I <3 you all…. but….

I am no longer going to be using this blog for my health journey. I’m going back to using one blog, and one blog only. Running one, let alone two, was getting to be out of control. I was slacking horribly on both. So as much as I don’t want too, this one will no longer be updated.

Please visit http://aglimpseintoerynsworld.com to continue to follow my health journey and my life in general. That one will be updated as much as possible.

Thank you for all of the follows and support and I sure hope I see you over on the other blog!

A weekend away.

Hi everyone! Sometimes I forget I run a blog. Clearly the last week has been one of those times. Here is a rundown of the last week and why I went MIA.

  1. Work has been crazy. Good crazy though
  2. It snowed again this week, which led to two missed mornings at the gym. Which completely threw me off track,
  3. I travelled to Washington, DC this weekend, which meant serious laundry and packing Wednesday and Thursday night.

I love Washington, DC. I went for the first time about three years ago with Nick (our first vacation together!) and loved everything about the city. My best friend moved down there for graduate school about 5 years ago and has been there ever since. This weekend was just a girls weekend. She’s in the process of planning her wedding so I headed south for a bit of R&R and to see where her wedding will be!

DC!

Let’s just say I didn’t think twice about what I consumed the entire weekend. I was surrounded by delicious food and I took advantage of it. Friday night, after traveling much of the day, I was ready for a few drinks and dinner. Yuengling was on top at her favorite place and I indulged. I can only get Yuengling when I head south so I totally enjoyed!

After spending some time at The Ugly Mug, off to Matchbox we went for dinner. Chicken Pesto Pizza and their house special French Onion Soup was on tap that night!

Saturday morning, we got up and while she got ready, I took her adorable dog Amos for a walk around the block. Felt good to get up and move. It was so peaceful and her Capitol Hill neighborhood is absolutely gorgeous.

Once I returned, we headed off to Pound for their amazing breakfast sandwiches and coffee. I was also exposed for the first time to the art of creating designs in lattes.

After devouring breakfast, off to Annapolis we went, where she will be getting married in October. She gave me the grand tour of the Naval Academy, including the chapel and Officers Club where the wedding and reception will be. I was blown away by the size and beauty of everything. It was just stunning!

The Wright Brothers plane

Inside the Naval Academy chapel

The chandeliers in the Officers Club

After doing a bit of shopping, we enjoyed lunch at The Dock Street Pub where we sat outside and got some sun. I enjoyed another Yuengling, a bowl of Crab Chowder and a Grilled Tuna Caeser Salad (amazing!). Annapolis was stunning and I can’t wait to be back there in October!

After going to be super early on Saturday night, we got up Sunday AM and decided to take a nice long walk before meeting up with some people for brunch. I decided to give my CharityMiles app a try and since we were in DC, we chose the Wounded Warriors project. Despite it being a bit chilly, the walk was beautiful and I really enjoyed walking in a different location.

Loved this walking view.

Not too shabby!

My trip concluded with brunch at Tunnicliffs Tavern where I tried the most DELICIOUS and SINFUL breakfast I have ever tasted. The Farmers Omelette. An omelette filled with mashed potatoes, bacon and cheese and topped with sour cream. HOLY. MOTHER. OF. GOD. My favorite things combined into one delectable breakfast. Totally a heart attack waiting to happen.

Needless to say, with the amount of things I indulged in this weekend, I was sure glad we were constantly moving and walking. My scale wasn’t angry at me this morning and that made me happy! Back to normal eating habits again today.

At least, all of my cravings have been fulfilled!

Waking with the Sun.

Oh Monday. I can’t believe you’re here again already. I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!

After a great workout on Sunday AM, I realized just how much I am starting to enjoy going to the gym. Maybe it’s because I’m finally taking my health seriously. But I also couldn’t wait for the start of a new routine; hitting the gym before work. Yep. I’m actually excited to get out of bed when its still dark out to work out. Shocking. Especially coming from the person who has struggled to get to the gym very recently.

Lucky for me, I’ve been pretty used to waking up at 5 AM for a couple of months now since that’s when the other half has to get up for work. Although, in the past, I would just roll over and go back to sleep. Not today! I woke up at 4:54 AM. Clearly my body was just so excited to get moving that it didn’t want to sleep for an extra 6 minutes.

