healthy

Two Meatballs: Whose That Girl Over-scheduling Herself?! It’s Me, It’s Me!!!

Hellllllooooo!!!!

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It’s Sara!  I found myself at my therapists office this week with a lot to talk about.  I was feeling a little overwhelmed again.  I have a full calendar pretty much at all times, and it’s all things I want to do, but the last two weeks have been crazy!  Last week, I met my yoga heroes in a two hour workshop!

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Then stated Beginners Series again with my mom this time!

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So fun! But I hurt my back!!!  The next morning I really debated on whether or not to go to the fair with my family, but I couldn’t not go!

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I ended up canceling my two yoga classes that afternoon bc I just couldn’t move!

 

Then, the next day was an amazing class with the oh so talented KatieM at Samuel Cole Salon.

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It was an Oribe Texture class and my cousin Kristina was our model and my buddy Carolyn was my partner!  This class was the living funnest and so challenging.  I loved Katie’s teaching style and the way she would do a step and then we would recreate it!!!

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Best day ever.  And just look at my gorgeous cousin!

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Styling used to really intimidate me years ago, but now it is my favorite part of being a hairdresser!

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So much freedom to play and create!!!  I love my job, thank you Kris, Carolyn, Breanna and thank you KatieM!  Then I rushed over to Terri’s, the women who puts my connective tissue back where it is intended bc my back was really scaring me!  She worked her magic and I felt 100 times better, but I accidentally missed a yoga class (part of my 20 day challenge) Eeeek!!!!  The guilt got me good.  Also with a full day of class, I was a little behind with work.  The next four days flew by with hiring, interviewing, clients, meetings, initiatives and scheduling!  Oh and don’t forget yoga…why did I sign up for a challenge???  Sprinkle in grocery shopping, cooking, some family time and time with the guy I’ve been seeing for awhile, the upcoming weigh in and the blogggggggg and all of the sudden, I was feeling very sleep deprived and manic. Plus I found my first 40 gray hairs…aaak!  But, you always end up where you need to be.  So as I sat in Christine’s office and unloaded about my very busy two weeks with no end in sight, she introduced what I consider to be, an earth shattering concept.  She said, what you’re doing is enough.  What you know is enough for right now.  What if you didn’t add anything else right now.  My response was, I don’t know how to do that!  Then we giggled.  I told her that my pendulum swings far.  I schedule myself bc it keeps me on track and it helps me use my down time efficiently.  I also want to do all of the things that I am doing, this just happened to be a really crazy 2 weeks!  Then we got really tickled talking about scheduling restful things…you will relax at 4, meditate at 5, BE CALM DAMMIT! haha I am so intense.   Then she said, Sara, you seem tired.  And you know what I was.  Signing up for challenges is always so exciting to me.  I love the accountability and the competition.  But I am not very good at disengaging when it becomes too much.  I still want to win…which is so ridiculous…winning yoga?!  That seems ironic. And I don’t want to swing to the other side of the pendulum, say fuck it and wipe my calendar clean. #balance #findingcenter She also said, look how far you’ve come.  Now you can recognize when you are spiraling down this rabbit hole before you are completely depleted…that is progress.  And you know what, it is!  So, after I left her office, I went to restorative yoga with my bosses and let go of the overwhelmed feeling, after all the week had ended and I survived.  I went to bed early, canceled Saturday morning yoga, slept in LATE and then went to a lovely wedding.  I went to bed early Saturday night, woke up late Sunday morning and  went to yoga twice…baby steps ok!?  It takes time to change behaviors.  If I say yes to everything, I am saying no to my health.  I really understand that, but I am going to have to stop myself from signing up for anything new for awhile.  I have everything that I need.  And how can I really go deep with something if I can’t really focus on it…adios Pilates November and hello to a little more sleep and a few less gold stars.  I am just learning how to breath again.  My health is important to me. I don’t have to say yes to everything and sometimes I need to say no to myself for myself. With all that said, we are not feeling the weigh in.  Things have changed so much since we started this adventure and we need to make smart decisions for ourselves.  As fun as it used to be, this go round I really was having to talk myself into it.  It felt like a chore and like the opposite of where I am right now, trying to be less obsessive and goal oriented.  Also, Jenny and I haven’t actually hung out this entire month.  I just kept thinking, so the one time we’ve made plans with each other this month, and we are going to work?!  Because that is what a weigh in is…work!  I want to reconnect with my best friend.  This blog used to be so fun, because we were in it together.  We need some time together without any outside pressure.  We want to be able to write things that we feel really passionately about.  So, no weigh in and no scheduled writing.  We are going to write and post when we feel inspired…that could mean 3 times a week or a couple of times a month!  We appreciate all of the support and love you guys have given us.  Thank you for everything and for supporting this passion driven decision! Shew, What a sigh of relief.  Now, off to make my Halloween Costume…Mew Barrymore!  Happy Halloween and we will see you when we see you. Xoxo times a milly.

