Hellooooo! Happy Friday and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! How are you? I hope you’ve had a great week. The girls were on spring break, so the week was filled with sleepovers, slow mornings, a shopping day, trip to Mini Time Machine Museum, dinner with friends, the trampoline park, and we’re heading to see Taylor Swift tonight. It’s P’s first concert and the girls are pumped!

We’re also headed to a cabin for a night this weekend and a birthday party. Even though we didn’t go out of town for spring break, we managed to pack in a ton of fun events!

How was your week? I’d love to hear what you have going on this weekend. Any fun St. Paddy’s day celebrations ahead? If you’re looking for the best St. Patrick’s Day cocktail, try this one.

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:

Finished this book and having a serious book hangover. It was one of the best historical fiction books I’ve read and I’m having a hard time picking the next one! It was beautifully-written, sucked me in immediately, and while I couldn’t wait to find out what happened, I also didn’t want it to end. It’s mind-boggling that it was based on a true story and this book was completely outside my usual WWII historical fiction picks. If you have anything similar that you loved, please lmk.

Definitely check out this week’s podcast episode with Nicole Jardim. She shares so many amazing tips on how to support your hormones and optimize your cycle.

Loved this post and perfectly articulates how our perception of birthdays can change over time. (I used to love my birthday but now I just enjoy spending it with my little family and eating cake, but hate the pressure I always seem to feel, like I haven’t done *enough* over the past year.)

Fashion + beauty:

More Frownies goodies. I got my usual Frownies but added the undereye gels and the mask. I’ll definitely report back on the new products! Frownies has done wonders for helping with my 11s (aka WTF lines) in between my eyebrows. You have to use them for a while and use them consistently to see a difference but I’m a fan. Botox still freaks me out (never say never but for now, it’s not for me), so this has been a good alternative.

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Hi friends! I’m SO thrilled have Nicole Jardim on the podcast today. I’ve followed her on IG forever and love the information she shares on IG. This episode is packed with helpful tips and info, especially if you’re curious about improving your cycle and hormonal health.

129: Fix Your Period with Nicole Jardim

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

– What does it mean to have a healthy period? How would you describe a healthy cycle and signs you know something is awry?

– What’s a good starting point to work on improving your period?

– Signs of low progesterone and what to do about it

– Super heavy cycles; what does this mean + tips

– her favorite period products and fertility resources

and so.much.more!

Here’s more about Nicole and her background:

 Nicole Jardim is a Certified Women’s Health Coach, writer, speaker, mentor and author of Fix Your Period: 6 Weeks to Banish Bloating, Conquer Cramps, Manage Moodiness, and Ignite Lasting Hormone Balance, a life-changing step-by-step natural protocol to ignite lasting hormone balance and improve everything from PMS, period pain, and heavy periods to irregular and missing periods. She has developed education and offerings that empower women and people who menstruate to reclaim their hormone health using a method that combines evidence-based information with simplicity and sass.

Her work has impacted the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world by addressing the root cause of what’s really going on in their bodies and minds rather than treating just their symptoms. She passionately believes that the fundamentals to healing any hormone imbalance lie in an approach that addresses the unique physiology of every woman. This is essential to reclaiming and maintaining optimal health and vitality at any age.

Nicole is the founder of the Institute for Menstrual Health, which offers training programs, mentorship and resources for an international community of women’s health practitioners and coaches. Through its signature program the Women’s Hormone Health Certification, Nicole teaches other health practitioners and coaches the fundamentals of hormones, menstrual cycles and fertility.

Finally, Nicole is the host of The Period Party, a top-rated podcast on Apple Podcasts, the co-author of The Happy Balance, a recipe book filled with over 80

This post is sponsored by my friends at NOW Foods and they have so many amazing products, including my fave creatine, on their site. Use FITNESSISTA for 20% off. Also this is a friendly reminder that this post is not medical information and not intended to prevent, treat, cure, or diagnose any illness. Always talk with your doctor before adding new supplements into your rotation. 

Hi friends! How’s the day treating you so far? I hope you’re having a wonderful morning. For today’s post, I’m chatting about a huge reader’s request topic and one of my favorite supplements: creatine!