I was dressed and out the door by 5:07. No coffee (huge step for me!) and it was FREEZING this morning. My car said it was 17 degrees out. I was pretty thankful for my auto starter this morning. Also thankful it decided not to go off this morning too and wake up the whole neighborhood.

My babies.

I was shocked to see how empty the gym was when I arrived. I mean, I got front row parking. If you go to Latitudes in Salisbury, you know how coveted that is. Granted it was 5:15 am in the morning but still…
I climbed on my favorite treadmill, set it to 40 minutes and off I went! I decided today was the day I was going to start the Couch to 5K program. For years, I’ve started and stopped this program despite my longing to run a 5K. I’ve been saying for four years now ‘This will be my year to run a 5k!’ It hasn’t happened yet but Week 1, Day 1 of training kicked off today.
I was surprised at how I did considering how out of shape I am. Oh, and the fact that I’m totally not a runner. But I was pleased with myself when the workout was done. I fact, I felt great!
After showering and rejuvenating myself with a nice hot cup of Cinnamon Hazelnut coffee (I’m seriously obsessed), I got myself ready for work and packed up my food for the day. I mixed a little bit more almond milk into my Overnight Oats before getting them ready to take to work. I sampled a little bite and was hooked! Getting into work would not come fast enough.
Officially. Obsessed. With. Overnight. Oats. Holy mother of god. So easy and so delicious. I topped mine with banana slices a tablespoon of The Bee’s Knees Peanut Butter from Peanut Butter and Company. And of course had a cup of Yogi Tea’s Slim Life Blueberry Green Tea.

New obsession.

I love the little messages on the Yogi tea bags

I LOVE thick oatmeal so this was just perfect! And the cinnamon and brown sugar I added was totally soaked up overnight. Yummmmm.

I also made a delectable salad for lunch, filled with lots of good stuff and topped with salsa as my dressing (a delicious trick I learned from Weight Watchers!)

I’m definitely looking forward to kicking back and relaxing my sore muscles tonight. And it feels even better to not have to fit the gym in after a busy day at work!

When is your favorite time to work out?

Pink and Peanut Butter!

Hi everyone! I apologize for my disappearing act for the last couple of weeks. Work has been INSANE and between balancing work and everything else, the blog(s) got put on the back burner. But I’m back! And I’m happy to report that after being sick for what seems like an eternity, I’m officially back to my old self!

This week, exercise wise, was not good. In fact, all week I just craved unhealthy and bad foods. I indulged some, but tried to limit as best as I cold. Sometimes, it’s just too darn hard!

Saturday, per usual, was my barn day. I got up at 6:30, made a delicious cup of Cinnamon Hazelnut coffee and a slice of toast with peanut butter and began my day. Of course, because it’s me, I managed to set my car alarm off with my auto starter. When I went outside to disengage it, I managed to lock my keys in my car. Lucky for me, my spare was still at my parents house 15 minutes away. So I hopped in Nick’s car, hauled back to their house to retrieve the key. Thankfully, I made it back with plenty of time, unlocked my car and off to the barn I went. It was great day, except I’m totally wishing for warm weather. The cold just sunk in yesterday…

Last night, we had a glorious relaxing night. I sat and read all evening, after gorging ourselves on chinese food from up the street. I couldn’t put my book down which I thankfully finished last night. You should totally read it.

Amazing! Read it.

Amazing! Read it.

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I also enjoyed a couple of glasses of Barefoot Pink Moscato. I love wine, and am always open to try new ones! (Seriously, send recommendations!) Weekends have become my splurge times. Not so good, but hey, if it helps me stay on track, I’ll take it. Anyways, back to the Moscato. I LOVE Sauvignon Blancs, but have been recently getting back into sweeter wines. And it’s pink! If it’s pink, it’s got to be delicious right?

barefoot_pink_moscato_nv_750

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Saturday night came and went, and Sunday morning arrived bright and sunny, despite freezing! Off the gym we went. I was dressed in my favorite color (PINK!) and wore my obnoxiously pink colored Adidas Jett Breeze sneakers.

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I have them in this color too… but picture these, in hot pink.

