Rough Life in NYC

Hello from the top of NYC!

We are on top of the world!

We are on top of the world!

My parents came to NYC for the weekend, and luckily decided to make a pit stop upstate to visit their favorite daughter. We had something VERY important to celebrate:

It's a VERY special day!

It’s a VERY special day!

Yesterday was my mother’s birthday, so we spent the day together celebrating the greatest woman alive 🙂

I now figured out why I have barely any pictures with my mother. I had to beg her just to squeeze this one out of her yesterday…and she sort of made me promise not to post on the blog. Ooops. Sorry mom, you look great, as usual! Not a day over 35 ;-).

We spent the day eating great food, and doing my mother’s favorite thing in the world: shopping. I also made my mom some special fat free Sometimes Healthy Apple Cinnamon muffins.

Special Muffins for Mom!

Special Muffins for Mom!

These babies included fresh chopped apples, apple cider, apple butter AND Apple Chobani. They were definitely a hit, and I hope to share the recipe Wednesday. Whenever my mother comes to NYC, one of her favorite things to eat are the fat free muffins at the bakeries, so I figured she’d enjoy some of her very own special healthified muffins.

We also went to dinner on the river and ate some birthday cake with extra frosting.

Celebrating one special Mommy!

Celebrating one special Mommy!

My mother loves buttercream frosting, and in her younger years, she used to be able to eat the frosting off of half a big cake! She’s decided to eat frosting in moderation in her older, wiser years.

After dinner, we headed back to the city, where I am going to stay a couple of days for some QT time with the parents. I’ve written about this hotel before, and whenever my parents stay here, I feel like I’m living in another world.

Sadly, I found out this morning that the gym in the building was being renovated, which meant I might not be able to do my tabata workout for the day.

Then, they told me the hotel guests could use the Ritz Carlton’s gym.

I guess this will do...

I guess this will do…

Rough life I am living here in NYC, that’s for sure. I banged out 8 miles on the treadmill (to humid to run outside) and a quick tabata workout. I was definitely the sweatiest person in the entire gym.

Hot, sweaty, selfie.

Hot, sweaty, selfie.

But hey, the more sweat, the better the workout! The Ritz gym was not too shabby and had more than enough to keep this Sometimes Healthy Girl occupied.

Now, we’re off for dinner with my brother and his wife. Hope you’re enjoying your holiday weekend!

30 Things you Might Not Know About Me and a GIVEAWAY!

Howdy from Omaha y’all! (Nobody actually talks like that here, but let’ s just go with it).

After more than a year, it feels great to be HOME. I don’t live here anymore (and maybe never will again), but Omaha will always feel like home to me. There is nowhere else in the world that I can go and be reminded of such fond childhood memories, from standing in front of that giant crowd on Friday night and cheering for our high school football team to walking to Hy-Vee with my friends (before we could drive) to chow down on some of their signature mac n’ cheese.

Birthday shot from 2011

Birthday shot from 2011

Every time I come to Omaha, it’s just one big shot of nostalgia. And I love it. I feel so lucky to be celebrating such an important milestone with nearly all of the most important people of my life (and copious amounts of margaritas and Mexican food).

I’ll try to recap the birthday shenanigans on Monday, but until then, I thought I’d give the newer SHLB readers a chance to get to know me a little better. In honor of the 30th b-day, here are 30 things you might not know about me. 30 things is a lot of information. So, to bribe you all into reading this post, I’m hosting a giveaway.

Please leave a comment on this post with 1 thing I don’t know about YOU, and you’ll be entered to win a Sometimes Healthy Living Blog Care Package with the following of my “favorite things:”

As Chris Harrison would say, "The BEST giveaway EVER."

As Chris Harrison would say, “The BEST giveaway EVER.”

  • Goldfish (Cupcake, French Toast, Brownie, Pretzel, Pizza and S’mores flavors)
  • Swedish Fish
  • Blue Diamond Almonds Variety Pack
  • 1 Year Subscription to SELF magazine
  • Cupcake Secrets Book

You can enter until next Tuesday, July 23. I’ll randomly pick a winner and announce in my post on Wednesday.

So, here we go! Continue Reading →

Vegging-Up For my Birthday Fiesta

Bring on the vegetables, baby!

Happy Happy Friday night! I’m spending my rockin’ Friday night “vegging up” and “vegging out.” Why? Because tomorrow night, it’s my annual New York birthday fiesta (my birthday is Thursday but I have a busy work week and zero time to celebrate). This will be my third birthday in NYC, and I plan on celebrating it the exact same way I celebrated the first two: Continue Reading →