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Two Meatballs: Om My Gah Yogaaaaaays!

August 25, 2015health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,AIP, Bath and Beyond, Bed, Beginners yoga series, bliss body yoga, cooking at home, elimination diet, food allergies, hi kelly, isn't the title hilarious!?!, limited options, Pure Barre North Raleigh, smoothies, Sun Salutations, target, Trader Joe's, whole foods, workout friendstwomeatballsgetfit View all 7 comments

Well hello everyone!!! This is your pal Sara and I have to say, I am feeling better than I have in a really long time. I’m eating healthy and moving my body again. My mind feels calmer. I feel present and inside of my own body instead of my own head. I feel powerful and calm and excited to moved forward with all the things I’m learning in therapy and all my other endeavors! In the spirit of change and new beginnings, this weekend started my Yoga Beginners Series at Bliss Body Yoga…you’re not even going to believe this!!! I loooooooooooooooooved it. It was everything. What an enlightening experience. I had such a calm feeling driving there. Not many things make me nervous, but doing new group exercise things are usually a nail biter for me. But the night before I fell right to sleep, woke up on time, got dressed, had a green tea and headed out. My drive there was so peaceful, windows down and I wasn’t nervous…like at all!!!! I pulled up, walked in and was greeted by our instructor, Nancy, the cutest cutie. This place is gorgeous.

A tiny voice in my head said , pick a spot in the back. But I’m a front row girl, so I shook that thought away and sat front and center next to my new friend Jo!

By the time 11:15 rolled around, the room was comfortably full. Nancy welcomed us, introduced herself and told us a little about her. Then we went around the room and said our name, what our previous yoga experience was and what we would like to gain from class. It was so nice to feel a sense of community before we got started and by the end of intros it was clear that everyone was kind of on the same page…wanting to learn the basics so as not to feel so lost, gain strength, flexibility and relief from our stressful lives. We started with Savasana or corpse pose, which lets you focus on breathing. It was like a peaceful nap. Then we slowly progressed into a series called Surya Namaskar or Sun Salutation which included table to cat to cow to childs pose. We went over lots of body posture points and ways to modify as your body gets used to the stretch. Then we went over how to distribute weight in your hands and feet for downward dog!

Then we walked to the front of our mat and did a very powerful stance. Hinged at the waist, into downward dog, then into a plank to cobra to downward dog I think, then back to standing and hands to heart. It was a lot of information but it felt nice and I loved the repetition of it. To finish up we did Savasana one more time and she came by and misted a lovely smelling mixture over us. Before you knew it an hour and fifteen minutes had flown by. I ran into one of Kelsey and Alleys clients before we left…such a small world!!! I have to say, I absolutely loved this. I love Nancy, I loved Bliss Body Yoga, I loved our group and most of all I loved the way I felt when I left. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this relaxed after exercising.

I just cannot wait to go back!!! Thanks Nancy!!!! Xoxo It even made me confident enough to go back to Pure Barre. I woke up Sunday morning and found myself in Jenny’s cousins class, Ariel!!! And it was serious. I was welcomed back literally with open arms. You really get to know people in this intimate setting! My pal Brooke was there and then some PB friends, Camille and Karen.

Ariel is the living sweetest, but once that mic went on, it was business time…my butttttttttt!!! It aches in the best way. This weekend I also went home and health shopping…

I got a tea kettle for my new tea obsession, some mason jars for juicing, a better knife, meat thermometer, some dish towels, yoga blocks, a pill caddy to keep all of my elimination diet supplements organized!!!! I had a Bed, Bath and Beyond gift card from my lovely client who moved to Ireland, Mary and I finally joyfully spent it! Thanks Mary!

