Since I wasn’t able to post last week, I wasn’t able to announce the winner of the Bestowed Box giveaway.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hope, send me an e-mail at frolicthroughlife@gmail.com so I can pass along your info and get you your box! If you didn’t win and still want to try a Bestowed box, use code 5OFFBSTOWED01 for $5 off your first box!

Now that business is taken care of, lets talk about the good stuff – Memorial Day Weekend! We spent the weekend in the Poconos and split our time between my parents and Tommy’s parents house. Before we left on Friday, we checked the weather and the forecast was showing it was going to be cold and rainy, but we woke up to this!

While it was chilly on Saturday, the sun never left the sky and it made for a beautiful weekend. Munchkin and I played soccer and flipped tires while Tommy did some landscaping work. I also got to practice my newest obsession – HANDSTANDS! I discovered on Wednesday at Crossfit that I am strong enough to do handstands and I’m kind of hooked and trying to do them everywhere now.

We also did some shopping at the outlets. A lot of stores had 50% off the entire store deals, so I got a bunch of great deals on summer clothes, like these amazing neon shorts. I am LOVING the neon trend and I can’t wait to rock these bad boys!

On Sunday it was in the mid 70s so we braved the chilly pool water to dip our feet. Tommy’s brother actually jumped in

and went for a swim, but I am not that brave a soul.

Overall, the weekend was a success and I had a blast. Only four days until next weekend!

What did you do this weekend?

The post Memorial Day 2013 appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

These are the things that I picked up on my last trip to Trader Joe’s. It had been a few weeks since I’d been to TJ’s and about a week since I had been to the grocery store, so a lot of the things I got are my staples. I’m going to elaborate on the things that I think you really need to try!

• I love TJ’s pre-cut fruit. I am a huge pineapple fan and I love that I can be lazy and buy the precut spears without breaking the bank
• Bagged Greens. I use Kale in my green juices and spring mix is a salad staple
• Baby Beets. These are peeled, precooked and ready for eating. Being a huge fan of beets, I could just eat these out of the package, but they usually go into my salads.
• English cucumbers. My favorite crispy, crunchy veggie. I love slicing these and dipping into hummus or dressing.

Dinner items:

• Veggie/Mahi Mahi burgers. See vlog below!
• Potstickers. These are Munchkin’s favorite thing. The boy loves his dumplings.
• Fried Rice. This rice is a staple in my family. We seriously have it at every family get together and we never have leftovers…ever.
• Lobster Ravioli. Great for a quick dinner and insanely good!

Snacks:

• Jerky. In this trip I had gotten Salmon jerky, but I’ve had turkey and beef and none have ever disappointed.
• Fruit Leather Bars. They come in a bunch of flavors and a great alternative to other supermarket “fruit snacks.”
• Larabars/Cliff Z Bars.
• Rice cakes. I eat these dry and I also make them into sandwiches when I’m a bit hungrier.
• Cocoa Almond Spread. This is glorified Nutella, but I love it!
• Apple Carrot Crushers. These are little applesauce pouches, which Munchkin and I both love.

Condiments:

• Sweet Chili Sauce. I mention it in the vlog, but this is the best all purpose topping to any protein. As you can imagine from the name, it is sweet, but the chili flakes give it a nice kick.
• Coconut Oil. TJ’s is my place for coconut oil. I use this stuff for everything so I go through a lot, and at the price you can’t beat it. I’ve also seen that they have a spray coconut oil, but sadly my TJ’s hasn’t stocked it yet.

I hope you found my list helpful and that some new items will sneak into your cart on your next trip to Trader Joe’s!

What’s your favorite supermarket to shop at? What are your Trader Joe’s must haves?

The post My Trader Joe’s Must Haves appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

1. First of all, I forgot to announce the winner of my ENERGYbits giveaway! Woops!

The winner is lucky number 12 – Carrie from Aunt on the Run. Shoot me an email at frolicthroughlife at gmail dot com, so we can get your ENERGYbits out to you ASAP!

2. Munchkin went to the dentist this morning and I am happy to report that he is a member of the No Cavity Club.

We also went to the library and signed the little man up for his own library card. We got four books and a DVD to keep us occupied this weekend.

