Hi friends! Happy weekend! What do you have going on? We have an event for the girls’ school and I’m looking forward to teaching barre and hopefully catching a hike. The weather has been a dream this week! I’d love to hear what you’re up to. I also wanted to add a little note that I’m praying for safety for my friends in Hurricane Ian’s path. <3

It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some 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.

A random note: I ended up canceling our fall break trip to NYC. We have a lot of reasons for deciding to postpone the trip, but decided we’d rather do a Disney cruise in the new year instead. When I told the kids, they were SO pumped, so I know we made the right choice! I’m also kind of glad that fall break will be more low-key, especially since we’re heading into the Pilot’s birthday, P’s birthday, Halloween, my birthday and a wedding, Thanksgiving through the New Year into Liv’s birthday. It’s all fun stuff – my fave time of year- but it can definitely be a lot. Do you have any upcoming trips planned?

Pic from our last cruise!

Friday Faves

Read, watch, listen:

I loved reading about these happy moments.

Five meditation retreat practices to try at home.

Don’t forget to listen to this week’s podcast episode about why diets don’t work.

If you’re looking to start a daily journal practice, check out this 5-minute journal. I’m ordering one to use in 2023.

Fitness + good eats:

Thai peanut chicken thighs.

Apple cider donut loaf CAKE?! I’m in.

Full fall fitness plan here!

Family dinner at Calle Tepa is always a winner. I feel like it’s one of the most underrated Mexican spots in Tucson; it’s been a go-to for years.

Fashion + beauty:

If you’ve been wanting to take advantage of the 30% off for new Beautycounter clients, it ends tonight! The discount will go back down to 20% on the 1st. Click he

Hi friends! Happy Thursday! I have a new podcast episode and can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this one.

Today, I’m chatting with Lisa Moskovitz, RD, all about quieting the diet noise and why diets don’t work.

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

How to quiet the diet noise: how become a more confident, autonomous, and intuitive eater, and improve your relationship with food

How to move the needle towards fitness and weight loss goals in a healthy way

Why  diets don’t work: how they actually bring you further away from finding your healthiest, happiest weight

How diets impact your metabolism

Her tips for being Healthy in Real Life

and so.much.more.

I LOVED today’s conversation and hope that you’ll take a listen!

111: Why diets don’t work with Lisa Moskovitz, RD

Here’s a bit more about Lisa and her background:

Lisa Moskovitz, RD, is a registered dietitian, the CEO of NY Nutrition Group, a large group nutrition practice and the author of The Core 3 Healthy Eating Plan, a personalized, science-based guide to finding your healthiest, happiest weight. She received a BS in nutrition from Syracuse University and then went on to complete an intensive dietetic internship at NYPresbyterian Hospital. Since then, she has accumulated over a decade of experience in private practice, providing nutrition workshops and working with the media. Lisa is regularly featured in major publications such as Well + Good, Eat This Not That, Yahoo Health and is often interviewed for popular news channels such as Fox 5 NY, CBS News and Inside Edition.

Check out her website here, her Instagram here, and get a copy of The Core 3 Healthy Eating Plan (use Core20 for 20% off!).

Resources from this episode:

I love love love the meals from Sakara Life! Use this link and the code XOGINAH for 20% off their meal delivery and clean boutique items. This is something I do once a month as a lil treat to myself and the meals are always showstoppers.

Get 15% off Organifi with the code FITNESSISTA. I drink the green juice, red juice, gold, and Harmony! (Each day I might have something different, or have two different things. Everything I’ve tried is amazing.)

The weather is cooling down, and I’m still obsessed with my sauna blanket. It fe

Sharing some tips for easy meal planning for the busy moms out there + a template you can use.

Hi friends! How’s the day going so far? I hope you’re having a good morning! I’m getting things ready for Fit Team (join us here and get your new workouts on the 28th!) and have a podcast interview later today. Thank you so much for letting me know that you enjoy the old school more conversational type blog posts. I will definitely add them more frequently into the content rotation.

For today post, I wanted to chat a bit about meal planning because it is SAVIN.OUR.BACON right now. (Time-wise and money-wise!) We are in the thick of evening activities and events, and if I don’t know what we’re going to eat, it leads to random hodge lodge meals or takeout. It’s absolutely worth sitting down each week to plan our meals (at least our dinners) and making a list for one big grocery stop.

