Helloooo! Happy Friday! How’s the week going and what are you up to this weekend? December is acting like it has somewhere to be, and even though I tried to get ahead on things, I still feel behind. I keep trying to remind myself that you don’t have to do ALL of the things for the holiday season to be memorable and fun, but I tend to put that pressure on myself, ya know? I’d love to hear what you have going on! P has a birthday party and we have an event on Sunday. It will be nice to sleep in and catch a yoga class!

Friendly reminder that you have one week left to enter this year’s favorite things giveaway!

Pic of our tree:

It’s tiny compared to last year’s 15 foot giant, but Frida has prime real estate in there now. I can’t move her! So we put our Christmas tree in the den (where we have shorter ceilings) and I have to say, I’m a fan. It’s so cozy and I feel like we get to see it and enjoy it more than we could in the formal living room.

It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below.

Friday Faves

Life:

We enjoyed a lovely Christmas dinner with friends last weekend. Their house was decorated like a winter wonderland, and we enjoyed the best Mediterranean food and appetizers, wine, and the kids played before having their own Secret Santa exchange. We even had a surprise visit from Santa – it was amazing. 

(He had his beard up high to help conceal his identity lol)

Read, watch, listen:

These five things can shrink your brain.

The “red beret” girl in the new Matilda movie. (Her real name is Meesha Garbett!) I can’t wait to watch this on Netflix with the crew next weekend.

I didn’t love the book, bu

Hi friends! Hope you’re having a lovely week. So excited to share today’s podcast episode with you! I’m chatting with Lauren Papanos, MS, RD, CSSD about fitness, hormones, and nutrition.

118: Strength training, carbs, and happy hormones with Lauren Papanos, MS, RD, CSSD

Here’s what we talk about in today’s episode: 

– Strength training and its impact on hormone function

– Why we need carbs and which carbs to choose

– How our habits affect hormone function

– What an ideal day of nutrition looks like for her

and so.much.more.

 Here’s more about Lauren and her background:

Lauren Papanos is a nationally licensed and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. She holds her board certification in Sports Nutrition as well as advanced specialties in integrative medicine and women’s endocrine nutrition. She is the owner of the private practice, Functional Fueling Nutrition where she offers consulting, group programs and courses. She has been featured on national television and in Women’s Health, Shape Magazine, Insider and Today’s Dietitian magazine. She is the host of the Strength in Hormones Podcast where she educates and empowers women on sensible and natural solutions to hormone healing. You can learn more about Lauren and her practice at functionalfueling.com and connect with her on Instagram.

Resources from this episode:

The weather is cooling down, and I’m still obsessed with my sauna blanket. It feels even BETTER when it’s chilly outside and you can use the code FITNESSISTA15 for 15% off! This is one of my favorite ways to relax and sweat it out. I find that it energizes me, helps with aches and pains, I sleep better on the days I use this, and it makes my skin glow. Link to check it out here. You can also use my discount for the PEMF Go Mat, which I use every day!

I love love love the meals from Sakara Life! Read more

Sharing my thoughts on what fitness gear is worth the hype, and worth the investment, and what I think is overrated and should be skipped. 

Helloooooo! How are ya? I hope you’re enjoying the week. Thank you so much to those of you who have entered the giveaway and answered my yearly survey – I appreciate your help so much.

We’re in the middle of the December sprint – so many events and fun parties – but I’m popping in to chat about fitness gear. I feel like so many people are getting a head start on things this year, especially with New Years’ goals and prep. Group fitness classes are already bumping, and my fellow trainer friends said they’re also getting booked quickly for January and February. (I have 3 coaching spots left for Jan. If you’re looking for 1:1 nutrition coaching or fitness programming, you can apply here.)

Since many of us are prepping home gyms, scoping out fitness gear, wellness goodies, and nutrition options, I thought I’d do a roundup of some of my top picks. There are a LOT of things to choose from and it can get overwhelming! Also, I’ve found that some hyped-up options have been disappointing in real life. I’m sharing my picks in the list below, and also sharing your submissions from Instagram. (Ones with a * are from Instagram responses.)

Worth the hype:

Peloton

I’ve had my Peloton for about 4 years now, and love it just as much as I did when I first got it. The bike is high-quality and I always enjoy the classes. You can check out my full review here!