3. My stress at school led me to take part in a bit of retail therapy. I actually got a bunch of good deals that I just couldn’t pass up.

I got TOMS for myself and Alex on Zulily. I got my first pair last summer and I fell in love. When I got the email that Zulily was having a TOMS sale, I couldn’t pass up the deal. I can’t wait until its warm so we can wear em. I got the pants, top and sports bra from Old Navy. I had $30 in rewards from my Gap Card combined with 20% off, so these items were a total steal. The mint green pants were only $8! The bag is form Target and its big enough to fit all my stuff for school, so its a winner in my book. I am loving the mint green trend for Spring.

4. I downloaded Intuitive Eating to my iPad. I heard about the concept of intuitive eating over a year ago, but the more I read about it online, the more interested I got. I thought it was time to read the book to see if it is something that might work for me. I’ve been struggling with emotional eating regardless of what diet I follow and I need to find a way to break free of this viscous cycle. Keep your fingers crossed that this book will be the start to a solution.

5. I did yet another FitnessGlo workout this morning – I focused on legs with Waist Down Strength. There’s also still time to enter my FitnessGlo giveaway! Check out my review of the FitnessGlo program and see if it’s something you would be interested in trying. Just a hint, you will probably be all over it because I love it!

I’m off to finish cleaning up the house. We are heading out for sushi for dinner tonight, and I am so excited because we haven’t been out for sushi in quite a while! Have a great weekend!

What’s the last thing you bought? What’s the last good book you read?

The post Five Things Friday appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

Lunch didn’t happen until after I got home from work. I had two slices of leftover grilled pizza with a pepper on the side. I am also in love with my new summery plate, which

matches the tray from yesterday’s post!

Munchkin was pooped from spending the day with his aunt so he napped his butt off while I made dinner. It was so quiet and peaceful in the kitchen without him trying to help! Since it was incredibly hot out yesterday, I made a pretty light dinner. I don’t have much of an appetite when it’s almost 90 out and as soon as you step foot out of the house you’re covered in sweat. Dinner was Asparagus Soup and a salad.

The soup is super simple to make and the salad consisted of spinach, romaine lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, orange and green peppers and olives. I topped mine off with some honey mustard dressing. Every time I make Asparagus Soup, I say I have to make a double batch to have leftovers next time, but it never happens. Next time I have too, it’s too good not to have leftovers!

After dinner we headed right back out the door and to pick up my cousins to go air conditioner shopping. The poor girls have been suffering all weekend in the heat! ACs were selling like hot cakes. We stopped at Costco first and they were sold out of the size they needed. We managed to snag the LAST one at Best Buy for a decent price. And even then some guy made a stink because he said he was looking at it when Tommy took it off the shelf. You snooze you loose!

We got back to their place and Tommy installed it for them right before it started thunder storming like crazy. Perfect timing! I love evening summer thunderstorms. There’s something comforting about watching a storm rolling in.

We came back home and had a late night snack before heading for bed. I have a bowl of Love Grown Sweet Cranberry Pecan with some almond milk.

Thus completes my day of eats! Tommy and I are going out for dinner to one of out fav places tonight, so stay tuned for some food goodness!

What’s the best thing you ate today? What’s your favorite late night snack?

The post Late Day WIAW appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

I am hoping that my legs don’t fall off when I go for my run this afternoon because I was feeling the burn after this!

But before the workout ever happened, I enjoyed a dinner made by my lovely boyfriend. He made yummy sauteed chicken breast with perfectly seasoned red potatoes. Since he was making dinner, I decided to make dessert – chocolate parfaits. I had high hopes that these babies would look as good as they tasted, but that just wasn’t the case. All of the layers kind of smushed together and it looked a little unappetizing. I layered chocolate pudding, fresh cut strawberries and crushed chocolate graham crackers in some tall beer glasses. Looked okay, tasted deeelish!

Can I also mention how in love I am with my new running crop pants. I picked up the Under Armour Shatter II Capri Pants last week at Century 21 for only $30 and I am in love.

