Not in that order, though! Happy Monday friends. As you can tell from the title of this post, my mind hasn't had much focus in the past couple weeks when it comes to blogging. Work has been very busy and FUN and it's stealing all of my effort. I love my job so much, you guys. It doesn't feel like work!! The hours are long, I get home late, but I leave every day with a big fat smile.  Since I don't have a recipe, a workout or a super deep motivational speech to share, I'm going to share some weekend shenanigans and what I've been loving lately. 

Pizza

I think that Philly should be known for it's pizza rather than Philly cheesesteaks. The pizza here is so damn good. Michael and indulged in a pie from Slice. We got half Hawaiin and half Florentine. I have to say, Michael's choice of Hawaiian was better than my half. The best part about the meal is that we got to bring our own beer. These BYOB laws in Pennsylvania are still blowing my mind - it's awesome! 

Beer

Michael and I are most likely moving to Conshohocken when our lease is up in the summer and there's this amazing little bar and beer store there called the Boathouse. We went to tour a couple apartments and had to stop to pick up a few brews. If you haven't tried Ballast Point beers, you're missing out. They have a brand new one called the Habanero Sculpin and it's INCREDIBLE. It's spicy and hoppy and has so much flavor. Try it out. It was great with the pizza but I could really enjoy it with some tacos or chips and guac. 

Puppies!!! 

We pet sit an ADORABLE pup this weekend. We want a dog so bad but can't seem to bite the bullet yet. There's this app called Rover that's basically like Airbnb for dogs. Michael created a profile and we got our first request to watch a dog on Saturday night. Her name is Hanna Montana. She is a 4 year old pit bull and was just the sweetest girl ever. She had a lot of energy, but we tired her out with a long 4 mile walk yesterday!

Come on, look at that face!! For now, Rover will satisfy the puppy withdrawals I have been feeling. 

Spin

Although I'm at City Fitness full time as a trainer, I have been LOVING subbing more classes at Body Cycle Studio. Indoor cycling will always be my favorite group fitness class to teach. I'm serious, sometimes I get chills. Am I crazy? Are there any other spin-obsessed people or instructors who can relate? I program all of my Spin profiles to the music and when the playlist is on point and the energy of the class is high, it just feels incredible. I've been able to sub at least 1-2 classes per week, but I'm real excited to take on my first permanent class soon in the next couple months! 

Music

And on that note, here's the playlist that's been rocking my world this past week. Candyman by Aloe Blacc and Zedd is my new favorite song, FYI. 

Coffee

Iced coffee to be exact. Michael makes iced coffee in the French press and it's out of this world. I make bad stale coffee in the coffee pot that is not out of this world, so we turned that into coffee ice cubes for the ice coffee. GENIUS IDEA!! 

And I believe that's all I have for this morning! 

XO - Rach

Let's chat...

Are you a dog or cat person?

Hot or iced coffee?

Favorite beer?

Favorite pizza?

Favorite song lately?

Chocolate + Peanut Butter = one heck of an amazing combo. When you add DuClaw Brewing's For Pete's Sake Imperial Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter into the mix...now THAT'S what I'm talking about.  I was so thrilled to be sent a few bottles to taste and create a recipe with. One thing immediately came to mind when brainstorming recipe ideas - BROWNIES. I wanted to create something with simple ingredients to really let the beer shine through. So I present to you...Chocolate Peanut Butter Boozy Brownies. WARNING: These are HIGHLY addictive. 

About the beer:

In the words of Duclaw Brewing Co., after one sip of this porter, you’ll be exclaiming “For Pete’s Sake!” And so the name was born. With an ABV of 9 percent (9 PERCENT!!), “For Pete’s Sake” is a big and bold brew, yet silky and smooth, with big roasted malt flavor and subtle notes of fruit and coffee. "For Pete's Sake!" was just released this month and is only seasonally available!