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#workoutgoals #soulsister #iwantthatoutfit #halloweeninsporation #forevergrateful

 

 

Two Meatballs: Two Sister + Two Meatballs + Four Hairstylists = A Great Time!!!

This is Nichole and Michelle!!!  They are sisters and through several different ways, friends of myself and Jenny and two of our biggest supporters for the blog! Couldn’t you just die…they are the living cutest!!!

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Michelle is a super talented hairstylist and owner of  Bettie in Sola Salons in downtown Raleigh!!!  Jenny and I used to work with Michelle and she is just the most lovely person!  I actually went to high school with both Michelle and Nichole.  Nichole is also an amazing hairstylist and works at Ceremony Salon in Pittsboro.  Both of these ladies have been super supportive of the blog and wanted to catch up over a paleo friendly dinner!  So we met up at Oro!!!

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Y’all…this place is gorg and had sooo many options for all of us!!! Michelle is vegan and gluten free, Nicole is gluten free and paleo but with cheese…so primal maybe and the meatballs were paleo…ish tonight!

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We even got to meet the chef…he was presh as well!  We had a hell of a time parking though because of Hopscotch…we could see one show from our parking deck!!!

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Anywhoooooo…back to this yummy dinner and catch up sesh.  Oro is a small plate restaurant so me and Jenny split two sets of proteins and two sets of veggies!!!  We started off with bok choy and scallops (with rice noodles…#guiltypleasure)…

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Michelle ordered a vegan mixed greens salad and Nichole started with a beet salad…

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We were def that table of people taking food porn pics…I always feel the need to tell people that we are bloggers, but no one really gives a shit…it’s totally the norm now!

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The conversation was flowing, we all got up to speed on each others lives and also talked a lot about getting healthy, physically and mentally!!!  The theme of the month…women building up women!!!  Next course the meatballs split pork belly #yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm and baby corn on the cob!!!

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Nichole had the salmon and Michelle had a black bean cake…

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You guyyys…everything was so good and there were honestly at least five or six more things on the menu that I wanted to try…always a good sign!  But we were stuffed…for the moment at least! Time to jackass around…where did this fan even come from!?!

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#webothlookweird

I love good company and great conversations even more!  We are all 4’s so in typical 4 fashion…we were all over the place…we talked about Jenny’s gorgeous daughter London, how hard it is to date in your 30’s, redefining who you thought you would be at a certain age, opening yourself up, how Michelle got engaged, living in NYC during 9/11, laying in a truck bed looking at the stars, bad choices, sexual harrassment, ginger beer, drinking, guns, mase, annnnd how hard it is to be a girl sometimes!!  We had an amazing night…everyone should be so lucky to have such great women in their lives!!!  We love you guys, lets do it again sometime soon! XOXO Ps Oro was so yum!!!  You should go there for sure! PS…I literally never get to feel tall…best night of life!!!

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Two Meatballs: #progress

You guyyys!!!!  You know what day it is…workout with Sandra day!!!!  But first we wanted to show you guys another little progress report of our workouts!!!  Sandra Axman of Innovative Fitness Training reached out to us in April and our first workout was 24th!!!  We were weak and out of shape and I think we both thought we were going to legitimately dieeeeee after our first session.  But Sandra’s enthusiasm was enough to hook us and we knew that working out was going to have to be a huge part of this new life. Here are some photo collages!!!!

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We look sooooooo different!!!!  But I think it is hilarious and ironic that we are wearing almost identical outfits!!!  Ok on to todays ass whipping.  Today was all about agility and endurance….two words I didn’t know that I hated until today!  Winky face Sandra…sort of! So we were locked out when we pulled up and made our own fun in the parking lot!

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This is how I felt about being locked out…

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But the weather was sooooo nice!!!

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We did a little pre workout balance beam…

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Played a rousing game of find the meatball!