I was used to running in plain old leggings, but these really make a world of a difference. I am going to be in Century 21 this weekend because I need to pick up some hangers for my closet cleaning project and I am really considering picking up another pair. I am also in love with Under Armour’s Victory Tank – it really keeps you cool and dry, even in the horrible humidity we’ve been having in NYC.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

What’s a dessert that you love, but doesn’t look great? Any plans for the holiday weekend?

The post Kettlebell Booty and Thighs appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

That’s right kids, I am your newest FitFluential Ambassador and I couldn’t be happier about it!

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I took the day off yesterday to rest and relax before driving back into schoolwork to finish my last paper. When my mom suggested that we go shopping, I couldn’t turn her down. We did some damage at Loft and I left with a new dress, two new skirts, shorts and a new top. My mom also had a bunch of coupons so we saved over $100 on our purchases.

I am also very proud to say that all of the things that I bought yesterday are a dress size down from what I usually wear,

and they all fit great! I was so happy trying on the clothes and I can’t wait to wear them!

After Loft, we stopped at TJMaxx where I purchased my first ever kettlebell! And it only cost me $16. Win!

Now it might not be the prettiest kettlebell (am I the only one who thinks kettlebells are pretty?) but it does the job and it does it well. I did a really random kettlebell workout when I got home, basically just to try out different moves and see how this thing works, and I am feeling a bit of soreness this morning. When I get a good workout put together, I will definitely share!

I also got a book that I ordered a while back, in the mail this week. I’ve been interested in juicing since Tommy and I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, but I never really knew what combos went well with each other and what juices were good for what. This little book has a ton of great recipes that I can’t wait to try out! Keep an eye out for some juice recipes as well!

Have a great Thursday! We are so close to the weekend I can smell it.

What’s your favorite juice combo? What’s your go-to fitness accessory?

The post A Smaller Size! appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

Friday started out in a very delicious manner – with pancakes! Oat Bran Chia Seed Pancakes to be exact.

Munchkin was a great sous chef and poured all the measured ingredients into a bowl and stirred with a big wooden spoon. He also helped he pour the batter into the pan that though it was “oh cool.” It makes me so happy to see that he enjoys being in the kitchen as much as I do.

For dinner, I put my food processor to very good use and made pesto sauce.

I found the basic recipe for pesto – basil, garlic, olive oil and tweaked it a bit to make the sauce creamier and cheesier.

Creamy Pesto Sauce

• 3 cups basil leaves (stems removed)
• 4 cloves roasted garlic
• 1/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the desired consistency is reached. Serve over pasta, or just eat with a spoon straight out of the bowl. I won’t judge.

My Saturday was spent in school. Tommy and I had plans to meet for lunch since he was working Saturday. Sadly, my lunch break happened later than we had expected and he enjoyed lunch at the Amish Market all by his lonesome. Since I didn’t know where the Amish Market was, I went to Subway for lunch. It was just eh and not picture worthy.

After school and work, my boys got haircuts. Munchkin was way overdue, but he’s not a big fan of haircuts so we put it off for a long time. Since he was a champ during his haircut, we celebrated with ice cream. I didn’t get a pic of our shared cookie dough sundae, but we will be back for sure. I even got a punch card!

We started Sunday off on an artistic note with some painting.

After we were all painted out, we got ready and headed out to Whole Foods. Instead of going into the city, we decided to drive out to Long Island to do our shopping. We had never been to this Whole foods before and were super surprised when we got off the exit and found that Whole Foods was across the street from the Americana a.k.a a huge luxury/designer mall neither of us had ever heard of. Clearly we were not in Kansas anymore!

We joked that if we tried to pull into the parking lot, security would’ve stopped us because judging by our car, we didn’t belong there. A 2002 Pontiac would’ve been an eye sore among the shiny BMWs, Benzes, and Porsches. Anyway, out trip to Whole Foods was a success. I found a lot of good stuff that I’ve been wanting to try out, so keep your eyes peeled for some foodie goodness coming up.

I also pulled something in my leg over the weekend, and I think I just discovered what caused it. I was doing Munchkin leg lifts on Saturday – he sits on my legs and I pick him up and down. When I went to workout on Sunday I planned on doing some lower body work, but after my first squat I knew my legs would be out of commission, so I went for arms and abs instead.

That sums up the excitement of my weekend! Have a great Tuesday!

