Fruity Pebble Pancakes and High School Rivalries Reignited

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Happy Monday to all! It’s a Happy Monday for this blogger girl because I’m finally self-hosted! Did you notice the Bluehost logo in the URL bar today? Yep, I finally did it! More on the process in another post, but suffice it to say, moving to self-hosting wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Bare with me the next couple of days as I explore new layouts/fonts/color schemes/etc. I should have everything finalized by the end of the week.

But, in the meantime, there’s not reason to stop talking to you, my reader friends!

This past weekend was one of my favorite weekends in recent memory. It was the first time I had an official houseguest in the Hudson Valley, and since the BF was in China for work, I got to squeeze in a lot of quality girl time with an old friend. If you read some of my old posts, it will become pretty apparent that I absolutely love being a host. I had plenty of guests when I lived in NYC, and nothing brought me more joy than making their experience at my apartment fun and exciting.

I welcome houseguests with mini donuts

I welcome houseguests with mini donuts

Since moving to the Hudson Valley in February, I have not yet had a friend stay with me, so I was very excited when my friend Molly texted me and asked if she could come spend the weekend in the Valley. Whenever I hang out with my friend Molly, it’s a guaranteed adventure, so I eagerly said “YES!” and texted her daily to check in and ensure she was still coming.

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Posted in: Hudson Valley \ Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Finding a New Gym and a Sometimes Healthy Veggie Roast

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Most of my weekends in the summer are full of indulgence and a little bit of health (Sometimes Healthy). Between all the traveling and beer, food and wine festivals up here, the weekends are the perfect time to let loose and enjoy all that my new area has to offer.

Typical weekend spread. Cupcakes. Wine. Cheese.

Typical weekend spread. Cupcakes. Wine. Cheese.

However, this particular weekend had the perfect balance of fun and fitness. Usually time is an issue, but for some reason, this weekend we seemed to have enough to do it all! Instead of boring you with every detail, I’m going to break it down with the top 5 Sometimes Healthy Moments of the weekend.

1. Learning a “New Release” at Kickboxing

Yesterday, I finally got to find out what it meant to have a “new release” at BodyCombat. I’ve mentioned my newfound love for BodyCombat in a previous post, and luckily, it’s continued to grow every week that I take the class. I always enjoy the energy in the class, but on “new release day” it was at an even higher level!

I tried to capture it...but I'm not the best at sneaking pictures!

I tried to capture it…but I’m not the best at sneaking pictures!

I’ll be honest. In many ways, as you can probably tell, I’m a very low maintenance Sometimes Healthy Girl. Plant me in front of the TV to watch Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition with some Swedish Fish or a scoop of sprinkle-covered ice cream, and I’m a happy girl. No need to wine and dine.

But with gyms, I’ve always been different.

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Posted in: Hudson Valley, Weekends, workouts \ Tagged: , , , , , ,

4 AM Pinspiration, S’mores Sundaes and Millions of Peaches

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As much as I enjoy writing for my blog, I sometimes find myself dreading Monday posts for two reasons:

  1. It’s Monday.
  2. Summarize. Summarize. Summarize. Clearly, that’s never been my thing. And, I always have a hard time capturing my weekends in one short “ish” post.

So, this Monday, I’m going to keep it simple by highlighting the top 5 Sometimes Healthy moments from this weekend. Let’s start with #5…

5. S’mores Sundae. On Friday night, we took our friends out for dinner. These are the friends who graciously watch our dog while we’re out of town. Not only do they watch our dog, but they send us the cutest pictures ever of how much fun Cole is having.

Cole with his best friend. He hates leaving that little guy :-)

Cole with his best friend. He hates leaving that little guy 🙂

These friends have a dog (Cole’s girlfriend, Lilly) and a baby, which, to Cole, means more people to play with and shower with doggie kisses.

After dinner, our friend said she had passed this kitschy looking ice cream cafe in Poughkeepsie that she thought would be right up my alley. She said it was covered in pink and surrounded by a cool-looking playground. Sold.

This looks like my kind of place!

This looks like my kind of place!

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Posted in: Hudson Valley, ice cream, Weekends \ Tagged: , , , , , ,

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

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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 →

Posted in: Hudson Valley, Random \ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

5Ks, Cupcakes and and Country Music

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Ever since I almost won a medal in the Soldier’s Field 10 Miler (circa 2007), I have always had the secret goal of placing in a race. Year after year, I’ve finished close to the top of smaller races…but never have I won a spot on the winner’s stand. A couple years ago, I decided I needed to win a medal before my 30th birthday, because the next age bracket tends to be more competitive.

Well, I finally reached that elusive goal this on Saturday at the Gardiner 5K Cupcake Classic!

Finally, I'm a winner!!

Finally, I’m a winner!!

After a speedy race through the fields and country roads of Wrights Farm, I was awarded second place overall for females.

Leave it to me to medal in a race that is centered around cupcakes. However, when I decided to ride in another 5K on Sunday, I never expected to have a repeat performance…

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Posted in: cupcakes, Hudson Valley, Quick Dinners, Races \ Tagged: , , , ,