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It felt SO good to get back to the gym. Despite being a pain in the butt to get there 99.9% of time, going today reminded me just how great I feel after I work out. And reminded me of just why I needed to make the gym part of my daily routine. 35 minutes and 2 miles on the treadmill and 10 minutes and 1 mile on the elliptical was just what I needed to start my day off right. While not much for some people, I surprised myself with what I did. I’ve done nothing in about 2 weeks, so needless to say, I was excited.

The rest of the day was filled with errands, visiting the parents and laundry. I did try my hand at making some Overnight Oats based on several people’s recipes! I hope they come out okay.

Ready to go in the fridge!

Ready to go in the fridge!

To make them I used:

1 cup of Old-Fashioned Oatmeal

6-ounce Chobani Plain Yogurt

1/2 cup of Silk Almond Milk

1 1/2 teaspoons of Cinnamon

1 teaspoon of brown sugar

I hope they are okay in the morning. Haven’t decided what I’m going to put on them, but I bought some of the Peanut Butter & CO’s The Bees Knees Peanut Butter today and I can’t wait to try it! Maybe I’ll put a little bit on that!

Stay tuned tomorrow to see how it turns out!

Social Media and Fitness

This may not be a ‘typical’ post for me, but it’s been something that I’ve been thinking a lot about and felt the need to write about. Maybe it’s the marketer in me…

Social Media. Exercising. Healthy Living. Three things that have become staples in many of our daily lives. It seems like no matter where I log onto, people are posting/tweeting/instagramming their exercise, food or daily adventures. I’m not complaining, I’m one of those people. I find that seeing those memes or hearing about another friend’s workout adventure is motivating. It makes me want to be active.

With the warmer weather coming, I think most of us have fitness on our minds. With warm weather comes swim suits and the beach. I know I want to be ready for that!

Social media has become a means for people to boast about their fitness wins, their diet woes and their major successes. It keeps us honest. It also makes it personal and holds us accountable. If you post on Facebook, ‘Heading to the gym after work!’ and then later post ‘Forget the gym, home to sweatpants’ chances are you’re a) going to feel some form of guilt (unless of course you didn’t go to the gym because of illness) or b) probably going to get some negative response. At least this is why I have found in my own fitness journey. I am that person who posts something and doesn’t always follow through. It is my laziness shining through and I am working to change that. Why do I think this happens? More than likely,  positive feedback was received for the initial post. People were happy for you, proud of you and wanting to encourage you. When they see the latter post, it may be de-motivating for others and some may wonder why you posted your first post in the first place if you weren’t going to follow through. I’ve found that if I’m posting it to social media, I better be following through.

Here are my views on how social media plays a role in fitness:

Facebook: This is easy. You post, people respond. It’s like sharing with 600 friends your success or your failure. Granted, not all of your Facebook friends are going to respond, but it’s a mass way to tell EVERYONE, ‘I’m going to the gym today!’, ‘Wow, my muscles are really aching after that workout,’ or ‘Totally didn’t go to the gym. My couch was calling me.’

I can guarantee, each one of those will get a response. And it may not always be the response you want. But Facebook is a great motivator when it comes to fitness. It’s like having a support group constantly surrounding you and supporting you. Not only that, there are plenty of great Facebook pages devoted to health and fitness. Some of personal favorites:

  1. She Rocks Fitness
  2. Tone it Up
  3. 100 Days of Real Food
  4. Fitness Magazine

Twitter: Twitter has a cool dynamic in the health world. I’m still just diving into it, but the fitness community really appears to bond together on here. As you connect with some of the health and fitness folks, you’re exposed to great tips, recipes and blogs. As I’ve made my journey into a healthier lifestyle, I’ve found many of these Twitter members motivating and helpful. I love seeing what they have to say, and since most of them blog too, I look forward to reading their blogs everyday! A few personal favorites:

  1. PeaceLoveandLowCarb – @PeaceLoveLoCarb
  2. Nurtitionella, MPH RD – @nutritionella
  3. Bess Be Fit – @bessharrington
  4. FitFluential – @FitFluential

Another awesome way Twitter functions in the health realm is their use of hashtags. Hashtags are great way to keep similar posts in one easily searchable area. One of my favorites is #SweatPink. It’s mostly all women, but it’s a lot of motivation and a lot of great people who are are living the healthy life!