What did you do this weekend? Have you ever found yourself at a place where you clearly didn’t belong? Have you ever injured yourself in non-workout situation that kept you from working out?

The post Pancakes, Pesto and Porsches appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

Despite the storminess, I had a pretty stellar weekend. I spent all of Friday with my little Munchkin. We lounged around in our PJs, got a workout in, cleaned out my car and made dinner. He is a champ at cleaning. I would spray the Windex and he had a blast wiping down the dashboard. Hopefully his love of cleaning sticks around!

For dinner, I was feeling Mexican, so I threw together something quick, easy and so yummy. Salsa chicken with Mexican style quinoa.

I marinated the chicken breast in some Italian dressing for about an hour before searing it on a skillet with some olive oil. Once the chicken cooked all the way through, I added in a whole jar of salsa that I mixed with about a tablespoon of plain Chobani and let it all stew together.

Meanwhile, I cooked up a cup of quinoa with chili powder and red pepper flakes. In a separate pot, I sautéed some a small onion with a few cloves of garlic. Once the onion became translucent, I threw in a can of well-rinsed black beans, a cup of frozen corn and a can of Mexican style stewed tomatoes.

I let all those flavors mingle before I mixed in the cooked quinoa. Delish!

Munchkin spent Saturday in PA with his grandparents so I could do some studying. I spent all morning and most of the early afternoon in my yard with books and laptop in work mode. Not only did I get through 7 chapters of material, I got a pretty good looking tan going on.

Once Tommy got back from work, we decided to do dinner. We threw some ideas back and forth and decided on our tried and true sushi place, Sakura. We were both feeling a bit of a sweet tooth after dinner, so we ventured out in search of cupcakes. Yelp led up to Brooklyn Cupcakes where I was exstatic to find Tres Leches cupcakes.

I fell in love with Tres Leches cake last year on vacation in Mexico, but haven’t had a piece since.

The cupcake was perfection, especially when served along side my favorite wine, Riesling.

Sunday was very rainy. We braved the weather and headed out to the mall to take advantage of some deals ending that day. I had a 20% off coupon for H&M and Loft was having their Friends and Family sale that make everything in the store 40% off. Also, since it was Earth Day, Origins was giving away free moisturizer when you traded in an old container, so I partook in that as well.

Munchkin made off like a bandit at H&M and scored some pretty sweet summer items, including Cars swim trunks. I couldn’t resist!

I got a really cute summer dress at Loft that I cannot wait to wear.

Shopping must’ve worn us out, because when we got home we knocked out for three hours and slept. There’s nothing quite like sleeping on a rainy day while listening to the rain beating down on the roof.

Have a great Monday!

What did you do this weekend? What’s your favorite type of cupcake?

The post Cupcakes and Shopping appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

Friday started out with a great workout, a great sale at J Crew (50% + 30% off!) and a great dinner, which I will save for a post coming up soon.

Saturday consisted of grocery shopping, sandbox buying and BBQing in the evening with great company. We had our first official BBQ of the season, complete with homemade veggie burger. Great friends+great food = perfection. Tommy also surprised me with a food processor! I have been wanting one of these babies for a long, long time. He told me that we needed to stop at Best Buy because he wanted to buy a new game for his PS3, but came out carrying this instead. Best surprise ever!

The weather for Sunday was supposed to be iffy, but Tommy and I made plans earlier in the week that we would take a trip all the way out to the end of Long Island, to Montauk. I have wanted to go to Montauk for a veeeeerry long time, but for one reason or another, I never made it out to The End. I woke up early Sunday morning and saw the sun shining through my window. A quick check of the forecast showed me that there would be no rain happening until the late evening, so I knew we were in for a great day.

We got ready and hit the road around 10AM. The ride out the Montauk is about a 2 1/2 hour drive outside of the city, so we packed some snacks and told each other no stopping until we get there.  Once we caught sight of the end of land, we pulled over to take a look.

We ventured even farther out to sea and explored the Montauk lighthouse. Tommy even climbed to the top to check out the view. Unfortunately, Munchkin was too small to make it up all the stairs, so we stayed on the ground and checked out the exhibits in the museum.

After the lighthouse, we set out to the beach. We parked our butts in the sun on the rocks and spent a good while just taking in the ocean and teach Munchkin to skip rocks. It was perfection.

