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Friday Favorites – March Edition

Happy Friday! I took the day off to enjoy a Spring ski date with Bo. We spent the day skiing together in Verbier before our friends arrive this evening. I can’t believe we only have two ski weekends left this season! It seems like just yesterday it was December and the season was beginning!

boashleydate 

Today was a true Spring ski day as the weather was in the high 40s and sunshine and blue sky surrounded us.

It’s time for this week’s dose of Friday Favorites.

Since Emily always bakes cakes to celebrate everyone else’s birthday, I felt it only appropriate to bake her dream cake this week. This peanut butter cup cake turned out perfectly! 

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

The Lululemon Wild tank has quickly become my favorite workout tank. I’ve worn it to yoga twice and have loved the way it stays in place during the moves. For last week’s boot  camp workout the bra held everything in place while the open back kept me cool.Lululemon Wild Tank

Life is all about balance, so when we’re not enjoying the sinfully rich chocolate peanut butter cake we’re whipping up kale salads. We made two kale salads this week, both from Cookie+Kate. Last night’s Kale, Clementine and Feta salad was winter sunshine in a bowl.  Bo loved her Asian Kale salad, which was filling and flavorful. Kale’s heartier texture and crunch has been a fun change from our usual salad base. We loved the dressings for each of these salads so much that we discussed making them again to keep in our refrigerator.

Kale Clementine and Feta SaladAsian Kale Sald

I discovered Bioderma eye makeup remover when I stayed with Charlie and since then I’ve been a huge fan. While this is a French cult beauty product, I’ve seen it on a number of other beauty blogs over the years and it seems to be available on Amazon and other US beauty sites.  It is unscented, doesn’t sting your eyes, and removes my liquid eye liner and mascara in just a few swipes. Feel free to use it across your entire face, not just your eye area, before you wash your face.

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Kygo and Natalie La Rose have been adding some extra energy to my workouts this week, compliments of Spotify! Add Firestone and Somebody to your playlists immediately if not sooner.

What are you loving this week?

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Free Workout in London – Project Awesome

Waking up early to squeeze in a workout before work is never easy. In fact, for many, it feels downright impossible.

Project Awesome, helps get London out of bed each Wednesday and Friday morning by promising them free fitness, enthusiasm and fun. Especially helpful during the rainy, cold, dark mornings one can’t help but smile when they hear the commotion coming from The Scoop, the group’s Wednesday meeting location. Similar to the November Project in the United States, Project Awesome is all about showing up and holding yourself accountable to working out regardless the weather!

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Danny Bent, an enthusiastic and spirited guy sporting short shorts and tons of muscles, makes the workout feel like a party. He brings a great playlist and speaker each week and screams the workout to the group in a non-threatening, supportive manner.  In fact, he gives sweaty hugs to all the newbies and prides himself on knowing everyone’s name!

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Each Wednesday the group completes a body weight workout that lasts 45 minutes. The workout varies but many things are consistently a part of the routine: squats, burpees, pushups and stairs. The ampitheatre lends itself to stair climbing. They are a killer workout since they are so steep. My calves and glutes were burning after just a few minutes!

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Luckily we mixed up the stairs and body weight workouts with my running over Tower Bridge. I couldn’t get over the sunshine and views yesterday morning as a group of us chatted our way back and forth over the bridge. As we passed fellow project members we gave high fives and motivated each runner to go just a bit faster.

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These pictures can’t do the energy levels justice! Everyone was smiling their way through the workout, even during the group squats which lasted almost five minutes! At the end of every workout the group takes a pictures, a fun way to document the fun. As you can see there were around 40 people at yesterday’s class, ranging in age from 10 years old to mid 40s.

If you’re traveling to London or a local, head over to the Facebook page to find out more and join Charlie and company for their weekly workout. I guarantee you will feel the burn and have a blast! They meet each Wednesday at The Scoop, next to Tower Bridge, at 6:30am and each Friday at Primrose Hill. Don’t be surprised if someone hugs you upon arrival, screams your name as you’re dashing up the stairs or invites you to coffee afterwards. This group is all about the fun and camaraderie!

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The Perfect Weekend Combination

Man did we need this weekend more than we realized. There wasn’t one aspect of the weekend that made it stand out but instead, the overall combination of the 48 hours. There was a perfect mix of relaxation, fun, productivity, workouts and sleep!

After a manicure & pedicure, I headed home to spend the evening on the couch catching up on our favorite shows while sipping our way through a bottle of Italian Valpolicella wine and a lamb dish which I’ve already requested be repeated.

braised lamb

Saturday morning I headed out for a much-needed solo run. As I mentioned in last week’s training recap, my training has felt out of sorts due to illness. I needed a run to clear my mind and build some confidence. Luckily Geneva delivered sunshine, blue sky and empty running paths for Saturday morning’s run. I was feeling so strong after the run that I ended up running two more miles later in the day.

Running in Geneva

Bo and I then had some fun in the kitchen together, whipping up a new breakfast recipe, whole wheat protein pancakes. Filled with protein, these were fluffier than I expected and the perfect healthy breakfast option for weekends or weekdays. Next time I want to try adding blueberries or bananas to the batter!

Whole wheat protein pancakes

With these pancakes to serve as fuel, we turned on a fun playlist and spent the next five hours deep cleaning our apartment. We’re talking vacuuming and mopping under furniture, dusting, and organizing until dripping with sweat. Deep cleaning is hard work, but so gratifying afterward!

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Our reward for the hard work was a double date with Lauren and Ryan. Most of our friends were out of town this weekend due to the recent snowfall, so it was a pure last minute coincidence that we both found ourselves in Geneva with no plans Saturday night. Lauren and I enjoyed introducing our gentlemen to Kytaly, an Italian restaurant that recently opened in Geneva.

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Since Saturday was plenty productive, our goal for Sunday was to relax. We didn’t set an alarm, we didn’t change out of pajamas until our afternoon workout, and we didn’t leave the house all day. I finished the final 100 pages in Big Little Lies in between sips of a homemade cinnamon latte. I loved all the twists and turns in the book. We peeled ourselves off the couch later in the afternoon for two back to back DailyBurn workouts, Inferno Power and 5/10 in Nine, for a total of 45 minutes of moves that left us super sweaty and VERY sore!

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We cooked together Sunday  night, experimenting with kale and making a great dinner including this warm kale salad and roasted cauliflower. Last but not least, we ended the weekend watching Birdman on the couch. Birdman was, how do I say it, interesting and deserving of many awards but not exactly my type of movie.

Oh well. Luckily the rest of the weekend was better than those two hours. This weekend was the perfect combination of what we needed before lots of travel!

How was your weekend?

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