Fitness Survey and Exciting News!

Here's a fun fitness survey I got from Tina at carrotsncake! I thought it would be fun to do because I've never done one...so here goes!

Five Fitness Things You Can't Live Without

1. my yoga mat...it's always always with me! plus towels and cute yoga outfits!
2. water bottle...same as above I literally sleep with it 0_o
3. access to yoga classes I go crazy if I miss a day!
4. tennis racket/shoes/clothes
5. swimsuit and goggles for swimming

Most Embarassing Song I Work Out To

hmm...idk for this one...I just know that I sometimes sing along with the songs which is embarassing since singing is NOT one of my talents

Favorite Pre-Workout Snack/Meal

I usually work out mid morning so I'll eat a bowl of oatmeal with unsweetened vanilla almond milk and some fresh fruit. 

On My Fitness Bucket List

do a sprint triathlon
become a certified personal trainer
do more yoga trainings
start my own fitness apparel/accessories line

Must Have Tech Tools

iPhone for music
Spotify for when I teach yoga classes

Top Exercise Gear

any cute yet affordable workout clothes (I'm a college student...I have a budget!)
5 - 10 pound free weights
Nike running shoes...I really want a new pair in teal!


Motivational Mantras

"sweat like a pig to look like a fox"
"it's not a competition, it's freakin' yoga!"
"it's yoga PRACTICE, not yoga perfect"
"the only workout you'll regret is the one you didn't do"

Favorite Cardio Exercise

HIIT for sure! Moving from one exercise to another keeps it interesting and torches calories at the same time. Plus, I just find it so much fun, especially in a group class setting.
I also enjoy swimming and playing tennis for cardio though. Both are great workouts where I am able to have fun while exercising. 

Favorite Strength Training Moves

Yoga Sculpt! I love the combination of weights with traditional yoga poses. Yoga is already a great way to strength train but it gets even more effective with the addition of weights.

The End :)

Soooo... for my exciting news...I will be officially teaching Hot Yoga Sculpt at Ignite Yoga Fusion on Wednesdays at 5:30am! So ready to start the day off with a great workout with all my early morning yogis!

A Very Busy Week!

This week has been crazy busy for me! I've been up at 5am everyday and pretty much going from then until 8 or 9pm! I've been nannying every day this week and I've been teaching a lot of classes too! I taught Ignite 1 Monday evening, which I had never taught before. It was unexpected but it was fun and a good experience for me - luckily I have taken the class so many times I know the sequence! Wednesday, I taught a 7pm Ignite 2 class. Both my parents came to that one which was cool. My music was having some issues though so that was a bit of a bummer. Thursday, I taught a 6am Ignite 2 which went really well, followed by a 9:15am yoga sculpt. Sculpt is my favorite class to teach because there's so much room to add energy and fun moves plus it's an awesome workout. It's tough because I have to do the moves and talk at the same time but I love it. This morning, I taught another unexpected class. I woke up to take the 5:30am bootcamp, but, no teacher showed up, so I taught! I had to think fast and come up with a routine as I went, but it was fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I love teaching so much!

Nannying has gone better than I thought it would this week too. Sometimes the 7-8 hour days really drag on, but this week it wasn't bad. I took the girls to the park a couple times and on Wednesday, we went to the farmer's market which was really fun. The girls got some fake roses and little butterfly things for their mom's birthday and I got some delicious tomatoes, pluots, squash, and a jar of homemade salsa for Max. 

my lovely, yummy farmer's market purchases! Got all this for under $10

the meanings of roses, I thought this was cute

I'm glad it's Friday though! I'm about to go do another workout since I don't count teaching as a workout even though I do most of the moves. I'm thinking of going to a BodyRok class at 8:40. Then it's off to work until 5 and finally I'll be driving out to see Max! We're going to a waterpark tomorrow which should be fun. Sunday we will probably swim and play tennis and then I'll drive back and spend the afternoon with friends at the beach! Fun weekend ahead!

What are your weekend plans?

Sunday Workout at Lululemon!

post workout me!

Last night, I hung out with a few of my friends from high school which was fun. It was great to see people who I hadn't seen in a long time. I was pretty tired this morning so I didn't go to 8am yoga like I usually do. But, I did go to 10am bootcamp at lululemon! It was the last day of Kaia FIT classes and it was really fun.

We started off with a warm up running around the building mixed with short bursts of other cardio moves. Then, we came inside to do circuits. We were divided into three groups and there were three stations each with three moves. Each move was performed for 1 minute and then we rotated. After we completed all 9 moves we ran another lap and then came back in and did the whole circuit again! We finished up with some plank work and stretching. I was definitely sweating by the end (actually from like the warm up haha)!