All that rock skipping worked up quite an appetite, so we headed back into town to get some eats. On our drive out we passed by this little stand and knew that it was where we would be returning to eat.

I got a cup of New England Clam Chowda to start.

And rounded out my meal with a lobster roll and some of Munchkin sweet potato fries.

We finished off our trip with a stop at the outlets where Tommy picked up some shorts for the fast approaching 80 degree weather and I picked up a super inexpensive running top at Under Armor and a sweater at American Eagle. We drove home with nothing but smiles on our faces. Why do perfect weekends end so quickly? Only 5 days until the next one though!

Have a great Monday! Enjoy the 90 degree weather in you’re in my area!

What did you do this weekend? What was the last road trip you took?

The post Trip to The End appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

Things have been a bit of a whirl since Monday night, when Munchkin woke up from a nap a very unhappy baby. The rest of the evening and night was filled with a lot of snuggling and soothing and after a phone call from a nurse, we found out that he probably had an ear infection and we would have to go back to the doctor on Tuesday. Luckily, on Tuesday Munchkin woke up feeling a lot better, but we still went to the doctor who confirmed that he did have an ear infection and would have to take antibiotics for the first time in his life. I’m very proud that he has been healthy for this long and his little immune system is strong enough to fight off the infection that have come his way, so far. I used to work as a pharmacy tech in college and I would cringe at mothers who came in month after month getting antibiotics for their seemingly healthy looking kids – it only takes away from the kid’s immune system and makes them more likely to have to use antibiotics the next time they are sick. It’s kind of a Catch 22 I guess, but I’m glad that my little man is feeling much better.

Since I was all over the place yesterday, with going to court from work and to the city to take Munchkin to the pediatrician, I didn’t have much time to eat. And when I finally got to eat, I was too hungry to remember to take a photo for WIAW. So, instead of WIAW this week, I’m giving you WILW – What I’m Loving Wednesday. These are some of my favorite things as of late, and it’s the perfect way to share my latest obsessions!

First up on my list are Twistbands.

I’ve got a lot of hair and regular hair ties always snap when I try to make a bun or ponytail that it tight enough. I first tried Twistbands thanks to Birchbox and when I realized I had a credit with Birchbox for being a monthly subscriber, I used to to buy these babies. They are super soft, don’t pull out your hair and stretch as far as you need them to, to get your hair up. Love!

Next up is a scent – White Citrus. I fell in love with this smell when it first appeared in Bath and Body Works a few months ago, but their last Buy 3, Get 3 Free sale sent me on a White Citrus kick.

I’m usually not a big fan of citrusy scents because I feel they smell like Lemon Pine Sol, but the white citrus smells deliciously refreshing. The BBW website describes it as a mixture of Crisp Lemon, Invigorating Grapefruit, Lush Waterlily and Alluring Ginger Flower. Amazing!

The following item also came out of a Birchbox (they have been sending me some good stuff lately). The Sugar Lip Treatment has been keeping my lips super soft. Usually when I get sick, my lips get very dry and cracked, but I’ve been using this religiously to great results.

It also has a bit of a rosey colored tint which has helped quite a bit to brighten my sickly face.

Another thing I’m loving is the fitness kick I’ve been on thanks to the Best Body Bootcamp. I’ve become a regular exerciser and I could not be happier with this fact. I’m getting my pretty nice arm muscles and I can’t wait for tank top season to start showing off the guns.

My current greatest obsession is CB2. I texted Tommy this morning that I’ve found the place where I want to register when I get married. Now I just have to wait for someone to ask me! I hope my boss isn’t reading this, but I spent a good chunk of my workday ogling away at pages of dishes, furniture, and other home accessories. Here are a few of the things I need to buy, like right now.

If anyone wants to purchase any of these wonderful things for me, I’ll be more than happy to send you my shipping address. I’m only half kidding.

I feel like there was another thing I wanted to include on this list, but it seems to have slipped my mind. Maybe I don’t love it that much at all!

Have a great Wednesday!

What is your latest love/obsession?

The post My Latest Obsessions aka What I’m Loving Wednesday appeared first on Frolic Through Life.