Oura ring

The Oura ring is the same thing; it still brings me as much joy as I did when I purchased it. My only gripe now is that the battery life seems to work for less time and I have to charge it more frequently, but it seems to happen with most electronics after a couple of years. My full review is here. 

Apple watch

The Apple watch is another thing I wear every day and love it. It does encourage me to move more throughout the day, even though sometimes I think it encourages overtraining. For example, my Oura ring will tell me I need a rest and my Apple Watch tells me to crush my next workout. I do think it’s very handy and w

Read on for my biggest Favorite Things giveaway to date and how to enter these amazing prizes!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year….

Favorite Things is here!

Annual Survey + Favorite Things Giveaway is here!

I’ve been doing this type of giveaway for years now as a way to share gratitude with some lucky reader friends. You make this little corner of the internet the amazing space it’s become.

It’s still mindblowing to think that I started this blog 13 years ago, as a newlywed who was interested in fitness and health, and was craving some type of connection with those who enjoyed similar things. Who would have even known I’d get to *meet* all of you, and also be able to live my dream every day???

Being able to work from home and be here for the kids is everything to me – especially with a husband who travels frequently and has an unpredictable schedule – and I also get to virtually hang out with ya’ll, chatting about fitness-y and fun topics. So I hope you know how grateful I am every.single.day that you help make that happen.

Every click, comment, follow, product purchase, and pageview directly helps our family and I am beyond thankful to you all.

Let’s celebrate with a little giveaway, shall we??

Here are the prizes that are up for grabs:

(10 winners! Each winner will choose the prize they would like, in the order the names are drawn)

– A HigherDOSE sauna blanket or PEMF Go Mat (1 winner. Thank you SO much to my friends at HigherDOSE for sponsoring this portion of the giveaway)

– 3 days of Sakara meals (1 winner)

– Beautycounter goodies and amethyst jade rollers (3 winners)

– gold-plated medallion necklace (similar); the same one I wear every day (2 winners)

– A pair of Vuori performance joggers (1 winner)

– A year of Fit Team membership (1 winner)

– A container of Daily Nutritional Support (1 winner)

Total value: approx. $1700

Here’s how to enter:

– Leave a comment below with something

Hi hi! Happy Friday! Happy weekend to ya. What do you have going on? We have a Christmas dinner at a friend’s house, a squadron Christmas party, a birthday party, and two birthday brunches. So many fun activities packed into the weekend! I’m hoping that in between the events, we can catch up on some house stuff (and that I can finally tackle the laundry mountain that’s taken over our bed. I was doing a load each night, and things just got out of hand very quickly…).

Something exciting on the way: Favorite Things starts MONDAY! Be sure to check back here.. the prizes are SO good and I can’t wait to hook up 10 reader friends with some of my all-time favorite things.

Please take a couple of minutes to fill out my annual blog survey. This will get you a head start on an extra entry for the giant giveaway! Your survey responses are invaluable to me and they help me create my entire content calendar for the new year. Please take 3 minutes here to fill out your copy.

It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about things that you’re loving, too, so please shout them out in the comments section below.

Friday Faves

Learn:

One of my big goals for 2023 is to figure out TikTok. I fought it for SO long, but the reality is that’s where people are hanging out right now. And as a consumer of the platform, I love it. It took the algorithm a little while to get to *know* me, but it definitely knows me now. (Bring on all of the incredible choreography, chef life behind the scenes, singing videos, interior decorating, fashion tips, and quick recipe videos.) I really want to start creating content on TikTok and providing value in a new way, but I feel overwhelmed by the platform, especially with the different editing methods and features.

Thankfully, my friend Amber – we were in Jill’s mastermind together – just created a course ALL about TikTok, along with a masterclass, and I’m so pumped to do it. She’s been crushing it over there (274k followers!), and she’s going to share her tips and strategies. I know this might not be applicable to everyone, but also know that a lot of reader friends have online businesses and are involved in social media, so if you’d like to join me in her TikTok course, the link is here!

It’s $200 off right now and the price jumps on Monday when the course begins.

(Amber is on the far right of this pic from our Scottsdale trip about a month ago)

We’ll be on Instagram live today talking about TikTok if you want to join in then, too – I’d love t