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#creeps

Then a scary rape van pulled into the parking lot and right next to us.  I instantly went into fight mode(I have no flight, just fight) and my don’t eff with us aura made them pull right back out. #noharrasmentneededsir #nomeansno But just in case they didn’t get the message Jenny sent a new one!

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I wouldn’t mess with her! #powerfulthighs #thatfaceisnotintimidatingjenny

Then we finally got let in and walked into an obstacle course.

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The 4 in me thought wahooooo, the 3 in me thought, oh shit!

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So for round 1 we did every station for 1 minute 15 seconds.  There were 12 stations.  Did you read that…..TTTTTWWWWWEEEEELLLLVVVVEEEE stations.  I just wanted to make sure that was clear. Here is a little walk through courtesy of Sandra.

Station 1: Fireman’s ladder side to sides…

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Station 2: Box Jumps or for me Box Step Up Crunches (this is actually Jenny)

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Station 3: Planking

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Station 4: Kettle Bell Dead Lifts

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Station 5: Push Ups

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Station 6: Alternating Crunches and Sit Ups:

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Station 7: Bicep Curls

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Station 8: In In Out Outs on a Step

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Station 9: Tricep extensions

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Station 10 Bosu Ball Burpees with overhead Crunches

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Station 11: Pushing the Sled

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Station 12: Pulling the Sandbag

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So here is what it looked like when we did it. This happened for two rounds, but on round two each station was only a minute.

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Can you feel the utter exhaustion!?  I thought I was going to blackout!  But we finished and we’ve come sooooo far!!!  Now the time has come…for us to be dumb.  I seriously don’t know where the energy for this comes!!! Take me for my chariot ride!!!

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#digdeep

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Cheersing our sips of water so we don’t barf!

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We love you Sandra!!!  One more week behind us and now we are stating the countdown to the next weigh in!!!!

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Have a great weekend y’all!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxox times a mil! Ps have you called Sandra yet!?!  www.innovativefitnesstraining.com

 

 

 

 

 

Two Meatballs: Fireworks, F@%$ Ups and a Fat Crushing Workout!!!

First off….HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!! #merica We hope your weekend is full of sparklers, fireworks, bodies of water, cookouts, family and friends.

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#kelseyisthecutestever #butsooooisdustin #salonpatriotism#mericanails #leeisthebest

This weigh in felt epic! We hit 20,000 views on Facebook for Two Meatballs: Grin and Bare it!!!

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Holy shit!!!  We feel great, we are getting a million compliments and together we’ve lost almost 100 pounds!!!

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So what have we done…gotten cocky and started getting a little slack! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I did better on vacation than I have this week…who does that?!!  Jenny and I made a pact on Tuesday morning to give up our personal vices for one week.  She said goodbye to dark chocolate and I said adios to pistachios (NOOOOOOOOO)!!!

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Thank you Nikki and Jack for the immersion therapy! #canyoutelljackiseatingpistachioandnikkiiseatingdarkchocolate #masicsm

So we started this month with great intentions.  Then we posted the weigh in and the praise and compliments came pouring in (thank y’all so much) and that little voice in the back of our heads (not blue cross blue shield) said….YOU’VE ARRIVED!.  Surely we must be done right?!  We look great, we  feel great…time to eat! We went to Ale House Wednesday night to celebrate..again with great intentions…what’s more Paleo than WINGS!? But then I ordered onion straws and we both ate our weight in bleu cheese. Woooooooof… We felt so awful when we left…I felt stuffy and like I had a cold and we both felt hungover and can you say BLOATED.  What a way to celebrate right!?  Lesson learned.   BUUUUUUT then I met up with some girlfriends last night that I hadn’t seen in a million years and we went to Coquette. Love you Robyn and Ellen!!!

