Good morning, happy Monday friends! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was eventful to say the least. Michael and I had our second Rover experience and it was definitely a little different than our first. The first dog we got was perfect. Literally. Well-trained, adorable, sweet and just wanted to cuddle and sleep. This time around we got two dogs, one a puppy, who were not very house trained and very needy. I don't think I've ever cleaned up so much dog pee in my life! So for all you Rover sitters...definitely make sure that the dogs you watch are house trained. TRIPLE CHECK. That shit is not fun. BUT it was an experience to say the least. 

I'm hoping that our next Rover puppy looks like this...

Or this...

Or this (sorry last one...)

In other news this week, I'm running a little food prep contest with my clients at the gym. I'm asking that they send me photos of what they're cookin' up for the next week and the following week! I've already seen some delicious meals and I'm so proud that they're trying harder each week to be better and get healthier! 

And on that note, if you like to bake healthy snacks to have on hand I've got a delicious and healthy Cinnamon Raisin Sweet Potato Bread..

Cinnamon Raisin Sweet Potato Bread

If you can't tell, I'm kind of obsessed with the cinnamon raisin combo. For one, it's such a classic and two, cinnamon, raisins and sweet potatoes are very cheap. I've been trying to cut back on the dollars I spend on food. Therefore I eat all the sweet potatoes, cinnamon and raisins. 

[yumprint-recipe id='23'] 

XO - Rach

Let's chat:

How do you save money while grocery shopping?

Have you ever baked with sweet potatoes before?

Cinnamon raisin flavor fan?

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?

Let me ask you this: when was the last time you did something that scared you? Maybe it was just last night getting that cockroach out of your apartment (ew, good for you, I'm still deathly afraid) or maybe it was a few months ago when you took on a new project at work that you were a little apprehensive about. No matter how big or small the feat, it is so important that we get outside of our comfort zones and tackle our fears.

Get ready to laugh. Friday was my day off and Michael took a half day, so he took me skiing at a mountain nearby. I've never been skiing before, but I was really excited and thought I would be able to pick up on it quickly. After all, I would say I'm in shape, I used to water ski all the time and I have pretty good balance. It couldn't possibly be that hard, right?

I get my skis on, and I freeze up (no pun intended). I'm like a drunk child trying to walk and failing miserably. You guys, it took me about 20 minutes just to get over to the lift...this whole skiing thing did NOT come naturally at all!!! I looked up at the slope above (a bunny slope, at that) and I was SCARED. Freaked the eff out. I don't do heights and I don't do rollercoasters, so the thought of gaining speed and cruising down the slope made my heart race. 

Fast forward, we get on the lift. We're halfway up and I just break down. Literally start crying out of no where. I just thought, "I can't do this." If you've ever seen the Kardashian episode where Kim breaks down before going zip lining, that was me. Quite accurately. (Fast forward to :11 please..)

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqzU0-lW4M8[/embed]

If it wasn't for Michael there telling me what I always preach, "YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO," I would have given up. So I'm crying and manage to hop of the ski lift and wipe out. Michael starts teaching me how to cruise down and I just keep falling. And crying. I cried like four times. This shit was HARD. I was about to give up, and Michael just looks at me and tells me to "have some damn faith in myself" and it just clicked - I NEEDED to do it. There was no turning back because it wasn't like I could just walk down. So I get up and just keep repeating in my head "you can do this, it's okay." So I did it. It took a long ass time, I probably fell about 25 times and I WISH I had video to see how much of an idiot I looked like. But I made it down the slope. And then I immediately ran up to the bar for a beer. PHEW!!  

So the moral of the story is: I desperately need some ski lessons FACE YOUR DAMN FEARS!! No matter how much something scares you, when you get to the other side and conquer that fear, it only makes you that much stronger. 

I hope you enjoyed this story. Have a wonderful week, everyone and break down those obstacles.

XO- Rach

When was the last time you overcame a big fear?

Is there a motto or saying that helps you get through tough times?