Sharing my top tips for hosting an awesome dinner party + some of my favorite cooking hacks.

Hi hi! How’s the morning going? I’m off to mass with the kids and then hitting an F45 class. I hope you have a great day, too.

For today’s post, I thought we could talk a bit about dinner party tips and cooking hacks. Please keep in mind that I’m NOT a professional (even though we have some people in my family who are professional cooks and others who cook like they’re professionals). I’m just a home cook who enjoys it and also happens to LOVE feeding people. When the Pilot and I first got married, a friend said I needed a kitchen sign that said, “Never leave hungry” because that seemed to my motto. It brings me so much joy to enjoy awesome meals with the people we love, so we love having friends and family members over whenever we can.

Over time, I’ve learned some good dinner party tips and cooking hacks, so I wanted to share with ya this morning. If you have any you can add to the list, please chime in in the comments section so we can help each other out! (* = ones that were submitted from Instagram! Thank you to those of you who chimed in)

15 Tips For Hosting A Dinner Party

Make anything you can in advance

I learned this one from my nana, who will make and freeze as many meal components as possible before a family get-together. She used to own a catering company, so she’s pretty used to making large quantities of amazing food. Anything you can make before a party, do it. This means things like dips, desserts, side dishes, anything. I usually try to pre-make anything I can, so I’m not cooking as people are arriving.

I learned this one the hard way. We invited friends over the first time we lived in Valdosta, and I hadn’t prepared a single thing. They all sat at the kitchen table as I ran around the kitchen, stressed, and sweating from the hot stove and burners. Learn from my mistake, friends.

Never try a new recipe the night of a dinner party

It can be tempting to want to try a cool new recipe you see on social media or a website, but always give it a test run before serving it to another group of people. I’ve had a handful of Pinterest fails and I’m so glad I took the time to try them out in advance. Serve options that you can cook easily and that you know are a hit.

Set the menu strategically

Check in with guests to see if there are any dietary restrictions. Plan out the menu in advance depending on the occasion and them

Sharing some tips on whether you should do strength or cardio first in your workout routine. 

Hi friends! Hope you’re having a great morning and hope you enjoyed the long weekend! I’m already counting down the days until the next school break. Waking up early is not my cup of tea lol.

For today’s post, I wanted to talk about strength vs.cardio and which one you should do first in your routine. There are so many different types of exercise routines, and they offer different benefits for the body (and mind!). Doing an combination of strength and cardio can help you acheive your body composition and fitness goals, and knowing how to structure these in your routine can help you maximize the benefits. Deciding which one to do first depends on your fitness goals and other factors.

In today’s post, I’m sharing tips on how to decide which one to do first!

Should I do strength or cardio first?

A balanced fitness plan includes strength and cardio components, as well as mobility and rest. You also want to make sure that you’re alternating workout intensities throughout the week. For example, if you have a really hard cardio day, follow this with an easier day or rest. How much cardio and strength training you do in your weekly routine depends on your current fitness level, goals, unique factors (like age, health issues, injuries, medications, etc.). While I am a certified personal trainer and women’s fitness specialist, please remember that I’m not a doctor. Talk to your doctor before making any fitness changes and honor your body.

Also, remember that whenever you start something new in your routine, you will likely be sore, so DON’T push it too hard. This is why I usually have beginning training clients start with bodyweight-only or super light weights; they’re going to be sore no matter what.

Benefits Of Cardio After Weights

For body recomposition:

I typically recommend cardio after strength training if building muscle is the priority.  Typically women don’t understand that if you’re looking for a more “toned” look, you need to put on muscle. For this reason, we’ll emphasize strength training (progressive training and phased programming for optimal results), and sprinkle cardio in, but not too much.

For hormonal considerations:

Also, many of the women I work with are dealing with hormone imbalances, often from years of stress, under-eating, and overexercising. Workouts can be an extra stressor on the body, especially intense cardio. So, we’ll focus more on strength training and stick to daily walks until their energy levels return and inflammation is down.

Weights first helps to prepare the body for cardio

Doing strength first can help the body prepare for more explosive cardio movements, as you’re often working the joints through full range of motion and warming up the muscles. It can be helpful to mimic some of the upcoming cardio movements during your strength training routine.

Increased metabolism through higher muscle density:

Muscle tissue is “hungrier” than fat, which means it burns more calories at rest. When you’re focused on muscle-building, you may not s

Sharing some ideas how to to put your weekly plan together and break up your workout days to optimize performance and recovery!

Hi friends! How is the week going? I hope you’re having a lovely morning so far! I had a call with our amazing travel agent regarding spring 2023 travel (the best) and am putting the Fit Team workouts together for September. If you’d like to join us for Self Care September (focusing on workout nutrition and self care strategies), join us here! Anyone who signs up today will also receive a custom nutrition guide a thank you from me to you 🙂

For today’s post, I’m chatting about breaking up your workout days and how to do this strategically. I’m a big fan of split training throughout the week. It can help you strength different areas of the body, giving you enough time to recover, and also freedom to control the way you train.  Today, I’m sharing practical tips to help my reader friends break up their workout days and get the most out of their training routine.

