ashleyd /

Friday Favorites – June 29th, 2018

A picture of the Brooks Run Happy Ambassador crew from last year’s trip to New Mexico!

Happy Friday! Greetings from Seattle. I flew out here yesterday, spending seven hours on the flight from New York City to Seattle working. It was a ridiculously productive flight as I made my way through hundreds of work emails, tackled a few things that have been on my work to-do list for ages, wrote a few thank you notes for Katie’s first birthday presents, and published a blog post.  I headed out to Seattle a day early so I could spend some time with my good friend Amy, who just moved here from Cincinnati. After a few snafus, we were able to relax and enjoy the gorgeous weather and catch up while hanging with her husband and two children. We ate sushi, hung out in their hot tub and then went for an early morning walk together this morning. The time together looked a lot different than our impromptu visits but I am so appreciative of the way our relationship continues to evolve, depending on our life stage. I’m getting ready to hop in a Lyft and head over to the Brooks HQ to meet the rest of the Run Happy ambassadors who are in town for a weekend of running, exploration and fun. This is my third year working with Brooks and while every year is an honor and joy, I couldn’t be more excited that this year’s trip includes cheering on the athletes at the Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle.

Now, let’s dive into this week’s edition of Friday Favorites, including recipes, articles, posts and other things that caught my eye this week.

  • After being awake for almost 20 hours yesterday, I looked pretty rough when I woke up this morning. While I blow dried my hair and got ready for the day, I let these magical Grace & Stella eye patches work magic on the lines and eye puffiness. I discovered them a few months ago via another blogger and have since been buying them once a month. When I’m not traveling, I keep them in our refrigerator as the cold helps them work even faster and more effectively. Unlike other eye patches, I find that my makeup still goes on smoothly and easily after the application!
  • When I cleaned out my closet earlier this year, I kept two shirts that I loved even though they didn’t fit at the time. As of last week, I’m finally able to wear them again and LOVED packing them for Seattle’s cooler temperatures this weekend. I own the slim, flattering v-neck in black and hunter green and find myself wearing it almost year-round. Today I’m wearing the black one with jeans and sandals but back in New York, I wore the green one with jean shorts earlier this week. At $15, you can’t beat them for the softness and fit!
  • A few people sent me DM the other day when I shared a picture of me in my favorite dress and jean jacket. While I’ve raved about the dress, I’ve somehow never shared that my favorite jean jacket is one that I’ve had for four years. Believe it or not, J.Crew still has it online and the style hasn’t changed very much since I bought mine. While I found it on sale, the amount of times that I’ve worn it over the years makes the price seam like a steal. It has a relaxed fit, so I recommend ordering a size smaller than normal.
  • This morning during our walk, Amy raved about a few podcasts she’s enjoying these days, including Oprah’s SuperSoul conversations which feature inspiring conversations with a range of personalities including Maria Shriver, Deepak Chopra, and Brene Brown.
  • Earlier this week, Brooks launched a huge end-of-season sale which includes many of my current favorites. I’ve been wearing these bright, patterned shorts on runs when the weather is especially humid and find them to be comfortable and the wide leg means no chafing. This tank is loose, bright and breathable, perfect for the humid weather and bringing some fun to early morning workouts.

Okay friends, it’s time to head out but I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and follow my adventures with Brooks on Instagram this weekend. I’ll be sharing sneak peeks of their Fall gear, workout tips and gorgeous Pacific Northwest views.

 

 

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored and instead is a list of the things of my favorite things this week. As normal, it includes lots of beauty and fashion items which means there are a few affiliate links via ShopStyle. It takes time and money to maintain a blog so I thank you for the support and few cents that come from clicking through the links!

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ashleyd /

Katie’s First Birthday Party

I am still in shock that our little girl is already ONE.

On Saturday we celebrated her first birthday with friends and family. We knew that we wanted to keep things casual so we invited everyone over for an afternoon of backyard fun including burgers, beer and cupcakes!

Friday afternoon my parents and I went to Fairway to buy all the ingredients for everything we’d serve for lunch. The menu was simple and easy but a clear crowd pleaser based on how much everyone ate!

  • Grilled sausages that were sliced into small bites and passed around as appetizers when people arrived
  • Hot dogs & hamburgers with all the fixings (cheese, lettuce, tomato & condiments)
  • Homemade coleslaw
  • BBQ and Original Chips
  • Fresh Fruit (Strawberries & Pineapple)
  • Rose wine & beer

I ordered a few decorations from Party City the week of the party and then picked them up in the store Saturday morning.  It is easy to go down the first birthday rabbit hole online but I stayed strong and only ordered a few balloons, a banner for her high chair and some bright, polka dot cups, napkins, plates and a few disposable table cloths.  Thanks to their summer sale and a coupon I received in the mail, all of the décor was less than $30!

Instead of baking or ordering a cake, we decided to go the cupcake route. Our favorite, local bakery, Buttermilk Bake Shop, has delicious cupcakes that are moist and topped with butter cream frosting. They used colored frosting to make the cupcakes match the invitation and other polka dot décor. If you’re local, I highly recommend them as their prices were very reasonable and they were SO friendly and helpful!

