Father's Day & Wedding Weekend Shenannies

This weekend was a tiring one! Whew! 

Saturday was the beautiful Dana's wedding. You all have seen the birthday parties she throws, right? Well, her wedding was no different. No detail overlooked - it was awesome!

Sunday was Father's Day, obviously, and I was so busy all day I don't have many pictures. But here's what I do have from the weekend!

1 - A photo of my flowerbed on Saturday morning. Looking colorful!

2 - So many of these cute signs directing guests at the wedding.

3 - Neat chalkboard informing guests of the Instagram hashtag! #GJwedding13

4 - The centerpiece at our table

5 & 6 - Cute props under "The Kissing Tree"

7 - With my friend Stephanie

8 - I snapped this cute picture of the kids during the first dance

9 - Chris & Dana share their first dance

10 - With the beautiful bridey!

11 - Preview pic sent to my parents before Father's Day dinner. Told them to bring their appetites!

12 - My dad will kill me. I made him pose for a picture with his bird-seed wreath (thank you, Pinterest!)

How was your weekend? Don't forget to link up with Sami for Weekend Shenanigans!

5 things on Friday - early June life happenings!

Hola bloggies! Yes, I still exist. I've just been a little busy and preoccupied...sorry!

 Anyway, being "busy" you'd think I'd have lots of interesting shenanigans to tell you about, but no dice. Most of it is just regular life and work and all that jazz.

BuT! I've missed the blog world, reading and writing, so just a quick update for you....

  1 - TJ gave me a Polar FT4 heart rate monitor as an early birthday present. Everyone in the blog-o-sphere seems to be getting one these days...and it'd been on my wishlist for months (even before everyone started getting them, ha!) This photo is from my first use, on Sunday. I was amazed and pleasantly surprised! I've been using it to enter exact calories burned on MyFitnessPal. Are you using MFP? Talk about an eye-opener when you enter some of your favorite foods...yikes!

2 - Speaking of the TeeJ, he did a little work on the landscaping for me last week. It looks so much better. The front yard looked a little out of control. He did the pruning while I sat in my lawnchair and watched, haha. I did help with the mulching :)

3 - This week I had to do some live TV for work. Talk about a little nerve-wracking....primarily because they told me to arrive kind of early, and I sat there and waited forever. Thus giving myself time to become nervous, ha. 

4 - My lillies are finally blooming! These lillies are in my backyard and are SUCH a vibrant shade of orange! All of my flowers seem to be a little "behind" this year, so I'm glad to see them coming to life! 

Lastly, I got this Facebook message from a client last week...E attends BarreAmped class and I'm sad to say that I knew her face, but till she sent this message I could not remember her name.

Let me tell you - she made my day. I had just asked a friend (who takes my class), "Do I sound like I'm yelling? I feel like sometimes I'm yelling."  We have many new clients right now (from a recent Groupon), and sometimes it's hard to tell whether I'm being thorough and clear in my instructions based on their form and set-up. Her message probably meant more to me than she could have anticipated! So thank you client E! :)

If you're interested in BarreAmped - sign up for class with me or one of our other fab instructors at www.ellefitnesslex.com. Today only, you can purchase any package for 20% off using the promo code "juneshake." If you can't make it to a class or don't have a studio near you, you can now enjoy BarreAmped in the comfort of your home, brought to by the Body by Jake brand.

Have a great weekend ladies!

Light and refreshing: Summer Fruit Salad

 Doesn't that look delicious?!
If not for this fruit salad, I'd still be going through life thinking of fruit salad as grapes, crushed pineapple with tons of juice, bananas, and marshmallows...you know, the fruit salad you'd find at a hot, summer family reunion. Thus, I'd tell you that NO, I did not like fruit salad!
BUT!
This one is so fresh, colorful and tasty, I feel the need to tell you about it! I wanted to share it because I know many of you are into health and fitness and trying to eat well (most of the time...there's always a time for a delicious chocolate cake or something)!

You will need the following:

• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Kiwi
• Mango
• Pineapple
  (There were no fresh pineapples & this was probably easier anyway)

Wanna know a secret?

When shopping for these ingredients...I realized I had NO IDEA what I was looking for in a mango. I was too embarrassed to ask so I just walked around till I found it! ha

Also, if you aren't sure how to peel a kiwi (I wasn't), this is an excellent demo:

Now, this is super simple -- just wash and chop up all your fruits (except blueberries) to the size you most prefer, mix together, and chill. SO EASY! 

