kids:

redeeminggrounds

FREE: Simple Faith Practices for Busy MomsYes, please!
+