Pinterest: Motivation. Motivation. Motivation. Seriously. If you are looking for motivation, join Pinterest and check out their Health and Fitness pins. You can find workouts, memes, and motivational quotes that will keep you moving. When I’m having a down day, I just hop on and take a look and am usually ready to rock and roll after that!

Instagram: Instagram is a visual Twitter. You can have followers and use hashtags to tag your picture so they can be found. It’s a cool way to show your cool new running sneakers, what you’ve been eating throughout the day and your latest workout that you were so proud of. Personally, I love Instagram. It makes my pictures look cool and it’s fun to use.

I know, I’m looking into this too much. I look at the use of Social Media as a way to fuel my exercise and my healthy living. Like I said above, it keeps ME honest. But at the same time, when I recently hit my first milestone (5 lbs!), I posted to Facebook and the feedback I got from it was incredible and really made me push. I couldn’t wait to post my 10 lb, 20 lb and eventually 30 lb milestone.

In today’s world, I think Social Media is great way to get healthy and stay healthy. I’m not where I want to be yet, but I know by posting my progress and my wins, I feel one step closer every day!

And for the record, I don’t consider myself in any way, shape or form an expert. I’m merely expressing my views on how I see Social Media fitting into the realm of health and fitness. There are plenty of others out there that are far more knowledgable than I am. Remember, this blog is just chronicling my journey and my thoughts :)

Stay tuned… at some point I’ll be posting a post about Apps!

Weekend Splurges

Sometimes, I can’t even believe how fast the weekends go by. They are here and gone in a blink of an eye!

Nick and I had a bit of cheat weekend. We definitely needed a break from our heavy focus on watching everything that we were eating. Which meant Friday night, on our way to do some groceries, we stopped at our favorite local eatery Las Olas Taqueria. We discovered this place about 3 years ago and have been obsessed with ever since. Everything is always freshly made and delicious (Make sure to go on a Wednesday or a Saturday and try the Tilapia…yummy). We usually go for the quesadilla, but this time we both stuck with a burrito. When I think burrito, I usually think GIANT. But they make the most perfect sized burritos. Just enough to fill you. I enjoyed mine with Cajun shrimp, rice, black beans, tomato, lime juice and a dash of sour cream. While not the healthiest meal, I figured I could have eaten a lot worse.

Saturday was a typical day for me. Arrived at the barn at 7:30, cleaned my stalls, threw some hay down from the loft and taught my lessons. It was the first Saturday in a few months that I had all of my lessons. For background purposes, I teach 10 lessons on Saturdays beginning at 10 AM and ending at 3 PM. I had 9 this week. As exhausted as I was when I got home (but a good exhausted because I love teaching kids how to ride!), it was decided that we old go out for dinner again! This time we were off to our favorite sushi restaurant, Sake, in Portsmouth. We love sushi. Like obsessed with sushi. We’ve even tried to make our own a few times. I branched out for a change (I usually get avocado and cucumber rolls) and went for a King Crab California Roll and a Spicy Scallop Roll. They were delicious! I couldn’t get enough.

Almost exactly what the scallop rolls looked like. That’s. Spicy Mayo on top, not cheese.

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Sunday was a lazy day for us. We cleaned, organized, sat around and eventually went grocery shopping. We then went out for our THIRD dinner of the weekend. We NEVER go out to dinner this much unless we’re on vacation! This time it was off to The Community Oven in Hampton. They are a Flatbread-esque restaurant and we have become huge fans! The pizza is freshly made and delicious. I had a taco pizza while a Nick tried their Chucken, bacon, ranch calzone. Amazing.

Now it’s Monday again. And back to our healthy diets! But boy did it feel good this weekend to splurge! Best part, I didn’t gain any weight :)

Back to normal….almost.

It's FRIDAY! My sinus infection is on the mend and I can talk again, although its sounding a bit more like Fran Drescher circa The Nanny at the moment then my real voice.

You can totally hear here laughing right?