It's worth noting...I only used one kiwi, but I think next time I will use two. I will also use a little less mango. You can vary the amount of the fruits based on your personal preferences!

You can eat the fruit as is, or you can make yourself a little parfait, like I did.

I used two big tablespoons of Chobani on top of the fruit, and 1/8 of a cup of the granola. Based on the ingredients I entered on MyFitnessPal, I estimate this little cup (above) was ~160 calories.

In the spirit of honesty, I cannot take full credit for this recipe. The first time I had this fruit salad was following a BarreAmped class, when one of our clients (Brigitte Nguyen) brought this in for us as a quick, healthy snack. She added a delicious homemade coconut granola, but I have yet to make that.

If you make this yummy fruit salad, I hope you love it!
I have a feeling it will become a summer staple in my house!
 

Weekend update...walking & yard-working-ing

Hello lovebugs! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

When I woke up this morning I had one of those temporary moments of confusion, where I was like...what day is it? Don't you hate it when that happens? (I do...especially when the answer is "Monday") 

That being said....it's time to link-up with Sami for weekend shenanigans!

First things first...I can't really remember what I did Friday night, other than teach BarreAmped and go to the grocery, where I spent an insane amount of money for not-a-huge-amount of food! I did purchase a significant amount of produce, which probably contributed to my $100+ grocery bill! Ack.

Saturday morning I got up bright and early for the Central Kentucky Heart Walk, where I walked with some co-workers. It was really humid, whew! I'm somewhat embarrassed to say I only did 1 mile instead of the 3 I'd originally planned. I will say, though, that it's much quicker to walk a mile when you don't have two little dogs stopping to sniff and dribble on every blade of grass in the area!

Speaking of two little dogs...I took them for a ride...

1-The dogs in the backseat of our loooonnnng ride to see my Nanny & Papaw (grandparents)
2-Delicious vanilla Chobani flip. So good! I never see regular vanilla Chobani at the store!
3-Yummy fruit salad I made and will share later this week.
4-The fruits of a trip to Lowe's.
5-Yardwork and landscaping is hard work...I made a huge mess. Feel exhausted today! (What do you think that calorie burn is to put into MyFitnessPal?!)
6-Potted geranium...with some added "spikes" and vinca vines. It looks a little lopsided since the blooms are kind of on one side right now and also...I broke one of the flowering stems. Dang! :(

So there you have it. My super exciting and eventful weekend! It's more than I usually have for ya! What about you...did you do anything fun and exciting? Don't forget to link up with Sami!

DIY Chevron Table Runner -- Saw It. Pinned It. Did It

Welcome back to the blogging world, Saw It Pinned It Did It! :) So this week's SPD project has actually been complete for awhile, which you know if you follow me on Instagram. And it is super easy so I don't have pictures of the process, really.

This pin was my inspiration:

original pin

After seeing some gray chevron fabric at Hobby Lobby, I decided I wanted to make something for my table. I have a sewing machine so I should be able to figure this out, right? Let's just say I won't be a professional seamstress anytime soon.

I had to google how to properly load the thread onto my sewing machine. It had been QUITE awhile...

 I purchased 2 yards of fabric. You may not need that much, but I did not know how to properly determine the amount needed and didn't bother to figure it out before I went to the store. Oops. I also purchased some grey thread for my top-stitch

I don't have my actual measurements, and yours might be different anyway. It all depends on the width and length of your table, and the size of your desired table runner!

I determined the width by first measuring the round placemat I typically use in the center of my table. I added an inch to either side to get the width of fabric I needed to cut. Once cut, I folded the long edges in about 1/4 of an inch, ironed them flat, and pinned. Then I sewed it in place. 

On a roll, I quickly pinned and ironed the short edges, and sewed those in place. In my excitement I failed to cut any of the fabric from the ends...whoops. When I laid the table runner on my table, I realized it was way too long. The people sitting in the chairs would have had a built in napkin for their lap! (Nancy J says she likes when I admit my Pinterest fails and mess ups, haha)

So I cut a chunk of fabric from one of the ends...sewed the ragged edge and called it good!

I still had fabric left to use, so I decided to make a miniature runner for the table/plant stand you see in the corner. The table is an antique, and belonged to my great-grandmother Mary. My mom had it for many years before giving it to me. I wanted to cover the table so it didn't get damaged. I should have made the small one first, for sewing practice, because the lines on it are MUCH straighter than the big runner. I hope no one inspects it closely.

Probably the fastest, and easiest, SPD project yet. Cheap, too! :)

  Now that SPD is back, don't forget to link up with Stephanie and Katie
to show us what you did this week!