Since I’ve started the elimination food plan to see if I have food allergies, I’ve already noticed that I have sensitivities to cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Nothing major, but it was for sure harder to breathe after i ate them! Imagine how great I’m going to feel getting rid of the things that make me feel bad!?!? It feels so nice to be cooking again and in charge of my nutrition. I’m not sure how I get so far from center but now that I’m feeling a little better, it actually is fun to meal plan, grocery shop and cook. I’m trying to think of just two days at a time, so I don’t over plan and get stressed out. Also, it leaves room for creativity and what I’m actually craving…which lately is MUSHROOMS!!! Lately I can’t get enough!

I love knowing that I have healthy things in my house to nourish and heal my body. There are so few things i can eat on this list and brown rice and quinoa are two of the items, so I have embraced the grain for the next 30 days. This weekend I made a mushroom, onion, garlic, leek gravy with oregano pan roasted chicken and tossed the whole thing with brown rice.

I also roasted zucchini, squash and onions and added it to the mix. It was so good and satisfying! I also experimented with some smoothies. I cant eat bananas which is a smoothie staple for me! So I mixed spinach, unsweetened coconut milk, blueberries, mango, pineapple and fresh squeezed lime juice….um delish! I also made a PBJish type smoothie with spinach, unsweetened coconut milk, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and cashew butter. Jenny tried it and said it was bland!!! It so funny when you are so restricted how different things taste…I thought it was decadent! Haha. You guyyyyyyys. I Feel so flipping good!!!! I’ve have learned so much about myself. I tend to put all my happiness eggs in to my health basket. I’m trying to change that so it isn’t so devastating when I don’t feel well. So now I’m just focusing on positivity and celebrating when I feel great. Thanks to all of you and if you aren’t doing yoga or have some form of peaceful meditation in your life, I can’t say enough wonderful things about it!!! Love you all like woah! Namaste. Ps: Y’all, this is our 302nd post!!! It has been so crazy lately I missed the 300th, but what a ride this has been. We are so grateful to every single person who reads our story. Xo time a milly.

Two Meatballs: Crunch Time (literally)!!!!

October 31, 2014health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,#getfitwithsandra, Before and Afters, different ways to measure progress, innovative fitness training, jackasses, measurements, new workout clothes, pre weigh in workout, target, transformations, workoutstwomeatballsgetfit View all 2 comments

It’s almost weigh in time!!! Here is our morning inspiration to keep us on track!!!! #whatabigdifference #sofierce

We are going to post the weigh in results Monday night at 8pm!!!! We have been feeling soooo good…so why not work out with Sandra and feel even worse…sorry I meant better! #loveyasandy Today was so fucking hard y’all. All we want to do is sing and dance allll the time but when we work out we just barely keep our heads above water! Here is some of our new clothes from yesterday in action!

Time to play!!!

Buuuuut I don’t want to work out today!

So what’s a gal to do…get measured to see another angle of progress!? Don’t mind if we do!!! #notamorningperson

I lost nothing from body fat and I was down 1.5 pounds with my BMI! Jenny lost 1.3 from body fat and 1 from BMI!!!!!!!!!!!!! So exciting!!!!

Then we got into the body parts!!! Haha

Chest- Sara:-.25″ Jenny-.25″

Waist Jenny-1″ (holy shit!) Sara:-.75″

Hips-Sara:+.25″ (dammmmmmmit #icecream #straighttomyhips) Jenny:-1.75″

Arms-Sara:-.5″ Jenny:(I missed this shot obvi!) No Change

Thigh-Jenny: +.5″ Sara:-.5″

Calves-Sara:-.5″ Jenny: No change

Total lost for Jenny…2.5″ Yayayayayayayayayayay Total lost for Sara…2.25″ Wahoooooooooooooooooo

Okkkkkk so it’s really time to get to it….last work out before the weigh in. Time to make it count! Workout!!!!

We started 5 minutes on the treadmill for a warm up. Then we did full sit ups for time.

Then planks to downward dog on repeat for time.

Then we did push ups for time.

Then chest presses on the mat for time.

Then we changed the angle so they would work the triceps…

Then close up squat to wall balls at eye level…

Then TRX low rows…

Then high rows with a crazy squat where you rocked back on your heels and toes up…

This was sooooo hard! Then we did bend at the waist 20 lb weight tight body mid row.