At least I'm function again.
Since I've been fighting some form of illness since the end of January, I have listened to my body for the past week and haven't exercised, or really have done anything besides go to work and go home, for the past week. On the positive side, I have made sure that I've continued to eat healthy, staying within my calorie limit. Granted, I've had a few splurge moments. Who doesn't when they aren't feeling great? I totally rocked a PB&Fluff in a wrap and a Tuna Melt.
Anyways, Monday is back on track for me in terms of the gym. After last Friday's gym sesh, I was on such a high! Now I can't wait to get back to gym.
This weekend is bound to be a busy one. Barn tomorrow which means cleaning stalls, teaching lessons and hopefully jumping on a horse for a few! Need my fix. Grocery shopping is also in our future. And a birthday party for a friends kid on Sunday. Hopefully some reading and relaxing thrown in there too!
At least it's March. The warm weather will be here before we know it!

 

5 down. 35 to go.

I promise. I have not been lazy… Okay, I’m lying. I’ve totally been lazy. But only because I’ve been sick. And not just with a cold. I finally went to the doctors and yep, sinus infection. On the plus side, my voice is finally coming back. If you consider the honking and squeaking instead of words, coming back.

I have to say. Despite being sick, I’ve maintained my eating healthy and calorie counting. I’ve splurged a little bit on comfort food (grilled cheese, ramen noodles, etc.) but made sure I stayed in my daily limit. And it paid off!

I got on the scale this morning and had officially lost 5 pounds!


Yep. I totally felt as excited as that girl.

I know it doesn’t see like a lot…but I can definitely already feel my pants loosening up and just feeling overall a lot better health wise. As soon as the coughing subsides, back to to the gym I go. I mean, I need to lose another 5 before I head to DC in March!

Cue disgusting picture. I know nasty… But that’s what I lost!

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Okay short post today. Just be forewarned… When I lose another five, you may see the Carlton dance happen.

 

 

Just kidding. Or you’ll totally see it now :)

An Active Weekend

Happy Monday everyone! Big surprise, we got more snow overnight. Oh the joys of living in New England. At least it made for a lovely morning with the sun shining off the snow covered trees!

Downtown Amesbury

My never-ending cold is currently ahead in the standings. Just when I though I was beginning to feel better this weekend, I woke up on Sunday morning minus my voice. Touché cold…touché. I could talk a little bit yesterday, however today, it’s gone. Cold – 1 Eryn – 0.

Despite my cold, I had a great weekend and I hope everyone else did too! I started it out on the right foot, beginning Friday night by hitting the gym with Nick. I was in a bit of a funk on Friday afternoon and after a solid 45 minute workout, I felt great and back to myself. Instead of my normal 2 miles on the treadmill, I decided to up my workout by climbing on the elliptical. I turned my music on and went to town. Despite my miles screaming and gasping for air, I zoned out and just went as hard as I could. All of a sudden, 12 minutes had gone by! I couldn’t believe it. Initially, I planned for a 30 minute workout, but instead of aiming for that goal, I started giving myself little challenges. First, I wanted to hit 2 miles, which I did around the 20 minute mark. Then I aimed for 2.5 miles, followed by 30 minutes, which quickly turned into 3 miles. At one point, I had my speed up to about 7.6 (never happened to me before!). When it was all said and done, I had completed 3.03 miles and burned 315 calories in 35 minutes! I was so proud of myself. I haven’t done that in a long time!

The proof.

While I waited for Nick to finish up on the Stairmaster, I hopped on a bike for about ten minutes. 45 minutes and 370 calories later, my weekend had begun.

Dinner is usually the real adventure in our house. At night, we are usually both so exhausted that we eat the easiest thing we can, which usually is salads or sandwiches. Friday night, despite being exhausted, I wanted to make ‘pizza’. A restaurant across the street from my work began making pizzas using tortilla wraps as the crust this past week and I was DYING to try it out myself. Nick made his Mexican in style while mine was more Greek. Below is how I made it.

Tortilla Pizzas – Greek Style

  • Taco sized whole wheat wrap
  • 2 tablespoons of Tribe Everything Hummus as the sauce
  • 2 oz of Grilled Chicken
  • 1/2 cup of chopped mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup of black olives (my obsession, although probably not a healthy one)
  • 1/2 cup of Mexican Cheese (Clearly not Greek, but only shredded cheese we had)

After completing putting it together, we baked the pizzas for about 10 minutes at 350. Basically until the tortilla looks crispy and the cheese fully melted.