After the workout, I met up with my friend Rochelle for coffee. We ended up staying and talking for like two hours! She is one of my best friends so we always have a ton to talk about.

Now, I'm back home eating lunch and planning on going to yoga at 4! My family gets back tonight so that will be nice. I'm subbing another yoga sculpt class this Thursday so that should be lots of fun!

Finally Friday!

This week I started nannying full time, so I am pretty exhausted and glad that the kids are going out of town for the weekend (including today!). I work 7-8 hours a day and then go straight to Ignite to either work, teach or do classes. This week, I taught Yoga Sculpt on Saturday and Gentle Yoga on Tuesday and I'm teaching a vinyasa flow class tomorrow night. Yoga sculpt has been my favorite class to teach so far because it allows me to be creative with the music and what poses/exercises I incorporate. I also love the energy I get from it and can pass on to the students.

 Gentle Yoga was a departure for me, who always wants to be active and moving. It was hard for me to tone it down a bit, but I was able to. It was a really good experience for me to learn how to teach a different style of yoga. Really, I just love teaching yoga in general and I want as much practice as I can get!

This morning I got up early for my favorite class - vinyasa bootcamp - even though it is at 5:30am. I knew I didn't have to be up early today but I also knew that I'd feel better after going to class than from sleeping in a couple hours. I love this class because it helps build strength to get into harder poses. Today we focused on some warriors, Eka Pada Koundinyasana (hurdler), full splits, vasistasana variations (side plank) and urdhva danurasana (full wheel). These are some of my favorite poses to do. They make me feel strong and confident in my practice. I love trying new variations of these poses and just playing. I love the fun atmosphere of vinyasa bootcamp...so worth getting up at 5:30am! 


After class, I came home and showered (I was sweaty!) and made my breakfast. Oatmeal with unsweetened almond milk and a dash of vanilla. I also tried my hand at a green smoothie. Like any good fitness blogger, I have heard of the benefits of green smoothies but always felt a bit apprehensive to actually making one. Today, though, I decided to try it. My smoothie consisted of a bunch of kale, 1/2 a banana, some blueberries, a few strawberries, water and ice. Surprisingly, it tasted just like a regular banana berry smoothie. Though, in the future, I will make sure to blend it a bit better because there were big chunks of kale that were kind of icky (not that I don't like kale, but it's really not appetizing to have chunks of it floating in the smoothie). It wasn't a total green smoothie, but baby steps! I'll try to get more creative with my recipes and smoothies this week! 


This evening, I'm going with the other teachers at Ignite to an ariel yoga class. It should be super fun. I've never done ariel but always wanted to try it. I'm also looking forward to getting to know the other teachers better!


My wonderful boyfriend is coming to visit for the weekend tomorrow! I am hoping the weekend will be fun and we'll get some tennis, hiking and yoga in as well as some relaxing and eating yummy food that I cook!

Sweaty Sunday!

This morning I went to the free Lululemon Sweaty Sunday class. If you don't know, Lululemon offers free community classes (usually yoga on Saturdays and bootcamp on Sundays) featuring instructors from different studios/gyms in the area. Today (and for the rest of July), instructors from Kaia FIT in Solana Beach were there. And they made "Sweaty Sunday" live up to it's name...it was a pretty intense workout!

Our warmup was 10 burpees, 10 squat jumps, 10 jumping jacks repeated as many times as possible in the given time. I was able to complete 4 rounds. Then, we divided up into three groups of about 10 people and went to different stations. The instructor, Tara, demonstrated the move and, as another part of the warmup, everyone had to do 10 reps of each move.

Then, the real workout began! Each station had three moves and each move had to be completed 10 times to count as one round. We had four minutes to complete as many rounds as possible. At the end, each group added up all the members' scores to create a total. The first station my group was at was: burpees, tricep dips and tuck jumps. The second station was: jumping lunges, crab tricep dips, and Russian twists. The third was: squat jumps, tricep pushups and ski abs.

Once we rotated through all the stations, we were told that we had to do the whole thing again! This time we were competing with ourselves and trying to beat our first score. I ended up beating all of my scores which made me pretty happy. My team overall also beat our scores.

The workout was intense but it was so much fun because it inspired competition but also teamwork. It was fun to cheer people on and know that other people were cheering for you.

By the ending cool down (some yoga-inspired stretching), I was exhausted and sweating but feeling great! I had such a fun time and felt proud of what I had been able to do. I definitely hope I can come back next week!

The only problem with having the classes at Lululemon is that I want Allllllll the clothes there! They are so cute and I have an addiction for shopping for fitness clothes. I had to pry myself away though because, sadly, Lululemon is not affordable on a college student's budget :( Though I was able to find some cute, cheaper leggings and a sports bra elsewhere!