Then back to wall balls. The first sequence we had to step in and overhead throw the ball at the wall…halfway through we changed lead legs..

Then overhead oblique slam balls!

Then we repeated this entire sequence from the sit ups! Thennnnn, we did a mini session twice starting with 20 lbs we did squats to side raises…

Then we dropped the squats and swapped out 5 lb weights and just did the side raises…

Then we did burpees with 20 lb weights!

And closed with elbow to knee crunches!!!

Then we ET’ed for strength to get off the floor!

Another successful workout with our favorite trainer!!! Love you Sandy!

Then we got Starbucks and each went home to wash the sweat off for work! #murderingfall

In an effort not to get stale…we would love to hear what you guys would like to see from us!!! We love y’all so much and can’t wait to see you guys at the weigh in Monday night! xoxoxo

Two Meatballs: What Would Carrie Bradshaw Do?!

October 14, 2014health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,being dumped via text, best friends, break ups, comfort food, Coquette, dairy queen, eating your feelings, Forever 21, h&m, MAC cosmetics, relationship woes, Retail therapy, revelations, support system, surrounding yourself with good people during rough times, target, technology, writing your feelingstwomeatballsgetfit View all 11 comments

You can feel it from a mile away but it’s ironically a TOTAL surprise. The texts stop coming in as frequently…you’re not planning future dates anymore. You actually sweetly think that YOU are going to break up with HIM because you find yourself wanting more. Then Saturday night rolls around and you get the 2014 equivalent of the Carrie Bradshaw Sex and the City post it note break up!

A fucking break up text!!! Annnnnd you are mostly surprised by how much it stings after only three months

but also relieved that its over because the distance and rejection over the last week felt reallllllly shitty. Being sober I have had oh so many revelations. One of the biggest ones was how unknowingly unsupportive I was of my girlfriends during break ups! I always had the mentality of why would you want to be with someone that doesn’t want to be with you. I still feel like that, but I didn’t realize that all you want is for someone to make you feel better! And I don’t know about you, but bashing him doesn’t make me feel better. I don’t need to turn this into anger to get pumped up to move on. So to all my girlfriends and family members…my bad!!!! I really honestly just didn’t know. I thought my logic and pointing out all the other persons short comings would make you feel better but it really just makes you feel worse. It feels strange at 31 to say that this is my first time being dumped! #babysfirstheartbreak For the last decade I did anything I could to keep men at an arms length…only engaging in physical relationships. I was a drunk mess and I didn’t want to be judged or make myself vulnerable. So, when I decided to stop drinking I also decided to give a relationship a go…and I found out sooooo much. I’m the living worst communicator! Who knew the girl with the blog would suck so terribly at stating my own needs! I realized that I love being in a relationship…after the first month of longing to be single bc its what I had known forever and what was comfortable. I share my space well and I love really getting to know someone. I love going on fun dates and doing nice things for someone I care about. It was totally worth putting myself out there to learn how much I like being a part of something . So, I’m walking away with the knowledge that I am totally capable of being emotionally intimate in a real grown up relationship, I could for sure work on communicating better, I can handle being broken up with with my self esteem in tact, especially when I know it’s the best thing and ultimately I have no regrets. #grown?!

Now, having said all of that…I can’t deny that this was really sad!!!! We never even talked about it…it just eneded…through technology! But honestly I can’t think of a thing that would have made it better or less awkward. Another thing that I have learned from being sober is that I am capable of feeling more emotions that just happiness and anger. I am a very logical person when it comes to these situations. I wanted more, he wanted less or more with someone else. That can’t work. My brain knows alllll of that but with no substance abuse coping mechanism

…I spent some time on the phone with my sister and Katie bawling…saw my parents and cried some more #whoamI?!