When we pulled them out, they smelled DELICIOUS! I couldn’t wait to dig in.

All done!

Eating it was a challenge. We ended up folding it like a taco….thus turning it from a pizza…to a taco.

I also treated myself to a glass of one of my favorite wines, Cupcake Pinot Grigio. I’m a huge fan of all of their wines. They are inexpensive and well-made!

Saturday was a typical busy day for me. I teach riding lessons at the farm I grew up riding at. I teach all beginners and love every second of it. After arriving a bit early to see what my day would look like and realizing I had a bit of time, I saddled up my favorite lesson horse and headed to our indoor arena for a morning ride. Horseback riding has always been my escape. It’s my yoga. Every time I ride, I hop off feeling refreshed and ready to conquer the world. This ride was no different. Lucas and I had a great ride and we spoiled with a yummy peppermint after.

He’s just the cutest.

The rest of the weekend was filled with errands, cleaning and a bridal shower for one of my good friends on Sunday (I’m a bridesmaid!). And of course, trying to coax my voice to come back. Doctors appointment today to see what’s going on!

This morning did start on the right foot, despite not being able to talk. A cup of hot coffee was waiting for me thanks to my wonderful fiancé (Current coffee obsession: Vanilla Macadamia Nut by Kauai) and a protein shake for breakfast. I’m a big fan of the Lean Protein for Her shakes. They aren’t chalky and they taste like chocolate ice cream. In the past, I’ve mixed it with water but today I used Silk Almond Milk. We recently made the switch over to Almond Milk in our house and are loving the change.

Planning to hit the gym tonight as long as the coughing fits subside and the doctors says its okay. Either way, it’s day 3 of The Gorilla Workout!

What did you do over the weekend to stay active? Did you discover a new favorite recipe?

Squats: Challenge Accepted

Happy Friday everyone! I woke up to the warm sun coming through my slider, a nice hot cup of coffee…oh, and some extremely sore muscles from Day 2 of The Gorilla Workout. Yesterday's workout may not have seemed like much for someone who is out of shape as I am, it was definitely to easy. Day 2 consisted of 2 rounds of 15 Superman's and 15 Dead Bug's. The Superman's aren't awful and remind me a bit of doing 'The Swan' in Pilates, except instead of just your chest, you pick your legs and arms off the ground.

The Dead Bugs were a different story. For one thing, this move solidified what I've always known. I have ZERO coordination. Zip, zilch, nada. Like it wasn't even an out of shape thing. It took me, literally, three minutes, just to figure out how to put my left leg straight and my right arm back. It shouldn't take anyone that long to figure that out. Secondly, they look fairly innocent a first. Until I got about 5 or 6 deep. Then I wanted to cry. Clearly I have no ab strength right now.

I wish I looked as graceful as that. She's making it look easy....

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But we got through it. Of course we snuck a peek at Day 3 which is 4 rounds of 10 modified push-ups and 10 squats. Which of course called for me attempting a squat. This led into quite the discussion about how I'm doing them wrong and Nick proceeding to show me. As I attempted to do them the correct way, I realized that I flat out could not do one without lifting my heels to get down. Of course now I've realized that when I did Day 1, I probably did them completely incorrect thus not helping myself at all. Then another thought goes through my head…'Am I really THAT out of shape that I can't even do a squat?!' I blame my short tendons from my years of riding… (Totally a legit excuse right?). For the record, it can not be used as an excuse because I should be able to lengthen them by stretching and I am in fact just wicked out of shape.

So when I woke up this morning, I had brand spanky new determination at mastering squats. I was going to be able to do them if its the last thing I do! I may have to use a wall for a bit to build up some strength but I'm going to do it. So as I contemplated this post over my new favorite breakfast, Black Cherry Chobani with Cinnamon Raisin granola, I reminded myself that the best way to overcome something challenging is to work through it and challenging yourself. So I consider myself challenged.

Mmmmm....breakfast!
On a side note, every time I hear 'squats', I immediately picture LMFAO busting into the room and begin singing…. Is that weird?
 

Planning to hit the gym later for some cardio!

What is the one exercise that you find the most challenging? How did you overcome it?