You can't ask a big Jewish family to keep any secrets. Since March I was planning to go home to surprise my grandpa for his 75th birthday, with high hopes of pulling through with the surprise, but what was I thinking?! Of course my family can't do surprises. 

I flew home to Florida last weekend and as I was getting of the plane, my sister calls me from Israel, literally across the world to talk to me and the first thing she tells me is that my grandpa knows and the surprise is no more. Awesome. And my sister of all people who wasn't even in the country tells me! I think my family was going to try to play it off to make me feel better. Although it was ruined, it was still a blast. It's such a treat to go home to sunny florida and soak up family time, beach time and pool time. Happy birthday Poppies, I know you're reading this! Yes, I still call my grandpa Poppies. In fact, the whole family does. 

It was back to the grind this week! Can I just say how much I love my job again. I actually can't quite call it a job when I get to train freaking awesome people all day and teach group fitness. What is life?! I'm so grateful.  I had a client last week touch her toes for the first time ever in her life and she was so happy that she cried. And then I almost cried. Definitely one of my top trainer moments so far and I haven't been doing this for that long. This is why I get so excited to go to work everyday. It's the best. 

Raspberry Swirl Chocolate Chip Bread

[yumprint-recipe id='26']YUM! This bread is my favorite. It's easy to make and the swirl makes it feel oh, so fancy.

Have a great Wednesday beautiful people!

XO - Rach

Can your family keep a surprise a secret? 

Hello there!! It's definitely been a while since I've posted on here. It's funny, when I worked in advertising and I was on my phone and the computer ALL day long, and when I got home, the first thing I wanted to do was work on my blog and continue staring at screens. When I made my career switch into full time fitness, I thought it would fuel me to really work on my blog even MORE, and it actually did just the opposite. I'm truly happy going into work now and satisfied when I leave, and when I get home, I don't even want to look at the computer screen. It's very peaceful, but also kind of lazy? I love keeping up with the blog and I love the connections I've made through it, so I know that I need to strike a balance between my endeavors.  Speaking of blogging connections, I just attended Garden of Life's 2016 Blogger's Summit in West Palm Beach, FL, and it was incredible!! 

Garden of Life Blogger's Summit 2016

Garden of Life is the #1 brand in the natural products industry and I've been using their protein powders for a while now. I like them because it's very clear what you're putting into your body. All of the products are USDA certified organic, verified non-gmo, vegan, kosher, you name it! I'm not vegan, nor do I buy organic food, but I DO like to make sure my supplements and vitamins are totally clean, because there are so many supplements out there today that are not regulated and you just really have no idea if what you read on the label is what you're putting into your body. Besides that, I've been having a lot of digestive issues lately, so I've been trying to experiment with my diet a bit and making sure I get wholesome supplements is important. Anyway, I was able to tour the Garden of Life headquarters, meet with 9 other awesome lady bloggers and learn a whole lot about the products and the company as a whole! It was an incredible experience and I'm so grateful to partner with such an amazing brand. Here's a summary of our experience in photos! 

I love this inforgraphic - only 265 of the 26,000 supplement products on the market are certified organic and Non-GMO project verified. 72 of those 265 are Garden of Life products. Pretty interesting! 

All of the lovely bloggers!! From top left: Cassandra, Kathy, Moreya. Alex and Laura. Bottom left: Sophie, Angela, Karim and myself!

Traveling

This year I'm learning to take advantage of cheap flights and weekend getaways. When I graduated college last May, I literally moved to Philly that same week and started working. This summer I am taking advantage of some much needed time off! West Palm was wonderful, I'm heading home to Ft. Myers later this summer and Michael and I also have a week trip planned to DENVER. A WEEK!! SO stoked. I'm so grateful for the flexibility of my job, yet as a trainer, when I don't work, there's no income. Quickly learning the high importance of budgeting. 

Training

Just an update on my job - I love it. My clients rock and I'm amazed every day at their willingness to reach their goals! Here's a shot from a Thrive Olympics we had amongst all the trainers at different gyms. If theres one thing I've gotten a lot better at by demonstrating multiple times a day, it's push-ups! Do your push-ups, ladies. 

Have a lovely hump day :)

XO - Rach

Any travel plans coming up this summer?

As football season started on a very high note in the Gator Nation (pray it stays this way,) and my sister snap chats me out at MidTown on the reg, I can't help but feel way too nostalgic about college these days. Especially because this is the first year EVER (not ever, but it feels like it,) that I'm not returning back to school after the summer. It's different.  So I thought I would put all of my favorite memories into one post so I can feel like I'm reliving college again for this very moment. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't be happier to be working full time in a city I love, but MAN I miss college.

Top 5 things I miss most about college:

1. Friends, obviously. But really, it's hard being so far away from such great friends you make in college, right? It sucks. However, it just means more visits and travel to look forward to! 

2. Football games!! I remember my first UF home game. Or do I? Too much tailgating. Too much fun. There's a Gator Club in Philadelphia so you bet I'm going this Saturday night to watch them WIN. Am I getting obnoxious yet?

3. THE GYM. I had two jobs for my campus recreation program and it was literally my third home. RecSports was where I learned how to teach a group fitness class and also where I learned probably the most about anything related to becoming a young professional. I was a program assistant for the group fitness program there and was spoiled very much so. Meaning that every gym and group fitness program I've been to since RecSports just doesn't even come close. Well done, RecSports. Well done. 

4. Being able to skip class. You can't just skip work. It doesn't work like that. 

5. Being only 4 hours away from my family. I'm still getting used to this because it feels like I was just away for the summer, but being able to see my family only a few times a year is going to be a big change. What am I, an adult?

These are only a few things that I miss, but there is much more. Gainesville, FL has an awesome culture that's equally hipster and southern. It sits right in the middle of where tropical Florida meets Northern Florida. I'll also miss the late night pizzas (not that I won't do this currently, but it's not the same,) Dennis the go-go street dancer, REALLY lazy hungover Sundays,  the Gainesville winters (mostly because I'm not too excited about this northern winter coming up,) Paynes Prairie hikes, THE TOP,  stadium workouts...UGH I COULD GO ON. 

If you're still in college, ENJOY IT. It goes way, way too fast. 

XO-Rach

Let's chat! What's your favorite part about college? Best memory?