By the way I have the greatest people in my life ON EARTH! I’m so thankful everyday. The few people who knew really wanted to comfort me and I couldn’t thank them more! #theyknowmesowell

And some time on my couch with my tissues and favorite meatball were all necessary. It was time to lick my wounds. I love my little support system. But what’s next…

“I couldn’t help but think…(did you see what I did there Nichole LuMaye!?)…What would Carrie Bradshaw do!? Retail Therapy!?

Jenny came to my happy place last week…the beach! So this week she took me to hers…the mall!!!

You guys, retail therapy, especially with your best friend is a thing and it feels amazing. First stop…MAC for a new fall lip!

Then we went to H&M and Forever 21 and we both found so many fall looks!

Then we went to Target for more clothes…and laughs #thankyuoforbeingafriendtraveleddowntheroadandbackagain #goldengirlssweatshirt #tootinycroptops #jennyisazombie

Being with this girl makes me feel so much better!!! We love trying on the ugliest stuff and who needs a dressing room am I right ladies!?! But we did find some total gems. But then what…comfort eat!?

So, we had dinner at my favorite place…Coquette! It was the most romantic dinner two little meatballs could ask for. It was also one of our two monthly cheat nights….it was heaven! Then we got a french silk blizzard from Dairy Queen #shame but it was the coldest little hug of yumminess! But most of all to feel better, I think Carrie would write about it…

Writing down how you feel is such a cathartic thing…a total release. Getting all of this out and then reading it back to yourself helps you process everything that happened and gives you such amazing perspective and peace. I know that this has very little to do with paleo or workouts with a trainer but this is a little bump in my journey that I’m not going to let spiral out. I have today to cry and then I’m moving on. It was really hard to actually feel my feelings instead of turning to something else to make them go away. It is ok to feel sad…but don’t wallow and know when to get out.

So in closing…a break up is sad but its also what is meant to be! I’m choosing to walk away with fond memories and a better knowledge of what I want in the future. Love you guys so much and thanks for the inspiration…turns out I’m a Carrie.

Two Meatballs: Will Cook For Labor!

June 11, 2014health, fitness, beauty, motivation, plus size, make up, hair, hairstylist, oribe, bumble and bumble, MAC Cosmetics, comedy, Paleo, besties, best friends, meatballs, exercise, life change, lifestyles,art, chimichurri, co dependency, curtains, diy, extreme makeover home edition, family first, fintess, grateful, grill, grilled steak, grilling, healthy cooking, healthy recipes, home, home depot, home goods, home makeover, home projects, love, love my family, my healthy journey, new healthy ideas, paleo, paleo recipes, patio furniture, target, teamwork, thankfultwomeatballsgetfit View all 4 comments

You guyyys?! Little inside scoop on me…I am not handy! I have great ideas and I’m a good worker but the inner workings of the executions are lost on me. I am also co-dependent. I feel very capable but I just think all things are more fun when you do them together…am I right ladies!? (hello TWO meatballs!) Being single, vertically challenged, overweight and without a ladder of my very own makes even simple tasks like changing a lightbulb for instance DIFFICULT! So what’s a single gal to do…sweetly ask for the help of her family and friends!!! Lately I have been receiving soooo much help and just support in general and I couldn’t appreciate it more! I’ve been hooked on HGTV for awhile and needed a summer makeover at casa del Beard. If you saw my house you would say…yep that looks about right. It is chock full of neon pink bathrooms with dead doll chandeliers, tons of quirky art and one hundred thousand million pictures. BUUUUUUUUT there were some areas that were lacking. I think bc of my continual hangover that lasted all weekend every weekend from my former life…there were just a lot of things on my list to do that never got ta done. Well with a clear head and my new budgeting skills this girl went out and bought a grill, patio furniture and gave my prison inspired bedroom a much needed facelift. Home Depot, Target and Home Comfort are my new looooves. So I called in the troops and offered a barter system of food for labor and they oh so sweetly agreed!

Who is cuter than these two!?

Oh wait…maybe this little shark!

This was our oh so helpful buddy Doug at Home Depot who I think would rather be gored by a bull than take this picture!