"For Pete's Sake!" is a very dark beer made with grains including Pale, Cara Munich, Chocolate, Black and Flaked Oats. The coffee flavors really stood out to me, which is another reason I chose to go with brownies here. I absolutely love the rich dark taste of espresso when used in brownies and I knew this beer would give the brownies a similar decadent feel. These Chocolate Peanut Butter Boozy Brownies will warm your soul in every possible way. Pair them with a shot of espresso and you're living. 

[yumprint-recipe id='11']These are insanely delicious. Please go do yourself a favor, make these and consume them all before all the new year's resolutions commence :). Enjoy!! 

 About Duclaw Brewing Co.:

DuClaw Brewing Company is a leading craft brewery founded in 1996, and is based in Baltimore, MD. Driven by the company motto “craft be cherished, rules be damned,” founder Dave Benfield took DuClaw from a home-brewing operation that sold beer through his dorm room window to a state of the art brewery. DuClaw Brewing Co. has released more than 65 brews. Today, Benfield and DuClaw brewmaster Jim Wagner work to continuously release more than 25,000 barrels of high-quality beers per year. DuClaw is available in select liquor stores, restaurants and bars throughout MD, DC, NJ, DE, VA, PA, NC, WV, and most recently, Cleveland, OH. I can’t wait to visit the brewery next time I’m driving through Batlimore! 

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Disclosure: I’m proud to partner with DuClaw Brewing Company as part of their DuClaw Pumpkin Brew Blogger Campaign! I am being sponsored by DuClaw Brewing Company for this post, but all opinions expressed are my own, and all product claims or program details shared can be verified at duclaw.com. I greatly appreciate your support surrounding this post! Thank you!

Happy Monday! I'm not being the greatest with updating my blog at the moment. Things this (last) week have been crazy busy.

First off, my weekend back home was short and sweet! Julia graduated and is currently at UF for her preview. I keep getting texts from her and my dad telling me how much they love the school and I'm just like OK I GET IT I MISS IT TOO MUCH STOP.

And a throwback to when I graduated because clearly I miss college a little bit...

Work has been great and Philly even greater. The week flew by, probably because I feel like I just didn't stop for one moment. But I love it! Busy is good.

Tuesday night I taught my first cycle class in a month! Finally got hired to teach somewhere. I subbed that Tuesday class, a 6 a.m. circuits class on Wednesday, and on Saturday I taught a back to back super circuit and spin class!! Starting this Saturday I will have a permanent 9 a.m. Saturday class at the Sweat Fitness Old City location! Come sweat with me if you're in the area :) My hour long spinning playlist:

Spinning Playlist

Wednesday night Chelsey and I got off work and decided to peruse the million shops by work. Lululemon is very close and I finally caved and bought my first lulu leggings. I love them. I can see this being an issue. After that, it was already 6 p.m. and we thought we would stop for a beer somewhere because every Wednesday night in Philadelphia there is a city-wide happy hour called SIPS - beers are only $3, wine is $4 and cocktails are $5. We stopped by BRU first for a beer and a pretzel:

On the way home, we stopped by the Independence Beer Garden, which is a magical little place right across from Independence Hall. And after all of that I was still in bed by 10 p.m.!

I returned to Independence Beer Garden with Michael on Friday night before downing a whole pizza with parmesan and prosciutto at Pizzacato. YUM. This restaurant was delicious! I definitely recommend for some quality pizza. We then stopped at Big Ass Slices because Michael needed some more pizza for desert.

Yesterday consisted of relaxing in Rittenhouse Park, lots of laundry, grocery shopping & ending with a little walk to Race Street Pier. For lunch we bought some cheese, meat, bread and fruit to enjoy in the park from DiBruno's - favorite kind of snacky lunch. DiBruno's is quickly becoming one of my favorite markets. But the prices are not my favorite.

I'm determined to foster my inner chef and get some more recipes up on here soon! And workout ideas as well.

Who knew moving to a new state and starting a new job would be so busy??