(Please keep in mind that while I’m a certified personal trainer, I’m providing general information for educational purposes. This is not medical advice. Always seek out the help of your doctor before starting or changing your fitness routine.)

How to break up your workout days

Whole Body Split

This type of split involves a total body workout each time you train. The benefits of this type of training is that you’re able to use more fancy and *fun* compound-type movements, working multiple muscle groups at once, and due to peripheral action training, your heart rate may higher, which indicates a higher calorie burn during the workout. I like working total body for my beginner clients (focusing on bodyweight-only exercises first), and also my clients who have significant weight loss goals.

The downside of this type of training is that it may be harder to hit muscle fatigue, which encourages muscle growth, and that you shouldn’t ideally train your entire body two days in a row. I’d recommend alternating total body workouts with rest and cardio.

Upper / Lower Split

This is when you work your upper body one day (back, shoulders, chest, triceps, biceps), and your lower body on a different day (hamstrings, glutes, core, calves). The benefits of this type of training are that you’re able to strength train on consecutive days (upper b

Sharing tips on how to not kill your houseplant and keep indoor plants alive and thriving!

The Pilot says I used to have a gangrene thumb. I was the person who’d walk through the plant shop and plants would instantly recoil in fear that I would bring them home. The unlucky chosen ones were brought into our house, neglected, and lived a sad, yet quick, death.

With a huge learning curve, over past handful of years, I’ve really turned things around! We now have a full garden with lots of herbs and veggies, multiple thriving indoor houseplants, and the legendary Frida, our 10 ft-ish fiddle leaf fig.

Houseplants can make such a difference in home decor and the overall vibe of the house! They can help purify air and can also add more style and character to your home. Plants naturally grow in the wild but you can recreate a plant’s natural habitat indoors. Today, I’m sharing some tips that can help my horticulturally challenged friends out there kiss their black thumb goodbye and keep your plants alive thriving inside your homes.

How Not to Kill Your Houseplant

Choosing plants wisely

Don’t be afraid to start with an “easier” plant, like a succulent, lavender, aloe, cacti, spider plant, or my fave easy plant, the Heart leaf Philodendron. This post has a list of popular houseplants. Check out the tag to see how much sunlight and water they need and plan accordingly for the type of care that’s required. Succulents and cacti need very little water (too much can give them wet feet and soggy roots), while aloe needs a bit more, and the Heart leaf Philodendron likes to dry out a little and then be completely drenched.

Put plants in the right spot

Sunlight is a critical factor, as some plants need a lot of sun and others don’t need much at all. Before making your purchase, check out the tag of the plant or do a quick google search to see how much light they prefer. Our fiddle leaf fig loves being in a large south-facing window, which receives hours of indirect sun. Other plants in the house do well with indirect sun from various windows. When you bring your plant home, place it into its spot in the same pot you brought home from the nursery. This way it can get used to its new environment befor

Sharing tips for my friends who are scared of flying, nervous, and anxious about air travel.. just like yours truly. I reached out to the Pilot to write a guest post, and am also sharing some of the tips I’ve picked up!

Friends out there know I hate to fly. They also find it ironic and hilarious that my husband is a pilot who loves to fly. All of these years later, he still gets disappointed when a flight is canceled. He still recaps his best flights to me (even when I zone out at the acronyms and hand signals #adhd). When we fly together, I feel so much less stressed. I know he could handle things if something went awry, and I can nudge him when I hear a sound and he tells me what it is. However, when I fly alone, I spend pretty much the entire time clutching the armrest, sweating profusely, and saying Hail, Mary over and over in my brain. (Unless there’s zero turbulence and I can read a book.)

On my last flight with the girls to Hawaii – it was just me solo- I was feeling particularly scared about flying over the ocean. The worst part is that I have to play it cool for them because I don’t want them to be nervous, too. The kids are traveling professionals; they watch a movie or play the Nintendo Switch and eat lots of snacks while we fly.

A couple of things helped me on this flight:

– Before boarding, I checked out the radar to see how many planes were in the air at that moment. It made me realize that my flight was so insignificant to the thousands that take off and land each day.

– Got this tip from the fear of flying Reddit page: pretend like you’re on a bus traveling safely from point A to point B. This helped so much!!

– I made sure I had lots of things to keep me distracted. I read an entire book on the way to Hawaii and it kept me engaged so I didn’t have time to think about the fact that I was in a metal box in the sky.

– Good ol’ CBD. I have it with me, and even if I don’t need to take it, it’s comforting to have on hand. (This is the one I use. Full transparency, I used to partner with them and am still an affiliate. My code FITNESSISTA still works for a discount!)

I asked the Pilot if he would help me with a guest post about tips for my fellow nervous flyers, and here’s what he wrote!

My real-life Top Gun 😉

Tips for anxious flyers (from a Pilot)

Good morning, friends. The Fitnessista has her hands full this morning, so the Pilot’s here with some tidbits to help anxious flyers. Let me begin by saying that these aren’t tips on how to be more zen during air travel. Suggestions for the best soothing music to listen to and which decaf herbal tea will best calm your nerves is a bit out of my lane. However, I’m happy to share a little peek behind the curtain of what’s happening during your flight to make you feel a little more at ease. If you’ve got nerves of steel and turbulence doesn’t bother you, then a