Obvi I needed help and a wayyyyy bigger car than Jane Honda. My parents are total life savers. Now time to assemble this mess!!! Sidebar…I was helping not just snapping 1000 photos! Thank goodness my family likes the camera!

It wasn’t the easiest project but the end result was totes worth it…I can live outdoors now!!!!

On to my sad sack of a bedroom. I repainted awhile back and I wanted everything gray…I went full 50 shades…but then because of my intrinsic laziness and before mentioned challenges when it comes to projects…i never hung any of my artwork back up …and I chose a gray bedspread…and I felt super bummmmmed every single time I looked around! It so did not feel homey to me…time for change!

Ugh….sooooo much better!!!! Now I just love waking up in that beautiful room every morning!

On to the grill which was assembled minus the propane tank which I had to call my buddy and old roommate Matt over to help me bc it made a terrible…I’m gonna describe it as explosive…like impending death sound when I attempted to hook it up! He seemed to have no trouble at all…thanks Matttttt!

Loving this outdoor lifestyle now and grilling will open up so many more cooking options so that i wont get bored and my child like mind can stay entertained! Which brings me to my next segment called…how do you repay all these acts of kindness!? With healthy delicious food made with your love and appreciation…ding ding ding! So I invited my family over on Sunday to thank them and show off my new grillin skillz (yeah I did a z…what). So what’s on the menu today???

Chimichurri Ribeyes, Garlic Roasted Green Beans, Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Butter Roasted Corn on the Cob!!!! Holy yum balls this was sooo good!

Here are the recipes:

Chimichurri Marinade:

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cups fresh cilantro chopped

1 cup fresh parsley chopped

4 cloves of garlic minced

1tsp sea salt

combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until blended.

Pour 80% of this over your steaks…we had 6 ribeyes in a glass cooking dish and cover and let marinate for at least an hour. Take steaks out of the fridge 45 minutes before cooking to let get to room temp. Turn grill onto medium high heat and cook for 3-4 minutes per side depending on your preference. yum yum yum

Then I preheated the oven to 450 degrees…where is the degrees symbol on a laptop!? hmmm….i digress. Take the husks and silky stuff off your corn, butter it and wrap individually in tin foil then place on a baking pan and roast for 30 minutes. Then toss your green beans with EVOO and garlic salt, place on a foil lined pan and place them in the oven next to the corn. Then slice 3 medium sweet potatoes and toss with sesame oil, sea salt and black pepper and place directly onto a baking sheet that you have sprayed with coconut oil and throw those bad boys into the oven as well! My house smelled like HEAVEN.

Reserve the last 20%…see there is the percent sign but I still don’t know where the degrees button is!?..of the chimichurri sauce for dipping that yummy steak and everything else in and blam…lunch is served!

I cannot explain to you what a total 180….where is that god forsaken degrees button!?!?!?… this is for me. I used to only be responsible for showing up at gatherings bc it was common knowledge that I could NOOOOOOT cook. At most I could be trusted with bringing a soda…maybe a store bought dessert. I’m def the baby of the family. And I know that this post sounds like I am helpless damsel in distress but really I’m just a lover of great company…I just want to spend endless amounts of time together! And I want to pay back the years of never contributing food to the family cause. And look at those faces…this was yumo! After lunch the kids were full of Urkle entertainment and we enjoyed the new outdoor options at Mo’s house (that’s me you guys)..

Chase is really good at going potty solo but just has no idea where those pants are supposed to go afterwards..it’s too high or too low…and Wyatt is always down to entertain. He will kill me one day for these pics!

Those hiney’s…those wedgies…I love these kids…they are so fun and soooooo funny! I hope that you try out these recipes and love them as much as we did. Have the living best day! Love you all…and thank you again to all my family and friends who help me out allll the time! PS JENNY I MISS YOU COME HOME!!!!

Two Meatballs Get Fit

We had so much fun getting fat together. Now we're going to have even more fun getting fit!