ashleyd /

Yoplait Greek Review and Goddess Giveaway

Are you ready to appreciate and nourish your inner goddess? Don’t we all deserve an at home spa treatment after hours of stress, hard work, and exercise? Yoplait agrees!


I discovered this fact when the friendly folks at Yoplait and Myblogspark sent me the Yoplait Greek Goddess pack. This pack is in honor of their new Greek yogurt which encourages women to nourish their inner goddess. The prize pack included 2 coupons towards the yogurt, comfy slippers, a full size white towel wrap, and a home spa kit including a loofah and other goodies.

I was most excited about the yogurt coupons and the wrap. I had a DG wrap all through college that I loved due to it’s convenience. I’ve already taken this wrap to the gym so my hands free blow drying days can return. I’m tired of holding the towel with one hand and the blow dryer with the other!

I’m not going to lie, it took me a while to find the Yoplait Greek Yogurt in NYC which was a bit annoying. As a health and food blogger I didn’t mind but I know the average person wouldn’t go out of their way to find a product when there are multiple similar products available in wider distribution. The new yogurt comes in four flavors: honey, plain, blueberry, and strawberry. I wasn’t able to find the honey in my stores. Once I found the new product, I first checked out the nutritional information which was pretty good but still had more sugar than I normally like in my yogurt. The plain flavor has lower sugar and calories than the flavored ones and all pack a whopping 30% of recommended daily calcium!
nutritionlabel
I bought the blueberry and strawberry to sample since these tend to be my favorite Oikos or Chobani flavors. This morning I used this in my “morning mess” in place of my Dannon Light n Fit or Chobani. Unlike Chobani, there weren’t any chunks or separation in this yogurt. It was very thick, creamy, and smooth while also having a tasty not too sweet flavor.
Yoplait has some great resources on their website including recipes, coupons, and more information about their wonderful breast cancer initiative. I was impressed by the number of recipes they already have posted for this new product. My favorite is the lemon blueberry muffins. I have a soft spot in my heart for all things blueberry. These would make a great spring treat especially since the price of blueberries is decreasing daily in NYC!

Lemon-Blueberry MuffinsPrep Time: 15 min
Start to Finish: 30 min

Ingredients

1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 container (6 oz) Yoplait® Greek Fat Free honey vanilla yogurt
1 egg
1 3/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup fresh or frozen (do not thaw) blueberries
1. Heat oven to 400ºF. Grease bottoms only of 12 regular-size muffins cups, or line with paper baking cups.
2. In large bowl, beat milk, oil, yogurt and egg using wire whisk or fork. Stir in remaining ingredients except blueberries, until flour is moistened. Gently stir in blueberries. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
3. Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan.

If you click here you can print a $0.30 coupon.

Now, I want to ensure one of you has the opportunity to rest and relax goddess style! Yoplait will send an identical prize pack to one lucky reader. All you have to do is enter! Here’s the how:

1) Which flavor of Yoplait Greek yogurt would you most like to try?

For extra entries feel free to do the following:
-Tweet about the giveaway: “@healthyhappier wants you to win the Yoplait Greek Goddess prize pack and nourish your inner goddess http://alturl.com/u5f4” and let me know via comment

-Blog about this giveaway linking to this post and let me know via comment.



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ashleyd /

Going to the Big D Dallas

By the time most of you guys are reading this post, I’ll be safe and sound in Dallas, Texas.
 
I have an insanely early flight out of Newark tomorrow morning and still have to finish packing. My trip to Dallas is 100% work related but there are a few highlights:
-80 degree weather and a hotel with a pool means that I’ll hopefully be conducting conference calls poolside at least a few hours
-shopping at Nordstrom 
-getting to work with a few co-workers who I rarely see but speak to via email or phone daily
-my own delightful queen size Heavenly bed at the Westin
 
As some of you know, my job is in the fragrance industry and therefore a portion of this trip will be spent conducting store walks with my team to see what retailers and our competition is doing in store. This means that i’ll be on my feet for at least 8 hours each day. How I wish i’d already purchased these gems to wear all day!
 
I absolutely love Cole Haan’s Nike line and unfortunately ruined my only pair on NYE during my epic walk home in the snow. Oh well!
My packed bag does include a few great items perfect for a week long business trip:
–Yoga Tune Up balls for some in room muscle therapy 
-iPod filled with a new playlist and some workout podcasts I downloaded today including 2 Physique 57 podcasts
-workout clothes Per Meghann’s suggestion, i’m going to use the hotel gym to focus on speed and strength this week versus endurance. My goal is 2 days of speed workouts and one day of hills on the treadmill and then arm/abs each day. Luckily Westin Hotels are known for their Reebok gyms!
-Crest White Strips All the questions regarding tooth whitening has made me realize that it has been a while since I focused on my own pearly whites. With Meg’s wedding coming up it seems like the perfect time to start a whitening routine again especially since I know i’ll have some down time in the late evening
-Kindle: Bo and I are both obsessed with our Kindles and use them each day on the subway commute to catch up on news and books. I just finished my last book and would love recommendations. What is your favorite running book and what is your favorite fiction book that you’ve read lately?
 
Congratulations to Ashley for winning my Pearly Whites giveaway. Please email me your mailing address and i’ll mail the loot when I return from Dallas.
 
 
 


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A Tough Morning Can Only Improve from There and Galaxy Granola Winner

Last night ended up being one of those wonderful random nights with friends where it gets better as the night continues. What started as drinks with the girls at Monkey Bar progressed to beers and laughs at Rudy’s Bar and ended with Korean BBQ at Wonjo, mustaches, and more alcohol. Needless to say, this wasn’t exactly the perfect preparation for the NYRR Scotland 10K. But, sometimes you just have to focus on the present and deal with the morning later. That’s what last night was all about as you can see from the pictures below.

