Praying for the people of Maui this week, for their safety, and recovery from the devastating fires. It’s such a beautiful and special place, and it’s been absolutely heartbreaking to see photos of the damage. If you’re looking for ways to help, check out this link. 

Hi hi! Happy Friday! How are you? I hope you’e enjoying the week! It’s been a bit of a blur over here since the kids went back to school. The morning wakeups have been rough lol, but they’re happy to be back with their teachers and friends.

Before school started, we had a couple of fun last-minute adventures.

The girls and I went to pick veggies at Apple Annie’s with some friends. They had an awesome selection of peppers, melons, eggplant, squashes, green beans, corn, and okra.

We got a huge stash of veggies for the week, along with a giant watermelon and cantaloupe, some honey and salsa from the shop, and lots of apple butter. After veggie picking, we had Mexican food at La Unica in Wilcox. Definitely check it out if you’re in the area! They serve breakfast all day and have amazing horchata.

After lunch, we took the girls to see “The Thing” since they were all intrigued by multiple billboards. The venue has gotten an upgrade since I was a kid.

We also had an afternoon bowling with my mom and nani! We’ve gone roller skating and bowling lately; turns out we thoroughly enjoy vintage activities that require rented footwear that many others have worn since at least the 1960s.

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Hello hello! Happy Friday! Hope you’ve had a wonderful week. What are you up to this weekend? We were originally planning on a short getaway to San Diego but both kids are still a little traveled-out and requested to stay home and chill. (Liv is also still working away on her summer packet.) It will be nice to swim and catch up with friends before we’re back in the school hustle.

Other than that, I’m getting a much-needed pedicure (bless), catching up on work stuff, and taking a hot yoga class. I hope you have a fun and lovely weekend ahead!

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 7.28

Read, watch, listen:

Liv and I have been watching High School Musical, The Musical: The Series on Disney+ and it’s SO.good. We’re heading into Season 3 so we can be caught up when the new season is released. The songs, humor, plot lines, it’s all adorable. I’ve loved watching it with her.

Don’t forget to check out this week’s podcast episode here!

I had a Kindle maybe 10 years ago and it got old and broke, so I’d gone back to reading paper books and digital books on my phone or the iPad. I decided to order a new one for Prime Day and am so pumped about it. I love the smaller size of the Paperwhite, like a giant iPhone, minus the distractions of my phone, email, and social media. What should I download first??

Fashion + beauty:

Ok, so these aren’t exactly *fashion* (more function!) but I got P a pair of vivobarefoot shoes and they are SO cute. They fit her feet perfectly, she doesn’t have to worry about tying them, and she said they make her run fast (the ultimate kid test).

Since I’ve recently had to toss my skincare and makeup twice – give me like 6 months of happy eyes and then I’ll go back to my usual stuff – I’ve been switching things up and

Hi friends! Happy Friday! What are you up to this weekend? We have no real plans… and I’m kind of looking forward to it. The kids start school in a few weeks (WAH) so I think I need to get my life together and start ordering/planning. Word to the world if your girls wear uniforms: these skirts are the BEST. I ordered the girls new sets since they loved them so much last year, and also ordered some of these.

I’m also teaching a Zumba class, a spin class, and taking Liv to see the new Barbie movie. Can’t wait!! I’d love to hear what you have going on.

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.

Life:

We had some friends over for sushi night last weekend and it was so much fun.

The Pilot made an enormous pitcher of Mai Tais using this recipe,

I made some steamed edamame, house salad with ginger dressing, these truffle edamame dumplings,

and ordered a bunch of different sushi rolls to share from Sachiko. Our friends brought the dessert; the cutest rice crispies decorated like sushi rolls (like this!), along with homemade lemon bars and chocolate chip cookies.

We also celebrated Nani’s birthday this week! We had an amazing dinner at Gavi, including two different chef’s boards, the Sicilian salad, and for my entree, I chose the chicken marsala.

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Hi friends! Happy Friday! How are you? I hope you’re enjoying the morning so far. Today, I’m off to a barre class and then meeting up with a friend for lunch to talk about some exciting upcoming plans. What are you up this weekend? We’re having friends over for sushi night, and I’m going to start ordering the kids’ uniforms and supplies for back to school. I can’t believe it’s less than a month away and wish it could just be summer forever. I’m definitely enjoying the slower pace. I hope you have a fun and wonderful weekend ahead!

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.

Exciting news:

I finished IHP Level 2! WAHOO! While it took me a long time to finish – I really wanted to learn and absorb as much as possible, and didn’t take the course to simply pass the tests – it was so worth it, and I’m honestly a little sad that it’s over. It was over 100 hours of learning, and I’m so pumped for this new certification and the ability to offer functional labs for my 1:1 clients (and also in the new group coaching program I’m working on creating). If you’re interested in learning more, send me an email at gina@fitnessista.com with the subject COACHING and I can share the different options with you.

If you’re interested in exploring a new career or if you want to take your current fitness or wellness practice to the next level, I can’t say enough great things about IHP. You can check out the details here, and if you use the code FITNESSISTA, you can get up to $250 off levels 1 and 2.

Celebratory dinner at Vivace:

Hi friends! Happy Friday! What’s going on this weekend? P’s best bud in the world is here from Florida, so we’ll be spending lots of time with them. I’ll also be recording some podcast episodes, studying IHP2, and finishing up my first Italy recap post – it will be live next week!

I hope you have a fun and relaxing weekend ahead.

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 Favs 7.7

Life:

4th of July fun! We invited the fam and a couple of friends over for a low-key 4th of July celebration here at the house. We were still  jet lagged, so we partied on the earlier side, but it was so great to see everyone, swim, and enjoy some delicious food together.

I made Caesar salad with homemade croutons, cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, vanilla cake pop truffles,

set out burger toppings, chips and salsa, potato salad, and cut up a ton of fruit,

and the Pilot grilled burgers, chicken, hot dogs, and black bean burgers.

I also made Aperol spritzes for the speciality cocktail. They’re the perfect summer drink; so refreshing and perfectly sweet.