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Let me say…Coquette had some really great options…there was a pan seared duck breast and even my fav…scallops!  But do you know what I ordered!?!?!?  STEAK FRITES!  For those of you like my sister that struggle with French (#haricotvertshahahahahahahaha) its steak and FRIES!  Like French fries you guyssss…white potato, fried shoestring French fries.  And I know French so this wasn’t like oh whooopsies…I didn’t know what frites were!  But they were delish and it happened.  So then I woke up the next morning before our work out with our super best buddy Sandra Axman (www.innovativefitnesstraining.com caaaaaaaaaallllllll her!) and adorably hopped on my scale as if I were going to see a loss and you are never going to even believe this shit y’all….I GAINED 3 POUNDS. Duhhhhhhhhhhh Sara!  Anyways I got dressed and went downstairs and sweet Jenny picked me up!  And she was in a mood…a mood that much reflected how I was feeling.  Neither one of us felt like exercising, we were both being bitchy and super irritated…it’s the craziest thing when you stray from what works how quickly your mind goes to fuck it mode. Sooooo we had a little counseling sesh on the drive to the gym.  We both have been too slack…eating too much, eating out, not eating the right things, not getting enough sleep, being slack with water and for me skipping my normal workouts.  She said I’m going to use all this anger in our workout today…#genius!  A workout was just what the doctor ordered.  How can you be mad when you are so physically exhausted and so proud of what you just accomplished!?  And by the by…Sandra you are the greatest human…thank you for forcing us out of our funk and always being so encouraging, positive and energetic.  You are a ray of sunshine that both of us desperately needed this morning and your commitment to our journey and end result is something that we are so grateful for!!!!!!!  We love you to the moon and back.  On to the workout…these first few pics we were still deep into bitch mode.

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But we half heartedly tried to get over it!

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But we really just wanted to go back to sleeeeep!

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We went inside and the tom foolery began…lets be honest nothing makes us feel better than acting like children!

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Then Sandra asked the question that we have heard 1,000 times this week…”have you guys been measuring?”  Nooooooo we are idiots!  Why didn’t we measure …that would be an awesome way to track progress!  So we started today! We also got our BMI and some other important number using a Gameboy like hand held device

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Aaaaand now on to the workout for real!  This was both of our favorite workout ever!!! It was HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and we did Tabata which involves doing a particular exercise at high intensity for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest.  It’s repeated 8 times for a total time of 4 minutes! (Explanation courtesy of Sandra)  First we did the dumbest cardio ever(this is Sara speaking…I hated this damn band)…it involved a small thick band that went around our ankles  and then you stepped up and over a step aerobic step (#howmanytimescanyousaystepinonesentence) and we did a Tabata here.

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Take a closer look at why I hated these…my poor fat ankles…my cankles/calves got eaten by rubber!

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Then there were two stations both with two different exercises each. The back station you were kneeling on a BOSU ball doing reverse chest press (pull down) And at the chest station you did a  chest press on a bench and we did these for 8 rounds…

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Then we did the second exercise at our stations.  At the back station you switched to standing trx rows and at the chest station you switched to chest fly’s!

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Then we got onto our mats and did Tabata ab work…with two different exercises working two different areas.  First was upper abs with crunches for 8 rounds then lower abs with leg crunches (laying flat and bringing your bent legs to your chest and then extending them back out) for 8 rounds. (There were no pics of this so we recreated this at work! #yourwelcome #mybackissoooohairynow)

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Then we did a cardio thing back on the step with one leg stationary with the other leg being brought up with the knee bent and tapping the ground and bringing it back up again for 8 rounds…holy burn batman.

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Then we switched stations and whoever did back went to chest and vicey versey!

Did you breath a sigh of relief and think that we were done..me too but WRONG! haha

Next was two different stations one for biceps and the other for triceps.

At the bicep station we did bicep curls while sitting on an exercise ball to engage our core!  At the tricep station we had a stretchy thingy with two handles attached to an elliptical machine for stability and we had to do tricep extensions (Huge shout out to Michael for helping me figure out workout jargon…he is not responsible for the dumb shit I make up but for the correct terminology!)

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Then before we switched stations we did a cardio/quad blaster back on the aerobic step. You start with your right foot fixed to one spot on the step and then do speed skaters for 8 rounds. After each round you alternate the leg that is stationary.

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Then we switched bicep and tricep stations…

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Annnnnd that was all she wrote!  This workout felt ahhhh-mazing!  Then we had to jackass around again!

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And do a little homage to sweet dead Fat back Friday!

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We just can’t keep our clothes on now!  But look how much smaller!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

And finally Sandra (yelling this) WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!  To everyone reading this…if you are struggling to find the motivation to work out of just don’t know what you are supposed to do, this woman will educate and inspire you and help you get to your goal 1 squat at a time! Look at the difference she has made in our lives!?!?

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She is LITERALLY the living best!

 

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Enjoy your holiday weekend!!! XOXOXOXOOXOXOXOOXO!