The party started at 11:30 Saturday morning and, as expected, the first people to arrive were the people with children. The little ones loved playing with Katie’s new kitchen and water table. Their squeals and interactions were so fun to watch while we enjoyed cold beers and toasted to making it through the first year of parenthood.  Around noon Bo headed out to the grill to cook the burgers and hot dogs while everyone hung out in the backyard.

After everyone enjoyed lunch we sang Happy Birthday to Katie and discovered that our daughter definitely has our sweet tooth. She inspected the cupcake for a minute before flipping it over and sticking the entire thing in her mouth!

The entire afternoon was exactly what we wanted and such a success. While not all our family was able to make the trip up to Brooklyn for her birthday, it was so special having my aunt and uncle as well as mom and dad there with us. They were so helpful from helping with setup, cleanup and hosting our friends! My only regret from the day was not getting a picture of the three of us together – oops.

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ashleyd /

Workout Recap – June 11-24th

Hey guys! Today I’m sharing the updates from the past two weeks of half marathon training. Things are going better than I expected. It is clear that I thrive when I have a plan to follow and am therefore accountable to you all as my readers and followers as well as my coach.  I’m thrilled to be in the place where I want to train and have the emotional, mental and physical ability to work towards a goal.  While I am keeping a training journal, where I track my progress, I want to also share my training with you all as I know many of you are chasing the same sub 2-hour goal and others are just curious and enjoy reading workout recaps and getting a bit more details behind my daily workouts.

So, with that said, let’s dive into my second and third weeks of training which includes not only my workouts, but also my health and wellness goals.

Average steps:  10,552 (vs previous average of 6,500)

Number of glasses of wine: 4 and 3 (4 one week, 3 the next)

Did I track my meals breakfast, lunch & snacks Monday through Friday? Yes!

Have I lost weight? Yes, so far I have lost around four pounds.

  • Monday: My schedule allowed me to returned to Body Pump again this week. I increased the weights on certain tracks, which made a huge difference.
  • Tuesday: Once again, I kicked Tuesday off with a super, early private Pilates session at A-Line.  I have a few more privates left in my package and am spacing them out over the summer so we can continue to focus on improvements and form as I progress.
  • Wednesday: I was able to get off the wait-list for the early morning tower Pilates class. This is one of their most popular classes and books in advance. The tower class worked my entire body but surprisingly, my glutes and arms were the most sore on Thursday.
  • Thursday: This week’s 4 mile run with the Brooklyn mom running group was larger than normal which made it SO fun! I don’t know why a few new faces decided to join but we chatted the entire time. My glutes were a bit achy at the beginning so I was happy that our pace was slower for the first mile while my body woke up.
  • Friday: Rest Day
  • Saturday: Due to a last minute change, I didn’t run the Queens 10k so instead I headed out in the afternoon for a 3.5 mile long run (9:02, 9:15, 9:09, 9:03). I kept the pace pretty consistent and finished feeling strong.
  • Sunday: The weather was horrible so instead of leaving the house for a workout, I hopped on the bike and did a Flywheel Power 30 class with my favorite instructor, Dionna. I focused on trying to hit a new PR and came just a few points away from hitting my goal.
  • Monday:  I took another lunch time mat Pilates class at Aline Pilates. I’m trying to take an average of two Pilates classes per week and stick with the same teachers as they are able to make corrections and help me focus on my breathing and weaknesses. I was the only person to show up for class so it actually ended up being a private class for the price of a group – WINNING!
  • Tuesday: My Tuesday Tempo runs are quickly becoming my favorite workout! I listened to a Tempo Playlist on Spotify and focused on the 3 segments of this workout – warm-up, tempo pace and cool-down. I kept a 9:07 pace (9;12, 8:55, 9:16 and 9:08) during the workout and covered 3.2 miles.
  • Wednesday: I squeezed in a 20 minute Flywheel POWER class bright and early before a doctor’s appointment. I pushed myself and hit a new PR for the 20 minute class.
  • Thursday: I ran 3 miles with the Brooklyn mom group but had to turn back early due to a busy morning.
  • Friday: Rest Day
  • Saturday: Between chasing kids around the house during her birthday party and running errands, I went to bed with THROBBING legs as I’d logged more than 16,000 steps. I guess you could call this an active rest day.
  • Sunday: My third “long run” of half marathon training was a 4 mile run through Brooklyn Bridge Park. Since Theodora wants my long runs to be at conversational pace, I figured that I would use the Lululemon and Brooklyn Moms group run Sunday morning for this week’s long run. The plan worked perfectly as I was able to run with a few new mom friends who are my similar pace and talking made the miles pass quickly. I was surprised to see that my pace was a 9:29 – 9:39, 9:17, 9:25 and 9:30.

Overall, my second and third week have me so excited for what is to come but, I am not getting ahead of myself. I know that there is a lot of summer heat, humidity and longer runs coming soon! My goal this week is to make sure that I make it back to Body Pump or another challenging, strength workout. I feel my best when I’m doing 2 days of Pilates, 3 days of running and a strength workout! Since I’ll be out in Seattle with Brooks this weekend, I have a feeling I’ll log plenty of miles with the Brooks #RunHappy Ambassador crew!

 

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