This morning’s thoughts about the NYRR Scotland 10K went a bit like this (Thanks Fit Chick for the recap inspiration)
Midnight: I finally decided that I had to go to bed if I was in fact going to run the 10K in the morning.
7:45: Wow, I haven’t slept this late in ages! But then I stood up and felt it. Parched mouth, sore legs, and a headache. I guess the 2 beers, Monkey Bar pina colada, and Korean sake equivalent caught up with me. In addition, last night’s food didn’t sit with me very well. The first order of business was lots of water. Then I enjoyed my normal pre-race breakfast but decreased the banana and peanut butter portion since it was only a 10K. 
8:15am: Time to get dressed! I decided to go with crop pants and a t-shirt since it was supposed to be at least 60 degrees.  I’m absolutely loving my new Lululemon spring running gear! The week of the NYC Half I purchased new crop pants and a t-shirt from Lululemon. I highly recommend their Swiftly Tech tee if you want something to keep you cool and comfortable.
8:40am: Finally got Bo out of bed and moving for the race. Needless to say he was moving EVEN slower than me. We grabbed our toast to go and headed for the subway.
9:15am: Wow, picking up our bibs the morning of the race is easier than I thought! This was the first race where we haven’t picked up our packets ahead of time. This race was organized very well at the beginning and it was easy to pick up our registration, laugh at all the Scottish paraphernalia, and store our bags at Equinox. We always store our bags at the Columbus Circle Equinox before Central Park runs so we can easily shower there afterwards.  

9:45 Parted ways with Bo as he headed for the orange corral for those sub 8 people as I headed back towards the sub 10 corral. Well, after passing THREE corrals I finally hopped in the gray corral because I didn’t have time to walk back three more corrals. There were more corrals for this race than any other race I’ve participated in thus far. After crouching under and starting to stretch someone actually told me I was in the wrong corral. *sigh* I wasn’t about to leave that corral because I knew it was too late for me to get in another one. NYRR close corrals 10 minutes before the race start. If you’re not in by then you have to go to the very back. 
10:00: The bagpipes and anthem signal the start of the race. I’m able to watch the elite sprint up the hill and can only watch in amazement. Their running form and style really is beautiful. I continue stretching since I know it’ll be at least 5-10 minutes before we start moving since the race is so crowded. 
10:09: I finally cross the start and am annoyed to see that they only have 1/2 the path marked off for the race. This means that the first few miles are going to be tight until everyone spreads out. The dogwoods and flowers near the start are absolutely gorgeous! It’s incredible how quickly Spring has sprung in Central Park.
10:15: When will the people start to thin out? I realize that there is most likely no chance for a PR in this race even though I’m feeling a bit better than expected. I’m constantly dodging around people. How is it that even though I was in a faster pace group there are still people WALKING? We’re not even a mile in yet! It took a great deal of effort to sprint ahead of them.
10:35: I had the great pleasure to see Megan for the SECOND time and gained some great positive energy from her cheering and high fives! I love the positive energy that comes from friends along the sidelines. Thanks Megan for cheering!
10:40: I pass the 3 mile marker and know that I have a huge switch back coming up and then the rest is mostly downhill or flat. If I can hit negative splits for the remaining three miles I have a chance to beat last year’s time (1:04). I switch my music over to Girl Talk to give me a bit of energy. I also decide that thanks to the Vitamin Water Zero I chugged before the race I can save time by skipping the water stops. 
10:52: After doing my best to speed through the hill everything slams into me like a brick wall. Last night’s food and drink, the Vitamin Water, and the heat. I suddenly feel weak and my legs are like lead. I do the math in my head and realize that I only have 15 more minutes of this and if I can push through i’ll be done. I start to practice deep yoga like breathing as I run. I also realize at this point that I should stop and enjoy the spring flowers in Central Park. I vowed to spend the rest of the time focusing on the beautiful scenery around me versus the agony that is my legs and side stitch.
11:07: I can see the 6 mile sign in front of me and know the finish is close. My goal is to sprint to the finish in hopes of beating last year’s time. Well, unfortunately 1/2 the people forgot that this was a 6.2 mile race and not a 6 mile race. As I was finishing half the people started walking or slow jogging. Therefore, the last quarter mile felt like de ja vu. 
11:10: DONE! Even though I finished 32 seconds short of a PR I decide to focus on the positive. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, Bo and I both ran the race even though we felt less than stellar, and we had a wonderful Friday night with friends. 
Lessons learned: Don’t chug an entire bottle of Vitamin Water before a race, when the running gets tough focus on the scenery, and a rough morning can only get better! 

After the race I quickly texted Bo to see how he’d done. Evidently the second round of Korean Sake and late night Seinfield watching caught up with him. He averaged a 9:44 pace which is a full minute and half more per mile than normal. Guess I did better than I thought 🙂 I hurried over to Equinox to shower and head downtown because I had big lunch plans! I was meeting Kath and some local readers and bloggers for lunch at Chelsea Market!
IMG_9625 (640x427)
That story and the rest of my wonderful Saturday (reading on the High Line, mani/pedi, and date night with Bo) will have to come tomorrow as now I have to hit the sack because we have wonderful Easter plans with our friends. We’re going to Easter service at Forefront Church with Lauren and Casey and then joining them and eight others for brunch at Pete’s.

GALAXY GRANOLA WINNER GOES TO: Heather (Heather’s Dish) said…

oh, easy…cranberry orange! i love that combo and think it would be amazing on yogurt 🙂 
Please email me your mailing address so we can ship the granola! Thanks and congratulations


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