Creatine is often taken by athletes and bodybuilders to improve their performance, but it is also consumed by older adults and vegetarians for health purposes. Not everyone knows the right way to take creatine, how it works, or what needs to be considered before adding it into a supplement routine.

In today’s post, I’m sharing a guide that can provide some education and help with informed choices when it comes to taking creatine, depending on the purpose that it’s intended to be used. Friendly reminder that your doctor will help you decide if adding creatine is a good choice.

An Overview on Taking Creatine

Creatine is a supplement that can be taken as powder or liquid, before or after a workout. I prefer to take it as a post-workout, but the thing with creatine is that you need to take it consistently to see and feel a difference. 

What Is Creatine

Creatine is an amino acid that is stored predominantly in muscle cells, with a small percentage in our brain, kidneys, and liver. You can get creatine in your diet from animal-based products, such as seafood and meat. This is why vegetarians and vegans will likely have lower creatine stores than omnivores and can often benefit from supplementation. Since creatine can be used for energy production for heavy lifting workouts and high-intensity training, it’s often used for performance enhancement.* Your body naturally produces 1-2g of creatine per day in the liver and pancreas.

Creatine is widely studied, easy to find, and inexpensive. My favorite creatine can be found here!

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Spring is almost here, and with it comes daylight savings time change. Sure, we get more sunlight, but losing an hour of sleep can really throw off our internal clocks, leaving us feeling tired and sluggish for days. But fear not, because I’ve got some tips to help you avoid daylight savings burnout and keep your energy levels up during this transition.

Start preparing early

The key to avoiding feeling sluggish when daylight savings hits is to start preparing a few days before the change. Gradually shift your sleep schedule by going to bed 15 minutes earlier each night for a few days leading up to the time change.

This will help your body adjust to the new schedule and make the transition smoother. Annnnnd if you need a little help, the naturally calming ingredients in Slumber Party will have you snoozing in no time. 

Stick to a routine

Maintaining a consistent routine is essential for keeping your energy levels up. Try to wake up and go to bed at the same time every day, even on weekends. This will help regulate your body’s internal clock and prevent you from feeling tired and groggy.

Get moving

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Hi hi! Happy Friday! How was the week? I hope you’ve had a great one. I’m so so happy ya’ll enjoyed this week’s podcast episode, too. Thank you so much to those who took a listen!

A huge highlight of my week: watching Liv’s first dance competition of the season. A fun bonus: Madre and Nani came with us to Phoenix! It was their first time watching a competition and it was so amazing having them there to support Liv. It was a quick 24 hour trip and officially started the competition season into Disney parade into recital.. here we go!

While we were in Phoenix, P was here in Tucson living her best life with the Pilot. They had a family day at work, with bounce castles, corn hole, face painting, a video game truck, and lots of delicious food, and then two of her friends came over for a playdate. The only sad news of the weekend is that our beloved Cookie, the hairless guinea pig, has crossed the rainbow bridge. We’re not sure how it happened – it was sudden and he had no signs of health issues. He happily took his Vitamin C from me before we left to Phoenix and was squeaking happily. 🙁 We had a little farewell ceremony in the backyard complete with Josh Groban’s rendition of “Ave Maria.” Rest in peace, Cooker.

Guinea pigs don’t typically like to be alone, so we might explore getting another one from a rescue as a companion to Donut, but the truth is I’m not sure how much longer I want to be on the guinea pig wagon. I do 99% of their care and they’re a LOT of work (they’re messy lil guys!), so we’ll see what we decide to do. If you have any tips, please let me know!

It’s time for the weekly Friday Favs 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 favorites, so please shout out anything you’re loving in the comments section below!

Friday Faves

Fitness, health, good eats:

I fell in love with Rebbl this past week. Where has it been all of my life?! I went to Whole Foods to get snacks and drinks for us to have at the competition and wasn’t something different than water that was still satisfying. I usually hate bottled protein drinks, but liked the ingredients in this one and decided to give it a try. It was SO good. Like rich chocolate milk but not too sweet. I went back to Whole Foods and got 5 more bottles, including the dark chocolate. Obsessed.

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