Taking some time to meal plan each week takes the guesswork and last-minute dinner stress out of the equation, and is a great way to save time, money and effort. Planning, preparing, and cooking healthy meals takes time, and meal planning in advance can help us make healthy meals for the family on a more consistent basis. It also maximizes trips to the grocery story and makes mom life a bit easier overall! I figured it was time I dedicated a post on practical meal planning for my busy mom friends out there.

Easy Meal Planning For Busy Moms

Setting aside time to make a weekly meal plan

Set aside 30 minutes or so each weekend to create your plan for the week. For us, dinners are the most important, but I also have an idea of what I’m going to pack in the girls’ lunches and make for breakfasts. Plan out as many meals as you’d like for the week, emphasizing dinner and weekly staples.

Create a master list

After you’ve planned out your meals, make a master grocery list including all of the ingredients. Take inventory of your pantry and fridge to avoid buying duplicates, unless you like having backups on hand.

Keep track of meals that work

If you find a meal that’s a home run for the family, hold it in your heart FOREVER. Until you make it again and they don’t like it the next time? (Kids can be a mystery sometimes, I tell ya.) I keep a running cheatsheet in my phone of meals the kids have really loved and will come back to them. We also have some staple dishes (like the ones in this post) that I know will always be a hit.

Read more

Hi friends! How was the weekend? I hope you had an amazing one. This blog post is a way to bring it back old school and share some more real-life adventures. Quite a few of you let me know that you missed the style of blogging from the past (I do, too!) so I’m trying to do it in a way that’s low-key and still focused on my experience, instead of the kids’ experience if that makes sense? It can be tricky because the kids are obviously a huge part of my life (and by far the most exciting and such an enjoyable part of my life). I’m still trying to navigate blogging in a way that feels authentic to me without overdoing it on kid content, while continuing to create value-driven posts, too.

If you guys enjoy this and want more everyday-style posts, let me know!

This weekend was a wild one and packed with so many fun adventures. Friday night, we went to a local fall festival with the fam. My dad, stepmom, aunt, cousins, Kyle and Meg, and their kiddos were all there.

We also ran into so many familiar faces that evening! Tucson is a small world, but feels smaller the longer we stay here.

BEFORE fall festival, the Pilot took P to a birthday party while I took Liv to dance, so P had double fun times. The kids played in the obstacle courses, got their faces painted, did the cake walk and bingo thing, and it was a blast.

Saturday morning, P had a soccer game, I took care of some work stuff and chores, and then one of Liv’s best friends came over for a sleepover.

We took the crew to sushi at Ginza,

(dress is here! Heads up that it runs big, so if you’re in between sizes, I’d size down)

and then picked up one of P’s friends so she would have a buddy, too. We headed to the mall, where the younger kids hit up the giant arcade with the Pilot, the older girls and I went to Claire’s and got boba teas.

We made it back to the arcade for some motorcycle races, Dance Dance Revolution, and then grabbed ice cream before P’s friend went home.Read more

Hi friends! Happy Friday!

Before I head into the usual Friday Faves post, I wanted to send a huge hug and thank you to all of you for your wonderful messages, emails, texts, and comments about saying goodbye to sweet Caro. All of your lovely messages lifted us up during a hard week. I hope you know how much we appreciate you.

While I was heartbroken over everything, I feel a sense of peace this week that she’s pain-free and hanging out with Bella and my Tata Gene.

What do you have going on this weekend? It’s going to be a fun one over here. P has a birthday party, we’re headed to a fall festival, Liv’s friend is sleeping over, and we’re seeing Lion King. Whew! Packed as much fun as possible into the weekend. 🙂 I hope you have a great one ahead, too.

A bright spot in the week: seeing Michael Bublé for the second time! The last time I saw him in concert was 2019, and it was a DREAM to see him again on Tuesday night. Madre watched the kiddos and the Pilot and I headed up to Phoenix for dinner and the show. It was everything. He’s so incredibly talented, the musicians were incredible, and I LOVED his backup singers/dancers. They were up there killin’ it the entire time.

Naturally, I screamed my face off and croaked all day on Wednesday. It was worth it and 10/10 will do it again.

We had amazing seats! Also, there was a woman in the audience who has been to 52 of his shows! GOALS.

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

Read, watch, listen:

What has made you laugh lately? For me, it’s been these chipmunk videos. I could watch them for hours.

Aging isn’t about lost youth.

Fashion + beauty:

Beautycounter’s fall sale is heeeeere and ends on Sunday. Enjoy 15-25% off sitewide (exclusions apply).

Some of my top picks:

Color intense lipstick. Brunch is my go-to for the perfect pinky-nude.

The best body polish. I use this before applying sunless tanner (and use this one or this one).

Read more