What weird times we’re in! COVID-19 social distancing precautions are in full effect here in Seattle, so I’ve been working from home for about 10 days now. It’s important to still get up and moving to stay active but to also get a mental break. I love taking workout classes since I’m very unmotivated at going to a gym by myself. Workout classes are amazing but can be expensive, and nothing quite beats the convenience (and price!) of working out at home!

Two years ago, I tried Whole30® for the first time and shared my tips with you in my post How to Thrive on Whole 30. It felt like the right time to try the program again. I’ve experienced four key differences this time around that I’m sharing with you below in hopes they will help you!

My ideal girls party happened! Thirteen of my closest friends and I went to SoulCycle South Lake Union (SLUN) on Sunday to get our sweat on! I've loved going to SoulCycle in Bellevue since it opened early last year, and was thrilled they opened a second location in South Lake Union a few months ago. I live in Seattle, so this easier commute makes it that much simpler to get to class.

Ahh, one of my favorite topics! Pilates! As you likely know, Pilates is one of my favorite ways to exercise (check out my other favorites here and spin!) and I particularly love reformer Pilates since it's a bit less grueling, is fun to lie down, and always challenges a new muscle.

Reformer Pilates uses a "carriage" aka machine with springs on it to work your body against tension, targeting major muscle groups including legs, glutes, arms and core. The machine can make classes seem intimidating, but once you've taken your first class, it all makes a lot more sense! 

I love traveling. Hopping on a plane, train or car to a new destination is one of, if not my favorite thing to do. Whenever I get buckled in on a flight, a rising feeling of heat and anxiety builds in my chest making me so nervous to take off.  

I've had challenges with my skin since middle school. Whether it was acne, oil or texture issues, it seemed like there was always something keeping me from a clear completion. In today's post, I want to walk you through how I've treated my acne and the current product I'm using to maintain clear skin.

Ever since my middle school braces came off, I've tried to keep my smile bright, straight and without a reason to need braces again. I've used various drug store at-home whitening strips from time to time, but nothing consistently to keep my smile white. 

When I was introduced to Smile Brilliant, I was excited to try a customized whitening tray and honestly had no idea what to expect. I thought I already had a relatively white smile, but knowing the amount of coffee I drink every day, I wanted to give it a try!

Talk about a lifestyle post! Going on the Whole 30 has been a definite lifestyle change. You can read about it on their website to get more information, but it's essentially an elimination diet to cleanse yourself before reintroducing foods to test if you're intolerant to core groups of foods that typically cause people irritation such as gluten, dairy, added sugar and alcohol. 

The other day I hit 280 taken classes on ClassPass! It's an arbitrary number, but it represents the past few years of working out regularly and finding new fitness interests. I'm here to share my favorite studios and classes to take around Seattle. I also love taking classes when I travel, so comment below if you'd like to see a post about my favorite spots in other cities (that aren't offered here in Seattle)! For a $30 credit, check out this link.

I rarely get over to Kirkland, but when I do it's typically around a Bassline mash-up class. My friend and I headed for an early Saturday class then to Healthy Bonez's new permanent location in Totem Lake. 

Bassline opened a new location on Pike St in Capitol Hill, but they don't offer mash-up, so I still head to Kirkland for that. It's a unique mix of spin and other cardio with music videos playing which makes the killer workout fun. 

It's finally here! Since first trying SoulCycle at a pop up shop in Park City for Sundance, I've been waiting for it to come to Seattle! I frequent FlyWheel a decent amount, but I love that SoulCycle doesn't use RPMs or resistance as your metric to keep up throughout class, but goes by the song beat. I find this less distracting than focusing on making sure I'm within a certain range every few seconds. 

I love a good juice, so when I first saw that Pressed Juicery was 1 | coming to Seattle and 2 | has freezes (frozen juices with toppings aka healthy froyo), I couldn't wait to try it! 

My cousin and I went downtown for some window shopping a few weekends ago, and had to pick up freezes despite it being barely 40*F outside. We headed to Westlake Center and found the little shop tucked in the back. Half of the back wall was juice-filled refrigerators and the other half looked like a froyo shop wall, housing the freezes. My cousin opted for the fruit flavored base. 

I bought something off Instagram! I love trying subscription boxes and the new delivery start-ups, so I was a total sucker when I saw an ad for Daily Harvest on Instagram in early December. 

Brian and I were doing a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box that delivered organic, local vegetables to us every week, so I thought this would be a great addition to my daily routine, where I could have a smoothie in the morning, and veggies throughout the day. The moral of this, is that I generally try to avoid going to the grocery store as much as possible. 

I love waking up to an Açaí bowl! This morning I took a 10:30 CorePower Yoga Sculpt class (in my new Lululemon workout gear!) with one of my good friends, Marissa. If I'm going to a workout class where I know I'll need a ton of energy, I always make sure to eat about two hours before. 

Once I was awake, I headed downstairs to make a pot of coffee and started on my bowl! The ingredients list is below! Today I used an Açaí puree packet from Trader Joes. I also really like the Sambazon packs, and find that they're sweeter than these TJ ones. In my blender, I added half of a banana, this puree pack, a hand-full of mixes frozen berries from Costco, and almond milk. My blender isn't the strongest, so I always have to add in almond milk as it blends to make sure everything gets broken down. And that's it! So easy! I pour the base into a bowl and head to the fun part - toppings!